How many people would be skating on Olympic ice after having gone through all he had to endure? When his hometown was struck by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake Yuzuru was inside the rink, training. That year, he took part in 60 ice shows, using them as practice time. In 2012 he won his first Worlds medal, capturing many fans’ hearts with his iconic Romeo and Juliet performance. In 2013 he defended Japan’s 3 spots for the Olympics while being injured. In 2014-2015, after winning GPF, the Olympic title and the World title the previous season, he collided with Han Yan in practice. He was still bleeding when he performed his free program, fell five times, and yet won a silver medal. He qualified for GPF, and won. At the end of 2014 he had surgery, just after winning the national title once again. He sprained his ankle before Worlds, competed and came second. In the first half of the 2015-2016 season he broke all his records, becoming the first man to get more than 200 points in a free program and more than 300 points in total. He arrived at Worlds as the absolute favourite. He skated a perfect short program, but couldn’t win the title in the free. Afterwards, we’d discover he had been injured for months, and had suffered lisfranc ligament damage. He thought the gala would be his last performance. Yet he came back, with a 4Lo, and rewrote history once again. In the 2017-2018 season, he brought back two iconic programs, and planned to add a 4Lz to his layout. He landed it in his first try in competition. But injury struck once again, when he fell on a 4Lz in practice at NHK Trophy. He wanted to skate on painkillers, but his ankle wouldn’t move. He was off ice for two months. He started practicing 3A 3 weeks ago. He started practicing quads 2 weeks ago. All of this doesn’t even begin to define his career, his mentality nor the quality of what he does on the ice. A warrior’s destiny is greater than his wounds.
