To Martina: Thanks for the explanation. Score manipulation or the incompetence of judges not only affects a few titles or the color of a few medals, invalidates Nathan's world records or streak of wins, but also affects the credibility of Yuzu's titles or records. The last thing upsets me the most. If the score cannot properly reflect the level of a performance, then the competition means nothing. It ruins skaters' efforts and makes the rivalry nonsense.

 

I heard from some Chinese fans that the French Fed chair met the JSF chair at the airport after GPF 2019, and asked why JSF didn't speak up for their skater about the scoring. Is it true? I couldn't find the origin of this. I really hope someone could have spoken up for Yuzu like Katarina Witt spoke up for Yuna publicly in Sochi 2014 that there should have been a bigger difference between the PCSs of Yuna and Adelina. When Adelina's FS scores were announced, the commentators were all surprised, including Kurt Browning. Johnny Weir said it is very very generous. Of course, Russia cannot control the US media. Has any commentator or media questioned Nathan's PCS?

The +5/-5 system is much more open to manipulation than the +3/-3 system, so older results are more reliable. This doesn't mean they can't be manipulated—Sotnikova's and Davis/White's victories in Sochi are proof of that—but there's a big difference between the two systems. I'll give you an example with a 4T.
From the 2010-11 to the 2014-15 season: BV 10.30, points earned with GOE +3 13.30, with GOE -3 7.30
From the 2015-16 to the 2017-18 season: BV 10.30, points earned with GOE +3 13.30, with GOE -3 6.30 (the negative GOE for quadruples was increased from -3.00 to -4.00)
From the 2018-19 season: BV 9.50, points earned with GOE +5 13.75, with GOE 5 4.75
This means that the fixed part, the one the judges cannot control (unless the tachnical panel starts making rotation calls based on how much they like the skater), gives fewer points, and the part decided by the judges has grown dramatically in both positive evaluations than in the negative ones. We can make a comparison of this kind for all the jumps. The new system is more manipulable.

As for the Gailhaguet episode, I've never found any newspaper articles confirming it. I believe it really happened, but we have no proof.

5 hours ago, Martina said:

Sotnikova's and Davis/White's victories in Sochi are proof of that

I didn't know the scandal of Davis/White's victory and just Googled it. How come Canada was the victim again, like in 2002?

 

I really miss the era (pre-2016, or at least before 2018) when scores actually made sense, or at least weren’t wildly inconsistent.

I also miss when commentators would genuinely appreciate the complexity of the transitions, be amazed by the size of the jumps, and how well the skaters maintained their flow before and after jumps. If commentators can recognize these nuances, there’s no reason judges couldn’t.

 

I have one last question. Sorry that you are almost like my ChatGPT.

In the video above, Brian describes how Yuzu first approached him—a mysterious phone call inviting him to a hotel room to meet someone he had never expected beforehand --- Yuzuru Hanyu. I'm really curious: who arranged this initial meeting for Yuzu? 

Based on the video, it seems Yuzu chose Brian Orser because of Javi. Javi had moved to Toronto a year before Yuzu, but how did Yuzu know Javi would thrive there based on just 5 competitions after the move? It's interesting that he didn't opt to train with Patrick, and after all, Javi wasn't the only skater attempting a 4S at that time. Having studied abroad myself at 22, I remember how anxious and uncertain that transition was. I was lucky to have a professor who encouraged and guided me through the process of researching and applying to schools. Without that support, I doubt I could have navigated everything on my own. It looks like he studied other skaters and coaches around the world and made the decision by himself. Amazing!

 

Moreover, how did he communicate his decision to leave his former coach—the coach who had helped him achieve a World Bronze medal? It must have been incredibly difficult at just 17. Changing coaches is rarely easy. When Evgenia switched to Toronto, Eteri publicly criticized both her and Brian for months. When Boyang tried to move to TCC, his coach's son even called him a "traitor." The transition faced long delays, and the pandemic pushed it back further, so Boyang didn’t really make the move to Canada until 2022—after his prime had already passed.

 

The whole process seems so complicated and emotionally charged, especially for such young athletes. I have a lot of admiration for those who manage these transitions so bravely.

Hiya, just popping in to share these books that touch on Yuzu's move to Toronto.

