https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/sports/olympics/figure-skating-yuzuru-hanyu.html
Yuzuru's press conference with FCCJchannel:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ixm0QIZS_WGc-2ML_ukMBra61wZhyzJg/view
Transcription (part of it, will be updated) of what Yuzuru has been saying. I am shocked at how smart and thoughtful Yuzuru is through these questions. The translator is very good:
From
https://twitter.com/michaeljardins/status/968345607395004417
- I'm really happy to get the gold medal. I really appreciate the cheering for me during my performance. I bet my life for this gold medal. I'm still alive. I'm not dying yet, so I'm happy to be here.
- I believe that even amongst all the athletes, I have experienced more injuries and illnesses than other athletes. there are times when I could not compete at all. but since I was a small child, it was my goal to achieve an Olympic gold medal.
- To be very honest, if I compare my ankle to the time at which it was the most painful, the pain has only reduced by about 20 to 30 percent. But despite that, with painkillers, I was able to achieve the gold medal at these Olympics.
- During the Olympics, I used the music from Onmyoji. When we consider the history of skating, it’s rare for people from Asia to win in skating competitions. The sport was developed in Europe. The historical developments of Europe and Japan are different.
- It’s often thought that people from Asia are at a disadvantage in expressive sports. So that I could use this Japanese music to achieve the gold medal is a historical moment. I hope this can be an opportunity to use more music from my country, and from unique cultures.
- When we consider the relationship between the artistic and technical parts of the sport. There needs to be a match. artistry is based at having strong technique and foundation - without this foundation, it is not possible to have that artistry.
- I always make sure I have rice before a competition. I find if I have bread or cereal or pasta, it doesn’t give me the strength to perform well. No matter the venue, I always make sure to have rice and that enables me to perform.
- Research has showed it is physically possible to have 5 revolutions. Of course, it would depend on the type of quintuple jump. If this is possible in the future, I would maybe want to challenge towards it. Since I was small, my own coach said you can do the quintuple.
- During this particular olympics, there were so many excellent skaters including both those that are older and more junior. Top skaters from around the world, therefore, from all of their incredible skating I gained so much in watching them skate and compete.
- Yuzuru about the difficulty of jumps: it's like closing your eyes while jumping and turning the jump rope 3 times around in one jump. For the triple, it’s like 30 jumps with your eyes closed, 40 jumps with your eyes closed for the quad, and 50 jumps for the quintuple.
- I'm not so interested in meals, so this is a difficult question for me. However, personally no matter how much i eat, i don't put on weight. so maybe i'm living a different life from other athletes. i sometimes go to mcdonalds and drink fizzy soft drinks, and even eat potato chips quite often.
- I used to always put my right boot on first, but on accident, I put my left boot on first and I was very nervous at the competition. But I performed very well after that. Since then, I’ve realized that it’s okay, so there’s no particular routine.
- However, one thing I do take particular care of, I always make sure before I go out that I tidy things, I make sure the bed is made and things are tidy before I go forwards, to make sure there’s nothing niggling or left behind.
- Actually, there’s been many opportunities where the japanese media asks javier about me. So I’ve been waiting for a question from the spanish media to talk about him. He’s a kind person, perhaps too kind. So actually when i received the gold medal, I was also crying about javier’s medal. He did not get a medal in sochi, and I knew how difficult this was for him. As we were training together towards the olympics, he became very quiet. Therefore I was proud of his medal. Of course I do not know if we can continue together from now on, if Javier will continue to compete. But what I can say is that the six years we have continued to train each other and encourage each other is something that has made me very very happy. I am confident I would not be here with the gold without Javier Fernandez. We mentioned Javier. He’s always playing soccer and training with skating. I don’t know if that contributes to his skating, but many of the overseas skaters are playing soccer.
- Of course, it's not possible in a bike to perform jumps, so I'm not sure how appropriate it is for figure skating, but when I was injured, I used a bike to keep up my muscles.
(some of the answers are a bit paraphrased since the press conference was going sooo fast, but i think they're all accurate.)