YuzuSkating_IsTheTruth

Sochi (where he won his first Olympic gold medal) holds beautiful memories for Yuzu. So should he compete in CoR, I sincerely wish he receives HUGE psychological boost and positive energy to face challenges in this Olympic season. This will be crucial for his mental health which has been battered with unfair scrutiny and scoring of his performances in the past seasons and currently, with negative media reporting. Praying for the best possible outcomes for Yuzu

Hi, I was exploring the forum and came across thread (is this the correct term to use?). I am writing in here because I receive no reply from my query. Yesterday, the idea of replacing the rocket-like icon on bottom left of our profile pic (what's the proper term for that and does it serve any purpose?) with a paper crane to show our united stand and support for Yuzu (and also for our Italian Yuzu supporters /fans on their crane folding project) came to my mind but I have no idea how to contact the administrators with my suggestion and ended up choosing an inappropriate option to do so. Apologies for that.

It is greatly appreciated that professionals in other fields come together to share Yuzu’s story and his positive influences on humanity, spreading good words of his artistic works in Figure Skating. I particularly enjoyed Max’s sharing of his first impressions/views of Yuzu when he was a Junior skater. Indeed, he has a good eye for supreme talent even in those early days of Yuzu’s competitive career. I see and admire Max as one of the rare Sports commentator who truly loves the sport of Figure Skating, is courageous to take risks in speaking out against the way it is being governed. I couldn’t agree more with his views on the sport needing a genius like Yuzu (eg. his skating reflects the true definition of figure skating and through his research/thesis, suggest using AI for scoring to help address the difficulties judges faced when tasked to evaluate 12 elements ( plus GOEs) in 4 mins, rate 5 components of the prog, transition steps, skating skills, interpretation and entering scores in realtime) to save it from rotting as its core is diseased with corruption and biasedness. The way it is run now makes a mockery of the sport, along with the athletes, coaches and rest of the stakeholders (including fans/supporters/casual viewers). Many of us experience what Chiara Ghidini remarked that Yuzu’s performances are empowering, therapeutic and healing. While watching this video during his absence at the NHK and as videos/pics of Yuzu competing over the years in various competitions being played out/ flashing by, a sudden wave of sadness overcame me. It felt like I’ve travelled in time to a future where Yuzu no longer competes. I felt momentarily lost and empty Lastly, kudos to all involved firstly in proposing this tribute, then organising the conference, translating (into English and Japanese) and making this video available for all to view.

I believe things happen for a reason. I would like to think the timing is not right yet, the forces of the Universe are still coming together and the stars are still aligning for him, hence he has to take a pause here. I am waiting patiently and calmly for his injury to heal well so that he can continue the next phase of his transformation. While missing him and his skating on ice, I’m really excited to hear of his new SP music choice, him landing 4F and really looking forward to his new costume! I cannot imagine any other skaters that can elicit such emotional responses during his absence in a competition. I pray that with the delayed gratification Yuzu and all his supporters are forced to practice now, we will be rewarded with two ideal performances from him when the time comes. Am I asking too much?

Agree. As Yuzu's getting into unchartered waters with 4A, I would think his coaches are none the wiser. I actually prefer him to train in Japan where he has privacy at the Sendai rink. Now that he's working on 4A, whatever knowledge/data he gained through practices, sustaining bodily pain/injuries, I see it as trade secrets he should protect. Hence, I thought it odd to train under watchful eyes, together with other skaters who are also your rivals in competition.

The quest to conquer 4A is fraught with risk and danger. To add to this challenge are previous injuries to his right ankle. Hence, the possibility of incurring (career ending) injury is always on my mind. Banish disappointments and negativity as fast as they enter our minds and channel our energy of optimism and positivity and transmit them to Yuzu, together with our love and support. If the recovery period means he has to sit out the Grand Prix Series, Japan Nationals or even Beijing Olympics, so be it. The important thing is his injury heals well and he’s able to chase his dreams again.

