Yuzuru Hanyu Trivia
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50 free Yuzuru Hanyu trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Yuzuru Hanyu trivia quiz covers the whole career of the two-time Olympic champion from Sendai: the asthmatic four-year-old who took up skating to stop being a nuisance at his sister's lessons, the spin battle with Stephane Lambiel at 11, the junior world title, the 2011 earthquake that struck while he was on the ice, the move to Brian Orser in Toronto, and the run of firsts: over 100 in a short program, over 200 and 300 in Nagano and Barcelona, the first quad loop, four straight Grand Prix Finals and the Super Slam. It also asks about the programs (Parisienne Walkways, Ballade No. 1, Seimei, Hope and Legacy, Origin), the rivals (Chan, Fernandez, Chen, Uno), the injuries and painkillers, the collision at the Cup of China, the fourth place and quad Axel attempt in Beijing, the July 2022 decision to turn professional, the solo shows Prologue, Gift at Tokyo Dome and the Repray Tour, Notte Stellata, the People's Honor Award and the Winnie-the-Pooh tissue box that started a tradition. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's article on Hanyu, and each explanation adds one further fact. Good for figure skating fans, Olympic history buffs and quiz nights.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In 2012 Hanyu moved to a Toronto club named for skating, curling and which other sport?
Cricket
Cricket. When he joined the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, his mother moved to Canada with him while the rest of the family stayed in Japan.
Q 02Which relative did Hanyu follow onto the ice at four?
Sister
His older sister Saya was already taking lessons at their local rink, and four-year-old Yuzuru wanted to do the same.
Q 03Which chronic condition, diagnosed at age two, hampered Hanyu's stamina especially as a junior?
Asthma
Asthma, school and scarce ice time held his training to an hour or two a day until he moved to Canada, where it doubled.
Q 04Which sport did Hanyu's father, a junior high school teacher, recommend to him instead of skating?
Baseball
Baseball. His father had advised a school baseball club; Yuzuru stuck with skating, though he considered switching to baseball when practice got tough.
Q 05Which Olympic silver medallist did a young Hanyu challenge to a spin battle when the star visited his home town?
Stephane Lambiel
Stephane Lambiel, the 2006 Turin runner-up, was famed for his spins; Hanyu later wrote that taking him on made him resolve to improve his own.
Q 06Before Hanyu, his coach in Toronto had guided which skater to an Olympic title?
Yuna Kim
Yuna Kim won in Vancouver in 2010 under the same coach; four years later Hanyu's Sochi gold gave him champions at back-to-back Winter Games.
Q 07What was Hanyu doing when the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, 2011?
Skating at his home rink in Sendai
Skating at his home rink in Sendai, he ran outside still in his skates, with no time for blade guards; his family then spent three days in an evacuation centre.
Q 08Which coach did Hanyu move to Toronto to train with in 2012?
Brian Orser
Brian Orser. Hanyu had seen Javier Fernandez become a consistent quad jumper under Orser, and said he went to Toronto to learn the secret.
Q 09At which 2010 event did Hanyu land his first quadruple jump, a toe loop, at an ISU competition?
NHK Trophy
The NHK Trophy was his senior debut at 15: he had added the quad to his programs only that season and still finished just off the podium.
Q 10Hanyu's 2012 Worlds bronze came with a free skate to which Baz Luhrmann film's music?
Romeo + Juliet
Romeo + Juliet. Despite a tumble mid-routine he climbed from seventh to third on his Worlds debut, and he chose another Romeo and Juliet score for his Sochi gold.
Q 11To which Gary Moore track did Hanyu skate the short program that brought his first world records in 2012?
Parisienne Walkways
Parisienne Walkways served him so well that he kept it for the Olympic season, and at Sochi it earned the first short program score above 100 points.
Q 12Which defending champion did an 18-year-old Hanyu beat to win his first Japanese national title in 2012?
Daisuke Takahashi
Daisuke Takahashi could not close Hanyu's big short-program lead and lost 285.23 to 280.40; it was the first of four straight national titles for Hanyu.
Q 13Who took silver at Sochi 2014 after failing to capitalise on Hanyu's errors in the free skate?
Patrick Chan
Q 21Which quadruple jump did Hanyu become the first to land in competition, at the 2016 Autumn Classic?
