olympian

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The Puerto Rican team at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games isn’t large.

In fact, Kellie Delka stands just 5-foot-3 and weighs about 120 pounds. That’s it; that’s Puerto Rico’s entire team.

Her only event is skeleton, in which athletes travel at about 80 mph down an icy mile-long track with 16 turns. And she won’t be in the hunt for a medal in Saturday’s final rounds after finishing 24th of 25 athletes in Friday’s two heats.

Yet her presence is important just the same because it means Puerto Rico has a team here, even if it was just one person. For most of the century, that wasn’t the case.

“I was approached by the federation. They’re like, ‘hey, they’re trying to grow their winter federation. Maybe that would be something you’d be interested in helping,” she said. “So in 2018, I dropped everything, and I’ve been living on the island ever since.”

That was the first step of what Puerto Rico hopes will be a rebirth of a Winter Olympics program that had been razed to the ground.

In 2002, the island was set to send a bobsled team to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City but one of its sledders couldn’t prove he met Puerto Rico’s residency requirement. Embarrassed, the local Olympic committee didn’t just withdraw its two-man team, it ended recognition for all of the island’s winter sports.

No athlete would represent the territory in the Winter Games for another 16 years, until Charles Flaherty, a teenage American-born skier who moved to Puerto Rico when he was nine, competed in the 2018 Winter Games. A year later an ice hockey federation was established and in 2023 a curling federation.

In between those two things Delka, 38, made her Olympic debut, carrying the Puerto Rican flag with William Flaherty, Charles’ younger brother, in the opening ceremony in Beijing.

She carried it by herself in Italy.

Kellie Delka waves the flag of Puerto Rico during the Winter Olympic opening ceremony on Feb. 6.

(Misper Apawu / Associated Press)

Because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory, its residents are citizens of the U.S., but to represent the island in the Olympics, you must be born in Puerto Rico, have a parent or grandparent who was born there or live there for at least two years.

It was that final requirement that Delka, a native Texas, was seeking to fulfill when she moved to the island.

“I love the island, I love the people,” she said. “I’ll probably live there forever.”

A pole vaulter and cheerleader at the University of North Texas, Delka was introduced to skeleton by Johnny Quinn, a fellow North Texas alum who competed in the bobsled. She made her international debut in 2013 and was competing for the U.S. through the end of 2017, when Puerto Rico’s federation called.

Leaving a team to go it alone was more difficult than she expected.

“That was the hardest part,” she said. “When you go by yourself, like, it’s a pretty lonely journey. And then not having a coach the whole time, because you have to pay for that as well.

“I love the sport. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it, because you definitely don’t make money from it.”

Eight years later, Delka speaks no Spanish but says she feels intensely Puerto Rican. She gets some financial support from an International Olympic Committee scholarship fund and small, intermittent assistance from the federation. But mostly she supports herself in the sport, in part by selling bikinis she designed on the beach in Luquillo, the tiny community on the northeast tip of the island where she lives.

Puerto Rico’s Kellie Delka hopes she can inspire other athletes to represent the island in the Winter Olympics.

(Alessandra Tarantino / Associated Press)

“I love to sew, I like to make jewelry. I like to make bikinis, and I like to be involved in the community,” she said. “That’s how you meet people.”

Next she wants to inspire them. Because there’s no use in starting an Olympic team if no one else wants to join.

“I would love a teammate,” she said. “I don’t want it to just be me forever, like right now it is.

“I want to start mentoring younger people because I want kids to know that you don’t have to have everything to make it. I don’t have anything. I’m doing this by myself. I’m going to the gym by myself, I’m going to the track by myself, I’m traveling by myself.

“You can do it too, and I can help you do it.”

Sometimes all you need is one person to get started.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych took his case to sport’s highest court Friday, detailing the reasons why he wanted to race at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in a helmet that paid tribute to his country’s war dead.

The arbitrator was moved by his story but ruled against him anyway, denying him his last chance for a win of any kind at this year’s Winter Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Heraskevych’s appeal of his disqualification from the men’s skeleton race, agreeing with the International Olympic Committee and the sliding sport’s federation that his plan to wear a helmet showing the faces of more than 20 Ukrainian coaches and athletes killed since Russia invaded their country four years ago would violate Olympic rules.

“The court sided with the IOC and upheld the decision that an athlete could be disqualified from the Olympic Games without actual misconduct, without a technical or safety threat, and before the start,” wrote Yevhen Pronin, Heraskevych’s attorney.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said the sole arbitrator who heard the case sided with IOC policy about what athletes at an Olympics can say on a field of play — and that the “memory helmet” Heraskevych brought to the Milan-Cortina Games would not align with the rules.

