micaelis

Look at all the security there. Almost as many as a President of the US would have. This shows more clearly than anything else the relative status our Yuzu has in comparison to the other athletes. The tweet is correct. Yuzu is THE LEGEND.

He looks like an early edition Beatle. I DO think he needs a haircut unless he's reverting to the style of his childhood. At least he's on the ground and I think probably realizing that THIS IS IT at last. I think everybody who plans to be there for the SP and FS are readying their throwing arms to practice getting their Poohs onto the ice and to do so rapidly since many might have multiple Poohs, the additional ones intended for earlier competitions. Get ready for a pair of absolutely awesome Poohvalanches. Here's hoping they'll have enough flower people to retrieve the beasts.

Everybody seems to be thinking Yuzu and company are flying commercial. Has anybody thought that they might have chartered a flight? A Gulfstream 650E (a business jet) can make it from Toronto to Seoul in roughly the same amount of time as a commercial airliner without needing to refuel. There would be the money to afford such a charter (with all his endorsement income) and the advantage there is that they could fly directly to the local airport for PC. There would be no need to make the trip by auto from Seoul. Moreover there would be privacy there since the only passengers would be those with TCC and (probably) Yuzu's mother. Security would be better there also if the only passengers are the ones one wants to travel with. Additionally a 650E has a sleeping compartment with a double bed and seats in the passenger compartment that can be folded out as cots so Yuzu and the others could start getting a jump on jet lag by leaving Toronto at a time when with sleeping on the flight they would arrive in Korea at a time that would have him arriving roughly in sync with Korea time. Just a thought.

Something to throw back at the US media (incidentally, I'm American so that gives me really the right to go out after them), in any case somebody should remind them that after the men's SP in the team competition their beloved Nathan is in 4th place. In short right now he's not even on the podium. Shoma's the one who put on the show last night, coming in 20 points ahead of the next in line, the 30 year-old Israeli skater Aleksei Bychenko, with Patrick in third. Not a good night for Nathan and in fact Shoma was the only one to have a score that would likely set himself up nicely for the FS, meaning he's the only one with a score over 100, which I think will be necessary for any of the men to go after a medal. More ominous, Patrick and Nathan were both well down in the eighties, by that I mean low eighties, not exactly good scores for skaters going after the gold. If what we saw last night is indicative of what we might see come the individual competition, then I don't think Yuzu should be worrying too much. I'll be anxious to see these fellows in the team FS, see whether they managed to get their act together.

I think if there is any dissimulation here it's playing on the fact that Yuzu back at the ACI with a 'dumbed down' short program still set a world record, emphasizing that Yuzu doesn't need the highest base-value to achieve his goal. The fact is that all the potential challengers know what a truly inspired Yuzu can do. After all, Javi, Shoma, Patrick and Boyang were all there at the GPF on the night of December 12, 2015, when Yuzu did a clean sweep, breaking the SP, FS, and combined records, records he'd set just two weeks before. Only Nathan wasn't there but I'm sure he was probably watching it on TV. That is why none of these potential medalists is worrying about how they compare to the other skaters. Yuzu is the elephant (hardly physically, of course) in the room, a presence who even in his absence was still dictating the season. Everyone who was skating in a competition Yuzu would have been in were it not for his injury, knows that his victory has an asterisk by it, an asterisk that says that if Yuzu had been there things quite possibly could have been very different. It boils down to this basic fact - Yuzu, even though he's been out of competition for nearly three months, is still the one to beat, is still the one who holds the title of Olympic gold-medalist, current World Champion, four times GPF winner and the only one who has set any scoring records since Sochi, usually by breaking records he himself had set. I would also counsel any of these aspirants to Olympic gold to go back and watch Yuzu's FS at the 2014 GPF, a skate I consider to be his best and most intense, despite one fall late in the program. He nearly broke the FS record but what should frighten these aspirants is the fact that only two weeks after Yuzu's meltdown at the NHK he was able to come back and not only win the GPF but win it by some 35 points. There have been quite a few commentators who have noticed that Yuzu seems to do best when he is fighting his way to the top rather than defending from the top. That definitely seems to be the case here.

