Dai-chan was asked about his future after Vancouver Olympics.
Step by Step vol.6" Sportiva No.93 http://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/Ahead of the Road. (道の先)"I don't have clear image of my future dream. Happy family? Well, I don't know yet.(laugh) The medal of Vanouver was a goal rather than a dream. Now Vancouver has ended, I will continue to skate for myself but there is one more thing. I think there must to be something I can do for the next generation, young skaters."
I was surprized. It was the first time to hear such a thing from Daisuke Takahashi. Didn't he use to be a type of person who concentrate on only his own skating? He is naturally beloved by everyone but he never voluntarily acted as a leader in Team Japan bofore.
"Well, it's only recent that I came to start thinking of such a thing. Not only for myself but for someone else. I don't know if I can do it by skating or by something else.... The environment for skaters, for example the situation of ice rinks, isn't good still. As Mao-chan also won a medal, the popularity of figure skating and the population of figure skaters will increase, but the number of ice rinks is very limited. If there are things I can help in order to solve this problem, the lack of ice rinks, which has continued for a long time.... I'd like to participate in those activities as mucm as I can. I'd like to consider what I can do by myself and also be there when there are such kind of events. However I only have a vague thought about it.
Up to now, I wanted to do something different after I quit skating. But now, I think I can never stay away from skating. So I came to start thinking it would be nice if I could do something useful taking advantage of what I have done so far. In the past year, there was a period when I couldn't skate due to the injury and I came back, I relished 'the joy to skate'. As well as injuries, there must be a lot of children who can't skate due to the lack of ice rinks. Fortunately I can skate again like now, but I don't know if I still could skate 5 years later.
It's a lot to me that I have got to know many people from different world last year. A retired athlete who does something which is different from the sport he involved, for the sport and children. A musician who thinks it's able to change something with music and woks hard. Meeting those people, I think "well, yes". Probably I'm also in the place where I can show somthing to people. Then I have to do something, otherwise it's a waste.
After Vancouver Olympics.... I will continue to compete. While competing, I'd like to do whatever I can do, not only as a competitive skater. Well, I want to buid an ice rink! Skating isn't a thing you can practice at home. You can't do unless you are on the ice, after all. Especially when you are a child. And skating is a sport which is suitable for Japanese. I think it's a sport in which Japanse can aim for the top. So I'd like to build a sports club (gym) which has an ice rink someday! Maybe it would be years or decades later."
He showed us "to relish the joy to skate" in Vancouver. After that, in future, what he can do? He continues to go forward on the road not only for himself but also for the sport he loves.
Hirono Aoshima
And Daisuke shows another great side of his personality in that interview.
It's great to know that Daisuke wants to give back to the sport. I remember reading somewhere that he wants to make figure skating a "national sport" of Japan (like sumo!), so it'd be awesome if he could actually help achieve that someday.