Figure Skating 2018 - Part XVI

Previous thread at the link below with the latest updates on Misha's ego.

In session now:

Oh, god. They're talking about synchronized skating.

zzzz when are Synchro rules finishing?

Anyway, good to know some of them don't know how to count a 2/3 majority

Now moving to address singles and pairs technical rules proposals.

Technical Committee have changed the proposal about Quads. They now propose that one quad may be repeated.

Voted as a package with other proposals from Technical Committee

Passed.

Japan voted against. But only Japan, Poland and Uzebekistan voted against.

What just happened? What else was in the package?

Did Japan want no quads repeated - or did they want more than one repeated? And to whose benefit? Uno?

R8

Among the things in the "package":

Men in tights

Projection as a criteria to evaluate when scoring Performance in PCS

Not to count as a sequence two jumps that are quite far apart from each other

No more steps required before the solo triple/quad jump in the SP

Pair Spin combination eliminated from Pairs SP. No solo spin combo in Pairs FS

New Patterns Dances introduced. Including the Tango Canasta...

Short Dance is officially renamed Rhythms Dance

At Worlds 20 Pairs will make the FS instead of 16

R9 Who knows....they voted 40 motions in a single vote.

Some dump delegates didn't even understand what they voted on given some questions asked at the end.

No one spoke from the floor after Bianchetti presented the 4 amendments to the original proposals. They went directly to the vote even if Lakernik offered the opportunity to speak

Japanese delegate didn't say anything. And based on previous interventions she seems to struggle a bit with English and read pre-pared speeches.

Yesterday, Japan withdrew proposal to have a bonus for a skater doing all the different kinds of jumps -- did they make the proposal to begin with, and that's why they could withdraw it? That sounds like it could help Hanyu, whose ankle is bothered by Lutz and loop, at least currently. The loop can be hell on the hips - drove Lipinski out of the sport and Chen has had a bad hip injury in the past.

”Any double jump (including 2A) cannot be included more than twice in a free (as a solo or part of combo).

Of all triple and quad jumps, only two can be executed twice.

Of the two repetitions, only one can be a quadruple jump.

If at least one of these executions is in a jump combination/sequence, both executions are attributed their full numerical value. If both executions are as solo jumps, the second of these solo jumps will be attributed 70% of its numerical value.

Triple and quadruple jumps with the same name will be considered as two different jumps. No triple or quadruple jump can be attempted more than twice."

Two good things about the whole package dubious affair: men can wear tights and 20 pairs can now go for FS.

I guess the reason why they vote 40 motions in one vote is that they're afraid of explaining each one of these clearly to those dumb ( or pretending to be dumb) judges will take up more than a year of time.

They had the coffee break coming up...

Yesterday afternoon they had an "excursion"...

Which delegation originally proposed striking the steps before SP solo jump rule? So much for making fs more than about jumps.

Ready for more Misha news? Misha and Evgenia started wearing bracelets identical to the two Hanyu always wears (black for Misha, white for Evgenia). Misha was seen purchasing them in Kanazawa, so they were not a gift from Hanyu or a fan. This was before the awkward photo incident.

I am shocked with both Misha and Evgenia. Misha posting that meme on his weibo and Evgenia liking memes that ship her and Hanyu. I think both of them are using Hanyu and don't care about him as a friend or his feelings at all. I think weir and plushenko are better friends to Hanyu than these two claim to be.

R17 It was the ISU Technical Committee that put forwards the proposal of getting rid of the steps

On Monday Bianchetti (the Chair of the Technical Committee) basically said that judges had different opinions on what is a connecting step before the jump. So they couldn't get a consistent evaluation...hence they get rid of them

The Russia delegate replied to him "For many years the skaters were doing them and the judges were able to distinguish them. What is the problem now? Either the skaters now cannot do them, or the judges cannot figure out where the steps are?"

Then Bianchetti said that they would put them among the bullet points for GOE instead.... only problem is they were already there. So we can guess Bianchetti didn't even know the bullets. And he's a Technical Specialist. And anyway, if judges have different opinions on them, whatever it may mean, it is not they would magically disappear if the steps are in the bullets instead in the requirements for the SP.

Yuzuru’s friendship with Javier will always be the best tbh. They’re obviously close but Javi never flaunts it in anyone’s face, never comes across as if he’s just using Yuzu for the fame. Quite the opposite actually. Misha wants to seem like he’s so important to Yuzuru’s life and story but he didn’t get an invite to Hanyu’s ice show lol. I hope it stung.

It's so weird to see Misha ramble about Hanyu on his SNS because dude, why are you talking about SOMEONE ELSE and their accomplishments everyone knows about over and over? And a lot of English-speaking fandom is crazy defensive of their "friendship" . I'd feel really weird putting up pictures of someone else and talking about them at length without permission on my SNS, especially if I know how much they value privacy and don't even have an SNS account. I'd still excuse Med as a teenage girl with a crush who doesn't know much better, but Misha's acts are so clearly calculated, going out of his way to remind everyone how close he is to Hanyu, as if that would make him somehow more respected -- well I guess it works among the English speaking fangirls. The Asian fans I've seen, not so much.

I can't believe they got rid of the no-steps-between-the-solo-jump in SP. Yeah, why bother with technical requirements in the technical program. The 1 quad repetition rule isn't too bad, basically the only person affected seems Nathan Chen, but if gets the 4Lo, he'll still be able to do a 6 quad program. The Zagitova rule will be a bit more iffy, because I do think the layouts will bacome basically the same, edpecially in women's.

R9 I believe Japan wanted the old up to two quads repetition rule. Some of Uno's jumps are not particularly stable so it might have bern reasonable to upgrade by having 2 quads repeated, but his 3A is solid so he isn't particularly hurt by that rule eithet. Japan's "no" might have to do more with younger skaters, perhaps? Or generally theh might have been the Robin Hoods and thought it was better for sport in general.

R12 I don't know why Japan withdrew their bonus proposal but it cab't have been because of Hanyu's jnjury: even with a bum foot he had the full set of jumps. He just jumped the triple versions. At the moment, it seems Uno might not have the full set, he didn't jump a lutz in his Oly FS, opting for a 3Lo and 3S-3T. A surprising number of top skaters are missing a jump: Chen had no Loop (nowhere to put the 3Lo, though, as 3F has a higher value than a 3Lo), Jin no Loop (nowhere to put, lkke with Chen since other triples have higher value), Zhou no Loop (same story), Kolyada no Flip (opted for a 3Lo instead - which he popped). So the bonus rule would have REALLY benefited skaters who don't have multiple quads but are able to put all types of jumps into their layout. And if the bonus was substantial enough, it might have limited the quad mania somewhat. Perhaps Japan traded something during this "excursion"?

That whole Misha twitter hoopla reads like some middle school drama (does Hanyu know he's a member of a not so secret Musketeer cub?), lol, but the hysterical reaction here is ridiculous. I watched the video which showed that photo thing, and please. Hanyu might not have been enthusiastic but he didn't look "pissed" either, people are making a mountain out of a molehill. Since he doesn't seem to give a flying fuck about social media, I doubt the whole thing us going to bother Hanyu a lot.

I think Hanyu does care - but I don't think he should care. He volunteered during an interview that he was "not involved and felt like he was reading about another Yuzuru Hanyu" - and during his own ice show, he said some ugly media had made him question whether he wanted to live or not.

