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Have you ever seen the two videos What is Happening to Women's Figure Skating? | An Essay | PART 1 and The Cycle of Exploitation in Women's Figure Skating | An Essay | PART 2? From the two videos, I suspect after Yuzu broke 6 world records in a row in 2015, the women's field also wanted to promote a similar prodigy --- Evgenia Medvedeva. The way she broke world records and the perfect PCS (several 10's) she received in 2016-17 looks similar to Yuzu, even though she clearly was not as perfect. Judges ignored her flaws (flutz, prerotation, and once the ESPN commentator pointed out that her axis travels 4 feet in spins) and gave her high and nearly perfect scores, just like what happened to Shoma and Nathan. It's funny that she no longer got generous PCS and judges started to made edge calls on her jumps when she moved from Eteri to Orser. Other Eteri girls were also promoted in a similar way. As judges often judge across multiple fields, if they had manipulated scores in women's fields, they could do it again with less moral stress in the men's field. Eteri paved a path that the US federation could easily follow. I remember you had an analysis that it became much easier for other skaters to get high PCS after Yuzu pushed the limit of PCS to 98 in 2015, but I don't remember whether you included women. I have many more thoughts that I want to share with you, but I have a task due this Friday and another next Tuesday. I hope I can post my thoughts shortly after that. I am still obsessed with the competitions, though many people here have moved on to his new pages.

We've all been there, more or less. Whether we follow figure skating or it just happened us to see him by chance, something strikes us, we start researching, and we're hooked. You're not alone in saying you've never been a fan like this before. This is true for many of us. One of the beautiful things about this community is that we help each other find new information, share what we know, or figure out how to navigate a language we don't know and buy what we're interested in. We'll always be worried about him. He always gives his all, and the risk of injury is always present. And if it were to happen, we'd know about it afterwards, because he never spoke before, when he was still injured, when there was something he had to do and for which we had high expectations. Respect for his competitors? Yes (except when it is the rivals who forget to respect him, which has happened on a few occasions). Chen has my respect, his coach no. And a lot of judges and ISU (and JSF) officials don't have it. It takes time to learn to distinguish jumps, and you only do it if you're willing. You don't need to know the jumps to appreciate the programs and competitions. Seeing if rotations are complete is not easy, especially if the missing part is around 90°. Is it more? Is it less? Small differences in rotation can have huge effects on the score. Chen's jumps had the virtue of being stable. He almost always landed them. They weren't big, he needed a long preparation, and the exit was always a bit rushed. He put his free foot down as soon as possible because he had not a good running edge, but fundamentally his technique was correct. He simply didn't deserve high GOEs because his jumps lacked amplitude and there was a clear gap in his programs: long preparation, then jump, then immediately put the foot down to avoid losing balance, without doing anything difficult, and then another preparation for the next technical difficulty. Yuzu made more mistakes, but his programs were a continuous flow from one movement to the next, because when he didn't make mistakes, he deserved much higher marks than Chen. And the marks, if assigned correctly (even in the PCS), should have been enough to compensate for Chen doing one more quadruple. Malinin jumps like no one before him. Right now, and with these rules, he's the strongest skater. Which doesn't mean he's a complete skater, but figure skating hasn't required completeness for years. It requires quadruple, and for skaters who are more or less at the same level in quadruple, it's a good thing to have the right passport. The judging system can be improved, but there will always be problems. The one you noted is one of the most complex, but something can be done. Chopin's Ballade in 2015 received a huge number of 10.00s. The Ballade in 2020 was a better program. The judges couldn't give the Ballade a 10.50, but they could have given that program the same marks they had in 2015, and given programs skated at the same level as the 2015 Ballade a 0.25 or a 0.50 less. Instead, in 2020 they slightly lowered the marks for the Ballade and raised the marks for lower-level programs. This distorts the results. If the judges maintain the correct level difference between the programs, the judging system works. If they lower the scores of the best programs and raise the scores of mediocre programs, they make the difference in value disappear and distort the competition results. Years have passed, but I still want to say a few words to certain people. And in one case, I'm truly hoping that justice will take its course, even though it's clear that politicians are very good at evading legal trouble. I fear his perfectionism tends to affect him too much. But I also think that turning professional, distancing himself from the toxic world of competitions and meeting artists with whom he can be himself, have helped him a lot. Much of the negativity of the past has disappeared; the important thing is that he doesn't get injured again (and that the tabloids go bankrupt). - The +5/-5 system is much more easily manipulated than the +3/-3 system. - The US Federation started applying much more pressure because they needed a champion and finally had a skater who, with a little help, could win. On the other hand, the JSF, which had never liked Yuzu, found a potential medal contender in Uno. For some time after Sochi, the JSF could only count on Yuzu for the world medals, so sabotaging Yuzu meant winning nothing. Uno's arrival prompted them to think they could have a champion they liked better because he didn't think for himself as Yuzu, but did what they wanted. - The judges, even the honest ones, stopped giving Yuzu the highest score because they expected the impossible from a two-time Olympic champion. Look at the competitions. Anyone who performs a short program with 4T and 4S, one of the two in combination, and completes the program well, is praised for having performed a very difficult program. When Yuzu did it, his jumps were considered easy, everyone assumed he could do them, after all, he was a two-time Olympic champion, and since they thought his jumps were easy, they gave him marks lower than the ones he actually deserved. Yes, Beijing was important because Yuzu finally understood that for us he as a person is more important than any medal.

