Geo1

The US commentators are reading from a script prepared by USFS promoting NC as the greatest frigging figure skater in the world and the favorite for gold at Beijing. They believe that if they keep repeating fake news and the big lie constantly, people will be brainwashed.

They do not need the q rule to pull down Yuzu’s grades of execution. How many 5.0 GOE has he received for his perfect jumps with intricate entries and exits? Has he ever been awarded the full GOE that his jumps deserved?

Am I the only one who worries about Yuzu’s apparent chronic use of strong painkillers? I am not a doctor, but with the level of pain that Yuzu was experiencing at the time of the PyeongChang Olympics, I would speculate that only strong opioids would have allowed him to skate at his full capabilities at the time when you consider that he is feeling 8× his body weight on his right ankle each time he lands his jumps. As a personal injury lawyer, I have seen a number of my clients become dependent upon strong opioids such as oxycodone in order to manage their severe pain. I am glad to see that Yuzu has reduced his painkiller intake to 1/3 of his dosage during the PyeongChang Olympics, although I am appalled that he had been taking three times the recommended dosage back then. From what he says, reducing his dosage to 1/3 means that he is still taking the maximum recommended dosage right now. What concerns me is what he has been doing between PyeongChang and the present. He was still experiencing severe pain at PyeongChang. This did not magically disappear after the competition was over. I suspect that in order to practice, he would have had to take painkillers. So has he been taking these painkillers regularly since PyeongChang? I am guessing that he has been taking strong painkillers in order to continue practicing the quad Axel. Can you imagine the force that he feels on his right ankle when he lands on it after attempting a quad Axel? As @Melodie has expressed, I too am glad that Yuzu is only required to take 1/3 of the PyeongChang dosage which presumably means that his pain level is about a third of what it was during the PyeongChang Olympics.

I apologize for commenting on my own previous post, but I wanted to explain the phrase "go for broke", its origins, and how appropriate it is as a translation of the Japanese word "omoikiri" used by Shizuka in her advice to Yuzu considering what is at stake and his commitment to including the quad Axel in the free skate. Since it may not interest everyone, I will hide it under a spoiler.

Shizuka: What you've accumulated and your achievements to date won't change so – There's one word that's missing in the translation which makes Yuzu's response even more meaningful. Shizuka said one more word after "so" before Yuzu replied and that word was: "OMOIKIRI" which means "give it your all", "don't hold anything back", "take the plunge" or "go for broke" (risk everything in an all-out effort).

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics in which I will see Yuzu competing, but I was not a Fanyu when I first saw him. I was just channel surfing when I just happened upon the men’s figure skating short program. I was not a figure skating fan, but I was immediately taken by Yuzu’s Parisienne Walkways. I’d never seen figure skating like that before and that was the beginning of my fall into the Yuzu rabbit hole. After that, I became totally invested in Yuzu and shared his joys, disappointments, frustrations and angst with other Fanyus. After his nearly career-ending injury during practice at 2017 NHK Trophy, we did not know what to think, especially since Nathan Chen was being pushed as the gold medal favourite. As we now know, Yuzu amazed everyone by his grand entrance at the airport for the PyeongChang Olympics. Practicing triples for only three weeks and quads for only two weeks, he was able to win his second consecutive Olympic Gold Medal victory with only two types of quads. After his PyeongChang victory, Yuzu started to practice in earnest to realize his quad Axel dream. At the 2019 Skate Canada International, amongst other gifts, my wife and I gave Yuzu two pairs of athletic shoes made by the Swedish company “Axel Arigato”. One was a black pair with a white bird similar to this one: https://axelarigato.com/ca/men/shoes/clean-90-taped-bird-28484 The other pair was similar to the “Marathon Runner” model being sold now: https://axelarigato.com/ca/men/shoes/marathon-runner I and others from this forum have already said that 2022 promises to be an auspicious and golden year for Yuzu for a variety of reasons including being The Year of the Tiger and the connection with Uesugi Kenshin. I am also hoping that the “Axel Arigato” athletic shoes will also bode well for Yuzu at the Beijing Olympics. This is the link to the Axel Arigato “Our Story” website: https://axelarigato.com/ca/our-story Is it just a fortuitous coincidence that Axel Arigato was launched in 2014? "The goal is to create a brand that brings people together, through the power of positivity, community and memorable experiences." This sounds very Yuzu-like. "The brand believes in the Swedish/Japanese philosophy behind minimalism and this is the main source of inspiration for the brand. The word Arigato or Thank You in Japanese, originally and literally means "difficult to exist". It was used to express that something was valuable and not easily found." This in juxtaposition with "Axel" sounds extremely promising and cannot be a coincidence. Furthermore, why did they use the word "Axel" instead of "Axle"? As we know, the Axel jump was invented by Norwegian skater Axel Paulson. Did the Swedish natives Max Svardh and Albin Johansson who started "Axel Arigato" have the jump in mind or was it just a spelling error? "Axel", aside from being a European name, only has one definition in the dictionary: "A type of jump in figure skating with a forward takeoff from the forward outside edge of one skate to the backward outside edge of the other..." I am hoping that Yuzu and all Fanyus will be able to say "Axel Arigato" at the end of Yuzu's immaculate free skate performance of "Heaven and Earth" and hat trick Gold Medal victory at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

