--- title: See Olympic Skaters as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous description: Olympics figure skaters like Nathan Chen and the Shibutanis were extremely talented kids on the ice and here are the videos to prove it. canonical: https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-08T20:48:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:17.724Z og:title: See Olympic Skaters as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous og:description: Watch early footage of Nathan Chen, Maia and Alex Shibutani, and more og:url: https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e8f206023162f9/698926cabc6cfcc3703e4eeb/hubbell-pic-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: HUBBELL PIC 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Olympic Skaters as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous twitter:description: Watch early footage of Nathan Chen, Maia and Alex Shibutani, and more twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e8f206023162f9/698926cabc6cfcc3703e4eeb/hubbell-pic-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Top Olympic Skaters Compete on the Ice as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d0e574ca-948a-4c17-9cee-91c242340252&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 8, 2018 8:48 PM UTC   by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 8, 2018 8:48 PM UTC Before you watch the 2018 Winter Olympics skaters throw it down on the ice, first, some adorable videos of them skating as little tykes. At seven years old, Olympic figure skater [Nathan Chen](http://time.com/5088951/winter-olympics-2018-instagram/) was already performing on ice for rapt audiences. And not just performing: he was a junior champion already, with a program showcasing his preternatural skill to the tune of the _Lion King’s_ classic “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” with Chen outfitted in a yellow lion cub suit in keeping with the theme. That song choice was fitting; Chen is now the U.S.’s top-ranking male entrant for the [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5124851/winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-2018-time/) in PyeongChang, and is one of the main names to beat in the upcoming event. Take a look at young Chen in his Simba suit — as well as fellow U.S. skating team stars Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, [Maia and Alex Shibutani](http://time.com/7986/meet-team-usa-maia-and-alex-shibutani/), and more — back when they were just kids growing into their own skill sets on, and off, the ice. From sibling duo Maia and Alex’s early days learning to stay in sync to Rippon’s first forays onto the national stage as a novice, these throwbacks of the young athletes prove that they were always stars. Watch a compilations of videos provided to TIME above. And to see them in all their glory today, tune into the ice skating events of this year’s Games, which [kick off on Feb. 9.](http://time.com/5124851/winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-2018-time/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/"},"headline":"See the Top Olympic Skaters Compete on the Ice as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous","datePublished":"2018-02-08T20:48:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:17.724Z","description":"Olympics figure skaters like Nathan Chen and the Shibutanis were extremely talented kids on the ice and here are the videos to prove it.","url":"https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e8f206023162f9/698926cabc6cfcc3703e4eeb/hubbell-pic-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2e8f206023162f9/698926cabc6cfcc3703e4eeb/hubbell-pic-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HUBBELL PIC 2","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5129070/winter-olympics-2018-skaters-kids/","name":"See the Top Olympic Skaters Compete on the Ice as Adorable Kids Before They Were Famous"}}]}] ```