Henni147

I know, what terrible things happened to her and I condemn this anti behavior strongly. It's the judges and only the judges who should have been criticized for the scores and calls they gave. Zhenya didn't deserve anything of the cruel hate she received. It's the same with Sotnikova and Nathan and many other skaters who suffered terrible shitstorm waves from haters, while just working hard and doing their best. BUT: You clearly have to distinguish between vicious haters, who attack you as a person, and people who simply criticize your technical flaws to point out the issues in the judging system. I have the feeling that this distinction between haters and critics doesn't happen in many cases. What annoyed me about Brian's comment so much is that he threw Lutz edges, costumes and hairstyles in the same pot. Costume debates are something completely subjective and up to your personal taste. A technical flaw is not subjective and shouldn't be treated like that. This is exactly the reason why so many people question figure skating as an Olympic sport. Working hard is not a GOE bullet. All skaters work hard. What they deserve are scores that reflect their skating abilities properly. However, if my criticism was inappropriate, I apologize. This is just my honest opinion. @Fay Thank you very much for your translation work!

Sigh, Brian... With this comment he probably fueled the hate against Zhenya even more... Of course, you can't blame Zhenya for her technique and especially not attack her as a person. She tries her best and doesn't deserve the hate she gets. Full stop. But figure skating is a sport, not a charity event. Fans fight a never ending battle for more integrity, objectivity and fairness in the judging system, while Brian downplays the whole situation by comparing technical flaws with costumes and hairstyles. I want to scream right now. What exactly expects Brian from us fans now? To overlook and accept selective edge calls from now on? To stay silent and watch how real Lutzes are on the verge of extinction? Yes, I might not be able to jump a proper Lutz myself, but there ARE skaters out there who CAN do it exceptionally well and wait for the reward they don't get... one of them is your own student, Brian. This one comment really annoys me, because I share Brian's opinion and philosophy as a coach in so many aspects, especially about longevity and personality in figure skating. I also appreciate the communication with parents and the protection of his students from social media.

Aye. Patrick was considered as the God of skating skills, Javi a master of performance and iconic programs and Nathan the Quad King. Three completely different strengths and Yuzu managed to beat them all on the biggest stage: the Olympics. This underlines Yuzu's complete package. If his biggest rival was an excellent spinner or a genius in transition work, Yuzu could compete with that, too. He has no weaknesses really but top quality in all departments and that puts him above the rest.

Same thought Well. Ballade wins the prize for most performances, most world records, most clean skates, most costume changes and most recyclings. That clearly qualifies it as the ultimate final boss. Frederic would be proud. Random thought: how many skaters have 32 different programs to set up a popularity contest with five k.o. rounds? That much about Yuzu and recycling.

I honestly thought that the shortening to 4:00 would affect Yuzu the least, since his jumps need the least preparation which leads to more room for actual choreography. But I didn't count in three factors: Some skaters with quads could reduce their choreo to a minimum without being punished at all (even rewarded). That gave them an enormous advantage. Because of that Yuzu had to up his number of quads to stay competitive. In Barcelona he had 3 quads in 8 jumping passes with additional 30 seconds to recover. In Torino he had 5 quads in 7 jumping passes and zero breathing room. However, Yuzu refused to lower the overall quality of his free programs. He rather goes through the wringer now and does 3 jump elements in 20 seconds than dropping any part of Seimei's choreo. That makes things extra hard of course... Retrospectively I have to say that all three performances of Origin in Saitama, Kelowna and Torino were little miracles, considering the packed layout, huge tempo and dense choreographic content around it. I don't think that any other skater would survive the first 30 seconds of Origin (some might lose their balance in the starting pose already). Not to mention the rest. Seimei will be just as hard with all the breathing rooms cut off. But it's Yuzuru Mr Impossible Hanyu, we're talking about...

I just realized something really promising!! 19/20 is Yuzu's season of breaking all types of ancient curses, aye? Skate Canada curse, 4CC curse, injury at second GP curse... Well, there is one curse left... Yuzu never managed to skate two clean programs at Worlds so far... Now guess, what that means... #Footnote: There's a three years gap between 2014, 2017 and 2020... We know very well, what happened in '14 and '17... I wouldn't mind, if the series continued...

I have to share a little home story from today. I was working on a scientific survey about math homework, when I suddenly heard a familiar sound... Parisienne Walkways. I couldn't resist to look where it came from. In the living room my mom started a +2hours long playlist of Yuzu programs and we watched it together. Best way to finish a long day of work

Yuzu skating to the ultimate ISU Award Blues 2020 Some people live for the fortune. Some people live just for the fame. Some people live for the power, yeah. Some people live just to play the game. Some people think that the physical things define what's within. And they will host the show and present the awards So full of the superficial... Some people want it all. But I don't want nothing at all, If I'm not judged fairly, If I ain't got my gold, baby. Some people want tiny rinks. Some just want everything. But everything means nothing, If I ain't got you, Nessie.

