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Flashback Friday: Mirai Nagasu Wins Gold With Gershwin

Our favorite US Olympic figure skater also loves Broadway.

Figure skating fans rejoice! The 2018 Winter Olympics officially began today, meaning you get to witness all the high-flying agility and drama from the comfort of your own living room. We at TheaterMania are particularly excited about the return of 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu, who first asserted herself as a force to be reckoned with back in 2008. That's the year she won the national championship (at the tender age of 14) with this short program to George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," a song first performed onstage in 1930 by a young Ethel Merman in her Broadway debut. Talk about making a first impression!

"Mirai means 'the future,' " Sandra Bezic breathlessly remarks at the end Nagasu's skate. "Well folks, you're looking at it." Ten years later, that is undeniably true as she leads another US team to the Olympics. It is perhaps an auspicious sign that Nagasu will be once again looking to Broadway for inspiration, skating a long program to a medley from Miss Saigon.