Professional figure skater Shoma Uno (27), who retired from competitive skateboarding in May last year, appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi), which aired on December 3rd. He spoke about the reasons for his decision to retire.
Uno has won three Olympic medals, the most of any figure skater in Japan. Although he never thought his talent for figure skating was superior to others, he said, "I've made up for it by practicing hard and putting in the effort. But the reason I was able to practice that much was because I wanted to do it."
He used to be afraid of failure, but once he started thinking, "Even if I fail, I can just use it in practice," he stopped being nervous. "When I realized that there is a lot to learn from failure, I felt a lot more at ease. Once I realized that properly failing would help me grow even more, I even went as far as to say, 'If anything, please fail in the game.'"
There were two players that made me decide to retire.
"Yuzuru Hanyu and American Nathan Chen were two skaters I could never beat. That's why it was so fun to challenge them. But then the Olympics came around and they were gone..."
Uno inevitably became the "top player," and from then on he won every tournament for a year. At the same time, he felt a sense of loneliness.
"I had always been challenging myself, so I felt that the excitement and enjoyment was less than it had been a while ago. It was difficult for me to approach daily practice and competitions not because I wanted to do it enthusiastically, but because I felt that I had to. As for my skills, even though I was increasing the amount of time I practiced, they were gradually deteriorating, and I couldn't accept that, so I decided to retire," he said.
