No regrets for figure skater despite near miss
Cha Jun-hwan of Korea reacts after finishing his free skate in the men's singles figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Friday (local time). Yonhap
By Yonhap
MILAN — Following the end of his free skate Friday night, marred by an early mistake with a jump, Cha Jun-hwan remained on the ice for a few extra moments, his legs stretched out and his hands propping him up. The Korean figure skater appeared to be soaking up the cheers from the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena at the conclusion of his Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Cha deserved all the adulation that came his way, as he finished in fourth place overall with 273.92 points. He received 181.20 points in the free skate, the fifth-highest mark among the 24 skaters, despite his failure to land a quadruple toe loop cleanly. Cha ended up only 0.98 point back of the bronze medalist from Japan, Shun Sato.
Cha later explained he was simply too spent, emotionally and physically, at the end of his free skate. In his own words, "My battery just died."
"I poured everything onto the ice," he said. "After falling down early, I did everything in my power to salvage the rest of my program. I think I executed all the other elements really well. Even after the mistake, I knew I was supposed to do my absolute best until the end without ever giving up. And so I really had to bear down and I was just so exhausted at the end."
With a handful of contenders with higher short program scores and more technically-challenging free skates on the horizon, any medal hope that Cha might have harbored appeared dashed at that moment.
However, most of those medal hopefuls struggled to stay on their feet. When the dust settled, Cha came achingly close to what would have been the first Olympic medal by a Korean male figure skater.
The 24-year-old ended up settling for breaking his own record for the highest placement by a Korean man in Olympic figure skating.
Though Cha admitted the ranking position left at least a little to be desired, he ultimately felt satisfied and had no regrets, knowing how hard he'd worked to reach this point.
"For me, the most important thing was to focus on myself and to give my very best," Cha said. "Looking at the process, both in the short program and the free skate, I did my absolute best and left no room for any regrets. I might not have achieved my goal of winning a medal, but I still felt a sense of accomplishment when it comes to the process. In that sense, I think I learned more as a human being than as an athlete."
Cha Jun-hwan of Korea performs his free skate in the men's singles figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Friday (local time). Yonhap
This was Cha's last Winter Olympics, coming as it did at an age when many figure skaters start declining. Cha was the oldest skater among the top five finishers here Friday. Inside the top 10, only Adam Siao Him Fa of France is older than Cha at 25.
Cha didn't want to start looking ahead to his future yet, saying he wants to stay off his feet for a bit after experiencing persistent ankle issues for months.
"I didn't come to this competition thinking this would be my last Olympics," he said, before adding with a smile, "You realize this one ended just minutes ago, right?
"Honestly, memories of the past four years came flooding back to me," Cha continued. "I've had some good moments, and I've had some really difficult moments too. There were so many times when I wanted to give it all up. But I stuck to it somehow and kept taking it one event at a time. So for now, I want to give myself some time to breathe a little."