General Yuzuru Chat

[airi]

7 minutes ago, alwaysafan said:

Really now, I answered another with my thoughts regarding this issue. I'm not interested in proving anything. Let it go.

ok, but you see, it's no good answer here for that question.

you don't have to answer, I just snapped...

 

I rarely even react to those elaborate big plot conspiracy theories, even if sometimes they make me roll eyes, but this hit me to hard. I feel literally everything some media says, good or bad, will always be twisted to be against Yuzu. Just to stay negative always, even if things are good.

 

Media go with the winner, especially the winner who wins like this. They will rave for Nathan this week, stay assured. Everything will be 'back to normal'.

 

 

[madraykin]

12 minutes ago, Salior said:

 

I thought the same gushing happened last year, right up until the CoR FS. People have memory of a goldfish, and the news want to jump on the bandwagon to feed that narrative, so people can read them and feel good that they're agreeing with everyone. 

I have to admit I missed the GP live last year so I didn't follow the press coverage - all I've heard is the event commentary when I went back and caught up.

[KatjaThera]

Personally, I think it's a mix of things. I think a lot of them genuinely believed he was done and did not expect he would come our strongly like this.

 

I think it's also going to be part of a narrative. They'll build up the rivalry front right up to when they face each other. And then if Nathan wins, it'll be even better. If somehow Yuzu still manages to beat him, it's cool, because he's the GOAT, so being beaten by the GOAT is an honor, anyway. Or some such thing. Really, being good to Yuzu is good for them, it's just funny it took them so long to realize it.

 

And I've been having some thoughts about Yuzu's finally speaking up about the judging issues and the direction the sport is going in. Part of it is probably because of how pissed off he was after ACI. I mean I was furious, I can't imagine how he must have felt. But I wonder if another part might not be because he's seen how many up and coming skaters look up to him. All the tributes in juniors, but also senior skaters declaring he's their idol. Maybe he thought that if he shared his thoughts and beliefs with these skaters and they understood and adopted his skating philosophy, then that might help the sport return to a better path even if the ISU won't be bothered to do anything. Maybe it's, at least in part, for them that he's decided to speak up.

 

And with these comments, I also wonder if maybe (one of?) his current goal might be to win in a 'war' against empty quad focused programs, by proving once again that programs where both technical and artistic aspects are essential are the way to go. And the only way to do that is to win against empty quad focused programs. Single-handedly saving figure skating.

 

At the same time, I think he's more into fanservice nowadays. He enjoys doing it and in a way, Parisan felt a bit like fanservice, too. He knows how popular Masquerade was, so I guess he's giving us things sort of like Masquerade without actually doing Masquerade... lol

[WinForPooh]

I think they realised that there's no point hyping up a rivalry if they push one so high and another so low that it sounds as if there is no rivalry. If you'd listened to them a couple of weeks ago, it sounded like Yuzu was done for and old news and stale bread. I think what they really want is a high stakes rivalry, and most of them have their corner, of course, but a rivalry is not high stakes if it doesn't sound like either could win.

 

Also Yuzu didn't leave them much room to say anything negative. He knocked it out of the park. If he gives them the slightest excuse to call him old news has-been, they take it. He gave them none this time and they all want the clicks. There's no clickbait better than fanyus in figure skating.

 

Plus fanyus are legion, maybe the reaction after ACI was brutal enough that they really didn't want to risk it again by making up false narratives. We did not really hold back on any social media. I think they might have rethought a few things, generally English-speaking fanyus have stuck with semi-polite (by Internet standards) technical talk, a lot of previously diplomatic fanyus did go 'oh, really, is that how you wanna play' directly at them after ACI.

 

 

[alwaysafan]

 

 

 

1

8 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

 

 

And I've been having some thoughts about Yuzu's finally speaking up about the judging issues and the direction the sport is going in. Part of it is probably because of how pissed off he was after ACI. I mean I was furious, I can't imagine how he must have felt. But I wonder if another part might not be because he's seen how many up and coming skaters look up to him. All the tributes in juniors, but also senior skaters declaring he's their idol. Maybe he thought that if he shared his thoughts and beliefs with these skaters and they understood and adopted his skating philosophy, then that might help the sport return to a better path even if the ISU won't be bothered to do anything. Maybe it's, at least in part, for them that he's decided to speak up.

