Beijing 2022: Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu fans ask Chinese for support after Olympics stops overseas spectators

北京2022年：日本花滑王子羽生结弦的粉丝向北京冬奥寻求支持

Jonathan White, October 2, 2021

Edited and Translated by Ray & Sally

Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu performs in the men’s short programme at the national figure skating championships at the Big Hat arena in Nagano, central Japan, on December 25, 2020. Photo: Kyodo

2020年12月25日，在日本中部长野市的大帽子竞技场举行的国家人物滑冰锦标赛上，日本人物滑冰运动员羽生结弦在男子自由滑规定动作中表演。照片：共同社

China’s embassy in Japan and government spokesperson Hua Chunying have promised that there will be support for Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu at next year’s Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, after the skater’s fans called on Chinese fans to support him as foreign fans are banned.

中国驻日大使馆和中国外交部发言人华春莹承诺，明年北京2022年冬奥会将支持日本花样滑冰运动员羽生结弦，由于国外的支持者无法参加本次奥运会，这些粉丝呼吁中国的花样滑冰爱好者们支持他。

Following the announcement on Thursday that the Beijing Games will not be open to overseas fans, Japanese social media users expressed their disappointment at not being able to travel and called on fans in China to support the two-time Olympic gold medallist.

在周四宣布北京奥运会不向海外的冰雪运动支持者开放后，日本社交媒体用户对无法前往北京冬奥会表示失望，并呼吁中国粉丝支持这两届奥运金牌得主。

The Chinese embassy in Japan then sent a tweet from their official Twitter account promising support for the skater.

中国驻日大使馆随后在推特上发布了一条来自官方推特账户的消息，承诺支持这名花样滑冰运动员。

“The voices of our fans have also arrived here. During the Beijing Winter Olympics session, we will firmly support the Japanese team with Japanese people living in China and Japanese volunteers at the tournament,” the account wrote on Thursday.

“我们听到了粉丝的声音，在北京冬奥会期间，我们将与居住在中国的日本人民和参加比赛的日本志愿者一起，坚定地支持日本队，”这个帐户在周四写道。

This captioned a tweet sharing the headline from a Mainichi newspaper article on Hanyu: “Hanyu fan 'local support, entrusted to Chinese people’ Beijing Olympics, seeing off overseas customers”.

这条推特分享了一家主要报纸关于羽生的文章的标题：“因为不接待海外观众，羽生粉丝'拜托北京奥运会的中国人民，支持他们的花滑王子”。

China spokesperson Hua Chunying, Director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of China, then added their support in response to the embassy’s tweet.

中国外交部新闻发言人、新闻司司长华春莹随后对大使馆的这一推特表示支持。

“To all the fans of Yuzuru Hanyu, I saw a voice saying, 'We will entrust the local support to the Chinese people.’ Please choose for me! And thank you for your understanding of China's support for the novel coronavirus!” she wrote in Japanese.

她用日语写道：“对于所有的羽生的粉丝，我看到有声音说：'我们拜托中国人民的支持。’就交给我们吧！谢谢你们对中国新冠病毒防疫的理解！”

“We will firmly support athletes from all over the world, including Japan, at both the Winter Olympics and Para. Following the Tokyo Olympics, we will do our best for the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics!”

“我们一定将在冬季奥运会和残奥会上为来自世界各国的运动员加油支持，包括日本运动员。在东京奥运会之后，我们也要为北京冬奥会的成功尽我们所能！”

Chinese netizens have shown their support to Hanyu before.

中国网民此前也曾表示对羽生的支持。

In 2019 they expressed their sympathy to the skater when he won silver at the Grand Prix Final on his 25th birthday.

2019年，当这位滑冰运动员在25岁生日的大奖赛决赛中获得银牌时，中国人表达了对他的同情。

The hashtag “Feel Sorry for Yuzuru Hanyu” racked up more than 290 million views on China's Twitter-like Weibo after US skater Nathan Chen beat the Japanese superstar to gold.

美国花样滑冰巨星内森陈（nathan chen）击败了这位日本巨星并获得金牌后，中国微博上的“为羽生感到难过”的标题曾吸引了超过2.9亿人的关注。

There were almost no fans at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer and there will be none from overseas in Beijing, though local fans are expected to be allowed to buy tickets.

今年夏天的东京2020奥运会几乎没有粉丝参加，这次的北京冬奥会尽管当地观众可以购买门票，但也将不对海外的观众售票。

Beijing will have even stricter Covid-19 protocols than Tokyo, the IOC revealed this week.

国际奥委会本周公布，北京将比东京更严格地执行新冠疫情的防疫措施。

“Games participants who are not fully vaccinated will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing,” the IOC said in a statement.

国际奥委会在一份声明中说：“没有完成接种疫苗的奥运会参赛者在抵达北京后，必须接受21天的隔离。”