Figure Star Loses Parents In Plane Crash, Miracle Olympic Debut "Family Dream Will Be Achieved"... Competition with Korea Cha Jun-hwan and Kim Hyun-kyum of "Korean Signage" [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Cha Jun-hwan (25, Sejong City Hall), a representative figure skating player in South Korea, will leave behind the disappointment of the team event and perform on the individual stage. Maxim Naumov (25, USA), who lost his parents in the plane disaster, will also perform on the same stage to keep his promise with his parents.

Cha Jun-hwan will compete in the fourth order of the men's single short program in figure skating at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics at 4 a.m. on the 11th (Korea time).

Cha Jun-hwan ranked 8th out of 10 with 83.53 points in the team short program held on the 8th. At that time, he performed the triple lutz-triple loop combination jump with quadruple salco, but he made a mistake of being dealt with 0 points as the rotation was released while taking off in the triple axel, the last jump task. The individual competition will be postponed in the 15th order of the total 29 players.

Naumov will play in the second order of Group 1 around 2:40 before Cha Jun-hwan's performance. Naumov, the U.S. representative, is well known as a player who suffered a tragic family history.

Putting local reports such as "USA Today" together, Naumov lost his parents and coaches Vadim Naumov and Yevgenia Shishikova in a January last year crash over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. Naumov is a former World Championship pair champion by his parents. All 67 passengers, including 28 figure skating officials, were victims of the disaster.

According to The Washington Post, Naumov had his last conversation with his parents at a hotel in Wichita, Kansas, three days before the accident. At the time, his father advised, "If you change your way of thinking and just follow your plan, you can go to the Olympics," and he held his toes and played with his mother and said goodbye.

Naumov, who lost his parents in an instant, despaired. Later, in an interview with local media, Naumov suffered enough mental pain to say, "I wanted to lie on the bed or the sofa and rot."

The desperate Naumov returned for the Olympics, the last topic of conversation with his parents. Choreographer Benoit Risho and Chopin's No. 20 Nocturne have been selected and have been preparing for the Olympics by focusing on training.

Naumov's trip to the Olympics was dramatic. He also cried a lot after making a jump mistake in the free skate at the U.S. Championship in January, but his strong rival Jason Brown was sluggish due to a series of jump mistakes and won the Olympic berth in the final third place. "The last conversation I had with my parents was about the Olympics," Naumov said. "It was my family's dream to participate in the Olympics. My parents in the sky will also be proud," he said.

Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-kyum (20), who will make his Olympic debut, will play in the fourth order of Group 2 at 3:50 a.m. on the day. Gold medal contenders Ilya Malinin of the U.S. and Yuma Kagiyama of Japan will perform in Group 5 from last to second and last, respectively.

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*This content was translated by AI.