General Yuzuru Chat

[Pammi]

I've not seen this before, have you? Clean runthrough of  R&J in practice at Sochi (well he doesn't do all the jumps here eg. 3F) but he got the 2 quads and  we see one beautiful 3A combo too before the camera has a look at Dai (during Yuzuru's RT arrrggghhh!!)

 

EDIT oh I now notice it was only posted on YT today!

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

[barbara]

2 hours ago, Pammi said:

I've not seen this before, have you? Clean runthrough of  R&J in practice at Sochi (well he doesn't do all the jumps here eg. 3F) but he got the 2 quads and  we see one beautiful 3A combo too before the camera has a look at Dai (during Yuzuru's RT arrrggghhh!!)

 

EDIT oh I now notice it was only posted on YT today!

It is my opinion that Plushenko, who was watching that initial practice, and then part of the run through, realized he wasn't going to be able to beat Yuzu and that's why he withdrew.

[sallycinnamon]

1 hour ago, barbara said:

It is my opinion that Plushenko, who was watching that initial practice, and then part of the run through, realized he wasn't going to be able to beat Yuzu and that's why he withdrew.

 

I think he knew it well before the competition. He went for the team competition where he won the gold medal, that is what mattered. And since he was the only Russian competitor in the men's it would have been too much to skate his SP & FS in both events anyway. So he WD.

[makebelieveup]

1 hour ago, sallycinnamon said:

 

I think he knew it well before the competition. He went for the team competition where he won the gold medal, that is what mattered. And since he was the only Russian competitor in the men's it would have been too much to skate his SP & FS in both events anyway. So he WD.

well sochi was...idk a scandal. if russia could inflate that much points for their girl, i think as long as plushenko landed his jumps maybe he could have still won idk. i wasnt following the sport when sochi happened but the way they inflated sotnikova's score was quite bad

[barbara]

20 minutes ago, makebelieveup said:

well sochi was...idk a scandal. if russia could inflate that much points for their girl, i think as long as plushenko landed his jumps maybe he could have still won idk. i was following the sport when sochi happened but the way they inflated sotnikova's score was quite bad

Hmmm - I thought he pleaded an injury or something.  He did re-injure his back, and it was important for Russia to get a gold, but his SP score in the team competition, his personal best, was 10 points less than Yuzu's world record SP.  I think he'd have skated, even hurt, if he thought he could win.  Yuzu would have.

[SitTwizzle]

I read too, that he was really injured.

I don't know if we will ever know.

But what we can see, is that Yuzuru Hanyu rejoiced sooo much to be in the same training group, at the same Olympics as his idol, and I still feel these images so heartwarming.

 

 

[rockstaryuzu]

1 hour ago, sallycinnamon said:

 

I think he knew it well before the competition. He went for the team competition where he won the gold medal, that is what mattered. And since he was the only Russian competitor in the men's it would have been too much to skate his SP & FS in both events anyway. So he WD.

I believe he was also either recovering from or due for back surgery at the time (Plush has steel rods in his back, I believe) . So his withdrawal was entirely understandable. 

 

In any case, Sochi men's turned out to be a splatfest extraordinaire. Yuzu was practically the only guy in the top ten who stayed on his feet. 

 

@SitTwizzle I agree - Yuzu must have been absolutely thrilled back then. He still adores Plush so much.

[yuzuru_hanyu_is_an_angel]

I am really late but I hope everybody in Japan is as safe and well as possible. Sending hope your way. 

 

In the meantime, happy Sochi anniversary!

[TallyT]

4 hours ago, sallycinnamon said:

 

I think he knew it well before the competition. He went for the team competition where he won the gold medal, that is what mattered. And since he was the only Russian competitor in the men's it would have been too much to skate his SP & FS in both events anyway. So he WD.

 

There's a clip on youtube, one of the Russian Sochi team watching Yuzu's SP in the team event, and you can see it on most of the faces but especially Plushy's, I think he realised then that even if he could beat Patrick, Yuzu could well be beyond them both. It's likely he still intended to try - the man has courage, whatever else people think - but once he got on the ice he really knew.

 

I don't think they therefore ever competed against each other...?

[barbara]

39 minutes ago, TallyT said:

 

There's a clip on youtube, one of the Russian Sochi team watching Yuzu's SP in the team event, and you can see it on most of the faces but especially Plushy's, I think he realised then that even if he could beat Patrick, Yuzu could well be beyond them both. It's likely he still intended to try - the man has courage, whatever else people think - but once he got on the ice he really knew.

 

I don't think they therefore ever competed against each other...?

