Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is back in his native Utah for a short stay, and Wednesday was officially dubbed Nathan Chen Day in the state.
Chen, who won gold at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February, was honored on the Senate floor of the State Capitol building in Salt Lake City on behalf of Gov. Spencer Cox.
“Nathan Chen is many things — the Quad King, Olympic gold medalist, world champion, but our favorite is Salt Lake City native,” a tweet from the official Utah Senate Twitter account read.
“Nathan has represented Utah and the U.S. on the global stage and we could not be more proud to recognize him on the Senate floor today.”
The 23-year-old Chen (his birthday was on May 5) is in Salt Lake City as the headline name of the traditional post-Olympics Stars on Ice exhibition tour which will be at the Maverik Center in nearby West Valley City on Wednesday night.
As luck would have it for Chen, the whirlwind schedule of the six-week, 24-city tour allowed him some time in his home city, as the last event before Wednesday was on Sunday in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Utah is the 17th stop on the tour, and it will continue on Friday in Glendale, Arizona.
In addition to his gold at the Olympics, which was a long time coming after he unexpectedly struggled at the 2018 Games in South Korea, Chen is a three-time world champion, among a whole host of other accolades.