Fay

Alexei Mishin strikes again. He gave a long interview I'd translate, but I know it'll appear in fsuniverse anyway. I'll just give the fragment concerning Yuzuru http://www.fsrussia.ru/intervyu/3022-aleksej-mishin-programma-bez-chetvernykh-pryzhkov-vse-ravno-chto-sup-iz-topora.html Q: What prevents us from developing such powerful male skaters as Yuzuru Hanyu, as other top men of FS? A.M: We have lots of girls and few boys now. If we consider any beginner groups, the ratio of girls and boys is 8 to 2. The competition between girls is much higher and they show progress thanks to that. But if one should think dialectically (LOL), all the processes in the nature have a fluctuating character. Where's that invincible British school of dances with Towler and Ford as its leaders? Where are Swiss Schwarz and Danzer? Where's a French Calmat? Where's a Czech Nepela? An American Peggy Fleming? I suggest we don't panic and we understand that such unique creatures as Hanyu whose magical combination of chromosomes provided him with the fantastic body and agility coupled with stunning commitment to hard work are once a century phenomenon. It's all genes, folks, it's all genes... even hard work is in the genes.

Yuzuru HANYU SP Junior Grand Prix Final 2009 Yuzuru Hanyu, from Japan. Coached by Nanami Abe. Mission Impossible by Hans Zimmer. He won two JGP events this year. In Croatia and in Torun. Yuzuru Hanyu’s out of breath. He’s the last competitor in this group. For some reason, this Japanese skater often lost his balance in his spins. And he lost his speed too. As we have already said, Yuzuru won two competitions. He received around 66 points for his SP. In his short program he does 3F – he gets an edge call for it, so he gets 3.30 points instead of 6.00 points. 3.30 or around 3.50. Sometimes a bit more if he’s successful with this jump. In Croatia he got 70 points for his SP. But 70 points won’t be enough for him to lead now. But he can be third or fourth. He’s in the third place so far! He’s one point behind Ross Miner. The Chinese skater, Song Nan is first, who’s got 71 points, the fourth is Grant Hochstein, he’s behind Yuzuru by 3 points. Gachinsky is behind Hochstein by 4 points and he’s fifth.

well, they did meet at GPF when Yuzu gave her this note and that bunch of flowers...

Sochi Olympic Games 2014 Ex The White Legend Sporthit The men’s skating’s Olympic Champion, Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan! Very young, quite inexperienced, well, it just happened so that he’s nearly starting his life with winning the Olympic Gold medal. Yuzuru Hanyu! Another Japanese hero who was lucky to win in this top technical completion in spite of his falls. He did everything to the full and strove for the highest result. And he can do such jumps even during galas.

Sochi Olympic Games 2014 Ex The White Legend Russia 1. Male Commentator: One more Olympic Champion is getting ready to get out on the ice. The Japanese, Yuzuru Hanyu. I loved him in his short program very much. It was so vibrant and brilliant, he was great in it, but his free program didn’t quite impress me… well, I’m not a specialist in figure skating, I liked his short program more than his long one, I think he deserved his Olympic Gold medal. Female Commentator: Well, anyway, two falls in his free program put a blemish on his winning the Olympic Gold medal, but at that moment he proved better than anyone there, that’s a fact. But he’s actually a very beautiful skater, you know what they say? A skater with a God-given talent. Yuzuru could be said to be one. M: The Japanese composer Ikuko Kawai, the music is the White Legend. That has been a gorgeous performance. I don’t know whether you’ll agree with me or not, but if everything goes all right and he is injury-free, he’ll probably be able to skate until the next Olympic Games. F: Certainly. I think it’s beyond any doubt because he’s young, he’s full of power, he’s very talented, he proves with every skate that he’s getting stronger and stronger, more and more professional. And I won’t be surprised if he’s even better at the next Olympic Games. M: Great, just great! F: He’s really got huge potential. He just broke into the sport so suddenly – no one had known him or heard about him, but just in a couple of years he’s become one of the contenders, and there you are, he’s become Olympic Champion! M: Such lines, so graceful, this rarely gets said about men, but he’s… .

well, the Federation's pretending nothing's happened, but Ruslan has apparently r****d, Elena hasn't been seen on the ice for months now, so yeah... I don't think we'll see her next season.

