[Dec 2017] ANA Ready for Take Off - Vol 24. Yuzuru Hanyu Part 2

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

 

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20180201222002/https://www.ana.co.jp/ja/jp/promotion/ready-for-take-off/yuzuru-hanyu_part2/

https://www.bilibili.com/opus/69333773026275552

 

 

The key to winning consecutive championships is a well-balanced performance with high levels of technique and expression

 

I am where I am today because I have accepted and overcome the hardships and frustrations

 

Spoiler

The grand stage of winter that comes only once every four years is now fast approaching. In the world of men’s figure skating, it would be the first time in 66 years—if achieved. Carrying the weight of expectations of a consecutive victory, which would be a truly remarkable feat, Yuzuru Hanyu is about to face the challenge.

 

Last August, just before the season began, during an open practice in Toronto, Canada, where Hanyu trains, he showed signs of good form, landing beautiful jumps. While some skaters are gradually improving, his rapid progress seems to reflect a strong desire to win back-to-back titles. So, what is his true state of mind? When asked how he feels, he reveals that while he is certainly conscious of the gold medal, he has even bigger goals.

 

"I want to perform in a way that, when I look back at the end, I can say, 'I won!' Of course, to reach that point, the proper effort is indispensable, so I want to steadily build up my preparation in order to increase the probability of successfully landing high-quality jumps that affect the results.”

 

For that reason, he says, health is indispensable.

 

"The most important thing for me at PyeongChang is to compete. I want to put my health first, practice hard, and be in top condition when I compete," He added with a playful smile, “It’s taken me 18 years of skating to finally be able to think this way.”

But that is surely something he has come to realize precisely because he has experienced times when, depending on his condition, he couldn’t skate as he wished, or had to take breaks. When asked if there were any painful or frustrating experiences, he revealed the following:

 

“There's nothing but painful and disappointing things in the senior (class) (for skaters 15 and older). Of course, losing in competition is frustrating, but what has remained most strongly in my memory as the most frustrating thing is not being able to practice. So, when my home rink became unusable after the Great East Japan Earthquake, or when I had to take time off from practice for injury treatment, it was truly painful and frustrating.”

 

Hearing this, it's heartbreaking to imagine how he must have felt when he was injured during official practice for the NHK Trophy. But it is also true that he stands where he is now precisely because he has overcome countless hardships.

 

"My life has had many ups and downs, and I think I have experienced both good and bad times. But it's all part of me, including the painful and frustrating times."

 

When faced with a wall in life, anyone would feel like backing down or running away. However, every time Hanyu hits a wall, he has faced it head on and overcome it. When asked how he did it, he answered with such ease that it was hard to believe he had endured such hardships up until then.

 

“It's simple, just like when you're physically confronted. When you’re mentally cornered, when you feel you can’t move forward any further, that there’s absolutely no way to overcome it, you just have to put a door in the wall. Everyone puts that door in different ways. In my case, when I’m talking like this outside my home, I sometimes realize, ‘Ah, this was the key to opening the door.’ I’ve always liked thinking, so accepting both the good and the bad, thinking through various things, and then putting those thoughts into logical words often becomes the trigger for new realizations. Of course, when something painful happens, I do get depressed and feel negative, and sometimes I even end up saying nothing but negative things in front of my family. Everyone has their own way of overcoming walls, but if you face your own weaknesses, I think you’ll surely come to understand how to get past them.”

 

Accepting both the good and the bad, organizing it within himself, and once again facing forward. It is precisely because he can do this that he continues to run at the top.

 

From a young age, I've been aware of the importance of balancing technique and performance.

 

The ability to successfully execute multiple, high-scoring quadruple jumps in a repertoire can significantly influence the outcome of a competition. Hanyu has naturally increased the number and variety of quadruple jumps in his repertoire and continues to strive for greater precision. Hanyu himself, however, expressed concern about whether he could execute the jumps beautifully.

