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JAVIER FERNÁNDEZ AGE: 26 NOC: SPAIN DISCIPLINE: FIGURE SKATING KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: 2x WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDALLIST; 5x EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD MEDALLIST “I will go to the Republic of Korea with the best chance of a medal so far, and I would be a liar if I said I am not dreaming of a podium finish. But in competition, you never know what will happen and I believe it is foolish to focus on winning a medal rather than concentrating first on the level of performance you hope to produce. What is true is that I now have a lot of experience and that is so important when you are challenged by the best skaters in the world.” “I train six days every week, two to three hours each day. I usually start at midday and finish around 4pm, but if I’m working on new choreography I might put in six hours to make sure I’m happy with the routine. I also go to the gym three times a week for cardio work on a static bike and some exercises to improve my core strength. At the start of my career I couldn’t say I was an enthusiastic trainer, but over the years that has changed as I have seen the results of my efforts in terms of improving my performance and winning medals. Success makes you work harder.” TRAINING “My main coach is Brian Orser, who won Olympic silver medals in figure skating for Canada in 1984 and 1988. He is my friend as well as my coach, and we are able to talk about many things besides skating. Of course he has amazing technical knowledge of the sport, but our close relationship means he can read my moods and react if I am having a bad day – and make changes to our plan to reflect this.” MENTOR MIND GAMES “I’m lucky because I’m a naturally calm, laid-back guy so I don’t get too nervous before a competition. What I try to do is keep my routine as similar as possible before an event, and this will be my philosophy in PyeongChang. Although the Olympic Winter Games are special and create a different feeling in athletes, it would be a dangerous move to change my routine unnecessarily.” PYEONGCHANG “I started figure skating when I was six years old. My sister saw a competition on television and began taking lessons at the ice rink in Madrid, and I decided it was something I wanted to do. When I was growing up I also played football, tennis and ice hockey, but I knew for me it was always figure skating and those other sports were just something fun, something different. There was no one moment when I realised that skating would be my whole life, but I knew that I would never quit.” BEGINNINGS DESTINATION PYEONGCHANG 54 OLYMPIC REVIEW