Transfrerring another translation from our previous home. Another translation - just because it took me so long to track this down, so I won't risk losing it once again. We spoke of young Romeo and... here it is! The wiser and older young Romeo of WC 2014 gala. His encore is cut off and I couldn't find it first - but @gladi was kind enough to track that down too! Thank you!!! . WC 2014 EX Rus ESP Part 1. So now it’s Yuzuru Hanyu’s turn. His free program, Romeo and Juliet. - A quad at the gala?! (the commentator mistook Yuzu’s 3Lz for a quad! In fact, both of them did) - Well, if they come as easy as triples, why not jump them? - Again – 3A3T at the gala! - That was a stunning skate – he skated his free (competitive) program with the same spirit. - He seems to have got really angry about something! I think he was mad at himself. He seemed less exciteable all these years, but now it seems as if he got to be an adult or grew older… - Or he grew both older and turned into an adult... - Well, he might have become an adult without growing older, or he might have grown older without turning into an adult yet… But he was pretty tense while skating this. It’s as if he’d been trying to prove a point. Perhaps, to himself in the first place that he shouldn’t relax now and fight right till the end. Well-done, he was great, he’s a stunning skater in every respect. Part 2. - The audience want him back on the ice, of course. - Yes, he’s a super-talent. He’s 19. He won the Junior World Championship in 2010. He was… how old was he then?.. then he was 15. He won a Bronze medal at the world championship, but this year was his absolute best – he won grand Prix Final, the Olympic Games and World Championship. So a fragment of his SP, Parisian Walkways. Music by Gary Moore. - That was the ending worth a true champion! He looks tired, of course, he does! This has been an extremely difficult season. He thanks the audience and he thanks the ice. - And now he’s calling the other skaters onto the ice to join him! The finale!

Elena Ilyinykh is trying her hand at coaching Alisa Lozko and Adian Pitkeev. http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20170627/1122260351.html

We've been restrained because over this month we've been posting elsewhere. 100 pages a month means we're barely moving on!

I bet as a matter of principle he set out on that mission alone. No Russian'speaking people would have made those mistakes. But it makes his efforts all the more precious! And yes, knowing classical Greek or Latin does help to learn Russian quite a lot. It's got just as complex system of endings and a multitude of forms for nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals. Verbs are rather poorly equipped with forms, but then we've got perfective/non-perfective forms which prove to be a stumpbling block for many students of Russian. The verbs of movement - simple 'go' and 'come' - are also a curse for learners of Russian, they say... I was lucky to learn it at the age of 7, really, when no conscious efforts had to be made.

Well, the last sentence - "Приезжай в Японию" - is Yuzu's invitation and it says 'Come to Japan". A singular imperative form of the verb приезжать. But the matter is that you can use this form only with your close friends, your family, people of your age - in short, it's a familiar form, not a respectful one. The respectful one, the one you use with older people, with people in authority, with strangers is plural imperative "приезжайте". What makes Yuzu's note even more hilarious and sweet is that he used TAT's name and patronymic - Татьяна Анатольевна - which incidentally clashes with the familiar imperatve form. I'm not saying it's impossible to use singular with patronymic, but to my ears it'll forever sound ironic and even more familiar than just Татьяна. The thing is you can be friends, even close friends with people and never start with 'приезжай'. I've got some friends I regularly visit in England and stay around with them for two or three weeks. For decades now. But I'm still on приезжайте terms with them - and it doesn't make any of us feel distant, or cold or reserved. Приезжай in certain circles has to be settled in childhood or youth, not later - and it takes a conscious effort to start addressing the same people with 'приезжай'. "Благодарю маме" is another sweet mistake. No doubt TAT was touched and flattered to be included among the horde of parents Yuzu has, but she's sure to chuckle at it too. If Yuzu had used Спасибо, then "маме" would have been correct, but Благодарю demands a different case - accusative, not dative - and it should have been Благодарю маму. The essential meaning is the same - "Thanks Mum". But in this case Yuzu went for a bigger and grander word than just Спасибо. Sweet and hilarious - I think I both melted into a pool and I giggled for hours at it.

His fans prefer Yuzuru, Yudzuru is like his official name. Which he dutifully spelt here. He's got a very nice handwriting!

It reminded me of this - have you seen it? A note of thank you and welcome to Japan written by Yuzu to Tatiana Tarasova In it, Yuzu addresses TAT as if she were his close friend of the same age - using a familiar form of the verb. And calls her a mum (incidentally, messing up the case form as well). But all in all, he clearly did it on his own. I just remember how much hilarity this pic caused...

And a picture off Stephane's instagram showing both

He announced his r****ment from men's single figure skating because he has a chronic back injury preventing him from making jumps. The rumours are he's trying himself with Alisa Lozko in dances, but I don't know whether it's viable. I think this is him trying not to quit skating altogether. Such a shame, he was so talented...

I'm totally OK with any ISU functionary turning into his fangirl/fanboy.

Niigata-Tokyo? Oh, that's interesting... Did you see the shows?

No way, we'll become a forum of ghosts and just post feverishly from beyond our graves. We've done it quite a few times.

Yeah, Colin Firth's Darcy is a good analogy to seeing Yuzu's cat and Yuzu's legs. That wet shirt is iconic. The sexiest moment in British television ever.

That's going to be dangerous then. Even thinking about it is dangerous...

Keira Knightley was a shitty Lizzie, sorry. She had to be more than just silly giggles. But it's not the issue of looks, anyway - it's the matter of intelligence and quick wits and general charm. But I'd be ok with Emma - love her, but Yuzu's no way that snobbish Sorry, too dangerous for me to start speaking about this. But technically, Austen wasn't a Victorian writer, actually - she died before Victoria was born, I think.

I agree with Lizzie.

definitely! I'll have all four, please!

The clear files might seem pricey, on the other hand...

Pillow cases?