[2022.10] International Figure Skating: Yuzuru Hanyu, An Icon Leaves the Competitive Stage

[yuzurujenn]

*For archive purposes*

 

 

Source: International Figure Skating magazine, October 2022 issue, pg 22-33
Partial read: https://www.everand.com/article/589674547/Yuzuru-Hanyu-Leaves-The-Competitive-Stage

Info: https://ifsmagazines.com/ifs-october-2022/

 

 

END OF AN ERA: YUZURU HANYU LEAVES THE COMPETITIVE STAGE

 

It was an announcement that took few by surprise. But with Yuzuru Hanyu moving into the professional world, a memorable era in the sport has come to an end. We look back at his distinguished career, one that saw the Japanese superstar rewrite figure skating history every step of the way. by Susan. D. Russell

 

Spoiler

When figure skaters retire it rarely draws the attention of anyone in the international press beyond those who cover the sport. But, as a testament to the respect and admiration afforded Yuzuru Hanyu throughout his long and illustrious career, his decision to leave the amateur ranks was reported by major networks and newspapers around the globe.

 

  As he addressed the 150 invited media outlets at a press conference on July 19, Hanyu stated he felt “no sadness” about his decision to step away from the amateur stage.

 

  “I’m no longer confined to the realm of competitions. In terms of results, I’ve achieved everything I could achieve — I have already won everything I want to win. I stopped wanting to be evaluated.”

 

  Four years earlier, following his historic triumph at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Hanyu had considered turning professional, but, for his own reasons, chose to continue competing.

 

  At the time, the Four Continents Championships was the only title missing from his impressive résumé, which might have factored into his decision.

 

  Following a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games — the final outing of his competitive career — Hanyu said he needed time to consider his options, noting that he “had nothing more to give.”

 

  Known for his love of competing, leaving the amateur ranks was perhaps not so much by choice, but rather necessity. The Japanese superstar had been plagued by ankle injuries for years which, at times, had prevented him from showing his best.

 

  Such was the case at the Games in Beijing where he competed the long program on an injured right ankle.

 

  “When I got home after the Beijing Olympics, I couldn’t skate because of the pain in my ankle. I thought about it (turning professional) a lot when my right foot hurt so much,” the 27-year-old admitted.

 

  “I thought that maybe competing wasn’t necessary anymore and that I don’t need to be on this stage forever.

 

  “At the Beijing Olympics, I did not make it to the top, but I think it was a place where I could keep pursuing my dreams and keep on fighting.

 

  “To be Yuzuru Hanyu is sometimes a burden. I always want everything to be perfect, and I always want to be better. That puts a lot of pressure on me.

 

  “I carried on until Beijing in pursuit of the quad Axel, but I feel I can do it not necessarily in competitions. I actually feel this offers a chance for more people to witness it."

 

 

INSPIRED LEGACY

 

Admire him or not, the influence Hanyu quietly exerted over the world of figure skating throughout the past eight years cannot be denied.

 

  Not only did legions of fans from around the globe fall in love with the sport because of him, their financial investment has also been a lucrative source of income for host nations whenever he was in the lineup, with many thousands of fans flocking to competitions each year, and those events selling out within hours of tickets going on sale. The ISU also reaped financial rewards from his participation, particularly through the sale of television rights.

 

  Hanyu could fill a competition venue like no other skater on the planet. Those who contested the same events as the Japanese star also benefitted from his presence. Every skater will tell you there is nothing like performing in front of a full house, and if Hanyu was in it, it was pretty much a guarantee there would not be an empty seat.

 

  The size of Hanyu’s global fan base is also a testament to his popularity. A rarity in the modern world, he had no social media channels to promote himself or his brand, despite the fact he could have made millions of dollars in doing so. But he didn’t need to — his fans did it for him.

 

  That was confirmed when, three weeks after his announcement, Hanyu’s management company opened a YouTube channel to showcase his skating. Within 24 hours it had amassed a following of over 500,000, and the very first video posted of a two-hour practice session garnered over two million views.

 

  His accomplishments on the competitive circuit are in a league of their own. In 12 seasons at the senior level, Hanyu set 19 World records, became the first skater to break the 100, 200, and 300-point barriers, and was the first male singles skater to win every major title and complete the so called “Super Slam.”

