micaelis

I know some might get on me since this is a thread about Yuzu but I think I'm justified in bringing this up. A simple statement - Stephen Gogolev is the youngest person to win the JGPF. The previous record-holder - Yuzuru Hanyu. Yuzu is still the skater whom I most closely follow and whom I feel is much more than a skater and an athlete. Yuzu is a very great human being. I don't think Stephen or any other skater I know of will ever be able to achieve that, and Yuzu has done so by simply being himself.

GPF is behind us, Yuzu's absence well-noted, but Junhwan at the senior GPF and Stephen at the JGPF kept the spotlight on TCC. Upcoming late this month are Japanese Nationals. Yuzu hasn't formally withdrawn from that competition so there is for us a glimmer of hope he might compete there. Nationals in Japan are the primary means by which Japan's entries to Worlds at season's end are decided. Yuzu doesn't have to participate, however. As the current and two-time Olympic champion and with two World champion gold and two silver plus four GPF final golds, Yuzu is the number one men's skater in Japan. I think someone from the JSF has already indicated that Yuzu's spot on the Japanese team is guaranteed. If not there will be official word soon. I think Yuzu might be feeling frustrated, though. This would be his third straight Japanese championships that he's missed, the first from the flu, the second the injury that almost derailed Yuzu's Olympic gold and now this year's lesser but still disabling injury. Yuzu must feel frustrated. Also Shoma has to feel frustrated. This is the third year in a row where a showdown between Yuzu and himself will not be taking place. Then there's 4CC. Yuzu has not gone every season but he's missed the gold on more than one occasion, making it just to the silver podium. That is clearly unfinished business. Might he go there? As far as I know nobody speaking for TCC has said that Yuzu won't make it to either Japanese Nationals or 4CC. There is hope for all of us facing the long run up to Worlds. However, remembering last season's experience we can handle the long wait if that's how things will transpire. We can all say about this wait - Been there, done that.

Things have to be merry at TCC this day. Christmas has come early and, given how Yuzu celebrates the successes of his fellow skaters at TCC, two of them have given him two remarkable birthday presents. Junhwan continues making this his breakout season by nailing the bronze at the GPF. He's medaled at every event he's been in this season (though no golds) making this a season this Korean seventeen-year-old can look to with pride. His successes plus his genuine cuteness must be making him an object of fascination in his home country. Then there's Stephen Gogolev (I know, I have a thing for him but I also have high expectations for him as I see him becoming the next Yuzu - though he doesn't have Yuzu's charisma). Stephen was the first alternate and with the withdrawal of one of the JGPF six he moved up into the competition. Second in the short, he dominated in the free-skate and became the the youngest ever to win the men's JGPF. His score was such that had he been skating in the Senior GPF he would have placed fifth. Not bad for a thirteen-(about to be fourteen)year-old. Right now I'm sure he's being regarded in Canada as the next Patrick Chan. Now for Yuzu. I originally thought it would be nice if Yuzu had traveled with the others to Vancouver and watched things from the stands but then I realized that if he were he'd bring a lot of the attention to him rather than to the skaters. So Yuzu almost certainly watched the proceedings at home. I'm certain he was as happy seeing his training-mate's successes as he was when he saw Javi succeed. Just as with Javi, I think Yuzu is being inspired by the successes of his two training-mates to harden his resolve for Worlds coming up next year. As for HIS season he's probably still looking at perhaps doing Japanese nationals and/or Four Continents, doctors and ankle willing. The temptation would be to finally bring about a confrontation between him and Shoma for the Japanese title. Shoma's taken the title the past two years but both come with an unofficial asterisk (meaning Yuzu wasn't there). As to Four Continents, gold has eluded Yuzu over the years with the best he's done there being silver. The temptation must be to accomplish a bit of business that must be on his figure-skating bucket list. Worlds, however, is almost certainly his highest priority. While he's not looking at this year's championship with the intensity he was looking when he approached PC it's more than likely he's still very determined and what better place could there be to unveil a Nessie for the world to marvel at? In any case Yuzu is now sharing the training ice with three other members of the figure-skating elite - Evgenia who came to TCC already a solid member of the Lady's elite, and Junhwan, who now is automatically being regarded as a podium contender in any competition he's in, and Stephen, who has become one of the credible contenders for the Junior World Championship this season. All in all TCC has to be a happy place these days, although it would have been happier had Yuzu been skating in Vancouver, but fate, the gods and Yuzu's right ankle decided otherwise. In any case Yuzu would have gone to bed last night with happy thoughts about Junhwan's and Stephen's successes and little thought of how great it would have been to be there himself. He's just not the sort of person to focus on the negative. Two medals, even if not his, coming to TCC are the stuff to make for happy dreams for Yuzu. That's the sort of thing anyone needs when going to bed on his birthday.

