General Yuzuru Chat

[MajaHled]

The fact that I found myself on a website comparing the prices of goat plushies in Czech online stores really says something about what I've become, doesn't it  (btw. do we have a goat emoji? If not I humbly request one )

[PomeloPooh]

4 hours ago, Bilge said:

Ohh and i was wondering why i haven’t heard much of shizuka but heard a lot about mao midori hmm

 

Also who is shirota and why it affects yuzu?

 

About the Mao/Shizuka difference, in addition to political reasons, I think there are also factors like Mao was the genius little girl whom everyone watched grow up and jump 3A & even quads, while Shizuka was sort of a late-blooming flower, starting to win worlds and Olympics well into her 20s. Also probably most importantly, Mao belonged to a large agency that do publicity really well, sometimes crazily  

 

Shirota-san is head of ANA's figure skating department, which equals Yuzu's team leader. She was the previous chairwoman of JSF, but resigned the job because she was accused of appropriation. I read somewhere that the incident was actually them using fund for a skating program without required procedures, but I don't know the details. Anyway, after she left, JSF fell into the hands of her political rival (who had a speed skating background & imo doesn't care about figure skating...), hence association with her is considered a political disadvantage facing the current JSF. On the other hand, she's an important figure in the rise of Japan's figure skating. She started the summer training camp program that unearthed many talents through the years. She was the team leader when Shizuka won Turino. And she was the one who helped sending Yuzu to train overseas, and had given Yuzu & his mom a lot of help long before becoming his team leader.

(This is all I know which is not much. Please feel free to correct me if I got sth wrong!)

[Moria Polonius]

53 minutes ago, MajaHled said:

The fact that I found myself on a website comparing the prices of goat plushies in Czech online stores really says something about what I've become, doesn't it  (btw. do we have a goat emoji? If not I humbly request one )

 

omg me tooo

 

cheap poohs are so much easier to get

[Bonesfan]

2 hours ago, Xen said:

To be fair, none of our concerns are really new to him. He's pretty much always been judged harsher. 

 

He's the kid in the class who always got 95+ points on test on a normal basis, so gets told he's performing below expectations if he somehow only gets 94. That's his status and how he is judged in a nutshell. Like it or not, he's the one who's had to live and learn to thrive in a mental state where "having such high expectations" is a compliment. Even if objectively, it's slightly unfair, as his 90/100 is probably equivalent to 98/100 when attached to others. If really judged objectively, judges need to start throwing 110+ PCS at him at minimum (where's Max Ambesi when I need him).

 

Yuzu and Patrick were the only two guys in the last quad whose ceiling scores in PCs approached perfect. Other guys, are not there yet, most with ceilings probably around 88-92/100. 

 

Javi received 98.26 PCS at 2016 Worlds.

[Bilge]

Thank you @PomeloPooh 

 

1 hour ago, Coquelicot said:

 

I’d put him No.1 but whatever

 

1 hour ago, Sammie said:

This is a very nice cover. It make Dory look great. I really like this blue on him. 

The costume itself is gorgeous i think, only yellow part was questionable but its not that bad in my eyes now

[Rainbow]

Sorry a little OT.

Regarding Shirota, based on wiki and info on her book,

 

Shirota was an ice dancer who won the All Japan Championship in 1966.  After retirement she became a judge for ISU and JSF.  Over the years she developed personal connections with major figures in international skating circles.

 

In 1994 she became leader of JSF youth development program which she organized and in 1995 was promoted to director of JSF.  She was the Japan team leader during three Olympics, Nagano, Salt Lake City and Torino.  During her long career as JSF director she supported numerous skaters such as Takeshi Honda, Shizuka, Mao, Miki, Daisuke who she supported since he was a novice.

 

She was forced to resign the position in 2006 after misappropriation of funds was leaked to the media.  After her departure JSF found it hard to operate without her international personal connections and she was allowed back to JSF 2009 but with diminished position and power.

 

With her help Yuzu joined TCC in 1992.  He eventually became Olympic champion in 2014.  But it does not seem like he was closely linked to her, as his training base has been in Toronto.  In 2013 ANA became Yuzu’s main sponsor.  Years later in 2016 Shirota became head of ANA skating department.  Perhaps thanks to Yuzu’s success she was offered the position by ANA and has been helping him in coordinating with his various schedules and events.

 

JSF President is Seiko Hashimoto who is well known to be a huge fan of Daisuke Takahashi, so it may be why Yuzu was not really favored by JSF.

[micaelis]

15 hours ago, quadaxelwin said:

I think if there was a ranking on who was the athlete in the world with the lowest body fat, Hanyu would rank in the Top 3 at least... I've never seen an athlete so slim in my life. Except Anna Scherbakova, but then again she is Jr... 

Amongst athletes with low body fat the one type of athlete who would probably win the low-fat sweepstakes if you were doing a general comparison rather than individual comparisons would be road-race bicyclists like you see in the Tour de France.  They are well-known for having almost no body fat.  Every part of their body must be as dense as possible with the premium put on musculature (particularly legs).  In many respects Yuzu has the body design that would do well if he were in the Tour de France, with one caveat - bicycle racing is not the sport an asthmatic should take up.  Trying to climb a road in that high-mountain air is not to be recommended.  Otherwise, though, Yuzu, like most world-class cyclists is short and slender and ideal physique-wise.

