Xen

He really missed skating didn't he. So long as he's careful and doesn't overdo it, it's like he's making up for all the competitions and events he missed and all the shows he would miss this summer.

So if he continues to do just step sequences and spins....we still have NDP, White Legend, R&J 2.0, POTO, Final Time Traveller, Requiem of Heaven and Earth, LGC and H&L remaining. Oh gawds I hope so. That or he avoids jumping.

Oh I see, so if I end up being right, you'll be one to add me to your blacklist. >_>

The gif isn't showing...go listen to School of Rock- it's also a musical and an Andrew Lloyld Webber!

...Yes, what are your thoughts about my choices? Honestly, I feel like I'm really off. My gut instinct was screaming Stravinsky for the LP, but my gut feelings on his programs are a bit, off. Plus I am taking the hint of POTO gestures and thinking we've got another potential musical on our hands coming up, and what else but Lloyd Webber for this? Him skating to Evita would probably crack me up. But then there's also School of Rock, and that might be viable for him. =) Without being too warhorsey.

Well it was me fighting the urge to put down "Ziguenerweisen" though I'd really like for him to skate to some violin music like La Campanella, Tzigane or even Saint Saen's Violin Concertos, or Lalo.

Do I go with my wishes or my general gut feelings? I have an odd feeling I'll be choked by people if I'm right. 1. SP- Tango- Assassin's Tango-J. Buttle 2. LP-Musical-Something from Andrew Lloyd Webber (guys, there's "Love Never Dies" that's similar to POTO!)- Shae Lynn 3. Ex- Rock/Modern- Beatles-Lori Nichol Okay, I'm ready to be killed. (Or not)

Well Zhao did state 2 main reasons: 1) she has good technique for jumping so it could help cover some of the SBS jump deficiency in pairs among the ladies 2) she might not be competitive anymore in women's singles by 2022 (Here I guess he's eyeing the Russian Eteri ladies) He's not too far off actually....China's probably thinking along the lines of "We're unlikely to have a women's skater place in the top 10 in the next 4 years in seniors level, so take those funding and get the junior ladies up to speed. We have a deal in ice dance, let's spend money there, and we have a potential contender in men's let's put the money there." Zhao's interview about how they'll coordinate overseas training for the up and coming domestic skaters in the women's discipline-that's where the money is going to be spent for the women's event.

A good watering/flood before the drought, the cacti will survive. (but what if there is no full-on summer drought this year?)

I wonder if they're just turning Zhang into "pairs mentor"- something like a mentor, experienced pairs skater whose main job is to help guide newbies in pairs. Boyang clip up:

*shakes head* oh, I see how the targetting works. But unless I'm wrong, someone here has done the math already (might have been the mock panel one) where even without the second half bonus, the order might not have changed much.

And this now goes from bad to worse.

"Santa Claus is coming to town" actually. =D Music of the Night....okay, I'll take a stab at that next when the inspiration hits me.

You better not shout, you better not pout, You better not lie cause I'm telling you why, Lurker Yuzu's coming to town. He's peaking at tweets, checkin' 'em twice, Gonna find out what's been trendy and nice, Lurker Yuzu's coming to town. He knows when you've been crying, He knows of all your memes, He knows if you need watering now, So be good for goodness sake. Seriously, looking at the updates on Yuzu saying he follows us, I feel like someone needs to do a video of him to "Ninja of the Night."

Nah, it has to be some kind of agreed upon internal joke. He has to show some human side at some point (to make sure we don't find out his alien origins)-like forgetting which sock it was stuffed in. Yuzu: Hey, can I bring a sock to the garden party? Royal Staffers: you may *wear* socks, and we generally encourage our guests to be dressed appropriately. Yuzu: no no, I meant actually bring a team japan sock. Staffers: o_O Yuzu: okay, maybe it's a bad idea then

