TOKYO, (MILLAT ONLINE/APP/AFP) – Japan on Tuesday expressed national
thanks to former world champion figure skater Mao Asada, a day after she shocked the nation by announcing her retirement from competition.
The 26-year-old Asada, who won three world titles in 2008, 2010 and
2014, said on her official blog late Monday that she was hanging up her skates, sparking TV stations to flash the news on screen.
By Tuesday morning, public broadcaster NHK was reporting the retirement as its top news item, squeezing out rising geopolitical tensions on the neighbouring Korean peninsula.
All major newspapers and sports tabloids reported the announcement on their front pages, while the sports dailies ran inside headlines expressing emotions such as “Thank you, Mao” and “Thank you, beloved Mao”.
The central government weighed in with top spokesman Yoshihide Suga
reacting at a regular morning briefing.
“She performed brilliantly,” said Suga, the chief cabinet secretary and right-hand man to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
“She is a rare athlete that many fans have loved for a long time.”
Asada, a silver medallist at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics behind South
Korea’s Kim Yuna, never made it on to the highest step of the Games podium but that did not seem to matter to her admirers.
“She could not win a gold at an Olympics, but she herself has shined like a gold medal,” said Tamayo Marukawa, the state minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Asada’s retirement also spurred reactions from other athletes as well as TV personalities.