You can read more here from Shirota's book, who helped make the arrangements:

 

Also, more about his days with Brian from the "Team Brian" series. Unfortunately I don't have the first book which should touch more on the move.

 

 

 

And one more book from a journalist who had covered Yuzu a long time before. In Chapter 5, it seems that Nanami was the one who first brought up the idea of training overseas. Yuzu had gone abroad before to study choreography with Russian coaches in 2011. Whether Nanami was thinking of something temporary like that, or if she meant a permanent move, that I don't know.

 

3 hours ago, databeej2w said:

How come Canada was the victim again, like in 2002?

 

Because in 2014, the United States had no chance of reaching the podium in any of the other events, so they went all-in on ice dance. And when the United States gets involved in politics, Canada isn't strong enough to keep them at bay.
This is the passage from "On Edge," a book written by American judge Jon Jackson. Note that he's talking about a novice competition, not a major competition. And note that the judge he's talking about has judged Yuzu (giving him absurdly low marks) at the 2016 GPF, 2017 4CC, and 2018 OG, among other events.

 

Quote

 

Lorrie was working a marketing campaign, Russian-style, on the judges of my Novice Men’s event. The American boy she was promoting was a master stylist, and Lorrie must have taken every opportunity to play this up. He finished second in the short program, but scored the highest presentation marks. In the discussion that took place afterward, putting a twist on Russian-style spin, Lorrie let the foreign judges convince her just how good the U.S. skater was in presentation. “Really? Do you think so?” Pinky on chin, eyes to the ceiling.

In the freeskate, the American performer well enough. He missed a jump or two, as I recall, but he had a remarkable presentation. A young Swiss, skating immediately after, nailed a number of well-executed triple jumps. He skated a perfect program, and was clearly the winner. Well, at least the assistant referee and I saw it that way. The Swiss judge, of course, did too. But Lorrie and her previously persuaded panelists all gave it to the American. They did it by giving him a wide lead in the presentation mark to make up for the loss of his edge in technical merit.

I’m still not sure how Lorrie did it, but I wish I knew. She accomplished her goal without ever trading a single placement, without ever making a promise, no quid-pro-quo. She couldn’t have, there was no dance event, and Lorrie isn’t even a dance judge! She accomplished it in the same way the Russian did for Oksana Baiul, and the way they tried to do it for Irina Slutskaya in 2002, and the same way they will try again in 2006.

P. 182

 

 

I commented on this book on my blog. The comments are in Italian, the quotes from the book are in English:

https://sportlandiamartina.link/2020/12/14/jon-jackson-on-edge-4/

 

3 hours ago, databeej2w said:

I'm really curious: who arranged this initial meeting for Yuzu? 

 

Jenn already answered this by showing you Noriko Shirota's role. I'll just add Yutaka Higuchi's name. Higuchi was the first Japanese skater to train at the Toronot Cricket Club, in the 1970s. He met Orser when he was still very young, and they remained friends. After retiring from competition, he worked as a journalist (in this photo, you can see him on the left, interviewing Yuzu and Mao Asada at the 2012 NHK Trophy) and collaborated with the JSF, connecting Japanese skaters with foreign coaches and choreographers. Discussions took place with Shirota, but the organizational work was done by Higuchi.

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Yutaka_Higuchi?uselang=it#/media/File:Hanyu_and_Asada_in_Yutaka_'_s_room_at_the_2012_NHK_Trophy.jpg

 

3 hours ago, databeej2w said:

how did Yuzu know Javi would thrive there based on just 5 competitions after the move

 

Yuzu wanted to learn the 4S. I don't know when he started carefully observing other skaters, but I'm sure he had already started doing so at least in his second junior season, since he said he studied the 3A of Denis Ten and Artur Gachinski. Fernandez began training in Toronto in the 2011-12 season. That year, he competed in four competitions where Yuzu was also present: the Nebelhorn Trophy, the Rostelecom Cup, the GPF, and the WC. You can be sure he studied him carefully, because at the Rostelecom Cup, Yuzu won by just 3 hundredths, which made him realize that every extra hundredth can make a difference.
If you look at the link, these are Fernandez's 4S, arranged in chronological order. Notice when he started landing the jump, and think about who his coach was. If Orser could teach Fernandez the 4S, he could teach him too.

