General Yuzuru Chat

[axelsandwich]

16 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

His best performances so far, especially of his FSes, have all happened after others have done very well, either in their own FSes, or in their preceding SPs. If he's looking to deliver another one on the Oly stage, the extra bonus offered by the good performances of others is almost guaranteed to fuel it. So I shudder to think if the opposite were to happen.

 

Well, good for you then. ^__^  I'm guessing Hanyu is more the sort to be driven by the desire to put his money where mouth is. He's said before that the reason he talks is precisely so he can't get complacent. While that's true enough, and he hasn't been, I think he also just has a natural tendency to talk big, which isn't rare. Not in the slightest. What's rare is his ability to actually back up his talk. And his confidence that he'd be able to in the first place. Then there's his ability to turn disadvantages into advantages (so much so that I'm beginning to think if those of us with all the advantages in life aren't truly the disadvantaged ones, since we tend to be complacent and take it all for granted--I know certainly am...I just wished I knew how to stop) as well as his ability to soldier on despite his mistakes because something inside him is telling him that these mistakes aren't proof that he can't deliver what he's promised, which would be what most people would have viewed them to be, and that the truth is they're actually invisible steps leading him steadily towards to his ultimate goal. He just needs to be brave enough to be able to put his foot on each of them. Which is exactly what he did, and is still doing.

 

What you're doing is perfectly normal and common, though. If I were a slightly more driven person, I'd probably be doing the same as you. ^_^

Oh of course - I've learned it's actually a good thing if his competitors do well, but I guess I see it as a bonus. I don't know if he'd be terribly affected if they're performing poorly - I guess the splatfest in Sochi wasn't ideal but his poor skate had more to do Yuzu psyching himself out, more than the fact everyone else was failing. He definitely does tends to do better if his lead is under threat though...it's just not great for his fans' health.

 

Yes, it's why I don't mind if he bolsters himself up - his version of 'talking the talk' is grounded in self confidence and never dependent on putting others down, and he also works hard to walk the walk. He's the opposite to me when it comes to articulating goals though - I have friends like that who tell people whatever they want to do because they'd then be under pressure to make it come true (and also get bolstered by support from others) whereas scrutiny/support/expectation creates bad pressure for me and I'd rather quietly accomplish my goal and then bask in surprise/admiration after the fact (or suffer disappointment alone LOL). Probably has to do with self confidence tbh, which the boy has in spades, and a healthier attitude towards failure/support from others. Gotta learn from him as always  

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

1 時間前, kaerbさんが言いました:

Oh of course - I've learned it's actually a good thing if his competitors do well, but I guess I see it as a bonus. I don't know if he'd be terribly affected if they're performing poorly - I guess the splatfest in Sochi wasn't ideal but his poor skate had more to do Yuzu psyching himself out, more than the fact everyone else was failing. He definitely does tends to do better if his lead is under threat though...it's just not great for his fans' health.

 

Oh, he doesn't need to be terribly affected. He's only ever terribly affected by himself, anyway. And there seem to be hopeful signs of that having less chance of happening this season. Still, as far as outside forces go, especially when they're not going well, he probably still gets somewhat affected, and what I'm hoping is he's either able to shield himself from that or, more likely (since while his mental fortitude is beyond commendable, his defenses aren't exactly the strongest), he finds a way to turn it into an advantage. 

 

His less-than-perfect skates could be brought about by a culmination of factors but his perfect ones are almost always after great performances by others. My concern isn't what brought on his flawed performances, but what he seems to need to bring forth perfect ones. Which I'm hoping he's able to not be too dependent upon should things not align the way they did before his perfect skates thus far, so that he's able to call them forth despite the lack of challenge.

 

Currently, as a fan, if he ends up leading the charge after the SP, I'd actually rather his lead be challenged, so he feels choked (or stimulated, if you prefer) enough to deliver his FS clean by hook or by crook. But it'd be nice to know that he can also subdue absolutely in both, challenge or no challenge. And I'm hoping his program choices this season will contribute largely in helping him achieve that. 

