{"id":237457,"date":"2026-01-14T12:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/237457\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:15:11","slug":"maxim-naumov-credits-his-parents-who-died-in-d-c-plane-crash-for-making-olympic-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/237457\/","title":{"rendered":"Maxim Naumov credits his parents, who died in D.C. plane crash, for making Olympic Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maxim Naumov will represent the United States<\/a> at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics<\/a> as a member of the figure skating team and will be guided by his late parents, who died a year ago in a plane crash <\/a>that rocked the figure skating world.<\/p>\n

Former Olympians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among those on board an American Airlines plane that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29 last year. Sixty-seven people died in the crash, including 28 members of the figure skating community.<\/a><\/p>\n

Naumov held up a photo of his parents after competing in the men\u2019s free skate at the United States Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Naumov, 24, later sat down with Hoda Kotb for an exclusive interview that aired on “TODAY” on Monday. He spoke alongside fellow skaters who were named to Team USA after the championships.<\/p>\n

\"HodaHoda Kotb speaks to Andrew Torgashev, Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov on “TODAY.”NBC News<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were holding the picture of your parents who perished in that plane accident,\u201d Kotb said to Naumov. \u201cWhat were you saying to them from inside?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was telling them that we did it, and we did it together,\u201d Naumov said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the favorite words that you say right now is the word \u2018we.\u2019 \u2018We are going to do this.\u2019 \u2018We can make it.\u2019 \u2018We\u2019re going to the Olympics.\u2019 It\u2019s not just you, is it?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, I would not be here without them in any capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Naumov\u2019s godmother, Gretta Bogdan<\/a>, was moved when she saw him receive his Olympic jacket<\/a> and took comfort in believing his parents are also beaming.<\/p>\n

\"HodaHoda Kotb speaks to Greta Bogdan and Maxim Naumov on”TODAY.”NBC News<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably one of the best moments of my life,\u201d she told Kotb. \u201cI know that his parents are watching down on him, and they\u2019re incredibly proud of him, and they know what\u2019s happening. They do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naumov has previously spoken about what his parents meant to him and how he dealt with his grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were beautiful people. They were so incredibly kind,\u201d he told “TODAY”<\/a> in March 2025. \u201cThe only way out is through. There\u2019s no other way. There are no options but to keep going. I don\u2019t have the strength or the passion or the drive, or the dedication of one person anymore. It\u2019s three people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MaximMaxim Naumov with his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.Family photo\"Image:Naumov holds a photograph of his parents after competing Saturday.Jamie Squire \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 2026 U.S. figure skating team is a loaded group, headlined by Ilia Malinin, known as \u201cThe Quad God,\u201d who will be making his Olympics debut. His parents, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, previously skated in the Olympics for Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such an honor, and I\u2019m so grateful that (I\u2019m) also just following in my parents\u2019 footsteps,\u201d Malinin said. \u201cThey were two-time Olympians as well, and I\u2019m just so excited to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Torgashev is also a son of Olympians and understands the magnitude of his accomplishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo call myself an Olympian is just so surreal. It makes me tear up, actually. It\u2019s quite awesome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team will feature three current and former U.S. champions in Alyssa Liu<\/a>, Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn. They will each try to become the first American woman to win gold at the Olympics since Sarah Hughes did so in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great that it\u2019s not just one person or singular hope. I think three people go at it \u2014 like, someone\u2019s going to stick,\u201d Glenn said while speaking alongside Levito and Liu.<\/p>\n

When Kotb pointed out that the trio represents sisterhood and family, the skaters said it\u2019s only natural.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I feel like it\u2019s kind of normal. I feel almost weird to be praised for \u2013\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriendship?\u201d Glenn finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the reasons that we all get along so well is because not that many people understand what it takes and understand the ups and downs of such an intense sport like we do,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd I wouldn\u2019t be here without these two ladies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Married couple and ice dance duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates are also on a quest to win gold at the Olympics after doing so in a team event in Beijing in 2022. This will mark their fourth Winter Games, which has some people wondering if they plan to call it quits anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really never know when it\u2019s going to be our last, so this season we\u2019ve been treating everything with respect and care for the moment and trying not to miss any little bit of it,\u201d Chock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re best friends, and we get to skate together every day, so why would we stop?\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n

Ice dance partners Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko will also compete in their first Olympics, but Ponomarenko is part of a trend: His parents, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, are also Olympians.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to the Olympics in the same sport that my parents did, it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still hasn\u2019t sunk in, to be honest,\u201d Carreira said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. figure skating team will feature 16 athletes who will put their best foot forward when the Winter Olympics begin Feb. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maxim Naumov will represent the United States at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics as a member of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-237457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}