Henni147

If there's one thing that I learned from Yuzu, it's to keep my promises. So here is the promised summary thread

I finally completed my series of top 4 Yuzu programs across the five program components. I share the last two threads about skating skills and composition here too: There will be a final summary thread with some comments later, but I got tired, so I will stop the work for today. I hope you like it anyways

Ups. LOL

Hi everyone! I had to spend the last week mostly in bed due to a bad flu (no covid but it was still exhausting). I took the time to rewatch all of Yuzu's past programs and honestly, it's still the greatest joy and happiness for me. Always. No matter how bad I feel, his skating just lights up my mood and gives me fresh energy everytime. I decided to recap his past performances and create my personal Top 4 lists in the five different program components. It's not necessarily the four best programs he has ever skated, but it's the four programs that come to my mind first when I think about that specific component. I share the first three recap threads here too that I've posted so far: I try to compile the threads for skating skills and composition tomorrow. I hope you like the recaps so far PS: I'm sorry that the tweet about the Haru yo koi spin got deleted, but you probably know to which spin I refer

Added! Thank you very much for sharing!

This is a bit OT, but I feel the need to share my opinion about this: My general conviction is: you do not need to be a former competitive athlete of the respective sport to be a good judge if the rules and guidelines are precise and clear. In snooker for example most of the referees have never played competitively themselves, but are 100% reliable, professional and highly respected in their job. They know the full set of rules, are familiar and trained with the use of the Hawk Eye and other modern measurement tools and have loads of experience. In figure skating, you do not need to be able to perform a quad jump yourself to judge the quality of a quad. You have the GOE bullets, the IceScope data and other quads for reference. That must be enough to determine the correct GOE. These are the mandatory requirements for proper figure skating judging: know the full set of rules (TP handbook, GOE scoring guidelines, scale of values, program component chart and the deduction table) be able to recognize and distinguish all elements, steps and turns in realtime update youself about latest FS data as reference numbers/base lines (i.e. average jump height or number of crossovers in a SP) know all types of classical, standard, latin and modern dance styles with their full set of rules for steps and posture (ideally study folk dances too) have a basic education in music theory (especially time signatures and musical phrasing) have a very good feeling for musical timing/rhythm, tone length, tempo, volume/intensity and melody All these skills and knowledge can and must be tested regularly by the ISU with theory exams and practical exercises. If a judge can't distinguish a stationary lift from a pair spin, doesn't know the scoring guidelines for a 2-footed jump landing or totally messes up the clapping to a simple rhythm... this judge better shouldn't sit on the panel. You may laugh about the latter, but really: a judge who has 0 feeling for musical timing or rhythm, shouldn't judge my precision of the musical translation.

Brilliant By the way: here is the context and full video This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

I agree with everyone to spread more positivity here again, so I'd like to drop a funny story. Phil Lester from BBC radio 1 randomly mentioned Yuzu in this clip here: That "old painting" to which Phil refers here is "The Skating Minister" from 1795. It shows Reverend Robert Walker, a member of the Edinburgh Skating Club, the first official skating club in the world. He skates on a frozen lake called Duddingston Loch in Scotland: The picture is attributed to Sir Henry Raeburn who served as a portrait painter for King George IV of Scotland in the 18th century. It's a very famous painting, as it's one of the oldest historical figure skating illustrations in the world. I know this picture so well, because I scanned its review for featured picture status on Wiki Commons two months ago. It got featured on the Wiki mainpage on January 25 this year. That's why I had to grin when Phil said they should replace it by a picture with Yuzu

The thing is: Patrick never pretended to be besties with Yuzu and that's okay. They were rivals, Patrick was salty and didn't make a secret of that. He actually even had some positive character development since then. And I strongly prefer honest rivals with stupid takes over wrong friends. Footnote: I still hope that this is all just some bad misunderstanding, but a part of me is also realistic.

I agree with all this, but what really hit me about this particular commentary is that he basically exposed Yuzu to more potential harassment and reputational damage, questioning his class and integrity as an athlete. This is more than just some jealousy among competitors. This is really cruel if you think about it.

I just wanted to share this too, but didn't know how to post it in a way that it doesn't kill the mood.

To light up the mood: Yuzu's Stockholm LMEY is about to reach 3 million views!

It's true that TenChi is a program where he's reflecting on the first half of his life. But that doesn't necessarily mean a goodbye. It only means that it's time to look back, learn from your past experiences and utilize them for the next chapter of your career/life. If got him right yesterday, he's not really done with skating yet. He doesn't even rule out another Olympics and thinks about creating new programs. I think, this is a very good sign. Nothing, not even the insane amount of injustice and misfortune that happened to him the last years, could break his unconditional love for skating. I am aware that every career will come to an end once, but I don't think it will be now. His journey is not over yet.

My deepest condolences for your loss. I know this situation too well. I lost both grandparents and my aunt in the last 3 years. Yuzu's skating helped me to find some comfort and get through that tough time. This is immeasurable in points and I hope that he knows this.