[hopeandlegacy]

i just wanna talk about this :-( i'm just.. astounded by this guy. (short twitter thread of my thoughts below)

https://twitter.com/hopeandlegacy/status/904592855397568513

[axelsandwich]

24 minutes ago, hopeandlegacy said:

i just wanna talk about this :-( i'm just.. astounded by this guy. (short twitter thread of my thoughts below)

https://twitter.com/hopeandlegacy/status/904592855397568513

this is one of my favourite interviews, mostly bc it makes me affectionately weepy about his crying and it also makes me laugh at the same time (also, I think this confirms an earlier point that we need Yuzu to skate after everyone's done very well and also we should piss him off by not paying attention to him before he starts) 

 

 

[hopeandlegacy]

"DAMN IT LOOK AT ME"

*TRIPLE AXEL* *BAM* "I'M HERE!!!!!"

 

just hilarious. 

[Murieleirum]

9 hours ago, kaeryth said:

 

Oh man... it's really hard to find them and I kinda forgot where I last saw a source... I'll give you a heads up when I do...

 

ETA: Found one... but not the full thing. Just a snippet of the medal ceremony. Poor kiddo looked so sad winning his first nationals...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Seeing this, now I can really understand what Yuzuru meant when he said (about Hope and Legacy): "some people hate me, lots of people love me."

For a little guy like him that has always been patriotic and generous with his own compatriots, it hurts to see him giving so much importance to some violent bunch who decided sport was not the reason they went there to see those guys skate. 

 

I'm also sorry for Takahashi, because as a true sportsman I bet he was annoyed as well by the rude and hurtful behavior or his own fans. 

 

In any case, the past is in the past. These voices, today, are so weak it's not even worth to listen to them at all. His legacy is imposing itself not only in the whole Japan, but in the whole world. 

[Floria]

4CC 2018 tickets are free, but I guess this time there is no chance Yuzu will attend .  

 

[robin]

4 minutes ago, Floria said:

4CC 2018 tickets are free, but I guess this time there is no chance Yuzu will attend .  

 

 

I can see why it's free. Not just Yuzu, I doubt many (any?) of the skaters who qualified for Olympics will attend bc the dates are so close, especially to the team events. That really limits the repertoire of interesting skaters for 4CC

[Floria]

hace 2 minutos , robin said:

 

I can see why it's free. Not just Yuzu, I doubt many (any?) of the skaters who qualified for Olympics will attend bc the dates are so close, especially to the team events. That really limits the repertoire of interesting skaters for 4CC

Yes, I guess this is the main reason. I have just checked the list of participants for 4CC 2014 and there are very few skaters who attended Sochi Olympics. Denis Ten and Misha Ge were there for example. And Javi won European Championships one month before Olympics. I guess he will go and win this time again .

And would Shoma go? He did many competitions last season and it worked really well for him.

 

 

[katonice]

It's quite tempting now to go to 4CC. One would still need to pay for flights and hotels though...

Wonder how difficult it will be to register for tickets.

I guess many people in Taiwan might decide to attend. Lucky them!

[Aotoshiro]

21 minutes ago, Murieleirum said:

 

I'm also sorry for Takahashi, because as a true sportsman I bet he was annoyed as well by the rude and hurtful behavior or his own fans. 

That is why, those people are technically NOT fans.

Explanation of a word 'fan' from the internet dictionary (too lazy to translate from my native language's dictionary): 

an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime,celebrity, etc.

Synonyms include supporter, enthusiast, partisan, booster, addict.

 

There is not even one word that would suggest booing or disrespectful behavior towards other sportsmen (esp. since, we wouldn't have a competition if only one person took part in it???), and even though it originates from the word fanatic, I still don't see that a reason to be disrespectful/threatening towards anybody, ESPECIALLY since Dai-chan himself at one point mentioned it was reassuring to have younger guys with him on the international stage (Worlds 2012 I think?). I think that while he and Yuzu weren't friends (One of them said their personalities don't match the way Yuzu and Nobu do? I need to find the source though...), they were fellow Japanese, and for the first two seasons in Seniors Yuzu would name Takahashi as his role-model/person he needs to catch up to in the Japanese field, and Takahashi would be like "How old are you?!? I wasn't able to talk like this when I first went to Seniors O.O" (doubles as the source for the infamous " Yuzuru laughing at other skater"-said skater seems to have nothing against tho ;))

 

Spoiler

That's why I'm a bit worried about Fanyus that focus on belittling Shoma/sQuad's efforts to match the uncle Team/Yuzuru, instead of just giving critique that might be supportive (in Shoma and Nathan's case, it's more of a Baby fix your alignment, or your hip will give up at the same time as my heart' and I don't know whether to cry or laugh at that)/helpful, as that was (from what I read) the way Yuzuru's-antis-disguised-as-Dai-chan's-fans reacted to Yuzuru climbing up. I don't think a person who screams 'Shoma comes to Kick Hanyu's four letters' is a Shoma fan either...but that's a story for next time.