I may be wrong, but I think that @rockstaryuzu was saying that not getting Covid is harder than it sounds right now considering the frightening rate at which the Omicron variant is spreading.

HAPPY NEW YEAR SATELLITES! 2022 promises to be an auspicious and golden year for Yuzu. There seems to be no end to his determination, natural talent and ability to acquire new skills. Amazingly, he is getting stronger. 2022 is the Year of the Tiger and Yuzu is performing “Heaven and Earth” – “Ten To Chi To” – where he is Uesugi Kenshin, the Lord of Echigo, battling his lifelong rival Takeda Shingen, the Lord of Kai. As already noted in an earlier post, Kenshin was born in the Year of the Tiger and always kept “tora” (tiger) in his names and Shingen was called “The Tiger of Kai”. Everything that Yuzu has been working for all of his life appears to be coming together in 2022.

Yes, I was also very disappointed and, as you say, “sour” about their reactions to what should have been a great honour, but they are both self-centered dicks in their own way. At least Plushy has been, as @shanshani has said, supportive of Yuzu. Johnny is just a featherweight two-faced birdbrain.

The Curious Case of Yuzuru Hanyu? Getting younger and growing stronger...

I agree with this. TSL, like Johnny and Tara, shamelessly change their opinions as often as most people change their underwear.

Yuzu lives to make a splash, A BIG SPLASH, so he's not going to compete unless he is confident of skating clean and making a statement. Especially since it is in Japan and after such a long absence. Therefore, I am sure that he will debut Rondo and am optimistic of squeaky clean skates. It will be a repeat of last year's Japanese Nationals, except with higher scores. It will be THE RETURN OF THE KING.

It’s Brian Orser’s 60th birthday today. Happy birthday, Brian! Hope you have a good one. Have an extra martini to celebrate this special occasion.

