Naomi Lang

Naomi Lang
Lang and Tchernyshev at an ice show in 2002
Personal information
Country represented	United States
Born	December 18, 1978 (1978-12-18)
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Partner	Peter Tchernyshev
Former partner	John Lee
Former coach	Nikolai Morozov Tatiana Tarasova Alexander Zhulin Igor Shpilband Elizabeth Coates Natalia Annenko
Skating club	Copper State Skating Club
Medal record Figure skating Ice dancing Competitor for the United States Four Continents Championships Bronze 2003 Beijing Ice dancing Gold 2002 Jeonju Ice dancing Silver 2001 Salt Lake City Ice dancing Gold 2000 Osaka Ice dancing Bronze 1999 Halifax Ice dancing

Naomi Lang (born December 18, 1978 in Arcata, California, U.S.) is an American ice dancer. With partner Peter Tchernyshev, she is the 1999-2003 U.S. national champion.

Biography

Lang is the first Native American female athlete to participate in the Olympic Winter Games. She is a member of the Karuk tribe by her father Jason Lang's heritage. Her mother is Leslie Dixon.

Lang was a ballet dancer in Eureka and trained at the Dancer's Studio. She started to dance at the age of 3 and continued with ballet dancing to the age of 15. She performed with the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Ballet Co. and studied ballet at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy where at the age of 12 she received an award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Ballet'.

Lang started skating when she was eight, after seeing the Ice Capades. She began competitive ice dance with John Lee, winning the 1995 U.S. Novice title and the 1996 U.S. Junior silver medal.

Having noticed her at U.S. Nationals, Peter Tchernyshev wrote her a letter in mid-1996 asking for a tryout. They had a successful tryout in Lake Placid, New York and trained there for nine months with Natalia Dubova; then, due to Lang's homesickness, they moved to Detroit and began training with Igor Shpilband and Elizabeth Coates.

They first won the U.S. Championships in 1999, and won the title the next four years in a row. They also won two Four Continents Championships (2000, 2002) and placed as high as 8th at the World Championships (2000, 2003). They placed 11th at the 2002 Olympics. In addition to being the five-time US National ice dance champions they also were five-time members of the US World Figure Skating Team and performed with Champions on Ice.

In 2000, they moved to New Jersey to train with Alexander Zhulin. After the 2002 World Championships, they switched coaches from Alexander Zhulin to Nikolai Morozov.

The team continued to compete in the 2003 season, but was forced to withdraw at the U.S. Championships due to the re-injury of Lang's Achilles tendon. Soon afterwards they retired from competition. Lang had a daughter, Lillia Ashlee, with Ukrainian ice acrobat Vladimir Besedin in 2004. The couple split soon after the birth, but it is reported they still remain close friends.

Lang and Tchernyshev have continued to skate together professionally and have appeared in several US ice shows since 2005 as well as many of the Disson skating shows televised on NBC and the Hallmark Channel. They have also toured extensively in Europe and Russia and performed in shows as Art on Ice, Kings on Ice with Evgeny Plushenko and renowned composer and violinist Edvin Marton, and the Katarina Witt Farewell Tour. One of the highlights of their skating career was performing at Jim Carrey's private Christmas party in Hollywood where they met and entertained celebrities like Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Brooke Shields, Morgan Freeman, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy to name a few. Lang's story is told in a chapter of the book 'Native Athletes in Action' by Vincent Schilling.

Lang became engaged to coaching partner Mark Fitzgerald at "Fashion on Ice"( in Trenton NJ) on December 1, 2007. Lang and Fitzgerald were married in August 2008 at the Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, New York. Their wedding was attended by many people from the skating world including Shae Lynn Bourne, Timothy Goebel, and Charles Butler (figure skater), with Angela Nikodinov as maid of honor and Peter Tchernyshev as the 'man of honor'. They currently live in Arizona with Naomi's six year old daughter Lillia Ashlee. Naomi gave birth to her second child November 14, 2009, a boy named Mason Daniel.

Results

(ice dance with Jon Lee)

Event	1996
U.S. Championships	2nd J.

(ice dance with Peter Tchernyshev)

Event	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Winter Olympic Games						11th
World Championships			10th	8th	9th	9th	8th
Four Continents Championships			3rd	1st	2nd	1st	3rd
U.S. Championships	5th	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	WD
Skate America		6th	5th	3rd	5th
Skate Canada International		9th
Trophée Eric Bompard				5th
Cup of Russia			5th

External links

• Official site
• Naomi Lang at the International Skating Union
• Care to Ice Dance? - Lang & Tchernyshev