Finally, the exams are over. I am in time to catch NHK where Yuzu is aiming to debut 4A, sharing this epic moment with his fellow countryman on home soil! I wouldn’t miss it for the world and will be cheering for him! So glad he’s inching closer to his ultimate goal. Praying hard for all forces of the universe and stars aligned to protect him, keep him safe and injury free in this Olympic season. Frankly, by landing a 4A and making history in Figure Skating, anything less than a gold medal for Yuzu is a crime. It will be the joke of the century. ISU and Olympic will be the clowns of the century. This ultra-nationalistic sport should be dropped from the Olympics. Congrats, @SuzyQ, @daisyjune and @sweetwater! So excited for you all cos you are going to have a once-in-a- lifetime experience at NHK.

Yes, I learnt from this forum that Super Slam is not an official ISU title. Perhaps it was you who kindly shared this info previously? Nevertheless, this noteworthy achievement can be simply stated, “With his win at Four Continents 2020, Yuzuru becomes the only Men's Single skater to win all the current major junior-level and senior-level international competitions.”. Similar career highlights of other athletes eg. Yuna Kim should be included in their bios too.

I’m with you on this. The bio info should be complete for all athletes. The Competition-Season table has eight columns from seasons 14/15 to 21/22, which should be sufficient for all current competitive skaters except Yuzu. The columns can be easily resized to allow the addition of more columns to correctly reflect all his achievements in his senior career, including earlier seasons such as 13/14 (Olympic Gold) and other senior competitions. ISU, being the governing body of the sport, should take the lead by showing respect to their Most Valuable Skater. Written in his bio, ’Hanyu is the first Japanese male skater to win Olympic gold and the first man since 1948 and 1952 Olympic Chammpion Dick Button (USA) to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.’, ironically they provided full details of when American Dick Button won the Olympics yet it is not stated clearly that Yuzuru won Olympic gold in 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (PyeongChang). I have no issue if this info is reflected in the table Competition-Season table but currently, season 13/14 is not even included in it. I find it strange that only Yuzu’s American figure skating idol Johnny Weir was mentioned here but not his other idol, the legendary Russian Evgeni Plushenko. These two figure skaters that he looked up to since young tells us that he has always focus on artistry and technicality (and not only artistry, with Johnny Weir being indicated as his only idol). Why do I feel his bio is being used to promote American figure skaters? Amazingly, there was no mention of Yuzu achieving Super Slam ie. winning all major competitions at both junior and senior level. As for Shoma Uno, it seems redundant to have this info ‘Coach Stephane Lambiel is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and the 2005 and 2006 World Champion.’ as part of his bio when this info will be available in Stephane’s own bio. Biographies of skaters are maintained by ISU, so they have the responsibility to put out complete info and not selective ones. It only reflects their poor professionalism and biasness.

Don't tell me about it. My sis is based in China and I've entertained thoughts of visiting her and going to my first Olympic cum my first Yuzu's live competition next year (how lucky I am, my first outing is, mind you not just any comp but the most prestigious one). But alas...sigh!

Dear fellow satellites, thank you for sharing all the crumbs and related translation here! I need my Yuzu dose till NHK Trophy

I must add I've grown to love his costumes (including H&L) and also enjoy those costume-revealing moments !

I'm relieved to know you spent little time on making the video I can totally relate to your friends' initial reactions. I first set my eyes on Yuzu, performing H&L in 2017 when I clicked on a random video recommendation. It felt like someone punched my face when I saw him skating in that costume. I have been a casual Figure Skating viewer since young (but gradually stoped watching when other commitments take precedence in my life) and what I saw on Yuzu didn't fit in the image of a typical male's costume, what's more with that flap on his shoulder. As I'm aware of the existence of quirky Japanese fashion, I did a quick search and found some videos of Japanese ice shows where the male performers' costumes are equally different from the norm. I quickly put it to a cultural thing and subsequently learnt that his costume is an integral part of his story-telling tools (something which I agree with, hence his costume choices never faze me anymore).

I enjoy your sharing of knowledge in music and dancing/figure skating to explain Yuzu’s insane musicality. As a layman, I feel and love that his movements are in sync with the various elements of the music. There’s this sense of harmony where everything fall in place in his programs. Apologies (I know you put time and effort for the video) but my first impression when watching the video - I couldn’t finish it in one sitting (though it was only about 2mins) because the music sounded off/wrong. It took me some efforts to disassociate his skating with the original music. Only then was I able began to enjoy the video (especially the intense skating of Masquerade matching the dramatic music) though there are some small parts that seemed off. Thank you for I learn something here.