I'm so thankful for this video. I will not share it! But I think will see over and over again. Still tears in my eyes. I felt already for the short snippet some weeks ago, that there was relief for Yuzuru with the message from his beloved teacher. Now it's much more complete. I just start understanding the way Yuzuru feels and think. He emphazised here again, that the strongest motivation for him is to give his absolut all. That is a tough and also dangerous way but it is his way of living at the edge. When I want to give him the respect he deserves I have to respect this and seeing it in a way as his destiny. Really thank you so much. Beate

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! Ι got to know Yuzu's skating genius just last spring when a "Megalovania" opening video popped on my YouTube. I immediately became frantic. I started watching, over and over again, all his philosophical "Ice Stories" and his heartwarming "Notte Stellatas" on Planet Hanyu. Each time with the initial exhilaration, not giving a damn about his competition years. Then I wanted to find out if he were just an athlete back then. I cried my heart out when he skated in China, bandages around his head. I got hooked on "Romeo" of 2014, "Seimei" of 2018, "Heaven and Earth" of 2021. So, not just an athlete. A very young artist. I have fallen in love with Yuzuru's skating. I noticed that whenever I watch his performances like "The swan", "Haru yo Koi" or "Prequel" , at the end I don't dare to breath so as not to spoil the moment. Never can I recall if he did any jumps at all. What I can recall is how I feel when he stretches his thread out to us all, to reach us and create a connection. To offer us a bond through his elegant fingertips, his deep gazes and his forceful steps, so that we can dance, fight or fly with him. We could not evaluate his jumps and spins anymore, the same way we could not evaluate Mozart's note arrangements or Da Vinchi's brush strokes. It is what it is. Please, don't get me wrong, I do share your worry for our brilliant boy. But I think that is the "fate" of most art pioneers. They tend to exceed limits without any resistance to their inner drive. And they are often mistreated by those in authority. But in the end, their impact on Art History goes far beyond all that 🌸

Oh~my~. I just read your words more carefully, and I feel worried again~ I don't know what to do~ As he followed the steps of Dick Button to win 2 back to back Olympic gold, I also hope he can follow Dick Button in the aspect of living up to age 95 (or more!)

I have the video here but please keep it in here only (don't share publicly as I don't want it to get copyright striked). His words "Is there any other skater skater who's so rewarded?" made him realise people love him and his skating despite what happened. He mentioned in an interview somewhere he was very grateful for those words. And in a recent magazine interview, he said Beijing's experience finally made him realise he could go on as a professional skater.