The arbitrator, the court said, “found these limitations reasonable and proportionate,” especially since Heraskevych could show his helmet away from the racing surface, such as in interview areas and on social media. Heraskevych also wore the helmet in training runs.

The court added that the arbitrator “is fully sympathetic to Mr. Heraskevych’s commemoration and to his attempt to raise awareness for the grief and devastation suffered by the Ukrainian people, and Ukrainian athletes because of the war.”

The appeal, which Heraskevych believed he would win, was largely moot anyway. He was disqualified from the competition 45 minutes before its start on Thursday, and whatever the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Friday wouldn’t have changed that.

“Looks like this train has left,” Heraskevych said after Friday’s hearing, knowing there was no way he could race. He left Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Olympic village on Thursday night with no plans to return.

He was blocked from racing by the IOC and the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation on Thursday after the slider and his father emerged from a last-minute, last-ditch meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry — who was unable to get Heraskevych to change his mind.

Coventry reiterated Friday that she believed the disqualification was justified. The IOC made its decision based on the guidelines for athlete expression at the Olympics, he said.

They say, in part, “the focus on the field of play during competitions and official ceremonies must be on celebrating athletes’ performances.” Heraskevych never made it to the field of play — not in competition, anyway.

“I think that he in some ways understood that but was very committed to his beliefs, which I can respect,” Coventry said. “But sadly, it doesn’t change the rules.”

The IOC contends that the rule is in place for multiple reasons, including protecting the athletes from pressure from their own countries or others about using Olympic platforms to make statements.

“I never expected it to be such a big scandal,” Heraskevych said.

He also said he found it puzzling that his accreditation for the Games was taken away, then returned in short order Thursday in what seemed like a goodwill gesture.

“A mockery,” he said.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport did agree that Heraskevych should keep his accreditation.

Heraskevych said he felt his disqualification fed into Russian propaganda, noting that he and other Ukrainian athletes have seen Russian flags at events at these Games — even though they are not allowed by Olympic rule. He has previously spoken out against the IOC’s decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at Milan-Cortina as “neutral” athletes and said the IOC empowered Russia by awarding it the 2014 Sochi Games.

He also wondered why other tributes from these Olympics, such as U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov displaying a photo of his late parents — killed in a plane crash last year — have been permitted without penalty.

Italian snowboard competitor Roland Fischnaller had a small Russian flag image on the back of his helmet during these Games, and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone wore a kippah with the names of the 11 athletes and coaches who were killed representing that country during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Pronin wrote that IOC representatives at Friday’s hearing said that “they were not punished because they did not declare this in advance, but did it after the fact, so there was no point in disqualifying them.”

The IOC said those cases were not in violation of any rules. Naumov showed his photo in the kiss-and-cry area and not while he was actually on the ice; Fischnaller’s helmet was a tribute to all the past Olympic sites he competed at, with Sochi included; and Firestone’s kippah “was covered by a beanie,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

The IOC offered Heraskevych the chance to compete with a different helmet and bring the tribute helmet through the interview area after his runs. He also could have worn a black armband, which the IOC typically bans. It just didn’t want him making a statement by competing in the helmet.

“I think it’s the wrong side of history for the IOC,” Heraskevych said.

Reynolds writes for the Associated Press. AP journalists Annie Risemberg and Stefanie Dazio in Milan and Vasilisa Stepanenko in Warsaw contributed to this report.

MILAN — He raised up the Quad King. He refined the jump that defined the Quad God.

From a sprawling ice facility in Irvine, Rafael Arutyunyan could just be the “Quad Maker.”

The 68-year-old figure skating coach is renowned as one of the best technicians in the world. He trained Olympic champion Nathan Chen starting when the “Quad King” was 10 years old. Four years after Chen became the first U.S. man to win singles Olympic gold since 2010, Arutyunyan could have a second consecutive pupil on top of the Olympic podium.

Ilia Malinin, who has worked with Arutyunyan part time since 2021, is the only person in the world to land a quad axel and is the overwhelming favorite for men’s gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.

American Ilia Malinin celebrates with his coaches, including Rafael Arutyunyan to the right, during the world skating championship in March 2025.

(Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

The walls in Arutyunyan’s office at Irvine’s Great Park Ice, where he is the head coach of the high performance team, are plastered with photos of stars including Chen, Michelle Kwan, Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner. They each came to his door with dreams of perfecting their performances, making it to the Olympics or, in some cases, revolutionizing the sport. They scribbled messages over their pictures saying: “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Rafael is more like the dream maker,” said Rippon, the 2016 U.S. champion and 2018 Olympic team bronze medalist. “… Rafael is able to take each of his students’ individual goals on a case-by-case basis, and he’s able to help the athletes go after whatever that goal is they’re trying to achieve.”

