RISING FIGURE SKATING STAR STILL A ‘SHY GIRL’
Chen, despite recent championship titles and acclaim, considers herself a ‘normal girl from Fremont’
Fremont’s Karen Chen is a rising star on the world stage.
She won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship title in January and three months later her strong performance at the World Figure Skating Championships helped secure her country three spots at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
She’ll be competing in San Jose at the end of the year for the 2018 national championship, which serves as the defacto trials for the Olympics.
But for all the acclaim and whirlwind lifestyle of training, travel and competitions, the 17-year-old considers herself just a normal girl from Fremont .
“I still don’t look at myself as a celebrity or anything like that, or like this public figure,” Chen said. “I still feel like I haven’t changed and I’m still me; I’m still this shy girl.”
Chen’s first time skating was at age 4 when her parents took her to Sharks Ice, the former Iceoplex in Fremont’s Warm Springs district. The ice rink is one place where Chen says she has never been shy.
After attending Chadbourne Elementary School through
“I still don’t look at myself as a celebrity or anything like that, or like this public figure ... I still feel like I haven’t changed and I’m still me; I’m still this shy girl.” —Karen Chen, of Fremont, recent U.S. Figure Skating Champion
sixth grade, Chen began a homeschooling program to accommodate her intensive skating schedule. In 2013, she started training under coach Tammy Gambill in Riverside. Her mother, Hsiu-Hui Tseng, moved there with her and her younger brother, Jeffrey, who is also a skater. Her father, Chih-Hsiu Chen, remained in the East Bay to work and now lives in Hayward.
About every two weeks, Chen travels between Southern and Northern California to visit with family; she still sees doctors and physical therapists here occasionally.
She takes online classes, but her skating career has forced her to miss some of the quintessential teenager experiences of attending junior high and high school. And while many local kids were getting dressed to the nines and taking selfies at their proms and formals earlier this month, Chen was busy touring the country with the Stars on Ice show.
“I guess I would love to experience just going to a school like middle school and high school, and just kind of knowing what a day in school would actually feel like,” Chen said. On the other hand, she notes, her skating has brought her unique and enjoyable experiences. “I fully stand by my sacrifices and I feel like I made the right decision.”
Like many other teenagers, Chen uses social media to stay connected to her friends. She especially enjoys Snapchat, and often uses the mobile, ephemeral image sharing application’s puppy face filter — which adorns the person doing the filming with a pair of virtual puppy ears and a dog’s tongue that appears to slurp the screen.
“It’s my go-to one,” Chen said.
The young skater, who stands shy of 5 feet tall, says although she doesn’t consider herself a celebrity she at times feels as though people are watching her more closely now than ever before.
“People still watch me on the ice, and because I’m the national champ they expect me to have everything together all the time,” she said. “I feel like people, because they know who I am, they’ll expect things from me, and sometimes that can give me additional pressure. It becomes a little stressful to think that people are watching my step.”
Chen said she simply tries to maintain a positive attitude and remain focused on her own goals.
“I still have so much to learn and I’m fully aware that I’m probably going to make mistakes so I just have to accept that,” she said.
Chen has competed against the best figure skaters in the world and dealt with injuries and bouts of pain in her feet. On her down days, in addition to her family, Chen turns to a mentor who’s seen it all — Kristi Yamaguchi, the Fremont native who won the figure skating gold medal in the 1992 Olympics.
Yamaguchi has served as a reassuring voice to Chen in recent years, especially as the competition heightens. The two exchange texts occasionally.
Chen said Yamaguchi is her role model because of her character, not just her career.
“I really do aspire to be like her because she’s such a giving and caring person,” Chen said. She recently accompanied Yamaguchi to Glenmoor Elementary School to read a copy of Yamaguchi’s children’s book to students as part of the gold medalist’s Always Reading youth literacy program.
Yamaguchi was introduced to Chen when the young skater was only 11.
“Right away, I just saw that she had this certain spark,” Yamaguchi said. “It’s just been fun to be there for support and be an open ear.”
Chen said seeing the young students at the school in her hometown inspired her.
“They have so much ahead of them, and they have goals and they have dreams, and I know they’re going to chase after those,” Chen said. “As a kid, I feel like you don’t think too much and you just do it, and in a way that’s almost like fearless, and that’s something that I strive to be like.”
Now more than ever, Chen is not shy about her goals and dreams.
“I want to make the Olympic team, I want to be an Olympian. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I want to make it happen,” she said. “I know there’s going to be even more obstacles, but I’m going to try not to be afraid of them and just chase after my dreams.”