I am primarily a Yuzu fan but I do watch the other skaters at TCC and tonight we see that Brian has a potential legend to follow Yuzu and that is Stephen Gogolev who took the Junior Grand Prix Final gold with a healthy margin. At age 13 he has got to be the youngest Junior GPF champion ever. Congratulations to Stephen and to the coaching staff of TCC. They've got another winner. Now I hope that Junhwan can move himself from that fourth position he has (a very close-to-third fourth) and make the medal podium for the Senior men. It would be nice if the TCC contingent can return to Toronto and to a grand and well-deserved celebration.

With the results of both the Junior and Senior men's GPF short programs TCC has to be celebrating. Stephen is solidly in 2nd after the Junior short program and Junhwan is fourth only a small fraction of a point behind 3rd place. Both have a very good chance of medaling. Hats off to Brian and his team.

As I write this if Yuzu were in Japan he'd already be 24, but he's in Toronto so he has to wait a few hours. It's a technicality which I don't think Yuzu's concerned with. In Toronto I'm sure Mama Hanyu has made him a cake or whatever is a Japanese birthday treat. There's probably a much larger cake at TCC but there's a lot more people to feed there. What has me thinking, though, is the Planet's new banner. That stream of images going all the way back to that very earnest 9-year-old doing his program at a Novice B championship (he did win it, by the way), leading through his increasing wins as he advances in levels, onto Junior level where in the 2009/2010 season he wins, as one commentator said, 'everything in sight', then launching into Senior level skating and, well, the rest, as they say, is history. This young man has come a long way, although you wouldn't know it if you looked at him. Physically he's still in late adolescence (at least facially). Spiritually is where there is such a great difference. The smiley urchin who around age 11 or so confidently stated he would win the gold at Sochi in 2014 was given a forced maturing in early March 2011 when his world was shaken to bits and then washed away. Well, it was not quite so bad as that but it was still pretty awful. His rink still stood but was in heed of extensive repairs. Only(?) a thousand or so people in Sendai died (out of a bit over 1 million, so just 1%), but that's an awful lot considering there are few of those who survived in Sendai who did not know at least one of those who perished. In either direction up and down the northeast coast of Japan there were cities that fared much worse, in some cases deaths being in the double-digit percentages of population. Yuzu spent three nights in a shelter with his family before they were permitted to go back to their house. Those three nights made Yuzu really start thinking because he knew there were many in that shelter who had no house to return to, who were looking at a long period of trying to get their lives back to normal, if ever. It was those memories that really made Yuzu feel guilty when he was back to training at his local rink in Sendai. From that horrifying experience a new Yuzu was born. The smiling urchin became ancient history as Yuzu worked through his psychological baggage and dedicated his career to those less fortunate from the quake. Unlike so many other athletes Yuzu was willing to put out time to meet with those who had lived through that same nightmare, visiting schools and senior centers and many other places to reach out to other survivors. In so doing he put himself in a place few athletes ever achieve, ever even desire to achieve. Yuzu became a national hero, a disaster survivor whom the quake did not derail, a symbol of Japan's determination to put the quake behind it. This was underlined in the 2013/2014 season, where Yuzu picked up his first GPF gold, his first World gold and, most significantly, his first Olympic gold. That Olympic achievement was underlined when one realizes that Yuzu's gold was the only gold in any sport the Japanese won that year. It was as if fate was making sure that the Japanese would not overlook his achievement. In the summer of 2012 Yuzu moved his training base to Toronto so he could be trained under Brian Orser and his team. Brian put first things first when Yuzu came and put Yuzu back into figure-skating kindergarten to relearn basic skating skills. That decision shows the quality of coach Brian is. He started Yuzu on the course of being the 'complete' skater he is now universally recognized as being. For Yuzu after that there would be days of glory and days of disaster. Injuries became Yuzu's greatest threat, from the collision in Shanghai to the operation he required for abdominal problems to the fall seen around the world that almost derailed his dream of a second Olympic gold to the most recent injury keeping him away from the ice for the second year in a row and forcing him now to concentrate on achieving gold in this season's World Championships. Yet those setbacks actually focused Yuzu's resolve more completely. His iron will was measured by the challenges he faced and the successes he had. Missing again a good portion of the season Yuzu remains unsubdued. He's more than ready to take his doctor's advice and pace his healing and rehabilitation but he is not to be deterred from achieving the goals he's set forth, a 4A and another World gold. Despite the successes that people like Shoma and Nathan and Boyang have, the fact is that come World Championships next year Yuzu will still be the favorite. The reason? The sheer quality of the programs he's skating, choreography on a level rarely achieved in figure-skating. Yuzu's programs are masterpiece novels. The others are comic books. If Yuzu skates those programs not simply cleanly, but more important, perfectly, realizing all the PCS points he can marshal, it doesn't matter if he doesn't have the variety of quads the others have. Even without a 4A, the elusive jump of this season, Yuzu can still take the gold. He has the skills, he has the choreography, he has the desire but most of all, he has the determination. Last season in achieving his second Olympic gold we saw how deep his determination can be. The narrative of his working through a disastrous injury to a towering success has all the makings of a good movie. Put behind it all that has come before him in his life from smiling urchin to haunted survivor to living legend, Yuzu's life is one that just begs to become a movie. His birthday is today (or tomorrow to those of us in the Western Hemisphere). How will Yuzu celebrate it? Well, the three weeks off the ice ordered by his doctor have passed. The best celebration for him would be to put his skates back on and get back to business.

