“It might be hard for everyone to imagine, but in a way, I felt a sense of accomplishment like ‘I won the Olympics’ (laughs). I practiced like crazy and was able to achieve it.” Yuzuru Hanyu on his solo tour
Yuzuru Hanyu concluded his first solo tour performance, “Yuzuru Hanyu ICE STORY 2nd ‘RE_PRAY’ TOUR,” and gave some comments.
original source: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp dd. 20th February 2024 by Yoshimi Oriyama
Here’s a translation of Yuzuru Hanyu’s comments posted on Web Sportiva.
In his final greetings Yuzuru mentioned the word “lonely” and expressed his feelings, “I felt a sense of accomplishment like I was able to complete it. It might be hard for everyone to imagine, but in a way, I felt a sense of accomplishment like ‘I won the Olympics’ (laughs) within myself. I practiced like crazy and was able to achieve it. That’s why I’m happy, but along with that happiness, I also felt a sense of loneliness. It’s like, ‘I achieved it,’ and now it’s over. So, I felt a little lonely.”
“In this tour, with each performance, I found various challenges, achieved things, and found areas where I needed to evolve. So, in a way, especially in the first half, I was constantly thinking about how to overcome my past self as a competitor, how to become stronger, and I think the Yokohama performance was one where I really pushed myself relentlessly and practiced with discipline,” said Hanyu.
He also shared about his daily routine in preparation to the performances, “For example, I would wake up in the morning and spend an hour stretching and training. Then I would go to the rink for three hours of training and skating, come back and train for another hour and a half, and before going to bed, I would spend another hour doing mental imagery training. I repeated days like that over and over.
I practiced and did mental imagery more than when I was actively competing, but that was not only because I wanted to show something great, but also because I felt that my actual abilities were overwhelmingly inferior to what I wanted to show. So, I really want to continue evolving.”
“I feel like my training and practice methods have been reaffirmed. In terms of expression, it was like ‘just keep skating’ and also thinking a lot about the composer’s intentions, my own feelings I want to convey in the story, and the thoughts and feelings of the people creating the production and lighting. I think being able to skate while feeling various things as I repeated the performances was significant,” Hanyu added.
Speaking about the theme of the performance, Hanyu said “Well, to put it simply, the days just go on and on, and some of them are really exciting, and then there’s nothing, it’s just really gloomy, darkness. Like a continuous overcast day. But even in those circumstances, I want everyone to keep living, so I think that’s the message I’m putting into this. And in that, ultimately, life goes on, but, even as it goes on, I want you to live this one life, now, properly, so, with that wish, I created this story.”
Related topics: Yuzuru Hanyu
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