_{Now I really wonder, if there's a word for such "fans" in English? I know that we differentiate between a "kibic"(a supporter, fan, etc.) and "kibol (a person focusing on offensive behavior towards opposing team, wearing the colors of his supposedly "supported" group) in Polish, but I think most people refer like that only to soccer/football watchers...}

 

Anyway, I'm really glad that Yuzuru was already in Brian's care by then, the advice from the coach who went through the same thing must have really been uplifting (and stuck, considering he remembered it during the press conference in one of the Barcelona's GPFs)

 

 

Also, I'm so glad 'I'm not the only one who focused more on the *Triple Axel* ORE DA*swoosh* exchange rather than on the "I saw Pooh-san and cried" @hopeandlegacy 

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

10 分ぐらい, Aotoshiroさんが言いました:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

That's why I'm a bit worried about Fanyus that focus on belittling Shoma/sQuad's efforts to match the uncle Team/Yuzuru, instead of just giving critique that might be supportive (in Shoma and Nathan's case, it's more of a Baby fix your alignment, or your hip will give up at the same time as my heart' and I don't know whether to cry or laugh at that)/helpful, as that was (from what I read) the way Yuzuru's-antis-disguised-as-Dai-chan's-fans reacted to Yuzuru climbing up. I don't think a person who screams 'Shoma comes to Kick Hanyu's four letters' is a Shoma fan either...but that's a story for next time.

_{Now I really wonder, if there's a word for such "fans" in English? I know that we differentiate between a "kibic"(a supporter, fan, etc.) and "kibol (a person focusing on offensive behavior towards opposing team, wearing the colors of his supposedly "supported" group) in Polish, but I think most people refer like that only to soccer/football watchers...}

 

In team sports, where rougher, more abusive supporters are more rampant, they are usually labelled as "hooligans". I dunno if it applies to this situation though, since hooligans tend to display more physically violent tendencies towards opposing supporters and even towards other supporters, hooligans and non-hooligans and alike, on the same side. To the opposing team, or even to their own team, they usually hurl more verbal abuse.

[Murieleirum]

I haven't come across Fanyus who are disrespectful towards other skaters though. Sure, maybe you won't use sugar-coated tones and words for all of them, especially if you are bitter about injustices that have happened (see: 4cc 2017, which was the first competition I watched live in streaming, and the first time I had a taste of federation inflation). But no Hanyu fan would dream of booing other skaters, or wishing them ill. 

[Forcefield]

1 hour ago, Murieleirum said:

 

Seeing this, now I can really understand what Yuzuru meant when he said (about Hope and Legacy): "some people hate me, lots of people love me."

For a little guy like him that has always been patriotic and generous with his own compatriots, it hurts to see him giving so much importance to some violent bunch who decided sport was not the reason they went there to see those guys skate. 

 

I'm also sorry for Takahashi, because as a true sportsman I bet he was annoyed as well by the rude and hurtful behavior or his own fans. 

 

In any case, the past is in the past. These voices, today, are so weak it's not even worth to listen to them at all. His legacy is imposing itself not only in the whole Japan, but in the whole world. 

 

Sorry OT do you know when and where he said that about Hope and Legacy?

[kaeryth]

8 minutes ago, Forcefield said:

 

Sorry OT do you know when and where he said that about Hope and Legacy?

 

From a Channel NewsAsia article "Figure Skating: Hanyu, Medvedeva retain Grand Prix Final titles"

 

Quote

"The programme is on the theme of hope and legacy and this is like my life, or my skating life," explained former world champion Hanyu. "Some people hate me, lots of people love me, so sometimes I am sad and sometimes I am happy. These two halves are what the programme shows."