memae

Didn't he also say something recently about a 4A? When in the WC19 press conference Nathan himself was like nope,nope,nope let's leave that one for Yuzu. I think a lot of what Raf says is done strategically.

Yeah, she's pretty blunt and Twitter isn't the greatest platform for being careful with nuance of meaning. I found the way she said it to be a very matter-of-fact statement rather than an opinion. I mean, you could take it as an opinion and go ahead and compare panels but you're just going to come to the same conclusion that underscores her statement that panels can't be compared: they're too inconsistent. Personally, I think she is going to be a great tech controller because she knows skating inside out and she seems to want the inconsistency to be minimised as much as it can.

See, the way I interpreted it wasn't that she was giving an opinion at all. To me, it was as though she was merely pointing out that that's just how it is. The way judging works now, you can't really compare panel to panel, competition to competition, because there's such obvious lack of consistency and standardisation (in practice). Like, ideally, you would be able to because all of the judges would be rigorous in consistently applying the criteria to their judging and there'd be less room for subjectivity to cause big disparities between the scoring of similar standard jumps/falls/spins/etc. It's like it ought to be apples to apples but it just isn't (and there isn't enough scrutiny and reprimand coming from the right places to demand that it becomes consistent enough to allow for comparison). It sure didn't sound like she is okay with this. I think a lot of people just took her comment to be more shallow than (I think) it is. I think she was being quite critical of the lack of consistency and the inability to truly compare across panels.

She has probably been burned by this lack of consistency more than anyone griping about her comment. She's just calling it as she has come to see it through her years of experience with panels and judging - I think the athletes themselves have to get to a point that they can be calm about it or it's just going to burn them up and distract from what they truly need to focus on (their skating). I'd say she wasted a lot of energy being angry about it early in her career and then grew to realise she can't change it so she just has to make sure she skates as well as she can. I think the 'unfortunately' tagged on the end of her comment indicates that she's not impressed by it, but that it's just how it is. It's crap of course, because the athletes should be able to rely on judging being accurate and consistent, but they also shouldn't have to be trying to fight the system when they have their training and skating to worry about. We have just seen this with Yuzu - he was not pleased with the tech calls and judging at ACI and, while he has spoken out a bit about it, his real response to it was his performance at SC. He didn't give them any room for shady grey areas because he skated so well. It's one thing for fans to be getting outraged on behalf of athletes, but calling out the athletes themselves (even retired ones) for their nonchalant/jaded/whatever attitudes to inconsistent judging feels like a bit of a low blow because none of us have been in their shoes when it comes to dealing with and working around it. Like, if they're just resigned to be disappointed with it instead of angry and outraged, let them. They've put in the work. Fans, federations, gambling, and sponsors bring money to the sport. That's where the push has to come from.

Yeah, that doesn't foster improvement . Like, Yuzuru is making it real difficult for younger skaters to come through and beat him - but they're better for it. No way would Nathan have 5 quads if he didn't need them to be competitive against Yuzu

And, their competitive peak isn't necessarily their personal peak. Like, Zhenya's skating is better than ever but the competition isn't what it was when she was 15. She'll probably never win World's again, but that doesn't mean her skating isn't better now than when she did win. They're two different peaks.

Oh, I didn't at all mean to insinuate that you weren't just being tongue-in-cheek. Sorry if my response came across as though I thought otherwise. I just find it interesting that so much of the skating world keeps trying to make Nathan out to be something he doesn't seem comfortable being seen as. Like, obviously he knows he's a great skater and he puts in the hours and effort to get there, but he also knows that there's more to being where he is today than just that and he doesn't seem comfortable with being credited for success that doesn't exist in a vacuum. That is to say, he probably wouldn't be capable of landing the 5 quads he has if others hadn't done them first or if it wasn't necessary because of what it takes to beat Yuzuru at the numbers game. And he acknowledges that but then you get the likes of Johnny and Tara calling him the Quad King every breath they take as though he invented them.

Nathan spoke about this in an interview with Meryl. He didn't sound very comfortable with being called the 'quad king' and said that Tim Goebel was a better fit (paraphrasing here). And he credited Yuzu (and a couple of others) with pushing the sport to where it is now while also pointing out that Jason still succeeds without a quad in competition (but mentioned that he's seen Jason land one before so it's not like he can't do one). I think Yuzu has really set a great example of sportsmanship and now it's just not tolerable not to be a class act like he is. Nathan seems to follow in those footsteps really well. The two of them always have such nice things to say about others and a good balance of confidence and humility.

The other thing with holding off the 4A until it's likely to be a good, polished one first time is that once it's proven possible, others will follow because the mind-over-matter of it will finally be broken. I think Yuzu would loathe to be the first to land one if it's shaky and barely saved only for someone else to come along later and land the first 'good' one. I'm not saying just anyone will be able to but I do think that as soon as it is shown to be possible, others will start training it with intentions of using it in competition.