 

  Throughout his career, Hanyu continually set new standards for men’s figure skating, always pushing the envelope technically and raising the bar that others ultimately aspired to reach. He was the first skater to ever land a quad loop in competition, as well as the difficult quad toe-triple Axel and quad toe-triple flip combinations — all ratified.

 

  Hanyu always credited the two skating idols he looked up to in his younger days — Evgeni Plushenko and Johnny Weir — as the catalysts for his ability to blend the technical and artistic sides of his skating. That combination made Hanyu one of the most well-rounded athletes in figure skating history.

 

  His former coach Brian Orser, himself a World champion and two-time Olympic medalist, believes Hanyu is the “greatest skater of all time.” What Hanyu brought to the sport in his 12-year senior career is unlikely to be equaled or surpassed for many years to come, and his contributions to the development of figure skating — technically and artistically—could never be overstated.

 

 

A CHAMPION EMERGES

 

"My goals for the future are to land all quad jumps in competition. I would also like to learn the quad axel." - Yuzuru Hanyu 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy

 

Hanyu might never have started skating if it had not been for coach Mami Yamada, who suggested he don a pair of skates “instead of being a nuisance” during his sister’s training.

 

  From his first season in the junior ranks, Hanyu started writing his own historical catalogue.

 

  Following a fifth-place finish in his international debut at a 2008 Junior Grand Prix event in Italy, Hanyu won the All Japan Junior title at age 13, becoming the youngest champion in his nation’s history.

 

  The following season marked the beginning of a dominant year-long reign in the junior ranks. Hanyu won both his Grand Prix competitions, and qualified first for — and won —the Junior Grand Prix Final. A few months later, after claiming a second consecutive national junior title, the 15-year-old stood atop the World Junior podium.

 

  Like so many others, he initially struggled to find his groove when he moved into the senior ranks. In the 2010- 2011 season, he managed just one podium finish (silver) at 2011 Four Continents.

 

  Weeks later, a catastrophic tsunami hit Japan. When the pipes burst at the ice arena in Sendai, putting it out of commission for four months, Hanyu travelled to other cities such as Hachinohe — a three-hour drive from his hometown — to continue training.

 

  His ability to rise above challenges, which we all witnessed so many times throughout his career, was evident from the beginning.

 

  In the fall of 2011, just six months after his traumatic experience, he scored his first major international victory at Nebelhorn Trophy, winning the event by a double-digit margin over Michal Březina of the Czech Republic.

 

  But that was just the beginning for the Japanese teenager, who already had much higher aspirations.

 

  “My goals for the future are to land all quad jumps in competition. I would also like to learn the quad Axel.” said Hanyu.

 

  “Another goal is to win the next two Olympics, or at least win medals.”

 

  That season, he achieved both major goals he had set: Qualifying for the Grand Prix Final, where he finished fourth, and earning a place on the 2012 World team.

 

At the Championships in Nice, France, Hanyu once again showed true grit when he captured bronze while competing on a sprained right ankle.

 

  That season also marked the start of a fan base that would grow exponentially as his career progressed.

 

  Hanyu’s decision to move to Toronto, Canada, in the spring of 2012 to train with Orser set the wheels in motion for what would become one of the most successful careers in skating history.

 

Under the guidance of Orser and his team, Hanyu flourished in every aspect of his skating, and training alongside Spain’s Javier Fernández was a definite asset when it came to mastering consistent quad jumps.

 

  That year also marked the beginning of a rivalry with Fernández that would play out over the next six years.

 

  The Toronto coaching team knew they had a raw talent on their hands in Hanyu, but as he was “a little bit of a loose cannon” at the time — according to Orser — they structured his training with a set plan for his daily routine.

 

  That paid off almost immediately, with their student landing on the podium at all but one event he contested in the 2012-2013 season.

 

  However, at the time, Hanyu was far from being the star he was destined to become. Orser will never forget the first time he accompanied Hanyu to the All Japan Championships in December 2012.

 

  “I remember the first year when we went to nationals and Yuzuru beat Daisuke Takahashi, who had all the fan support. It was upsetting because the fans made it very clear they were unhappy that Yuzu beat Daisuke,” Orser recalled.

