After 2 Olympic golds, Hanyu wants to master quad axel

After winning two Olympic gold medals, Yuzuru Hanyu wants to master a quadruple axel.

Hanyu, who at the Pyeongchang Games became the first man to repeat as Olympic champion in 66 years, told a news conference on Tuesday he hoped to be the first, or at least one of the first figure skaters to accomplish the 4 1/2 revolutions in competition.

Japanese figure skater and gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu speaks in Tokyo, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, a day after returning home from Pyeongchang.  (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

"No one in competition has achieved successful quadruple axel jumps and there are very few people actually practicing even during training," Hanyu said. "I want to continue my challenge towards achieving my dream of successfully performing the quad axel, even if I may not be the first person to do so."

The usually articulate Hanyu struggled with questions at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan, where he was asked to describe how difficult the jump is and to show something of it.

He dropped his head to the podium, and said a quadruple axel is like jumping rope four times while revolving twice with one's eyes closed.

Even though top skaters have achieved success in five of the six quadruple jump varieties, only a few are practicing the more difficult quadruple axel, which requires an additional half-turn, he said.

Japanese figure skater and gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu laughs while speaking in Tokyo, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, a day after returning home from Pyeongchang.  (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Asked if he would go beyond that, Hanyu said he was interested.

Scientists say humans can go as far as quintuple, Hanyu said, and his childhood coach is encouraging him to go for it.

"I would like to give it a try in the future, if possible," he said. "A quintuple and half could be beyond my reach though."

He says those difficult jumps add to the artistry of a performance only when performed with excellent basic technique.

Hanyu, who was off ice until January while recovering from a right ankle injury, said his gold medal in Pyeongchang was not easily won. The pain in the ankle was still only "20 to 30 percent" down from the worst.

"I bet my life for this gold medal," the 23-year-old Hanyu, who returned home on Monday, told the packed news conference. "I am alive and here," he joked, "I am not dying."

Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu shows off his gold medal he got in the Pyeongchang Olympics while speaking in Tokyo, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, a day after returning home. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Hanyu said he was proud to have repeated as champion in a sport traditionally dominated by Europeans.

"I believe it was a historic step forward that I was able to win the gold medal using Japanese music for my program," he said.

Conscious of his Japanese fans, Hanyu said he always eats rice to get energy for competition, instead of bread or pasta. But when he is not competing, he eats like most other youths and says he still stays in shape: "I go to McDonalds, I like carbonated soft drinks, and I even eat potato chips sometimes."

Japan’s Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, has named a new CEO and plans to sell billions in assets as it tries to fend off a takeover bid from a Canadian rival.

On Thursday, Seven & i named its board chairman, Stephen Dacus, as its new president and CEO. Dacus, the former head of Walmart in Japan, will succeed Ryuichi Isaka in May. Dacus, who is fluent in Japanese, is Seven & i's first non-Japanese CEO.

Seven & i said Thursday it plans to sell some non-convenience store assets, including supermarkets and other retail stores, to Bain Capital for $5.4 billion. The transaction is scheduled to close in September.

The company also said it plans an initial public offering of shares in its North American 7-Eleven operations by the end of 2026. That business, based in Irving, Texas, operates and franchises 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Seven and i said it would use the proceeds from the IPO and the sale to Bain Capital to fund share buybacks.

“We have been on a journey to explore opportunities that create the most value for our shareholders and enhance our customers’ experiences around the world," Isaka said in a statement. “This is the right time to move these initiatives forward.”

Seven & i's share price jumped 6.1% in Tokyo.

The restructuring follows Seven & i's rejection of a takeover bid by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, which owns Circle K and other convenience chains. Dacus said earlier that the offer had undervalued the potential of the convenience store business and failed to fully address U.S. regulatory concerns.

The company's 7-Eleven holdings include 86,000 stores in the U.S., Japan and other Asian nations. In contrast to the 7-Elevens in the U.S. mainland, the stores in Japan are known for their variety of food, and have replaced many mom and pop shops. Seven & i says 22 million people visit its 22,800 7-Elevens in Japan each day.

Last year, Seven & i announced a restructuring plan to strengthen its U.S. operations and streamline operations, which included closing some Ito-Yokado supermarkets in Japan.

In 2022, Seven & i sold its Sogo & Seibu department stores in Japan to Fortress Investment Group, a U.S. fund, for $1.5 billion. It said it also plans to reduce its share in Seven Bank

FILE - A Vancouver Police officer talks on his phone outside of a crime scene at a 7-Eleven after a stabbing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File)