It was in the [Videos] part of Planet Hanyu. However, the [Videos] part is not available after the forum upgrade. Part of coach Tsuzuki's words to Yuzu is in this YT video: 20220723Human Action羽生结弦SP 中文字幕 - YouTube starting from 3:52, but it wasn't complete. You can post your question in the thread: General Yuzuru Chat - Part 2 - Yuzuru Hanyu - Planet Hanyu. Some other fans might be able to help you.

I 'm interested for any aspect of Yuzurus life and way. So long articles are fine. 🙂 for me it is an interesting aspect. I knew about the immense interest and support from all over the world in Beijing. That he wouldn't have that amount of support since then was not in my mind. I have another question: After the games, still in Beijing he got surprised by a video call with his early figure skating coach Shoichiro Tsuzuki who told him how proud he was. That was very touching. But I couldn't find it again. If you know it an have an idea where to find, I would be very thankful. It completed the picture for me somehow.

To BeYuzu: Sorry for the long ramble. I just wanted to share how I managed to move past some of the sadness and anger over what he went through from 2019 to 2022. He did say somewhere that “Beijing 2022 saved him.” Everything else is just my own interpretation, and I may not be entirely right. The Olympic Games draw a level of public attention that the World Championships simply cannot match. If he had not gone to Beijing, he might never have had the chance to see so clearly that people loved his programs for what they were, not just for the medals attached to them. I used that list of evidence to reassure myself that I could trust my own eyes and feelings, and that I was not the only one left baffled by the score sheets. I hope it can help you get over the bad feeling from score manipulation.

Honestly, seeing what he went through from 2019 to 2022 kept me down for months. Then I came across a short interview clip in which he said that Beijing 2022 had actually saved him. Unfortunately, I can’t find the full interview now — I only saw a short clip, and I don’t remember where. But that idea stayed with me. Here’s my personal understanding of what keeps him going and why he continues to take on what seem like impossible challenges. I think, in a way, he is addicted to success — not in a shallow sense, but to the immense sense of fulfillment that comes from working unbelievably hard for something and finally achieving it. That feeling seems to drive him forward again and again. He has mentioned in interviews multiple times how much he loves his 9-year-old self, because that was when he first won the Japan Championships at the Novice B level and first learned that hard work can truly lead to success. I think that lesson became the foundation of everything for him. He doesn’t seem afraid of challenges or difficulty because he has already overcome so many of them before, including things that most people thought were impossible. He conquered the 4T, 4S, 4Lo, and 4Lz one by one, starting from success rates as low as 1 in 50 attempts. From that perspective, it becomes easier to understand why he could keep attempting the 4A thousands of times without success and still refuse to give up. His formula is not something ordinary people can easily imitate, because the amount of effort he puts in is simply enormous, but for more than 10 years, it worked for him. The harder he worked, the more his skills improved, the higher his scores became, and the more titles and records he collected. It almost sounds like a fairy tale. Of course, there were obstacles and setbacks, but he always overcame them, and it always seemed to end in a major victory — until 2018. That formula stopped working after 2018, when the judges no longer rewarded him the way they used to. He said in interviews more than once that even though he felt his skating had improved, his scores were no longer rising. So the success he had always been able to reach through hard work suddenly became unreachable. He was confused, lost confidence, and started worrying about whether he had become outdated. Then the pandemic made everything even worse: he was separated from his coaches, and he also lost the energy he drew from the audience’s support and cheers, since spectators were either not allowed into the arena or not allowed to cheer during competitions. Even though Beijing 2022 was not a happy ending in terms of results, I think it saved him in another way. There, he received from the audience the kind of recognition he could no longer get from the judges. He was able to see that all his effort — in technique, in artistry, in the programs themselves — was not in vain. The reward simply came in a different form. People appreciated his effort to preserve what many of us see as the ideal form of figure skating. Right after the free skate, he was clearly devastated. But a few days later, he already seemed visibly lighter and happier. Audience recognition does not come with numbers on a score sheet, but the amount of love, attention, and admiration he received was overwhelming. Many people who were not even figure-skating fans noticed him during the 2022 Olympics and immediately started rooting for him after watching his performances. His fandom grew massively in 2022, even though he did not win a medal. That, to me, says a lot. A few pieces of evidence of the overwhelming support. His press conference in Beijing attracted far more media attention than the medal ceremony. More than 99% of the comments under the Beijing gala performance video on YouTube are about him, even though his performance was less than 5 minutes long in a nearly 3-hour video. Based on Google Trends, he was the athlete who received the most attention during Beijing 2022 — more than the combined attention received by those ranked second through sixth. Most YouTube videos about him were uploaded around 4 years ago, which says a lot about how much his fandom expanded in 2022. He received 20K postcards in Beijing. A huge crowd gathered on the street to see him off on his way to the airport. So in the end, I think he was able to find meaning and motivation not through medals, but directly through the audience. And that’s why I feel much more relieved now.

