[2019.05.16] Sports Graphic Number Issue 977 - Patrick Chan's Exclusive confession

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2019.05.16

(First published in Sports Graphic Number magazine, Issue 977 May 16, 2019 - Published online on Feb 10, 2022)

 

Source: https://number.bunshun.jp/articles/-/851908

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250114094518/https://number.bunshun.jp/articles/-/851908

 

Patrick Chan: "Yuzuru has created a new generation." Former world champion's "loss to Yuzuru Hanyu" - Exclusive confession

 

Yuzuru Hanyu is attempting the feat of winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals. One of the people who knows his growth best is Patrick Chan, who lost to Hanyu at the Sochi Olympics and won the silver medal.

 

For Chan, who came to the Sochi Olympics after winning the World Championships three times in a row, Hanyu was a symbol of a new era of skaters who were rapidly emerging.

 

We have published a special article online in which Chan reveals his thoughts after the tournament, which ended in a disappointing silver medal, and the realizations and emotions he felt on the stage in Pyeongchang four years later. (First published in Sports Graphic Number, Issue 977 (May 16, 2019), all titles etc. are from that time.)

 

Spoiler

　An exclusive interview with Patrick Chan, who spoke about his rivalry with Yuzuru Hanyu at the Sochi Olympics. When (the interviewer) began by apologizing, saying, 'Finishing second on the grand stage of the Sochi Olympics, where you competed as the world champion, must be a painful memory..', he replied, "No, it’s okay. Time has passed since then, and I can look back on it calmly."

 

“To be honest, I don’t really remember much about the first time I competed in the same event as Yuzuru. Up until then, the skater I had always seen as my main rival was Daisuke (Takahashi). Every athlete has a rival they’re destined to face, right? I think Daisuke and I had that kind of rivalry, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in tennis. Yuzuru, being from a younger generation, just seemed like one of those rising stars who, before I knew it, had made his way into the final group.”

 

Chan: "I think Yuzuru is really suited to being a competitor"

 

Chan, who began speaking, is four years older than Yuzuru Hanyu, but like Hanyu, he was a precocious athlete, winning his first World Championship medal in 2009 at 18 years and three months old.

 

The first time Chan and Hanyu faced each other at a senior international competition was at the Russia Cup in autumn 2010, where Chan finished second and Hanyu placed seventh. Between then and the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the two met only a handful of times. Those meetings were at seven events: the World Championships in 2012 and 2013; Skate Canada and the Trophée Éric Bompard (France Cup) in autumn 2013; and the Grand Prix Finals in 2011, 2012, and December 2013, just before the Sochi Olympics.

 

“But I was surprised at how quickly Yuzuru, who had just moved up from juniors, got used to competing at the senior level in such a short time. Between 2011 and 2014, he gained momentum. He’s strong when it really counts, and I think he is truly suited to being a competitor. I think he probably kept himself hungry and set his sights on reaching the top.”

 

Chan’s Honest Feelings About Hanyu’s Growth

From 2011 to 2013, Chan won the World Championships three times in a row, establishing himself as the “absolute champion” of that era. However, he was aware that this “absoluteness” was being challenged.

 

“Yuzuru is a pioneer of the new generation of skaters and possesses incredible technical skills. To be honest, I didn’t expect a skater like him to emerge so soon, and I wasn’t mentally prepared for it. Although I secured the title at the 2013 World Championships in Canada, I keenly felt someone chasing me from behind. Ideally, a top athlete should be looking forward, not backward, but I found myself distracted by how much the gap was closing.”

 

Chan was first defeated by Hanyu at the 2012 Grand Prix Final, where Daisuke Takahashi won, Hanyu placed second, and Chan, struggling with his form, finished third. But what struck Chan even more was the 2013 Grand Prix Final held in Fukuoka just two months before the Sochi Olympics, when Hanyu won his first title and Chan finished second.

 

"I definitely felt that the tide was turning."

 

“I first became truly aware of going head-to-head with Yuzuru at that Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka. What I remember about the free skate in that competition is that I was extremely physically exhausted, and it was all I could do to skate through until the end. That crushed my confidence and I felt I lost the momentum heading into the Olympics. Looking back now, I realize my preparation for the competition wasn’t going well.”

