Hey, remember us?

[sweetwater]

43 minutes ago, SitTwizzle said:

So, this skater used to train far away from her coach?

Haruka was born in Tokyo and had been training in Tokyo except when she trained under Yuka Sato for a few seasons in the U.S. She came back to Tokyo in 2013 and started training under Rumiko Michigami, then moved to Niigata next year without changing her coach, seeking a better training base where she could have more ice time.

[rockstaryuzu]

I was watching Stephane's workout this morning on the ISU YouTube channel and he ever-so-gently wore Maxim Trankov out. When you're the kind of coach that can do that to a former Olympian...LOL. 

 

I have to say that from watching these it's obvious that Stephane is truly a good coach. He makes sure no one is left behind, he's always kind, but at the same time he isn't letting anyone slack off. His athletes are lucky to have him.

[FlyingCamel]

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I was watching Stephane's workout this morning on the ISU YouTube channel and he ever-so-gently wore Maxim Trankov out. When you're the kind of coach that can do that to a former Olympian...LOL. 

 

I have to say that from watching these it's obvious that Stephane is truly a good coach. He makes sure no one is left behind, he's always kind, but at the same time he isn't letting anyone slack off. His athletes are lucky to have him.

 

“transform into a very crispy asparagus”

 

[rockstaryuzu]

1 hour ago, FlyingCamel said:

 

“transform into a very crispy asparagus”

 

Visual cues are an important part of training. 

[Paskud]

O_o

 

[rockstaryuzu]

please shave, Patrick. Also, good job with the donation.

[Paskud]

 

 

[sallycinnamon]

Pj Kwong's live video interview with Javi begins now

 

 

[sallycinnamon]

Javi showed his Olympic medal  

 

[SitTwizzle]

I was a bit sad to hear him say "we were not the greatest friends".

I may be getting ideas, but I wonder if he is not resenting a lack of "friendship signs" which he was expecting (being an extrovert), and which are not part of Yuzuru Hanyu's way of communicating.

Of course we don't know for sure what Yuzuru Hanyu feels towards him, the depth of this friendship. Maybe, what was so strong to him was the working and competing environment Javier Fernández created and where he felt exceptionally well, emotionally speaking? But I tend to think Yuzuru Hanyu does have deep friendship feelings towards Javier Fernández.

I suppose this is none of our business. Yet it touches me.

And did he elude or misunderstand the question of what he said when him and Shoma Uno and Yuzuru Hanyu were hugging before the victory ceremony at Pyeong-Chang?

[Songster01]

3 hours ago, SitTwizzle said:

I was a bit sad to hear him say "we were not the greatest friends".

I may be getting ideas, but I wonder if he is not resenting a lack of "friendship signs" which he was expecting (being an extrovert), and which are not part of Yuzuru Hanyu's way of communicating.

Of course we don't know for sure what Yuzuru Hanyu feels towards him, the depth of this friendship. Maybe, what was so strong to him was the working and competing environment Javier Fernández created and where he felt exceptionally well, emotionally speaking? But I tend to think Yuzuru Hanyu does have deep friendship feelings towards Javier Fernández.

I suppose this is none of our business. Yet it touches me.

And did he elude or misunderstand the question of what he said when him and Shoma Uno and Yuzuru Hanyu were hugging before the victory ceremony at Pyeong-Chang?

 

It's really difficult to make any strong assessment based on a single interview, especially one not in your native language.  Of course there is a strong cultural dimension to friendship, as well as talking about friendship. Regardless, in many places I doubt people would count colleagues, no matter how friendly, as their "greatest friends" if they did not socialize with them outside of work or talk of things outside of work-related topics much/at all.  Yuzu seems to view TCC as his primary fs workplace and is not interested in socializing with others.  It may be that is tied strongly to his feelings of gratitude for having a rink to work at consistently as well as just plain surviving 3.11.  So it may seem vitally important to him to not waste time here, alongside his own introversion, plus fears of stalking and his name constantly being dragged in with others for good and ill.  I doubt many here in Canada would fault him for sharing a meal with his rinkmates, but his fame makes doing so harder.  OTOH, it sounds like he has a few friends in Japan with whom it is easier to chat with about non-skating things from a language fluency perspective, but how deep these relationships are or how often they talk about non-skating topics I've no idea.

 

You also have to consider Javi's position.  Because he and Yuzu are friendly and were rivals in a sport famed for nastiness towards rivals there has been much press and they often ask about Yuzu.  Yuzu has tried to point out that he would have plenty to say about Javi, but because of Y's fame he is not badgered the same way about Javi as Javi is about Yuzu.  It can get frustrating fast to be asked so much about someone else when you want to talk about your own accomplishments.  Remember too that fans have been ugly in the past to him and others (skaters, skaters' significant others) for one reason or another depending on  how these fans view their relationships.  So minimizing their friendship is also safer for Javi as people can be wildly overprotective about public figures they admire.  Just look at the treatment poor Corey Circelli got for inadvertently disclosing one of Y's programs in a video of his own practice!  

[rockstaryuzu]

A super intriguing tidbit from the Skate Canada archives

 

 

This is the first time 3Lz was ever done in competition and it's flippin' amazing - delayed rotation, great height, just floats away. Also, pay attention to the creative jump entrances ( including a jump from a scratch spin) and footwork sequence in the middle. 

 

Other things of note: the five minute run time and the fact that Carmen was a warhorse even then

 

Also note the judges sitting right on the ice...a tradition that maybe needs to come back in some form.

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

A super intriguing tidbit from the Skate Canada archives

 

 

This is the first time 3Lz was ever done in competition and it's flippin' amazing - delayed rotation, great height, just floats away. Also, pay attention to the creative jump entrances ( including a jump from a scratch spin) and footwork sequence in the middle. 

 

Other things of note: the five minute run time and the fact that Carmen was a warhorse even then. 

How could he do so with all those humps on the ice? (I didn't see puddles though.)

[rockstaryuzu]

7 hours ago, SitTwizzle said:

How could he do so with all those humps on the ice? (I didn't see puddles though.)

The ice looks fairly level to me...I think it's just that the film is warped. It very old footage and was probably originally recorded on film. 

[Henni147]

19 hours ago, SitTwizzle said:

I was a bit sad to hear him say "we were not the greatest friends".

I may be getting ideas, but I wonder if he is not resenting a lack of "friendship signs" which he was expecting (being an extrovert), and which are not part of Yuzuru Hanyu's way of communicating.

Of course we don't know for sure what Yuzuru Hanyu feels towards him, the depth of this friendship. Maybe, what was so strong to him was the working and competing environment Javier Fernández created and where he felt exceptionally well, emotionally speaking? But I tend to think Yuzuru Hanyu does have deep friendship feelings towards Javier Fernández.

I suppose this is none of our business. Yet it touches me.

And did he elude or misunderstand the question of what he said when him and Shoma Uno and Yuzuru Hanyu were hugging before the victory ceremony at Pyeong-Chang?

 

Well, actually Javi said "we're not the closest friends, but we're friends and we're teammates" and I think, that's true.

 

With "close friends" Javi probably means people who are part of his daily life and regularly talk and meet with him in private. With Yuzu this is not the case (as far as we know). However, I do believe that Yuzu and Javi are something like soulmates. What they went through together in these past 8 years creates a strong bond that you don't forget that easily. Javi said himself a few years ago: "With Yuzu it's like having a [skating] wife." 

 

Also, I'm sure that Javi still means a lot to Yuzu. It looks like he even has Javi's signature on his iPod