 

And with these comments, I also wonder if maybe (one of?) his current goal might be to win in a 'war' against empty quad focused programs, by proving once again that programs where both technical and artistic aspects are essential are the way to go. And the only way to do that is to win against empty quad focused programs. Single-handedly saving figure skating.

 

 

I agree with this. I think that part of his newfound "calm" is found in having a greater goal than just beating another skater. I don't know if you've seen this post on Reddit analyzing Yuzuru's interview, but it pretty much says the same you wrote here.

[Vulnavia]

I do think there's an outside chance that someone at the ISU may have started to wake up to who their biggest and most marketable star actually is. I like to imagine them watching the Simone Biles mania at the recent gymnastics world championships and going 'man, I wish we had one of those GOATs...hey, wait a second, we do!' 

 

I mean, once again the crowds tell the tale. SkAm wasn't even close to sold out despite being in a fun location like Vegas, while SCI was basically a packed house Yuzucon in Kelowna, BC. And I think we all know that if Yuzu was the headlining skater at SkAm rather than Nathan, that venue would have been packed too. Maybe some of the powers that be are beginning to clue in too, but that also might be far too optimistic, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Sombreuil]

He was noticeably different this weekend- he looked strained all last season,  not surprisingly as he was in pain and physically and mentally tired, with post Olympic come down and the immense frustration of the repeat injury.  He looked kuyashii and I thought a bit annoyed at ACI - I think that interview was carefully considered after the result there.  Here - on tv which is not the same as being there as we know- he looked absolutely resolute- imperious even.  

 

Maybe its it’s simply that last year he looked tired, he had a second injury same place and it looked like a good bet to write him off- god knows in his position they’d all retire and cash in as a few of them said in commentary last season.  This year 🤞he looks as though he’s roaring back, he’s revived, putting 4L back in the free, declaring no intention to retire, his popularity is unquestionable, and pundits like / need to look omniscient - it’s in the job description and so they’re hedging their bets.  It will be fascinating if Shoma  has a good outing in France ....

[Salior]

17 hours ago, KatjaThera said:

Personally, I think it's a mix of things. I think a lot of them genuinely believed he was done and did not expect he would come our strongly like this.

 

I think it's also going to be part of a narrative. They'll build up the rivalry front right up to when they face each other. And then if Nathan wins, it'll be even better. If somehow Yuzu still manages to beat him, it's cool, because he's the GOAT, so being beaten by the GOAT is an honor, anyway. Or some such thing. Really, being good to Yuzu is good for them, it's just funny it took them so long to realize it.

 

And I've been having some thoughts about Yuzu's finally speaking up about the judging issues and the direction the sport is going in. Part of it is probably because of how pissed off he was after ACI. I mean I was furious, I can't imagine how he must have felt. But I wonder if another part might not be because he's seen how many up and coming skaters look up to him. All the tributes in juniors, but also senior skaters declaring he's their idol. Maybe he thought that if he shared his thoughts and beliefs with these skaters and they understood and adopted his skating philosophy, then that might help the sport return to a better path even if the ISU won't be bothered to do anything. Maybe it's, at least in part, for them that he's decided to speak up.

 

And with these comments, I also wonder if maybe (one of?) his current goal might be to win in a 'war' against empty quad focused programs, by proving once again that programs where both technical and artistic aspects are essential are the way to go. And the only way to do that is to win against empty quad focused programs. Single-handedly saving figure skating.

 

At the same time, I think he's more into fanservice nowadays. He enjoys doing it and in a way, Parisan felt a bit like fanservice, too. He knows how popular Masquerade was, so I guess he's giving us things sort of like Masquerade without actually doing Masquerade... lol

 

What he said really struck an important subject - that the techniques you learn when you start skating stays with you and can't be changed easily. And nowadays what do coaches teach young skaters? Pre-rotate their Lz 180˚ because they see how it's being heavily rewarded. We already heard anecdotes from different countries. 

