Yuzuru Hanyu: Skating

“I really love to skate, I really love to perform. I want to skate for my fans. I never feel like a champion. I'm always a challenger.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

CBC interview with Scott Russell

Feeling , Love

“A lot of people said to me that they were able to feel courage or happiness, for instance, when they see my performance. So, I believe that this is my motivation for skating, and that this gives me the reason to go on until the end.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

CBC interview with Scott Russell
Original: (ja) いろんな方々が僕の演技を見た時に勇気を感じたとか、何か幸せになったとか、そういったことを言ってくれて、それが自分にとってのスケートのモチベーションだと思ってますし、それが僕が今スケートを最後までやり通す意味になってるなって思います。

Happiness , People , Motivation , Courage

“Because it’s the music that engenders the expression, artistry, and technique that is figure skating, I think that music and figure skating are essentially one and the same. [...] It’s my raison d'être. It’s the reason I skate.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

Other quotes, 2020
Original: (ja) そこに音楽があるから、フィギュアスケートっていう表現だったり、芸術だったり、技術っていうものがそこに生まれてくるのであって、音楽とフィギュアスケートっていうのがほぼイコールだと僕は思ってます。で、僕にとっては… なんて言うか、生きがいです。フィギュアスケートをやる理由です。
Source: Hanyu in an interview from 2019 about the meaning of the music, aired 28 March 2020 in フィギペディア～2019-2020シーズン特別編 (Figurepedia 2019-2020 season special edition) on TV Asahi.

Music , Thinking

“Sometimes I can't explain or speak with words. It really feels a little frustrating. But in skating I can use all languages, for all the people. I can do a part of the performance for every country, every people.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

Other quotes, 2019
Source: Interview after the freeskate at Skate Canada 2019, as transcribed by the International Skating Union, published on 28 October 2019 on their official YouTube-Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2guVNCyGL1M.

People , Country , Feeling , Parting

“I bet my life to skate, everytime. I think, that's the mission of my life. That's why I was born here. [...] I was born for my skate.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

CBC interview with Scott Russell

Thinking , Life

“My strength is, I’m able to really analyze myself and have that image and try to match that with the physical skating.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

Hanyu quoted in an article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/sports/olympics/figure-skating-yuzuru-hanyu.html of The New York Times, written by Jeré Longman and Victor Mather, published 16 February 2018. (Retrieved 10 September 2020)
Other quotes, 2018

“I'd like to overcome more barriers. I'd like to be in the position where, no matter what happens - even if they skate their free skate clean - if I skate clean, I will win.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

Quote from the same article on the Olympic Channel linked above, published 3 April 2019.
Other quotes, 2019

“It's not only me, who is serving this sport. Figure skating is a sport. Yes, there are shows, but we're athletes and competitors. You can't compete with only one skater. There are so many amateur skaters, who gather to compete. This is how figure skating as a sport is made.”

Yuzuru Hanyu

Excerpt from Hanyu's acceptance speech at the inaugural ISU Skating Awards, aired 11 July 2020.
Other quotes, 2020

Sport

““I believe – and this is the case not only for figure skating but for other forms of art including ballet and musicals as well – that this artistry is very much based on having the correct technique and a strong foundation at the core of everything. It is upon these that the artistry is built, and without that strong foundation and that basis in technique, it is not possible to have that full artistry required as well.””

Yuzuru Hanyu

Source: Original: (ja) たとえばバレエとかミュージカルとかもそうですけれども、芸術というのは、明らかに正しい技術、徹底された基礎によって裏付けされた表現力、芸術であって、それが足りないと芸術にはならないと僕は思っています。

Source: Interview at the Foreign Correspondence Club of Japan from 27 February 2018
https://quotepark.com/authors/yuzuru-hanyu/

Strong , Art , Music