No, never.  That was Plushenko's final competition and he had surgery shortly after.  He didn't officially retire right away but he never competed again.  He had to have known, once he felt his back hurt, and having watched Yuzu skate in the team competition (where our boy didn't even do as well as he did in the actual SP), he couldn't beat him and he wouldn't have wanted to end his career with a loss to a 19 yr old boy (in his homeland).  But when I look at his history, I think his ins and outs of active competition and resolve to come back after injury have been as much of an inspiration to Yuzu as his actual skating.

[Fay]

Three years today. I still remember the stress of the time

 

[Geo1]

1 hour ago, TallyT said:

 

There's a clip on youtube, one of the Russian Sochi team watching Yuzu's SP in the team event, and you can see it on most of the faces but especially Plushy's, I think he realised then that even if he could beat Patrick, Yuzu could well be beyond them both. It's likely he still intended to try - the man has courage, whatever else people think - but once he got on the ice he really knew.

 

I don't think they therefore ever competed against each other...?

 

The only time they competed against each other was in the team short program.

 

Evgeni Plushenko scored 91.39 which was the highest he had achieved and Yuzu was just limbering up with his team short program score of 97.98.

[rockstaryuzu]

I'm sharing this here as well as in the Team Canada thread. Look at this beautiful view of Toronto provided by Nam. Can you imagine Yuzu being there too? 

 

[Purple]

I remember Plushenko fans saying that the steel rods in his back was loosen or something was misaligned. He re- injured his back during the Team event. So it was actually dangerous for Plushenko to skate.

 

On injuries & competing with injuries, when Yuzu was criticized for skating when he was seriously injured, parallels were drawn with his idol Plushenko.

Plushenko has had knee surgery other than back surgery. He went back on ice shortly after his knee surgery to prepare for a major competition. Too fast some said.

 

Since it was anniversary of Yuzu's 1st OG Gold, I re watched the Team SP to refresh my memory.

 

[Henni147]

I rewatched the NHK documentary with Dick Button, Plushenko and Javi. This is what Plushenko said himself about the Sochi Olympics, his thoughts about Yuzu and his withdrawal after the warm-up of the short program:

 

Quote

'[Hanyu] is rising up the rinks', I thought. I got the best opponent heading towards Sochi Olympics. I can't wait to show my skills. Despite how long I've known him for, we'd be opponents once we got onto the ice. If it's him, then it's worth my effort to defeat him.

[...]

At the time of Vacouver Olympics, I had a lot of injuries. So truthfully, it was a miracle that I could compete. I was frustrated that I lost, and I was also discontent with the scores, but I think, if I didn't compete, it would have become an even more terrible competition. At that time, there were few skaters who continued competing and everyone retired right away, although they could have skated for much longer. Rather than the frustration of missing my back-to-back title, I was even more frustrated that my opponents were disappearing. [...] Because of that, the level of the highest competition, the Olympics, would end up going down. Asking 'are you retiring?' - 'you also?', that's frustrating.

[...]

On the ice, all I could think about was 'What should I do to beat [Hanyu]? Should I shock him a bit or beat him up?' That's my style.

[...]

A titanium bolt in my backbone came out of place in the practice before [the individual men's] competition. I've never felt so much pain. It was impossible to perform.

[...]

Yuzuru didn't retire after getting the gold at Sochi. I was over the moon hearing him say he'd continue competing. Even if I leave, the level of the highest competition, the Olympics, will be maintained with him continuing to participate. Yuzuru knows it, that the best performance can only be done in competition. And also that in the skating world, there's absolutely no greater joy than becoming the Olympic champion.

 

Translation by @axelsandwich and @tsukihoshi14

 

It's hard to tell, how much honesty there was in Plushenko's words, but I somehow believe him that he really WANTED to compete against Yuzu in the individual event. I think, his will to challenge Yuzu and increase the overall level of the field with his presence was bigger than his fear to lose.

Also, Plushenko knew that he pretty much 'robbed' Kovtun of his chance to compete in Sochi, so he had the responsibility to deliver and win a medal for Russia at least, which would have been absolutely realistic, especially after that mess of a freeskate.

 

EDIT: It was a shame that the titanium bolt had come out of place and he was forced to WD, but what really upset me was the fact that so many people left the audience in the middle of the SP, when they found out that Plush wouldn't skate. That was such an insult to all the other competitors.

 

I think, Plushenko and Yuzu are very much alike, when it comes to their dedication and commitment to figure skating. They are not only looking at their own medal collection and achievements, but the development of the sport as a whole.

'Quo vadis, figure skating?'

They both ask this question, in their own way. They always have that bigger picture in mind and care about the overall quality and growth of the field. They are not pleased with just winning. They want to win against the strongest field with the strongest performance and enrich the sport with their skating as long as possible. They do not only want to take, they want to give as much as they can as well. That gives them most satisfaction and this what sets them apart from the rest.

 

I'm not a big Plushenko fan, but if anything, I respect him for his longevity and attitude towards competing.