Oct. 28, 2019 Yuzuru Hanyu Sponichi Interview 😎

[WinForPooh]

Our boy snapped but in the most respectful way.

 

Original article:

 

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2019/10/28/kiji/20191028s00079000326000c.html

 

Archived:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20191029135945/https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2019/10/28/kiji/20191028s00079000326000c.html

 

Compilation of translations we have:

 

 

 

 

Translation in Chinese:

 

 

 

 

 

A useful thread on the mechanics of a Lz to understand what Yuzu is saying:

 

 

 

[Salior]

9 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

Our boy snapped but in the most respectful way.

 

 

 

 

 

He knows 

 

If only it's translated officially and gets the attention it deserves ... 

[WinForPooh]

Just now, Salior said:

 

He knows 

He's always known but now he says it. WOWWW!!!

[Bilge]

Just now, WinForPooh said:

He's always known but now he says it. WOWWW!!!

 

It's just sad and painful seeing they amorphed everything until the best in the field dubt himself. 

[WinForPooh]

6 minutes ago, Bilge said:

 

It's just sad and painful seeing they amorphed everything until the best in the field dubt himself. 

 

That is very true.

 

It's still amazing to see how he finds the strength to keep being true to himself despite that.

[yuzupon]

1 hour ago, WinForPooh said:

Our boy snapped but in the most respectful way.

 

 

 

 

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.

[shanshani]

1 hour ago, WinForPooh said:

Our boy snapped but in the most respectful way.

 

 

 

 

For some reason when I click the link it says the page doesn't exist, but I still found the tweet. I'm going to try to render it in more idiomatic English because I found the translation a little hard to understand and want to be clear whether I'm understanding it correctly. Just going to do the parts about jump tech. I'm doing some guesswork here as to what the translation means, so don't take this as authoritative or anything. It's also not at all going to be a close translation of Yuzu's words.

 

So:

 

Interviewer: How much of the "things that only I have" that you mentioned before the competition have you shown?

 

Yuzu: I thought to myself that those were what I could rely on in competition but I still felt that I had to gradually pursue harder jumps. I've been practicing with the thought that those jumps are necessary. The axel, and the lutz too. This competition was one where I felt that I didn't have to upgrade my difficulty, that I could rely on my old weapons, which was good. Increased difficulty has an impact on the health of all skaters. Of course, the 4Lz is very difficult, but it's possible that everyone may be able to jump it, if they want to. It also depends on the type of skater. In my case, no matter how hard I practice, I can't pre-rotate it. It wasn't taught that way when I was young. Gradually, the 4Lz might stop being a lutz jump. But at the same time, each skater is different and has their own way of jumping. But I think the current situation is that the scores are tilted towards more difficult jumps, and the balance with PCS has been thrown off. On the other hand, I think that this time I showed that I could perform the music even with my jumps, which is good. Especially the last 4Teu3F. I did a difficult jump combo while matching the music well. I think my weapon is that I can express the music even with difficult jumps, but I think it could be appreciated more. I'm sorry I talked too much *laughs*

 

Interviewer: so would you like to create another form of competition?

 

Yuzu: It's not like that. I've been wondering if the approach I'm taking is truly right or wrong. Whether getting to a standstill position and prerotating might be the right way to jump. Another example is, I've always had a lot of doubts that jumps done from difficult steps are given credit for that. Since the start of this season, I placed high importance on that. I thought, I've been skating a long time, and that was my weapon. It was good it was appreciated this time, which helps reassure me. I believe I must keep doing such things in the future when I add the Lutz or the Axel.

the main thing is what "rotating down below" means. I can't really think of anything it could mean but prerotation

 

[caterpillar]

37 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

Our boy snapped but in the most respectful way.

 

 

 

 

 

This might be an irrelevant question, but what does he mean by rotating a jump “below”? Is he saying that he’s having a hard time finishing rotation when landing the jump, or is he talking about prerotation? Or something different? I don’t want to read it as being about prerotation without being sure. 

[shanshani]

40 minutes ago, caterpillar said:

 

This might be an irrelevant question, but what does he mean by rotating a jump “below”? Is he saying that he’s having a hard time finishing rotation when landing the jump, or is he talking about prerotation? Or something different? I don’t want to read it as being about prerotation without being sure. 

that was my assumption. can't really think of a plausible alternative reading

 

So, based on my reading of it, the main takeaways are:

 

1. Yuzu feels like he needs to pursue harder jumps.

2. But the pursuit of harder jumps has a negative impact on all skaters' health

3. He can't pre-rotate the lutz no matter how hard he tries because that's not how lutzes were taught when he was young

4. He kinda feels like some quad lutzes have stopped being lutzes, but is kind of wishy-washy about that

5. He feels that his strength is that he can perform music and hard jumps at the same time, but he feels like it's not appreciated enough

6. He also feels doubts about his approach to competing and understanding of how the sport is evaluated. For instance, whether pre-rotating is okay, and whether difficult entries are rewarded.

7. But he feels reassured by his scores at this competition.

[WinForPooh]

12 minutes ago, caterpillar said:

 

This might be an irrelevant question, but what does he mean by rotating a jump “below”? Is he saying that he’s having a hard time finishing rotation when landing the jump, or is he talking about prerotation? Or something different? I don’t want to read it as being about prerotation without being sure. 

 

I think he literally means below where he rotates it. He rotates in the air, therefore below it is ice.

 

I think he's talking about rotating anywhere except in the air. Another translator seems to think so.

[caterpillar]

8 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

 

I think he literally means below where he rotates it. He rotates in the air, therefore below it is ice.

 

I think he's talking about rotating anywhere except in the air. Another translator seems to think so.

 

Is there any other alternatives, except in air or on ice? 

 

But yes, that makes sense. I was just afraid I was projecting my own opinion on prerotation onto his words. 

[WinForPooh]

1 minute ago, caterpillar said:

 

Is there any other alternatives, except in air or on ice? 

 

But yes, that makes sense. I was just afraid I was projecting my own opinion on prerotation onto his words. 

 

Well, there's air and there's ice, there are no other options for where to rotate, is there? I really cannot see another option at all.

[caterpillar]

4 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

 

Well, there's air and there's ice, there are no other options for where to rotate, is there? I really cannot see another option at all.

 

Haha, sorry, I thought “anywhere but the air” sounded as if there was more than one other option

[shanshani]

Now Yuzu, tell us how you really feel about super PR lutzes.

[WinForPooh]

2 minutes ago, caterpillar said:

 

Haha, sorry, I thought “anywhere but the air” sounded as if there was more than one other option

Well the way judging is going, they could probably submit a form signed by their fed rep saying they completed one rotation out in the parking lot and it might count.

 

Sorry, sorry I'm just very annoyed that things have got so bad that that extremely sweet boy who's always respected ISU and their rules has had to say that.