Especially the Misha crap though - as ludicrous as that famewhore is, he hasn't said anything bad about Hanyu. The worst is the photo where he used photos to make Hanyu look disgusted at Sotoko Miyahara and Ashley Wagner (what a random choice??) and lustful toward Evgenia. And the worst thing about that is it insults his friend(s). An ice show recap said he made a point of playfully holding Sotoko's hand all during the skate-around at the end of her last ice show. So even that is easily mended - he's not doing this crap and if anything, it's more fuel for the fans, adding to his fame.

It's part of the fame package - probably has been since the Barrymores on Broadway, Rudolf Valentino, etc.... Fangirlism is a mixed blessing but he does benefit from it - if he cares about endorsements, anyway. I wish he wasn't seemingly so delicate - oh well, he's just 23 and has led a strange life as a sports-child prodigy. Evgenia is 18! Misha just a sociopath or something good lord. Maybe growing up as a kid skater isn't the best prep for life, but surely it has its silver lining if you're at Hanyu level ?? I would say Medvedeva level too but then I think of the fallen Russian skating angels of the past - Baiul, Lipnitskaia, Sotnikova, etc... I think Hanyu's got a more stable base, unless he blows it by being overly sensitive. Tell them to fuck off, Zu.

* I fucked up my post - I think Hanyu SHOULDN'T care

Oh Jesus. At best, Ge is a guy whose, er, internet displays of affection are blowing up in his face, at worst, he's an internet famewhore but he's hardly a sociopath. Can we not.

After the World Championships, the famous coach Elena Tchaikovskaya expressed an opinion that increase quads in men’s skating will change the selection of athletes. In demand will be boys of short stature, with short legs, so with a lower center of gravity.

Plushenko did quads at 5'11" but I don't know how well - but now I think most doing them are 5’8” (Yuzuru/Javi) or shorter - Chen is 5'5' and Uno is 5'3". Are there any tall quadsters?

Moris Kvitelashvili 180 cm

Yaroslav Paniot 183 cm

Not that their two quads are particularly consistent

Kovtun is 180 cm

He was a mess but I don't think it was due to his stature, more due to being a total headcase.

I agree Hanyu is too sensitive. If he's aware of the whole drama which his BFFs- Misha and Evgenia (as Misha Ge tried to prove many times lol ) made, I wouldn't be surprised if he's affected emotionally by it. But let him deal with things himself. I'm excited.

Good points R30. I was just shocked at the mockup photos that Misha did of Hanyu looking disgusted at Sotoko Miyahara (and Ashley Wagner of all people) and his tongue out. looking lustfully at Evgenia. Then her buying bracelets just like Hanyu's and wearing one in her Instagram yesterday (apparently she wears the lighter colored one, Misha the darker one.) They're being very rude, bordering on cruel, to Hanyu (who I assume is fond of Sotoko).

But I'm not used to the excesses of East Asian media when it comes to Hanyu, though I'd heard about such. Apparently they accused him of getting a high school pal pregnant and buying an abortion yada yada yada. Egads.

If he's dealing with that level of sleaze, he better grow a suit of armor. I still think he's amply rewarded with mega-fame and needs to take the bad with the good - it's just the way it works.

BTW, can I ask what you're excited about? Evgenia at TCC? I am, a little bit. Could be some real fireworks, esp with Eteri taking Tursy back. I imagine Tursy will get a lot more attention than she would have otherwise, with Eteri wanting to rub it in that she could succeed with the girl when he couldn't. Tursy did have a quad sal, at one time, though never in official comp. We'll just have to see. Curious if Evgenia and Gabby becomes besties too -- there was a selfie of them hugging at one of the ice shows earlier this year.

Shoma new SP: Stairway to Heaven/PPA by Rodrigo y Gabriella

He performed it at one of the Japanese Ex show today. It will be broadcasted next month

Last day of Dump and Dumper aka the ISU Congress

There are always 2-3 delegates who doesn't seem to understand how to use those bloody voting machines.

The top moment of the day was the rlection of Ice Dance Technical Committee

They had to elect 3 members. There were 5 candidates

Shawn Rettstatt (USA) was elected on first round by comfortable margin.

However, Hillary Selby (Great Britain), Alla Shekhovtsova (Russia) and Georgy Elek (Hungary) were tied. Sergei Baranov (Ukraine) was way behind in last place.

They did the second round of voting. First on the screen only 3 names appeared....and the Chair said "we have to included Baranov"

They added him and the outcome was Selby and Shekhovtsova elected. Notice that Selby and Shekhovstova polled a couple of less votes than in the first round...given the absence of Rettstatt I would have expected them to gain votes rather than lose them......but it's probably due to some delegates pushing wrong buttons as usual

Then they went on with Synchronized Skating elections...

At the end they realized the second round of voting for Ice Dance shouldn't have not included Baranov as the other 3 were above the quorum and therefore it was just a tiebreak between them

Therefore, they re-voted

Selby was elected. Shekhovtsova and Elek tied again.

They voted for a third time (4th including the void vote).

Finally, Gregory Elek got the last seat. Alla Shekhovtsova voted out

Single and Pair Committee: Bianchetti re-elected as Chair. All sitting members confirmed

Synchronized Committee: who cares? Anyway British dude lost the Chair election to Greg Zuerlein's French husband. And a Russian woman got in the Committee instead of a Finnish woman

Did the Misha memes and bracelets come after Hanyu stated nothing was going on between him and Evgenia? I am trying to figure out why they are acting like this. And Hanyu is probably too nice to tell them to knock it off.

R31 Those Hanyu/Ashley/Satoko/Evgenia memes were made BY Misha? Are you sure? Because if so, daaamn.

R34. I'd wager Evgenia is just having fun, maybe likes the idea of being a part of some sort of cool kids circle.

And I can't wait to see Uno's new program, I love Stairway to Heaven.

R18, where did you read that? I clearly follow the wrong forums...

R35 - the weibo post was number 592 in the old thread (Figure Skating CV) - and immediately after it was the one where he's frowning at Sotoko and Ashley. So hopefully Misha didn't do the latter but he clearly did 592, well I guess he did, his name is at the top and the poster said it was his weibo file (he speaks Chinese - grew up there or something?) And 592 is bad enough...

I thought she bought the bracelets so I'm glad it was Misha. This was before the photo at the end of the ice show, where Hanyu put the Winne the Pooh headband over his face. But she posted a picture of her own hand with it on, holding an apple (a reference to a famous anime Deathnote?)

This is some weird shit. Maybe it's time for Hanyu to get a Japanese coach and "share the wealth" (and maybe set up his future, with a skating school, in conjunction with Kenji or some other Japanese skating coach/choreographer/etc.) He needs to start thinking of the next step anyway and I seriously doubt it involves Orser. Does he even need a coach now? Maybe a jump specialist to work on 4A but I doubt he even needs that.

Isn't it about time that Hanyu could declare himself a jump specialist (or coach)? It's pretty clear he knows how to do it - probably as well as anyone.

R38. So ok, I think I've got a clearer picture now. Misha's got bad taste, but not to the degree to create that rather offensive meme. Evgenia seems to be a Hanyu fangirl, it's not like wearing jewelery like someone else who seems cool is uncommon. I'm cutting her skack for being a typical ternager here.

