Yuzuru Hanyu thrills fans as figure skaters let loose at Olympic gala

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu performs in the figure skating exhibition gala during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 20, 2022. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

Japanese superstar Yuzuru Hanyu was at his ethereal best skimming across Olympic ice for what might be the last time, as he joined the best figure skaters of the Beijing Games at the exhibition gala.

Inside the Capital Indoor Stadium, the crowd went wild — outside, fans lined up with Winnie the Pooh toys, waiting to catch a glimpse of their hero, one even in a full bear bodysuit.

Despite his disappointing fourth-place finish in Beijing, double Olympic champion Hanyu inspires passionate devotion in fans all over the world, who often throw soft toys of the cartoon character onto the ice in reference to a tissue box he carries to the rink with him.

“I got 20,000 letters and messages from Chinese fans,” he said earlier this week. “I am so glad that I’m Yuzuru Hanyu. I am so lucky.”

Otherworldly in a flowing white shirt, Hanyu’s elegiac performance was a reminder of the talent that has graced three Olympics.

“Feelings-wise, of course, yes, I would love to skate at the Olympic Games once again,” he said after the men’s competition.

But at 27 years old, these Games could be his last.

Magic on ice

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu hugs an entertainer dressed up as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games mascot Bing Dwen Dwen after the figure skating exhibition gala during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 20, 2022. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

After weeks of intense competition overshadowed by a doping scandal involving 15-year-old Russian prodigy Kamila Valieva, the gala was a chance to skate free of pressure — and have fun.

The rink was transformed, the austere white lights of competition giving way to multicolored projections on the ice and ceiling.

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” formed the backdrop to Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier as they swirled across its surface.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States, at their last Olympics together, gave an intensely emotional skate to “Once I Was Loved” as spotlights followed them across the ice.

Georgia’s Morisi Kvitelashvili set a very different tone, turning up as the genie from the Disney film “Aladdin,” complete with blue body paint, a lamp and “The Worm” dance move.

Spain’s Adrian Diaz and Olivia Smart brought the 80s back with a tiger-print and fluorescent spandex-accompanied comic routine to “Maniac” from the film “Flashdance”.

“It’s the perfect time to explore and be free,” Diaz said of the exhibition.

Freedom included music by Britney Spears, Roy Orbison, and a “Rocky”-style boxing bout from Italian pair Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise, who started the performance screaming from the stands, before ripping his shirt off and skating topless.

Russia’s Alexandra Trusova, who had been devastated to only win silver in the women’s event, gave a defiant skate in a Wonder Woman costume, her long plaits flying as she landed her trademark difficult jumps.

Her teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who beat her to gold, also had a trick in her angel costume, which lit up halfway through her “Ave Maria” routine.

Chinese ice dancers Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu revved up the home crowd with patriotic rock set to vistas of the Great Wall, the audience waving their phone lights in time to the song “I Love You China.”

At the end all the skaters formed a huge circle on the ice.

No one seemed to have more fun than Hanyu.

He danced and hugged Bing Dwen Dwen, the Games’ widely popular panda mascot, and was picked up and spun around by China’s Liu as the crowd cheered.

Japan’s “Ice Prince” was one of the last to leave the rink, taking bow after bow to rapturous applause.

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