Pooh must be acting up. He's just been told he's not going to PC.

It all boils down to all the thought that went into putting his program together back last summer. In an earlier event Brian told Yuzu to trust his training, saying, essentially, that he'd done all that stuff during training, did it successfully, so he knew he could do it. Just remember how things physically felt when he was doing the program in his practices. Now Yuzu must see things in an analogous manner, that is, he must trust his program. It was laid out to be competitive yet within Yuzu's skill range. As I said in an earlier post, if Yuzu skates his program clean and everyone else does the same, Yuzu's still on top, though just barely. If he skates better than clean, as he did back in Helsinki, then nobody stands a chance. So he has to trust his program, trust in the fact that it was put together to address the best his opponents planned to do. If he performs like he did in Helsinki, and like he did in late 2015, then, as Johnny Weir said most succinctly - Nobody can beat a perfect Yuzuru Hanyu.

Look at the wording. Somebody has already said that the 4lz is not in good shape and not that Yuzu won't try it. I think Yuzu is here engaging in a bit of disinformation, saying one thing and hoping people will misinterpret it. The significant bit of news here is that everything else is going well. I think Yuzu might also be trying some sort of surprise, perhaps a quad/quad combination. He could do it because he normally has the speed and the height that makes it possible. Add to that his very rapid turns in the air. I think he could pull it off, assuming that the scoring system has base values for a quad/quad combo. If that were to be put into his announced program it would totally discourage all the jumpers out there because even Boyang and Nathan do not have the strength and nerves to attempt something like that. Remember that, as Johnny Weir said of Yuzu - it's not just the quads, it's the quality of the quads. Yuzu's records are there because while his base values are competitive he can, if he skates really clean, count on maximum GOEs and PCS points. In any case Yuzu is playing some heavy duty psychological warfare here. He's letting everybody know that he's truly back and that they should be expecting the Yuzu of 2015 GP series and GPF. I just hope he has the mindset that he had in the GPF in 2014, coming out of the crash in Shanghai and the podium-absence at the following NHK, where he skated what I feel was his best skate ever, despite the fall. If that fall hadn't occurred he would have broken the FS record there. The important thing was that he was skating to salvage the season, a season of real disaster. He came through on it, even to the point that despite the fall he still won by some 35 points. He's skating here to salvage not only this season but the last three also, the seasons where his overriding goal was a repeat of his Olympic gold. With that kind of motivation I don't think it unreasonable to think he just might break the records across the board.

OK, the question is - Is Yuzu ready for the Olympics? What can we expect? A short little tale. Back in 1973, which would be ancient history for most here, there was this horse, Secretariat, entered in the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the triple crown. He'd won the first two but there were those wondering if he could handle the mile and a half course, a course longer than any he'd run in before. People were hoping he could, since it was well over two decades since a horse had won the triple crown. There were, however, quite a few who didn't think he had the makings for such a lengthy run. There are people thinking Yuzu does not have the makings for the upcoming seven minutes to win gold, not after coming out of a significant injury. What did Secretariat do in 1973? He won the race by some thirty-two lengths and BROKE the mile and a half record by 2.6 seconds, a record, the announcer said, 'would likely stand forever'. Food for hope for all of us going into PC.

I don't think that will be necessary. If you haven't gone through withdrawal by now, considering his long absence, then you have immunity, although for new fans an extended Yuzu absence might be dangerous. Retirement, however, might be more difficult. Console yourselves, though. Yuzu loves skating ice shows. I think it's because he has so few chances to be performing on the ice with other skaters around him. If you observe his body language when he's skating in the opening and finale parts of galas and ice shows, he's really lighting up. I think it's also the fact that he can interact directly with the audience and he's not worried about scoring points. After retirement we'll have Yuzu for several years in ice show. Actually, I wouldn't be surprise if he founded his own ice show. He has the stature to get the funding for such an enterprise.