That giant fish makes me think of other non-Pooh toys that have rained down on the ice after a Yuzu performance. The one that most sticks in my mind was at the GPF final in 2014 where one sees briefly just after Yuzu has returned to embrace Brian after his performance this huge brown bear dropping down. The bear is almost as large as the boy who retrieves it. It would be interesting to see just what kind of menagerie might have accumulated over the years following Yuzu's performances. I remember also, though at which competition escapes me, where this one girl retrieved a fairly large green frog. The thing to keep in mind is that the Poohvalanches have become now almost a ritual after Yuzu skates. The ice will seem empty once Yuzu retires, not simply because of his absence, but also because of the absence of that silly golden bear.

Well, he's out and and as much as we hate to see it we know it was necessary. So let's get positive. We have a big event coming up, Birthday Number Twenty-Four on 7 December. All of us should be thankful because remembering back to when Yuzu was approaching number 23 we didn't know whether there was any skating at all in his future. Now we know he's just had a setback and he's ready to deal with it. The fact that he didn't wait until time was nearly out to withdraw is indicative that he's accepted the verdict of his ankle and his doctors. With the great length between now and Worlds (I'm assuming he'll also not be in Japanese Nationals) he has quite a bit of time to prepare himself and maybe nurse Nessie through a long and difficult pregnancy. If at Worlds he nails a 4A with bells and whistles (maximum GOEs) and nails a clear victory for the gold then he'll at least have another half season that was well worth the wait for us all out here. He might even decide to participate in the World Team event. I do see one possible blessing coming out of all this, and that is that Yuzu is being forced to accept the fact that he will not be able to keep a full arsenal of various quads to keep himself competitive, not if he values that right ankle of his. So now I think he will possibly look into how to max his PCS numbers. If anyone is capable of approaching the impossible dream of 10s across the board on PCS it is Yuzu. With the long wait before Worlds Yuzu has the time to get back to his choreographers and fine-tune every detail of his programs to really work for those PCS points. The thing is that as far as PCS elements go none of the elite skaters have the basic talent to pursue those elusive 10s without worrying overly about TES points. Jason Brown is not quite elite level but in PCS capability he is up there though even he is not in the same league as Yuzu at his best is. Misha Ge is now retired and he's the only skater I felt could match Yuzu in PCS although Misha does not have the stylistic versatility Yuzu has. I doubt Misha could have pulled off PW and LGC, not to mention also Hello, I Love You, like Yuzu did. Yuzu's as much at home skating to hard rock as he is in interpreting Chopin. The one thing I'm hoping is that there will not be the news blackout from TCC as there was last season. All of us need to know how Yuzu is progressing and facing three months of no news is something we do not need for the second year in a row. Until then, though, we can console ourselves by watching Yuzu on ice and off in the uncounted hundreds of videos there are of him. I doubt all the other Japanese men together have as much video on them to be found on YouTube and other locations as Yuzu does. He has to be one of the most video'd athletes of all time.

