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."

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The United States plans to introduce sanctions against Serbia’s main gas supplier that is controlled by Russia, Serbia’s president said Saturday.

President Aleksandar Vucic told state RTS broadcaster that Serbia has been officially informed that the decision on sanctions will come into force on Jan. 1 but that he has so far not received any related documents from the U.S.

There has been no comment from U.S. officials.

Serbia almost entirely depends on Russian gas, which it receives through pipelines in neighboring states. The gas is then distributed by Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which is majority-owned by Russia’s state oil monopoly Gazprom Neft.

Vucic said that after receiving the official documents, “we will talk to the Americans first, then we go talk to the Russians” to try to reverse the decision. “At the same time, we will try to preserve our friendly relations with the Russians and not to spoil relations with those who impose sanctions,” he added.

Although formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion in Ukraine, in part because of the crucial Russian gas deliveries.

Vucic said that despite the embargo threat, ” I’m not ready at this moment to discuss potential sanctions against Moscow.”

Asked if the threat of U.S. sanctions against Serbia could change with the arrival of Donald Trump’s administration in January, Vucic said, “We must first get the (official) documents, and then talk to the current administration, because we are in a hurry.”

The Serbian president is facing one of the biggest threats to more than a decade of his increasingly autocratic rule. Protests have been spreading by university students and others following the collapse last month of a concrete canopy at a railway station in the country’s north that killed 15 people on Nov. 1.

Many in Serbia believe rampant corruption and nepotism among state officials led to sloppy work on the building reconstruction, which was part of a wider railroad project with Chinese state companies.

FILE - A worker is seen in the NIS Jugopetrol oil refinery, prior to a visit by Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, in Pancevo, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Feb. 25, 2008.(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

FILE - A view of NIS Jugopetrol oil refinery in Pancevo, Serbia, on Dec. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)