Emmy Ma (born January 19, 2001) is a

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Califo ...

former competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. Representing

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

, she is the 2021 International Challenge Cup silver medalist and 2019 Taiwanese national champion. Earlier in her career, representing the United States, she won bronze at 2017 JGP Latvia and placed 19th at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Emmy Ma was born on January 19, 2001, in Manhasset, New York. She has an older brother, Edward, and older sister, Emily. She plays violin for New England Conservatory's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. As of 2019, Ma is a student at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. She has spoken about dealing with an

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...

, citing fellow skaters Gabrielle Daleman and

Gracie Gold Grace Elizabeth Gold (born August 17, 1995), known as Gracie Gold, is an American figure skater. She is a 2014 Olympic team event bronze medalist, the 2014 NHK Trophy champion, the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard champion, and a two-time U.S. nati ...

's openness about their own struggles as a reason to come forward.

Career

Ma began learning to skate in 2007. She won a pewter medal in the junior ladies' event at the 2017 U.S. Championships.

For the United States

Ma won bronze at the

ISU Junior Grand Prix in Latvia The ISU Junior Grand Prix in Latvia (sometimes titled the Volvo Cup) is an international figure skating competition. Sanctioned by the International Skating Union, it is held in the autumn in some years as part of the JGP series. Medals may be awar ...

in September 2017. Making her senior international debut, she placed fifth at the

2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb was the 50th edition of the annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom sportova on December 2017 as part of the 2017–18 ISU Challenger Series. ...

in December. In March, she competed at the 2018 World Junior Championships in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Bulgaria. She qualified to the final segment and finished 19th overall. Competing in the senior ranks, Ma placed 16th at the 2018 U.S. Championships and 9th at the 2019 U.S. Championships. She switched to represent

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

from the 2019–20 season.

For Taiwan

Ma won the 2019–20 Taiwanese national title, but did not compete internationally for Chinese Taipei. During the 2020–21 season, she did not travel to Taiwan for the 2020–21 Taiwanese Championships due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Ma was set to make her international debut for Taiwan at the 2020 CS Cup of Tyrol, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. She made her debut at the 2021

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

where she won a silver medal. She placed second in the short and third in the free skate. This earned her her minimums for the

2021 World Championships 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, where she placed twenty-ninth.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

For Chinese Taipei

For the United States

Detailed results

For Chinese Taipei

For the United States

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Emmy 2001 births Living people Sportspeople from Manhasset, New York Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts American female single skaters Taiwanese female single skaters American sportspeople of Taiwanese descent 21st-century American sportswomen