In looking at vids from those early years with Brian (2012-15) I'm wondering if Brian had any inkling of the sheer phenomenon Yuzu would become. Obviously he saw that Yuzu had talent but I have a feeling he was seeing the potential of Yuzu and Javi as roughly equal. Javi would go on to win two world championship as well as six straight European championships. Yuzu would go on to take the world of skating by storm becoming a living legend and prompting talk of Yuzu as the Greatest Of All Time. I think NHK and GPF were the events that must have most shaken Brian for he must be realizing that Yuzu was far more than the highly talented young skater he took on back in the summer of 2012. With that realization must have come an awareness of the enormous responsibility that came with training such an athlete. I think that was probably the time when Yuzu's and Brian's relationship began to alter toward what I think it is today, where Team TCC exist essentially as advisers for Yuzu as he sets for the direction and goals he's seeking. Gone definitely are those early days when Yuzu, when first arriving in Toronto, was taken back to figure skating kindergarten and learning basic skills. That strategy paid off, I'm sure, because I think that was when Yuzu truly began to see how all the various elements of skating had to work and it was not just a matter of mastering some quads. As for the current situation I think the only person who can tell Yuzu what he can do is his medical team. His receiving that Rostelecom medal while on crutches for me was an indication that with two significant injuries to his right ankle in the period of these last two seasons Yuzu is realizing that his body is not made of steel and that what he does on the ice can have long term consequences. So he's following the doctor's advice. Good!!! He needs to realize that with age comes increasing vulnerability to the erosion time takes of us all physically through the years. Which brings me to a question all of us are asking about Yuzu. What next? On one hand I can see him holding back from competition and preparing himself for Worlds at the end of this season. If he should go gold there I have a feeling at that point the temptation to retire would be extremely great, particularly because of the injuries of these last two seasons. On the other hand there is the example of Daisuke Takahashi, who came out of retirement this year, feeling acutely what leaving competition had removed from his life. He wants back in the game. Yuzu must be viewing that as an indication that he should soldier on. Which should he do, particularly as he also has probably quite vividly the memory of how his hero, Evgeny Plushenko had to withdraw from competition literally just minutes before the commencement of the short program competition at Sochi. It's somewhat ironic that Takahashi is reentering competition at roughly the same age as Plushy was when he withdrew and retired. There is a great deal contingent on the decisions Yuzu is now being forced to make because so much has been invested in him, not simply by the fans who have purchased all that is needed to get them to his competitions but also to the advertisers with whom he's involved and the publishing industry in Japan that is not a small portion of Yuzu Incorporated. His retirement from competition would not remove his value for his sponsors but it would bring about a rearrangement of his relationship to them and to his fans he would feel almost honor bound, I think, to find some way to continue his relationship with them. That's why I have a feeling ice shows loom big in Yuzu's post-retirement scenarios, more than likely shows he produces himself and where he can exert artistic control. All in all I feel strongly for Yuzu because circumstances right now seemed to have conspired to necessitate decisions he probably felt he wouldn't need to make any time soon. Life has its ways of outflanking even the best-planned strategies but then Yuzu has also his memory of the earthquake and how things can be a lot worse than the conundrum he nows finds himself faced with. That experience above all we must not forget is one Yuzu will not forget and however great the obstructions he faces now are in his mind minuscile when compared with the horrendous challenges not only he but all of Japan faced after that huge disaster. It's that experience that has generated in Yuzu a sense of scale that has kept him humble despite the greatness of his achievements and has made him so willing to give of himself for the needs of others. If Yuzu should retire I think all of us can be thankful that he would be putting an end to a career few can equal in the annals of sport in general, not simply for the athletic achievement but also for the greatness of that person the world knows as Yuzuru Hanyu. The only other athlete I can think of who compares with Yuzu in both athletic achievement and greatness as a person is Wayne Gretzky. Both of them never forgot their roots and viewed their success as requiring also a giving back to the public who so admired them. And for all of us there would still be the anticipation of the ice shows Yuzu might create. Looking at how Continues was structured I would not be surprised to see Yuzu bring to that format the same imagination and integrity with which he pursued his victories. Just some thoughts on my part. I just hope he decides to continue to compete after this season but we've got to be ready to face the inevitability that retirement will have to come some time. At least by then Yuzu will have given us some indication of what he intends afterward. We have to remember this - Yuzu does not like to think small.

