CNN/SI - SI for Women - Notes from the Field: The New Ice Queen

The New Ice Queen

Nari Nam is dazzling. Manny Millan

By E.M. Swift

They come from nowhere and bloom without warning, like flowers pushing through snow. The latest 13-year-old wonder to set the skating world abuzz is Naomi Nari Nam of Irvine, Calif., whose silver-medal performance at nationals in February was the highlight of the competition. "I was just about jumping out of my chair by the end of her program," said former head of the U.S. Figure Skating Association Morry Stillwell.

He wasn't alone. The 6,571 fans at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City were on their feet before the 4'8" eighth-grader was midway through her closing combination spin. It was obvious to everyone: This was the real thing, a prodigy with a dazzling smile, breathtaking spins, jumping talent and pure pizzazz. What she has, no one can teach, and no one can miss. "Naomi's got charisma on the ice," says her coach of five years, John Nicks. "She enjoys audiences, is extremely musical, and her spins have an originality that creates excitement."

She is the latest in a line of superb California-born Asian-American skaters, which started with Tiffany Chin and includes Kristi Yamaguchi and 18-year-old Michelle Kwan, who happens to be Nari Nam's idol. Nari Nam sometimes trains at Lake Arrowhead, Kwan's home arena, and it was Kwan's dad, Danny, who helped Nari Nam learn the double Axel. "He's refusing to help her anymore," jokes Nicks, who plays down the idea that Nari Nam will be a threat to Kwan's dream of winning gold in 2002.

Kwan doesn't. She recognized Naomi's potential the first time she saw her. "I could see it in her eyes," Kwan says. "She wants to work hard."

Her parents, David and Connie, emigrated from Pusan, South Korea, 30 years ago, but it was her maternal grandfather, Byong Hwa Choe (a speed skater in his youth) who introduced her to skating when she was five. At nine, Naomi started ballet lessons, which helps explain her extraordinary grace. She doesn't skate like a 13-year-old; she points her toes, finishes moves and spins as if she's fixed to an upright lathe.

But internationally, she likely will compete against children until 2001 because of an ISU rule keeping skaters under 15 out of worlds. (Sarah Hughes, also 13, is exempted from the rule because in November she won a medal at world juniors; Naomi was too young, by five days, to enter.) "It's inconceivable the silver medalist at the U.S. championships won't compete at worlds," fumes Nicks.

Still, one thing seems certain: This early bloomer's day in the sun will come.