Naomi Lang

Naomi Lang
Lang and Tchernyshev at an ice show in 2002
Personal information
Country represented	United States
Born	(1978-12-18) December 18, 1978 (age 38)
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Partner	Peter Tchernyshev
Former partner	John Lee
Former coach	Nikolai Morozov, Tatiana Tarasova, Alexander Zhulin, Igor Shpilband, Elizabeth Coates, Natalia Annenko
Skating club	Copper State Skating Club
Medal record Figure skating: Ice dancing Representing the  United States Four Continents Championships 2003 Beijing Ice dancing 2002 Jeonju Ice dancing 2001 Salt Lake City Ice dancing 2000 Osaka Ice dancing 1999 Halifax Ice dancing

Naomi Lang (born December 18, 1978) is an American ice dancer. With skating partner Peter Tchernyshev, she is a two-time (2000 and 2002) Four Continents champion, a five-time (1999–2003) U.S. national champion, and competed at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Lang is the first Native American female athlete to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Naomi Lang was born in Arcata, California to Leslie Dixon and Jason Lang, a member of the Karuk tribe. She started to dance at the age of three and continued with ballet dancing to the age of 15, training at the Dancer's Studio. She performed with the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Ballet Co. and studied ballet at the Interlochen Arts Academy where at the age of 12 she received an award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Ballet'.

In 2004, Lang had a daughter, Lillia Ashlee, with Ukrainian ice acrobat Vladimir Besedin. She married American ice dancer Mark Fitzgerald in August 2008 in Tarrytown, New York. She gave birth to a son, Mason Daniel, on November 14, 2009, and a second daughter, Madelyn Christina, on August 15, 2013. The family lives in Arizona.

Lang started skating when she was eight, after seeing the Ice Capades. She began competitive ice dance with John Lee, winning the 1995 U.S. Novice title and the 1996 U.S. Junior silver medal.

Having noticed her at U.S. Nationals, Peter Tchernyshev wrote her a letter in mid-1996 asking for a tryout. They had a successful tryout in Lake Placid, New York and trained there for nine months with Natalia Dubova; then, due to Lang's homesickness, they moved to Detroit and began training with Igor Shpilband and Elizabeth Coates.