I, for one, cannot stay interested for long (if I can last till the end, let’s not even talk about rewatching) over programs that are either too athletic or artistic. On the contrary, my senses felt blessed after a Yuzu performance (including his competitive programs). He makes music through his unique blend of high technicalities and brilliant artistry, bringing out fully the mood/character alive, enabling his performances to outlast time. This, sets him apart from other talented figure skaters. Hence, I have no issues rewatching his older programs which are timeless acts eg. RJ1 and PW. He always brings with him element of surprises which keep viewers interested, excited and wanting more.

@Yuzuwinne and @Mary_kyo, I take comfort with your kind words and the sharing of your views which I totally agree with. Appreciate that I can lean on fellow satellites, esp. the seasoned ones in this Olympic season to help maintain my composure and sanity.

All athletes train hard, pouring blood, sweat and tears into fulfilling their dreams/goals of winning in competitions, esp at the most prestigious one - the Olympics. I feel for them for eventually only three athletes can be on the podium for each event. With such thoughts in mind, I wish I can say I don't care for the outcome. This is hurting. Despite Yuzu having a hard time, he still strives to be a light for those struggling in the pandemic, victims and survivors of natural disasters, etc. Yet, when the king was 'slain' at the arena right in front of us, time and again, he had to retreat to his den to lick his wounds alone... Meantime, it sure is an exciting time waiting for the birth of 4A. But I hope he won't feel rushed to do so, only when he's ready.

From The Mainichi (https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210329/p2a/00m/0sp/012000c): During an online interview on March 28, Hanyu reflected on his physical condition during the event and said, "The asthma attack itself, I think I felt after my free program.". He confirmed having it on the competition day itself. Clearly, in a short video clip where he yanked off his mask, there were symptoms of asthma attack – he was out of breath and looking pale and exhausted in his costume, with hair unstyled. This image was captured when Keegan’s name was being announced in the background. Yes, I’ve read a Russian doctor attended to him and Brian waiting for him to turn up for his training (couldn’t recall if he was late or skipped it totally). It was also shared by others that Russian news reported he had the attack right before the Free. All these led me to believe the asthma attack happened at the rink, on Sat morning of the Men’s Free Skate. Whether he was exposed to the trigger on Fri, hence the attack at night (as per the info you gathered) or on the day of the competition, the timing of the asthma attack was questionable to me as it would affect his performance or resulted in last minute withdrawal from the competition (if it’s life threatening). He had been at the rink everyday for practices and competition for the Short Program. There wasn’t any issue until the night before/day of the Free Skate? What was at stake here? Should Yuzu win his third World Championships title, it would upset the US narrative, wouldn’t bode well for their upcoming Olympic season. If there are people (I don’t mean the skaters but other interested parties) obsessed with titles, medals, WRs, pride and glory, they will go great length to achieve their goals. The case of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan came to mind. I will stop here before I’m mistaken to be a crazy fanyu. Enjoy your Sunday.

I'm joining you Thanks for your kind words. I was worried I would bore everyone with such a lengthy post (promise I won't do it again). Yuzu was in the way of a fabulous US narrative once he decided to stay on competing instead of retiring. His superstardom overshadows everyone else. Yuzu bares his heart and soul on the ice when skating to his programs, emotionally engaging and connecting the spectators. This rare and unique ability, together with his fusion of athleticism and artistry, allows him to weave stories and magic on the ice, transforming sport to an art form, gifting us masterpieces. Many of us are drawn to him after setting our eyes upon him on the ice, making Yuzu the Piped Piper of Figure Skating. I’m so glad his magic ontinues to work on others as @Henni147 pointed out he had conquered social media and drawing in new fans. Have a great day!