 

https://skatingscores.com/q/element/?show_ranks=on&underline=&season_codes=all&division_codes=sr&division_codes=jr&event_codes=intl&series_codes=all&discipline_codes=men&segment_type_codes=all&unit_country_codes=all&unit_name=javier+fernandez&element_type_codes=jump&element_code=4s%&bonus=none&sort=chron&limit=10&submit-button=Submit

 

3 hours ago, databeej2w said:

It's interesting that he didn't opt to train with Patrick

 

I think there are two reasons. Chan had not the 4S in his programs, and Yuzu wanted to watch closely a skater land the 4S. Also, probably he felt he had to maintain a certain distance, since Chan was the skater he wanted to overtake.

3 hours ago, databeej2w said:

Moreover, how did he communicate his decision to leave his former coach—the coach who had helped him achieve a World Bronze medal? It must have been incredibly difficult at just 17. Changing coaches is rarely easy.

 

We don't know all the details, but Nanami Abe know really well the training conditions in Sendai after the earthquake. She knew this was a huge limitation for Yuzu. And I think Yuzu is capable of showing the intensity of his feelings like no other. Abe was very important to him, but getting results was also very important. And she understood this and put Yuzu's needs first. The relationship remained excellent; Abe's husband continued to sharpen Yuzu's blades, and they later worked together on some choreography.

To Jenn: Thank you so much for pointing me to the books and thanks for the translator. I am still reading them. Noriko Shirota is a wonderful lady and an angel who takes care of Yuzu, as important as Brian and Tracy. I only read part of the first book and will come back with more thoughts.

 

To Martina: I just read your entire post using Google Translate. It's so dirty.

I didn't know skatingscores can produce data like that. I will try to play with it more.

9 hours ago, databeej2w said:

I just read your entire post using Google Translate. It's so dirty.

 

Over the past few years, I've read numerous books and newspaper articles, and compiled countless statistics, and what I've seen is disturbing. And the ISU does nothing, or does too little, because the people who run the federation have their own vested interests, and honest and competent judges struggle to get their work done.
In 2021, as soon as I read the names of the judges who would be judging the World Championships, I complained about Salome Chigogidze's presence, stating clearly that she was one of the most biased judges around. A few months later, the ISU suspended Chigogidze for national bias, specifically for the scores awarded at that World Championships. If I knew before the competition that she was biased, how could the ISU not know? Why was she allowed to falsify that result? And why was she back judging after just a year?
So when someone tells me they trust the judges' scores because they're more competent than us, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

9 hours ago, databeej2w said:

I didn't know skatingscores can produce data like that. I will try to play with it more.

 

There are many interesting statistics to be done, although unfortunately, for some time now, if you don't have a paid subscription, you can only see the top ten results. With a little imagination, however, you can get a few more answers, because the order can be by score, BV, GOE, PCS, chronological, from highest to lowest, or reversed. If you search for all skaters, you can request the result by "single skater," which will give you the best score for everyone. You can select the season, nationality, competition, short program, or freeskate... by combining the results together, you can see more than just 10 lines.

I'm so thankful to find your discussion here. I'm very new here because about 3 months ago I saw a single movement in transition betwenn two shorts and was instantly thrilled. Right away, I wanted more of that incredible elegance, grace, precision, intensity, and beauty. Now I'm nearly manic.

I myself have so many thoughts about Yuzuru, his personality, his programs, and the scoring, and I’d like to express them here. I’m sorry if this is long and perhaps a bit rambling. I don't think that you read something new.
A german proverb, not very well translated says: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth flows over.

I don’t know anything about figure skating, but I’ve always had an affinity for dance, and as a body and trauma therapist, I have an eye for physical expression and movement sequences.

At first, I was just happy.

I wanted to see as much as possible of his art, from the very beginning to the present day.

In German, it’s called “Eiskunstlauf”; literally, that would be “IceARTskate” in English.

That expresses much better what it’s supposed to be.

Once, just 10 minutes with him was enough to pull me out of a crisis where my other attempts had failed up to that point.

My efforts went toward watching all his programs, ordering DVDs from Japan, and gaining access to Axelstore, Telasa, etc. That kept me busy for weeks, and my determination grew over time.

Thanks to the fantastic support from the fanbase, almost everything worked out well.

In all my 69 years, I’ve never been a fan in this sense before, and I’m still amazed at myself.