Quitting Orser though? Look where thinking he could do without coach took Patrick Chan. Every skater, no matter the level of accomplishment, needs a coach, even if only to keep the mental game. But more importantly, even if Hanyu could do without Orser and with just a jump coach - it looks like he wouldn't have a moment of peace in Japan so Toronto as a world's top training center with top notch facilities, comprehensive training programs and easy access to top choreographers is still is the place to be. Just like Medvedeva is moving to Toronto for her career, it's best for Hamyu's career to remain there. ( And as a side note: apparently with a bum foot, some ibuprofen and 3 weeks of training Hanyu won the goddamn Olympics; 90% of credit goes to the man but Orser and the Toronto club must have helped. Orser's media game concerning the injury and bulding up Hanyu's chances were nothing but brilliant so the man is useful outside the rink too.)

It just occurred to me that the ugly frowning at girls/lusting at Evgenia thing might have a political slant to it - and maybe was done by a Russian? Hanyu looks at a Japanese girla nd goes 'yuck'. Looks at an AMERICAN girl and goes 'yuck'. Looks at a Russian girl and goes 'yum!!" So maybe a Evgenia fan who's Russian? Like the poor guy needs yet another group to go after him on social media...

R40. That's too deep for fanbrats.

LOL good point but Ashley is just so random. But if someone were new to skating, they might not care which other girls' pictures they used, so hers popped up. Who would make more sense is Gabby Daleman. I think I'm obsessing about this too much.... Hope Hanyu isn't. They're determined to sexualize him. He needs a fake girlfriend, though that might make things worse. Fandom is crayyyy.

It's really not worth spending any time dwelling on any of this crazy fangurl shit. Don't go to Tumblr or your head will explode.

But Misha did do the other meme with him and Evgenia hugging and Hanyu looking mad. And Misha calls himself Hanyu's friend? LOL!

Alexandrovskaya/Windsor (the Aussie pair) have moved to Montreal to train under Richard Gauthier.

SP by Julie Morcotte. FS by Massimo Scali.

cantilover @cantilover cantilover Retweeted КИМУРА Сатоко

Shoma's SP music: Rodrigo y Gabriela's Stairway to Heaven

Damn this is some Twitter level discussion here. I'm pretty sure ge is not making memes himself - just reposting. And they are not meant to be taken seriously, look at it for a second maybe smile and forget. Yeah what hes doing is not great but not awful either. All of hanyus fangirls should stop treating him like a child

Don't care if Ge is an attention whore..I really enjoyed watching his skating in Milano

Seems like Carolina performed her new short in Japan: "Back to Black".

Agreed that Hanyu fangirls shouldn't be so overprotective, it's causing more drama. But publicly sharing memes like that about a public figure that you supposedly know enough to understand their need for privacy is plenty awful, imo. At least pretty disrespectful if not inconsiderate. And I imagine that if you're emotionally invested, you'd want to speak out about it, since your'e in the target audience. The worst part of the drama imo are the fangirls that feed Ge's trolling with "Thank you Misha your friendship is beautiful don't mind the haters". They seem to blanket-fetishize everything related to Hanyu, "If you love Yuzu you should know that he probably gave permission for everything" or "If you think Brian didn't ask Yuzu's permission to bring Boyang unfriend me now" "Everyone from Team Japan is so Genuine!" ... people say RPF is bad, but this is RPF right there. Maybe worse because at least RPF admits to being a fantasy.

What's skating fan fic like? Mostly trash? Who writes these things?

I made the mistake of wandering around Tumblr recently. Whole blogs dedicated to overanalyzing every hug/cuddle/glance between yuzu and Javi over the years, with most concluding that oh yes they are lovers hopelessly devoted to each other against all odds.

What about uno's new ex? I haven't seen the program itself, but this outfit is uncomfortable to see. Isn't it borderline cultural appropriation? I mean, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know anything about native American culture

Shoma's "Great Spirit" - this Twitter account has other videos of the ex.

R49. Whoa, excited for Carolina's program for a first time in a long time. God I hope she'll use the orginal version of the song.

2021 Worlds will be in Stockholm

2021 Euros will be in Zagreb (well, they were the only application)

Junior Worlds and 4 Continents will be decided on October 2018 . Taipei applied for both. Australia applied for 4CCs

Rika Kihira's new FS is "Mercy in Darkness" from Archangel by Two Steps From Hell. (Saturday's ice show in Nagano, Japan.) Avant garde. +5 GOE, a viewer said, despite:

Fell a lot then fell some more and did backwards somersault, poor girl. She popped her 3A into a 2A then went for a 3A again but fell. Seemed to be slightly in pain but many ppl praising her program. If you check her name in a twt search, a few people were saying her fall was a bit unusual & are a little worried.

In same show, Yuzuru did side-by-side 4T with Plushenko (might have been 3T?), but fell again, as he did yesterday, but he later landed a 4T-3T. For the first time since the Olympics, his triple loop was back. An onlooker saw him land a 4S during practice. He says he's chosen new music/programs but won't say what they are, but that now he needs to rethink the layout due to ISU rules changes. He is jumping lots of very big 3As - related to 4A plans? (he's still talking about it in interviews)

I like Uno fine, but it's sad that his fans can't tolerate any criticism of that horrendous outfit and try to talk people down from talking about it because "we shouldn't bother athletes with things like that". Doesn't feel like a healthy fandom.

You just know if a European skater dressed up like that everyone would lose their minds. Shoma's annoying ass fans treat him like a naive little kid.

Shoma is too dump to even being bothered by that. He probably didn't understand anything about the fuss

How jealous is Misha right now? Already replaced as Yuzu bff.

Lol. Alex's pic is black and white like Misha's too. Saw a comment on his Twitter to the effect, "now that's real friendship, no hollow words, actual depth." Not sure there's depth here either but poor Misha, even if he did it to himself.

Maybe it's the Misha Effect, I'm getting uncomfortable whenever a skater posts a picture with Hanyu. But then again, this does seem like a harmless Friendsaversary thing instead of the oozing idolatry / coattail riding that Misha does, talking about how much he helped Hanyu and pretending to defend Hanyu from nonexistent harassers on his page. Oh and did anyone see Med's new SNS posts? She keeps taking closeups of her hand with props while showing off the same bracelet as Hanyu that apparently she bought together with Misha.

What's the sensitivity surrounding Hanyu and other skaters? Seems like they post stuff like this all the time (pretty sure Alex posted something similar with Javi and nobody batted an eye). Is it the perceived piggybacking on his fame? All seems harmless to me but maybe I'm missing some context. (although some of the sarcastic reactions to Misha on this forum were pretty hilarious)

I think it's that Hanyu doesn't have SNS precisely because he doesn't want to give his fans any ideas (in his words), so you'd expect his friends to respect that and not post photos of him without permission. Apparently he has some agreement with the media that they're not allowed to show his family on camera either? I mean maybe he doesn't mind, who knows. But I'd be weirded out if my friend kept posting photos of me and rambling about how they helped me get over depression, or name dropped so often to their fans.

What's with fans gushing over Shoma like he has any sex appeal?

Yuzuru flopped out of a triple loop and some other triple half loop triple sequence in his performance at Heroes & Future. Candeloro looks beat and aged but it's nice they honored the older skaters in this show. Wonder why Kulik didn't get invited or skate in it?

Karen Chen must be happy that Nathan's mom went along to Japan with him.

Alex Krazhnozon? has left the Cains for some Russian American coaches and it doesn't sound like an amicable parting.

Alysa Liu landed 2 triple axels in a local competition recently. I hope she survives puberty and doesn't get injured.

I don't give a fuck if Alex's friendship with Hanyu exists but his post at least didn't fuckin'tickle me. And why suddenly Plushenko and Hanyu acted as if they were buddies?

