By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — When Maxim Naumov made his figure skating debut at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday, he did so with a beaming smile that lit up the Milan Ice Skating Arena.
The 24-year-old had achieved his life’s ambition, successfully following in his parents’ footsteps by becoming an Olympian, the ultimate achievement and result of years of sacrifice and hard work.
And yet as Naumov fell to his knees and covered his head with his hands at the end of his short program routine, you would be forgiven for thinking the moment might have felt bittersweet.
Just over a year ago, Naumov lost both his parents in a midair plane crash over the Potomac River near Washington, DC. Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were the reason their son fell in love with the sport of figure skating and had coached him towards his dream of representing Team USA at a Winter Games.
And while neither was standing by the side of the rink on Tuesday, cheering their only son on, Naumov said he very much felt them nearby.
“I felt like I was guided by them today, feeling their presence with every glide that I made on the ice,” he told reporters.
“I couldn’t help but feel their support, almost like a chess piece on a chess board, just from one element to another.”
The American has gone through unimaginable heartbreak over the past 12 months as he tries to come to terms with the impossible.
Anyone who has lost a loved one knows how hard it is to go back to your normal routine. Your perspective shifts, you battle to come to terms with a new identity and, deep down, you change irreversibly.
But Naumov has found peace and purpose in doing the hard things that come with recovery and that includes figure skating.
“Lacing up those skates for the first time was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life,” Naumov told CNN Sports’ Coy Wire before heading to the Games.
“I just want to show everybody the value of resilience in our family, never giving up, pushing and gritting your teeth and fighting tooth and nail for every single thing that you possibly can.
“That’s how I was raised and I want people to know that I want to be an example for those other people that might be going through something.”
‘We did it together’
His raw and soul-baring performance earned Naumov a season-best score of 85.65, leaving him 14th on the leaderboard. He will go again on Friday in the free skating section of the event, which will ultimately decide where the medals will go.
But it was obvious to anyone inside the arena on Tuesday that Naumov’s performance was about more than points – he said as much himself.
For once, the hunt for medals wasn’t important; just his ability to compete at the highest level is worth more than any amount of gold.
That was clear when the words “Mom, Dad, this is for you” appeared on the big screens inside the stadium just before his routine began, and when he held up a childhood photo of them as he awaited his score. It’s a photo he keeps, quite literally, close to his heart and one that reminds him that he’ll never be alone.
“I finished on m