General Yuzuru Chat

[Guest turquoiseblue]

[NEWS]

[Pammi]

No idea what he says - will post if/when see a translation/summary - but we all want to listen to him regardless of whether we understand anyway!! 

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

[Guest turquoiseblue]

32 minutes ago, Pammi said:

No idea what he says - will post if/when see a translation/summary - but we all want to listen to him regardless of whether we understand anyway!! 

 

[NEWS]

[CiONTUw4A]

 

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

 

 

[jier]

Need some recommendation here.

 

As discussed in previous posts, the current ticket situation is very likely to be arranged tickets, though there is always a possibility of no audience if the COVID situation deteriorates.  The exact composition and number of audience in figure skating competition is unknown (as far as I know, they can be students, people related to sponsors, etc), but majority of them are for sure not figure skating fans. This will be an unprecedented situation for Yuzu. It's even not like what he experienced in Sochi Olympics where fans were most likely figure skating fans. I am pretty sure no matter who the audience is, they will be polite and respectful, but the atmosphere can be very unexpected, e.g. clap when unexpected, no clap when expected. The chemistry can be strange. Many Chinese fanyus are concerned about the potential impact on Yuzu and really hope Yuzu be mentally prepared for this, especially considering he is used to home crowd everywhere he goes these years. Even for “no audience”, he has had the experience in 21WC, but not for arranged audience. Sometimes win/lose is just a matter of a second for trivial things.

 

People are still waiting for official announcement, but I am afraid it may be too late to know (my personal judgment is that officials still “wait and see” over the Covid situation to make a decision between arranged and no audience). Is there any way that can make Yuzu be aware of this situation? I am thinking of his coaching team in TCC, any of them are frequent social media user? Maybe the team can factor this into consideration when they make plans, e.g. whether to join team event. Or any other thought?

 

 

[ZuCritter]

I've been thinking about what Yuzu means when he says he needs Nessie as a "weapon" to win the Olys. As we know, 4A doesn't bring much of a point bonus, compared to 4L. But it brings a huge bonus in terms of dominating the narrative around the competition -- already demonstrated in the (abortive) run-up to NHK and then in the commentary around JNats. 

 

Stating his goals and his expectation of victory out loud is also a time-tested Yuzu strategy for managing his frame of mind. To put it crudely, and meaning no disrespect, he puts himself in the position of feeling that he has to live up to his own hype. For a skater with less mental fortitude, that strategy might backfire, causing him to bomb. But for Yuzu, it fortifies his his winning spirit. In effect, he wins because he has created a situation in which he feels he has to win. 

 

Both those things -- winning the external psychological battle as well as the internal psychological battle -- are marks of a veteran and a champion. His physical gifts are immense, but his dominance is at least as much mental as physical. Truly, he is the storm. 

[yuzuangel]

52 minutes ago, ZuCritter said:

As we know, 4A doesn't bring much of a point bonus, compared to 4L. But it brings a huge bonus in terms of dominating the narrative around the competition -- already demonstrated in the (abortive) run-up to NHK and then in the commentary around JNats. 

i feel like if Yuzu gets the 4A, it would be very consistent for him (even more than 4L/4Lz). he just needs to get it the first time 👀

 

Agreed on the changing the narrative, though. 4L should have had the same base value as 4Lz but they nixed that plan, wonder why  to enforce the narrative that it's not one of the "harder" quads.

[lajoitko]

Does anyone know what kind of medal ceremony Beijing will have? I have been thinking about the team event and the men's competition schedule. Previously medal ceremonies have been on the same night with the competition and at least in 2018 it was held in different place than the actual competition. The team event will end on 7th and the men's short program is going to be on the following day with early morning practices. Is it mandatory for all team to participate on the medal ceremony or can some skaters (men) choose whether or not to participate? I just think that whoever man ends up on the podium in the team competition, will have a disadvantage for the individual competition just because of this schedule. I checked the schedule and the last team event ends by 12.30 pm, so if they could held it earlier, it could help somewhat.

