(NEXSTAR) — The Skating Club of Boston and alumni, including Nancy Kerrigan, joined the media to mourn the loss of members and their families aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night.
“We came here because we needed to be together. We’re family and it’s a community. And the skaters and the people who were on that plane, they’re our family too,” Dr. Tenley Alrbight, first U.S. Olympic champion, said.
World champion coaches from Boston were among the 14 members of the skating community killed when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River.
“I feel for the athletes and skaters and their families and anyone who was on that plane, not just the skaters,” Kerrigan said through tears. “We’ve been through tragedies before as Americans, as people, and we’re strong.”
Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with their mothers, and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, said Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, during a Thursday news conference.
Han and Lane were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Jinna, about 15 years old, and Spencer, about 16, were traveling with their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, Zeghibe said.
Shishkova and Naumov were also on board the flight. They won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russia-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics.
The Skating Club of Boston lists them as coaches. Their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S. and was not on board the flight.
“This will have long reaching impacts for our community,” Zeghibe said, visibly emotional.
It’s not the first air tragedy in the U.S. figure skating community. The 18-member U.S. team that was set to compete in the world championships at Prague died when Sabena Flight 548 crashed on Feb. 15, 1961, in Berg-Kampenhout, about 45 minutes outside of Brussels. Also killed were six U.S. coaches and four skating officials, along with some family members.
“Skating is a very close and tight-knit community. These kids and their parents, they’re here at our facility in Norwood, six, sometimes seven days a week. It’s a close, tight bond,” Zeghibe said. “This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community.”