Japan’s ‘Ice Prince’ Yuzuru Hanyu announces marriage

TOKYO – Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, the two-time Olympic champion adored by legions of fans who shower him with plushies of his favourite Winnie The Pooh character, has married.

The 28-year-old heart-throb, however, did not reveal the identity of his partner in his announcement via a message addressed “to everyone who supports me” posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Friday night.

Notwithstanding his marriage announcement – using the formal Japanese term nyuseki that means to enter into a family register – his message was also an oath to continue evolving as a skater.

The post was made auspiciously at 11.11pm Japan time. Hanyu has a special affinity with the digit “one”, and often makes significant announcements on social media at times when the figure is repeated.

“For the past 24 years, I have lived with skating,” he said.

“Although I’m still immature as a human being, both now as a professional or in the past as a competitor, I’ve received immeasurable strength from everyone’s support, expectations and gazes. Thank you very much.”

Hanyu

retired from competitive skating

in July 2022 to become a professional exhibition skater. In February, he became the first figure skater to perform at the 55,000-seater Tokyo Dome with a solo ice show Gift.

His career has been riddled with adversity, though his off-ice perseverance and grit and on-ice power and grace have made him an icon in figure skating and an inspiration to many around the world.

Outside of home, he is especially popular in China, where news of his marriage immediately became the top trending topic on social media platform Weibo.

Born in the north-eastern coastal city of Sendai, Hanyu began figure skating at the age of four. But the March 11, 2011, tsunami that ravaged his hometown also devastated his practice rink and forced him to leave home – it made him wonder if he should hang up his skates.

But he recovered to win his first Olympic gold in the men’s singles at the Sochi Games in 2014. He

retained his gold in Pyeongchang

four years later, becoming the first to win back-to-back golds in the event in 66 years.

He went into the Beijing Winter Games in February 2022 with hopes of completing a hat-trick, but finished fourth.

Despite battling serious ankle ligament damage that threatened to wreck his skating career, Hanyu was determined to become the first-ever athlete to nail the gravity-defying quadruple axel in competition. But he fell on his attempt at the four-and-a-half rotation jump.

Hanyu admitted in his message that recent events have given him plenty of food for thought.

“Over the last few years in particular, the world has become unstable and is rapidly changing with Covid-19, natural disasters and world affairs,” he said. “I have felt many emotions as I faced my skates, while thinking about myself and the world.”

But he ended his message with a vow to “devote my life to evolve as the skater ‘Yuzuru Hanyu’, to continue to work hard and improve”.

“From now on, I will continue to accumulate each and every moment so as to skate my best,” he said.

“I will continue to skate and achieve my best form, with gratitude to everyone who supports me.”