General Yuzuru Chat

[Paskud]

1 hour ago, GraceAndPower said:

https://japan-forward.com/ice-time-new-book-on-alexandra-trusova-a-compelling-read/
 

 

The book sounds pretty interesting. They're even talking about turning it into a movie!

Oh no, we are releasing book about Russian teenager no one really cares about in Japan. What we will do? I know! We will drag Hanyu's name in promotional article!

Courtesy of foremost figure skating expert, Gallagher, because who else?

[EisElle]

15 hours ago, Paskud said:

Oh no, we are releasing book about Russian teenager no one really cares about in Japan. What we will do? I know! We will drag Hanyu's name in promotional article!

Courtesy of foremost figure skating expert, Gallagher, because who else?

Sasha has been a groundbreaker in quads for ladies' field so I'm sure there's plenty to make a book about her life interesting, but I'm sideeyeing really hard how Gallagher chose to drop a Yuzu mention especially since the two aren't exactly close, and their vision of FS is very different. I'm willing to bet that quote is the main Hanyu quote in the whole book

also kinda sideeyeing whoever put a pic of Sasha's gorgeous green costume right after mentioning Olga (who didn't design that particular costume)

 

15 hours ago, Pammi said:

JNats was magical, but a special mention too to Hana wa Saku at Worlds, and particularly the 3A - the music builds, and he lands it perfectly with the crescendo of the music, and I had goosebumps and cried at the sheer beauty of that jump, of Yuzuru, and of his skating and sentiment, I was healed, he IS a healer no doubt - I also loved the on-ice filming of the gala (well done Jordan) (BUT no forgiveness of the cameraman who made us miss the lay back spin, I cried at that too but in a different way!!)

joining you for the WC Hana wa Saku as highlight - it really felt healing, especially after that FS and the heartbreak and worry for Yuzuru

(WTT Hana wa Saku wasn't as healing because there had been no heartbreak, and 3A wasn't as perfect and also Simon ruined my mood gosh still fuming about that).

 

Another highligh for me was the WTT SP, and especially the 3A mistake. It put me in an incomprehensible good mood idk why seeing Yuzu missing out on a very possible WR in the most unexpected way made me so cheerful, it just felt a very Yuzuru rollercoasterismysecondname Hanyu moment and I loved it all the same and it was even more hilarious to see that the internet absolutely shared the feeling

Also whole JNats, starting from the "what's his music?????!!!!????" mistery that lasted even after the first practice reports and the debating on which LMEY it was, to the magic of the first TenChi (I had not seen the clean rt before the comp, so it was such an emotion to see it live in the FS!) to HYK at gala Yuzu gave me a great Christmas gift!

I also loved TenChi at WTT, despite the Sal blunder.

Finally, all the times that I bawled my eyes out at Yuzuru's messages through the year. Oh, and Yuzuru's thesis!

[barbara]

This is sort of a video but not official - I don't know if it should be on this forum but I thought it might.  So cool to see Yuzu and Jun and Ghislain (and Roman who was about to put his hand around Yuzu's waist....).

 

[Paskud]

JSF White Wall Video where Zu went through his old programs was actually THE WORST part of past year, because he left out Hana ni Nare and there are some things in this world that are unforgivable and onE OF THEM IS MISTER HANYU AVOIDING HANA NI NARE.

[IceWings]

 

16 hours ago, Henni147 said:

My favorite headlines of 2021 

 

"Impossible Axel with illusion exit and negative GOE steals everyone's show at the World Team Trophy."  

I love it when he falls and people are like, "Even his falls look nice!" And then when he flubs a landing, everyone is like "OMG! How could he have saved that jump? GOAT!!!" 

 

 

16 hours ago, amylance1215 said:

Answer below~ I got it right~~~ 

 

Spoiler

LMAO, I originally thought #4, but then I thought that nose is so small and pretty, it must be a lady's nose, so I chose #9 instead. And it turns out that #9 is actually the one that's a lady's nose!  

[lajoitko]

Happy one year anniversary to these videos!

 

 

[amylance1215]

The little girl's face is too precious. I'd definitely look like that too if Yuzu was within my reach 

Alex is so lucky~~~

 

[Henni147]

So there was another proposal at the latest ISU congress again to raise the minimum age limit for senior competitions.

I have to quote the reasoning, because it makes my skin crawl:

 

"Since 1994 four different Olympic champions in ladies figure skating were 15, 16 or 17 years old when earning their title (1994, 1998, 2002 and 2014). Neither of the champions were participating the following season at the World Figure Skating Championships. There is an immense pressure on the skaters on a top senior level and to debut on senior level at 15 years old does not seem to motivate them to have a long career in the sport. Our sport should facilitate rules and competition environment that support the possibility of a long lasting career. [...]