 

  “When he went out to get his medal, they were booing him. Even some of the officials were upset that this had happened. Yuzu was very upset, but I told him, ‘They will come around. Just give it some time and they will come your way.’”

 

 

A STAR ON THE RISE

 

"It was incredible when he smashed those records. The sky is the limit for Yuzuru." — Shae-Lynn Bourne

 

On the heels of that successful season, Hanyu went from being a relatively unknown skater on the rise to a potential contender for a step on the 2014 Olympic podium, with many believing he could claim the crown in Sochi, Russia.

 

  That prediction proved correct. Hanyu chose the biggest stage on the planet to rewrite history by becoming the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short program (101.45) and ultimately claiming the 2014 Olympic title — albeit not with the best long program performance he had ever given.

 

  With that victory, Hanyu became the first Asian male figure skater to ever win an Olympic crown. From that moment on, his life would never be the same.

 

  A month later, he claimed his first World title by the slimmest of margins — 0.33 of a point — over his teammate Tatsuki Machida.

 

  The 2014-2015 season was a rocky one, likely not among Hanyu’s fondest memories. Scheduled to open his campaign in early October at Finlandia Trophy, an ankle injury scuttled that plan.

 

  A month later, a frightening collision with China’s Han Yan during the free skate warm up at Cup of China left Hanyu with a contusion to his head, and a laceration to his chin that required stitches.

 

  Though Orser told him this was “no time to be a hero,” Hanyu insisted on competing the free. Obviously not at his best with five falls, he finished a distant second to a much lower-ranked skater.

 

  Two weeks later, without any fanfare, he arrived in Osaka to contest his second Grand Prix event, NHK Trophy.

 

  Still haunted by the collision, Hanyu said there were times he thought about giving up when he first got back on the ice. “In some ways, it’s a little short of a miracle that I’m here now,” he said following a fourth-place finish.

 

  However, his placements were enough to qualify for the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, which he won over Fernández. Two weeks later he claimed his third senior national title — and then underwent surgery for a bladder infection.

 

  Just weeks prior to the 2015 World Championships, Hanyu suffered another ankle injury. The Japanese star finished second to Fernández in Shanghai, China, but the fire in Hanyu was obvious when he stated at the press conference that he was “happy for Javi, but I want to win.”

 

  Orser described it as a challenging year where Hanyu “was always behind the eight ball. It was post-Olympics and that is always hard; there were a lot of expectations.”

 

  Those Championships also ushered in the era of Winnie the Pooh bears. From then on, fans religiously tossed dozens of the stuffed animals onto the ice at the end of his performances, a source of amusement for many and annoyance for others.

 

  His first competition the following season, 2015 Autumn Classic International, which took place in Barrie, Ontario, a 45-minute drive from his Toronto home, was an eye opener for the skating world — not only because of what transpired on the ice, but also what happened outside the venue.

 

  Busloads of Japanese fans, along with a horde of international media, had flown in for the two-day Challenger Series competition. Many of the fans opted not to book hotel rooms, instead camping overnight in a lineup outside the arena to ensure they got the best seats the following day.

 

  The sheer number of people caused the local police force to attend at the venue in the middle of the night, but as the fans were not causing any problems, they were allowed to remain.

 

  While that scenario is typical for rock stars and Hollywood icons, it was one that the world of figure skating had never previously experienced. It marked the beginning of a new phenomenon with Hanyu developing “rock star” status in Japan, and a global fan base that followed his every move, hung on his every word, and traveled to every competition he attended.

 

  After Hanyu finished second to Patrick Chan at his first Grand Prix event in 2015, Skate Canada International, Orser felt he needed to lay down some guidelines to get his student back on track.

 

  “Before Skate Canada, Yuzu and I were kind of butting heads a little bit about the order of elements and other things,” Orser explained. “I really had to put my foot down and get some things changed.”

 

  Those changes paid off at his next competition, NHK Trophy, where Hanyu finally put it all together, setting new World records in the short and long programs and the combined total. But it was his jaw-dropping free skate that set the skating world buzzing — and not solely because of his technical content. His artistic presentation, which was far superior to anything he had delivered in the past, took men’s skating to a new level.

 

  With a long program score of 216.07, Hanyu became the first man to crack the 200-point barrier, and his combined total of 322.40 marked the first time anyone had scored over 300 points.

