Olympic Figure Skating legend Hanyu Yuzuru is a fan of BTS

[1100003.livejournal.com]

In an interview discussing his return to Dreams on Ice 2021, the legendary skater mentioned that he has been listening to BTS, especially the songs "DNA" and "Dynamite" thus revealing that even flawless looking angels can have bad taste sometimes. He also revealed that he especially enjoyed how they move (dance) and is "studying" them.

Hanyu Yuzuru won gold at the previous 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea where other k-boos skated to kpop including BTS at the exhibition, becoming only the second man in history to successfully defend his Olympic Gold/win two.

😁🤫
💋+🥲 vol.39 #weluvYuzu #4A pic.twitter.com/91xw3K8c2X

— gold🥇yuzuru hanyu🐐🍮🍓🥟 (@orangesrgd) June 26, 2021

Sources [Yahoo Japan (rough trans by me, see twitter for alternative translation)][orangesrgd twitter]


OP notes: Sorry mods, hope this is better!

It's not the same thing, but I think this is one of the only people in the world who might understand what it's like to have ARMY as your fandom. Of course the way he interacts with fans and the public has zero overlap with BTS lol.

I know this isn't exactly breaking news, but I thought it was interesting. Hanyu doesn't often talk about pop music, and he only volunteers information if he wants to.

Comments

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

lol op you're additional notes are making me laugh. does he have a very dedicated (euphemism?) fanbase as well?

i've also seen quite some korean olympians coming forward as kpop fans

for some reason ice skating is appearing on my tiktok fyp a lot, in particular a guy whose fans throw tons of winnie the pooh dolls on the rink after his performance!

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Hanyu IS the pooh bear guy lol! So you've seen him, even if in tiktok format.

His fans (Fanyus lol) are dedicated and - rightfully so, believe him to be the best ever - travel all over to see him, kind of like a pop/legacy act. I've seen him once live at a competition that had a lot of other stuff going on in the same day, and the vast majority came to see him for 5 minutes early in the day and then left lol. It means their paid around 300 euro+ just for those 5 min because they never came back (fixed seating and this was the cheapest seats since it was next to me lol)

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

ahhh that's such a coincidence! i was actually thinking about saving one of the tiktoks for you to ask if you knew him because i remember you saying you're an ice skating fan! it's a cute gesture of fans towards him, i think i learned that he donates the dolls to kids?

oh that does sound dedicated! i cannot imagine paying so much but staying only for him, i would assume that if you are a fan you would enjoy ice skating by others as well. but so happy for you that you got to see him!! how was it?

[1100003.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why or where it originated, but the "throwing plushies after the skaters finish" thing is just standard operating procedure in FS! Because he specifically likes Pooh, he gets majority that, stemming from him using a Pooh plushy on his tissue box that was seen with him at all big competitions (and lots of younger female skaters have since emulated this with their tissue boxes, and thus get majority that toy). Then the skaters all together usually donate both flowers and plushies to children's hospitals in the city the competition takes place, maybe keeping certain special ones.

He's not even my favorite (although I still love him) but yeah it was incredible to see live! I thought I wouldn't get the chance. But his fans??? Omg they terrified me (so I'm glad they left). He didn't win this time (ended up second) and when the guy who won got the gold, the girl next to me growled loudly and clenched her fists posing in a "fighter" mode???

This is from the competition I was at (not my video), where you can really see the Poohs come down lol:

he totally deserves this love and devotion. i miss seeing the pooh rain so much pic.twitter.com/lM2oiFdzoU (https://t.co/lM2oiFdzoU)

— 🦋 🇹🇷 (@otonalhanyu) July 25, 2021 (https://twitter.com/otonalhanyu/status/1419423773883879425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

lmao they really took one tiny detail from his personal belongings and ran with it! but it's cute and really nice how all ice skaters donate it! are there other ice skaters that also always get one type of plushie?

omg growling?? her alpha came out!!! op who's your fave ice skater then? if you don't feel like (or don't have the time to) answering now please let me know in a ffa i'm very interested :) (i was talking about the olympics with a friend a few days ago and we were saying that we always enjoy gymnastics and ice skating because it's so impressive, especially ice skating because the skaters are doing all kinds of amazing moves with actual KNIVES on their feet lol)

omg soooooo many pooh bears!!!! i feel for the girls scrambling to pick them all up trying not to trip — that could also be an olympic sport. love his sparkly shirt!!

