Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater. He was famously called the Japanese Ice Prince for his impressive accomplishments at only 26 years of age. Hanyu was a two-time Olympic gold winner at only 19, and he defended his title again in 2018 in Pyeongchang. After having broken 19 various world records, he is the first Asian skater in the history of figure skating to have won Olympic gold.
Hanyu is considered to be one of the best figure skaters in the world. But, most importantly Hanyu is also a very humble and modest person. Thus, New York Times reporter Jere Longman very rightly dubbed him “Micheal Jackson on Ice”. Keep reading to know more about Hanyu’s career, world records, family, and personal life.
Some Facts about Yuzuru Hanyu
Age
Yuzuru Hanyu was born on the 7th of December in the year 1994. Hence as of now, he is 27 years old.
Height
Currently, Yuzuru Hanyu stands at 1.73 m or 173 cm tall.
Weight
At the moment, Yuzuru Hanyu’s weight is 53 kg or 117 pounds.
Parents
Yuzuru Hanyu was born to his father Hidetoshi Hanyu who was the principal of a junior high school. His mother is Yumi Hanyu. At the moment she works as Yuzuru Hanyu’s manager. Although Yumi worked in a departmental store and a laundry store. She had to do so to pay for his sporting expenses at the beginning of Hanyu’s career.
Sister
Saya Hanyu is Yuzuru Hanyu’s only sister. She is older than him.
Yuzuru Hanyu & His Wife
Yuzuru Hanyu is not married and he has no plans of getting married in the near future. Since he likes to keep his private life out of the public eye, at the moment there is no information about his marriage plans.
Yuzuru Hanyu & His Net worth
According to sources, Yuzuru Hanyu has an estimated Net Worth of $2 million. Nevertheless, it is difficult to predict the net worth of celebrities because of changing spending patterns and lifestyles. Hanyu earned most of his net worth by winning competitions and through his performance as an ice skater.
Early Life
In the year 1994, on the 7th of December, Yuzuru Hanyu was born in Izumi Ku, Sendai, Japan. His father was Hitedoshi Hanyu who, according to sources, was the principal of a junior high school. Yumi Hanyu was Hanyu’s mother. She used to work in a departmental store and a laundry store before she became his manager.
Yuzuru Hanyu has an older sister called Saya Hanyu. Hanyu said in an interview that since his father was an advisor to the basketball team, he wanted Hanyu to join that sport. He also said that his mother, Yumi, was responsible for making all his costumes at the beginning of his career. The costumes for Yuzuru Hanyu’s free skating tournaments in 2010-2011 and 2013-2014 were also made by his mother.
When Yuzuru Hanyu was two years old, he was diagnosed with asthma. He recovered from this condition with time. Yuzuru Hanyu started skating when he was four years old. Yuzuru’s first coach, who coached his sister Saya Hanyu said that Yuzuru was quite impatient when he first began his skating career. He used to run and jump and fell down a number of times. Yet he persisted and got up each time and started running again.
Mami Yamada, the coach, had praised Yuzuru Hanyu’s ability to express his sincerity in an interview. Yuzuru Hanyu’s second coach was Shoichiro Tsuzuki, who started coaching him after Yuzuru completed second grade in Elementary school. Yuzuru Hanyu was asked about his figure skating role models in an interview. There he mentioned that he looked upto Evgeni Plushenko and Johnny Weir. At the 2018 winter Olympics Yuzuru also said that Dick Button and Javier Fernandez were some skaters who influenced him a lot.
Education
Yuzuru Hanyu completed his schooling at Nanakita Elementary and Junior High School. In the year 2013, Hanyu graduated from Tohoku High School. Then Hanyu began an e-school program majoring in Human Information Science at Waseda University. Hanyu used to attend his online classes from his figure skating training base in Toronto, Canada.
Hanyu was a good student in school. In 2020, in the month of August, he revealed the topic of his graduation thesis. It was on how 3D motion capture technology could be used in figure skating. Yuzuru graduated from his online college in the month of September 2020. Although Hanyu was unable to attend his graduation ceremony due to the covid-19 pandemic in Japan. In an interview, Hanyu mentioned how much he enjoyed college.
Yuzuru Hanyu & His Achievements
During the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Yuzuru Hanyu made the record of being the first Japanese man to win an Olympic Gold medal in the sport of figure skating. After four years at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Hanyu won his second Olympic Gold medal. Hanyu is one of the very few male skaters who were able to perform the Biellmann spin. The Junior Grand Prix Final was held in Tokyo in the year 2009. In that competition, Yuzuru Hanyu won the gold medal. He came second.
The next year, in 2010, Hanyu again won the gold medal at the 2010 Junior World Championships. After completing his junior career in figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu moved up to the senior level. Through his hard work and diligence, Hanyu was able to get more and more successful with every passing year. Yuzuru Hanyu won silver medals at the two Four Continent Championships in the years 2011 and 2013. Next, he also won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championship. He won a silver medal at the Grand Prix final in Sochi in the 2012-13 season.
Hanyu won gold again in the 2013-14 season at the Grand Prix finals in Fukuoka, Japan.
In 2015 Hanyu won his third consecutive Grand Prix title. In that same year, he came second in the world championships. Hanyu also came second, winning his second silver medal in the World Championships in 2016. In the year 2019 Hanyu came second for the third time at the world championships.