Thanks for the detailed information! Well, that explains many things...

That's my thought, too... Let's say, ISU really managed to invite Justin Bieber or some other Canadian celebrity to the show. Some fangirls of Bieber might watch the awards because of him, but they won't become fans of the sport because of him. #Footnote: They might become fanyus, if Yuzu made a special collab with Justin to 'Somebody to love', but that's another story About the ISU YouTube Channel: I really hate the current thumbnails of the videos. Everything looks the same... plain text only. Even for me as a fan of figure skating it's rather distracting than appealing. It's annoying to have figure skating, speed skating and short track on the same channel (for me at least). If you want to rewatch Skate Canada for example, you have to scroll down for ages to find what you're looking for. As a long-time fan I have my own sources and search techniques by now, but how do you want to introduce new fans to figure skating, if the popular clips are nowhere featured but get lost in the mass of new uploads? I don't know, how things work with regional restrictions. Does it only affect the livestreams or the normal video uploads, too? I'm always surprised that some fancams or broadcast uploads on private channels have higher view numbers than the official clips of the ISU channel If it's really the geoblocking that prevents Yuzu clips from reaching +1M views, well then it's really... stupid.

I feel the same about H&L. His performance in Seoul radiated so much strength and passion but freedom and lightness at the same time. For me - from a pure performance perspective - it even surpassed Helsinki despite the little spin wobble at the end. It's the same with Seimei at MOI. It was just otherworldly - especially with the epic backward crossrolls. I can't help, but Seimei feels somehow incomplete without them. Imo it's an integral part of the choreo, the atmosphere and the whole body language of Seimei. The scores and results don't reflect this at all, but in my humble opinion Yuzu's skating qualities and performance abilities reached another level since PyeongChang. He was incredible back then already, but now he's even better. This kind of continuous balanced development in all aspects is what makes Yuzu extra special for me. After 10 senior seasons there's still progression and not only a little, but a lot. I celebrate this so much.

Honestly speaking. This season has inofficially ended for me with the great men's event at the 4CC in Seoul. I could watch and enjoy it without thinking about scores and bias and unfairness too much. For me THAT was figure skating. These kind of high quality events made me fall in love with this sport during the Yuzu/Javi cycle. Especially the short program reminded me of the good old days in Barcelona 2015, Helsinki 2017 and PyeongChang 2018, where the overall quality of the event was stellar. I don't have any hope or expectation for Montreal. As long as Yuzu gets the performances he wants and is happy with his personal achievements, I'm happy as well. Numbers don't mean anything in this system anyway. It's the magic moments that people will rewatch and remember for generations. That's my attitude at the moment.

This is a bit OT, but I can share some special personal experiences with flags and anthems: I think, Yuzu treats this topic in a smart way and I hope that he doesn't change his view and rituals because of inappropriate accusations like this.

An incredibly rare species of a quad jump that must be protected from extinction. It's too beautiful to disappear from the landscape of figure skating.

I cannot imagine that they are THIS dumb to exclude Yuzu from the show. As much as they wish him to hell, they know that in Yuzu's absence they will have empty seats. Fanyus (who probably bought 2/3 of the tickets) won't stay to watch Stojko and this clownery of an award show. I bet my salary that Yuzu is a lock for this show, no matter what he does in competition. If he doesn't win, he still gets invited as an award winner and special guest or sth. I'm absolutely not happy about this situation, but that's how it will be.

I think, the time has finally come to nominate Yuzuru Hanyu's triple Axel as a UNESCO World Heritage.