 

  Many wondered if he had hit his peak heading into the 2015 Grand Prix Final, but it took less than 10 minutes for that thought to be put to rest, with Hanyu once again crushing his trio of World records.

 

  With his victory over Fernández, Hanyu became the first skater in history to win three consecutive Grand Prix Final crowns.

 

  “He was so emotional when the marks came up. He was overwhelmed — it was pretty overwhelming for everyone,” Orser recalled. “I think Yuzuru is the Torvill and Dean of men’s skating.”

 

  Shae-Lynn Bourne, who choreographed Hanyu’s long program that season and had watched the competition online, was also in awe. “It was incredible when he smashed those records. I wish I could have seen it in person,” she said. “It will be something he will be forever remembered for. The sky is the limit for Yuzuru.”

 

  With six World records in just two weeks, he was at the top of his game. “I always want to perform my best and be number one. All I need to do is skate like I know I can,” said Hanyu, who earned a total of 24 perfect 10.00s for program components at the Final.

 

  After closing out 2015 by capturing a fourth national title, Hanyu’s quest for a second World crown in Boston in March was, for a second consecutive year, thwarted by Fernández.

 

  The following season Hanyu had four quads planned in his long program, but when he landed only two at his first Grand Prix event, Orser lamented that his student had performed a “skeleton of the choreography of his programs.” Hanyu’s argument was that if he did not nail the jumps, “the program itself falls apart. We had a difference of opinion,” he admitted. “I told Brian, ‘I can’t have the total package unless I can land the jumps.’

 

  “I was originally attracted to figure skating because I could enjoy these inordinate, unrealistic feelings. I can use my body on the ice in a way that is unthinkable in normal life. When I jump, I feel the wind and I love it."

 

  “It is exciting to challenge difficult elements and be successful. It makes me happy, and it makes other people happy, too.”

 

  That December, Hanyu made history once again when he captured his fourth Grand Prix Final title in Marseille, France, the last one of his career.

 

  In March 2017, Hanyu and Fernández continued their battle royale at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, with Hanyu coming out on top to win his second global crown.

 

  He opened his 2017-2018 campaign in front of a sold-out audience at what had become his regular pre-season opener, Autumn Classic International.

 

  After smashing his short program World record, Hanyu said he felt he had “improved a lot” and knew that if he delivered a good program the judges would give him high scores.

 

  That was not the case in the free. Hanyu later admitted he completely lost his focus after popping the first planned quad Lutz. “That seems to be the constant theme to overcome in my skating life — the big gaps between my good performances and my bad performances.”

 

  That, along with other technical errors, left him in second behind Fernández.

 

  A similar scenario played out at his first Grand Prix competition, Rostelecom Cup, where Hanyu experienced his first loss to the young American Nathan Chen as a result of technical errors in his short program.

 

  A week before his second assignment, NHK Trophy, Hanyu suffered a lateral ligament injury to his right ankle while practicing a quad Lutz, which forced him to withdraw from the competition, crushing any hope of winning a fifth Grand Prix Final title.

 

  He later withdrew from Japanese nationals, but as the reigning Olympic champion he was given a place on the 2018 Olympic team. After being off the ice for two months, Hanyu returned to training in January to prepare for his second Winter Games campaign.

 

  Heading into PyeongChang with no competitions under his belt since November 2017, it was unknown what condition Hanyu would be in or how he would fare.

 

  Fernández had no doubt Hanyu was ready and would bring his A game. “He is an amazing skater and I know if he skates good, it’s very hard to beat him.”

 

  Those words proved prophetic. It took just two minutes and 40 seconds in the short program to erase all doubts and questions about what shape the then 23-year-old Hanyu was in after he won the segment by 4.10 points over Fernández, who sat in second.

 

  Leading up to the Games, Chen was touted by many to be Hanyu’s main challenger in PyeongChang. That prediction was quickly shot down when the young American finished a distant 17th in the short program. Though he won the free skate — solely due to the jumps he landed — it was impossible for Chen to make up the point difference to overtake Hanyu.

 

  Against all odds, the Japanese icon had once again risen to the occasion to capture a second consecutive Olympic title, the first man in 66 years to achieve the feat. Hanyu was overwhelmed.“ This is the best day of my skating life! I am indeed very happy to win the gold medal.”