I just watched a video here that had a large portion dealing with Yuzu visiting a town that had been very hard hit by the 2011 tsunami. Seeing his interaction one could see that he was very much involved with what he was seeing and whom he was meeting. In an earlier post I stated that I thought Yuzu divided his life now to those years before the earthquake and those years after it. Skating on the ice when everything started shaking he fled the building with his skates on (no skate guards, though), thinking it might come down on him, and then came those three days in an evacuation center with his family until they were cleared to move back into their home. This was for Yuzu an experience unlike any he had had before or since. It's those moments when he was literally staring death in his face that I feel are most responsible for his lack of arrogance and self-centeredness despite the fact he has become literally a living legend. So many young people proceed in their lives thinking they are invulnerable and immortal. Yuzu, though, knows how precious every second of life is. If anyone wonders how Yuzu maintains his humility and lacks any trace of arrogance, credit it to the earthquake, credit it to those few minutes when Yuzu's world as he knew it seemed ready to come crashing down on him.

Yes, he will, because he's one of the rare people about whom can be said - To know him is to love him.

They probably should be thinking about the advisability of putting blades on their Zambonis to clear the ice. I have noticed though in some recent competitions the flower people have had trash bags to put the stuff in rather than having to skate to the sidelines to get rid of what's in hand. I don't think that will work with some of those Poohs I've seen in the past few seasons, where the Poohs have been the size of a large toddler. I have a feeling there might be a lot of people watching just to see the size of the Poohvalanche. A really good Poohvalanche is one of the great spectacles to see in figure skating and is indicative of Yuzu's fan base, a fan base greater than any skater has ever seen in previous years, at least in intensity. Has any other skater been known to fill the stands just to see his practices? You can be sure there will be many, many Yuzu fans in PC, many of them from Japan, of course, since Japan is so close to Korea - it means airline tickets will be cheaper. But there will be many others from around the world. It is the number and intensity of his fans worldwide that gives Yuzu rockstar status.

Don't worry. I expect two humongous Poohvalanches at PC. They've been collecting all season, waiting for an opportunity to grace the ice with their gold and scarlet presence. Particularly with the ban on Yuzu's own Pooh, they will be trying to allay the loneliness in his heart.

I think Yuzu was also thinking of doing the best for his country with this decision. It's not like anybody is expecting Japan to do well in the team competition, with or without Yuzu. My opinion right now is that Yuzu thinks, and rightly so, that his best contribution to Japan would be to win the singles gold. Remember, Yuzu was the only Japanese in any of the sports to win gold at Sochi. His best contribution to the Japanese cause would be to win gold in PC in the men's singles, because the men's singles gold is a much more prestigious medal than the team gold. Yuzu is right now probably Japan's most credible candidate for a gold medal since (although I might be wrong here) he is the only Japanese winter athlete to be ranked number one in in the world in his sport going into PC. So while it means all of us at the Planet must wait a while longer before seeing our hero in action, it does mean that he has the additional time for preparation for his event and also time to gauge how his major rivals do, if they are part of their country's team contingent. What I am most concerned with is that his access to the ice for practice will be much more restricted there, unless TCC has managed to corral a rink someplace else to work in private. Perhaps that's part of the reason that Yuzu is not going with Team Japan on the fourth. With Yuzu's first skate in the individual SP, it gives him more than a week to remain in Toronto with a rink of his own (and Javi's too, if he stays behind).

I was just at a Walmart and saw there a HUGE stuffed bear. It was an even five foot high. It was a plain brown bear and it's probably a good thing it wasn't a Pooh. Can you imagine the problems in clearing the ice if there were a number of these humongous critters scattered about (and there would be, if you've ever noticed the size of those Poohs that come down from the heights - I think the fans feel the bigger the better). I mean that bear I saw was literally larger than most of the flower girls and boys. As it is, because of the ban on Yuzu's personal Pooh at PC you can be sure virtually all his fans will be decked out in Pooh paraphernalia and casting hundreds of Poohs onto the ice. For Disney, who isn't paying for their presence, this is the ultimate in free product placement.