I am having similar experience. I must first apologise for the lengthy reponse. But I need to get it off my chest. The way I see it - all this preferential AND underscoring (2-pronged approach by ISU) of the top two skaters is part of the bigger plan to boost PCS scoring of Nate to be on par with Yuzu before Beijing 2022. Going into PyeongChang 2018, there was little/no consideration to his PCS scores as they believed he could win with a high TES simply by jumping the most number of quads in his programs. Despite him coming back with a strong Free skate after faltering unexpectedly in his short program, he was unable to be on the podium, let alone beat Yuzu. They realised his PCS scores were not in the range to help him secure a medal, specifically the gold one. Ouch, how it must have hurt their ego and pride! It has been a long drought for the US since Evan Lysacek won the 2009 World Championship and became the Olympic gold medalist in Vancouver 2010. Nate must end the drought in 2022 (in case he decides to retire after the Olympics) and ISU is not taking any chances after what happened in PyeongChang. Looking at past Olympic games, I'm under the impression that whenever a skater from the strong US/Russian Fed was a contender for a gold medal, he/she would eventually become the Oly champ, with the scoring tilting towards his/her strength - athletic or artistic. So depending on the inclination of their favoured skaters, we have artistry winning over athleticism and other times, athleticism winning over artistry. Come Beijing 2022 Olympic, no doubt it's athleticism over artistry. Their favored champ already announced it's athleticism for him. To me, Yuzu is just as athletic as him. In fact, he's beyond any skaters the way he uses his high level of technical skills as tools to making music on ice. The preferential and underscoring strategy adopted by ISU explained why Yuzu was systematically judged through microscopic lens, being picked on imagined/nitty-gritty mistakes and underscored (think ACI 2019 to GPF Torino 2019 to Nat 2020). He was quick to realise what was happening - the scoring was favoring athleticism (landing jumps consistently). I see such prolonged treatment from ISU as a form of emotional/psychological abuse towards one of its worldclass athlete while boosting the confidence of the favoured one with each successive win . When self-doubts set in where Yuzu questioned himself if he was heading towards the right direction ie retaining artistry in his programs. He knew he needed to skate clean/perfect and more quads to win competitions. I am sure having to deal with injuries, added stress from ISU bias judging (not forgetting the mounting frustration and helplessness in improving his situation), self-imposed pressure to perform well takes a toll on him. These come on top of the constant pressure and expectations from a nation. Tokyo 2022 put a spotlight on the mental health of elite athletes. It was a miracle he didn't fall into depression or develop other mental health issues. Should we stay hopeful for the future of the sport now that ISU adopts IOC Athletes' Rights and Responsibilities Declaration in April 2021 (under Athletes’ Rights) to promote the ability and opportunity of athletes to (among others): 1 Practise sport and compete without being subject to discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other immutable status. 2 Be part of a transparent, fair and clean sporting environment, particularly one that fights against doping and competition manipulation, and provides for transparent judging/refereeing, selection and qualification processes, and appropriate competition schedules, including training schedules at such competitions. For full list and more details, https://olympics.com/athlete365/who-we-are/athletes-declaration/ Meanwhile, Yuzu was faulted for recycling his programs, inconsistencies in his jumps among other reasons, to help explain away his underscoring and judges were labelled incompetent. On the contrary, I think they are highly competent because ISU achieves its goal of raising Nate's PCS to be on par with Yuzu's by 2019. At the 2018 US Figure Skating Championship, Nate’s scored SP 104.45, FS 210.78, Total 315.23. During Yuzu’s absence from 2018 World Championship, he earned SP 101.94, FS 219.46, Overall 321.40 and at 2018 Vancouver GPF, his SP 92.99, FS 189.42, Total 282.42. Winning these two coveted titles provided ISU the chance to catapult his scoring to surpass Yuzu’s level at 2019 US Championship where Nate earned SP 113.42, FS 228.80, Total 342.22. This launched the start of record-breaking phase of his competitive career. It is in line with their narrative that this is the Nathan-era and have his name dominating WRs, List of highest scores in Figure Skating, winning GPF and WC championships titles, emulating Yuzu’s previous achievements. Contrary to the reasons given by ISU, I’ve come to conclude the new scoring system was introduced to make way for a clean start (Yuzu’s past WRs became historical), provided more room for manipulation to quickly close the gap in scores between them and having Nate setting WRs. Checklist – According to Wikipedia, Nate holds the highest scores for the following quadruple jumps: 4Lz (16.26), 4F (15.40), 4S (14.83), 4F+3T (20.23) and the second highest scores for the following