 

  Due to his lingering ankle injury, he did not contest the subsequent World Championships, the first time he had missed the competition in seven seasons.

 

  Later that year, he became the youngest recipient of the Japanese government’s People’s Honor Award for “giving dreams and thrills to the people and hope and courage to society,” which was awarded by then prime minister Shinzo Abe.

 

  In October 2018, Hanyu wrote another chapter in skating history when he landed the first quad toe loop-triple Axel combination in his long program at his first Grand Prix event in Finland.

 

  But exactly one year and eight days after Hanyu suffered his pre-Olympic injury, he took a hard fall on a quad loop during a practice session at his second event in Russia, twisting his right ankle.

 

  Despite the injury — which he and his team kept secret — Hanyu soldiered on. Though he won the event, it was not his finest hour, with a mystifying performance marred by technical errors and jumps randomly inserted to replace the planned content.

 

  When Hanyu came out for the medal ceremony on crutches, the mystery was solved — he had suffered yet another ankle injury. Ultimately, it forced him to withdraw from the Grand Prix Final, an event for which he had again qualified first.

 

  With the retirement of Fernández following the 2019 European Championships, the beginning of a new rivalry emerged two months later at Worlds — this one between Hanyu and Chen, with the American teenager scoring a runaway victory in Saitama, Japan.

 

  “I would really like to have skated without making any mistakes. Seeing scores like that really makes me think I’m uncool,” said an obviously disappointed Hanyu.

 

  Long before he was even confirmed to compete at 2019 Autumn Classic International, fans of the Japanese superstar had scooped up every available ticket.

 

  That season, Hanyu won both his Grand Prix events but finished second to Chen at the Final in Torino, Italy.

 

  With the Four Continents title the only one missing from his collection. of Championship accomplishments, Hanyu headed to Seoul, South Korea in February 2020 with the goal of remedying that situation.

 

  In his fourth appearance at the competition in nine years, Hanyu was untouchable, laying down two mesmerizing performances, fulfilling not only his immediate goal but also becoming the first male skater to complete the “Super Slam” by winning all the major titles.

 

  As Hanyu was about to exit the ice amid the Pooh bears raining down from the stands, he stopped and started helping to collect them.

 

  “I was a flower kid in my hometown when I was 12 or 13 years old. It was a first experience for me today and I felt like a child again,” he explained.

 

  With the COVID-19 pandemic raging around the globe and the 2020 World Championships canceled, Hanyu returned to Japan. He would not grace an international stage for the next 13 months.

 

  In his time away from competition, he completed his post-secondary studies, graduating from the School of Human Sciences at Japan’s Waseda University in September.

 

  Hanyu won his fifth national title in December 2020 and three months later finished third at the World Championships, helping secure three spots for Japanese men at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

 

  When international skating competitions got back on track in the fall of 2021, Hanyu was assigned to NHK Trophy and Rostelecom Cup, but a week before his first event he suffered yet another right ankle injury following a hard fall on an attempted quad Axel, which forced him to withdraw from both.

 

  With no byes being handed out by the Japan Skating Federation, Hanyu had to compete at nationals that December to earn a place on the 2022 Olympic team.

 

 It came as no surprise to many that the skating star rose to the occasion, winning both the short and long programs to claim a sixth national title in a runaway victory, automatically earning a place on the team that would compete in Beijing.

 

  Heading into the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Hanyu’s focus was not on winning a third title, but on executing a jump no one else had ever dared to try in competition.

 

  Though he did not achieve his goal of a clean landing, he was satisfied with his quad Axel attempt.

 

 Hanyu later revealed he had injured his right ankle in a practice session the day before the free skate while attempting the elusive jump.

 

  Ultimately, he paid the price for his historical leap. For the second time in five years, Hanyu was forced to withdraw from a World Championships due to injury.

 

 

NEW ERA UNFOLDS

 

At his final press conference in July, Hanyu explained that not being able to skate due to his injury had given him a lot of time to think about his present and his future, and he ultimately decided it was time to move on from the competitive circuit.

 

  “I don’t like the word ‘retire’ so I don’t want to say this word very much. For me it is not an ending, but a beginning,” he explained.