Thank you for the clarification. I think with the team competition ongoing he would probably sit out the ceremony if he's one of the team. If he's not in the team he might participate, asthma or no asthma. It seems to me that over the years Yuzu has learned how to manage his asthma. I can't remember the last time I saw him gasping for breath at the end of his performance, something that was all too common in his early days. Also, it would be nice if TCC lets the world know if Yuzu will enter with the rest of Team Japan at the opening. His being there might help the ratings.

The Japanese delegation makes the move to PC on 4 February. Will Yuzu travel with it or with TCC (whenever it makes the move)? Also, will Yuzu stay in the Olympic village or in a separate site. Security in the village will be the same for everyone but a separate site will allow TCC to arrange for security appropriate for Yuzu, since his security needs are much higher for him than for the other athletes, perhaps the highest of anyone, since he has the highest public profile of anyone there (that's based on his worldwide coverage, which may be less in the specific countries of his main rivals, although I do think he'll figure in those countries' coverage as being the one to beat for the local favorite). I read somewhere on this thread, although I can't remember when, that he did not stay at the Olympic village at Sochi. I would think that his security needs are much higher this time around as he's far better known than back in 2014. Also I do remember someone stating that Yuzu will not participate in the opening ceremony because of his asthma although at another place somebody said he did participate in Sochi. It would be nice to get some clarification here from somebody on top of the issue. All in all, as the day of reckoning approaches and the athletes start to congregate, it will be interesting to see how the various arrivals are covered. In theory every athlete is a very important person, but nobody can deny that in fact Yuzu is a very, very, very important person. The coverage of his arrival will be huge in comparison to most of the others. Evgenia's will be big but this year the men are very much in the spotlight since it's been some time since we had an Olympics where the men's competition is so deep.

Unless Yuzu tries for a threepeat.

