Sombreuil

You have to be very careful with technology- you never know where it will end. The cautious limited use of slo mo replay demonstrates that the ISU is committed to careful and judicious introduction of technology at the pace of a glacier so as not to startle the dinosaurs. We're lucky that they allow CDs - I bet some of them would prefer a gramophone - or perhaps a string quartet.

I am home nursing a stomach bug and watching old documentaries to amuse myself and take my mind off the cramps. I've just watched the pre Sochi ones - I've never been a fan of Patrick's - I find his skating a bit soporific if I'm honest, it's lovely skating, but it lulls you off to sleep quite fast. However, I've sort of warmed a bit to him as the underdog uncle the last few seasons - I had forgotten how badly he came across in pcs and interviews as reigning 3x world champion. Ungracious in victory and defeat - I remember now why I disliked him when he was a bumptious 22 year old and it wasn't the skating it was the arrogance. Since there doesn't seem to be a thread for R&J2 I'd also like to comment on what a pity it was that Yuzuru didn't have the stamina for it at that stage in his career. I like the UA version that @Fresca highlighted above , and as the clips showed bits of other competitions where he landed both quads, between the two you can see what DW was aiming for. Also I am an unrepentant fan of the costume - haven't looked at it for a while, but it was sooo pretty especially the detail on the waist and sleeves.

I can't see Eteri being particularly sensitive to parents requirements/feelings.

I have no idea what he will pick - I would love a Yoshida Brothers fan programme - maybe as an ex so he could use an actual fan instead of relying on the doubtful imagination of a judging body. I would love a Bowie programme - Starman ? S it forbidden for a man to use a female voice? Because if not someone like Sade or Amy winehouse

@Ceruniasthis was the link I think. In any event, even if it wasn't part of his course I'm sure the university would be happy to help such an illustrious student, and he's far too intelligent to use some dubious internet source when he has the resources of Waseda to draw upon.

Let me be brutal - I think he knows he has the rest of his life to visit those places/ go to a game etcetc but only a few years in which he can do what he hopes to on the ice in competition. So he's focused on that and at 23 I'd say it's his choice.

We all hope he's genuinely content. But it isn't our business to make sure that it is so. Do you think that on top of everyone watching his every move on the ice, in press conferences, CMs, interviews, charity events etc etc he really needs/ wants his fans to start querying how he spends his leisure time - it's not our business.

It isn't compulsory to do these social things and if he doesn't choose to, why should he? Everyone I know in their early 20s does exactly what they enjoy, from the hermit to the social butterfly with no space in their schedule. I really don't see why he should give up any details at all about how he likes to relax and I certainly don't think the bits he does let out should be the focus for fans to 'encourage ' him to sightsee or go to games or do any 'social' thing unless he wants to. He has his own life - he knows how he wants to spend his downtime. Let him have it.

Mmmm - but if he's the type I know, even a fan of a sport, who is seriously depressed when they lose, quite often doesn't use his season ticket because something else has caught their attention - happy enough to watch on tv ( luckily the tickets in question have a resale value)

That is extremely depressing

I'm sure if he wanted to go someone would arrange it for him - the fact that he doesn't do these things when others would suggests to me that he's really not interested. He seems to like all the things that keep one of my sons at home all the time, emerging only to work, eat out with a favoured few friends, and attend family occasions where there's a three line whip. Some people are like that.

I find the professional relationship Yuzuru has with his coaches more understandable than this notion that the coach is there as a second parent - we saw how that can go with Eteri and Zhenya. I don't think there's any doubt that Orser and Javier were a lot closer than O is with Yuzuru, but Y doesn't need that sort of closeness - he has family with him. O is reduced to talking about Y in the same cliched terms all the time because he doesn't know him that well outside the rink - he's private, he's studious, he's family oriented, and he's very focused on his skating. J is a typical laddish European bloke who likes football, beer and socialising, (and to my eye hasn't loved skating much the last two seasons) which btw is an equally cliched way for O to talk about him. The bottom line is that there's a greater cultural divide between Canada and Japan than between Canada and Spain. Things went badly wrong at Boston, both sides could have handled that better. I hope they've ironed out their communication problems, and the way the team handled the Olympics was a tour de force. I agree that the impression we're getting at the moment is unfortunate but as long as Y is happy with the way his training is handled I don't think new people will affect him. NB the informe Robinson programme was a puff piece for Javier on Spanish tv so was bound to be the way it was - I admit I could have done without the little moue of disapproval with which B described Y as 'a little too intense' but his record speaks for itself.

I like it - but I hope they're planning on spending a little money on someone to put it together properly for however many minutes -not just a crude mash up like last season....

Is there a place for skating instructions? 'Ton ton ton' - ' shu paa ' etc?

This made me think of the footballers trophy shirts rooms you see on tv sometimes- shirts from important games stored in climate controlled conditions etc etc - made me snigger. Frankly I'd rather he used a warhorse that suited him than something like Elvis that really didn't - but hopefully he will find something in all the unused classical repertoire that will work for him. His SP worked so much better than the FS last season.

Bottom line is that he could jump in a number of directions - ATM he seems to be keen on 4A and continuing to compete, but injury or discovering some new big interest and who knows what he might do. I think he loves to skate and to compete and for the time being that's what he'll do. I don't think he would derive the same satisfaction from shows the way Nobu seems to.

I'm probably wrong about this but I tend to see the bielmann as an indicator of how well he's feeling - 2014/15 when he had so many health problems you could see it being dropped when things were bad and back when he felt better.

But that assumes that the judges will keep faith with their duty to all fans, skaters and coaches by applying the rules, all of them, without mercy or favouritism to all competitors equally. They didn't do it before this revamp and I see nothing to suggest a change of heart or of personnel that would make the application of this set any different from before apart from ambiguous wording that makes their decisions even more opaque than they were before.

They aren't aiming for 'transparency ' ( how much do I hate this use of that word- let me count-). They're looking for a complex system to be interpreted by the judges they appoint via th various Feds. I don't think I need to elaborate on what I think of that idea.

Maybe AI judge is the answer - they're hoping to introduce it in Tokyo 2020 for gymnastics.

It'll be like 'quality' crossovers - quality URs and quality wrong edges and the judges will know them when they see them........

I am effectively innumerate and even I can see it. As for the rest of this ridiculous essay in surreal rule writing - to quote Mr Orser 'I have no words ' - and not in the way he used the phrase. Monty Python would be proud - maybe John Cleese would like to record it - it needs his brand of disbelieving fury to get the absurdity across - perhaps as a voice over to a compilation of some of the choicest bits of certain skaters work from the last few seasons. One consolation - Mr Hanyu wants 4A for its own sake, I don't say he won't care but it won't stop him.

Apologies - didn't mean to sound snappy - penalty of sending off a reply in a hurry. The point I really meant to make is that those combos are a bit like Uchimura using the triple dismount from HB - he does it for fun/ experiment/ testing the limits in practice, but rarely in actual competition unless he is sufficiently far ahead that an error won't matter. Yuzuru YOLOs when he needs to - Uchimura when it's safe to up until now. I hope his third place in the recent competition will free him up to try things- the team is a real and very important thing with gymnastics instead of a fun/ Olympic anomaly as it is with skating, and he has been team Japan's anchorman for so many seasons.

Epke is flashy and reckless - he either manages to hammer the difficulty marks and just manages to stay on the bar or crashes spectacularly. His execution is incredibly sloppy, bent arms, flailing legs, no finesse. If you're going to compare Yuzuru to a gymnast you don't need to go beyond Japan.