It’s not surprising considering who they are fans of…

Perhaps it is a positive premonition of Yuzu winning a third world championship…

Shohei Ohtani not only won the American League MVP award, he won it unanimously – receiving all 30 first-place votes. He is only the 11th ballplayer in history to win the AL MVP award unanimously. What Shohei Ohtani did in the 2021 season is absolutely unprecedented. No one in the history of Major League Baseball has done what he did this year. I know that Shohei Ohtani is huge news in Japan because he is the winner of the American League MVP award, but I do not think that the Japanese fully realize how significant his accomplishments have been. First of all, I acknowledge that receiving the MVP award for the American League or the National League in itself is a tremendous accomplishment. In being selected for this award, you are being recognized as the best ballplayer in the American League or National League for that season; however, it is an annual award. Someone wins the MVP in each league every year. As I said, what Shohei Ohtani accomplished in the 2021 season is unprecedented. It has never been done before in the history of baseball and so being awarded the MVP for the AL is, in a sense, an understatement. As I have stated under the spoiler below, Shohei Ohtani’s unique accomplishment this season was rewarded with the MLB Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award which was presented to him before the start of the first World Series game. The description of his arrival to receive this award matched that of Yuzu arriving at the airport for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese playing an American game and proving that he is the best ballplayer in history and American experts and commentators are loving him for it. Look under the spoiler for the wonderful things being said about Shohei Ohtani. I have placed under the spoiler a more detailed discussion of Shohei Ohtani's accomplishments and his other awards in the 2021 season. The reason I mention Shohei Ohtani here is because he and Yuzuru Hanyu have many things in common including being born in the same year (1994) and being born in Tohoku – Yuzu in Miyagi and Shohei in Iwate. They are both survivors of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. They also share many personality traits as well as good looks, except Shohei is 193 cm (6'4") tall and weighs 95 kg (210 pounds) and Yuzu is 172 cm (5'8") tall and weighs 53 kg (117 pounds). They each have an amazing aura and charisma. They are both humble and respectful. Just as Yuzu picks up articles from the ice, Shohei is constantly picking up stray trash from the ground and throwing it into a trash bin or, if one is not available, putting it into his pocket. Just as Yuzu has fought back from injuries that could have been career-ending, Shohei has come back from injuries that could have ended his career. After a promising start in 2018 winning the Rookie of the Year award, it was announced on September 3, 2018 that Shohei was to undergo Tommy John surgery after an MRI showed new damage to his UCL which would prevent him from pitching until 2020. The 2019 season was prematurely ended by the need for further surgery to repair a bipartite patella. The 2020 season did not start until July 24 due to the pandemic and during this shortened season, Shohei did not perform particularly well either as a pitcher or designated hitter as a result of his injuries and lack of practice. Despite all of these drawbacks, Shohei worked hard, persevered and overcame obstacles to accomplish this historic season. Like Yuzu, Shohei Ohtani has been referred to as a "unicorn" and "space alien". Commentators and sports fans alike say that we are lucky to be alive to witness this never seen before and will never see again athlete. Fans of other teams are cheering for him and saying that they tune in to watch games just to see Shohei Ohtani. People who have never watched baseball before are tuning in just to see him play. During a stoppage in play because of rain, the entire Toronto Blue Jays baseball team crowded together around a TV to watch Shohei Ohtani who was playing in a different game. Shohei was picked to participate in the Home Run Derby and is the only player in the history of Major League Baseball to be chosen for the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and position player. He was the starting pitcher and starting hitter for the American League. Other All-Star players who were interviewed, expressed awe and amazement at Shohei's abilities and performance. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had an amazing season as a position player and hitter with 48 home runs and who would have been the MVP of the American League if not for Shohei Ohtani wanted to be introduced to Shohei Ohtani. When a picture was taken of the two of them together, Vlad made a point of asking the person who took the picture to send a copy to him. Like Yuzu, Shohei had his own white wall when he was awarded the AL MVP award. As a guy who's first love was baseball and who was scolded for scrunching up an Ice Rink Sendai pamphlet into a ball, rolling up a magazine and using it as a bat to play baseball with a couple of other boys, I'm sure that Yuzu has been following Shohei Ohtani's amazing 2021 season. These are two videos showing the similarities between Yuzu and Shohei. For those of you who may be interested in seeing the MLB official channel's video of the highlights of Shohei Ohtani's amazing 2021 season, this is it under the spoiler.

