5 Things to Know About Figure Skating Champ and First-Time Olympian Mariah Bell

Figure skating, especially women's figure skating, has always favored younger athletes. That's even more the case these days, with teenagers performing enormous jumps and soaring to championships early in their careers, before retiring at a very young age. It makes Bell's accomplishment that much sweeter: at age 25, she's the oldest national champion in women's singles in nearly a century. At the Olympics, she'll also be the oldest American woman to compete in the singles discipline since 1928.

"I want it to be a known fact that skating doesn't end at a certain age," Bell told "The New York Times" after winning gold at the national championships in January.