We're getting to the nitty gritty prefacing showtime. I thought I might get something going here by airing my feelings about who are the most formidable rivals to Yuzu (meaning those who actually might win, although that's only if Yuzu stumbles or has not fully recovered his full prowess) and inviting comments (I do consider this general Yuzu chat and not grounds for a new thread). The two biggest threats I think almost everyone will agree are Nathan and Shoma. They both have scored points that exceed former Yuzu records (former records, since only Patrick Chan has ever broken a record Yuzu set, and that was way back in 2013). Nathan might seem the greater threat but one must realize that when he's beaten Shoma this year it was by the narrowest of margins. There is a possibility that Nathan may have peaked too early, as for him this entire season seems to be Nathan at his peak. Almost certainly the American press is putting forth a narrative of a showdown between the American Nathan and the reigning King of Skating, Yuzuru Hanyu. In Japan I imagine there is a lot of buzz over a Yuzu/Shoma showdown. In both those countries the supposed showdowns will probably drive ratings way up, although in Japan if Yuzu is involved the ratings are automatically way up. The outlier of the credible gold medalists is Boyang. He's coming off an injury but proved himself at 4CC. His problem is the perennial one with him - his program is controlled by his jumps. Kurt Browning calls him 'Boing-Boing', which is not too great an exaggeration. There is a possible narrative here, but not with Yuzu, and that is a quad duel between Boyang and Nathan. That, though, will be essentially a sideshow. In any case that finishes off the authentic contenders for gold. Javi and Patrick are essentially outliers. For them gold is probably only possible if Yuzu and the other three have a collective meltdown. Javi is, of course, coming off a very impressive win at Europeans, nailing his sixth straight European title. That probably has him more than ready for PC, but while his quads are acceptable they are not as numerous as the other four and none of the contenders have quads as impressive and GOE-earning as Yuzu when he's skating inspired. Like Johnny Weir said - "It's not the quads, it's the quality of the quads". And, I might add, the quality of everything else. As for Patrick, he's added some jumps but his forte has always been his PCS points. The thing is that Yuzu is a most definite rival there so when push comes to shove if Yuzu is skating more than clean, Patrick doesn't stand a chance. Javi and Patrick, if they skate at their best, do have a shot at a podium position, just not the one with greatest altitude. At one time I thought Mikhail Kolyada had a shot for the gold or at least a podium position, but while he took gold at the Russian nationals, at the GPF and Europeans he only bronzed. I think part of his problem is his FS program, which is done to a medley of Elvis songs. Quite frankly neither his costume nor his clean-cut boy next-door looks match the music and I think some of the judges are put off by the discordance there. As a point for comparison look at Yuzu's Parisian Walkways and Let's Go Crazy. In both those programs Yuzu embodied the music both choreographically and visually. Now, I might be wrong about Mikhail, but that's my feeling here. As one who is old enough to remember the first time Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in the USA (although I've never been an Elvis fan - For me the music I want to listen to has always been classical), I have first-hand knowledge of the Elvis mania that swept the country at that time, a mania that was strengthened when Elvis was drafted and without hesitation he went and served his country, a move that cemented his reputation even amongst those not given to admire his performance content and practice. As I said I might be wrong here but the discordance between Mikhail's looks and his program I think might weigh in the minds of some of the judges. On top of that he's not solid in his jumps and does fall sometimes (although Yuzu is hardly immune there). In summary my feeling is that Shoma and Nathan have the best chance of dethroning Yuzu, with Boyang a possibility there also, but I think that is dependent on Yuzu and the other two having an off day. I will be surprised, however if Boyang doesn't make the podium, as both Nathan and Shoma are inconsistent enough to make for a vacancy there. Patrick and Javi have shots for the podium but gold is very unlikely, for reasons stated above. Mikhail is an outlier even for a podium spot. So that's how I see things. I'm sure there are others of far greater expertise disagreeing so I most definitely would welcome them to the discussion. We're close enough now that discussion of what the results might be is relevant as since the regular season is behind us all the data is there that we need to make predictions. The Joker in the deck, however, is that the star of all these proceeding, one Yuzuru Hanyu, has been out of the public eye for nearly three months. As I said about this situation in an earlier post, Yuzu is essentially beginning a second season. I don't know if that situation has ever occurred before (there is a parallel with Evgenia's situation this season, though, and also with Boyang's much briefer absence, making this very much a season of the walking wounded). For me, the one bit of information I am most anticipating is whether Yuzu will be in the team competition. I do wish they'd hurry up and put that issue to rest.

I think that's the only way he's been practicing in Sendai, at least since Sochi, if not before... or any other time when the rink is closed to the public. But he's been training at night even before moving to Canada, I think. I have no idea how he can/could do that, though lol This brings up an issue that has been nagging me for some time - When will TCC uproot itself and move across the Pacific? They have to be thinking about the very substantial jet lag involved. I would think Brian wants to have those issues well behind before Yuzu and Javi hit the ice to start earning points. My feelings there would have them temporarily relocating in Japan, which is in the same time zone as Korea. Yuzu is the one skater who has real security challenges and I think the authorities in Japan will be more amenable to working with Yuzu's people on security issues than those in PC. As to which rink in Japan to work on I think almost any rink in Japan would want the exposure that Yuzu's presence would create. I wouldn't recommend Sendai, though, as I think having Yuzu training there would be a bit too mentally complicated as it would be so close to 'home'. As to when to finish the journey and head on to PC, I think they might do that once the Olympic Village opens up for the athletes. At least there Yuzu would have the added security that encompasses the village as a whole. However, they might choose to remain in Japan until it's almost time for the competition itself, as in Japan Yuzu might have more ice time available. All this, of course, is contingent on Brian having them settle down in Japan before heading on to PC. As for those overseeing the figure skating, I would hope they have a whole regiment of flower girls and boys on hand because the Poohvalanche there will be one for the record books. After all, there's been accumulating some four competitions worth of Poohs (NHK, GPF, Japanese nationals and 4CC) in need of a Yuzu home. They might actually have to put a blade on a Zamboni to clear the ice. I'm just wondering if there will be enough space behind the board to put all of them until they can be relocated outside the arena.

