The countdown is on for the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing
In the background, there are so many critics out there of these games
COVID being the big one
Should we be having games? especially in the light of Omicron?
Should we be boycotting the games?
There is a whole lot of controversy around
People want to celebrate and cheer on their athletes
and talk about Gold, Silver and Bronze
There's been Chinese political issues..
Let's talk about only figure skating!
Darling I’ve been tempted by the darkness
Telling me that I should throw it, throw it all away
Fight so hard my heart is hardly helpless
Find myself so desperate on my on my knees to pray
And I hear the voice of an angel
Telling me not to lay it down
I feel the spirit guiding
Telling me not to give up now
I hold on to every promise
I been waiting for a light
I hold on to every comet
Won’t surrender - not tonight
Olympics are special
It gives reason to our journey
All the athletes, we all strive to get to the Olympic games
I just want to skate in front of the Olympic crowd again
I want to focus on regaining my best condition
Try to do my best in the competition and hope I will have no regret
All along I knew that 2022 would be my chance to go and fight for a medal
Of course all athletes want to stand atop the podium
For me, winning is first place. Any other place is losing
When I watched the 2014 Olympic Games, I saw Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova
And that's when I decided to want to make it to the Olympics
The first Olympic medalist from Team Tutberidze, Yulia Lipnitskaya
She said for 5 years she climbed onto the improvised podium
and imagined herself as an Olympic champion
So how do you girls imagine your Olympic Games? This being your first experience
My answer is simple. It's not my goal to win over others
When I became senior I was just trying to do my best
For now I will try to do the same
Try to prepare and do my best
My work doesn't depend on my competitors
Let's say this, we are living at present moment
Even though the Olympics are coming, there's no point for overthinking about it
We will be working and preparing in any case
Kamila Valieva is the overwhelming favourite to win the next Olympic title for women's skating
Unless she makes major mistakes like how Nathan Chen did in 2018 Olympic Games
Ouch! So disappointing. Look at that technical scores. Major mistakes
Going into 2017/18 season
I never wanted to verbalise this but it was just.. I wanted to win!
That was the whole reason why I was training for that season
It's the fear..
This is what we called the "Fear of the Olympics"
Olympics are really special
I've won.
It was with great determination that I won
I'm afraid that in one second of mistake I'll lose it all
and this is my biggest fear
But at the same time, having had that experience at the Olympics
Knowing how it's like to sort of fail at the biggest stage
it's nothing to be afraid of
I'm starting to work with sport psychologist
It's been really helpful having someone to talk to
both in the world of sport and outside the sport as well
But I won’t let nothing take my take my heart away
I recognize the powеrs as they rally
Call their names- I brеak them one by one and face to face
Everyone wants to win the Olympics
Some will have higher chance
I think Nathan Chen had stirred your soul
but in a good way. What do you think?
He forced me to face many things and keep me motivated
Without him I might have thought it's my limit and quit
But now I want to continue
I selfishly think that it's good that he extended your competitive career
All because of the existence of Nathan Chen, right?
Yes I might have retired if he's not there
Thank you, Nathan Chen!
When we are off the ice, we are no longer in the field of play
We are no longer competitors, we are just people..
I think this is something that's very special
This sport allows us to have this sort of relationship
Through that, we are able to have a relationship that is..
of course, intensively competitive on the ice
Both of us are gonna do the very best we can to try to win
That's what we are there to do
But off the ice we can be friends
we can support each others, challenge each others and help each others to be better
But only 1 has the chance to chase his 3rd consecutive Olympic Title
There are only 2 Double Olympic Champion alive in men's figure skating
One won his second title 70 years ago at 1952 and retired the same year
Another won his second title 4 years ago at 2018 and he is still competing
Will Yuzuru Hanyu become
Three-time Olympic Champion?
And become the first man in 94 years to do so?
When we asked Hanyu if he intended to go for his third Olympics 4 years ago in 2018
I don't think about it. I don't really have a strong interest to go for the third title
Comparing to the 3rd Gold, Hanyu seems more interested in something else, his childhood dream
I want to land the 4.5 Rotations Jump on ice (4A)
I'm more into 4A now.
It's one of my childhood dreams so I want to try to fulfil my dreams
But his challenge didn't go as well as he expected
In GP Russia 2018, he injured his right ankle again during practice
That's exactly the same ankle that he injured himself on one year ago before the Olympics
He was seen noticeably limping on that right ankle,
the same one he injured before the 2018 Games but he ended up winning Gold
He was hopping, needed the assistance of crutches
Managed to get out there and skate and won that event
Yeah I was thinking about withdrawing from this competition after my injury
but it's my choice
I trained hard before coming here
and then I really love to skate here
Especially for this season where I pay tribute to the Russian skaters
and American skaters, and Russian choreography too
So I really wanted to skate this program in Russia
Skating is a sport whereby even if you recover from your injury,
It doesn't mean you can skate to your previous level (There were some speculations about him thinking about retirement at that point)
Hanyu later withdrew from the GPF 2018
5 months after that injury, he competed for first time and finished second in World Championships 2019
I lost
I feel so regret..
He's so cool
He's so damn cool!
4Lz, 4A, bring it on!
Which reignited his fighting spirit
To fortify myself for the 4.5 rotations jump, I practiced 5 rotations jump for quite sometime
The wall is much higher than I initially thought
I need to stop seeing 4A as quadruple but a quintuple jump
I'm working on it step by step and I can feel my improvement weekly
To explore this jump no one had ever done, what does it take?
It's like walking alone through darkness
I really felt like I was walking through darkness
So every time when I practiced, I got a feeling I might get killed
like hitting my head on the ice, get concussion and die..
This must be the first time I practiced with a strong feeling that I wanted to quit
Just like walking through the thorny road, more attacks come along the way, that's what I felt
I felt I'm pelted with the walls, every time when I tried
But when I think about my story, I really want 4A to be part of my story
I'm sure many people face the same things
They must have different goals they want to achieve in lives
And they must have faced through same difficulties to achieve their goals in lives
So if they feel inspired with my performance, then I'll be happy
Somehow after so much trying, I found some ways to climb up the wall
It's like there are some holes on the wall and I can put my fingers and toes onto them and climb up
Now that I have confidence with my 4A, I finally think that I can still fight
I want to work for the Olympics! Finally I have this kind of feeling
Without hesitation, with firm ambition, I will go for the win
I will go to Beijing to win, with stronger determination than I had in PyeongChang
while utilising my experience in PyeongChang
What you have achieved remains. Those accomplishments will never change -- Shizuka Awaraka (2006 Olympic women champion, first Olympic Champion for Japan in figure skating)
Your words carry a lot of weight for me. They are so convincing.
I'll try my best
Won’t surrender - not tonight
We wish the skaters all the best!
Who will be the next Champion?