thank you so much now we have an opinion
but first let me introduce our guest
Detroit is home to many of the best
athletes in the entire world including
champion ice skating and we have the
privilege to have none other than US
Olympic gold medalist and world champion
Charlie Wright right here with us on
live in the D welcome thank you now you
made the perfect technology jumping into
the west buzz conversation you think the
food scene is kind of like yeah sort of
like a the runway and you know I'm
trying to say tappable here we are
talking about figure skating but you
know in the runway you see some very
ridiculous outfits but it's sort of like
a statement piece meant to draw you know
ice and then you can sell the rest of
your products I can see it being maybe
the same with food I agree with you this
is not a great analogy and we had to
bring that up we had all right so
there's a big event coming to the D the
US Figure Skating Championships explain
to everyone why this is such a big deal
for our city yeah this is the first u.s.
Championships that Detroit has hosted
since 1994 and it's just that for the
Olympics this is sort of setting the
stage for the next four years the the
excellence and the top athletes sort of
start their journey here at these US
Championships in Detroit stake their
claim for the next four years heading
into the Olympics and we have some
wonderful wonderful wonderful skaters I
retired after 2014 it's been it's been
great to sort of be on the other side
but just watching and in particularly
being able to see live figure skating
it's a totally different experience from
seeing it on TV it is it's fun to watch
on TV but it's even more amazing in real
life as they say so who are some of the
now famous figure skaters that we know
who have won in the past yeah so I mean
the US Championships have have produced
the Scott Hamilton's the Kristi
Yamaguchi's the Michelle Kwan's right
now we're looking at you know first I
think on our mind is gonna be Nathan
Chen he won the World Championships last
year coming off of a kind of
heartbreaking Olympics he had a
disastrous short program but in a very
Olympic moment had a great long long
program where he just represented
himself represented his country
beautifully and sort of staked his claim
moving forward than winning the World
Championships he's
sort of the quad king so when you hear
about the athleticism of figure-skating
he's the one to keep an eye on Nathan
Chen you're definitely gonna want to
check him out ice dancing that's my
discipline we have Hubbell and Donahue
they just got the silver medal at the
World Championships so we're well
represented in the in the medals at the
top international levels and they're all
gonna be coming here to Detroit which is
just a hotbed for skating hockey figure
skating so I'm really hopeful that we
can just go support them and you know
they're single sort of tickets you can
go and pick what discipline you want to
see you don't have to go see all of it
but I really urge everyone it's it's a
wonderful blend between creativity and
athleticism that you really you can't
get it anywhere else it's beautiful but
it's hard at the same time to anyone
who's just gone regular ice skating
should know that oh it's really really
really hard like you said you kind of
hung up your skates in 2014 that's right
now you're serving as co-chair with your
longtime ice dance partner Meryl Davis
friend of the show that's right on here
yes you made history when you were the
first Americans to bring home the gold
it ice dancing congratulations first of
all that's amazing that that is
something in the history books what's it
like to be a champion I think I think it
means that you have to represent
yourself in your country well I think
there's also you know what it means to
be a role model you know one of the most
important things about being a champion
is being a great role model and that's
something that Meryl and I have taken
very very seriously and we continue to
and and I think it's it's maybe one of
our favorite things coming off of our
competitive skating career that we were
able to get into Meryl works a lot with
young girls here with figure skating in
Detroit and we both work with a program
called classroom champions using our
success as a way to help sort of build
stronger foundations for for kids who
need it and I think figure skating does
that in general but but being a champion
means you know helping out the people
that look up to you all right so now
last question okay you've done amazing
things you've made history world to
world titles and now
you're a husband and a father that's
right all right I think a family changed
you in any way yeah I'm a lot more tired
actually but it's the best kind of tired
I think being a dad is is it's a greater
it's a greater feeling than winning the
Olympics for sure and and I think that
that's something that everyone should
know and and you know I think he's only
he's only a year old but it's something
that I'm gonna remind myself so that I
never take it for granted and he is just
he's the he's the greatest little joy in
my life and me and my wife Tanith are
you know we use our skating backgrounds
and how hard we had to work and in
recognizing just how much effort we have
to give and we want to make sure that we
give all of that to our son that is
wonderful
perfect way to end mate thank you so
much thank you again the 2019 US Figure
Skating champions are championships are
January 22nd through the 27th at the
Little Caesar arena tickets start at
just $20 and single session tickets are
now on sale to purchase tickets and to
find out more information visit the
website 2019 u.s. championships dot-com
thank you so much for being here thank
you so much for having me