Yuzuru Hanyu & World Records 2009-2014
Yuzuru Hanyu holds the record of being the first Japanese man to win an Olympic gold medal. He won the medal in Sochi, Russia during the Winter Games of 2014. In his career, Yuzuru Hanyu has broken nineteen World records. Currently, he holds the world record for the short program in men’s ice skating. He also holds world records for free skating and total score.
At the Sochi Games, Hanyu broke the old world record. He set a new world record with a score of 101.4 points in the short program. Hanyu performed a routine that had a fantastic quadruple toe loop jump and a perfectly flawless triple axel. He was the first known figure skater in the world to obtain more than 100 points in the short program.
Despite stumbling twice in the free skate program later, Hanyu had a high overall score of 280.09. Thus, he was able to win the gold medal over Patrick Chan of Canada. At the young age of just 19 years, Yuzuru Hanyu became the youngest gold medal winner in the Olympic men’s skating event. This was since the year 1948 when Dick Button won his first Olympic Gold medal at the age of 18. Later Yuzuru Hanyu won the fifth position in a new team event that he had participated in.
About a month later, Hanyu participated in the 2014 World championship again. This time he once again proved himself by winning a gold medal. After this achievement, Yuzuru Hanyu became the second ever male skater to win both the Olympic and world skating titles in the same year. Before Hanyu, Yagudin held this record. Yagudin won the Olympics and the world skating championship in the same year in 2002.
Yuzuru Hanyu & World Records 2017-2020
In the year 2017, Yuzuru Hanyu again set a world record with a free skate score of 223.30 points. Although he was in the fifth position after the short program, he persisted. Thus, with this score Hanyu was able to win a second world championship gold medal. In the year 2018, the Olympic winter games took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea where Hanyu won another gold medal. Thus, Hanyu set the world record of being the first man to win consecutive Olympic golds in figure skating. Before Hanyu, Dick Button held this record. Dick Button won back to back gold medals in the Olympic figure skating event in 1948 and 1952.
Yuzuru Hanyu & Winnie the Pooh Rain
Ever since 2010, fans and supporters of Yuzuru Hanyu have made an adorable custom. This was to celebrate the end of his performance by showering Winnie the pooh plushies onto the ice at Hanyu’s feet. This happens whenever the fans see Hanyu with a box of tissues with the Winnie the Pooh logo on it. This cute custom became a signature of Hanyu’s performance and it came to a peak in the season of 2017-2018. Around this season the fans showered a lot of Winnie the Pooh plushies in front of Hanyu. The bears were used instead of the usual bouquets of flowers. Hanyu usually donates these bears to children near the arena where his events are hosted.
Yuzuru Hanyu & Yuri On Ice
Fans often ask whether the famous Anime “Yuri on Ice” has been based on the life of Yuzuru Hanyu. According to some reports a figure skater revealed last year that the protagonist of Yuri on Ice and Hanyu does bear some resemblance to each other. Yuri Katsuki does not only bear similarities to Hanyu in his posture and stances. But they also have an identical facial structure. They also are uncannily similar in their personalities. Yuri, in the anime, idolizes Russian skaters just like Hanyu does in real life. The writers of the anime have surely been inspired by the lives of real life ice skaters while writing Yuri’s character and emotional journey. Although it has not been officially reported whether it was purely based on Hanyu.
Yuzuru Hanyu & His World Ranking
According to the 2021-2022 World Standings, Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu tops the men’s figure skating list with 2554 points.
Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernandez: Is Yuzuru Hanyu Gay?
Yuzuru Hanyu has a very special connection with his Spanish training partner and competitor Javier Fernandez. Their relationship first received attention in 2012 when they began training together as partners in Toronto, Canada. Their common coach was Brian Orser. Over the years Hanyu and Fernandez became very close friends. They also received a lot of support from their fans and the general audience. Hanyu said in an interview that he owes Javier more than anything that can be put in words. He mentioned that practicing with Javier involved a lot of emotions and that made his routine more effective. Hanyu continued that they always supported each other despite being competitors.
Javier Fernandez added that sometimes they just look at each other and make each other better. Javier described his relationship with Hanyu in 2015. He said that it was like having a wife except your wife is your friend and everything. It just changes with the time and place. Although fans ship the two friends regularly, they have not yet confirmed if their relationship is romantic in nature. Nevertheless, Hanyu’s sexual orientation is still unknown since he has chosen not to comment about his personal life.
Who does Yuzuru Hanyu Train With?
Yuzuru Hanyu’s coach is Brian Orser who trained him along with Javier Fernandez in Toronto, Canada. Oser has previously coached famous skaters like Yuna Kim among many others.
Yuzuru Hanyu & His Accident
In 2013, Yuzuru Hanyu smashed into rival Chinese skater Yan Han in practice. This accident injured his head and caused a lot of bleeding. Reports say that returning to the competition without getting completely healed could have killed Hanyu. Nevertheless, Hanyu finished second even though he was shaken and fell down several times.
Is Yuzuru Hanyu Retired?
Yuzuru Hanyu announced in August 2020 that he would be withdrawing from the 2020-2021 ISU Grand Prix series. He retired from his Grand Prix career after winning the title three times.