Tatsuki Machida

Tatsuki Machida (町田 樹, Machida Tatsuki) (born March 9, 1990) is a Japanese retired figure skater. He is the 2014 World silver medalist, the 2010 Four Continents silver medalist, and the 2013–14 Japanese national silver medalist. Machida is the winner of four Grand Prix events — the 2012 Cup of China, 2013 Skate America, 2013 Rostelecom Cup, and 2014 Skate America.

Tatsuki Machida
Machida at the 2014 World Championships
Born	(1990-03-09) March 9, 1990 (age 34) Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Skating club	Kansai University SC
Began skating	1993
Retired	December 28, 2014 (competitive skating), October 6, 2018 (professional skating)
Medal record
World Championships 2014 Saitama Singles Four Continents Championships 2010 Jeonju Singles Japan Championships 2013–14 Saitama Singles

Tatsuki Machida
Japanese name
Kanji	町田　樹
Kana	まちだ たつき
Transcriptions Romanization Tatsuki Machida

Personal life

Tatsuki Machida was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan.^[1] He studied literature at Kansai University in Osaka.^[2] In 2015, he began a Master's program in sport management at Waseda University's Graduate School of Sciences.^[3][4][5]

Career

In 2011, Machida moved to the U.S. to train at Lake Arrowhead, California's Ice Castle, where he was coached mainly by Anthony Liu.^[6][7]

Machida won his first senior Grand Prix medal, bronze, at the 2012 Skate America. He won his first senior GP title at the 2012 Cup of China, where he beat former World champion Daisuke Takahashi. These results qualified him for the Grand Prix Final, where he finished sixth overall.

At the 2013 Skate America, Machida won his second GP title. He placed first in the short and free programs, setting personal bests in both and winning by 25 points over second-place finisher, Adam Rippon of the United States. At 2013 Rostelecom Cup, Machida was second after the short program behind Maxim Kovtun of Russia. However, he won the free skate by over 25 points to win the competition – over 16 points ahead of Kovtun. This meant that he qualified for the Grand Prix Final in second overall, behind Patrick Chan of Canada. At the Grand Prix Final he recovered from a rough short program to skate a very strong long program, and finish 4th. He would finish 2nd at the 2013–14 Japan Figure Skating Championships, securing a spot on the Japanese Olympic and World teams for the first time.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Machida placed 11th in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fifth overall.^[2] Machida significantly improved his personal best short program score at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan and ranked first in the segment. He placed second in the free skate and was awarded the silver medal, finishing behind Yuzuru Hanyu by a margin of 0.33 of a point.

For the 2014–15 season, Machida was assigned to the 2014 Skate America and 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard.^[8] Skating to his second Skate America title, he placed first in the short and free programs, setting personal bests in both, and won by 30 points over the second-place finisher, Jason Brown of the United States. It was Machida's fourth GP title. At the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard, he placed second in both the short program and the free program to finish second overall behind Maxim Kovtun. This qualified him for the Grand Prix Final for the third consecutive year. After finishing second in the short program, he struggled in the long program, finishing sixth in that segment and overall. Machida finished fourth at the 2014–15 Japan Championships and was selected for the 2015 World team.^[3] However, he announced his retirement from competitive skating to focus on his studies, and Takahito Mura was given his World spot.^[5][9]

In June 2018, Machida announced that his final appearance as a show skater would be Japan Open 2018 and Carnival on Ice 2018 on October 6, 2018. After his retirement, his focus would be on his studies.^[10]

Cultural references

It has been reported that Machida was the inspiration for the character of Yuri Katsuki in the 2016 figure-skating anime Yuri on Ice, due to the similarities between Machida's real-life career and Katsuki's fictional career. The series author, Mitsurō Kubo, is a fan of Tatsuki.^[11]

