GANGNEUNG, South Korea—He was protected by a small army of security guards as he swaggered through the airport on his way to the Olympics. His mere arrival was momentous enough for Japan to announce a press conference “with the presence of Yuzuru Hanyu.” He skated to crowded rinks for his practice sessions, and when it was finally time for him to compete, the most common reaction among his fans was to shriek.
It’s almost impossible to fathom the hysteria that Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu inspires until you see older women sobbing into their flags and younger girls raining Winnie the Pooh bears on the ice. And then he proved to be worthy of even the most intense adoration.
Hanyu defended his Olympic title with a powerful free skate on Saturday and became the first man in more than 60 years to win back-to-back gold medals in figure skating.
Japanese fans who packed the arena—and Japanese reporters who followed the presence of their 23-year-old skater like a protective pool—were rewarded for their fervor when his compatriot Shomo Uno won a silver medal. Hanyu’s training partner Javier Fernandez took a bronze medal after skating to music from “Man of La Mancha,” becoming the first Spaniard to win a figure skating medal, despite coming from a country with a skating tradition so slender that it has been barely able to hold a national championships for much of Fernandez’s career.
But the most impressive performance on Saturday came from the skater with the most disastrous performance on Friday. Nathan Chen, the 18-year-old great American hope for gold medal until he crashed down to earth in his short program, set a new international and Olympic record of his own by attempting six quadruple jumps and performing five of them cleanly to win the free skate portion of the event.
It was enough for him to soar from 17th place to fifth place and make it seem briefly possible that he could medal. He was one of three Americans in the top 10 alongside 17-year-old Vincent Zhou, who performed a five-quadruple jump program to finish sixth. The 28-year-old Adam Rippon and self-proclaimed “America’s sweetheart” was the highest-ranked man—at 10th—not to perform a quadruple jump.
Chen had teased the idea of a six-quadruple jump long program for much of the season. He said he made up his mind in anger last night to attempt it here, not even telling his coach what he had decided, after channeling his inner Russell Westbrook and realizing he had nothing to lose after his Friday debacle.
“I just allowed myself to forget about expectations,” Chen said. “I was, like, ‘Screw it.’” He added: “I might as well go out and throw everything down and see what happens.”
What happened was a skate that might have won him a gold medal if he’d performed the way he usually does the day before. Chen’s score of 215.08 was the highest of his career and by far the highest of the day. Only two other skaters, Hanyu and Uno scored above 200 points, and even Hanyu was given a 206.17.
The sight of Hanyu and Uno next to each other on the podium and the way Chen redeemed himself was a reminder of how much this sport has been rocked over the past four years by the explosion of quadruple jumps. Many of the world’s best skaters, including Hanyu, doubled the number of quadruple jumps here that they attempted only four years ago. Hanyu performed two quadruple toe loops and two quadruple salchows. When he won gold in Sochi, he performed one quadruple toe loop cleanly and botched the salchow.
Hanyu said he had been moved to accelerate his quadruple jumping by several of his rivals, including Fernandez, China’s Jin Boyang and especially Uno.
Those quadruple jumps that have revolutionized men’s figure skating have come at a price. Hanyu knows that cost as well as anyone. His training injury in November forced him to sit out much of this season and jeopardized his place in Pyeongchang.
That he made it here in the first place was a relief to everyone involved with Yuzumania and the intellectual property rights holders of Winnie the Pooh. Mere glimpses of Hanyu’s connection to the bear as a mascot at competitions have been enough to trigger the avalanche of stuffed animals, posters and costumes that follows Hanyu in rinks around the world. The skater assigned to perform immediately after Hanyu knows his warmup will be delayed as young sweepers clear the ice and bag the soft toys.
Japanese skating fandom, buoyed by Hanyu, is now such that international competitions held in the United States include Japanese-language advertising.
Natsumi Chiyoda began working on securing tickets to see Hanyu in Pyeongchang more than a year ago. When the day finally came, she knew what she had to wear: her Winnie the Pooh outfit. Tomoko Arimoto and her mother Etsuko Arimoto traveled from Tokyo and brought matching Pooh hoods. The younger Arimoto said that she admired Hanyu for his character. “He is honest, a good person and kind,” she said. “And cute.” Chiyoda has owned her Pooh suit for a while but hadn’t been able to wear because of how difficult it is to see Hanyu skate near her home in Yokohama, Japan. The idea behind her attire, she said, was to transmit “power waves” to Hanyu.
It worked. Hanyu’s revived program to the soundtrack of “Sensei,” the 2001 movie about a legendary 10th century Japanese astrologer, was strong, polished and technically masterful. It moved his legions of fans to their feet before he had even finished with his final choreography. They knew the gold was once again his.
At various points Saturday, Hanyu bowed, smiled and wept. “This is the best day of my skating life,” he said. Still, when asked what comes next, Hanyu was realistic. “I think I’ll be quite busy dealing with the press,” he said.
—Alastair Gale contributed to this article.
Write to Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com and Ben Cohen at ben.cohen@wsj.com
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