Yuzuru Hanyu has been extremely popular for the better part of the last decade, but thanks to the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Japanese figure skater has gotten more attention and more fans. If you’re one of many new fans, here are some fun facts to get to know Yuzuru Hanyu:

He’s 27 years old

Hanyu was born on 7 December 1994, so he just turned 27. He’s a Sagittarius, for those wondering.

Hanyu started competing in 2004, when he was only 9 years old. He became the youngest male skater to become Japan Junior Champion.

He’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist

On this day in 2018…

Hanyu Yuzuru left us all speechless! 🤩⛸️ pic.twitter.com/v2n9ZSVjl6

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 16, 2022

Yes, two! And he won those back to back. Hanyu first won in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi when he was only 19, becoming the youngest men’s Olympic champion in skating since 1948. He defended his title in PyeongChang 2018 when he was 23.

But he’s also a gold medalist everywhere else

On top of his two Olympic wins, Hanyu has ten other gold medals from international competitions: 2 from World Championships, 4 from Grand Prix Final, and 1 each from Four Continents Championships, World Junior Championships, World Team Trophy, and Junior Grand Prix Final. He has also become the first male singles skater to win all major competitions in both his junior and senior career, achieving the so-called Super Slam. Only two other skaters have completed this achievement: South Korea’s Yuna Kim and Russia’s Alina Zagitova.

For five long years, Hanyu held the first spot in the figure skating world standing. He was only knocked down from the top 1 in the 2019–19 season.

He comes from a simple family

He was born in Sendai, Japan. His father Hidetoshi Hanyu is a junior high school teacher and his mother Yumi Hanyu previously worked as a department store clerk. Hanyu also has an older sister named Saya.

He’s known for his athleticism and his artistry

Hanyu has broken many world records in his career. His total score of 101.45 at Sochi 2014 was the first time a skater had earned a triple-digit score in the short program. He held the highest total score for a short program at 111.82 for his performance at Four Continents last February 2020. This record was only broken by Nathan Chen’s 113.97 in Beijing 2022.

was rewatching this and remembered how this was the exact moment yuzuru hanyu captured everyones hearts pic.twitter.com/c687X0NivQ

— adiba (@780613) February 10, 2022

Hanyu is able to perform several quadruple jumps, and he even became the first figure skater to land a quadruple toe loop successfully in competition during the 2016 Autumn Classic International in Montreal.

At the moment, Hanyu’s current goal is to become the first skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition. He attempted this twice, first in the Japanese national championships in December 2021 and again in Beijing 2022. Unfortunately, both were downgraded to a triple Axel. Hanyu later explained that he actually changed the way he jumped his quadruple Axel ten days before Beijing 2022 after coming to a realization that he needed to apply the speed he had when he was 9 years old. Fans put a side-by-side comparison of his attempt at Beijing and a clip from his youth.

今日の記者会見で羽生くんが言ってたのはこのことか#羽生結弦#羽生結弦記者会見 pic.twitter.com/BpzHuESIRf

— Ame (@ame625) February 14, 2022

He has a degree in human information science

Due to his special circumstance as an athlete, Hanyu mostly took his classes from afar, especially when he was based in Toronto for training. It took him many years before he completed his studies, but he recently graduated from Japan’s Waseda University with a degree in human information science last September 2020.

He gets a lot of Winnie the Pooh dolls

Fanyus, as Hanyu’s supporters are often called, throw Winnie the Pooh plush toys onto the ice after each performance of Hanyu performs. This practice started when they saw Hanyu using a Winnie the Pooh tissue box in 2010.

VIRTUALLY GIVING ALL THE WINNIE THE POOH’S TO YUZURU HANYU 🥺 pic.twitter.com/EtQmHV42BB

— 林穎姍¹⁷ ఇ ◝‿◜ ఇ (@jlammy_) February 10, 2022

Since then, the plush toys have made an appearance in Hanyu’s competitions like a tradition. Hanyu collects these bears and donates them to children, but he did keep a few of the ones he got from PyeongChang 2018.

He’s not retiring yet

Four more years? Hanyu Yuzuru smiled and said, “There’s a part of me that does want to skate here again”.

This is what the two-time Olympic champion had to say:👇@Japan_Olympic I #羽生結弦

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 14, 2022

There were rumors that Hanyu would retire after Beijing 2022. But he quashed them in a recent press conference.

“I still want to land the 4A. At the same time, I want to perfect my program. I have this feeling that maybe I have perfected my axel. When it comes to my skating going forward, that’s what I want to show everyone,” the two-time Olympic gold medalist said. “As Yuzuru Hanyu, I’m going to cherish figure skating and I’ll continue to strive to master this sport.”

Are you also looking for his social media accounts? Unfortunately, Yuzuru Hanyu doesn’t have one. In fact, it has become a sort of inside joke among Fanyus that they don’t see him a lot except when there are competitions. “Once every four months for twenty seconds and that’s it,” one fan said.

i think it’s so funny how yuzuru is exploding across the world rn (as he should) but then soon all the new fanyus will realise actually, we see him pop his head out of a blank white wall once every four months for twenty seconds and that’s it.

— 🌱Շгɛɛ | yuzumemes: c(4)arrot🌱 (@yuzutrees) February 16, 2022

If you’ve just discovered him, maybe you could just catch up on all the content from the previous years.

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