Programs

Machida at the 2014 World Championships podium

Machida at the 2013 Skate America podium

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2014–2015 [12][1]	Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra (from Ladies in Lavender) by Nigel Hess performed by Joshua Bell choreo. by Phillip Mills	Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven choreo. by Phillip Mills	Je te veux by Erik Satie choreo. by Tatsuki Machida
2013–2014 [13]	East of Eden by Lee Holdridge choreo. by Phillip Mills	The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky choreo. by Phillip Mills	Byakuyakō [Journey Under the Midnight Sun] by Shin Kono choreo. by Tatsuki Machida
2012–2013 [14]	F.U.Y.A. by C2C choreo. by Stephane Lambiel[6]	The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky choreo. by Phillip Mills	Les Demoiselles de Rochefort by Michel Legrand
2011–2012 [15][16]	Dark Eyes (Russia folk song) choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus choreo. by Stephane Lambiel[6]	Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
2010–2011	Dark Eyes (Russia folk song) choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Legends of the Fall by James Horner choreo. by Nanami Abe	Happy Feet choreo. by Kano Ogiyama
2009–2010 [17]	Celos (Tango Jalousie) by Jacob Gade performed by Taro Hakase choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	Casablanca by Max Steiner choreo. by Nanami Abe
2008–2009	Peach〜Ashihara Story〜 (ex. 004) by PE'Z choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	Peach〜Ashihara Story〜 (ex. 004) by PE'Z choreo. by Kano Ogiyama
2007–2008 [18]	Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by Andrews Sisters choreo. by Noriko Sato	Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky choreo. by Kano Ogiyama
2006–2007 [19]	Push the Limits by Enigma choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	The Red Violin by Ikuko Kawai choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	Find love by Enigma choreo. by Kano Ogiyama
2005–2006	Push the Limits by Enigma choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	The Red Violin by Ikuko Kawai choreo. by Kano Ogiyama
2004–2005	Speed by Mark Mancina choreo. by Kano Ogiyama	Zatoichi by Keiichi Suzuki choreo. by Kano Ogiyama

Competitive highlights

• GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[20]
Event	03–04	04–05	05–06	06–07	07–08	08–09	09–10	10–11	11–12	12–13	13–14	14–15
Olympics											5th
Worlds											2nd
Four Continents							2nd		7th
Grand Prix Final										6th	4th	6th
GP Bompard												2nd
GP Cup of China								5th		1st
GP NHK Trophy									7th
GP Rostelecom								11th			1st
GP Skate America										3rd	1st	1st
Asian Games								4th
Asian Trophy											1st
Golden Spin									1st
Nebelhorn								1st	WD[6]
Nepela Trophy										1st
NRW Trophy							6th
Printemps										2nd
Triglav Trophy								1st
Universiade						5th
International: Junior[20]
Junior Worlds				9th
JGP Austria					9th
JGP Czech Rep.				2nd
JGP Estonia			10th
JGP France		7th
JGP Mexico				4th
JGP Poland			7th
JGP Spain						3rd
JGP U.K.					1st
Gardena			5th J.			1st J.
National[21]
Japan Champ.				13th		7th	4th	6th	4th	9th	2nd	4th
Japan Junior	12th	5th	7th	1st	7th	2nd
Team events
Olympics											5th T

References

1. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.
2. "Tatsuki MACHIDA". Sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
3. "Machida suddenly calls it quits". Yomiuri Shimbun. December 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.
4. "「誇りを胸に堂々と競技人生に終止符を」 町田樹、現役引退コメント全文" [Machida comments]. Y's Sports (in Japanese). December 28, 2014.
5. "Japanese figure skating star Machida announces retirement". Agence France-Presse. France 24. December 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014.
6. Flade, Tatjana (June 17, 2012). "World team aspiration for Machida". Golden Skate.
7. "Interview with Tatsuki Machida in Oberstdorf, September 2011". FigureSkating-Online. October 7, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
8. "2014–15 Grand Prix entries" (PDF). International Skating Union. July 10, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2014.
9. Zaccardi, Nick (December 28, 2014). "Tatsuki Machida retires from figure skating". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
10. "Japan Open 2018およびCarnival on Ice 2018出演のお知らせ" [Notice of Japan Open 2018 and Carnival on Ice 2018 appearances]. Tatsuki Machida Official Site (in Japanese). June 15, 2018.
11. Nakamura, Toshi (January 12, 2017). "Meet the Real-life "Yuri on Ice"". Anime Now!.
12. Flade, Tatjana (November 5, 2014). "Japan's Machida out of the shadows". Golden Skate.
13. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 21, 2014.
14. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013.
15. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012.
16. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011.
17. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 30, 2010.
18. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2007/2008". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008.
19. "Tatsuki MACHIDA: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 23, 2007.
20. "Competition Results: Tatsuki MACHIDA". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.
21. "町田 樹/MACHIDA Tatsuki" (in Japanese). Japan Skating Federation. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.

External links

Media related to Tatsuki Machida at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Tatsuki Machida at the International Skating Union