The words "hero," and "champion," are thrown around a lot during the Olympic games, and hopefully, both words are used copiously by those who watch the following video. When folks recall the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, some may think of Shaun White's remarkable gold medal run, or maybe even the biting commentary of Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. But others will remember that time Chinese Olympic figure skater Jin Boyang took center stage and danced to the "Cantina Song," from Star Wars: A New Hope.
Well, that's certainly one way to take the attention off figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu and his Winnie The Pooh gimmick. Those who may have thought the "Cantina Song," was one of those songs that was impossible to dance to have been proven wrong, as Jin Boyang shuffled to the song wearing skates and a motion as fluid as someone performing the "Cha-Cha Slide." The galactic performance netted Boyang a score 194.45 which, when combined with his short program routine's score, propelled him to a fourth-place finish in the Men's singles figure skating competition.
Jin Boyang's heavily retweeted Star Wars performance sounds like an odd song to skate too at one of the biggest events for the sport, but the Chinese athlete was far from an outlier when it came to interesting song choices during the men's singles figure skating competition. American athlete Vincent Zhou skated to a song from Moulin Rouge, and in doing so, rounded out the competition in seventh place. Neither Boyang or Zhou took things quite as over the top as German competitor Paul Fentz, who took to the ice dressed as Jaime Lannister and skated to the Game of Thrones theme. That extra effort didn't do much for Fentz' rank, as he finished near the bottom of the standings. But despite that, one can't help but wonder if Boyang couldn't have snatched up an Olympic medal had he busted out a lightsaber while skating.
Jin Boyang's selection of Star Wars music isn't too out of character as he's performed to it before, although it is interesting that he selected the song given the franchise is not all that popular in China. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a flop in the continent, which some analysts believed was tied to the original trilogy never having a big impact on Chinese culture. Despite this, Boyang was not the only Chinese figure skater to play songs from Star Wars in their routine. Skating duo Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang skated to the classic original trilogy theme "Luke and Leia," as well as "Duel of the Fates," from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
Olympic coverage is still rolling strong on NBC, so be sure to tune in and get that bi-annual fix before the games conclude Sunday, February 25. For a look at other programming coming to television in the coming months, head on over to our midseason premiere guide.
