Sha

The video chat is this:

Here: The segment you pointed out starts around 15.50!

I haven't been around the forum for a while because life got the best of me, but Yuzu has been a constant shining light. I saw his thoughts about the quad Axel and I can understand his frustrations. Of course results are going to matter to him; that is the entire point of a competition. But I hope that eventually he can see failures as a part of being human too and that it doesn't mean what he was doing is meaningless. I probably mean nothing to him, as a random fan on the internet, but having relied on his strength for so long, I hope that even if he feels defeated, he can take still some hope and strength from us too. 羽生 結弦, You and your efforts are always meaningful. For All Time. Always.

Thank you for sharing the news. I use nordVPN since years ago. I hope they are not dodgy too....

I am reading this book 'The Second Mark' documenting the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal and oh my goodness the judges are SO CORRUPTED it makes me mad. I enjoy the writing a lot and would definitely recommend figure skating fans to read it. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City coincidentally, is also the event Yuzu watched and fell in love with figure skating, where quads were born, and it's the birth place of you-know-who. Sometimes, coincidences like these give me chills.

He is patting ice-chan and telling her she did a good job

Oh man oh man, I had chills when I clicked the link. This is amazing!! Everyone is so amazing. I haven't read everything yet but it seems indeed as we have thought that judges are biased in their scoring! I got the impression from hearing people say that JSF hate their own skaters (which doesn't make sense to me) and based on the data I am seeing, I wonder if that is because they seem to be slightly less biased in their scoring compared to their country's?? I know I also read somewhere that there was someone in JSF who said bad things to Yuzu (although I can't remember that source anymore).

Ah Yuzu is such a nerd with the programming it makes me so happy (this is coming from a fellow nerd ). I did consider once scraping the web for all the FS scores and trying to test the hypothesis that judges rate skaters of their nationality, or skaters who look like their nationality higher. And also whether 'piano pieces' are rated higher than non-piano pieces. Maybe I will still do that someday when I have the time.

Thank you for sharing this. It has cleansed my soul for the day

Me me me! I am super excited! I wonder what else he will try to do to push the sport even further? Maybe he will invent some new moves of his own! His passion really makes me want to skate really well too (although my physical abilities are generally very lacking). At some point in the (extremely distant) future, maybe I will try a hydroblade!

I am sure he will soon make good friends with 4A-san too! I am glad that he has a plan where he works towards his goals. I wonder what other higher grounds he wishes to reach! It reminds me of that meme of Yuzu flying like a helicopter to the sky with his spins As for what the media will say, what the politicking behind the scenes will be, how the winter Olympics, etc, I will not speculate because I can barely plan for what to eat for dinner, much less predict the future. I just know that I will support Yuzu whatever he does, and continue supporting his skating because that is his one true love

Thank you so much for the translation! The song is even more beautiful than I thought! I have been listening it a lot on Spotify.

I saw Yuzu lip syncing to Back Number's Happy Ending and got curious about the song because it sounded really good to me. https://twitter.com/maiasauralil/status/1419253110791278599 It turned out to be such a sad romantic song when I Googled the meaning of the lyrics! The part Yuzu mouthed was: "I was down and looked pale The one that I love suddenly disappeared Please remember me forever But, it's all just a lie, I hope you were fine always." This is now my favorite song... Although thinking about a heartbroken Yuzu makes me sad.

Yuzu is so willing to put his all into his competitions and performance and is very unafraid to show off his vulnerable side. He always says that he isn't mentally strong, but that I one thing I disagree with him. It takes a lot more courage to do things despite the fear than to hide the fear and pretend that they don't have any. His love for figure skating is so strong that FS = Yuzu and Yuzu = FS and while he is not always direct about questions around his life, he is always clearly, utterly, fully forever and always in love with figure skating

That's amazing! I am happy for you. And this is some great signs

I think to some extent it might depend on whether they believe they have a chance in winning anything or not? If I was at the Olympics (...which I know I won't be but I will try to imagine it) and I know my skills are such that I won't even make it to the top 20 or something, maybe I won't be so focused on the Olympics but instead other things like eating nice Japanese food (wild hanky panky not being my thing exactly)....

That is astonishing! Ghislain has been working really hard too. He looks happy and healthy!

'Recently, he has been training at 2 or 3 AM'... Yuzu...I wonder if he owns the rink so he can just go at strange timings. Or if ice rink manager-san has to stay up with him too

I shall not even try... I know I will get most (if not all!) of them wrong... But I think you should send these quizzes to skaters who admire Yuzu! Especially the step sequence gifs. Wouldn't it be fun also to see if Yuzu himself or Brian can get them correct?