 

Sorry to bring my own worry to you all, maybe I am worrying too much. I just think that Japan has a real chance for the medal and the schedule could also affect on who the other countries (mainly US) choose for their teams.

[micaelis]

It seems almost like yesterday when we were watching Yuzu win his second Olympic gold, but that was four years ago and now we are at the stage where it's only four weeks to go.  For Yuzu, it's time to start psyching himself for the coming skates - two for the  team, two for himself - and get Nessie ready to appear on the world's stage.  There was discussion about the composition of the audience (if any) for the skating events.  However it would seem to me that the arranged audience might not be as disinterested as ZuCritter was speculating.  The authorities in Beijing, if they allow an audience, will want one that is engaged with the proceedings on the ice.  A lackluster crowd would not do for the potential billions in the TV audience.  They'll almost certainly get some FS enthusiasts into the mix with the general order for the untutored to follow the experts lead in reacting.  We all know that Yuzu's followers in China are legion and they would almost certainly be in the audience.  In fact, I think the authorities in Beijing might pack the audience with Yuzu fans.  Why?  Well, on the basis of recent history Boyang will not be in the hunt for the gold.  A medal, yes, but not the big prize.  So of those not Chinese will those in charge want to mount the winner's podium.  I don't think they want Nathan for the gold.  Sure, he's ethnically Chinese but the fact is he's American and right now the US of A is not on China's list of best friends.  The last thing they want is for a Chinese-American to take the gold.  It sets the example of what is possible if you're in not in China.  (I know this is getting political but it's necessarily political since the Olympics are very political.)  That's why I think they'll want Yuzu since, for one, he's very popular in China and two, Japan is not currently on Beijing's blacklist.  A Yuzu win would be credible.

 

That brings us then to the issue of the judging, which has been a major issue on this forum for I know not how long.  I've said this before but it bears repeating - The judges will be on best behavior.  The difference between Olympic figure-skating and figure skating in any other competition (including Worlds) is immense when considering the audience.  The TV audience will be immense, with many of those tuning into the figure-skating men's event not being skating fans.  They will be tuning in because they want to witness history, the taking of a third straight gold medal in men's skating, something not achieved since 1928.  That will far overshadow attempts to frame this as a Yuzu-Nathan showdown.  This additional interest will make it quite difficult to judge unfairly, particularly since except for the Americans the audience overwhelmingly will be rooting for Yuzu.  We have to remember that Nathan's following is almost exclusively American and that is much based on the fact of his American identity.  Yuzu's following is everywhere and he is easily the most widely-respected skater when it comes to the attitudes of the other skaters and the broadcast commentariat and the seasoned fans.  And there's also the fact that there is a great deal of money riding on Yuzu.  I don't know if Nathan has any endorsement contracts but even if he does they probably are only a fraction of what Yuzu has and once had.  For men's figure-skating, figure-skating in general actually, Yuzu is big business.  What I'm saying, then, is that the prevailing sentiment in Beijing is one that desires Yuzu to win and the corresponding desire not to have anyone rain on Yuzu's parade.  Which makes me think, also, that the very fact that this is Yuzu's third Olympics will also be prominent.  Figure-skaters basically don't remain credible as contenders for three consecutive Olympics.  Yuzu, at the ripe age of twenty-seven, is now the Grand-Old-Man of men's figure-skating.

 

Wnich brings me back to the judging.  The judges will score Yuzu fairly because they don't want the bulk of the skating establishment (except for the central authorities in the ISU and the Americans) to be down on them.  They don't want to be seen as biased or inept.  And if Yuzu successfully births Nessie, the overwhelming sentiment then will be that Yuzu takes the gold.  When a skater achieves what is arguably skating's Holy Grail, well it's hard to deny that person a very well-earned reward.  So I'm not too worried about the judging.  Judges may be biased but their bias first is to their public reputation.  They don't want to be seen as corrupt or incompetent.  They'll do their job the way it's supposed to be done.