To catch media and the audience interest, our sport needs profiled athletes that can promote the sport in a positive way over a longer period of time. Younger skaters are pushed to perform difficult technical elements to be able to compete against the more experienced and older skaters with better program component skills. As the skaters grow older and the mentality, body and technical abilities change, it is hard to maintain the same difficult technical level."

 

Source: https://twitter.com/FedUpLys/status/1389980092231782413

 

 

There you have

• a reigning two-time Olympic champion
• a megastar with record following worldwide
• a mature adult skater with loads of experience and polished skills
• who still competes after 11 senior seasons
• who still grows technically at the age of 26 and strives for a friggin' quad Axel
• and who popularizes figure skating even in the most remote places of this planet, where people have never even seen ice and snow before.

This skater literally fulfills all their "wishes" listed above and what do they do? Do their utmost to rob, discourage and humiliate him, to push him out of the sport and belittle his achievements. And all that because he doesn't have the right passport.

 

Seriously. It blows my mind that every ISU congress and webinar asks exactly for those things that Yuzuru Hanyu 100% embodies with his skating, art and persona. But when it's about medals and PR, they treat him like garbage. It's maddening.

[EisElle]

7 hours ago, amylance1215 said:

The little girl's face is too precious. I'd definitely look like that too if Yuzu was within my reach 

Alex is so lucky~~~

 

the funniest thing is that on the FS day the flower girls went for a hug too

(good girls, it would have been unfair if young Voronov had been be the only one allowed to slack off &get hugs while on duty )

since it was after Zu had injured himself, all those kids crowding Yuzu made me extra soft

(edited for typos argh)

 

6 hours ago, Henni147 said:

Our sport should faciliate rules and competition environment that support the possibility of a long lasting career. [...]

To catch media and the audience interest, our sport needs profiled athletes that can promote the sport in a positive way over a longer period of time.

yeah, that part made me roll my eyes HARD.

All they've been doing for the past 5years (at least) has been to squander the incredible stroke of luck they got with someone like Yuzuru, who can do all of that unprompted.

They've chosen to use him as a stepping stone for what they aimed for (since they're still persuaded that a homechampion is all they need to make FS great again in NA and Europe) and ok, I can understand that... but they did it all the wrong way and the result is just that they've made an active enemy of a fandom that was ready to follow and support FS (me among others. Now I can't wait to drop FS till when AI judging will be implemented)

And Yuzuru isn't even the first one they treated like this, they showed the door to Mao too (and it's significant how different things were for Carolina instead, who was getting all the PCS and was celebrated for her skills even when she wasn't exactly landing her jumps consistently)

 

Anyway, changing age limit won't magically grant longer careers, just like the +-5GOE system didn't magically solve the scoring issues (merely amplified them) and e.g. changing PCS factorization for ladies similarly won't change that pcs scoring is completely bonkers.

The main issue FS is and has always been is how the sport is run by feds and ISU. Maybe they should all just start calming the f*** down when they score any new wunderkid with the right flag...

 

[Melodie]

1 hour ago, Henni147 said:

So there was another proposal at the latest ISU congress again to raise the minimum age limit for senior competitions.

I have to quote the reasoning, because it makes my skin crawl:

 

"Since 1994 four different Olympic champions in ladies figure skating were 15, 16 or 17 years old when earning their title (1994, 1998, 2002 and 2014). Neither of the champions were participating the following season at the World Figure Skating Championships. There is an immense pressure on the skaters on a top senior level and to debut on senior level at 15 years old does not seem to motivate them to have a long career in the sport. Our sport should facilitate rules and competition environment that support the possibility of a long lasting career. [...]

To catch media and the audience interest, our sport needs profiled athletes that can promote the sport in a positive way over a longer period of time. Younger skaters are pushed to perform difficult technical elements to be able to compete against the more experienced and older skaters with better program component skills. As the skaters grow older and the mentality, body and technical abilities change, it is hard to maintain the same difficult technical level."

 

Source: https://twitter.com/FedUpLys/status/1389980092231782413

 

 

There you have

• a reigning two-time Olympic champion
• a megastar with record following worldwide
• a mature adult skater with loads of experience and polished skills
• who still competes after 11 senior seasons
• who still grows technically at the age of 26 and strives for a friggin' quad Axel
• and who popularizes figure skating even in the most remote places of this planet, where people have never even seen ice and snow before.

This skater literally fulfills all their "wishes" listed above and what do they do? Do their utmost to rob, discourage and humiliate him, to push him out of the sport and belittle his achievements. And all that because he doesn't have the right passport.

 

Seriously. It blows my mind that every ISU congress and webinar asks exactly for those things that Yuzuru Hanyu 100% embodies with his skating, art and persona. But when it's about medals and PR, they treat him like garbage. It's maddening.

Credit: https://twitter.com/MartinaFrammart

 

 

Martina did an excellent job putting into numbers what Olympic champions have done after they win, which really highlights what you've just said (I couldn't agree more, by the way). Looking at the numbers (surely ISU peeps can understand numbers? ), Yuzu really is the unique one and as @LadyLou has said, the stroke of luck they won't have again. 

