Miura and Kihara announced their engagement after Olympic gold

Olympic figure skating champions in pairs Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who six months ago brought Japan the first ever Olympic gold in this type of program, announced their engagement — Kihara proposed right on the ice.

Proposal with a ring on ice

On Sunday, a photo appeared on the Japanese couple’s Instagram account: Kihara kneels on the ice and hands Miura a ring, reports xrust. The caption to the photo left no room for speculation — the partners said that they had decided to get married, and admitted that over the years of working together they had gone through enough ups and downs to become truly close people to each other, without whom it is already difficult to imagine their lives.

The post in the first hours collected over 14 thousand congratulations — for Japanese sports, where figure skaters are treated almost like pop stars, the reaction was expected, but the scale is still impressive.

The duet, which in Japan is called briefly and sonorously — “Riku-Ryu”, is well known to the local public not only for its sporting successes. Miura, 24, and Kihara, who just turned 34 last Saturday, have been among the most recognizable faces of Japanese sports for years: the petite Miura, 146 cm tall, and a tall partner who literally carries her onto the ice in his arms — an image that has become the couple's calling card.

Seven years to the top

Kihara and Miura became a couple in 2019, a decision that at the time seemed more work-related than fateful. What followed was a path more typical of a sports drama than of a real biography: Kihara’s back problems kept getting worse, Miura had a chronic shoulder dislocation, because of which she had to go on the ice without really recovering. Nevertheless, the couple continued to skate and progress, also taking the title of world champions.

The culmination was the Olympics in Milan-Cortina in February of this year. The program was built around the themes of struggle and overcoming — and life immediately added real drama to the plot. After a short program, where the athletes made an uncharacteristic mistake, the pair fell back to fifth place. Many fans have already mentally said goodbye to the medal. But in the free program, set to music from “Gladiator,” Miura and Kihara gave such a powerful performance that the audience rose to its feet even before the last chords had sounded.

The result is 158.13 points for the free program and 231.24 in total: a world record and the first Olympic gold in pair skating in Japanese history. For Japanese figure skating, which has long been strongly associated with single skating — primarily with the name of two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu — this was a truly historic victory: for the first time, a Japanese pair actually climbed to the Olympic podium, not to mention gold.

The moment when Kihara, without holding back his tears, admitted that after the short program he was devastated and practically did not believe in the chance of a medal, Japanese TV channels then showed an infinite number of times — the frame became one of the symbols of the Winter Games for the Japanese audience.

The end of a career — and the beginning of a new chapter

In April, just two months after the triumph, the couple announced the end of their sports career. The decision seemed logical: it is already difficult to jump higher than Olympic gold and the world record, and the long-term injuries of both athletes were clearly felt here. Then many perceived parting with ice as a beautiful point in their career. It turned out that this was not the end of the story, but a transition to its next part.

How the public reacted

Judging by the number of comments under the post about the engagement, the Japanese audience received the news about as warmly as they received the victory at the Olympics in February. The comments are dominated by congratulations and jokes about the fact that “Riku-Ryu” is now officially a “couple” in two senses of the word. Japanese sports publications and world agencies, including Reuters, simultaneously published the news within 24 hours — a case when personal news of athletes after retiring from their careers attracts almost the same attention as their sporting achievements is rather a rarity than a rule for figure skating.

Why is this important not only for figure skating fans

The story of Miura and Kihara is a notable example of how a sports couple, united not only by training, but also by overcoming injuries and failures together, eventually develops into a couple in the usual sense of the word. In figure skating, similar stories happen regularly — work in close physical contact, common goals and years spent together at training camps and competitions often become the basis for personal relationships. But not every such story ends with Olympic gold and a marriage proposal in front of millions of subscribers.

For Japan, where figure skating is one of the most broadcast and discussed sports, and broadcast ratings rival football, this engagement is not just social news, but in fact a continuation of one of the main sports stories of the year. It is possible that the duo will make a name for themselves — either as regular participants in Japanese television and ice shows, or in a new status as coaches or experts, as often happens with champions after retiring.

The wedding date has not yet been announced.

Sources:
reuters.com
japantimes.co.jp
olympics.com

Xrust Miura and Kihara announced their engagement after the Olympic gold