I think it is quite amazing how well Yuzu handles the adulation he receives although, as has been pointed out, he doesn't really like it. When the adulation comes right after he has skated and the Poohs are raining down onto the ice, that is one thing. For him that is something he appreciates because it is coming at a time and situation that is appropriate. On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised that he is thankful for residing in Toronto where he can move about with relative anonymity. In Japan his face is one of the very best known and it is quite impossible for him to remain anonymous. As far as the kowtowing, I have to agree that the way it is framed does not seem to indicate it is meant humorously and I can understand how it can be easily misinterpreted. Contrast that to that time in the 2015 GPF when Yuzu is awaiting yet another world record score and he sees Javi on the monitor and starts waving to him. Javi responds by kowtowing but the grin he sports while doing it shows it is obviously meant to be funny and, indeed, it is.

I have felt that all along and indeed it was Yuzu as a dancer not a skater that initially attracted me to him. There is a novel I've been working on in which the lead character is a young ballet dancer in his mid-teens. He is already considered one of the top dancers in the world and when he is talking to someone about his dancing, he states, "I want to make my body sing!" I think that might be close to Yuzu's approach to his skating. He wants to give his skating the strength and delicacy which the best male dancers embody. One sees it also in the sense when Yuzu is skating that we are not seeing a series of separate moves, but a movement where all the elements are linked and part of an unbroken unified phrase. We also have to realize, though, that Yuzu is blessed with a pair of choreographers who realize what Yuzu is capable of doing artistically and work with him to make his artistry shine. Yuzu, Jeffrey and Shae-Lynn are a team who work diligently together to make Yuzu's skating sing.

I think with all the speculation and rumors that something might be said about how Yuzu is dealing with this latest setback. First, Yuzu quite obviously learned from last season's disaster. This time he took to crutches right away and even set a precedent, I think, by receiving his medal on crutches. Has any figure skater ever done that before? Has any athlete ever done that before? Secondly, I think we should be prepared for a news blackout similar to that TCC instituted last season. We won't hear anything until Yuzu decides things can be heard. Third, Yuzu scores so much on his programs without all the different quads and if his ankle will handle it he'll skate a diminished program relying on his PCS points, GOES and perfect skating of that level of skating his ankle permits. Finally, and this is very speculative, I think if Yuzu has to make a choice between GPF and Japanese nationals he'll opt for GPF, since that is a competition which, until last year, Yuzu owned. He'd like to get that ownership back. As far as GPF is concerned, with the competition just three weeks after Moscow, he'll be hard-pressed to work a miracle but he had plenty of practice last year after his disastrous fall in nursing himself back to getting on the ice and finally flying above the ice. If he has his programs as hard-wired in his mind as he did those of last season and his injury is significantly less serious than last year's, with those programs truly fresh in his mind three weeks might be enough to make him competitive in Vancouver. We'll have to wait and see.

I've never seen a picture of her so I wouldn't know but thanks for the info. Now I just have to keep my eyes peeled for a Yuzu clone female-style.

Bravo to Yuzu despite the fall. He won by a significant margin, much owed to his virtually flawless SP. Now to a couple questions I have. I don't know how often I've seen this Japanese woman bustling around in the background but I know she's not associated with TCC. She was the person who was sitting next to him when awaiting SP score at Sochi. Just who is the lady? Secondly, I noticed another Japanese woman standing in the background as Yuzu left the ice both after the SP and the FS. After the FS she was holding a Pooh plushy and some other paraphernalia. Again, who is she? Mama Hanyu is the best guess I can make since I have a feeling she might travel with TCC on any number of occasions. If not her I can't figure out who. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer these two questions.

Amidst all this talk of world records we should keep one thing in mind. We're starting a new scoring system this season which means the world record book is a volume with blank pages. In short, every time a skater makes a seasonal high for all competitions he (or she) sets a record. Many of Plushies 13 records came when the old scoring system was new. Since he was the dominant skater then he just racked them up. In looking at Yuzu's records from the old system I think one important point should be made. Yuzu set 12 records there and except for Patrick Chan breaking one of Yuzu's records way back in 2013 (Yuzu broke Patrick's record two weeks later) nobody broke a record Yuzu set. Eight of his twelve records were made when he was breaking his own earlier record. Other skaters managed to surpass record scores Yuzu set but by the time they did Yuzu had already set a new one. All the others were simply trying to keep up with Yuzu's level of scoring. With the new record book now activated the thing we should do is see how many of Yuzu's current records are reset by him or by others. Going by the history of the last set of records I think they're all going to be playing catch-up by the end of this season and by Beijing Yuzu will have an iron grip on the record book.