Medvedeva tweet - I wonder if there's some shade in it involving Eteri/Alina?

"Watched @gabby_daleman Q&A. I can say only one thing: blessed to train with persons, whom you respect and they are giving respect to you too, cuz respect, is the most important thing in our sport."

That was one weird self-important video - I had to turn it off after a minute or two. She had on tons of eye makeup - I think she did the thing to show off how good she looked. Weird little chick though. She must be on top of the moon with Osmond bowing out this year.

I think Plushenko/Hanyu have always been buddies - I remember a scene where Plushy gives Yuzu a huge bouquet of flowers at Sochi and says he's his hero now. Is Plushy just a really sweet man? Or is he hoping to ride Hanyu's popularity somehow because there are so many opportunities in Japan? I would think he'd have those sewn up anyway. Oh well, Yuzu has been fawning about Plushenko since he was a child (he copied his haircut), him and Weir. They're his heroes since childhood. Seldom mentions Japanese forerunners like Takahashi or Honda.

Hanyu idolizes Plushenko and Plush has been a big supporter of him at least since Sochi. I don't think it's weird for Hanyu to be friendly with other skaters or for them to post pics with him now and then...that's normal. Most skaters are on good terms with each other. Misha just goes too far when he is clearly pestering the guy at awkward times and writing long spiels about how deep & special their friendship is.

Cains vs Alex Kwhatever sounds more interesting than who is pretending to be Hanyu's closet friend this week.

AK's recent IG Story: Respect is for those who deserve it, not those who demand

Aahley Cain IG Story just after that : You can't change someone who doesn't see an issue in their actions

[quote] Cains vs Alex Kwhatever sounds more interesting than who is pretending to be Hanyu's closet friend this week. AK's recent IG Story: Respect is for those who deserve it, not those who demand Aahley Cain IG Story just after that : You can't change someone who doesn't see an issue in their actions

Both Alex and Ashley removed these IG Story comments an hour after posting them. Ashley especially should have known better. She's older and seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. Seems she's as vapid as the rest of the skaters.

Good grief...passive aggressive bickering in Instatories? I want to know what Krasnozhon did now.

The first thing that popped up on my Instagram feed this morning was a bunch of anti-gay comments liked by Courtney Hicks. How does Kori Ade tolerate having her at her rink. Kori used to be all about diversity.

The Chinese Skating Fed is not going to host any events this season. They cancelled the Shanghai Trophy, moved the JGP to Vancouver, and are hoping to move Cup of China to Korea pending their acceptance. Pretty weird to cancel EVERYTHING like that...what's up?

[quote]The first thing that popped up on my Instagram feed this morning was a bunch of anti-gay comments liked by Courtney Hicks. How does Kori Ade tolerate having her at her rink. Kori used to be all about diversity.

Is she just there for choreo? I don't follow her because I hate her skating, but the bigotry and ignorance would also cause me to not follow her. Looking at her Wiki, her choreographers are listed as Rohene Ward and Jonathan Cassar...how the fuck can they can stand her?

[quote] Is she just there for choreo? I don't follow her because I hate her skating, but the bigotry and ignorance would also cause me to not follow her. Looking at her Wiki, her choreographers are listed as Rohene Ward and Jonathan Cassar...how the fuck can they can stand her?

TSL said she moved to Monument. They all put up with her because of $$$

Will ISU release the verdict on the 2 Chinese judges this week? On the first day of Congress they said that they would deliberate in Seville and communicate the outcome "in due time"

Anyway, good old Alexandre Gorojdanov can be back in 2021.

Rumour has it the Chinese Fed isn't too happy with how the ISU apparently treated Chinese officials at the Olympics (huh?) and because two of their judges are under investigation at the moment. Quite petty of them to do this so soon before the season starts.

Also South Korea might be able to host that Grand Prix, they will confirm / reject it by the 25th of June.

Chen was probably outside the corridor on Boyang's score. I need to do some maths.

I wonder what Feng Huang was up to.

I knew Kori waaay back in the day when she was a young, newish coach, and she was very liberal. She raised eyebrows with some of the conservative frauish coaches at the rink when she married a black man, incorporated hip hop into her students' skating routines and off ice training, and was openly very gay friendly. I left the rink to go to college in the early 2000s, and when I saw she was the coach of the new US junior champ, I got a good laugh at how jealous those frau coaches whose students never went anywhere must've been at her success.

Anyway, I'm somewhat surprised to see her tack on someone like Courtney Hicks too, but with so many students leaving her she must be getting less selective. Or maybe she isn't aware of Hicks' political beliefs.

TSL says Rohene left Kori too? I don't think she can afford to be picky now...

Has Lecavelier left Kori too?

Apart from a decent result at Worlds, she had a bad season. So it wouldn't be surprising.

[quote] Has Lecavelier left Kori too?

rumor has it Lecavelier started training in the U.S. to be close to her boyfriend. He recently returned to France so it wouldn't be surprising if she had left.

Interesting stuff [R80]

R78. If the whole hoopla with judges under investigation and Olympic speed skating scandal is indeed the reason for China backing out of the events, I don't see it as petty. They're NOT being treated fairly. Chinese judges were the only ones singled out, and they even weren't the ones with most questionable scoring. Not to mention the speed skating shit, which makes the figure skating drama pale in comparison. China might be making a statement that they want to be taken seriously and that they won't put up with all that - and the need to be taken seriously because the next Olympics is their home event, and hey, the host would naturally want their athletes to have equal chances.

Chinese market is vast, I don't suppose the GP in Korea will be as well attended as in China, nor selling the broadcasting as lucrative, nor sponsorships as generous. (Though I may be mistaken on the latter, I've already seen bets on whether to Korean GP, if it happens, will be named the Hyundai Cup or the Samsung Trophy.) So ISU might want not to lose the CoC and play nicer in the future.

On anothrr note, ISU should really try moving the the GP France somewhere else, where the Fed at least pretend to know what they're doing.

I agree. Also even if Chinese judge did give higher marks to Boyang, it wasn't refelcted in the overall score so I don't really understand the fuss. Well, I actually don't even understand why would she give such a high score knowing that it will be dropped. Isu should investigate technical panel members and their favoritism instead.

For some reasons Rippon managed to get nominated at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Sports Awards in the Olympic Wonders and King of the Swag (?) categories. Shibs are in the Olympic Wonders field too.

Hey, I heard that Medvedeva was bashed in Japan ( and China too, not sure) for using carelessly her SNS which resulted in creating drama, starting dating rumors and fan's speculation and she seems to enjoy it so much. Her dating rumors usually came from her SNS( what she posted, what she liked,...). Yesterday, she posted and retweeted a photo of her and Kristian Kostov with heart emoji and many fans speculated they were dating. There was time she posted instastory with her wearing Boyang Jin's golden jacket too. She liked a lot of posts shipping her with Hanyu on VK and Instagram, clinged to him at every events and copied him a lot ( plush toy tissue box, hydroblading, bowing in K&C, knee slide...and someone already mentioned she brought a new bracelet that looked like Hanyu's and posted photos of her wearing it ). All what she did on SNS purposefully invited dating rumors. It seems like she enjoys shipping herself with other guys. Anyone knows more about this ???

All I know is with Hanyu, Misha Ge seemed to be encouraging her (maybe he started all this?) It was Micha who bought the bracelets with big stones that look just like Hanyu's - in fact, Misha wears the dark one and Evgenia the lighter colored one. She and Misha have seemed very close, for a long time. Maybe she learned this possibly-famewhoring behavior from him, to get attention and raise her stock (supposedly)?

