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Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris of Irvine and Long Beach, Calif., finished third at the U.S. Championships and fifth at Four Continents |
Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris
Birth Date July 6, 1985 and December 20, 1982 |
| Hometown Irvine, California and Long Beach, California |
| Training Town Artesia, California |
| Home Club All Year FSC and Los Angeles FSC |
| Coaches Peter Oppegard, Karen Kwan-Oppegard |
| Choreographer Peter Oppegard |
Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris improved two spots between their first and second U.S. Championships. In their first season together, the Southern California based skaters finished fifth at the 2006 U.S. Championships and third at the event in 2007.
Now they want to improve two spots again. The 2006 Skate America bronze medalists are aiming to win their first U.S. Championship in St. Paul, Minn., and then compete at their first World Championship.
But skating to the top of the podium will not be easy for Nam and Leftheris. In August, Nam had surgery on her right hip at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colo., by Dr. Marc Phillipon, who also did her first hip surgery in 2001.
"It was kind of difficult to decide if I should have surgery or skate out the season and wait until the end,” Nam said in a September journal entry. "I was in a rollercoaster of pain for about three months and with the doc's encouragement decided to go and get the surgery done now instead of waiting a whole year with the possibility of getting worse."
The pair withdrew from both Skate America in October and Cup of China in November. But the pair did not go the whole season without gold, silver or bronze—Nam received two "beautiful silver crutches that must be worn for eight weeks total," she said.
Nam and Leftheris last competed when they finished sixth at the Four Continents Championship in February. Almost a year later in St. Paul, they will skate to Piano Fantasy by Aaron Copland for the short program and Liebestraum by Franz Liszt for their free skate.
Off the ice, Nam and Leftheris are good friends who enjoy watching the cartoon television show Family Guy—something Leftheris said he is “obsessed” with. The pair has matching slippers of the Family Guy character Stewie.
For more information on Nam and Leftheris, visit figureskatersonline.com/nam-leftheris/.
Figure Skaters Online's Guide to the 2008 U.S. Championships is
written and produced by Figure Skaters Online in cooperation with the athletes and staff.
Photographs are courtesy of Leah Adams unless otherwise noted.