When the ground shook, the ice buckled and the skating-rink building began collapsing around Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu in March 2011, Sochi must¡¯ve seemed a long way off. Survival suddenly trumped Olympic training.
Three years on, the 19-year-old has given his hometown of Sendai, in the heart of the earthquake-devastated Tohoku region, something to cheer about. On Feb. 14, the figure skater won Japan¡¯s first Winter Games gold medal since 2006.
And then Hanyu said something equally extraordinary, when asked by the media about March 11, 2011, a day many of his friends didn¡¯t survive. ¡°It¡¯s a very difficult subject for me to talk about,¡± he said. ¡°I think my service to all those who were affected by the earthquake starts today.¡± This, he added: ¡°is going to be the starting point for what I can do for the recovery.¡±
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