Sombreuil

I know how they feel - remember that polite, slightly disbelieving expression on his face in Marseilles last year?

The 'no regrets' is the important thing

I'm drawing attention to a thread started by Yata in Igloo World called Creating a Community. I love the response you're giving to whoever was trying to stir up some trouble over SUs response to a media question- no rabid fanyu mass attack, just a measured calm reasonable reaction - it makes me think that the vision set out in that other thread is entirely possible, which is very comforting to me.

I'm posting here in response to a number of posts in the general thread about being fans of other skaters as well as YH. There are some people here who are fans of Yuzuru and only of him but there are also a lot like me who have come back to skating after a while due to him and have rediscovered their interest. There are others who are finding the sport because of him. Suddenly I am watching the JGP, following pairs as well as singles, etc etc and I don't think I am the only one. This is only possible because the atmosphere here is live and let live. I don't think Yuzuru will necessarily retire soon even if he wins at PC but even if he did I would like to think that this planet would continue to follow other skaters ( and ex skaters!) and carry on being a place where people can be FS fans without the unpleasantness that characterises a lot of other places on the internet. I know that there are some who are here only for him but the conversation on the main thread today, which has failed to rise to the internet bait about the response of another skater to media queries about Yuzuru's injury, and instead of responding with an avalanche of criticism of the skater in question ( as I'm sure the original twitter was hoping and may have succeeded in provoking elsewhere) has made the point that though he is our favourite by a long way we can still appreciate and be supportive of others and enjoy competitions. This encourages me to think that Yatas vision is possible.

It depends how medical faculties work in the US. In the UK it's a full on full time course with very little room for manoeuvre. On the other hand Epke Zonderland in the Netherlands managed to be a world champion on the high bar whilst studying medicine, though I'm not sure he could have successfully trained for the AA and still managed. I believe they do a pre med course in the US- that might be manageable part time, but one of my children is a medical student and there's no time for even a part time job by 3rd year- it's hard to manage one in 2nd year. The early years are a massive info dump and then you're in the hospitals and clinics getting a different kind of info dump. It is also necessary to maintain marks of 50%+ in all subjects. Hard to see how it could fit in with a skating career.

And mine - with variations on the same blasted injury

Which I can't see Yuzuru being willing to do - fewer quads yes possibly, but always with difficult transitions

Who to believe - Kyodo news or Iron Klaus? Reserving any relief until .... well I'm not sure, possibly until Japanese Nationals or beyond.

@wombat-poodle Well this ligament problem is one of those 'how long is a piece of string ' things - could be anything from relatively minor to disastrous . He could be fine in 6 weeks, he could be borderline, he could be still having problems. Borderline would be difficult to call

I can't imagine anyone being able to stop him competing if he's well enough.

just done my predictions- might have jinxed him

I always get nervy about everything but ice dance. Here I've got the man himself, Miyahara and Sui and Han to fret over.

I'm not doing as badly as I thought- reminds me of a group trip to the Grand National meeting years ago, where there were two of us who went through the race card alternating between jockeys colours and names we liked, fuelled with a few glasses of champagne, and made a killing on the Tote, having a whale of a time, while the majority of our party taking it seriously with their Racing Posts, and guides to the turf and using the 'real' bookies on the rails had a dismal time and lost a packet!

Tried several times to post in that thread but it won't work. I'm sure it will get sorted soon but that's the current situation

Still can't get to the home page but I'm sure you're doing what you can

Me neither

We talked about it in one of the competition threads but both Tessa Virtue and Gabriella Papadakis have truly awful SP costumes this season - what is it that causes taste to fly out of the window the minute a Latin American rhythm comes out of the speakers?

The problem of what training and isolation from ones peers can do to body and mind goes across all sports and a lot of arts training. We can all draw the parallels physically with dance/gymnastics etc but thinking of the isolation issues, my children went to a school that supplied the choristers for the local cathedral- relatively unusually one of them became friends with a chorister and was horrified at the commitment required - practices before and after school, Sunday services, tours abroad during school holidays- not much time for ordinary family and friends interaction, and built in redundancy when that prized boy soprano voice broke.

I find East Asian competitions easier to manage oddly enough - early to late morning can be scheduled in relatively easily a lot of the time. And an overactive kitten trying to catch the skater/gymnast on the screen is a lot easier to cope with than a lot of fatuous questions from the family!

I will be staying with relatives next weekend but there will be wi fi and my iPad. Last year oddly enough I was at the same house for NHK and their kitten very much enjoyed 6am skating sessions on the iPad - he was exhausted by the time everyone else woke up.

Thank you - they were truly worthy

Maybe he needs a Spanish food firm to provide him with catering for competitions a la Ajinomoto victory meal!

I really liked his jumping too in the warm up. More irritation with BESP commentators who blathered on about his lack of form last year with no mention of the fact he'd had surgery

LMAO - I hope someone puts this to him !

I think his motivation is internal- which (besides being well brought up and a nice person) is why he berates himself when he loses instead of having a go at the opposition. I am sorry Patrick has withdrawn - I liked him better last season than I have ever done before - pre Sochi his behaviour was a bit smug, and chanflation was a real thing which he seemed to accept as his due. Last season he wasn't being snide in press conferences - his comments about quads didn't seem to me to be the snippy sort of comments he used to make but more of a senior concerned about changes. It's just my opinion for what it's worth. Perhaps he's just fed up with the whole business - time to go and sit by a vineyard once he's done his duty in PC?