Chen wants to move past boot problem
Karen Chen struggled to keep her composure in the tearful aftermath of a bitterly disappointing Pyeongchang Games performance.
Now the Fremont figure skater has landed in a squabble with a Hayward bootmaker that seems over the top even for a sport where makeup and sequined costumes carry the day.
Chen, 18, is trying to move away from a triple flip of a mess after complaining in February that her boots broke down before competing in the free skate in South Korea.
Avanta Boots Lab president Will Murillo took the remarks personally although Chen has complained about boot problems throughout her career and never mentioned the manufacturer by name.
Murillo, who has been involved
in bootmaking since 1994, posted last month on Instagram:
“Karen, it is unfortunate that you have continued to disgrace the meaning of an Olympian with your words. … I must say it is unfair and unethical to have proceeded the way you did in order to divert culpability away from your malfeasance and performance.”
The company followed up the next day on Facebook:
“Avanta stands by its decision to end our sponsorship with Karen Chen. This decision was based on the expectation that the behavior of an Olympian is beyond reproach.”
Chen, who is scheduled to perform with Stars on Ice on May 13 at SAP Center, didn’t take banned drugs to gain an athletic edge. She didn’t tear up hotel rooms like the 1998 U.S. men’s hockey team did. She wasn’t connected to a scheme to injure a fellow competitor like Tonya Harding.
All she did was tell a handful of reporters shortly after the long program that she had a boot problem. Chen also began crying when adding the Olympics didn’t allow her enough time to be with her mom.
“But it’s kind of childish,” Chen said the other day. “I’m ready to grow out of that and be much more mature and know how to handle myself and handle every single situation and become that consistent skater I know I am capable of being.”
Lesson learned. But the blowback from Avanta has been difficult to endure.
“Getting hate or comments like that is just not pleasant,” said Chen, speaking publicly about the situation for the first time. “No one has a good time reading about things like that. I felt it was best for me to let it go.”
Mentor Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist from Fremont, told the teen to say nothing. Others close to the skater offered similar advice.
It all started after Chen wilted on the Olympic stage with two performances far from her best. The 2017 U.S. champion finished 11th behind teammates Bradie Tennell (ninth) and Mirai Nagasu (10th) in a historically bad result for American women.
Afterward, Chen said she had let herself and those who supported her down. Then she added, “To be honest, I really was dealing with quite a lot of things, I was having some boot issues and I had to make some adjustments this morning during practice.”
The skater who trains in Riverside has a history of feet problems and changed her specially designed Avanta boots every six weeks. Chen said moisture seeped into the boot leading to the problem in Korea.
“It’s no excuse,” Chen said at the time. “I could have focused better.”
Murillo, 39, said Monday he stood by his social media posts.
He felt Chen’s words reflected poorly on Avanta by suggesting that the boots were defective. As a longtime bootmaker who learned the craft from the ground up, Murillo takes great pride in his work. He said Chen’s team in Korea fiddled with the boots that needed a special technician to adjust.
“All of the skaters had bad days,” said Murillo, who started with the bootmaker that outfitted 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes and 2006 silver medalist Sasha Cohen. “She felt she needed an excuse and unfortunately we were that excuse.”
Chen has since joined forces with Jackson Skates, a Canadian outfitter for Olympians Nathan Chen (no relation) and Nagasu, who also are scheduled to perform in San Jose next month with Stars on Ice.
“Honestly, my skates feel pretty damn good,” Chen said of the new boots. “I’m really happy to say that.”
The skater wants to forget the 2017-18 season that had been a constant headache, including having to withdraw from the World Championships just days before it started last month in Italy.
Chen declined to explain why she didn’t compete a year after finishing fourth.
“It’s not that I am uncomfortable talking about it but it’s just that I have moved on from it,” she said. “It’s best for me to not talk about it anymore.”
The situation, though, had nothing to do with Avanta.
“I’m not one to back down and I’ve always been one to keep pushing and not be afraid to fail,” she said. “(But) we felt like with the circumstances it was probably best to sit it out and just figure things out.”