That is actually the original issue I had with the no repeat quad rule. That if we say you can't repeat, many guys will train much harder quads and risk injury (some will be forced by feds to do so-aka Kolyada and his 4Lz). In the case of Yuzu, Shoma, Boyang and Nathan, they have a significant advantage, because each have 3 quads that they can do comfortably. However, that is not the norm for men- most men are still at 4T and 4S. So such a rule means for BV, you need to train more quads to even get into the top 6, and you'll need others to make mistakes. The BV advantage is still there, thus, even in a no-repeat-quad scenario. Hypothetically, under no repeat quad scenario: Nathan: Nathan still has a slight bv advantage because he can do 4Lz and 4F, and combo the 4Lz, he technically also has 4T, 4S and possibly 4Lo, so he has 5/7 jumps that can use a quad Shoma: has 4T, 4Lo and 4F, also a 4S, so he has 4/7 slots locked for quads Boyang: has 4T, 4S, 4Lz and possibly a 4Lo, can combo off of 4Lz, so 4/7 slots locked for quads Yuzu: 4T, 4S, 4Lo and a possible 4Lz, (we haven't seen a 4A in a comp practice before so I'm not counting it), so also 4/7 slots locked for quads Mikhail: 4T for sure, possibly 4 Lz, has 2/7 slots locked for quads Cha Junhwan: 4T and 4S, 2/7 slots locked for quads But from that list, you can see potentially how many point differences will exist in pure BV if all the guys land their known, stable quads, right? If anything this will make the BV difference between guys with more quads, and with less quads, even bigger than before. If the goal of a layout is to min/max what you can with your stamina, then no repeat quads allowed, will significantly hamper the ability of guys with 1-2 quads to min/max their scoring potential. So to a degree, their quad acquisition would not need to speed up insanely so. But no repeat means to min/max you have to speed up quad acquisition-and this will trickle down to the junior levels when guys first start learning quads. If you are just starting out and you can't repeat quads, you might as well go for the higher value ones-4F, 4Lz respectively to get your BV up. Now add in growth spurts, and prepare for real injury. Also, no matter what system is in place, in terms of pure BV, Nathan wins for now. He just has the most variety of quads landed.

Well I don't think Zhao is the type to announce empty, unlikely possibilities, so there is something in the works for sure. Just a question of what logistics results in. But no, you're not the only excited ones- the Chinese FS community is pretty hyped these days. But I hope, for BOrser, for Boyang and for CSA's sake, that they don't promise too much, it's just too much pressure that BOrser will magically wave all issues away.

Are you sure it's not about that new broadmoor open artistic skating thing that's being discussed in other places? As an alternative to the Aerial Challenge.

Wait what? Where is the link? I thought the rules were that we had 7 jumping passes in the reduced 4 minutes program with -/+5 GOE range?

Speed skating is still more important I think. =) But since the Beijing 2022, the sports fed is willing to throw money at speed and figure skating now. Hockey is already booming, there's something like 15 or so little league teams in private clubs in my city now. o_O We're talking about a city that has only what, 6 commercial rinks, none olympic size, and usually does not snow in winter. And Zhao said in the original interview post PC, that anything set up now is not just for 2022, but for the future of the sport. Just that now 2022 has opened the funding floodgate, you need to take advantage of it, otherwise someone else will.

Well, there are some posts in baidu bars about foreign coaching teams, and how in the end, the sports fed in China might still want the main coach to be Chinese. It's an issue of "credit-giving" etc, which was why some posters in Chinese boards will be more surprised than even us if it becomes a long term, permanent program. A part of me is still not sure that Lori won't become a part of the coaching team-if she does, then the issue of how to coordinate with BOrser becomes just an issue between Lori and BOrser, if the Chinese coach takes on a role as Shirota san. Speaking of which-all these plans for overseas training of CHN atheletes in Canada, I do wonder if that is something that they are thinking of creating. A coordinator role a la Shirota, which Boyang's coach might have to try out. And while the article I originally translated mentioned Russia as a training destination for Chinese female skaters, it's highly possible that they'll also look to Canada and the US-remember that Zhao said the CSA is looking at mature coaching systems and mentioned US and Canada rather than Russia. Other than the fact that Russian coaches don't usually take on foreign skaters for the long term, but US and Canadian coaches could.

Okay, so butting in...I wonder if anyone has the link to the actual tencent sports article they are pointing to? If it's the one I think I saw a couple days ago, then that article was just a more sensationalized summary of what the original Xinhua/Sina article I translated involved. So far, nothing's dead set confirmed, and let's not e underestimate the amount of work and time it takes to set up something permanent (if indeed there is anyone waving pompoms on something permanent). So more likely than not, this year if it gets agreed to, it will be short term. It does not mean no longer term plan is not discussed-there likely will be. But Boyang's main coach, since his early years, is going over there based on the Xinhua/Sina article, which makes conflicts with BOrser more likely, unless said coach eventually shifts to a role similar to Shirota- dealing with the press, managing PR and doing coordination between the skater, the fed and the head coach. Even if something long term gets worked out, it may a) not be this season; b) might be for a period before Beijing (it's still possible CSA pulls out before 2021/2022 season), because the fed here generally still likes to give credit to the native Chinese coach.

I think I should go back and correct "armchair journalists"-because that might be closer to what Wong and Hersh are. But Max/Angelo, some of the BESP commentators, and a decent chunk of the Japanese ones are knowledgeable. North American is a bit hit and miss. I usually think CBC and Kurt were okay, but some of their comments this year do rub me wrong (the bias is obvious)- though in general, I think CBC is usually effusive about everyone. NBC usually rubs me wrong for singles (minus Ryan Bradley, don't remember if Jeremy Abbott commented before).

Javi's GF has something to tell them, right? Dude, Oly channel, did you seriously have to join the shipping business? I heard that it's not profitable, and generally an illusion.