I really wish people wouldn't keep knocking Phantom. It's my personal favorite of all his programs, the one I felt more than any other merged motion with music. I can see why people might not be comfortable with it because of the association with the collision and what followed, yet I consider his skating in the GPF that year to be his finest ever skate despite the one fall from a failed lutz. What one sees there is an intensity that indicates he is definitely a man on a mission, a man seeking to salvage a disastrous season. Just look at his reaction after the skate in the kiss and cry. I cannot remember any other time he was so overwhelmingly jubilant. He's reacted strongly in many other skates but the degrees of jumping around, turning about and bowing even to those standing up above the kiss and cry, were well above his average reaction. It was quite apparent he felt 'mission accomplished'.

This goes to show just how great a phenomenon Yuzu is. Could any other figure skater have been so popular everywhere that the resources were available to put together a video like this, a video which is obviously professionally done or done by those who have professional-level skills? One of the things which always impresses me is the breadth and strength of Yuzu's fan-base. It's really understandable though once you've really gotten acquainted with him and are aware that he is very much more than a figure-skater, that, in fact, he's a truly great human being, a person who despite all his success and all the fuss that has been made about him remains untouched by arrogance or pettiness and treats everybody with humility and respect. The world would be a much better place if those like Yuzu were easy to find.

My thanks to KatjaThera for correcting my post although I did warn that I was indulging in sheer speculation and I think that was recognized. Going beyond speculation and taking into account the very valuable information (this isn't sarcasm here) provided I do wonder if the jumps Yuzu is including when he and his choreographers are putting together his program are full-out quads and triples or is he just putting in a lesser jump just to see how it would go in the layout. I would think they might be lesser jumps (to reduce the chance of injury during the session) but that's just speculative logic on my part.

I don‘t know...keep thinking about it for hours now. There IS a difference, a very important one, I just can‘t put it into words? Nathan enters a competition. Yuzu enters a competition and an artistic performance. I am sure of it. It speaks in every move. It is about sports, okay, but it is also about skating as an art form. If you look closely you'll see that Yuzu is far more relaxed than Nathan. I think it's probably a product of the fact that Yuzu's programs are choreographed to allow him to move in ways that are totally comfortable. His ability to achieve top speed with minimal effort is almost legendary, and I think that allows him to concentrate his energies on the moves (jumps and spins primarily) that require an expenditure of effort. Carol Lane once commented that Yuzu expends no unnecessary energy. I think that's apparent in this little snippet. Why this is might be a product of his problems with asthma. I'm sure all of us know of those times in his early years when Yuzu after a skate has sometimes been on all fours on the ice trying to recover his breath. Those times seem quite ancient now and I feel that Yuzu on top of probably having engaged in all kinds of aerobic exercise to improve his stamina also makes sure that the programs he skates are designed so that there will be no gasping for breath once the music stops and he takes his bows. In order to accomplish that Yuzu and his choreographers have designed his routines to give him pauses during the skate to recover his breath (not a strategy that is unique to his team but done with a keen awareness of the dangers if he is starved for oxygen, which is probably an element only his team has to take into account), and I would not be surprised if they've taken advantage of these pauses to put in all the nice little gambits that give his skates the artistic touches that rake in the PCS points. It's a clever way of killing two birds with one stone. I think the other thing, not necessarily apparent in this little four second vid, and this is sheer speculation on my part, is that Yuzu's routines are plotted out in some detail before they contemplate when the jumps will come. They'll have a general idea of the sequence of the jumps but where they will be specifically in the program is only vaguely known and it's when the other stuff is pretty well set up that they insert the jumps. It's been remarked that Yuzu rarely telegraphs when a jump is approaching and again that is probably a result of the fact that the jumps are inserted in the program and the program is not built up around the jumps as I'm certain is the case with Nathan and many of the other skaters. All of this, of course, the choreographers can do because they realize that with Yuzu's ability to enter jumps with virtually no preparation they can, indeed, arrange things so that they provide maximum comfort and maximum artistic effect.