Recently I read so many comments like: 'Why are fanyus whining again? 3.66 GOE for a 3A is nearly perfect. Only +4s and +5s. He is not underscored at all'. I think, there are currently three big issues that casual viewers don't see (or don't want to see): 1. Giving +4s instead of +5s for a single element is numerically not a big deal, indeed. However, for 7 elements in the short and 12 in the free these little differences multiply very quickly and the skater ends up with 5-10 points less than he or she actually deserves. I also can't hear the argument anymore that it doesn't change anything in the placements. As long as world records, personal and season's bests are officially recorded, every single point on the scoresheet counts. 2. Giving +4s to Yuzu's elements wouldn't be that problematic, if some other skaters didn't receive multiple +5s and other candies with much lower quality. But they do and that devaluates Yuzu's quality elements. 3. In case of Yuzu's 3A it's not only a question of raw points. I think, this is about honoring an iconic element and making a statement. +5s across the board would send the message to the skating world: Yes. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the standard for a perfect 3A and a perfect technical element in general. If you want a +5, you have to level or top this. By giving +4s to Yuzu's 3A the judges make the clear statement that this jump is not their standard (anymore). Just to put things into perspective: Between 2015 and 2018 in the short program Yuzu received the maximum 3.00 GOE for his triple Axel 8 times in 15 attempts. 2.00 was the lowest GOE he got in these 3 years for his Axel in any SP (average GOE: 2.77). Since the introduction of the new +/-5 system he received the maximum 4.00 GOE only once in 10 short programs. This tells a lot about the new system and Yuzu's popularity among the judges.

I just want to say 'Thank You!' to the Planet Reading and writing here with fellow fanyus is so healing. So many thoughtful, creative and encouraging posts. Such a nice and friendly atmosphere, too. I don't have to worry about my blood pressure (very important). On other platforms I always want to put on my armour, take out my sword and shield and fight everyone who writes stupid stuff about Yuzu I can't help, but I have such strong protective feelings for this adorkable super hero who can fly... aye?

The other thing is: we have more than enough sports, where men can play with their muscles and power and punch each other. Figure skating is one of the VERY few remaining sports, where men have the possibility to show their elegance, grace and artistic qualities. Please, don't take this room away from them, especially if thousands and millions of skating fans want to see and celebrate exactly that. The demand is huge. It's so narrow-minded to think that the only form of strength is raw power. Real strength is, when you believe in yourself and your values. When you don't betray yourself to appeal to others or satisfy old stereotypes. When you're not ashamed of your emotions and weaknesses but turn them into something that reaches people's heart. That's why Yuzu is the strongest of them all.

https://www.outsports.com/platform/amp/2009/5/15/4047820/elvis-stojko-i-dont-hate-gays?__twitter_impression=true This comment from Stojko (2009) is wow. Just wow. I put this in spoilers, because it's a bit off-topic: I really hope that Yuzu doesn't have to waste more time on this clownery of an award show than absolutely necessary. I really feel with him already...

Imagine how all these super 'masculine' men probably feel... Thousands and millions of ladies of every age group, nationality and cultural background pray day and night for the health, success and wellbeing of a 25 old adorkable Japanese man, who loves sparkles, feathers and Pooh-plushies. They buy every single magazine, DVD, clearfile and product with his face. They spend hundreds of dollars and travel around the globe to watch his competitions and line up for hours in the cold outside to watch his practice sessions... Gosh, these blokes must explode innerly that their muscles and testosterone don't interest anyone

Thank you so much for your hard work! I'm not an expert of figure skating either, but I agree with many things you mentioned. Regarding the rotation speed I'd like to add one aspect: I've noticed that Nathan and Boyang pull their arms very tight and cross them in front of their chest, while Yuzu's elbows stick out to the side a bit, so his radius and momentum of inertia is a bit bigger and he needs more force to increase his rotation speed (I don't know how big that effect is, though). Some time ago I shared a paper about the biomechanics of the triple Axel in the general chat. That could be a very interesting read for you: By the way: I can 100% understand your worries regarding analytical posts like this. When I was new to figure skating myself in 2017, I wrote down my thoughts about Yuzu's Lutz and the result was that many fans blocked me on Twitter. It shattered my fan heart into pieces, but I loved Yuzu and his skating too much to give up on him and the community. Today - honestly - I don't regret it. I think that an analysis like yours is very valuable. It might turn out be wrong, but you never know. It might be the key to success for Yuzu (if he's truly lurking here). With a different viewpoint you might see things that athletes, coaches and experts don't see (in a positive way). People wanted to bury Galileo Galilei for his theory of a heliocentric system, but in the end it turned out to be true, aye?

It's funny, right? Yuzuru Hanyu is too good. We have to stop him. Alina Zagitova is backloading too much. We have to stop her. Papadakis and Cizeron receive too many 10s. We have to stop them. ISU is acting like a desperate kindergarden teacher, who completely lost control over her group of super talents.

Exactly this Only correction: The point of a jump is to do it in the air, otherwise it's a ©marked jump and only Yuzuru Hanyu has the authority to bring that troll in competition.

I think Yuzu would rather follow in the footsteps of Dick Button. He knows 100% what's going on in the sport, he has the authority to criticise the system and the strong personality to speak out the truth. Unadorned and honest. He would never feed some made-up narratives but stay true to his values and his image of ideal skating. Just like he does today as a competitor