I don't interpret that from them at all. Yeah, they're bitchy and gossipy and that's their shtick but I think Dave is the last person who's going to make nasty comments about eating disorders since he has talked about his previous struggles with one. They weren't dissing Gabrielle's instagram so much as raising an eyebrow - and rightly so. It's not healthy for someone with a history of eating disorders (and there's no way she recovered that quickly) to be seeking validation the way that she is on Instagram. It's not empowering. It's her eating disorder manifesting in a way that seems better but isn't. They were right to call it attention seeking - but here's the thing... she needs attention because she needs help getting better. Anyone with personal experience of eating disorders can see that. I also don't think they're nearly as negative about Yuzu when they have criticisms as so many people like to think they do. People are so protective of Yuzu that they can't hear a word against him, even if it's a valid criticism or speculation. And, as we've seen since ACI this year, he can handle himself just fine when it comes to influencing and responding to narratives about himself.

There's a little mini documentary of her making costumes and she showed how she glues each little sequin or stone on and then tests the fabric pulling with movement to make sure each little bit won't come off for this reason. I can't imagine how horrified Satomi herself would be if one of her costumes cost a skater a point. Especially since she's got a great track record with their reliability. I think maybe someone is a little more muscular now than when he was fitted for the costume. I wonder if this means we're getting a new one? Or the old one again? Or will this one just get mended? I really like this one. It's quite breathtaking in a way that makes it seem like the inverse of last season's Origin costume (which is the ultimate masterpiece of skating costumes).

Lol did anyone else catch Satomi Ito's insta story with the picture of the rip Yuzu made in his new SP costume? Eta: Nevermind, someone posted it up-thread a bit

I think he's in a pretty good place to be speaking up now. Like, he's been at the top of the sport for years and years now and he is still improving while remaining at the top of the sport. He has a huge fan base that includes other active skaters and coaches at the elite level as well as commentators who are veterans of the sport. ISU can get ticked off with him if they want and judges can grumble and get biased against him - but then a situation like ACI might happen again and be met with uproar and skeptism from the skating community, and that really doesn't make ISU look good. Yuzuru has been so gracious in how he is raising these issues too - it comes across as a hope for improvement, for the sake of the sport and its athletes in general rather than an angry stab at ISU and the judges. It'll be interesting to see how they respond. It's kind of like your mum mentioning she's lost $5 that you both know very well that you took from her wallet, but she's just bringing it up without pointing fingers to give you the chance to fix it without getting into more trouble.

TSL avoiders might actually like this week's recap. They have lots of nice things to say about Yuzu, and I'm not being sarcastic. Even a pretty decent comparison (better than the usual narrative we get from the likes of NBC, etc) of Nathan and Yuzuru in terms of what they both offer and what might be going on with their training and how it might play out towards the end of the season.

The basics are the foundations. Everything builds up from them. I think this can be applied to any sport. I know in mine (which is very different to skating), when I was at my peak (national level) we often used particular drills (almost every day) to centre our technique and these were drills that we'd learned before we were even 5 years old to develop our ability to begin with.

They're trying to build up the Chen vs Hanyu rivalry to get a bigger audience. It helps them make money. That said, they didn't need to make it sound like an easy win. It was, of course, but 322 is very close to the score that won Nate WC19. Making it sound like Yuzu had no competition so winning was a breeze but then going on to leave out any contextual information about how good that score is was poor of them.

Our smol boy has become swol boy

I think we'll get new programs next season so he can repeat and perfect them for the Olympics.

I feel like the TCC team wouldn't be talking about the 4A if it wasn't likely, and they've all started bringing it up lately. Yuzu is so quiet about so much. I think they'd be in trouble if he didn't feel like it was probable that he can land it in a competition.

Masquerade for the EX. I fear we'll never see LGC again but he can take the layback spin from the end of CM and stick it in Otonal to make up for it.

Wait. Does this mean we miss out on the uncles for GP?

Her coaches have a lot to answer for. They should know better. They do know better. They don't care about the consequences so long as they can squeeze something out of her that benefits them. I had a coach like that as a teenager (in a very different sport). My recovery was only important to him in terms of my performance as an athlete rather than my health because of what it meant for his reputation as my coach. I ended up worse off than before. It still affects me, years later. Makes it very hard to watch what's happening with Gracie, because I really do not believe the people around her have her best interests at heart so much as their own. I just want her to be healthy and happy and to be skating because she's trying to reconnect with a sport she must have loved at one point rather than trying to regain her position and status in it - something that already cost her both health and happiness in the past.

Welp. I'm dead. My soul just jumped straight out of my body with glee.

I think the situation is a bit different, given what Aceh was like before the tsunami. There's not much room for a public figure to rise up when they're from a province that the country is trying to hush up and keep under control. The tsunami, in its devastation, allowed for Aceh to get autonomy although they've always wanted to be independent. A public figure rising from the ashes of Aceh poses too much of a risk of becoming a face for further rebellion. I know you mean public figures in general rather than just athletes but athletes tend to be very inspiring public figures and Indonesia as a whole has a lot of disadvantages compared to countries like Japan when it comes to developing elite athletes, etc - distribution of wealth, infrastructure issues, where priorities lie (I don't think Indonesia spends much on developing sports programs or athletes although I have to say I was delightedly surprised last time I was in Jakarta that there was all this promotion of the para-athletes everywhere, left over from the Asian Games).

I'm looking for a clip of Yuzu in a practice or warm up where he falls over right at the side of the rink and disappears behind the boards and a bunch of people stand up to look for him. I've seen it before and can't for the life of me find it again. Anyone know what I'm talking about and have a link handy? Or know what event it was so I have better luck finding it myself?