Hello everyone,

I hope you are surviving this cold weather. There is no snow on the ground, but the mornings and evenings feel cold enough for it. This is the perfect weather to curl up under the kotatsu and enjoy watching some of the Olympic Games!

This year the games are in Beijing, which is the first city to hold both the summer and winter olympics. It is nice because the timezone is very close to Japan, so we can watch events in the evening. My personal favorite is ice hockey (Go Canada!) but probably the most popular sport at the winter games is figure skating.

And of course, that means only one thing… Hanzu Yuzuru. He is the two-time defending olympic champion, and the favorite to win again. He is already one of the greatest skaters of all time, but a win in Shanghai would leave no other challengers to the title. With that expectation comes great pressure. Even the Olympic twitter account announced his arrival.

People deal with pressure in different ways. Some people freeze, and stop being able to act. Other people thrive (do better) because winning feels better. Others are not bothered by it at all, so in English we say they are “calm under pressure”.

How will Hanzu do? Will the pressure “get to him” and cause him to fail? Or will he carry the hopes of Japan and quad-jump his way to victory? Let’s watch him and find out!