Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu called a presser to announce retirement from competitions to turn as a professional athlete.
“Ice Prince” of Japan Yuzuru Hanyu, a two-time Olympic figure-skating champion, shocked the world with retirement announcement on Tuesday, July 19 after his fourth place finish at the Beijing Games in February.
The legendary skater became the first man in over half-a-century to win back-to-back Olympic golds at PyeongChang in 2018, while skating on an injured ankle, and more than a dozen world records in his name.
The 27-year-old announced at a news conference in Tokyo that he will continue his career as a professional athlete, but will be holding back from entering competitions.
“I will be extremely sad if people don’t want to watch me anymore, but even then, I will try my best from now on so that people feel like there’s a reason to still watch my skating,” said Hanyu.
“As a pro skater, I want to keep on fighting and go to an even higher stage,” he added.
The retired skater said that he would keep striving to achieve the almost mythical quadruple axel -- a move that has never been seen in any competition -- after his unsuccessful attempt at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“I want to work even harder on the quadruple axel, and be able to successfully land it in front of all of you,” he said.
Hanyu started his winning ways in the juniors division with the Junior Worlds and Junior Grand Prix Final titles in 2010, then won his first World Championships medal in 2012.
He then established himself as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time after garnering two World titles in 2014 and 2017, and a straight sweep of four titles at the Grand Prix Finals from 2013 to 2016.
Aside from the world titles, Hanyu is also a six-time champion at the Japanese nationals and went on to complete a "Super Slam" in 2020 after finishing first at the Four Continents Championships.
Tags: #Olympics, #figure skating, #Japan