I was just reading that as far as filling up arenas, she's second only to Hanyu, at least in Asia (well, other than homegrown skaters, I guess). Is that true? Oh, and Nathan is very popular in Japan - there were reports he got a bigger and louder standing ovation than Javier Fernandez. WTH? Anyway, that's all I got. I think we're gonna get a lot of social media out of the combo of Evgenia and Gabby Daleman ai yi yi (thinking of Gabby's youtube just in the past week, all "me me me...")

From Wakaba Higuchi interview, May 2018: -New choreo: SP is Shae-Lynn, FS is Yuko Sato (neither done yet) -Wakaba spent a week at TCC working particularly on 3A -She wants to add in 3A next season, plus more transitions -Over the next quad, she aims to make GPF every year

No. She isn't that popular as a skater. She got some love from Anime fans and kpop fans for occasionally posting Anime and Kpop stuffs on SNS and her Sailor Moon EX. Got some support from Hanyu's fans because she tried hard to make impression that she is close with him. Her fanbase isn't large enough to fill up arena outside Russia ( maybe I'm not sure she can fill up arena in Russia) . In Japan, she isn't too famous, Nathan Chen is way more popular than her. Recently, Zagitova and her new pet even got more attention from Japanese media than her. If she continues to act stupid on SNS, I'm not sure if (Hanyu's) Japanese fans can tolerate her anymore, they used to love and respect Misha Ge as a Hanyu's friend before but after his recent Insta post, many of them got angry and lost faith in him. I forgot the photo where she was laying on Vinvent Zhou's lap lol. The girl seems to enjoys the feeling being shipped with other guys by her fans ( she remined me of one of my high school friends who took photo with guys, posted it on FB and Instagram and writed affectionate caption as if they were lovers/ close friends, and she did it almost everyday with a different guy). Her Russian fans like shipping her with other guys too. There are many of her Russian fans who are hardcore Evgenia/ Hanyu shippers (thank to her lol) Tere are more and they are much more active than any international fans can expect. They wrote fanfics, made fanmade videos and shipping memes ( some of which Evgenia had liked)...

She got introuble ? How? lol

Oh please those psychotic Hanyu fans are just a bunch wallflowers. They live in a world where every skater follows or is after their beloved mascot. *gag*

I don't know if Med's actions are as calculated as Misha's, but she does seem to legit have a crush on him - who knows, maybe she fetishizes him as an "anime character" too. And telling the world that you're best buds by showing off matching bracelets is dumb, but typical teenage silliness.

Exactly, typical teenage silliness but nothing she should be crucified for. Even Misha, yes he's annoying but what is the big deal? Hanyu's personality (and it's contradictions) and his skating are intriguing to me but I don't get all the drama swirling around him. Not of his making though. He just seems to want to skate and live his hermit life.

Oh for pity's sake, can we stop with the Hanyu/Ge/Med "drama". The only drama there seems to be is in the fans' heads. I'm starting to ferl sorry for Hanyu, with fans like these here stirrjng the pot, who needs enemies.

R89. Nice to hear about Wakaba, I used to hope she'd be the one to join Orser's team. As her Skyfall LP was the best singles program of the last season , I'm glad Bourne is doing her SP, though I'd rather she'd do the LP again. I hope she'll get that 3A, the girl's got the goods.

People should stop treating Hanyu like he's some fragile snowflake. He's an adult and can deal with all this silliness.

Why suddenly everybody dragged Hanyu into this ? I was asking about Med. So now talking about her is also talking about Hanyu ? Why are you so obsessed to him ?

I think some of the Hanyu drama is because of something he said at his own talkshow/ice show back in April. At the end of the third and last show, he gave a little speech and said that because of some of the things that had been said about him (in media? weekly tabloids? social media? who knows I don't speak Japanese) -- anyway, one translation was that because of things writing about him, he had questioned whether he wanted to go on living or not.

He did separate interviews with the stars there, and he asked Plushenko how he had dealt with the ugly media over his and Yagudin's rivalry - and Plushenko somehow sort of hedged in his answer, but that was another time that Hanyu said the media had caused him a lot of pain.

One Japanese person writing in English said he was addressing a journalist in Japan who wrote an article saying he disliked Hanyu, the dramatic way he touched the ice, his tears, his crossing himself rituals, etc., that he thought that was ridiculous. Apparently this was printed in a Japanese weekly newspaper. But I'm pretty sure Hanyu was referring to other things as well, and some posters on some fan boards who speak Japanese and/or Chinese say that Asian social media is more vicious than anything we might read about Hanyu in English, some because of fandoms of other skaters who hate Hanyu (like Takahashi maybe?) -- and some because of nationalistic issues maybe?? Oh I don't know.

I think there are things going on that a non-Japanese audience can't really appreciate, but his rather desperate comment at his ice show stirred the pot, and now people look at things differently, when it comes to Hanyu and social or regular media.

R94: Japanese female skaters do not get enough credit or praise.

The other skaters discussed are painfully boring people and skaters.

It's not politically correct, but I don't like the looks of Wakaba. She's a great athlete, but every time I see her, I think her legs are several inches too short. A stumpy body that can't look elegant. Well, go for a 3x since that's the way she'll blow everyone out of the water.

Guy above who says Wakaba can't look "elegant" because she's short must be the same guy that raves about Sendai producing people with "beautiful, creamy skin". What a creep.

So Japan has Wakaba Higuchi (working on 3A), Marin Honda (with Raf now), Rika Hongo, Rika Kihira (already has 3A at 15), Mai Mihara, Satoko Miyahara, and Kaori Sakamoto – and the Russians have juniors (plural) with quads and 3As, plus Med, Zags, and Sotskova - and the US has Bradie Tennell and Karen Chen?

Sorry, I would use spoilers tags to hide the Medvedeva drama if I could.

R34 Ge bought the bracelets a few days after Hanyu’s statement. He did an instastory in the shop. Shipping memes and comments have been liked by Medvedeva on VK for ages, but only Russian fans were aware until now. R63 She was also wearing the bracelet on the ice with the distinct brand of gloves that Hanyu uses, his hometown rink’s gloves. She already copies his trademark tissue box amongst many other things.

R87 It was common knowledge that Medvedeva liked Hanyu but it was seen as an innocent crush that Ge exploited until the FaOI broadcast. The Kanazawa broadcast showed Med and Ge had planned the photo stunt in advance. The Japanese audience thought it was both rude to the musicians but also an inconsiderate thing to do after Hanyu’s statement. Med and Ge already knew the show format and rules against on-ice photos, and only had to wait five minutes to take their photo backstage. The odd close ups of her bracelet and the sudden appearance of the gloves following criticism of the Kanazawa stunt came across as deliberately fanning the flames. Then her Russian social media history came out. This led Japanese fans to wonder if Hanyu’s out-of-blue denial of his involvement with her was provoked by the way she had been acting rather than the tabloid itself, and fans are worried Hanyu will leave TCC if she becomes too unbearable.

While this was happening, there were reports that staff were keeping Med away from Hanyu backstage during FaOI (and H&F) and that would explain why she and Ge insisted on the photo during the show. There was also a report that Med was lingering on the ice, waiting for Hanyu at the end of the Nagano show when staff shooed her off and brought out the Shibs instead to take a photo with Hanyu and the other foreign Olympic medalists. I thought someone was just saying what they wanted to see but lo and behold, they did take a group photo at the end of the show and Medvedeva is the only foreign medalist who wasn’t in it. We may find out the truth when that show is broadcast.

