Suizu Takes Bronze at Harghita Cup

Rumi Suizu

Sept 25, 2007
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

Japan's Rumi Suizu, 16, took the bronze medal at the season's second ISU Junior Grand Prix, the Harghita Cup in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania. That was not a surprise as she was the top Japanese finisher at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships last season, placing fifth in ladies. "I didn't think I could win the gold medal," she said, "but I was surprised that I did so well."

Earlier in the 2006-07 season, she won a silver medal at the Gardena Spring Trophy and the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary and a bronze at the Junior Grand Prix in The Hague. She was eighth at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. In the previous season, she placed fifth in both her Junior Grand Prix events. Suizu won the novice ladies at the Mladost trophy in Zagreb, Croatia in her first international in 2003. Suizu finished 11th in seniors at Japanese Nationals in 2006.

Suizu was actually born in London, England, while her father was working there. She started skating when she was three but only began the sport seriously when she was in school with Takahito Mura and he invited her to come skate with him. Suizu landed her first triple, a toe lop, when she was 12. Last season, she used a triple toe-triple toe combination in her short program and a triple toe-double toe-double toe as well as a triple loop-double toe in her long. During the summer, she is working on landing a clean triple lutz and making her triple-triples more consistent. Her goal is to have the triple lutz in her program for next season, when she will continue to compete as a junior internationally.

Naoki Shigematsu coaches the talented teen, who usually works for three hours a day, six days a week on ice. She has off ice training a few times a week including ballet and jazz dancing.

Both of Suizu's programs are new each season. Her choreographer, Yoshida Nanami, finds the music and designs her programs. For her 2006-07 short program, Suizu skated to "Liebenstraum" by Franz Liszt, while for the long, she used the "Mission Impossible" soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. "I like to skate to exotic types of music," she said. "People say that suits me. I almost always change both programs every season because I want to have a new theme every year." For the 2007-08 season, Suizu is using "Spanish Caravan" by Isaac Albeniz for the short and "Strange Paradise" and "Kismet" performed by Bond for the long. She has been using "Dreaming of You" by Celine Dion for her exhibition music.

Off ice, Suizu likes listening to Japanese and American pop music, watching variety shows on television, shopping, and sewing. Suizu has two pet dogs, a Chihuahua and a poodle. She also plays guitar.

Suizu is in the 11th grade at Komaba Gakuen High School, studying mainly physical education. She doesn't plan to go to college, but hopes to skate in ice shows before getting married and having a family. She hopes to compete until the 2014 Olympics.