Inside the secret text group of US figure skating Olympic gold medalists known as 'the OGM chain'

MILAN — The text message that popped up on Nathan Chen's phone underscored the enormity of the moment, its arrival shortly after the American figure skater had won his long-awaited gold medal with a soaring free skate at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

''Congratulations,'' it read. ''Welcome to our chat.''

''This is everything,'' Chen typed back in reply.

The text had come out of nowhere, welcoming him to what is surely one of the most select groups of U.S. athletes. It is called simply the ''OGM chain,'' which stands for ''only gold medalists," and as the name implies, it includes only American figure skaters who have captured Olympic titles, from 90-year-old Tenley Albright all the way down to Chen, who was 22 at the time.

''It's really fun. You go into the chat and you're like, ‘Wow,'" said 1988 champion Brian Boitano, who provided the The Associated Press with a scroll through the text chain. "You just think to yourself, ‘I'm actually in this community.'

''Not only that you're in the Olympic community,'' Boitano clarified, ''but you're a gold medalist.''

The U.S. has a long and successful history in figure skating, dating to its very first medal, a bronze won by Theresa Weld at the 1920 Antwerp Games — four years before the inaugural Winter Olympics. Dick Button provided its first gold medal when he won the men's event at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, then defended his title four years later at the 1952 Oslo Games.

''When we started the chain, I thought it was just really cool," Boitano said. "You have Evan Lysacek and Carol Heiss and Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill, and you just keep going — Kristi Yamaguchi, Meryl Davis, Charlie White.''

If Boitano continued to rattle off names, the total would have come to an even two-dozen, a figure that grew by five more this past Sunday night. That's when Ilia Malinin anchored the Americans in the team event, beating Japan's Yuma Kagiyama in a head-to-head showdown to help them defend the gold medal that Chen had helped them win in Beijing.

Welcome to the text chain, Ilia. Same for Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, all of whom played a part in the heart-stopping one-point victory. Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates were already in the club from the team win in 2022.

''It means a lot personally,'' said the 86-year-old Heiss, who is married to fellow Olympic champion Hayes Allen Jenkins, ''because we are able to talk about the sport and about skaters and about the U.S. team. If we feel strongly about something, we kind of voice our opinions.''

Does that mean this elite group of Olympic champions is quietly helping to shape Team USA?

''It happens so fast,'' Hamill added. ''Four minutes on the ice and two minutes on the podium and then boom, life changes.''

It's not always happy moments that are shared on the text chain.

When an American Airlines flight bound for Washington, D.C., collided with an army helicopter over the icy Potomac River, it killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. Dozens of them were members of the tight-knit figure skating community, including kids who were traveling home from a development camp that had followed the U.S. championships in Wichita, Kansas.

The OGM chain lit up as the gold medalists shared news and attempted to console each other.

''It was very active during the plane crash, yeah. Everybody was talking then,'' Hamilton said. ''It was just such a tragedy.''

''Everybody came together,'' Boitano said. ''That's what is so unique about our sport. We are all part of a family.''

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