The shipping of Med with Ge and the Belgian skater is just trolling by fans who think they are giving Med a taste of her own medicine. Even though there is chatter amongst Japanese fans, there haven’t been any fans commenting negatively on Med’s social media. The language barrier works as a great deterrent.

R97 The tabloids talk Hanyu brought up during his show involved libel and reporters stalking his people that had been ongoing for several years. It was the first time he had brought it up himself. That is what made the Medvedeva denial was so weird. There was one measly article about the rumor and no one was asking him about it.

Ge shouldn’t be a problem anymore, except he is the go between for Hanyu’s blades and he will be doing a camp at TCC later this summer. I wonder if Orser regrets inviting him now. Most of these problems could have been avoided if the skaters were more careful with their social media.

R88 Fernandez is still sort of popular but lost points when he dated Miki Ando, the most hated figure skater in Japan. I think Japanese fans prefer champions which is why they lean more toward Zagitova and Chen now. Many also got tickets to Dreams on Ice for Virtue/Moir. But none of the shows have been able to sell out without Hanyu, so the future of figure skating is not even secure in Japan.

R53 That is his second outfit. The one his team ran out and bought after some fans explained the offensiveness of the first. But those fans didn’t do a very good job because the face paint is still there. Bourne was the choreographer for that program and should know better as a Canadian.

R94 I think Higuchi’s plan was to join TCC after finishing high school (which would be March 2019). She had already been there for training sessions before. I don’t know if it’s still possible to go to Orser but there is a good chance we will see a coaching change next year.

R101 Gracie is training again...

American Alysa Liu @ 12 going for a triple Axel. Good for her. She appears to be one of our only hopes for a decent American lady skater.

Some say the Chinese are furious at how two of their judges were criticized (while other country's judges with the same behavior ignored) - plus calls during speed skating were unfairly made against China - so they're in a snit and acting out. Others say facilities and money are the issues. In any case, there will be no Cup of China this year (link to thread discussion on FSU, if it works:)

"The Chinese Skating Association has informed the ISU that they are unable to host any ISU Event during the 2018/19 season.

'ISU GP of Figure Skating, originally planned to be held as Cup of China in China, preferably to be held in the Republic of Korea on November 2-4, 2018.'

'ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (including Pair Skating), originally planned to be held in Harbin/China on September 19-22, 2018, now to be held in Vancouver, Canada, on September 12-15, 2018.

'Shanghai Trophy, originally planned to be held on September 29-October 1, 2018 in Shanghai/China, cannot be replaced and the season 2018/19 edition is cancelled.' "

Alysa Liu completed her FP. She landed a beautiful 3axel/2toe and singled her second planned 3 axel. The rest was clean.

Why is everybody assuming the 2 Chinese judges are invesitigated by ISU because of their (dubious) marks and not for something else?

I know Hanyu is a skinny guy, but somehow I think he'll manage to fight off Med's romantic advances. But maybe a coach change could open up new vistas? Isn't Plushenko trying to get his coaching career up and running? Rafael would be some serious intrigue with part-timer Chen across the continent. Oh, and Eteri might be interesting ;)

And why is Miko Andi hated? Because she had a child out of wedlock?

Maybe I'm weird but Wakaba's legs don't bother me but there's a female skater's legs who do - Evgenia Medvedeva! They're shapeless, like toothpicks.

At least she seems to be aware and often wears longer skirts than the other girls, which helps a lot. Maybe Wakaba should consider same? Nothing wrong with big muscles but there might be unconscious (or conscious) bias against her by judges (and not just the Chinese ;)

BTW, what could the Chinese two who are in the dock have done, if not fiddling with the scores?

* sorry- it's Miki Ando. I have a hell of a time with all these Asian names.

[quote] BTW, what could the Chinese two who are in the dock have done, if not fiddling with the scores

Reasons for recent suspension by ISU were:

Being caught with a pre pre-prepared list of marks during a Free Dance

Checking the scores of your neighbouring judges before/after imputting your marks

Talking to your neighbouring judge during a skate

Ignoring the chat going on between two judges and then join it making jokes prompting a third judge to laugh

Top excuses by judges:

"my monitor wasn't working. I just talked to my neighbor to check the problem"

"it was his first time. I was just helping him"

" how can you pretend I remember all these 30 couples?"

"these marks were just my impressions based on the practice..."....but you marked 2 people who are not even present......"erm..."

"Judging in the 6.0 system was so difficult....."

"I didn't hear anything...really, I didn't hear anyone talking...nothing happened...how can judge 4-6 say that 1-2 were chatting? They must have mistaken them with the audience"

R108 No, the Ando-hate started at least a decade ago. In fact, the reaction to her baby would have been far worse had she been liked. Her announcement didn't cause as much of a stir as she had hoped.

When she was young, she already had a diva reputation and was known for slacking off practice and skipping school to party. She has an arrogant way of speaking and constantly getting in trouble for making rude and insensitive remarks. She's practically insulted every skater and every guest she's met on television by now, though not intentionally. She's also like Misha Ge -very clingy, constantly bragging, making "cryptic" messages, always trying to use people for her social media. Sheposted a photo of her with Takahiko Kozuka on IG to (supposedly) congratulate him on his child's first birthday, but made it look like he was the father of her baby. She did the same thing to Takahito Mura. Long after her and Fernandez had broken up and he was posting photos of his new girlfriend, Ando would upload old photos of herself with Fernandez to make it look like they were still dating and talk about him in the press.

The characterization of her outside Japan as a strong and independent woman is hilarious as she's anything but. Still, I love that she's a trainwreck and very glad she's around. She's an interesting character and she dumped Morozov! If only her skating weren't so dull.

Murakami apparently announced his retirement

Can anyone summarize the whole thing? Especially the "dramatic" pauses

Let's move on from the Japanese wallflowers. Who gives a shit what any of them do off the ice? Stop that!

In contrast Guillaume Cizeron has hot boyfriend. Who is he and what do we know about him?

Todd Eldredge announced on Twitter that he's moving his coaching practice to California. Is he trying to avoid the latest Richard Callahan drama?

So Adam Rippon is begging for sponsors. He tells CNBC he's not picky about sponsors and "loves money". He knows his 8 minutes are about up.

What happened to the reality show Ellen was going to produce for him?

It's easy to be a little put off by/make fun of Adam and some of the skaters who are hustling to capitalize on their short-lived Olympic fame, but to hear the stories of the incredible financial and personal sacrifices they and their families have had to make just to achieve dreams that most of them ultimately don't realize, I just have to say I hope they wring out every cent they possibly can, they deserve it.

R117: you can hear Weir’s cackling from Mars.

That CNBC interview was done in February while he was in Pyeongchang. His situation is different now.

R121: How so?

R122 Now he's had more exposure and is more popular so he might get more opportunities?

R107 I'm only familiar with judge Chen's marks, and holy shit did she overscored Boyang Jin and underscored his closest rivals such as Fernandez, Uno and Chen. American judge Parker was seriously guilty of the same bias, blatant and visible from outer space, but even she didn't ovescore "her" skaters by over 30 points. Apparently judge Chen did it (hugely overscorig Jin and underscoring his rivals) in many many competitions. I don't know about judge Parker pattern, but I find it plausible that judge Chen is under investigation because of her scoring.

That said, ISU ARE dicks for singling out Chinese judges while pretend others are fine and dandy.