 

  “I no longer need to be on the same stage, while also feeling more determined to get better and stronger. What I do want is to remain someone who continues to work hard toward dreams and goals.

 

  “If I break away from the framework of competition, I can let people see more things I want to show.

 

  "It is almost like a regular thing for those who are 23 or 24 to hit a brick wall. I was 23 at the PyeongChang Games but have managed to develop significantly up until this moment, including my jumping skills. I think I’m at my best now.

 

  “As a professional skater I will no longer be compared with other competitors, but I want to keep fighting and go to an even higher stage. I hope to work as hard as ever so everyone can see that even though I am no longer an athlete, I have not relaxed.

 

  “Ice shows tend to be considered elegant and fun, but I want to remain more of an athlete. I want people to see me as I continue to fight. I am filled with a sense of resolve and hope.

 

  “I want to devote all my strength and all my nerves to each performance, and in that way, I want to do my best so people will want to keep supporting Hanyu as they know him.

 

  “I think I can take figure skating to different places in different ways now.

 

  “To everyone who supported me in my competitive career, I truly can’t thank you enough. I’ll treasure the sporting value of figure skating while pursuing my ideals as a professional athlete.

 

  “This is not the end, but I am drawing a line. From here on, I’d like to continue to push the limits to evolve and grow further.”

 

  Hanyu also intends to continue training the quad Axel, an element he especially hopes to eventually land in front of a live audience.

  His immediate plan is to produce his own show, which might possibly take place later this year in Japan.

 

  “I think there are more ways to exhibit figure skating befitting this time and age. I hope to make the fans who never came to watch want to come.”

 

[yuzurujenn]

COACHES REFLECTIONS

 

Brian Orser

Spoiler

-Were you surprised that Yuzuru decided to leave the competitive arena?

I don’t know if I was surprised. I was feeling that maybe after the 2022 Olympics he might re-evaluate what he was doing. I got a call the night before, so I knew what was going on.
In my opinion, he has done everything you could possibly do in the sport. Now he is shifting gears. He still wants to contribute in a very athletic way, but now we are not going to see him at these eligible competitions, which will be unusual. But he has done everything.

-What part do you think injuries played in his decision?

He always wanted to move the sport forward but was always injuring himself whenever he was working on a new technical element. The injury before PyeongChang (in 2018) was on a quad Lutz and this time it was on a quad Axel.
He keeps striving to be better. That is just the way he is. In his eyes, being better is technically advancing the sport. He advanced it in other ways, as we have all seen, which was amazing, but he equally tried to do it on the technical side.

-When do you feel he made the transition from skater to artist?

A couple of months before the 2014 Games it seemed like he shifted gears. We were looking at Patrick Chan as our competition and asking, “how do we beat him?” It was not going to be just the technical stuff; there was also something fabulous about Patrick’s skating. We had to beat him at his own game.
After Sochi, things started happening pretty quickly in the areas he needed to improve, but technically he was pretty sound.

-What are your fondest memories of working with him?

We worked together for over 10 years and every season had something that is a great memory for me, like when he went over 300 for the first time at 2015 NHK Trophy, all the moments here at the club.
We had a lot of big ones and a lot of bad ones. Our journey was up and down. The camaraderie he had with Javier (Fernández) was pretty special, and that made me very proud.
Then of course, the Olympics in 2018 was incredible given what he had to overcome.
And his charisma shone through all of that. All of his top competitors — the Javi’s of the world, Nathan Chen — I believe they all really looked up to him.
You could not help but be in awe when you were around him. I was in awe. He would be at a practice session and do one of those crazy awesome things — triple Axels out of nowhere and I would just shake my head. It was pretty spectacular.
It will be a while before we see another Yuzuru. He is incredible.

-How do you think his absence will impact competitive figure skating going forward?

It is a cliché, but he really is the greatest of all time. I have used this term many times, but he was a skater’s skater. When your peers are your biggest fans, then you know you have really made a huge mark.
He has millions of fans, but he also has coaches who are big, big fans. And all the people that he competed against were proud just to be in the same era as him. There is going to be a void. Skating needs a new star but there will never be another one like him, that is for sure.

 

 

Ghislain Briand

Spoiler

-Did you know in advance that Yuzuru Hanyu was going to leave the amateur ranks?