 

Let's just say, ISU and feds are nothing but a whole bunch of greedy idiots. 

 

[Melodie]

36 minutes ago, LadyLou said:

e.g. changing PCS factorization for ladies similarly won't change that pcs scoring is completely bonkers.

 

 

They don't even propose changing PCS factorization all the way through. WTH is changing the factor for the FS but keeping the factor for the SP?????

 

 

[Henni147]

47 minutes ago, LadyLou said:

They've chosen to use him as a stepping stone for what they aimed for (since they're still persuaded that a homechampion is all they need to make FS great again in NA and Europe) and ok, I can understand that...

 

The irony is:

 

Yuzuru Hanyu is trending on US twitter. Yuzuru Hanyu is included in Google Search in Year. Yuzuru Hanyu appears on the big screen at Times Square. Yuzuru Hanyu is literally everywhere and his popularity has long surpassed that of figure skating as a whole.

 

I bet that a CiONTU tour across the US would be sold out within 24 hours and Yuzu could even fill ice hockey arenas like the United Center in Chicago with a capacity of almost 20K with ease. I would love to see everyone's dumb face, if that eventually happened.

[KendallKlaire]

2 hours ago, Henni147 said:

"Since 1994 four different Olympic champions in ladies figure skating were 15, 16 or 17 years old when earning their title (1994, 1998, 2002 and 2014). Neither of the champions were participating the following season at the World Figure Skating Championships. There is an immense pressure on the skaters on a top senior level and to debut on senior level at 15 years old does not seem to motivate them to have a long career in the sport. Our sport should facilitate rules and competition environment that support the possibility of a long lasting career. [...]

To catch media and the audience interest, our sport needs profiled athletes that can promote the sport in a positive way over a longer period of time. Younger skaters are pushed to perform difficult technical elements to be able to compete against the more experienced and older skaters with better program component skills. As the skaters grow older and the mentality, body and technical abilities change, it is hard to maintain the same difficult technical level."

 

Source: https://twitter.com/FedUpLys/status/1389980092231782413

 

(Forgive my rambling thoughts)

 

There's just so much in this proposal that screams how out of touch the ISU is with figure skating currently. I mean, shouldn't they have implemented something YEARS ago if they recognized this age problem??? Plus, as the ISU and judging have proven over and OVER, component scores don't matter anymore. It's all about the technical. Young girls who do quad jumps are going to win over older girls and young women competing who haven't trained to do quads or need to condition their post-puberty body to perform quad jumps. 

 

If a girl is 15/16 years old, performing quads (Eteri girls basically), they are going to win all the competitions (except the ones where they are competing against one another) so the only thing that would motivate them to continue is if they missed out on an Olympic year. I get that someone like Trusova hasn't won ALL her competitions, but put her against any skater not doing quads and she will come out on top (as long as she doesn't keep falling). It's made ladies skating much more boring to watch really because a lot of these young girls are just a bore to watch outside of their jumps for me (except Kostornaia). 

 

This has all created a very unfortunate situation for figure skating and its future. There was a time when ladies skating progressing into quads would be exciting and draw more interest in the sport, but unfortunately because it is mostly these very young Russian ladies doing them (and subsequently retiring at 17) that interest hasn't come about how the ISU expected. The ISU pretty much encouraged this and ladies skating is suffering as a result. If the skater is just aiming to win an Olympic title and retire thereafter there's nothing to keep me in the sport for ladies skating. (Though I do see my favorite ladies skaters Rika and Kaori possibly competing after the Olympics, I don't see them as gold medal favorites sadly...)

 

I also believe the ISU does not AT ALL understand the level of Yuzuru's popularity. Are they so used to women skaters pulling in audiences they are ignoring the most popular skater in the world of the last decade? I don't think I need to go too in depth here as others have said what needs to be said in this regard. It is very angering to see that these ISU proposals are coming out in what is likely going to be the twilight of Yuzu's career. He was so far beyond them that the ISU does not realize what they let slip through their fingers. 

[Anni]

More photos from the photobook "The Real"
 

And here ⬇️⬇️
 

Spoiler

 

Source
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/能登-直/dp/4635550222#immersive-view_1620311061685

 

[NEWS]

[senemgencer]

2 hours ago, Melodie said:

Credit: https://twitter.com/MartinaFrammart

 

 

Martina did an excellent job putting into numbers what Olympic champions have done after they win, which really highlights what you've just said (I couldn't agree more, by the way). Looking at the numbers (surely ISU peeps can understand numbers? ), Yuzu really is the unique one and as @LadyLou has said, the stroke of luck they won't have again. 

 

Let's just say, ISU and feds are nothing but a whole bunch of greedy idiots. 

 

 

 

Can you pls give the link to her article where she put this table in? I checked the last 3, but couldn't see. Thanks in advance