I let out gasps of joy/surprise/happiness and sigh of appreciation/emotions

Yes! Thank you! It took me a while to find it again but you found it so quickly

Ah, I found it! https://yuzuland.tumblr.com/post/129711465692/kenjis-room-with-yuzuru-hanyu-episode-4 He describes how he was very sure he had no concussion at that particular crash. Although it is indeed worrying that he probably had some amount of concussion when he was younger... I don't think he takes injuries lightly or anything. He takes them very seriously. In fact in an even later interview, he said that he acknowledges that if either of them hadn't done some last minute maneuvering, he might have died (https://31translations.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/【figure-skating】hanyu-yuzuru-talks-about-the-incident-and-his-goals-for-nhk-trophy-・nhk-trophy-press-conference-transcription/). "An Australian cricket player passed away on the 27th after having a ball strike him in the head. In China, you seemed to have the possibility of a concussion. Do you think that not taking the risk would have been better? “I did not know about this news, but in reality, sports mean to constantly continue challenging your physical limits. In a way, it means that you’re constantly side by side with death. To tell the truth, if the timing had been off by even a fraction of a second, I might have died. Even so, it was very fortunate that we did not get too heavily injured. We had collided when we had turned around, so we were able, to some extent, turn our heads around [to avoid direct collision]. Also, because I was able to shoot my arm out in time, so I was somehow able to avoid some of the shock. My chin had hit the ice, and the side of my head had hit Han Yan’s shoulder or chin, but even so, there was not a lot of blood. From the force of the impact, it didn’t feel like my head had shook much. It was because of this that I had believed that my body would be fine. In addition, it was really fortunate that there was a doctor present from the American team who had immediately rushed to my aid, and had did a careful checkup of me, and had also interviewed (*This word is used in a medical sense where the doctor asks the patient for symptoms, etc.) me. Through these examinations, it was decided that I did not have any symptoms of a concussion, and both my coach Brian [Orser] and I had understood this. I had understood that there were risks, but we had decided to believe in the doctor’s words, and had thus skated with that kind of feeling in mind. I know that there are risks. For me to be able to be here right now is a miracle itself. A lot of people had said that it was too reckless, and too dangerous, that there is a risk of a second impact, that I should be forbidden from competing, and have used this chance to criticize my coach and the members of the skating federation. However, I am very thankful of Brian and the members of the skating federation for allowing me to compete in China, and to allow me to be here today. I would like to thank my body [for persevering and recovering]." He judged based on the information he had at that time what was the best way forward for him. If the doctor had diagnosed him as having a concussion at that point, he would have maybe made a different decision. Likely he would have withdrawn. Or Brian/JSF might have forced him to withdraw, since you can hardly make coherent decisions when you have a concussion. But since the doctor said he did not have a concussion, he wanted to go ahead. Maybe we can say we don't trust the doctor's diagnosis or something and that it is hard to find out if someone has a concussion or not (I am not a medical doctor), but Yuzu chose what he did because of the information he had at that time. He chose to trust the doctor. He chose to trust his own assessment of his body.

The first thing that any skaters learn is how to fall so that you don't injure yourself too much. I didn't learn to skate until my body memorized how to fall properly. While Yuzu has fallen many many times before (https://sportymags.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/yuzuru-hanyu-hard-work-and-spectacular-falls/) I am very sure that he knows how to fall in the 'right' way to avoid hitting his head or injuring himself too badly. I somehow can't find the interview anymore... but during an interview after the crash, he mentioned that he rarely hits his head. He did when he was really young once, and he think that was definitely a concussion because he could feel it, and he blacked out totally. If I find that interview again, I will post and share it.

Yes, thank you. He will be all right. We all will it to be so and it shall be so! We all go through life with injuries, traumas, and pain. Yuzu's just happens to be broadcasted to everyone all over the planet. We may feel pain to see him in physical pain but must also cheer him on and accept that he sees them as part of his chosen career. Pain is part of life indeed!

Thank you for this! I really like to hear Brian's perspectives and also in general about TCC skaters, so I would have loved to read the book, Team Brian. It seems difficult to get hold of outside of the USA and Japan however! But since I am moving to the USA soon, it is definitely something I look forward to purchasing once I have settled properly there. Does anyone know of English translations for the two Team Brian books too? As for Aoi Hono, for those who can read traditional Mandarin, they also do have a version of both books in that (my friends and I managed to buy a copy each). You can search for "蒼之炎"! These two books are now one of my most treasured possessions