When dealing with Yuzu and his programs and his creation of his programs I am beginning to articulate in my mind exactly what Yuzu has become over these last several seasons. It began with Seimei, which most commentators got wrong thinking Abe no Seimei was a samurai warrior. Actually he was an astronomer and a spiritual advisor to a number of high-ranked officials, including at least one emperor. After his death a great number of tales started being created about him so that today Seimei is an historical figure whose life has become the basis of a large body of mythical adventures. I haven't been able to get into any great detail of exactly what kind of figure he is today, not knowing any Japanese, but I think if we were looking for a Western counterpart King Arthur's spiritual adviser Merlin would fill the bill. What struck me right from the first time I saw Yuzu's Seimei was its tone, its aura, you might say. Yuzu seemed not to be skating but contemplating and mirroring that contemplation through his actions. When comparing Seimei with his earlier programs I could see that while there was still drama in them, drama we had seen to great effect in RJ1 and POTO most notably, Seimei had a serenity about it that seemed to me a clear departure from Yuzu's earlier competitive programs. That feeling was reinforced with Hope and Legacy. Again there is a serenity in the program that indicates that Yuzu seems to be approaching his programs from an angle that appears to me to be quite revolutionary from normal figure-skating practice. His two programs for this season, particularly Origin, simply reinforced my sense that Yuzu is moving in a direction that both extends what skating can do interpretively (although a skater would have to have the essential mindset of Yuzu to truly duplicate it) but what it can do spiritually. Looking at his two programs for this season I have no trouble in thinking they are not interpretations but meditations. In that sense Yuzu is doing something that is in certain ways quite revolutionary for figure skating, making his programs into spiritual journeys. And unlike Misha Ge and Jason Brown, who seem to be following a similar aesthetic although not nearly as intense, Yuzu is able to incorporate the more difficult elements of figure skating without losing the flow and the integrity of the overall program.

It's been said before but it cannot be said often enough - on the 11th of March 2011 Yuzu's world fell apart. In fact it was shaken first and then washed away. He was on the ice when the earthquake hit and he and his family spent three days in an evacuation shelter. Yuzu himself has said that the earthquake experience redefined who he was and he has tied himself over these last several years to the earthquake reconstruction. Sendai was virtually at ground zero for the quake and because the area around Sendai is low and flat the tsunami waters went inland by several miles. There were over a thousand deaths in Sendai, which has a population of around one million. Almost certainly Yuzu knew some of those who perished or some who lost loved ones Yuzu himself did not know. And from up and down that stretch of the Japanese coast nearly twenty thousand people lost their lives. On top of that Japan saw the greatest property damage it had experienced since World War II. Yuzu measures his life as before the quake and after it. He saw so much suffering and for a while he himself was haunted with guilt, feeling that by pursuing his skating, which took him around the world and well away from Japan, that he was somehow not doing his part in helping Japan recover. Particularly when he moved his training to Toronto the issue became much more intense. He was able finally to reconcile his guilt feelings when he learned that what he was accomplishing as a skater was helping the morale of those who were still suffering from the after-effects of the disaster. Because of how he has selflessly put himself out to do what he can to aid in the recovery Yuzu's position in Japan is much different than what one normally expects of famous athletes. In many respects Yuzu is seen as a national hero who just happens to be a world-class figure skater. That aspect of his stature is not particularly visible to those outside of Japan, but the one thing that is is that Yuzu, by feeling so strongly about those who suffered from the quake, has also made him sensitive to those whose personal trials are not the stuff of newspaper headlines. Brian is one example. I wonder how many more there are? There must be many but I doubt Yuzu would be willing to list them. For him the greatest acts of kindness are those that are done outside the spotlight.

A good suggestion but if we're going for the truly evil, might I suggest 'Sauron'. You can't get more evil than that. And there's a good image there - an eye - that gives us the visual cachet that's necessary. We might end up having to pool all the valid suggestions and do this with a poll. I do think, however, that we need something to represent what seems to be Yuzu's biggest problem-maker, his all-too-frequent injuries.

Because of one of the preceding interviews I think it probably useful if we come up with some sort of character that represents 'injury', a monstrous sort that is always threatening Yuzu but is fought off by Yuzu with the aid of his loyal contingent of Pooh, Nessie and GOAT. They are Yuzu's bodyguards and they are the ones protecting or rescuing Yuzu whenever he is threatened or held captive by the 'injury' monster. So does anybody have some ideas of what 'injury' should be called and what 'injury' looks like?

