Skater Maxim Naumov Cries Watching Video of His Childhood Self After Making Team USA

NEED TO KNOW

• Maxim Naumov became emotional on Jan. 11 as NBC showed a clip of him as a child saying it was his "dream" to make it to the Olympics
• Naumov, 24, was named to Team USA's men's figure skating squad after his performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships over the weekend
• Naumov's career achievement comes less than a year after his parents, Russian Olympic figure skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were killed in the Jan. 29, 2025 Washington, D.C. plane crash

Maxim Naumov has made his childhood dream come true!

The U.S. figure skater, 24, could barely contain his emotions on Sunday, Jan. 11, as he was presented with a Team USA jacket after being officially named to the U.S. Olympic squad, and was shown a video of an interview from his childhood in which he described how it had always been his “dream” to go to the Olympics.

“Well, that dream has come true,” an NBC Sports host told Naumov as he hid his face in his hands, crying after the video played. “You’re headed to the Olympics!”

The emotional crowning moment of Naumov’s career comes less than a year after his parents, Russian Olympic figure skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, died in the Washington, D.C. plane crash tragedy that killed 67 people when their American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025.

Naumov, who has said he once thought about never skating again in the weeks following his parents’ tragic deaths, said Sunday after receiving his jacket that “every day, year after year,” he and his parents “talked about the Olympics.” 

“It means so much in our family, and it's what I've been thinking about since I've been 5 years old, before I even knew how to think or what to think,” an emotional Naumov said. “So, I can't even say in words how much this means to me.”

Asked what he thought his parents, the 1994 World Figure Skating pairs champions, might say to him if they could’ve been there with him while earning the Team USA nod, Naumov told NBC they would've been “proud.”

“They’d say, ‘We're proud of you, but job's not finished,' " Naumov said. “We're just getting started.”

Naumov secured Team USA’s third available Olympic spot alongside gold medal favorite Ilia Malinin, and Andrew Torgashev, the back-to-back silver medal winner at the U.S. Championships.

“We did it! God is good,” Naumov said after being given his Team USA jacket.

The career achievement comes just days after Naumov paid tribute to his late parents by holding up a family photo of himself with them as a child while he received his first-round score on Thursday, Jan. 8.

Naumov broke down in tears as received his score, which temporarily put him in first place in the competition.

“Sharing the vulnerability with the audience and me feeling their energy back has been something I remember for the rest of my life,” Naumov told reporters after.

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And on Sunday, the U.S. Olympian told NBC the support he’s received from others throughout the past year while sharing that vulnerability has fueled his recent run.

“Every message, every letter, every call, every text: I see it and it helps me just keep pushing through the difficult days, getting up and going to bed,” Naumov said. “Thank you, everyone.”

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