Satoko Myahara has retired from competition

[Jay42]

Satoko announced her retirement a couple of hours ago on her Instagram. I can't say I'm surprised but I will miss her immensely.

 

[genevieve]

Farewell, Tiny Queen!

 

[jenny12]

A gorgeous skater that will be missed. Hope Satoko has a wonderful post competition life.

 

[cocotaffy]

Nooooooooooo, one of my favorite skaters Never forget one of the best programs Hail to the star wars princess and thank you for your beautiful artistry.

 

[paskatefan]

I will miss her so much! I have loved her skating ever since she skated to "The Magic Flute" overture as a short program. All the best to you, Satoko!

 

[zigzig]

She was so under appreciated in the skating world. Personally she will go down in my history books as one of the most musical, best choreographed skaters of all time. Wish her all the happiness and success for her next chapter.

 

[Wyliefan]

Not surprising, but so sad. What a stellar career. Bless you and thank you, Tiny Queen.

 

[BlueRidge]

She will always be one of my most favorite skaters. She is an example to all of beautiful performance, attention to every detail of expression and beauty.

 

[quartz]

 

[alexikeguchi]

1000 depressions to hear this, but she had a long and successful career that will be remembered fondly. Even without considering her special qualities that were almost never adequately rewarded by the judges, she has a couple World Championship medals and fourth place in one of the most competitive Olympics fields ever. And I am sure she will continue to be invited to shows in Europe and Japan where her exquisite performances will be appreciated.

 

[Lara]

She will be missed.

But I’ll always be grateful she had this long a career. I couldn’t have asked for much more to the Skategods back when she was a junior.

 

[Milan]

She will be so very missed - such an artiste.

 

[ChelleC]

Not surprising, but I'm going to miss her so much.

 

[Citlali]

I'll miss her skating

 

[Andora]

I'll miss her. Absolutely the most artistic skater while competing, no one else came close. I wish her career had been more storied.

 

[kwanfan1818]

She is an exquisite skater. to what comes next!

 

[Rukia]

Nooooooooooo, one of my favorite skaters Never forget one of the best programs Hail to the star wars princess and thank you for your beautiful artistry.

I've always wondered why more skaters don't skate to Princess Leia's theme. It's perfect for skating.

Farewell tiny queen. She says she'll concentrate on her professional skating career for now, so hopefully we can enjoy her skating free of jump requirements.

 

[Wyliefan]

I really am depressed over this. It was nice of Camden and Vincent to cheer me up with great skates, but when that high wears off I think I'm going to be depressed for quite some time!

 

[DimaToe]

I haven’t logged on in ages, but this announcement deserved an exception. Miyahara was a true artist for her entire skating career, even when she didn’t have an ideal skate the attention to detail was still there, truly a one of a kind skater. I wish her the best in her post skating life, but part of me hopes that Satoko takes a page from Takahashi’s playbook and comes back as in Ice dancer in a couple years.

 

[Messalina]

Perfect Satoko. I will miss her so much - and have already missed her so much. Her spins, her grace, her understated but truly felt performance quality, her attention to detail down to a flick of the pinky finger. I still feel wuzrobbed for not seeing her Star Wars/Holst program one last time. Especially given her incredible work ethic, I will always wonder what could have been if she hadn't been forced to change to counter-clockwise jumping.

I hope she enjoys retirement and remembers all she achieved in her great career very fondly. She was so beloved all over the world! And I hope she knows that.

 

[AYS]

Farewell to one of the true artists of the sport. Best of luck to her on whatever comes next (which hopefully will continue to involve skating).

 

[Jarrett]

I hope she can still be involved in skating, maybe as a choreographer. Her skating is easily the best for me in the past quad.

 

[layman]

I am really going to miss her. She tried so hard, over so many seasons to improve her skating (and make herself competitive). She even had the guts to go for a 3-axel this season (that looked close)!

I would love to see her switch to Ice Dance (like Takahashi) and continue to compete for many more years.

 

[VGThuy]

I'm going to miss seeing the Tiny Queen. She was one of the most exquisite skaters I've ever seen and that rare dancer on the ice. She's the best Tosca ever.

 

[briancoogaert]

Such a beautiful glide. I would have loved to watch her at Worlds, she would have deserved it. What a great skater She will be missed

 

[skatfan]

She will be missed. I’m sad that we won’t see her skate a Lori Nichol program at a competition again.

 

[cygnus]

Looking forward to seeing her soon, as she's listed as being on the Canadian SOI tour!

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Oh dear, is someone cutting onions in here?

There are very few skaters, especially in singles, who achieve Sotoko’s level of artistry and attention to detail. We will be lucky to see even a few to match her.

I will be forever sad that there wasn’t quite enough room to fit her on that podium in Pyeongchang.

I hope she has a wonderful future and that we still get to see many more beautiful performances from her.

 

[YukiNieve]

Satoko Miyahara will have a press conference on her retirement at 1:30PM (local time, 12:30AM EST) followed by the press conference for SOI Japan at 2:30PM (1:30AM EST) on YouTube.

The link for Satoko's press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-wugiUcW0k

The link for SOI Japan press conference in case someone wants to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VjI8mNK3rs

 

[karmena]

...brilliant, expressive, versatile, subtle... there is no enough adjectives to describe Tiny Queen.
Working with my terminally ill patients, I dared once to show one of my patient a video with Satoko skating. If you would have seen my patient's reaction! Satoko's skating literally gave her back spark of strength and hope; inner harmony.

IMHO Satoko achieved a level where she skated with her soul AND body...her body literally was like a music instrument where strings for this instrument were her skating movements. Though, not everyone is able to love such a subtle and beautiful skating. Her dresses always were exceptional. Thank you Satoko. Thank you from all my patients to whom you have helped. I am sure that whatever she will decide to do next, it will be done with the same intensity and depth.