{"id":9454,"date":"2026-02-26T12:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9454"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:30:21","slug":"from-the-brink-of-collapse-to-olympic-history-japans-impossible-transformation-left-the-world-stunned-a-perfect-routine-under-crushing-pressure-turned-heartbreak-into-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9454","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE TO OLYMPIC HISTORY \u2014 JAPAN\u2019S IMPOSSIBLE TRANSFORMATION LEFT THE WORLD STUNNED: A PERFECT ROUTINE UNDER CRUSHING PRESSURE TURNED HEARTBREAK INTO GOLD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN (AP) \u2014\u00a0Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara thought their chances of Olympic gold had gone by the wayside when the Japanese skaters made an uncharacteristic slip-up during their short program at the\u00a0Milan Cortina Winter Games.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2261555125-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all\" alt=\"Are Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara Dating?\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p>Turns out they were just making it more dramatic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"GqLAEo1l\"><\/div>\n<p>The two-time defending world champions rebounded Monday night with a world-record free skate under the current scoring system, lifting them from fifth place all the way to the top step of the podium and their country\u2019s first Olympic medal in the pairs event.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<p>Miura and Kihara dropped to their knees in a tearful embrace when they realized they had won gold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy main message to them today was be the best in the world. Don\u2019t worry about yesterday,\u201d said their longtime coach, Bruno Marcotte. \u201cI told them that it wasn\u2019t over. Before they went out on the ice, I just said, \u2018Be yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"igmUxnER\"><\/div>\n<p>They were the best version of it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/isu-skating.com\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fisu-d8g8b4b7ece7aphs.a03.azurefd.net%2Fisudamcontainer%2FCMS%2Fnewsletter%2FJapan-gold-1771289211-0163.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75\" alt=\"Miura &amp; Kihara soar to historic Olympic Pair Skating gold for Japan\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Miura and Kihara scored 158.13 points for the free skate and a career-best 231.24 overall, earning a gold medal to go with the silver they helped the Japanese team win last week. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava earned the first medal for Georgia at a Winter Games with their silver, and Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took bronze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing moment for my country,\u201d Berulava said. \u201cI\u2019m in shock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, a private first class in the U.S. Army, took the lead by becoming the first team to break the 200-point barrier. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy quickly knocked them from their perch despite a messy free skate.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com\/reuters\/ZREZKEMDMJOZ7MK6ZGHTQVFZEU.jpg\" alt=\"Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara skate to Japan's first ever Olympic pairs  title with remarkable comeback | Reuters\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But the podium contenders were just starting to take the ice.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi make history clinching Japan's first-ever medal in pair skating! \ud83e\udd29\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AKFauNb33lY\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the defending Olympic champions, bounced back from Sui\u2019s fall on their opening triple loop in their short program that left them in sixth place. They still had problems in their free skate, turning a triple salchow into a double, but their score of 208.64 points put in them in first place with five pairs left to go; they finished fifth.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t a bad showing by Sui and Han, given they only began a comeback last June following a two-year retirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, this is my last Olympics,\u201d Han said afterward.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_imageEmbed__5mYLo\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/turnto10.com\/resources\/media2\/16x9\/6211\/986\/0x324\/90\/5ddc29e5-d02d-4fb6-89eb-ad5f99d41d00-AP26047771726351.jpg\" alt=\"Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan compete during the pairs figure skating long program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Stephanie Scarbrough)\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_caption__gAtoE\">\n<div>Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan compete during the pairs figure skating long program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Stephanie Scarbrough)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Miura and Kihara were next up \u2014 and they produced a score that proved impossible to beat.<\/p>\n<p>They were flawless on a triple toe-double axel-double axel sequence to start their program, set to music from the \u201cGladiator\u201d films, while Miura landed with grace and elegance on their throw triple loop. And as other teams struggled with their salchows, Miura and Kihara\u2019s were clean, with their throw triple loop putting an exclamation mark on the program.<\/p>\n<p>Kihara was emotionless after their short program, but he erupted with a roar when their free skate score was announced.<\/p>\n<p>Then he quietly dropped to his knees and hugged Miura when he learned they had won gold.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the Winter Olympics on NBC 10 through Feb. 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN (AP) \u2014\u00a0Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara thought their chances of Olympic gold had gone by the wayside when the Japanese skaters made an uncharacteristic slip-up during&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9456,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9454\/revisions\/9456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}