Yuzuru Hanyu: “I’ll do my best so that people, including those who have never seen figure skating live, realized that this’s really great and worths seeing. From now on, I’ll do my best as a professional skater to develop figure skating.”

Two-time Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu has announced his retirement at a special press conference.

source: sports.ru

Yuzuru Hanyu: Many thanks to everyone who came here. First I would like to thank you for one more thing.

There was a lot of talks around, but I was thinking about myself, my fans, my feelings. And I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who have always reported all this in the media. I really appreciate it. With a lot of support, I’ve come this far. I did everything I could. The media and photographers who are here helped me a lot. I am happy that I can finish my skating career with such support.

Although I’m still young, I’ve decided to switch to pro.

I’m very, very nervous. Please forgive me if I say something wrong or choose the wrong words.

I won’t be able to compete with other skaters anymore. But from now on, I will skate, continuing to fight with my weaknesses and the previous version of myself.

And I will continue to do my best, work hard on the quad axel, in the confidence that I will succeed in front of everyone. I would appreciate if you continue to support me because I continue to fight.

I am happy that I worked hard and that the people who supported me appreciate and see it. I treasure this happiness.

It will be very sad if people are disappointed or don’t want to see me skate anymore, but I will continue to work even harder so that they still want to see me on the ice; so that they think that my skating is worthy of attention. I will be glad if you support me.

Many people who have supported my every decision in the past have sent me messages of support before this press conference as well. Thanks a lot.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all the teachers – from kindergarten, elementary school, high school, university – who raised me, as well as all the coaches who taught me how to figure skate. I am very grateful to you.

I wanted to announce the decision myself, so I could not tell my relatives about it in advance. I didn’t tell them anything, but they continued to take care of me without saying anything. And I want to take care of them too.

I will do my best so that people, including those who have never seen figure skating live, understand that this is really great and that it is worth seeing. I will challenge myself, including quad jumps, and do everything to reach an even higher level.

From now on, I will do my best as a professional skater to develop figure skating.

There were many moments when I thought that I wanted to end my career, or rather, go pro. Even after the Pyeongchang Olympics, I thought I wanted to move on to a new stage. Figure skating is a strange thing, isn’t it? It is strange that a sports career is amateur.

After the PyeongChang Games, I thought about many things. I went to competitions and thought about many things – am I doing my best? Only after the Beijing Olympics I made my final decision. I couldn’t skate because of the pain in my ankle and realized that I couldn’t stay here forever. But I wanted to be better and stronger. Recently I have skated in the Fantasy on Ice show – I was asked to perform as an amateur skater, this was the last time, but I wanted everyone to see what I worked on so hard.

This press conference is full of determination and hope. From now on, I want to work even harder. I would like to give people the opportunity to see my skating in many ways, and not just in the limited format of competitions. I hope you look forward to it

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