Quad loop
Quad loop. He landed it in his first competition back from a foot ligament injury that had kept him off the ice for two months that spring.
Q 22Which Japanese skating star began her career at the same home rink as Hanyu?
Shizuka Arakawa
Shizuka Arakawa began at the same rink; a year after her 2006 Olympic gold it reopened from a two-year closure, giving the young Hanyu his home ice back.
Q 23To which Prince hit did Hanyu skate his 2016-17 short program?
Let's Go Crazy
Let's Go Crazy. Hanyu said the program felt like a live concert that only the audience could complete, adding: 'I want to be their rock star.'
Patrick Chan had the door opened for him but put his hands down on two jumps and botched a third, finishing 4.47 points behind.
Q 14At Sochi 2014, Hanyu became the youngest men's Olympic champion since which American great?
Dick Button
Dick Button was 18 when he won in 1948; Hanyu, at 19, took the Sochi title despite falling on his opening jump in the free skate.
Q 15Which compatriot did Hanyu edge by just 0.33 points to win his first world title in 2014?
Tatsuki Machida
Tatsuki Machida led after the short program in Saitama, with Hanyu only third, before Hanyu's free skate overturned it by a third of a point.
Q 16With which Chinese skater did Hanyu collide during the free-skate warm-up at the 2014 Cup of China?
Yan Han
Yan Han and Hanyu both came back minutes later with bandaged chins; Hanyu, his head wrapped in gauze, fell five times and still finished second.
Q 17Which Chopin piece was Hanyu's short program for three seasons, including the 2018 Olympics?
Ballade No. 1 in G minor
Midway through 2019-20 he shelved that season's programs and went back to Ballade No. 1 in G minor, promptly scoring a world-record 111.82.
Q 18Whom does Hanyu portray in his free skate Seimei?
A Heian-era astronomer
A Heian-era astronomer, Abe no Seimei is the hero of the film Onmyoji; Hanyu took its soundtrack because he wanted a program that was distinctly Japanese.
Q 19Two weeks after the first 300-point total, Hanyu raised his record at the Grand Prix Final in which city?
Barcelona
Barcelona. He scored 330.43 there, beating his training partner Javier Fernandez by 37.48 points in the Spaniard's home country.
Q 20At the Beijing 2022 Olympics, what did Hanyu say caused him to miss his opening jump in the short program?
A hole in the ice
A hole in the ice. His blade caught it on take-off, so a planned quadruple Salchow became a single in the opening seconds of his program.
Q 24Which free skate, set to Joe Hisaishi's music, won Hanyu the 2017 world title with a record score?
Hope and Legacy
Hope and Legacy. Only fifth after the short program, more than ten points off the lead, he skated it cleanly to overturn the deficit.
Q 25How did Hanyu injure his right ankle three months before the 2018 Olympics?
A fall on a quad Lutz in practice
A fall on a quad Lutz in practice damaged an ankle ligament; his very next competition was the Olympic short program, which he led.
Q 26Which Japanese teammate took silver behind Hanyu when he defended his Olympic title at Pyeongchang 2018?
Shoma Uno
Shoma Uno completed a Japanese one-two in what was the 1,000th medal event in Winter Olympic history; Hanyu had skated on painkillers for a damaged ankle.
Q 27Which jump did Hanyu announce as his next goal immediately after winning in Pyeongchang?
The quadruple Axel
The quadruple Axel appealed, he said, 'because nobody else has' done one; in Beijing in 2022 his attempt became the first to be recognised as that jump in competition.
Q 28To which two idols did Hanyu pay tribute with his 2018-19 programs Otonal and Origin?
Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko
Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko had skated to the same music years earlier; Hanyu asked Plushenko's blessing before reworking his Tribute to Nijinsky.
Q 29Which title did Hanyu win in Seoul in February 2020 to complete the first men's singles Super Slam?
Four Continents
The Four Continents Championships had eluded him three times, each ending in silver; winning it completed his set of every major junior and senior title.
Q 30Which Italian fashion house named Hanyu a brand ambassador in 2024?
Gucci
Gucci. A year earlier, a photo exhibition of Hanyu wearing the label had been the opening show at its new gallery in Tokyo's Ginza district.