Grateful Maxim Naumov finishes Olympic skating debut - ESPN

MILAN — The last conversation that Maxim Naumov had with his parents was about following in their footsteps to the Olympics.

Now the American figure skater has done it.

The 24-year-old Naumov finished his Winter Games debut with an emotional free skate Friday night, just over a year after Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among 67 people killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed into a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport and fell into the dark depths of the Potomac River.

It wasn't a perfect program. Far from it. Naumov fell twice on quad salchows and was uneven throughout.

But the point total wasn't the point.

When it came to an end, a crowd packed inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena to see American teammate Ilia Malinin go for gold gave him a standing ovation. Among them was actor Jeff Goldblum, who took in the performance with his wife, Emilie.

«To be honest, I just feel proud,» Naumov said afterward. «I feel proud of the journey that it took to get to this point. That is what I look toward right now. What it took to get here has been indescribable, inwards, getting up every day when I didn't want to and pushing through the difficult times and the uncertainty of it all. I'm able to have some perspective on that. And I've had a lot of perspective in lots of areas in my life this year and skating is no different.

»So yes," Naumov said, «there were some mistakes today, but man, I'm just happy and proud to be standing here today and getting through all the difficulty of this year and still standing on my feet and continuing to push onward.»

His students from Tomorrow's Champions, the youth academy based at the Skating Club of Boston that was founded by his parents and Naumov now