U.S. figure skater Karen Chen cherishes Beijing 2022 despite unfavorable result

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Despite feeling sad about her below-par performance in the women's single skating at Beijing 2022, American-born-Chinese skater Karen Chen hopes to remember this incredible and amazing experience forever.

Ranking 13th after the short program, Chen skated on Thursday night to the classical Chinese piece Butterfly Lovers, with a purple costume designed by her mother, exquisite purple butterfly hairpins and a jade necklace highlighting Chinese culture.

However, with an under-rotated triple flip and a downgraded triple loop, Chen, who had finished 11th in PyeongChang four years ago, only gained 115.82 points to rank 17th in free skating and was placed 16th in the event.

"I definitely feel sad because that's not what I have been skating, not what I've been practicing. It's almost like the complete opposite," said Chen. She got 131.52 points with the same routine in the team event last week.

The 22-year-old believed she can learn a lot from her mistakes. "When I do make a mistake, I try to kind of think about what went wrong and then, I guess fix it or improve it somehow," she said. "I have world championships coming up, so I'll definitely train hard for that and get a completely different performance from what I pulled off here."

Despite feeling disappointed about her performance, the American skater thought her experience in Beijing counted a lot. "If I were to compare 2018 with 2022, I will say I experienced some way more stuff at Beijing 2022."

"It did not go the way I wanted to, but I also had my moment in the team event where I did skate much better," she noted. "It is just such an incredible and amazing experience. And I hope to just remember it forever."

Chen told Xinhua before the Games that she hoped to improve her Chinese during this journey. "I think it's better. I have been trying to speak it as much as I can," she said.