After 3 months of marriage, he flashed away only because of paparazzi harassment? Why is Hanyu Yuzuru still so concerned after retiring?

On the evening of the 17th, Beijing time, Japanese Olympic champion and famous figure skater Hanyu Yuzuru announced the news of his divorce through social media. At this time, only 105 days have passed since he announced his marriage.

105 days of "flash marriage" to "flash divorce"

On August 4 this year, Hanyu Yuzuru suddenly announced the news of his marriage through the studio's social media, which once attracted the attention of public opinion. At that time, Hanyu Yuzuru wrote: "This time, I, Hanyu Yuzuru, am going to be naturalized and married. ”

However, Hanyu Yuzuru has never disclosed the identity of his wife, although a lot of information has been exposed, some speculate that his childhood sweetheart is young, and some have speculated that it is a violinist who is older than him, but he himself has never responded. In an article announcing his marriage, Hanyu said, "In the future, I will continue to work with all the people who support me, together with ice skating, to move forward." ”

However, just three months later, the news of Hanyu's divorce came just as suddenly. In an article announcing the divorce, Hanyu said, "Now, all kinds of media are slandering and stalking my spouse and his family, as well as the people around me, my family and the people around me, and [they] are forcibly interviewing without permission." It is often the case that people are accosted suddenly, or suspicious people and vehicles are wandering around", so they choose to divorce in order to protect their lovers.

In fact, as early as 2022, Hanyu Yuzuru had already announced the news of his retirement, why can a retired athlete attract so much attention?

△ Hanyu Yuzuru at the press conference of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo/Xinhua News Agency

An athlete who has written the history of figure skating

Hanyu Yuzuru was born in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in 1994. His father named him "Yuzuru", which corresponds to his son's Sagittarius zodiac sign, and secondly, he hopes that his life can be as relaxed as a bowstring. Because he suffered from asthma when he was a child, he was sent by his family to skate for exercise.

From the age of 10, Hanyu showed a talent for figure skating, winning gold medals in various junior skating competitions. In 2014, Hanyu won the men's singles short program world record at the Sochi Winter Olympics, just before he was 20 years old. He became the youngest Olympic champion in men's singles and the first Asian men's singles champion at the Winter Olympics.

In the same year, he won the World Figure Skating Championships and achieved the Grand Slam of the Olympic Games, World Championships, and Grand Prix Finals. He defended his title at PyeongChang 2018 and became the first figure skater to win back-to-back Olympic men's singles titles. In this year, Hanyu was awarded the Order of Spring by the Japanese government and awarded the National Honor Award. He was also named one of the top ten international athletes in 2018 by the Sports Department of Xinhua News Agency.

In July 2022, Hanyu announced that he would not compete in the future. During his career, he broke the world record 19 times and became the first person to complete a quadruple loop in an international competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union.

These results only prove that Hanyu is a good athlete, but his influence off the field is likely to be difficult for many years to come.

△On February 26, Hanyu Yuzuru performed on the individual ice. Photo/Xinhua News Agency (Photo courtesy of GIFT official)

The merchandise is sold out immediately, and tickets for the show are hard to find

After retiring from the sport, Hanyu seems to have become a performing artist, and he has held many ice shows. The 35,000-person ice show at the Tokyo Dome Arena was packed. At the beginning of November this year, he just finished his first solo tour at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

In terms of endorsements, Hanyu Yuzuru is also the darling of the brand. Since 2013, he has been the face of ANA, Japan's leading airline. Hanyu's training expenses, transportation expenses, and medical expenses are all provided by this company.

In 2022, the airline launched Hanyu merch for sale on flights. Among them, the price of the water bottle is about 250 yuan, and the cup is also about 178 yuan. In addition, Hanyu is also endorsed by various well-known brands such as cosmetics, watches, and medicines. Among them, there are many well-known brands such as Pantene and Procter & Gamble.

According to the 2019 Top 100 Athletes list released by ESPN, Hanyu was the only figure skater selected that year, ranking 64th, with a whopping $13.41 million in endorsement sponsorships.

In addition to brand endorsements, merchandise sales are also an important source of income for Hanyu. Merchandise about him is often snapped up as soon as it goes on sale. Due to the large number of people who pre-ordered Hanyu stamps online, the Japanese post office sales website was directly paralyzed. It was reported that even newspapers with Hanyu's photos were sold to more than 70 times their original price.

△On February 26, the audience took a performance advertisement on the big screen outside the stadium before the performance. Photo/Xinhua News Agency (Photo courtesy of GIFT official)

On second-hand websites, some netizens in Japan even started "purchasing agents", and some Japanese newspapers and magazines with Hanyu Yuzuru's big reports were put up for sale. The Asahi Shimbun, a newspaper with photos and reports of Hanyu's games at the Beijing Winter Olympics, was sold for 180 yuan. A sticky note paper at Hanyu Yuzuru's Japanese event was also priced at 65 yuan. Hanyu Yuzuru's autobiography "Cangyan", which was launched during the Beijing Winter Olympics, has been sold out in many book e-commerce online stores.

And in Hanyu's hometown of Sendai, he has become an iconic figure. Not only as a Sendai tourism ambassador. You can see Hanyu Yuzuru's posters and standing cards in tourist areas all over Sendai.

Hanyu's influence is also applicable in the two-dimensional realm. Rumor has it that Hanyu may be one of the prototypes of the well-known sports anime Yuri on Ice. Although this rumor has not been confirmed, Hanyu did work with Nigen.

In 2023, Hanyu Yuzuru's ice show will use the well-known anime "Spirited Away" as the performance track. In addition, this ice show also cooperated with the well-known manga group CLAMP to release peripheral picture books.

Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Wu Chengding