Elton John congratulates ‘Rocket Man’ Olympic figure skater

nme.com:

Elton John has congratulated an Olympic figure skater whose gold-winning routine was backed by a medley of the legendary singer’s greatest hits.During the men’s singles figure skating competition in Beijing on Thursday (February 10), US skater Nathan Chen danced across the ice to the songs ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Bennie And The Jets’.After impressing judges with five jet-fueled quadruple jumps and a series of gyroscope-like spins, the 22-year-old, three-time world champion wound up taking home the gold that eluded him at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, validating his status as the world’s best male figure skater.“I never thought I would actually be able to make this happen,” Chen said of his win (via The New York Times). “It’s hard.

It’s always been a dream, of course. It’s a pretty daunting mountain.”Besides getting a thumbs up from the judges, Chen also got a shoutout from John, who took to Twitter to congratulate him.“Congratulations @nathanwchen for winning Gold skating to Rocket Man in the free skate finals in Beijing,” John captioned a picture of Chen.Watch @nathanwchen and @HayleyKiyoko appear in the series I exec-produced called ‘From The Top’ for @Olympics & @rocketsportsuk pic.twitter.com/CVGy1MCGps— Elton John (@eltonofficial) February 10, 2022John is currently in the US on his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour, which comes to the UK in April 2023.He was forced to postpone a pair of shows in Dallas last month after he tested positive for COVID-19.“Hi everyone, wanted to send a message to let you know that I have contracted COVID and so have had to reschedule my shows in Dallas,” he wrote in a statement.“If you have tickets, you’ll be contacted with the new dates really soon,” he continued.