“Because of that, I keep thinking right up until competition time about what I should focus on to ensure absolute success,” he explained. Given such a crucial and challenging element, Hanyu was still contemplating whether he could successfully execute the jumps during his performance. However, Hanyu disagreed with this as a positive development.

 

“Jumps are, after all, just one of the elements. If you roughly categorize figure skating, there are the technical elements such as jumps, spins, and step sequences (‘technique’), and there are the expressive aspects such as performance quality, skating skills, overall composition, and interpretation of the music (‘program components’). Every day I can feel how important it is to maintain both sides at a high level and in good balance. In fact, if only one side stands out, your score won’t necessarily increase; and if your performance leaves no impression, it won’t leave a mark in anyone’s memory either. So my ideal performance is one where both ‘technique’ and ‘expression’ are at a high level and in balance. I believe that if I can succeed in performing that way in competition, it will become the best kind of performance possible.”

 

Since childhood, he has continuously refined the foundations of performance—his skating and spins—while also learning various jumps in line with his physical development. Precisely because he has mastered both technical ability and expressive ability, he is able to pursue a high-level balance between them. So, when did he first begin to be conscious of this balance between technique and expression?

 

“Probably since I was a child. I originally liked music, and no matter what kind of music I heard, I felt I could take it on, so naturally I would also think about the background behind the composition. I wanted to express both what the music was trying to convey and what I personally felt when listening to it. That’s why I loved those times when our skating teacher would randomly play a song and have us perform whatever we wanted based on it.”

 

Just as Hanyu explains, “The key lies in how to incorporate all the different elements contained within a piece of music into your program and show them to the audience.”

 

What sets figure skating apart from other sports is precisely that it uses music and expresses it through movement. Hanyu’s skating, which strives to express his inner feelings and to portray them accurately through high-level technique, naturally resonates with the audience.

 

The key to achieving consistent performance is switching 'on' and 'off'

 

Because Yuzuru Hanyu is someone who can face his weaknesses head-on and analyze them objectively, he holds a clear ideal image of the kind of person he wants to become.

 

"I'm not very good at balancing things, so I'd like to be able to switch between on and off in small increments."

 

In previous competitions, Hanyu has often made mistakes in the free skate after a good short program, or, conversely, made a comeback in the free skate if his short program score didn't go as well as expected. He attributes this to a matter of switching between his “on” and “off” modes.

 

“Whenever I made a mistake, I'd try to recover by exerting maximum effort to come back, repeating these roller-coaster-like ups and downs. But if I can learn to control the switch between ‘on’ and ‘off’ skillfully, I think I’ll be able to perform consistently at about 70 to 80 percent of my full power and still connect that to good results. In order to create a mental state where I can concentrate when I need to, I’ll have to learn to use my rest time more meaningfully. I believe this is something that’s necessary not only as an athlete, but also when I eventually go out into society in the future.”

 

After the interview, Hanyu rolled down the window of his car and waved, saying, "Thank you!" as he left. His smile was dazzlingly bright.  It was a smile that once again made one feel that he possesses a natural charm, the kind that makes anyone who meets him want to cheer for him.

 

Accepting everything that has happened to him, Hanyu is surely, even at this very moment, confronting the walls that stand before him as he challenges himself to perform the most difficult programs of his career. Perhaps he has been in an “on” state all this time, without ever truly taking any “off” time. Even so, fueled by his desire to deliver “a performance that makes people feel I’ve evolved,” he will no doubt overcome those walls and etch his name into history in PyeongChang. With that belief, we can only wait with all our hearts for the moment when he achieves this great feat.

 

 

(Interview and text by TEAM A, Supervised by Oriya Yoshimi)

 

 

Profile:

Born in Sendai in 1994. Started skating at age four, and won the 2010 World Junior Championships. Won the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, set a new world record with 330.43 points in 2015, won the Grand Prix Final for the fourth consecutive year in 2016, and won gold medals at the World Championships in 2014 and 2017. Expectations are high for a consecutive victory at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the first such feat in 66 years. A member of ANA.

 

 

 

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Spoiler