Then came the phase where I realized everything that was happening—and had happened—around him. I grew increasingly worried about him. Seeing just how much he pushes himself to the limit is painful for me. I wish trauma therapy could help alleviate some of that inner drive that keeps him going so relentlessly. Right now, I feel a bit like a mother defending her child against every attack. Eventually, however, I managed to find respect for his competitors—something I consider important. Since I’m still barely able to distinguish one jump from another (except for the Axel)—even in slow motion—I can’t clearly spot pre-rotation or under-rotation. So today, I see Nathan as a powerful skater who earned his gold medal, and Ilia Malinin as his worthy successor. For instance, I watch Malinin’s programs and am truly impressed by his artistics (not artistry). And then I come back to Yuzuru, and it feels like coming home. Here, I find something I don’t even realize is missing when I watch others. His art and his essence touch me deep in my heart. The sport demands direct comparison, yet ultimately, the criteria clearly fail to capture Yuzuru’s qualities. If there were no manipulation involved, the +5/-5 system could actually be perfect for Yuzu, given how fantastic his execution is.

His Rondo—executed flawlessly—is, in my eyes, dizzyingly perfect. There is no category that captures it without either breaking the scoring system or forcing a reset—taking his level of execution as the new benchmark for the maximum score. At least that also woudn't make sense.

My favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq20-bU6KNc Very nice to see his satisfaction with it.

Since yesterday, I’ve been thinking that this type of scoring system really isn't suited to accurately evaluating a champion over the long term—even without any manipulation involved. If someone delivers perfection and—like Yuzuru—receives the corresponding score early on, how is there room to improve, other than by increasing the number and difficulty of the jumps? If the scale tops out at 100 points and you’ve already scored 98 at age 20, then even a 99.9 remains frustrating when you’re actually getting better year by year. I hope that makes sense. And then there’s the psychological aspect: That has been discussed at length, of course. It is incredibly demoralizing to realize that the very world to which you’ve dedicated everything wants to get rid of you. That is bullying—something known to have a devastating impact on self-confidence. Yuzuru rarely skated completely error-free, and his energy levels fluctuated, too. But in Beijing, it was a whole different level. Maybe I’m looking at it through the wrong lens, but in practice, he displayed all the expressiveness that had been missing from his performances—and not just after the sprain. Yuzuru speaks about how the preceding period was often very dark, marked by intense loneliness. As I interpret it: the pandemic, no coaches, little contact, no Javi anymore—just him facing the challenge of staying the course for his final major goal, the 4A. And then, in Beijing, he’s alone, too. There’s no one there to encourage him, and all the little rituals are missing—like someone holding his Winnie the Pooh or the handshake before the performance. Thank God he’s out of that system now. The latest things that have shaken me: - a clip showing several breakdowns behind the scenes, and - the news that he’s considered a loudmouth in Japan and ignored by most of the media. I didn't understand the whole thing about his commercials being banned for being unsuitable for minors at all. It’s unbelievable: to me, he is the embodiment of authenticity and humility. He gives himself so much to the world. (trouble with translation, nothing really fits my german sentence, not surrender but give away, a true GIFT) In many ways, a fantastic role model. - But In an interview, he was asked what he liked most about his body, and he replied that he actually tends to hate himself. And it didn't sound like he was referring only to his body. I’m still hoping that the intensity of that statement is due to a translation error.

Brian Orser once said that Yuzu was a bit too intense for his taste. I didn't understand that for a while, but today I agree with him. A little less intensity, and his life would be healthier.

7 hours ago, BeYuzu said:

Since yesterday, I’ve been thinking that this type of scoring system really isn't suited to accurately evaluating a champion over the long term—even without any manipulation involved. If someone delivers perfection and—like Yuzuru—receives the corresponding score early on, how is there room to improve, other than by increasing the number and difficulty of the jumps? If the scale tops out at 100 points and you’ve already scored 98 at age 20, then even a 99.9 remains frustrating when you’re actually getting better year by year. I hope that makes sense. And then there’s the psychological aspect: That has been discussed at length, of course. It is incredibly demoralizing to realize that the very world to which you’ve dedicated everything wants to get rid of you. That is bullying—something known to have a devastating impact on self-confidence. Yuzuru rarely skated completely error-free, and his energy levels fluctuated, too. But in Beijing, it was a whole different level. Maybe I’m looking at it through the wrong lens, but in practice, he displayed all the expressiveness that had been missing from his performances—and not just after the sprain. Yuzuru speaks about how the preceding period was often very dark, marked by intense loneliness. As I interpret it: the pandemic, no coaches, little contact, no Javi anymore—just him facing the challenge of staying the course for his final major goal, the 4A. And then, in Beijing, he’s alone, too. There’s no one there to encourage him, and all the little rituals are missing—like someone holding his Winnie the Pooh or the handshake before the performance. Thank God he’s out of that system now. The latest things that have shaken me: - a clip showing several breakdowns behind the scenes, and - the news that he’s considered a loudmouth in Japan and ignored by most of the media. I didn't understand the whole thing about his commercials being banned for being unsuitable for minors at all. It’s unbelievable: to me, he is the embodiment of authenticity and humility. He gives himself so much to the world. (trouble with translation, nothing really fits my german sentence, not surrender but give away, a true GIFT) In many ways, a fantastic role model. - But In an interview, he was asked what he liked most about his body, and he replied that he actually tends to hate himself. And it didn't sound like he was referring only to his body. I’m still hoping that the intensity of that statement is due to a translation error.

Brian Orser once said that Yuzu was a bit too intense for his taste. I didn't understand that for a while, but today I agree with him. A little less intensity, and his life would be healthier.

Honestly, seeing what he went through from 2019 to 2022 kept me down for months. Then I came across a short interview clip in which he said that Beijing 2022 had actually saved him. Unfortunately, I can’t find the full interview now — I only saw a short clip, and I don’t remember where. But that idea stayed with me.

Here’s my personal understanding of what keeps him going and why he continues to take on what seem like impossible challenges.

I think, in a way, he is addicted to success — not in a shallow sense, but to the immense sense of fulfillment that comes from working unbelievably hard for something and finally achieving it. That feeling seems to drive him forward again and again. He has mentioned in interviews multiple times how much he loves his 9-year-old self, because that was when he first won the Japan Championships at the Novice B level and first learned that hard work can truly lead to success. I think that lesson became the foundation of everything for him.

He doesn’t seem afraid of challenges or difficulty because he has already overcome so many of them before, including things that most people thought were impossible. He conquered the 4T, 4S, 4Lo, and 4Lz one by one, starting from success rates as low as 1 in 50 attempts. From that perspective, it becomes easier to understand why he could keep attempting the 4A thousands of times without success and still refuse to give up. His formula is not something ordinary people can easily imitate, because the amount of effort he puts in is simply enormous, but for more than 10 years, it worked for him. The harder he worked, the more his skills improved, the higher his scores became, and the more titles and records he collected. It almost sounds like a fairy tale. Of course, there were obstacles and setbacks, but he always overcame them, and it always seemed to end in a major victory — until 2018.

That formula stopped working after 2018, when the judges no longer rewarded him the way they used to. He said in interviews more than once that even though he felt his skating had improved, his scores were no longer rising. So the success he had always been able to reach through hard work suddenly became unreachable. He was confused, lost confidence, and started worrying about whether he had become outdated. Then the pandemic made everything even worse: he was separated from his coaches, and he also lost the energy he drew from the audience’s support and cheers, since spectators were either not allowed into the arena or not allowed to cheer during competitions.

Even though Beijing 2022 was not a happy ending in terms of results, I think it saved him in another way. There, he received from the audience the kind of recognition he could no longer get from the judges. He was able to see that all his effort — in technique, in artistry, in the programs themselves — was not in vain. The reward simply came in a different form. People appreciated his effort to preserve what many of us see as the ideal form of figure skating.

Right after the free skate, he was clearly devastated. But a few days later, he already seemed visibly lighter and happier. Audience recognition does not come with numbers on a score sheet, but the amount of love, attention, and admiration he received was overwhelming. Many people who were not even figure-skating fans noticed him during the 2022 Olympics and immediately started rooting for him after watching his performances. His fandom grew massively in 2022, even though he did not win a medal. That, to me, says a lot.

A few pieces of evidence of the overwhelming support.

• His press conference in Beijing attracted far more media attention than the medal ceremony.

• More than 99% of the comments under the Beijing gala performance video on YouTube are about him, even though his performance was less than 5 minutes long in a nearly 3-hour video.

