Mirai Nagasu - from the skating rink to the dance floor

ABC
Figure skater Mirai Nagasu with her dance partner, Alan Bersten.

WELL, she got her wish. Mirai Nagasu is trading in her blades for high heels as she competes in Dancing With the Stars.

Remember when U.S. Olympic figure skater Mirai Naagasu made a joke about being on Dancing With the Stars? 

She got ripped for joking around when she failed to perform up to her best. She flubbed her triple axel in the individual free skate to help the U.S. team get a bronze medal. Her historic performance raised hope for a medal in the individual performances.

Back in February, in the heat of the Olympic competition, she failed to medal in the individual competition. She wasn't alone. All three of the U.S. women's figure skater performed below expectations. Mirai was unable to repeat the triple axel. She ended up in 10th place.

The 25-year old Southern Californian was disappointed and tired and in one interview, she quipped that the Olympics was just an audition for Dancing With the Stars “because I want to be a star.”

It looks like Mirai gets the last laugh.

“I think I’ve literally cried my way through these Olympic Games,” she tells PEOPLE in an interview one day after her final performance in Gangneung, South Korea. “It’s been an experience that I will never forget.”

This season of the popular dance competition will feature all athletes. Mirai will be competing agains the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tonya Harding, Johnny Damon and fellow Winter Olympians: snow boarder Jamie Anderson, luger Chris Mazdzer, figure skater and close fiend Adam Rippon and more

"Since it's so competitive, we're trying to hit the ground running," said Alan Bersten, Mirai's partner and dance coach. "We're not even doing a Week 1 dance, we're doing a Week 7 dance," which will be the salsa.

While Mirai admits she's a little uncomfortable on the dance floor but she is ready to be a dance champion.

"I fall all the time, but I get back up and keep going," she said.

Dancing with the Stars: Athletes premieres Monday, April 30 on ABC, 8 p.m. ET.______________________________________________________________________________

2018 Winter Olympics: Nathan Chen dazzles with six quads but falls short of a medal

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Nathan Chen finally delivers.

WHERE HAS HE BEEN? The Nathan Chen we were expecting to see finally showed up today (Feb. 16) with an unprecedented six quadruple jumps in his skating routine.

His dazzling performance that had the audience cheering and gasping, almost pulled off the impossible, coming from 17th place to almost medaling. With his record score of 215.08 points, Chen actually won the long program segment of the men's figure skating and held the bronze medal position until the last two skaters performed strong enough to edge out Chen;s quad attack.

“I definitely did want to redeem myself after the two short programs and I think I did here,” said Chen, who had come into Gangneung Ice Arena undefeated and as a medal favorite.

Chen, 18, had also struggled skating his short program in the figure skating team event, in which Team USA won the bronze medal.

Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan became the first male skater since Dick Button of Team USA in 1948 and 1952 to win back-to-back Olympic titles. Hanyu finished with an Olympic record total of 317.85, followed by teammate Shoma Uno, who edged Javier Fernandez of Spain, 306.90 to 305.24.

Chen finished in fifth place with a total score of 297.35 points. 

Vincent Zhou, the youngest member of Team USA at age 17, was sixth with 276.69 while 28-year-old Adam Rippon was 10th (259.36). All three Team USA skaters finished in the top 10 for the 15th time in Olympic history.

Chen, who last year became the first skater to land five quads in a program, had originally planned five for his free skate Saturday. 

RELATED: Figure skater Zhou flies; Chen falls

But after his two disastrous short programs, in which he made mistakes on his jumps and scored in the low 80s -- about 20 points lower than expected -- Chen decided he was going to show he truly was the “Quad King."

“It was sort of an anger thing,” he said. “I was just like, ‘Oh screw it, I’m going to try it. At this point I have literally nothing to lose. I’ll just go for it. And then I was like, ‘Well I can’t think about that right now. I can’t dwell on it. I’ll readjust in the morning, rethink about it.”

He said it was too early in the morning to try all the quads. His even gave his coach, Rafael Arutunian, a surprise when he threw in the sixth quad.

“That was me,” Chen said. “I didn’t even tell him I was doing that.”

Five of the six quads were clean, as Chen put his hand down on a quad flip, his extra jump. 

“I’m glad I was able to show myself and show everyone else that I can bounce back from a bad performance,” he said. “And honestly, I am human, I make mistakes. Unfortunately I had been having a really bad time. But I’m really happy with what I did here.”

Chen will have four years to mull over what might have been. He'll only be 22 years old when the next Olympics convene in China. 

Chen will have to be careful. His teammate Zhou surprised everyone with his Olympic performance.

The U.S. could very well have two medal finishers four years from now. 

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Chen, Zhou make the U.S. men's figure skating team

Nathan Chen, left, Vincent Zhoou and Adam Rippon will represent the U.S. in men's figure skating.

TWO ASIAN/AMERICANS were named to the 2018 U.S. men's Olympic figure skating team.  

Nathan Chen, 18, simply the best male figure skater in the world, was a given to make the team. The drama was which two skaters would join him.

Bay Area native Vincent Zhou, 17, who placed third in the scoring, had a strong showing in the US Figure Skating National Championship in San Jose, California, made the team. 

Ross Miner, the second-place finisher Saturday night, was dropped in an intricate selection process that includes criteria that includes season-long performance. His spot on the team, instead, went to fourth place finisher Adam Rippon, 28. 

The selection committee vote for the men's team selection was 11-1 for team that was selected, a nearly unanimous decision said Sam Auxier, president of U.S. Figure Skating, Sam Auxier. He noted that Miner’s average competition scores in recent competitions was among the lowest in the pool being considered for the Olympic team. Miner was named as the second alternate, behind Jason Brown, who finished sixth last night.

The men's team selection controversy was the second time in during this competition when the judging panel's decisions were questioned.

Ashley Wagner, who finished fourth behind third-place finisher and current U.S. champion Karen Chen, was furious at her scores, which she felt should have been higher.

"I think all these girls delivered when they needed to, but I want to be on that Olympic team and I'm really mad that I'm in this position again," said Wagner, 26.

Asked whether she believes she should be selected to the Olympic team, Wagner emphatically said, "Yes, I do."

A day earlier, Jan. 6, it was announced that two Asian/American women made the women's figure-skating team, Mirai Nagasui and Karen Chen. The third member of the team is Bradie Tennell, who finished first in over-all scoring.

SCREEN CAPTURE

Nathan Chen topped all skaters at the U.S. National Championships Saturday night (Jan. 6).

The scoring controversies, something that seems to crop up for figure skating, shouldn't overshadow the performances of the eventual team members, Nathan Chen, America's best chance for a gold medal in figure skating.

Chen, outfitted in his all-black Vera Wang-designed costume, opened with a quad flip-triple toe loop combination at full speed and never looked back.

“I’m very happy with tonight. I laid out a five-quad program, which I haven’t been able to do all season,” Chen said. “Obviously I made a mistake on the axel, and I’ll have to address that at some point back home. Ultimately, I’m very happy with tonight, and I think I really did my job here.”

The 2018 Winter Olympics are set for February 9-25 in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Watch Chen's performance here:

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