[NEWS] Footnote: Usually, I don't like sharing stuff from JackG, but this time he really outdid himself with this article. I'm actually close to tears that they managed to find someone who's still alive, knew Grafström in person and is now rooting for Yuzu to succeed.

You will not believe it, but I had to add this article as a citation source on Yuzu's wiki achievement page, because it's the first and only news article I've seen that mentions Yuzu's tie with Jan Hoffmann of 7 world medals in the post-war era. I'm almost temped to believe that Hersh truly scrolled through these wiki tables Even better: This was my 500th edit and has finally enabled my access to the "Wikipedia Library" key including all online newspaper articles behind a paywall!! This is so awesome. Didn't know that Wikipedia has this global license.

I got Otonal

Drop this here too, because one can never get enough of the snake quad Salchow-sama

To be honest - of all articles by Nick this one here is still the most factual and hasn't mentioned the rivalry between Yuzu and Nathan in a single sentence, just Nate being listed among other medal contenders. I think, that's absolutely fine. I'm tired of mocking journalists for every single sentence they write, especially if it's okay in the content. I decided to even praise Nick a bit, so that he's is less tempted to write sh*t about Yuzu during Beijing. I know that being nice is no guarantee for good articles in the future, but bashing him surely won't help either.

Yes. I also read nonsense like Jason being Asian-American, and many pages are still half-empty. Honestly, these are not just some innocent mistakes anymore, but downright insulting misinformation about many athletes. This is the official page of the Olympics, not some cheap gossip website. This lack of fact-checking shows that they have 0 respect for their competitors. Professionals would have made sure that the pages are all complete and monitored by December and just update recent changes if needed. Different topic: Mainichi Shimbun has published a series about Yuzu's road to Beijing in 4 chapters. The first two have been published already, the rest will follow on Feb 2.

Turkish sports news knows what's up: This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

EDIT I think, Yuzu is one of those rare skaters who truly isn't a point hunter, especially since the 20-21 season. But you're right. The term "minimalists" would probably fit better. I'm talking about skaters who do the bare minimum to collect all the points, but do nothing beyond that to enrich and complete the program. Those skaters who don't take any risks like difficult entries, minimize the number of crossovers or perform elements that have a much lower BV/GOE range than what they deserve for their difficulty. In the current system, the ideal FS layout to maximize your points is the following: 4 big solo jumps in the 1st half to get the high GOE 3 big combos in the 2nd half to max out the 10% bonus (consisting of a big and a small jump so that you don't waste any GOE) Elements that absolutely don't pay off in terms of points despite a high difficulty: 1. any kind of Axel sequence (waste of BV and GOE) 2. quad-quad combos (waste of GOE) Elements where the points don't reflect the true level of difficulty: 1. Jump combos with change of rotation direction (3Lz+3Lz) or inside edge landing (3Lzi+3F) 2. quad Axel and quad loop 3. jumps with +1m height and +4m distance 4. jumps with a more difficult entry than a spread eagle 5. jumps with a longer one-foot-exit than 1 second 6. step sequences with more than 11 difficult steps and turns or more than two 1ft-clusters 7. spins with more than the required number of revolutions or position changes

Personally, I'm not happy with using the terms "technician" and "artist" athlete. Like Yuzu said himself: A solid technique is the foundation of artistry and these two are unseparable. I would rather distinguish between the "point hunters" who only care about stuff that gets rewarded on the scoresheet. And the "full-package skaters" who also invest in skills that don't pay off numerically, but complete the program and raise its ideal value. Another possible distinction is between skaters who only focus on skating-related aspects (jumps, steps and spins) and those who also pay attention to the logical composition of the program, the precise translation of the music to movement and the projection, dancing and acting skills, which all have a complex technical foundation as well.

I'm always baffled when people ask why he can't backload the combo or jump a 4Lo instead of the 4S or a 3Lz instead of the 3Lo in the freeskate. In a program with a taylor-made choreography you cannot just replace and throw around the elements the way you like. Every jump has an individual entry, take-off character, air-time and exit that has to match the music in timing, rhythm, tempo, timbre and other aspects. What works perfectly with a 3A, will probably be a total mess with a 4S or 4F which have a completely different entry rhythm and air-time than an Axel jump. That's why Ten to Chi to has so little room for layout changes. The success of the program stands and falls with the musical flow and you will not find a jump layout that fits this program better than the current one. Also, if you look carefully at the different versions of Ballade No. 1, the backloading of the combo required a complete rearrangement of the choreography between the opening 4S and the step sequence. It was impossible to just switch the positions of the 3A and 4T+3T, because it wouldn't have worked with the music at all. Footnote: Of course, in many current programs you can play around with your layout without any issues, because there is hardly any connection with the music anyway.

Belinda truly seems to be our pillar of reliability. She liked this awesome fan analysis: Her commentary to Rondo is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most in Beijing. Now even more than before