Editor’s Note:
The Beijing Winter Olympics are set to kick off on February 4. Global Times has picked some of the biggest names to keep an eye on.
Yuzuru Hanyu is the biggest star on the ice and the Japanese figure skater is set to shine once again at Beijing 2022 in February.
This will be the third Winter Olympic Games that Hanyu has competed at and he has not disappointed so far, winning gold in Sochi in 2014 and defending it in Pyeongchang four years later.
Hanyu became Asia’s first male singles gold medal winner and the youngest winner of the men’s gold since 1948 when he shot to fame in Sochi.
Hanyu does not just turn it on at the Olympics and there is a case that he is the most dominant of medal favorites ahead of these Winter Olympic Games.
Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu competes in the men’s free skating during the ISU World Team Trophy figure skating event in Osaka, Japan on April 16, 2021. Photo: VCG
The skater has set 19 world records, which itself is a world record, on his way to being crowned world champion twice among seven total medals and adding a further four Grand Prix titles. In all, Hanyu has 17 non-Olympic medals and is the only male figure skater to achieve a Super Slam of winning all major competitions in both his senior and junior career.
He is one of Japan’s most prominent athletes across all sports and has some of the most die-hard fans in the sporting world.
Sadly the absence of foreign fans at the Ice Cube in February means we will all be denied the site of scores of stuffed plush bear toys being thrown on to the rink if Hanyu wins a third gold. His “fanyus,” as the skater’s fans call themselves, started doing that after Hanyu was spotted with a tissue box bearing a cartoon bear.
That does not mean the 27-year-old will be without support in Beijing as he goes up against Nathan Chen of the US for men’s individual figure skating gold after the Chinese Embassy in Japan and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying promised worried fans there will be support for the Japanese figure skating superstar.
“I managed to win twice, but the Olympics are something special. The Olympic Games are what every athlete and figure skater wants to win. Winning them makes you a true champion,” Hanyu told the Olympic Channel on defending his crown at Beijing 2022.
“I am going to look forward to thinking about who will win at the Beijing Games.”
Should he win a third consecutive Olympic gold, Hanyu would become the first skater to achieve the feat since 1928.