Although @Melodie quoted my post, the words that she referred to are from the Russian interview posted by @Saawa. I edited my post to say that the video that I provided the link to was not the same Russian interview that @Saawa had referred to. The video that I referenced is the interview of Brian Orser by Nick McCarvel for Olympic.com. There's no mistaking what Brian said to Nick McCarvel. What he said to Nick McCarvel regarding Yuzu's injury was: "I don't have a lot of details and I'm not going to speculate or, you know, this is a question for Yuzu and what his intentions are. And then [his team] have to all stand behind him whatever those [are] with what his intentions are for the season." That is all he said about Yuzu's injury to Nick McCarvel. I don't know what he said to the Russian interviewer, but as @Fay has pointed out, what @Melodie referenced from the Russian interview in @Saawa's post is a translation of a translation with its inherent unreliability and potential for error. This is the print version of Nick McCarvel's article regarding his interview with Brian Orser: https://olympics.com/en/news/exclusive-brian-orser-we-trust-hanyu-yuzuru-instincts-injury-figure-skating-2021?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-organic&utm_campaign=twitter_na_na_news_na_na_na&utm_content=twitter_na_na_news_na_na_na_na_occontent-news_na_na This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

Here is a video of Brian’s interview. His words directly out of his mouth. https://olympics.com/pt/video/exclusive-brian-orser-on-hanyu-yuzuru-s-injury-quest-for-quad-axel Edit: I just realized that this is not the same interview as the one quoted by @Saawa; however, we can understand exactly what he has said with respect to Yuzu’s injury.

Yes, to say that the Evgeni Plushenko was pissed off is an understatement. He stepped onto the gold medal position on the podium before going to the silver medal position. Here is what he had to say about the results, the ISU and the influence of American TV broadcast rights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHjvG-nEEfo Evan Lysachek was awarded the gold medal, Evgeni Plushenko silver and Daisuke Takahashi bronze. Stephane Lambiel was fourth, Patrick Chan fifth and Johnny Weir sixth.

It looks like what I feared has come to pass and history is repeating itself with Yuzu injuring his ankle three months before the commencement of the Beijing Olympics figure skating competition. It was almost inevitable that this would happen given the difficulty of the quad Axel. In order to recover as efficiently and safely as possible, Yuzu should return to Toronto to get treatment from the medical experts who have helped him in the past and to do graduated training with Ghislain as he did before the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. My condolences to @SuzyQ and @daisyjune who had finally managed to get free skate tickets for NHK.

I’m sure that it’s been on other people’s minds as well, but Yuzu really likes to tempt fate doesn’t he? His big jump for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics was the quad Lutz and he was practicing that at the 2017 NHK Trophy when you know what happened. I’m hoping, wishing and praying with all my might that Yuzu will successfully tame Nessie and remain healthy and injury free.

I don’t think it was a case of not paying enough for the stylist. Towa would not skimp on the cost of a stylist when dressing a megastar like Yuzu for such a flagship commercial. Judging from how some other Japanese celebrities have been dressed, I just think that there are Japanese stylists who have very strange ideas of what looks good.

Ghislain completed his 10 km walk today in support of “Lace up for Liz” and then walked another 2 km when the mother of one of his skaters at the TCC offered to double her donation if he did so. Nice Under Armour hat and shiny car Ghislain!

Off-topic but... Ghislain Briand is doing a 10 km walk on Sunday, October 24 in support of a fundraiser organized by one of his skaters at the TCC. The skater, 17-year-old Caitlyn Kukulowicz, lost her mother to cancer last year. She has organized this charity run and walk called "Lace Up for Liz" in honour of her mom with the goal of raising funds for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Stephane Lambiel is one of his sponsors. https://supportthepmcf.ca/ui/LaceUp4Liz/p/d82c1aee730045caac6fbc2c4a8ccd27

This is Sunny, our Maine Coon cross who passed away in 2008. We have never had another cat since because we loved him so much. He had all of the traits of a Maine Coon including being talkative (he would mimic what people were saying), acted more like a dog than a cat, was very friendly and playful, loved to kiss, would come running when you called him, and loved water – he would get into the shower with my wife and would be right there whenever he heard running water. He was 18 pounds.