Waseda Student Yuzuru Hanyu wins Gold Medal in Men’s Figure Skating at Sochi Winter Olympics
Sat, Feb 15, 2014-
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On February 15, Yuzuru Hanyu (Waseda University School of Human Sciences internet degree program)won the gold medal in the Winter Olympics men’s singles figure skating competition held at the Sochi Iceberg Skating Palace. It is the first gold medal ever for a Japanese in this event.
Photo courtesy of Yuzuru Hanyu
In his first Olympics, Hanyu scored a new world record of 101.45 in the short program for first place. After falling on a quad jump, he posted 178.64 points, the highest score in the free program, on his way to an impressive victory (total 280.09 points) over tough competition.
It was the first Olympic gold medal for a Waseda-affiliated athlete since Shizuka Arakawa(Bachelor in Education 2004) at Torino in 2006. For a current Waseda student, it was the first since Kenji Ogiwara (Bachelor of Human Sciences 1992) took gold in Nordic combined team competition at Albertville, 22 years ago.
Message from Waseda President
We heartily congratulate Yuzuru Hanyu on his gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The University is proud of the first Olympic medal for a Waseda student in an official event since the 1992 Albertville Olympic Nordic Combined Team gold by Kenji Ogiwara (Bachelor of Human Sciences 1992) with fellow alumnus Takanori Kono (Bachelor of Human Sciences 1991) .
Along with Akito Watabe’s (Bachelor of Sport Science 2011) medal on February 12, these accomplishments have created excitement among the Waseda University community and Waseda fans everywhere, as well as bringing courage, inspiration and thrills to people throughout Japan. With this great success as a foundation, we look forward to their further achievements.
Kaoru Kamata, President
Waseda University