 

Although Chan says this, his free skate that day was nearly flawless, successfully landing two quadruple jumps. On the other hand, Hanyu fell on his quadruple Salchow but recovered impressively in the second half with two clean triple Axel combinations. Chan couldn’t make up the point difference from the short program, finishing second in both the free skate and overall.

 

“Until then, I was used to winning with a lead of about 20 points over second place. But when I finished second in Fukuoka, I realized that cushion was gone for me, which was a bit of a shock. I definitely felt that the tide was turning.”

 

What Chan's coach whispered to him during the free skate at the Sochi Olympics

 

Two months later came the Sochi Olympics. After the short program, Hanyu was in first place, and Chan, who had a slightly shaky landing on his triple Axel, was in second.

 

“At the end of the short program, there was nearly a 4-point gap between Yuzuru and me, and following the defeat in Fukuoka, it was a second blow. I could feel how everyone was excited by the emergence of this new talent. I realized the momentum had shifted in his favor. In the free skate, I felt the pressure that I absolutely had to skate without any mistakes, but even at that point, I think my spirit had already been defeated.”

 

In the final group of the free skate the next day, Hanyu skated immediately before Chan. However, Hanyu himself fell twice and it was by no means his best performance.

 

“Of course, I didn’t watch Yuzuru’s performance, but my coach, Cathy Johnson, was watching from behind the curtain. Just as I was about to step onto the ice, she whispered to me, ‘You have a chance to turn it around.’ But honestly, that wasn’t helpful. If it had been one of today’s young skaters—Nathan Chen, Shoma Uno, or even Yuzuru himself—they might have been fired up by that and seized the opportunity. But that’s just not how I am. When an opponent makes a mistake, I don’t sit there calculating, ‘If I land this and that, I can win.’ If I don’t feel right when I step onto the ice, I can’t skate like myself. Even hearing Cathy’s words, my spirits didn’t lift. I only felt extra pressure.”

 

“It was a battle to see who could withstand the pressure.”

 

Chan made a few mistakes, and Hanyu won the gold medal. Chan ended up with the silver. Speaking about his young rival, who was just 19 at the time and defeated him, Chan said:

 

“Yuzuru quickly rose from below and delivered a good performance despite feeling that much pressure. At that Olympics, about the top eight skaters had the ability to win a medal. But on that day, it was a battle of who could withstand the pressure. He was good at jumps, transitions, and skating. And above all, I think his will to win was stronger than anyone else’s.”

 

What was the “failure at Sochi” for Chan?

 

He says it took him a long time to recover from the blow of missing out on the gold medal.

 

“When the free skate ended, I felt the greatest disappointment of my life. For an amateur athlete’s competitive career, the Olympics are special, something you bet your life on. Since childhood, I was told that winning a gold medal at the Olympics would change my life, so I trained hard for that. I was never taught to enjoy the Olympics or to make use of that experience in life afterward. But looking back now, I think what I learned from the failure at Sochi was greater than if I had become champion. Even if you reach the top, someday you will fall. That is the fate of an athlete. What matters is how you accept that and live the rest of your life.”

 

After overcoming his disappointment and taking a year off, Chan returned to competition in the 2015–2016 season with his sights set on the PyeongChang Olympics. However, the status of absolute champion he once held was no longer his.

"When I returned to competition, figure skating had reached a different level. The lineup in the final group had completely changed. Yuzuru kept breaking records, and Javier (Fernández) was chasing him. I felt like there was no room for me to fit in anymore. I believe that this new era undoubtedly began with Yuzuru in 2014. He was the first to build this new generation of skaters, including Nathan, Shoma, and others."

 

Chan, who witnessed Hanyu's second consecutive Olympic victory, said, "Yuzuru has proven it."

At the PyeongChang Olympics, Chan focused on the team event and made a significant contribution to Team Canada's gold medal. At the same time, seeing Hanyu win his second consecutive gold medal touched him deeply.

"When I saw Yuzuru win his second gold medal at PyeongChang, I was unexpectedly moved. To be honest, after Sochi, I struggled to shake off the disappointment of losing to a relatively inexperienced newcomer. But watching the growth Yuzuru had shown since Sochi, and the path he took to achieve back-to-back Olympic victories, I felt proud to have been part of that incredible story. I was finally able to accept that the result in Sochi happened as it was meant to. Yuzuru proved in PyeongChang that he was such an extraordinary skater, it only made sense that I lost to him."
Number MAY 2019