[1100003.livejournal.com]

I am THE FS person! (well, obviously not, but maybe on here that you talk to regularly? lol) So any questions or recommendations you want, feel free to ask. I can also make a list with links to some of my fave performances. Hanyu is definitely on that list, close to the top too, but I just have more emotional reactions to others.

I'm so scared to watch gymnastics, but I do watch the highlights after the competitions end so I know I won't see neckbreaking falls. Probably because I started watching FS from very early on it doesn't scare me as much, but I also don't watch pairs as much as singles (and pairs in exhibitions is much worse for me, because they're not allowed to do some of the most dangerous hanging/spinning upside down in competition, but in exhibitions anything goes). Gymnastics is even more impressive to me than FS, I just don't understand how they do it!

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

yesss show me your fave performances! and who your fave ice skaters are and why! if you have time!

oh i guess for me it's the other way around! not that i could ever properly assess whether they'd get a good score there, but i guess i've seen more of it. with ice skating, they just jump so high at such a high speeds and there's no 'padding' on the ground
what is an exhibition? is it like a 'showcase' rather than a competition?

[1100003.livejournal.com]

I'll DM you because it's going to be long (you've been warned!), but if anyone wants to talk figure skating with me please do!

Yeah, exhibitions or professional shows, anything except ISU sanctioned competitions. The official competition programs have to meet many requirements, like no. of jumps, kinds of types, no. and kinds of spins (and this is just singles, it's even worse in pairs and ice dance esp), many elements aren't allowed, then there are required elements like step sequence and choreo sequence which can look the same even to someone like me when I first see the programs. But in exhibitions you can do what ever you want which some people like more, but I prefer competitions even though it can be terrifying too.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

yaay looking forward! i'm not really planning to get into figure skating but i just really love hearing and learning about my friend's interests :)

ah so that's quite similar to gymnastics i think? exhibitions sounds sort of circus-like!

[mortkero.livejournal.com]

He must be so sick of the bears.

Ah Yuzuru, I have his 2012 performance of Romeo and Juliet saved on my phone. I watched it almost obsessively for a while.

[1100003.livejournal.com]

lol when the bear "took a vacation", ahh but he's stuck with that for life.

R+J was great but ummm excuse time that it's 9 years ago???? HOW???? Maybe my favorites from him are Chopin and Seimei 2015, plus Hope and Legacy at 2017 WC.

[missshallelujah.livejournal.com]

i wish he would've left his musical preference comments at one ok rock bc the least he needs is armys obsessing over him and treating him like an idol.

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Yeah definitely. I'm really surprised he even said this because it's so unlike him, even if he gets questions about trendy stuff he knows exactly what to say. It makes me think he actually wanted this out there which???

[missshallelujah.livejournal.com]

from what i've gathered, dynamite was a huge hit in japan so he probably just enjoyed the song and wanted to give credit. it was a cute gesture and it's normal that fans are happy about such an influential athlete publicly enjoying their fave's song. but i don't trust armys to behave and he already has enough stalkers as it is. hopefully it stays as just a harmless anecdote.

[1100003.livejournal.com]

It's just so unlike him to go that much in on a topic like this, it makes me think he genuinely likes the song(s) and their dance (hurrummphh but each to their own), which is a perfectly nice anecdote. But "studying them" to learn how to move better is too much, especially for delusional armys. I don't have any expectations but I would hope that his already deranged fanbase hasn't grown from this "reveal".

[skidadler.livejournal.com]

Your in-line comments made me laugh out loud lol

[chikage-chan.livejournal.com]

He just has something that attracts people even if they don’t care at all about the sport! Such a cutie!

I think calling him a fan from just that interview may be a bit of a stretch, though hahahaha By those standards, I’m a fan of the majority of kpop groups lol

[daynr.livejournal.com]

Loving this post (interesting) and the OP shade. Maybe we can't all be tasteful in all arenas of life.....

Someone (else) skating to BTS

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Leaving this here in case someone is interested