 

As far as flototation, I did some quick on-line research.  The general judgment I came up with after going through a number of different sites trying to answer the question of why fat people float more easily than lean people amounts to this.  Someone with Yuzu's physique would be able to float, but they would have to position themselves in the water to take maximum advantage of their high body density.  They could float but they'd have to work at it.  Some of a person's buoyancy is due not to muscle/fat ratios but also the air in the lungs.  My conclusion is that Yuzu would not sink like a rock but he'd be strongly recommended to head for the nearest solid support (another boat, a pool's edge or the nearest shore.  He'd be a lot safer on land than in the water.  Considering Yuzu's general fitness I would not think he would be a drowning victim if he suddenly found himself on the deep end of the pool.  We've seen him over the  years and nobody could say that Yuzu does not possess very strong survival instincts.

 

11 hours ago, Murieleirum said:

I wonder. There are 3 months to GPF. He might start to train Lutz and Flip again by then, or maybe even by November. Being optimistic, his conditions should improve month by month. If they don't improve and he still feels uncomfortable... it's bad news, it would mean that it's kind of permanent. I'm sure Yuzuru's doing everything to avoid that possibility. Of course, his skating is still the best and perfect without those two jumps. But I think he would feel very frustrated and limited in his expressive freedom, and I share the feeling. When you can do something and then you can't do it anymore, it's all kinds of kuyashii. I'm sure he's resisting the temptation to go back to train Lutz and Flip every day with the utmost effort. It's probably very hard. 

At ACI we'll probably be seeing just the top of an iceberg that's 90% underwater.  Yuzu's real work on polishing off his program, as I see it, will take place in the approximately six weeks between ACI and Rostelecom.  Basically Yuzu has almost another summer's worth of preparation he can do.  More significant are the little snippets that have been getting out about his work on a 4A.  We can deduce from those that he's getting the rotation (not surprising) but not the landing.  In what state his landing's are we've no idea, but we can speculate based on his declared intention of a 4A with a 5 GOE.  That means he wants a perfect 4A and I think that means he's going to use the counter-turn entry he uses on his 3A, a move he basically has patented for himself.  As for a landing, I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to land into a spread-eagle.  With and entry and exit like that he'd get his plus 5 and some would be giving him a plus 10 if it were possible.  In any case what I'm finding rather delightful is his hanging the threat of a 4A over the heads of his competitors like a Sword of Damocles.  They'll never know until after he's done his first jump whether they'll be dealing with or not.  Like Brian says, 'Never underestimate Yuzuru Hanyu.'  

[Anony]

7 hours ago, Anzi said:

Wait, my focus is... he can't swim??? Hahahahahahaha why did I burst out laughing and can't  stop myself? Maybe tried to picture the scene he attempts to do swim... sink and float, sink and float...

All I can imagine is Yuzuru hanging on to a pool floatie for dear life 

[yuzuangel]

6 minutes ago, Anony said:

All I can imagine is Yuzuru hanging on to a pool floatie for dear life 

Tbf people with very little body fat find it hard to swim

[Anony]

4 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

Tbf people with very little body fat find it hard to swim

I mean I highly doubt he'd just sink if he's in a deep body of water for any reason, but yeah he'd have to work to stay floating and won't just naturally float like most people.

[Paskud]

41 minutes ago, micaelis said:

That means he wants a perfect 4A and I think that means he's going to use the counter-turn entry he uses on his 3A, a move he basically has patented for himself.

Wow-wow-wow! Slow down, don't gallop.  (sorry, I really wanted to use this )

It means something that in competition only one person did and does counter-3a and that person is two time olympic champion. It's clear that he mastered this but it doesn't mean that it's easy.

[robin]

40 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

Tbf people with very little body fat find it hard to swim

 

With Yuzu's natural talent for things I doubt that'd be a problem if he actually... tried. LOL he doesn't seem interested (which is sad bc I personally find myself attracted to swimming and gliding on skates in similiar ways. PLUS swimming is like the next best alternative to flying.)

[Murieleirum]

3 minutes ago, robin said:

 

With Yuzu's natural talent for things I doubt that'd be a problem if he actually... tried. LOL he doesn't seem interested (which is sad bc I personally find myself attracted to swimming and gliding on skates in similiar ways. PLUS swimming is like the next best alternative to flying.)

 

I feel like skating and skiing are two great alternatives to flying c: swimming is a lot harder because it's high intensity and requires a lot of resistance, I do 10 meters swimming and I'm gasping for breath for 5 minutes! But yeah I love it as well. I actually love all these 'cold' sports because they remove a huge problem for me when working out and doing sports: being HOT and SWEATY. 

 

Also yeah I agree with you with Yuzuru definitely being able to swim, it's just that maybe he doesn't have a lot of occasions because he skates and loves that and is interested in quite few things besides that (music, earphones, trolling). 

[Sammie]

50 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

Tbf people with very little body fat find it hard to swim

Is this really true? My skinny miny 98 lbs friend can swim while my whale of a body sink down to the bottom 

[Old Cat Lady]

5 hours ago, OonsieHui said:

 

I don't quite see why Yuzu would be hit more by this rule than anyone else. (Always assuming fair judging which is a stretch but we can hope). 

 

Because there are only a few people who would normally get 9.5+ PCS. The rule really only applies to maybe 3 skaters.  Since Yuzu gets the highest PCS scores, he loses the most points if he makes a serious error.

 

Nathan, for example, had PCS ranging from 8.96 to 9.32 at 2018 worlds in what is likely his best performance ever after all his competition fell multiple times.  Previous to that performance, he normally got 8 something for PCS scores.  Since the rule provides no guideline for skaters who don't normally score higher than 9.5 (or 9 in case of multiple serious error), this rule technically doesn't apply to him.  Nathan could have fallen and a judge could arguably given him even higher scores than he got.