R104. Problem with Alyssa Liu is the same as with the young Russian girls. Who knows whether their technical skill survives growing up. She's still 3 years away from being able to go senior. Frankly, is Gracie Gold does plan on a comeback, now is the time to do it. If Gracie could get back to her former shape, Bradie Tennel would probably the only serious domestic competition, and well. Even Gracie Gold was more interesting than Bradie Tennel is. Bradie's almost like an American Sotskova, yawn.

R109 Wakaba is a bit stocky, but I think she looks good, and she's got very pretty face. Stocky legs look better in short skirts though. I think.

Anyway, she's got the most amazing energy amongst all the ladies skaters, so I want her to be able to reach for the highest trophies, and Orser's club is good at getting talented skaters up there. It's good to know there's still hope she might get to Toronto next season. Orser whipped Hanyu into an Olympic contender in 2 years, he might be able to do the same for Wakaba in 3. But, there's Medvedeva there too now, so who knows whether Wakaba would be as eager to join and risk playing second fiddle.

R108 I still maintain it'd be stupid of Hanyu to move to another training base when he's got a pretty great thing going on in Toronto. And frankly, I doubt it has crossed HIS mind, and certainly not because of Med, it's just fans being stupid.

R114 He said it's too difficult as a 27 year old to continue competing with so many promising young skaters around the world. He has some projects lined up (youtube-related maybe?) and also hopes to give back to the skating community, but at this time he's not sure if that will include choreography or coaching. He'll continue to make videos about whatever he's doing. The dramatic pauses were a combination of him trying to hold back tears and a habit he's developed from losing some of his Japanese speaking ability.

Is there any further information on Krasnozhon and the Cains?

FigureSkatingMisc‏ @figureskatingm1 2h2 hours ago In an interview, Rika Kihira said her success rate with her 4T has improved and she hopes it will be ready sometime next season. She’s also working on 4S, but is thinking of switching it from a Yuzuru-style technique to Nathan-style. Rika said her FS jump layout isn’t definitively decided yet, but she’s thinking along the lines of: 4T or 3A3T, 3A, 3Lo, 3Lz3T, 3F, 3Lz2T2Lo, 3S At the time of the interview, Rika’s SP music wasn’t chosen yet, but it will be choreographed by David Wilson.

R124 thanks!

First skaters announced for Japan Open (probably October 2018)

North America: Bradie Tennell and Nathan Chen - Europe: Alina Zagitova and Javier Fernandez - Guest (not competing): Tatsuki Machida - Other skaters yet to be named. Skaters perform a free program but no short. Individual results are combined for a team standing.

2017 Japan Open (Oct 7): Javi, Nathan, Shoma, Nobunari Oda, Jeremy Abbott, Bychenko; Medvedeva, Mai Mihara, Zagitova, Mirai Nagasu, Marin Honda, Karen Chen

Nathan is happy that some man (Jean Luc Baker) has made a meal for him at home after a day of skating?? Roommate? Boyfriend??

Baker is the current 4CCs champion in ice dance! He just moved to Gadbois. Chen is there to get choreo.

Not that anyone noticed who won 4 Continents in 2018....

No, I wasn't the same person making comments about creamy skin. And it's not just Wakaba, Med's legs were always creepy looking to me, anorexic looking. Skating's a visual sport. Gawky and starved v. stumpy, or looking "special"-- as a spectator, I notice. Sorry if anyone is offended. Cizeron looks odd to me. Don't see the attraction.

130, Boyang Jin is definitely one to watch. Hopefully the issues with the Chinese judge and federation do not impact Jin.

Gracie lost all her triples in a matter of months last year and couldn't even do double axels either. Trying to compete again would likely exacerbate her issues and hurt her ego. She should go to college at this ripe age.

Is Evgenia 18? 19? Doesnt matter. She is old enough to know better. I believe her moving to Toronto won't affect Hanyu. They will probably have different practice schedules anyway. Makes me wonder if she moved to Toronto to be closer to Hanyu. Especially after reading everything here.

R131 Some skaters were able to get their jumps back after months of inactivity due to injury, so perhaps Gracie could too? But then if that required a diet and losing weight, then yeah, her issues might exacerbate.

R132 How much does one's brain have to be turned to mush by twitter if one would believe that a drastic but logical career move would be done not because of career but because of a boy? Medvedeva may be a silly teenager, but she doesn't actually come across as stupid career-wise.

Geez, I'm having American Idol fandom flashbacks (shuttup everybody) and how trolls would pose as fans of a singer and post ~opnions~ just to make the rest of the fans look bad.

I agree, R133. I don't care about all this shipping crap or what someone "likes" on Twitter. I thought the maturity level on here was slightly higher than Tumblr...maybe not.

R134: I agree. I think she made a logical and necessary move. I don’t think she had a choice as she was on her way down the food chain. I am surprised she is continuing to show a lack of maturity. Admittedly, I can’t stand her as a skater and wonder if she realizes she only wins due to gaming the system.

Gracie Gold has a lot to overcome. If she wants to do it, I wish her the best. I’d be happy to see Wagner back.

Am I the only one surprised to find out that Kenji Miyamoto is married? I thought he was gay... Also, glad to see Tatsuki Machida embracing the flamboyancy as he ages.

There's a world of difference between fawning over a pop star, and publicly and very persistently encouraging others to ship yourself with your co-worker after he made the pointed decision to announce to the press that he has nothing to do with you. She handled her former coach's meltdown very well. She can act like an adult. Now would be a good time to hire a professional to help her navigate her social media accounts and figure out how best to behave in public. The Russian media will be watching her like a hawk leading to her next competitions with Zagitova and Tursynbayeva.

R127 I'm surprised Nathan will be there with his schedule at Yale. Their reading week isn't until later in the month. What's the advantage of participating at the Japan Open? Testing programs?

Did Courtney Hicks get dumped for a man? I don't understand her need to display her disapproval of gay men when she must be surrounded and supported by many of them. Or maybe they don't support her enough?

R137 I looked at her instagram and twitter, and she looks religious. Eh. My project "give people some credit and stop thinking that religious automatically means homophobic" just got a bit harder.

What has Hicks done now?

R127: money? Is he a full-time student?

Hanyu's pointed denial of the med rumors are funny given the prevalent rumors/shipping surrounding him and Javier. Never bothered to deny those although they have both become more guarded with their public displays. Didn't stop them from skating around the rink at the most recent faoi holding hands like they did at the Olympic gala, in full view of the audience. Are there any other skaters who are as handsy as these two are with each other?

[R137] I agree there Is a difference. Evgenia is not a little kid and I believe she knows what she is doing. When he said nothing was going on with Evgenia, I think it was a message to her.

R140 He's supposed to be full time but maybe Yale is making some concessions. He has a show later that same day (?) and Skate America two weeks after, then midterms. Is the prize and show money really worth it though? All that traveling will also take away from practice time for SA.

R141 Javi has always made no secret of having girlfriends - seems to always have a steady. He even went to Orser because Miki Ando broke up with Morozov to be with Javi (who even said so in the press.) Same situation with Plushenko. Hanyu is usually more guarded with gay skaters, though he did sit on Jeremy Abbott's lap at Sochi, but he was 19 then - and a young 19 at that, still living with mom. Still is, I think - she's been with him at his ice shows this summer. In a recent interview, he said, "I'm still a child." I know he was joking, but grain of truth?

