[2026] Main Matsuri Magazine (Germany) - More Than Gold

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine-translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

Source: https://www.main-matsuri.com/fileadmin/magazin/Main_Matsuri_Magazin-2026.pdf (page 70)

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260816034901/https://main-matsuri-event.de/fileadmin/magazin/Main_Matsuri_Magazin-2026.pdf

 

 

More Than Gold

Top athletes usually strive to stay at the top for as long as possible. Yuzuru Hanyu did the opposite and reinvented figure skating for himself. Instead of points and medals, for this figure skater, it's about expression, staging, and the question of how sport can become art.

- by Nala Vierrath

 

Anyone who has ever seen Yuzuru Hanyu on the ice quickly understands why even people who have little interest in figure skating talk about him. Of course, there are the medals: Olympic gold in Sochi in 2014 and PyeongChang in 2018, plus world championship titles and records. The Japanese skater was the first figure skater since 1952 to win Olympic gold twice in a row. But what made him special could never be measured solely in points.

While other athletes skated routines, Hanyu often seemed to be telling stories. His movements rarely appeared purely technical; even difficult jump combinations had an effortless, almost natural quality. Those watching him often felt less like they were witnessing a competition and more like a performance where sport and expression merged seamlessly.

This also explains why his departure surprised so many. In the summer of 2022, Hanyu ended his competitive career not because he could no longer keep up, but despite still being among the world's best. He ruled out a return to the Olympic Games. For many, this is where the difficult search for the right time to retire begins. Hanyu chose a different path: He stopped in order to begin something new.

Since then, he has used the ice not as a competition surface, but as a stage. In his ICE STORY series, he combines music, light, projections, and personal themes into productions that defy easy categorization. Productions like Gift, RE_PRAY, and Echoes of Life exist somewhere between sport, concert, and theater, often carried by just one person: himself.

It's unusual for a figure skater to carry an entire show alone. Where ensembles usually perform or various stars share the ice, Hanyu holds the attention of an entire audience for hours, without judges or medals.

With REALIVE, Hanyu returned to earlier programs, but not as a repetition. The pieces feel altered and reimagined, as if he were looking back on his own story and, in doing so, retelling it in a slightly new way.