Japan’s Olympic ice icons inspire new generation

Japan did not win an Olympic figure skating medal until 1992, but it is now among the sport's world powers, with kids dreaming of becoming the next Yuzuru Hanyu or Mao Asada.

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Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu competes in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

(AFP)

The country produces a conveyor belt of talent and skaters such as Kaori Sakamoto and Yuma Kagiyama head to next month's Milan-Cortina Games with ambitions of emulating the now-retired Hanyu, a two-time Olympic champion.

Skating is hugely popular in Japan, where children as young as three can be seen taking their first tottering steps onto the ice at rinks nationwide.

Kanon Amagai, an 11-year-old member of the Seibu Higashifushimi Figure Skating Club in Tokyo, told AFP that she started taking lessons five years ago because she “saw it on TV and thought it was cool”.

“Now I can jump but I still need to work on my spins’’ she said as her classmates confidently zipped across the ice, weaving in and out of the beginners gingerly edging around the rink.

Japan’s first Olympic figure skating medal came when Midori Ito won silver at the Albertville Games.