The Bielman has been with him since virtually day one of his competition days. I'd remind everyone of that video of him competing at the All-Japan Novice B competition at age nine. There's a Bielman there and it's quite a good one, also. Yuzu uses both the donut and the Bielman to highlight his phenomenal flexibility. What I'd like to see is for him to take a donut and transition straight to a Bielman. It can be done since I saw a lady competitor (can't remember precisely who) do just that. If done cleanly he'd definitely pick up some extra points for that.

I think that's reflected in the fact that Yuzu generally has picked the music for his programs and even edited it with thoughts of the general layout of his work before he even approaches a choreographer. At that point the choreographer and Yuzu generally detail the piece, where it's not simply filling in the blanks but with the general layout already there working to milk out the 'drama' of the music. I wonder how many other skaters work this way. I doubt that there are many since that approach requires a sensitivity to music that is not widely found amongst athletes. I can't remember who said it, but somebody who knows Yuzu well remarked that Yuzu has one of the most intensively developed sensitivities to music to be found anywhere. Yuzu has been able to exploit that sensitivity in the programs he and his choreographers develop to give him an in-built advantage that is reflected in his usually very high PCS points. Yuzu's advantage is that in putting together his programs he is 'marrying' the music and the motion and making them work in perfect harmony.

I have to agree also. Take the Ina Bauer. In some of his programs the move seems almost perfunctory as if it's there just to be there. But then, for instance, in POTO the Ina Bauer near the end of the FS is right on, absolutely perfect for both the music and what has been leading up to it. It has a dramatic significance that could not be bettered by any other move. So yes, Yuzu does have his signature moves, as does Shoma, although not as many, but Shoma almost always puts his cantilever in at least his FS, so we should not see a penchant for getting favorite moves into programs as something only Yuzu has. I do wish Yuzu would work with Jeffrey on a long program, though. His short programs with Buttle have been very successful. PW, for instance, enabled Yuzu to set 4 world records, in that context the most successful of Yuzu's programs. But Jeffrey brings out the swaggering, over-testosteroned teenage delinquent in Yuzu, an element of his character I would like to see much more often. With his boy-band good looks and the hair-style of LGC Yuzu looks positively dangerous. Add a pair of sunglasses and Yuzu would be absolutely the image of the boy parents would do everything they could to stop their daughter from dating. Jeffrey seems to bring out an element in Yuzu no other choreographer has been able to tap into except whoever was responsible for Hello, I Love You, although there Yuzu's 'garbage-sack' PVC pants were a significant contributor to that program's aura. What I have perceived in looking at Yuzu's programs through the years, though, is that they generally fall into three categories. The first are the strongly dramatic, almost over-the-top ones like RJ1 and POTO. Then are the more restrained, almost meditative yet nonetheless intense programs, in which Seimei is the best example. Then there are the programs like Hello, I Love You, PW and LGC. In these Yuzu the 'bad boy' is highlighted. All of these bring out certain aspects of Yuzu's persona, aspects which are only revealed in his skating or, perhaps, in the video games he chooses to play. I think it would be extremely interesting to see what video games he plays most often.

Yuzuru hasn't achieved what he has despite those issues. He's achieved what he has because of those. They're the challenges life set before him and he worked hard at overcoming those issues and in working harder overcoming those he also was enabled to work harder overcoming the challenges he faced in becoming the skater he wanted to be. Those challenges were the dress rehearsals for the challenges he's faced in skating. If Yuzu hadn't had those challenges life put before him I don't think he would have achieved what he has as a skater.

The exhibition idea is good but I would climax that with an auction of them with the proceeds going to the Reconstruction (whether IceRink Sendai or general efforts, the choice is their's to make). The thing is that Yuzu memorabilia can be potent generators of charitable funds and I'm surprised there has not been any (I could be mistaken here, though, so correct me if you know better) actions like that. There have been charity ice shows but not charity auctions, as far as I know.

With all the talk about when one's in his prime I think one thing should be pointed out, going from the saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I would have to say a skater is only as young as his knees and ankles. The rest of the body might be in great shape but we have to remember that a skater is really doing a lot more abuse to those joints than to any other part of his body, witness last season's disaster, which fortunately did have a happy ending.