• Based on Google Trends, he was the athlete who received the most attention during Beijing 2022 — more than the combined attention received by those ranked second through sixth.

• Most YouTube videos about him were uploaded around 4 years ago, which says a lot about how much his fandom expanded in 2022.

• He received 20K postcards in Beijing.

• A huge crowd gathered on the street to see him off on his way to the airport.

So in the end, I think he was able to find meaning and motivation not through medals, but directly through the audience. And that’s why I feel much more relieved now.

To BeYuzu: Sorry for the long ramble. I just wanted to share how I managed to move past some of the sadness and anger over what he went through from 2019 to 2022. He did say somewhere that “Beijing 2022 saved him.” Everything else is just my own interpretation, and I may not be entirely right. The Olympic Games draw a level of public attention that the World Championships simply cannot match. If he had not gone to Beijing, he might never have had the chance to see so clearly that people loved his programs for what they were, not just for the medals attached to them. I used that list of evidence to reassure myself that I could trust my own eyes and feelings, and that I was not the only one left baffled by the score sheets. I hope it can help you get over the bad feeling from score manipulation.

I 'm interested for any aspect of Yuzurus life and way. So long articles are fine. 🙂 for me it is an interesting aspect. I knew about the immense interest and support from all over the world in Beijing. That he wouldn't have that amount of support since then was not in my mind.
I have another question:
After the games, still in Beijing he got surprised by a video call with his early figure skating coach Shoichiro Tsuzuki who told him how proud he was. That was very touching. But I couldn't find it again.
If you know it an have an idea where to find, I would be very thankful. It completed the picture for me somehow.

2 hours ago, BeYuzu said:

After the games, still in Beijing he got surprised by a video call with his early figure skating coach Shoichiro Tsuzuki who told him how proud he was. That was very touching. But I couldn't find it again.
If you know it an have an idea where to find, I would be very thankful. It completed the picture for me somehow.

It was in the [Videos] part of Planet Hanyu. However, the [Videos] part is not available after the forum upgrade.

Part of coach Tsuzuki's words to Yuzu is in this YT video: 20220723Human Action羽生结弦SP 中文字幕 - YouTube starting from 3:52, but it wasn't complete. You can post your question in the thread: General Yuzuru Chat - Part 2 - Yuzuru Hanyu - Planet Hanyu. Some other fans might be able to help you.

3 hours ago, BeYuzu said:

I 'm interested for any aspect of Yuzurus life and way. So long articles are fine. 🙂 for me it is an interesting aspect. I knew about the immense interest and support from all over the world in Beijing. That he wouldn't have that amount of support since then was not in my mind.
I have another question:
After the games, still in Beijing he got surprised by a video call with his early figure skating coach Shoichiro Tsuzuki who told him how proud he was. That was very touching. But I couldn't find it again.
If you know it an have an idea where to find, I would be very thankful. It completed the picture for me somehow.

I have the video here but please keep it in here only (don't share publicly as I don't want it to get copyright striked).

His words "Is there any other skater skater who's so rewarded?" made him realise people love him and his skating despite what happened.

He mentioned in an interview somewhere he was very grateful for those words.

And in a recent magazine interview, he said Beijing's experience finally made him realise he could go on as a professional skater.

12 hours ago, BeYuzu said:

The latest things that have shaken me: - a clip showing several breakdowns behind the scenes, and - the news that he’s considered a loudmouth in Japan and ignored by most of the media. I didn't understand the whole thing about his commercials being banned for being unsuitable for minors at all. It’s unbelievable: to me, he is the embodiment of authenticity and humility. He gives himself so much to the world. (trouble with translation, nothing really fits my german sentence, not surrender but give away, a true GIFT) In many ways, a fantastic role model. - But In an interview, he was asked what he liked most about his body, and he replied that he actually tends to hate himself. And it didn't sound like he was referring only to his body. I’m still hoping that the intensity of that statement is due to a translation error.

Brian Orser once said that Yuzu was a bit too intense for his taste. I didn't understand that for a while, but today I agree with him. A little less intensity, and his life would be healthier.

Oh~my~. I just read your words more carefully, and I feel worried again~ I don't know what to do~

As he followed the steps of Dick Button to win 2 back to back Olympic gold, I also hope he can follow Dick Button in the aspect of living up to age 95 (or more!)