 

Now we have Yuzu who couldn't pre-rotate even if he wanted to, what's next, a new generation of skater who can't jump the proper technique even if they wanted to? Pre-rotation inherently runs the risk of injury due to the reduced takeoff speed from rotating the blade on ice. How long can the skater stay small and tiny enough to overcome this? How many skaters will be plagued with injury and tossed aside 2 years after they went senior?  Figure skating fans stay when skaters have long careers, the most famous of those competed for 5-6 years to attract the following they had. FS will lose even more fans when their favourites can't even stay in competition for more than a few years. 

[WinForPooh]

4 minutes ago, Vulnavia said:

I do think there's an outside chance that someone at the ISU may have started to wake up to who their biggest and most marketable star actually is. I like to imagine them watching the Simone Biles mania at the recent gymnastics world championships and going 'man, I wish we had one of those GOATs...hey, wait a second, we do!' 

 

I mean, once again the crowds tell the tale. SkAm wasn't even close to sold out despite being in a fun location like Vegas, while SCI was basically a packed house Yuzucon in Kelowna, BC. And I think we all know that if Yuzu was the headlining skater at SkAm rather than Nathan, that venue would have been packed too. Maybe some of the powers that be are beginning to clue in too, but that also might be far too optimistic, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Could also be that they could see Yuzu was beginning to get pretty angry about all of this, angry enough to say something. Him being angry enough to go back into his cave and drill 4Lz and 4A until he can land them? Good for them all, plenty to talk about, pushes the sport forward. Him being angry enough to do exactly what the rules say he should and then actually talk about it and the scores and judging and technique? Not quite so good for them.

 

They can't write his words off as inconsequential. There's pretty much nobody in the sport with more right to speak about all of that than he does. He is the global ambassador of the sport whether they like it or not, him saying all of this, even if not in English, actually matters.

[Salior]

23 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

 

Could also be that they could see Yuzu was beginning to get pretty angry about all of this, angry enough to say something. Him being angry enough to go back into his cave and drill 4Lz and 4A until he can land them? Good for them all, plenty to talk about, pushes the sport forward. Him being angry enough to do exactly what the rules say he should and then actually talk about it and the scores and judging and technique? Not quite so good for them.

 

They can't write his words off as inconsequential. There's pretty much nobody in the sport with more right to speak about all of that than he does. He is the global ambassador of the sport whether they like it or not, him saying all of this, even if not in English, actually matters.

 

All his English comments were pretty mild and happy though, and I seriously doubt they'd find a translator to see what he said in Japanese, or even know about those articles in the first place. We're pretty much the only ones who know thanks to our fan translators, but I'm pretty sure they know nothing about this, that's probably how they stayed ignorant for so long. We fans are just arguing on our own platforms and they're insulated from it. Those who run the social media page likely don't even have the authority to do anything. 

 

Don't want to doubt anything, but their gala replacement suggestion really showed how out of touch they were. Trying to attract new fans without addressing the issues that caused fans to leave in the first place. That doesn't sound like good communication and problem solving. 

[WinForPooh]

5 minutes ago, Salior said:

 

All his English comments were pretty mild and happy though, and I seriously doubt they'd find a translator to see what he said in Japanese, or even know about those articles in the first place. We're pretty much the only ones who know thanks to our fan translators, but I'm pretty sure they know nothing about this, that's probably how they stayed ignorant for so long. We fans are just arguing on our own platforms and they're insulated from it. Those who run the social media page likely don't even have the authority to do anything. 

 

Well they're not as insulated as all that. I have seen an ISU official on another skating forum, for instance. And a lot of the newly appointed assistant tech specialists and so on are much younger and have social media presence. And after ACI and SkAm I read something about judges who were on social media turning comments off because they were spammed with tech questions? So people like Lakernik and Fabio might not have much of a clue but a lot of people do see what's going on.