I'm so thankful to find your discussion here. I'm very new here because about 3 months ago I saw a single movement in transition betwenn two shorts and was instantly thrilled. Right away, I wanted more of that incredible elegance, grace, precision, intensity, and beauty. Now I'm nearly manic. I myself have so many thoughts about Yuzuru, his personality, his programs, and the scoring, and I’d like to express them here. I’m sorry if this is long and perhaps a bit rambling. I don't think that you read something new. A german proverb, not very well translated says: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth flows over. I don’t know anything about figure skating, but I’ve always had an affinity for dance, and as a body and trauma therapist, I have an eye for physical expression and movement sequences. At first, I was just happy. I wanted to see as much as possible of his art, from the very beginning to the present day. In German, it’s called “Eiskunstlauf”; literally, that would be “IceARTskate” in English. That expresses much better what it’s supposed to be. Once, just 10 minutes with him was enough to pull me out of a crisis where my other attempts had failed up to that point. My efforts went toward watching all his programs, ordering DVDs from Japan, and gaining access to Axelstore, Telasa, etc. That kept me busy for weeks, and my determination grew over time. Thanks to the fantastic support from the fanbase, almost everything worked out well. In all my 69 years, I’ve never been a fan in this sense before, and I’m still amazed at myself. Then came the phase where I realized everything that was happening—and had happened—around him. I grew increasingly worried about him. Seeing just how much he pushes himself to the limit is painful for me. I wish trauma therapy could help alleviate some of that inner drive that keeps him going so relentlessly. Right now, I feel a bit like a mother defending her child against every attack. Eventually, however, I managed to find respect for his competitors—something I consider important. Since I’m still barely able to distinguish one jump from another (except for the Axel)—even in slow motion—I can’t clearly spot pre-rotation or under-rotation. So today, I see Nathan as a powerful skater who earned his gold medal, and Ilia Malinin as his worthy successor. For instance, I watch Malinin’s programs and am truly impressed by his artistics (not artistry). And then I come back to Yuzuru, and it feels like coming home. Here, I find something I don’t even realize is missing when I watch others. His art and his essence touch me deep in my heart. The sport demands direct comparison, yet ultimately, the criteria clearly fail to capture Yuzuru’s qualities. If there were no manipulation involved, the +5/-5 system could actually be perfect for Yuzu, given how fantastic his execution is. His Rondo—executed flawlessly—is, in my eyes, dizzyingly perfect. There is no category that captures it without either breaking the scoring system or forcing a reset—taking his level of execution as the new benchmark for the maximum score. At least that also woudn't make sense. My favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq20-bU6KNc Very nice to see his satisfaction with it. Since yesterday, I’ve been thinking that this type of scoring system really isn't suited to accurately evaluating a champion over the long term—even without any manipulation involved. If someone delivers perfection and—like Yuzuru—receives the corresponding score early on, how is there room to improve, other than by increasing the number and difficulty of the jumps? If the scale tops out at 100 points and you’ve already scored 98 at age 20, then even a 99.9 remains frustrating when you’re actually getting better year by year. I hope that makes sense. And then there’s the psychological aspect: That has been discussed at length, of course. It is incredibly demoralizing to realize that the very world to which you’ve dedicated everything wants to get rid of you. That is bullying—something known to have a devastating impact on self-confidence. Yuzuru rarely skated completely error-free, and his energy levels fluctuated, too. But in Beijing, it was a whole different level. Maybe I’m looking at it through the wrong lens, but in practice, he displayed all the expressiveness that had been missing from his performances—and not just after the sprain. Yuzuru speaks about how the preceding period was often very dark, marked by intense loneliness. As I interpret it: the pandemic, no coaches, little contact, no Javi anymore—just him facing the challenge of staying the course for his final major goal, the 4A. And then, in Beijing, he’s alone, too. There’s no one there to encourage him, and all the little rituals are missing—like someone holding his Winnie the Pooh or the handshake before the performance. Thank God he’s out of that system now. The latest things that have shaken me: - a clip showing several breakdowns behind the scenes, and - the news that he’s considered a loudmouth in Japan and ignored by most of the media. I didn't understand the whole thing about his commercials being banned for being unsuitable for minors at all. It’s unbelievable: to me, he is the embodiment of authenticity and humility. He gives himself so much to the world. (trouble with translation, nothing really fits my german sentence, not surrender but give away, a true GIFT) In many ways, a fantastic role model. - But In an interview, he was asked what he liked most about his body, and he replied that he actually tends to hate himself. And it didn't sound like he was referring only to his body. I’m still hoping that the intensity of that statement is due to a translation error. Brian Orser once said that Yuzu was a bit too intense for his taste. I didn't understand that for a while, but today I agree with him. A little less intensity, and his life would be healthier.

