By Maura Sullivan Hill, staff writer
\nPhoto by Leah Adams<\/p>\n
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When Mirai Nagasu competed at her first Olympics, in Vancouver in 2010, she said she was \u201cwrapped up in my own little bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She went home to California to train in a familiar environment between the Opening Ceremonies and her event, and didn\u2019t go watch any of the other sports.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think that this experience will be completely different, and honestly, I\u2019m really looking forward to it, because I feel like I will be like a newborn baby and really excited to soak it all in,\u201d Nagasu told reporters during a media call on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne thing that I really regret from Vancouver is that I didn\u2019t take the opportunity to go out and enjoy the other sports. I want to watch some other events live,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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Enjoying her second Olympic experience is at the top of Nagasu\u2019s to do list, and she said the pressure has lifted since making the Olympic team.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTraining has been going really well. I think that the hardest part about going to the Olympics is making the team \u2014 making the team is more stressful than anything,\u201d she said. \u201cSince I\u2019ve been named to the team, it\u2019s really about enjoying the processing and hitting my peak at the right moment. I feel really confident going into the Olympics, and I can\u2019t wait to enjoy every single second.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She plans to include the triple axel in both programs, and said that she may not have pushed herself to try the difficult jump, if not for the heartbreaking experience of being left off the 2014 Olympic team.<\/p>\n
By Maura Sullivan Hill, staff writer Photo by Leah Adams When Mirai Nagasu competed at her first Olympics, in Vancouver in 2010, she said she was \u201cwrapped up in my own little bubble.\u201d She went home to California to train in a familiar environment between the Opening Ceremonies and her event, and didn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10717,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10712\/revisions\/10717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cI think that experience really changed me as a skater. I took a step back and found that some things are not worth accepting. I wanted to be on another Olympic team,\u201d Nagasu said. \u201cIt took time to really evolve myself as a person and a skater \u2014 I was very upset for a long time \u2014 but I changed myself and really became a better skater. I honestly don\u2019t think I would have worked as hard on the triple axel if I didn\u2019t have that time to really contemplate. To have overcome that little bit of a slump is something that not a lot of skaters have the perseverance to get through, and I\u2019m really proud of not just overcoming that part of my life, but also doing it in the public [eye].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAnother difference from her 2010 Olympic experience? The opportunity to compete in the team event. Nagasu told reporters she\u2019d love to skate for the U.S. in the team event, and would be confident competing either of her programs.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat\u2019s something that I saw in Sochi that I didn\u2019t have the opportunity to have in Vancouver \u2014 the team holding hands, with arms in the air, medals around their necks,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a solo skater, this sport can be really lonely, so to have that opportunity at the Olympic Games is amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nU.S. Figure Skating will announce their selections for the team event next week, and the women\u2019s competition in PyeongChang kicks off on Wednesday, Feb. 21.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"