 

As for Yuzu triumphing the reaction in Japan will be thunderous.  It may not involve dancing in the streets but there will be general jubilation.  Of course Yuzu will get his parade in Sendai but my guess is that he'll also have one in Tokyo.  In both cases they'll have to find a route of sufficient length to handle the expected watchers.  As for the issue of retirement, he might just decide to end things in Beijing and allow Nathan to get a gold at World's for consolation.  After all, with a third consecutive Olympic gold and the first to perform a 4A, what more does Yuzu need to do to be certified as the GOAT?

 

[Guest Mary_kyo]

51 minutes ago, micaelis said:

As for the issue of retirement, he might just decide to end things in Beijing

B-but how about 4F? I think Yuzu can compete for another couple of seasons if he wants. He is at his best ever and just peaking. However, I have this strange feeling that he might really retire in Beijing if he lands a clean 4A. Him tearing up before his FS in jnats made me think that jnats2021 was his final national competition.

 

52 minutes ago, micaelis said:

The judges will score Yuzu fairly because they don't want the bulk of the skating establishment (except for the central authorities in the ISU and the Americans) to be down on them.  They don't want to be seen as biased or inept.  And if Yuzu successfully births Nessie, the overwhelming sentiment then will be that Yuzu takes the gold.  When a skater achieves what is arguably skating's Holy Grail, well it's hard to deny that person a very well-earned reward.  So I'm not too worried about the judging.  Judges may be biased but their bias first is to their public reputation.  They don't want to be seen as corrupt or incompetent.  They'll do their job the way it's supposed to be done.

I don't have much hopes for the judging in Beijing. It wasn’t fair in 2018 (I mean Nathan shouldn’t had qualified for the free) so it won’t be fair in 2022 too. I just hope that it will be more fair than the nightmare in GPF19 (actually 2019 was one of the darkest years in men’s FS). I don’t think Yuzu’s popularity or endorsements will affect judging but NBC’s huge investment and big gamble on Nathan’s gold will definitely affect judging.

[Guest Mary_kyo]

Is this shared?

 

Quote

--translation--

Q: How are you feeling now this morning after the match?

Y: “A new start, …a new road has begun.” I think. Because I didn't envision this Olympic game in my heart, this feeling is new to me. During this period of about a year, somehow, I was giving up on winning in a sense. At the moment when I was elected to the Olympic athlete, when I put this new uniform, the fighting spirit burned after a long time, like “I will win! I'm going to win." Somehow, now I'm excited.

credit: nZ6MfIeulsqW1su on twitter

 

PS: This is what unfair scoring does to athletes. A very subtle but strong mental abuse.

 

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

[Guest turquoiseblue]

3 hours ago, hananistellata said:

What are those n/a spots?

 

N/A is short for not applicable or not available, meaning that information is not provided.

[Guest turquoiseblue]

I read tweets from a Fanyu from Beijing saying that their new activity to support Yuzu is banned on Weibo due to their national regulation and that the official postcard campaign is probably the only one they can do. 

 

Here is their message: 

Thank you so much to all the Fanyus in China for always being supportive and thoughtful  I'm very grateful to them for all the hard work and efforts they have been putting in through the difficult situation 

[Kadova]

2 hours ago, Mary_kyo said:

Is this shared?

 

 

PS: This is what unfair scoring does to athletes. A very subtle but strong mental abuse.

 

hmmm.... I believe Yuzu is far stronger than that. He can handle disappointment very well. Of course the underscoring affects him, but it would not be to the point of mental abuse. He already said he went depressed in 2020, due in parts to being confined and alone without his coaches. The confinement was hard for millions of people everywhere.

What he said previously was landing Nessie is more important than anything else, and earlier than that, he would go to the OG22 only if he believes he can win.

He now has the fire in him again, and that's a great news.