Yuzuru HANYU (JPN)

saw this article about Yuzuru’s sister on weibo and it is quite touching as no one really has an article on the support Yuzu got from his sister… (but its from Josei Jishin so not sure about the reliability) and just quick translate for now, seeing that i have an exam tmr=.= I am not sure if anyone has done it but meh

Hanyu dedicates his gold medal to his sister who gave up on her dream and support him for 10 years

- Yuzu started skating because his sister started a short term figure skating class

- Yuzu hated training and skating, he used to get bored within 5 minutes on the ice; he was more interested in baseball, like most of his friends. “After school, all of my friends are hanging out and I, alone, have to go to practise. I really wanted to get out from it [skating].”

- But after witnessing his sister’s practise, he started to get more interested in skating. “If my sister can land this jump then I can land it too!” “If sister can do this technique then I can do it too” He always looks up to his sister as his goal

- And they look really alike (similar to their mother). So are their personalities: always calm, concentrated and determined, very good at self-control.

- Yuzu laughed at his sister being a bit chubby when she was in 6th grade

- “Although they often argue with each other, they are really good rivals. Yuzuru works hard to be better or as good as his sister and his sister works hard to be even better”

- Yuzuru’s family is not a wealthy family (and figure skating cost loads of money); his father is a teacher (head master?) and his mother had to take on a part time job in a supermarket near the ice rink when Yuzuru was training in Japan

- Their parents didn’t plan to let them continue on figure skating.So when Yuzuru suggested “I don’t want to skate anymore, I want to play baseball”, his parents said “then don’t, baseball doesn’t cost that much anyway”

- When his home ice rink was forced to close down, he was asked to stop skating but his sister, who was in 8th grade, said “I will stop skating instead of Yuzuru.” And Yuzuru was able to continue skating after that

- His sister also dreamt of skating in an international competition and standing on the podium. But she seemed to realise that her brother has real talent in him. She continued figure skating up until high school but mostly skated in order to give Yuzuru advice

- Hanyu family has its own job division: mother would be taking care of diet and health, sister would be holding “family conference” and discuss on how to get better in skating and jump and father would watch over these conferences

- In preparation for Sochi, Yuzuru moved to Toronto with his mother and his father and sister stayed in Sendai. His sister also had to take on the role of housewife in Sendai. She also takes on part time job while attending university and gives Yuzuru pocket money

- Since junior, Yuzuru always put his medal around his coach’s neck after competition, and around his mother’s in hotel. And author of this article believed that he must have been hoping to put his shining gold medal around his sister’s neck to appreciate her sacrifices and hard work over 10 years