quadruple jumps: 4T (13.71), 4T+3T (18.46), 4T+1Eu+3S (17.01), 4T+1Eu+3F (19.14). He also holds the highest and a perfect ChSq1 score of 5.50 and the highest StSq4 score of 5.73 among male and female singles skaters under the new scoring system. With this, he has established himself as a top skate with high PCS scores assured. He became the WR holder for both Combined Total and Free Skate, set at 2019 Torino GPF. The WR Short program is set by Yuzu who also held all historical WRs for Combined, Free and Short. I imagined it wouldn’t be too difficult to break the current Short WR given the momentum ISU has been slaying Yuzu and rewarding Nate. He has overtaken Yuzu as three-time World champion and is a three-time GPF champion, possibly on par with Yuzu as a four-time champ this upcoming season). I couldn’t help but felt there was just too much coincidence of chance happenings to Yuzu at both important/major competitions - 2019 Torino GPF and 2021 World Championships. At Torino GPF, of all participating athletes, it had to be Yuzu’s coach who lost his passport, hence he was left to be on his own heading into his short program. If it was part of a plan to prevent him from making history ie becoming a five-time GPF champion, I wondered if someone was inspired by Shoma Uno sitting alone at the Kiss and Cry area at 2019 Internationaux de France. At 2021 World Championships, Yuzu was looking healthier and stronger than before and he was leading after the Short program, hence the argument of the asthma attack was triggered by him stressing over Nate did not stand for me. The possibility of sabotaging is not too far-fetched. If Yuzu wins both the 2019 GPF and 2021 World Championships, he will be a three-time World Champions champion and five-time GPF champion, furthering the gap between him and Nate (not forgetting the two-time Olympic champion titles). If Nathan wins, he will be a three-time World Championships champion, three-time GPF champion, closing the gap between Yuzu and him. As ego and pride stand, the scenario of Yuzu winning both titles cannot be tolerated. In fact, it was an opportunity to suppress Yuzu’s scores at the Torino GPF so that Nate will be in a stronger position going into World Championships. Now, the narrative continues with Yuzu regressing in his technicalities when another young skater, his compatriot Yuma Kagiyama beating him to a silver medal at the 2021 World Championships while Yuzu settled for a bronze medal. Nate has been successfully crafted as the untouchable one. Hence, anything that might jeopardize such outcome have been taken care of in advance. These include changing BV of 4A to a lower value of 12.50 (in case someone successfully jumps it at Beijing Olympics?) and delaying the implementation of full BVs of jump sequences after 2022 Beijing. It is important all these are to be achieved before the next Olympic. The ISU has taken great pains in the making of a (US) legend post 2018 PyeongChang. So comes Beijing 2022, there will be no surprise/scandal when the American becomes the Olympic champion. It makes me fuming with anger the more I think of it. No doubt, Nate is talented in technicalities but it is far from the truth (based on TES and PCS scores) to suggest he is a more well-rounded/complete skater than Yuzu. I am praying fervently for Yuzu’s happiness and good (physical and mental) health. May all the forces of the universe be with him, all the stars are aligned for him to reach his biggest dream of landing 4A. I like the fact that he’s the only active competitive skater eligible for being the only other skater besides Gillis Grafström with three consecutive Olympics titles if he’s on the podium next year. or turning his attention full on chasing elusive title such as the only man in Figure Skating history to do two different quadruple jumps. It would definitely upstage the Olympic champion (unless it’s him) and everything else. It would be the perfect ending to his illustrious competitive career.

After some botched PR attempts to promote Nate in the WTT Exhibition Gala (during Yuzu’s performance) and his homophobic comments in recent interview, maybe the US media finally realized it is a safer approach to boost Yuzu and thereby indirectly proclaiming a great(er) Nate who goes ahead of Yuzu and win Gold in Beijing Oly next year (as expected based on post PyeongChang Oly scoring of both skaters).

I’m definitely with you that he meant what he said. It seemed his PR team and him didn’t expect the online backlash that followed though I remembered (being pissed off after) watching his previous interview where he replied to watch ice dance for artistry. He has since set my expectations of his performances. Mostly athleticism came through his programs then and it still does.

From now till Beijing 2022, the US media will be in an overdrive as a PR machinery for their top skater. I ponder on the timing of this topic. Is this a message from him to all to stop expecting/questioning his artistry (straight men see it as being feminine or an excuse for those who lack in this department?) but expect athleticism from him and his programs? Are we being prepped for more mayhem in the scoring of PCS when the new seasopn begins?

The spirit and soul of a Champion shines through this Oly Simei, making it extra special to me.

Thank you🙂