Malinin came with a lofty goal. Even his father Roman Skornikov — an Olympian for Uzbekistan who coaches his son with his wife, Tatiana Malinina — thought the idea of doing four-and-a-half revolutions in one jump was crazy.

Arytyunyan assured him Malinin could do the quad axel.

The coach of nearly 50 years just looked at the 5-foot-9 Malinin and could tell. It was his slender body type, natural athleticism and strong technique that made Arutyunyan know the jump many thought was impossible could be done. They discussed small technical tweaks to Malinin’s entry. A short two to three months later, Malinin, who trains primarily with his parents in his native Virginia, sent a video of him landing the quad axel in practice.

“The way he explains is really good. And he explains in like, metaphors and analogies that you’re surprised to hear,” said Malinin, who debuted the quad axel in 2022 when he was 17. “They work really well because it helps you get a different perspective on a technique or how he explains.”

Arutyunyan instructed Malinin to think of himself as a slingshot while approaching his jumps. Skaters know to gain power from deep edges that carve circles into the ice, but Artutyunyan describes it like a person riding a motorcycle: The rider tilts side to side just like a skater’s blade glides over the ice. Over time as he gets more familiar with a skater, Arutyunyan communicates through hand signals to show how their blades are interacting with the ice. Learning to manipulate the blade with Arutyunyan made Rippon feel as if he truly learned how to skate.

“He is a genius,” said Mariah Bell, a 2022 Olympian and U.S. champion.

Nathen Chen celebrates with coach Rafael Arutyunyan after competingin the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Greensboro, N.C.

(Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

With the exception of Chen, many of Arutyunyan’s students came to him later in their careers. It takes a special eye and tenacity for a coach to rewire decades of bad habits, Bell said.

Arutyunyan loves it.

“I am emergency room for skaters,” he said. “Many people comes to me as emergency and I start to fix it.”

Arutyunyan is equipped to solve the most dire skating situations because after nearly 50 years as a coach, he’s seen it all already. Arutyunyan, who began coaching in his native Armenia, was first trained in the Soviet style that relied on biomechanics and physiology to unlock efficient jumping techniques. European and American teachings focused more on compulsory figures, the basic patterns skaters would trace across the ice that give the sport its name.

Arutyunyan, who came to the United States in 2000 from Russia, blended both into a signature style that has top skaters traveling from all corners of the globe seeking his help.

“Why I think he’s one of the best coaches in the world,” Rippon said, “is that he’s never not learning.”

After a promising juniors career in which he was named junior national champion in 2015 and competed at the 2020 world junior championships, Andrew Torgashev knew he had competitive ability and presentation. But wanting to step up his senior career, Torgashev, 24, knew he needed to tame his wild technique. Performing his programs felt like “going to the casino,” Torgashev said.

“Red or black,” Torgashev said with a smile, “who knows what’s going to happen?”

Since relocating to California from Colorado in 2019, Torgashev, a Florida native whose parents were both elite international figure skaters, reworked every aspect of his skating with Arutyunyan. He was always skating on his toes when he should have been on his heels. They changed his three-turn — one of the first things skaters learn when skating on one foot — to find more power. They tinkered with his crossovers and his camel spin.

It took years. Much of it was disheartening.

“I felt like, ‘what’s the point of this? I’m losing jumps, he’s ruining me,’” Torgashev said. “But he always has a method to his madness.”

The method finally yielded results after two years. Injuries kept Torgashev out of competition for two seasons. But he finished second at the 2023 Eastern Sectional Championships and ahead of the 2023 U.S. championships, he was performing his programs more consistently than ever in practice.

After finishing on the podium at U.S. championships in three of the last four years, including two consecutive silver medals, Torgashev will make his Olympic debut in Milan.

“He’s forced me to be very resilient and independent and trust myself, trust what I’ve learned from him, and try to take that with me to competition,” Torgashev said. “I think it’s the best move I made in my life.”

Arutyunyan’s ability to take established, struggling skaters and put them into the podium conversation is how he believes he first started getting respect in the United States. When he emigrated from Russia, he was searching simply for freedom, he said.

He never thought it would turn into a hall of fame career.

Arutyunyan was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in January at the U.S. Championships. At the induction ceremony in St. Louis, Arutyunyan waved toward a packed crowd and bowed his head. He looked forward to the ceremony because it was a chance to see his students again. What thrilled him most was getting to rub elbows with other Hall of Famers such as Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton. The Olympic and world champions were Arutyunyan’s idols, he said giddily.

After 50 years of helping skaters achieve their dreams, the man who was always behind the scenes got to live his.