yuzupon

Mai-chan

He landed the first clean 4Lo the first time he attempted it in competition ever: ACI 2016, SP. But then flubbed the next few attempts.

Agreed. If they get to be older than the age Lipnitskaya retired before they fade into irrelevance, I'd be mighty surprised.

Regarding prerotation might cause injury. I remember Tracy used to say, back when Yuna Kim tended to fall on her 3F ocassionally, mostly during competition practices, that Yuna tended to pre-rotate her upper body when jumping flip, and that's why she fell on it. Now, when I heard she said that, it was usually right before Yuna jumped the Flip in actual competitions and nailed it. And back then, I did not have the knowledge to even tell jumps apart, so I never look closely into it. But, as Yuna is not known for prerotating, I am guessing it is precisely because and when she didn't prerotate that she could land her flips in competitions. So, that's a coach identifying PRing as a cause of a fall, which if happens repeatedly tend to cause injury. Indirect, but still affecting. And I am always under the impression that the correct techniques are called correct, not only bcz they produce beautiful jumps, but also bcz they are the way to do the jumps properly, i.e. only when adhering to those techniques can you actually do the jumps with minimal, if not no, risk of injuring yourself. Skaters who possess proper techniques, like Yuzu, get injured when, as they are training to achieve those proper techniques, they were not doing some of them properly quite yet. I know that sounds paradoxical, but idk, that's my understanding anyway.

re: Young 2nd assignment.

Are my eyes really bad, or did they truly change Yuzu's nationality there in the title? ETA: they edited it. The comments are savage. Lol.

I have been wondering about this for quite a while now, and it is probably nothing, but I am throwing it out there anyway. For context, the only other sport I follow even more religiously than FS is Badminton. In 2012 London Oly, the Chinese team swept all golds in the 5 disciplines, and basically won half of the medals contended. (Now, the Badminton event that Oly was full of scandals, but this is rather separate). That 'domination' led to IOC warning BWF (the badminton governing body) that if they do not do something to make sure that more countries can compete at the highest level, Badminton is in danger of being left out of the Olympics (it has not been a part of Oly for that long, only since 1992). In response, BWF revamped the way the grand prix events are being organised, open a Youtube channel airing matches live (from quarterfinal onward, usually), started to employ Hawk-Eye's SMART Replay and establish a procedure for players to ask for review against certain calls on court, altered the service judging procedure, started tournaments for para-athletes, and get their social media more involved. In other words, they pull themselves together. (Some of their efforts was a miss, like trying to make badminton outdoor-friendly - the shuttlecocks are made of feathers, you can imagine how well you can control it against the open-air wind. But they do many things, so some of those things, well, hit). In Rio 2016, China still won 2 gold medals, but the remaining 3 were earned by other countries (Spain even got their 1st ever Oly Badminton gold), and the other-colour medals were more distributed. Of course, all those other countries also did their part in upping the levels of their athletes, but BWF has been credited for the rise in the level of playing and accessibility of the sport they govern. I know that the Russian domination of FS is only obvious in the Ladies. Although we could make the case for Pairs, and Junior Men as well. I have little against the Russian athletes (a bit on how they manoeuvre the rulebook, tho) , and little against the West seeming domination on the sport (again, a bit on how they politick for it), as I arrived at the sport with that as the status-quo. But it cannot be healthy for any sport to be centred to a handful of countries like this, and especially not when its powers that be, not only let it happen but also rather actively facilitate it. So, I wonder, if the trend continues, and only 1-2 countries *cough* dominate FS in 2022 (knock on every wooden surface), will ISU get the same warning as BWF did, so that they can finally pull themselves together? Or was Badminton a totally different case, since the sport is 1) Asian - as opposed to western - dominated, 2) much more objective than FS, 3) much more, shall we say, plebeian, than FS 4) a summer Oly sport that is supposed to be more accessible than the winter sports? I remembered the same thing happened in speed skating, where the Dutch team basically turned Sochi 2014 into their national championship. Did ISU get reprimanded by IOC then? The Dutch no longer had the same domination in PC 2018, so... But then, Speed Skating is, like Badminton, much more objective than FS. ... So, Idk... Like I said, it's probably nothing.

Yoooooo, my boy. *wheezes* But seriously. I am also glad your effort gets its due reward this time. All fingers crossed, all woods knocked it will continue through out the rest of your career. Thank you for the conviction and staying true to yourself, even when doubt inevitably crept in.

Apparently, Yagudin is the first who did 4TEu3S???

With how much sh*t NBC is under lately (Farrow's Catch and Kill tell-all for context), yeah. No. They can spin for their liking, I wouldn't pay attention to them. Neither would the US general public, who should be paying attention to other things, like making sure their democracy doesn't die, for example. As for US FS fans, those who know better, know better. Those who don't, maybe this will help them sleep at night in their ignorance. Let them.

^ "Torches" *wheezes*

Can anyone please translate? Thanks.

Yikes, of all people, it was Hashimoto they appointed for 2020???! Yeah, flash back to Sochi is always bitter sweet. Oda (and Kozuka) wasn't named in favour of Takahashi, which was understandable, but still very disappointing (not to mention, those criteria used to select Takahashi, were suddenly under 'questioning' by some fans when it was used to name Yuzu for PC. Ugh!). That Zuzu himself wasn't 100% happy with his gold medal wasn't helped any by his exclusion. And it's not about Seniority either - Murakami was the same age as Zu and she WAS included. That's why Oda tweeted that tweet. Oh, Oda-kun... I wish you all the best with what you want to do continuing forward! I am still mourning the fact that it is not YOU who decided to unretire. Ganba!!!

???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Didn't see that coming, at all.

Shii-chan trying 3A is

Yuzuru, jump and land that 4A, and then retire, yes? So I can leave this sport for good. For the sake of my sanity, I beg you. Sincerely, yuzupon

Thank you for the update on my Mai-chan... Agreeing with every sentiment you wrote. Please, please, please...

If there's one flaw in Yuzu, what's implied in the first part of the above quote would be it. IMO, so don't at me. And yeah, I don't like this idea of tributes as well.

I am praying and sacrificing to figure skating gods for Yuzu not to recycle Origin. Sorry not sorry. If he ended up recycling it, I'd accept it begrudgingly, but I really really hope he won't.

Pretty Mai

With the end of WTF, err, WTT, I am officially off to spend time with more logical sports/real life. I await Zuzu's next season, along with some of my other bbys, but not the competitions anymore, unless some kind of overhaul happened in or to ISU this summer. I'll watch the performances of skaters I like, and of course, will follow anything Zuzu, but enough of this madness. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Beautiful Mai is fierce here,,, But I'd like a program not by DW next season, please...

@yuzuangel, @sallycinnamon Bookmarks work fine for me now.