Olympic Gold Medal Scott Hamilton Holded back tears on Friday when he remembered the victims of the art skating who died after an American Airlines flight traveling from Development Camp in Kansas to Washington, DC, collided with an army helicopter in Midair late Wednesday night.
The four-time men’s singles world champion spoke lovingly about the victims during a performance On today But called the reality of this week’s tragedy “overwhelming.”
Figure Skater Scott Hamilton from the United States competing in the art skating competition in XIV -Olympic winter games around 1984 in Sarajevo, Bosnia. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
“For this to happen just days after these championships were over, are just devastating, shocking – it just makes no sense … We’re no stranger to tragedy, but this was just out of destruction.”
CLICK HERE for more sports cover at Foxnews.com
Officials have said that 14 skaters, coaches and family members were aboard the American Airlines Flight 5342 when it collided with an UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport, near DC, around 2 p.m. 21 local time.
Many of the victims have been identified including Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, The famous skating coaches who won a World Cup title together in 1994.
World Masters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov from Russia perform a throw during the pair competition in the world’s art skating in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on March 19, 1996. (Dave Buston/the Canadian press via AP, file)
Young Art Skating Easts from Virginia among Victims Killed in DC Aircraft
Hamilton became emotional As he talked about the couple who settled in America to become coaches after their successful careers, culminating with two Olympic performances. He saw them just days before the crash while participating in the American art skating in Kansas.
“I was actually sitting with them for a nice visit to Wichita,” Hamilton remembered Friday. “
“To think they are gone is Um. I can’t wrap my head around the last 36 hours. It has just been devastating and the loss is just without a description. My heart is crushed.”
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov from Russia appear during free skating in the Collar Event in NHK Trophy International Art Skating Competition in Nagoya, Japan, December 9, 1995. AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File
Shishkova and Naumov married in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1995, and they moved to Connecticut. They had a son, Maxim, competing in men’s singles in the United States, he was in Kansas, but did not travel back with his parents. The Russian couple were coaches for the Skating Club of Boston.
60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines aircraft and three soldiers aboard a training flight on the helicopter are believed to have died.
