What happened at Boston and Saitama?

[SeimeiOrigin]

 

Having only been around the Celestial Being that is Yuzuru Hanyu since the beginning of the year, I've been catching up on my history of  Yuzu through various sources including:
- Planet Hanyu
- Golden Skate (old posts)
- Tapatalk
- IFS Magazine
- You tube
- Tumbler

 

At various times I keep seeing people write things like "... what happened at Saitama..." and "...what happened at Boston..."

It's like everyone in the world knows what happened then and they just refer to those times as  "what happened at Saitama / Boston" as if everyone knows. I don't know and it is killing me not knowing.

 

I've been trying to find out by reading past posts on all the forums - I've gone back through the YH thread since the start of 2015 trying to find a reference to what happened at Boston. The only thing I can think of that this means is that YH lost the world championship to Javi. Is that what everyone means when they say "what happened at Boston?" If so, why is that so bad? Also, what does it mean when people say "Javi's party" was involved? Did something bad happen to someone and what was it?

 

And then, what happened at Saitama and when? My research has resulted in the only possibility being that it was Worlds in 2019 and Yuzu as usual skated like he deserved a gold medal and the judges totally screwed him over and gave it to NC as they have been doing lately. Is THAT "what happened at Saitama"? or was it something else entirely?

 

Please, someone, put me out of my misery. I have been searching for weeks now and still do not have an answer.
 

Thanks
 

[Melodie]

I'm not around when Boston Worlds happened and Saitama gave me stress so I will go very briefly through what I know and try to recall. Of course, others can fill you in with more details.

 

Long story short, Boston was hell for Yuzu. He competed with an injury so serious he thought he would have to retire. He didn't tell Brian about it. Also, I recalled favoritism and whatnot for Javi at the time. All of these on top of the fact that IMO Yuzu was not in the right place mentally. There was a fuss between him and Denis Ten. They made peace about it afterwards, but the fuss drew quite a lot of attention and ... negative reactions from the fans. Requiem of heaven and earth was such a masterpiece because Yuzu thought it was gonna be his last skate, so it was filled not only with the anguish feelings about the disaster but also Yuzu's personal feelings. The period following Boston was even worse, what's with Yuzu's incredibly harsh journey to recovery. He had to pull out from all ice shows that summer (I think he only joined 24TV?).

 

Saitama, well, injuries + robberies + stress all over again. There was a footage of him crying in the aftermath I think. 

[SeimeiOrigin]

Thanks Melodie. I do remember reading about the Denis Tan stuff and did see that he had an injury at that time. I feel sad for Yuzu already and I wasn't even around then. 

Appreciate your response. 

[lajoitko]

I think that Boston was specially traumatic experience for fans. Yuzu had skated the world records earlier that season and all seemed to be perfect. Before the Worlds Brian did mention something about this minor injury that led Yuzu to change 4T-3T to 4S-3T but that didn´t seem so big deal. The free skate was a big shock to all of us and the aftermath was just horrible. This minor injury was in reality a could-be-career-ending-injury. And after that the total silence lasted almost four months. There was also this tv program that followed Yuzu from January to Worlds. I think they were prepared to record the absolute champion on the road to the great success, but what they got was a struggling athlete trying to cover up the bad injury. And yes, the whole drama with Denis Ten that I don´t want to comment. This is the documentary that was aired after the Worlds

 

When I think about Saitama the main thing for me aside the scoring debate is that Yuzu was not well during that time. When the competition is happening you live in this bubble trying to see all in the positive light, but when it is over, you start to see things differently. My impression is that he was forcing himself to do things that he wasn´t really ready to do and the pressure was enormous. After the morning practice of the free skate he remained for a long time on the boards with his tablet doing image training for the loop and that is something he has never done before or after that one time. At that point I started to pray that all would be over already and he could just relax and heal in peace. And the interviews after Saitama are just painful to read.

[SeimeiOrigin]

Thank you Lajoitko.

It sounds as if I should stop looking. I think if i were to encounter these painful interviews i may regret it. I am now not sure if I really want to know if all there is to find is heartbreak....:(

[gaia]

6 hours ago, lajoitko said:

I think that Boston was specially traumatic experience for fans. Yuzu had skated the world records earlier that season and all seemed to be perfect. Before the Worlds Brian did mention something about this minor injury that led Yuzu to change 4T-3T to 4S-3T but that didn´t seem so big deal. The free skate was a big shock to all of us and the aftermath was just horrible. This minor injury was in reality a could-be-career-ending-injury. And after that the total silence lasted almost four months. There was also this tv program that followed Yuzu from January to Worlds. I think they were prepared to record the absolute champion on the road to the great success, but what they got was a struggling athlete trying to cover up the bad injury. And yes, the whole drama with Denis Ten that I don´t want to comment. This is the documentary that was aired after the Worlds

 

When I think about Saitama the main thing for me aside the scoring debate is that Yuzu was not well during that time. When the competition is happening you live in this bubble trying to see all in the positive light, but when it is over, you start to see things differently. My impression is that he was forcing himself to do things that he wasn´t really ready to do and the pressure was enormous. After the morning practice of the free skate he remained for a long time on the boards with his tablet doing image training for the loop and that is something he has never done before or after that one time. At that point I started to pray that all would be over already and he could just relax and heal in peace. And the interviews after Saitama are just painful to read.

I've read about Boston and saitama but I didn't know about the documentary. (thanks for recalling bad memories)

Don' t really know whether watch it or not... sounds too heartbreaking

[lajoitko]

23 minutes ago, gaia said:

I've read about Boston and saitama but I didn't know about the documentary. (thanks for recalling bad memories)

Don' t really know whether watch it or not... sounds too heartbreaking

Yes, it is heartbreaking. If you watch it, watch something funny and fluffy Yuzu afterwards, it helps.