Nathan Chen was quick to pay tribute to two of his heroes following his first Olympic gold medal: Michelle Kwan and his mom.
The 22-year-old ‘quad king’ delivered two masterful performances – breaking the short program world record on Tuesday – to carve his name into history as the eighth American gold medal in the discipline, according to the Olympic website.
To achieve that lifelong dream in Beijing – the city where his mother grew up and where his parents met before emigrating to the US – only sweetened the satisfaction.
"It means the world to be able to be here," Chen told CNN's Selina Wang.
"I know that they did everything that they could to give us – I'm the youngest of five – to give all of us... opportunities to pursue (our dreams), without having many resources themselves."
Chen reflected on his mother's selfless efforts to support his early training, accompanying him to rinks and helping to fund coaching despite money being tight.
"Certainly, that's not super conventional," Chen said of his mother's attendance at the rinks. "People wanted me to be with the coach and my parents somewhere else.
"She faced a lot and sheltered a lot from me, so I don't even know a lot of the details, but when I asked her, she always just gets very upset."
Having grown up in Salt Lake City – host of the 2002 Games – Chen was captivated by the Olympics from a young age, helped by the "inspirational" performances of Michelle Kwan.
A five-time world champion and one of the most decorated figure skaters in US history, Kwan won bronze at Nagano 1998 before adding silver at Salt Lake City four years later.
"Having a face like Michelle Kwan was really inspirational," Chen said.
"Having athletes that look like you certainly gives you the hope that you can do the same.
"I'll never really reach Michelle Kwan stature but just to be able to have someone like that when I was growing up is really powerful. That goes back to the power of representation."