Japan’s two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu was hoping for a third consecutive medal at Beijing’s Winter Olympics but fell short of delivering another stellar performance because of the faulty ice rink.
The 27-year-old Japanese hit the ice rink for the men’s skating short programme on Tuesday but within seconds he missed a planned jump, a quadruple Salchow, and ended up rotating just once instead of four times.
Hanyu, who is called Japan’s ice prince, complained he got caught in a hole on the ice rink which resulted in him losing points and not finishing in the top three even.
“When I took off, I was [over] some hole [in the ice] maybe from some other skater’s toe loop or flip [jump] or something,” he said speaking to the media. But I was on a hole, so I couldn’t take off for the first jump.”
His missed jump cost heavy and he ended up scoring 95.15 points, placing eighth overall on Tuesday.
"But actually, I didn’t feel anything bad," Hanyu said. "I was saying to [myself] — okay, this is not working. So I just focused on the next part. I really love to hear the music, and I love to skate to this music."
Team USA’s Nathan Chen, who won the last three world titles and 2022 Olympic silver medalist, won with a world record in the short with a 111.82 score.
He was dubbed “Michael Jackson on ice” in 2018 Winter Olympics for his flawless performances and spins during his jumps.
The Japanese skater appeared upbeat despite the bad start to his Beijing stint and said he does feel he made a mistake, according to the Olympics website.
"Like I said, I don’t feel like I made a mistake. My form was perfect. I felt razor sharp during the six minutes and I could sense things down to the centimetre, millimetre,” he said.
“I was being careful about avoiding holes in the ice so I probably swung out 10 centimetres more than I usually than this happens. What can you do,” he added.
But after the shaky start, Hanyu finished his program with his near-perfect performance, winning praise and respect from people for delivering his set with full commitment.
Following his performance, Hanyu was a trending topic on Weibo and gained support of people on other social media platforms.
“I watched him complete that programme with courage, commitment to the music and faith to tell that story until the very end, and give the ice the gentle smile after. Thank you Yuzuru, for skating, for fighting the battle that only you can fight,” Twitter user Lae said.
"He made a mistake but was still ranked the second, this already proves how amazing he is!" said a Weibo user.
Hanyu remains in the fight for the medal as he is set to attempt a quadruple Axel during a free skate program on Thursday called "Heaven and Earth”.