 

And longer term? I don't think Skate Canada is fully on board the American hype train. They have their own skaters to sell by Beijing. Scoring Yuzu properly is good for them for that, right now.

[Salior]

15 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

 

Well they're not as insulated as all that. I have seen an ISU official on another skating forum, for instance. And a lot of the newly appointed assistant tech specialists and so on are much younger and have social media presence. And after ACI and SkAm I read something about judges who were on social media turning comments off because they were spammed with tech questions? So people like Lakernik and Fabio might not have much of a clue but a lot of people do see what's going on.

 

No doubt the organisation is big and the young will know what's going on. The problem is whether those with the information have the power to change anything. If the ISU is hierarchical and heavily influenced by politics which they likely is, the older generation in the management won't find these an issue because "that's how things has always been", and they'd rather not piss off fed support. I can only hope this is not true, but so many years of letting down I'm not sure if I can still trust them anymore. 

[memae]

45 minutes ago, Salior said:

The rest had a history of ditching and stomping on Yuzu at first sign of failure. TSL criticised his costume for being girly, called H&L "empty and have no transitions", Dave shat on him every opportunity he could, constantly belittled him and gushed over his rivals, tried to bait people into talking Yuzu down (which he got praises instead and he looked furious). They're literally the last person I'd trust on anything. Their entire reason for existing is to feed drama and gossip (like one day they decided to post on twitter that Alina is named after Putin's mistress), they make nasty comments at people's weight, mental health and anorexia (like dissing Gabrielle's instagram for being attention seeking), spread lies about skaters by claiming injured skaters are faking their injuries, and tell bigoted people what they want to hear by trashing ugly skaters. Biggest bully I've ever seen. 

 

 

I don't interpret that from them at all. Yeah, they're bitchy and gossipy and that's their shtick  but I think Dave is the last person who's going to make nasty comments about eating disorders since he has talked about his previous struggles with one. They weren't dissing Gabrielle's instagram so much as raising an eyebrow - and rightly so. It's not healthy for someone with a history of eating disorders (and there's no way she recovered that quickly) to be seeking validation the way that she is on Instagram. It's not empowering. It's her eating disorder manifesting in a way that seems better but isn't. They were right to call it attention seeking - but here's the thing... she needs attention because she needs help getting better. Anyone with personal experience of eating disorders can see that. 

 

I also don't think they're nearly as negative about Yuzu when they have criticisms as so many people like to think they do. People are so protective of Yuzu that they can't hear a word against him, even if it's a valid criticism or speculation. And, as we've seen since ACI this year, he can handle himself just fine when it comes to influencing and responding to narratives about himself.

[YellowShib]

1 hour ago, Salior said:

 

what's next, a new generation of skater who can't jump the proper technique even if they wanted to?

You really hit the nail on the head with this one. The judging trajectory is too narrow minded for current hype, I question whether they really think of FS in terms of the next few decades. Sometimes I ask myself (mind you I've only been watching for 3 years) how fs as a sport has been surviving for this long with its plethora of questionable decisions.

 

I remember someone once said, the sport itself has the benefit of time to maintain its long existence and recover from mishaps while athletes don't. That's why athletes and coaches do everything they can (even adopting wrong technique) to achieve the most out of the time they have with the sport. But on the other hand, the judging body creates a questionable trajectory for the sport that would probably take either a firm agreement to promote correct technique (which is so far fetched with isu right now it's just sad) or a very long time before the sport recovers again.

[Vulnavia]

26 minutes ago, memae said:

I also don't think they're nearly as negative about Yuzu when they have criticisms as so many people like to think they do. People are so protective of Yuzu that they can't hear a word against him, even if it's a valid criticism or speculation. 

 

My problem is more with stuff like them stating that Yuzu hates Shoma as if it's a fact when it's actually completely made up nonsense, or constantly trying to start rumors that there's tension and drama in Yuzu's relationships with his coaches when, again, there's no evidence of that whatsoever.