SHOWER OF HEART | Disney Winnie the Poohグッズ アーカイブ - SHOWER OF HEART | Disney Winnie the Poohなぜだろう？君がいると笑顔になれるのは。あたたかく、優しい光のように僕を包みこんでくれる。ありがとう。いつも変わらない君でいてくれて。君と見てきた世界は、たくさんの愛で溢れていたね。夢を見よう。君と一緒に、これからもずっと。Lots of new items added to the preview of Shower of Heart merchandise. Such a treat. The goods are based on the special costume designed for Yuzu for this collaboration. There are 45 items in the merchandise inventory, these gorgeous costume themed pieces are grouped in the costume section.

Yuzu epitomises sophistication in art inspired by Noto san's photo

Ubutan copies the Yuzu montage advertising board at Sendai Station

Machine-translation. Inaccuracies exist Source: https://www.nikkansports.com/premium/sports/figure/news/202608270001340.html (paid article) [Mitsuki Sumoto (Part 1)] "I've always been chasing after Sota and Kazuki": Memories of a childhood blessed with good friends The 70th installment of the series features Mitsuki Sumoto, 25. He began competing at the age of four and was active from his novice days. In 2017, he achieved results including winning the All-Japan Junior Championships and taking the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix (GP) Final, and he competed at the All-Japan Championships seven times. After retiring from competitive skating in 2023, he worked at a general company, and from this summer, he made a full-fledged transition into coaching. In the first part of this three-part series, we depict his childhood spent with skaters such as Sota Yamamoto and Kazuki Tomono, as well as the episode of how he admired Yuzuru Hanyu’s “Romeo and Juliet.” (Honorifics omitted.)

I've never watched this version. So perfect! 🥰

Oh my, it’s a pity that he didn’t do this on the Olympic stage. It's so divine, more than just perfect!

I hope David can work with Yuzuru forever!!! Hope to see more collaboration between them.

Yuzuru’s legendary Seimei from the 2018 Olympics on the Olympic Channel has just passed 50 million views!! When I noticed Yuzuru in March 2026, there were 47 million views, and it increased by 3 million views in 6 months.

Hallo, Is the section with the videos still there? Thank you very much, greetings to all Birgit

Just because it is beautiful...

OUI c'est magnifique Voilà de très près Winnie Seimei dans une librairie , avec un passage avec des livres et autres

Many Fanyus might not have watched this performance yet. Fantasy on Ice 2017 in Makuhari, when Yuzu performed Chopin with 4Lo. It's absolutely sublime! Yuzu is truly on his own planet. This is a level of skating, dance, performance, and artistry that only he can deliver. 😍