Hi everyone!
I hope it's okay to post this here. I've been a fan of Yuzuru since around 2018 and have been a lurker here for about a year.
This Olympics has been emotionally exhausting as I'm sure a lot of you relate to, but it reminded me why I admire Yuzuru Hanyu so much.
I'm a college student in the US and have been dealing with my own struggles with the pressure of living up to expectations in an academic setting. I was watching Yuzu's short program live and after the 4S, I was in shock. I couldn't believe that this had happened to him and honestly I felt pretty devastated. The kind of pressure on him here was insane and I don't know how I would have reacted had such a thing happened to me. My heart went out to him, but the way he responded to the situation really spoke to me and reminded me of why he is so inspiring as a person.
He didn't panic, skated beautifully for the rest of the performance and was calm and collected as he got off the ice. The way he handled the media and the rest of the event was no different.
His resilience in the free skate was no less inspiring. I think he made a good choice to go for the 4A even if people think it potentially cost him a medal. He remained true to himself and what he believed in and performed his best 4A yet (with an injury!). In a way, I think his fourth place finish further proved how much of an impact he has. To me, Yuzu was able to prove here that figure skating is not really about the medals. I know he inspires me just by who he is as a person on-or-off the ice.
A lot of what Yuzu has gone through at this Olympics has spoken to parts of my own life which has given me a lot to think about this week. I hope I can act like him moving forward with my own struggles.
Also, just kind of an interesting side note:
I live in NC's hometown, SLC and I haven't heard a single person talk about his gold medal. I also literally live 5 minutes away from the Olympic torch from 2002, so the Olympics are usually a big deal here (I'm kind of ashamed to say that this gives me a little bit of bitter satisfaction).
Just goes to show NC will never have the cultural impact Yuzuru has, no matter how many gold medals he wins.