Yes. He texted me about three days before, telling me what his plan was. We talked about it and the only thing I asked him was, “Are you feeling good about your decision? Are you at peace with that decision? If you are, then I am happy.”

-When did you start working with Yuzuru and what was it like training such a talent?
A couple of months after the Sochi Olympics. Brian was going away, and he needed someone to look after him and make sure that he was doing his stuff. That is how I first started working with Yuzuru.
The connection between us was there right away. After that, Yuzuru wanted to work with me so that is how our collaboration grew.
After I finished working with Elvis Stojko, I said to myself that I would never have the opportunity to work with another athlete with that much talent, dedication and passion.
But, when I started working with Yuzuru, it was a totally different game. He and Elvis were very similar — they went for excellence all the time. Yuzuru is a special individual. He is fantastic.

-Do you think his ankle injury played a role in his decision?

I don’t know, but if you think about the long-term journey, then yes, probably. I would assume his ankle injury probably factored into his decision.
Yuzuru’s injury before PyeongChang was a bad one and that has been ongoing. In that way, I am not surprised he retired from competitive skating. I know he is doing a lot of stuff, but he is still not 100 percent.
Yuzuru wants to keep jumping, but now he is not going to have the pressure to be the best in the world — now he is going to have the pressure to be the best entertainer in the professional world, which is going to be new for him. So, it is a different challenge.

-What do you think Yuzuru’s greatest legacy will be?

The example of him putting a gold medal on hold to attempt landing a quad Axel. He could easily have said, “OK, I just need to do this, and I have a good shot to win,” but for him it was not acceptable just to go safe. Yuzuru was always like that. He did not want to play it safe; he wanted to be the best of the best and be the first one to do new things.
Without Yuzuru, we would not have a Nathan Chen going for five or six quads and it will continue like that. What he gave to the sport is a standard of excellence, to never be satisfied with what you have already accomplished. You need to push your limits and that is what Yuzuru did.

-What do you think drove him to always be his best?

It is his nature, the way he is. The more you are good, the more you appreciate it, and the more you want to be good. It is kind of a vicious circle of excellence. That is how we get individuals to push the limits of everything.
As a coach, my job is to push my skater as close as possible to the edge of a cliff without falling over it. If you have your feet solidly on the ground it always feels safe, and you are not pushing any limits. Of course, sometimes it is a little difficult to put everything on the line.
But that is what Yuzuru did at the last Olympics. It is hard for a normal person to understand but he had already won everything. He could have been a three-time Olympic champion, but he told me way before the Games that his goal was to land a quad Axel. And it still is today.
He said, “If I am going to the Olympics, it is to land my quad Axel.”
Other people would say, “Oh my God. If I am going to the Olympics, I want to win a medal.” Of course, unconsciously you want a medal, but that was not his goal.
Everyone is different, and with Yuzuru being the perfectionist that he is…If you told him to just show up, do your quad loop and your quad toes and a Salchow or whatever, then you were not talking the same language as him. That was totally not what he wanted, and I respect that.

-What do you think he can bring to professional skating?

The professional world needs a Yuzuru. As much as he gave to the sport as an amateur athlete in pushing the limits, to be the ultimate package, he is going to do the same thing as a professional.
When I saw him at a show in Japan in June, I could see he is still so interested in learning. The day he stops learning is probably the day he will stop skating.
And he won’t be skating just to make money. He will have a concept that will push the entertainment aspect.
In training, he was a maniac. First one on the ice, last one off, and that is what made him what he became.
I don’t think that because he is turning professional that is going to diminish because he still wants to have the highest performance.
He wants to be the main attraction for all the right reasons — not because of what he has already achieved but what he can still achieve. He will push the professional level to a new standard the same way he did with amateur skating.

-Your favorite memories of working with Yuzuru?

Oh my God, there are so many. Of course, being in the kiss and cry at the 2018 Olympics.
Before the marks were announced I already had the numbers figured out in my head, and I said to him as he came off the ice, “If you get this many points in the free — it doesn’t matter whether you are first or second — if you get that amount you are going to be the Olympic champion.
And when the score was posted he looked at me and he knew he had won because the numbers were higher than what I had told him.
And then there were the hugs — always having those great hugs.

 

 

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