Yuzuru Hanyu: “When I was 18 or 16, to be honest, I thought that by 30 I probably wouldn’t be skating. But the way I’ve developed physically and technically is completely different from what I imagined, and I feel a lot of potential for the future.”
Translation of the interview with Yuzuru Hanyu marking 2 years since he turned professional.
original source: Hochi News dd. 19th July 2024 by Takagi Megumi
Two years ago on July 19th Yuzuru Hanyu announced his decision to switch to professional skating. In the interview with Hochi News he talks about the past two years as a professional, plans for the future and the ‘ideal’ he is pursuing. Here’s a translation of his comments.
“As an athlete, I have really thought about many things in a stoic way up until now. Of course, this is true in terms of technique, but I think I have always been thinking about victory in particular. Honestly, my first year as a professional was a bit of a period of trial and error, I was honestly feeling around, wondering whether I should do this or that. It was a year spent constantly considering what I should do. This year [the second], I think I have come to clearly understand what I want to express and what I want to do as a professional,” Hanyu answered the question of how have these two years since he turned professional been.
“In the first year, there was ‘PROLOGUE’, and in that, first and foremost, there was a sense of feeling around whether I could skate in a one-man show. At the same time, I was also preparing ‘GIFT’. At that time, I also wanted to write my own story, and within that story, I always wanted the audience to have a different perspective on the programs they had been watching. This was something I had vaguely thought about since my competitive days. That realization came about in the first year. The second year was about ‘RE_PRAY’, where the concept of ‘Ice Story’ was pretty much shaped. There are these pieces in this story, and this is the story we want to tell. I feel that was a big part of the second year.”
As for the third year, he said, “Finally, the foundation of what I want to do has been established. So, on this foundation, I am wondering how can I improve my expression skill. I have always said from my competitive days that I can’t level up without the foundation of ‘technique’. I feel that my third year will be a time when I will be work on strengthen myself both technically and physically.”
Yuzuru also shared that he started working on the new project, saying “Right now, I’m in the middle of new production activities (laughs). It’s a motivation, or a driving force, for me to work hard. I’ve been creating new programs and such. I’ve started digging deeper into what I want to express. I’m always working on it alone, so the emotions that seep out of me tend to be biased. My own thinking hasn’t fundamentally changed much, nor have my skills improved much. But indeed, such experiences as in ‘RE_PRAY’ have become a driving force, and I strongly feel that new emotions are being born, as well as new expressions.”
Yuzuru will turn 30 in December. He says that he is walking a different path from the future he envisioned in his teens. “When I was 18 or 16, to be honest, I thought that by 30 I probably wouldn’t be skating (laughs). I became a professional at 24, immediately after the Pyeongchang Olympics, I thought I’d be done after working for about 5 years. But the way I’ve developed physically and technically is completely different from what I imagined, and I feel a lot of potential for the future. Now, I’m feeling that ‘Humans can do so much more than I thought.”
“Nothing really…will change,” he answered on what kind of 30s he wants to have. “However, the more I polish my way of expression and the more time I spend constantly practicing and facing myself, the more I feel my sense of ‘self’ is being honed and my core values are being strengthened. So, in my 30s, I want to cherish myself. But, showing and polishing my skating, that’s what I think makes up a big part of my happiness. So, always carrying within me the meaning, or reason for existence, for having lived 30 years in some sense. Not just because the fans are watching me, or because skating is all I have, but always having inside me something like the core of life, I want to make that even more explicit in my 30s.”
Related topics: Yuzuru Hanyu
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