R141 Javi is Spanish! Seriously though, despite the fanfiction and lovely gifs, I don't think anything has ever been printed about them before. Javi has a girlfriend. Hanyu's been linked to some other skaters before, but this is the first time he's outright denied a relationship with one. A lot of the men are really handsy. Was it Eric Radford who kept trying to grab the other boys? I know there's one person here who loves to upload photos of his handiwork.

Here's my fave handsy pic with Hanyu - but isn't Zach straight?

It's not about Javi being Spanish or him having a girlfriend, simply that no one in Japan would seriously consider same sex intimate gestures like hugging or holding hands as romantic. Basically you can even be seen going out of a gay bathhouse but as long as you don't say explicitly you are gay, people and the media will still believe/pretend you are straight. Whereas just taking a picture with someone from the opposite sex can start dating rumors. And Medvedeva really pushed it with her shipping with Yuzu so I'm not surprised he reacted so strongly. And no they aren't doing all the summer ice shows together. She did the first 2 stops of fantasy on ice and the show in Nagano last week. She won't be in Kobe or the next city after that and she wasn't invited nor was Misha at Yuzu's show back in April while Javier was.

I think Hanyu is plenty touchy with Johnny and Stephane and whoever else is gay. With Javi he does act like a lover though. Who knows, maybe he's closeted, it won't matter cuz he'll never admit it. You can see him puffing himself up in front of Japanese people trying as hard as possible to be seen as masculine.

"Lakernik said that the GOE hit would not be absolute but would come from what the grade would have been for a "very good, fully rotated jump landed on one foot with a curve of exit and only then a fall: We start with a +1/+2 and then go down by 5."

Prepare yourself to -3 to Kolyada when she splats

Lol, poor Zach Donohue. He tried to cop a feel once, ONCE and you assholes will never let him forget about it.

I can't blame Yuzu from draping himself all over Javi whenever he can. I would do the same honestly.

I think Hanyu has masculine aspects to his personality and it's not just for show. Doesn't mean he's straight but also doesn't mean he's faking it when he acts masculine.

This new rule is such bullcrap and will give even more power to biased judges. The problem with the current system was never so much the rules themselves as how badly they were enforced by the judges and it will only get worse now.

Javi got old fast though. All that hetero sex has sucked out all the hot. Someone tell him that a cock diet will do wonders for his wrinkles.

I think that every time Yuzu tries to go for a more masculine concept it falls flat or ends up being a cringefest. He is clearly more comfortable when going for a feminine type of sexiness for instance. He can play characters well but the moment he tries to infuse masculine sexual energy it doesn't work. And I think he knows it. That's why he keeps going for feminine/androgynous costumes and programs. Also because he clearly enjoys those. And why do we still need to insist a guy is masculine in 2018 anyway.

Please, gender is all about performance. It's not a personality trait. Hanyu can be aggressive, yeah, but that doesn't mean there aren't aggressive women or gay men, but the fact that we call them 'masculine women' instead of accepting that aggression is not an inherently manly trait goes to show how much society wants to perpetrate the gender dichotomy narrative.

Hanyu acts "masculine" but it's a performance. I'm not saying he's not aggressive or doesn't have killer instinct, but let's call personality traits personality traits, not a gender. No one is born with mannerisms that are inherently masculine or feminine; they learn and practice them. When I say he tries extra hard, I mean he stops performing gender so much when he's around some people but in front of the media he performs straight masculinity extra hard, much harder than some straight men would perform it.

I agree that when he is in front of an audience in Japan he really tries hard to sell this perfect lover image to the army of old ladies who came to see him but it feels forced.

R146 Yes! It was Zach! Thank you! But weren't there photos with other men? And then there was Morgan Cipres with his endless boner.

What's an endless boner? Did he always have one or did he have a really big one once? Tried to Google. Got confusing results.

I can't believe Hanyu's tiger mom is still attending every practice of her son. You can see her sitting front row in the background of the recent Kobe show while he is on the ice rehearsing. I feel seriously sad for him. He is 23 years old. Even if she is his manager, does she really need to be there to take his jacket for him when he takes it off and stay the whole time while he trains and interacts with other skaters. I would feel completely suffocated with a mom like that.

R153

I think the rule was the same in the +/-3 system even if almost all judges usually went with the -3 overall in the case of a fall However, you sometimes see the -2 for a jump with a fall....

And yes, with +/-5 it will amplify it. Because in the old system it was a point difference, now it can be 2 points. But if I think judges will contain themselves and those not going for a -5 will go for a -4

And the -2 instead of -3 usually happned with Kolyada's 4Lz

At Olympics he received a -2 GOE for a fall by

Olga Kozhemyakina and Yuriy Guskov in FS.

Yuriy Guskov, Thomas Biegler and Pekka Leskinen Team Event's SP

Thomas Biegler and Pekka Leskinen again in Team Event's FS

At Worlds by

Susan Blatz and Peter Rankin

Susan Blatz and Peter Rankin also on the fallen 4T along with Tarja Ristanen (who scored +2! which was probably an intended -2)

Javi's aging looks are mostly due to him losing a lot of weight. It's clearly visible when you see him wearing his old costumes, he has skinnier legs than Yuzu at this point. Hopefully he can gain some of it back. His face will look less wrinkly with a bit more fat.

Yeah the +5/-5 proposal is a good idea in theory but since it will be the same judges who were unable to tell the difference between preceding steps or not applying them, I don't trust things to get better. The only solution would have been to set new rules when it comes to the selection and training of judges.

R161: Thanks for that explanation. R163: great point, it doesn’t fix the bad judges

R27 Joubert is taller than Plushenko even though he’s listed as 5’10 on his wiki. Alexei Urmanov was at least 5’11. Hanyu also has a short trunk and long legs. I think the current female quadsters are leggy waifs as well. But most of the quad-landing men of the late 80s to early 90s were around 5’7/8” and had a Chen-like physique. Then again, tall men have always been rare in singles and the average height for male skaters who don’t do quads is also likely 5’7/8”. The Smithsonian and Scientific American had some interesting articles about the physics of quads and quints around Olympic time. Apparently, skaters could do a quint with hand weights but the mental block was even greater than the physical challenge.

www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-physics-keeps-figure-skaters-gracefully-aloft-180968051/

Sorry, here is the Smithsonian link:

Of course it doesn't fix the judging, hopefully it won't be such a mess. The Hanyu trolls need to stop spamming this thread. Jesus, this thread is not for you fangurls to flick your beans while you examine his every move. Pathetic.

Thanks for the articles, it's fascinating to see how science explains the art of jumping.

Soloviev gave an interesting quote in an interview a couple of years ago Re judges

He pointed out that many judges have never been figure skaters and so they have never done the elements they are marking (in GOE). They judge based on what is written on paper.

R159 It was in an old thread. Not one time, more like all the time... Like, he should probably get that checked.

I don't think you necessarily need to have been a skater to be a judge but some of them make me question how they landed their position.

R170 I agree

The requirement to have been a high level skater/coach exists only for Technical Specialists which may make sense as they are those who call the elements (levels, rotations, etc).

Infact, you can go through the list of TS and check how many skaters you remember. ISU defines high level as getting to National Championships in your country IIRC. So I've never heard of half of them anyway

And then obviously they have to pass the ISU examination....I would like to see the exam of some of them...

We should become judges!

[169] thanks! This is the kind of quality content I come here for.

R172 Trust me, it's a difficult task. You have to remember all these skaters

If judges are only compensated for room and board, are most wealthy and that's why they have the time and money to volunteer?

R33 I thought only the Finns and a few mom's at GS care about synchronized skating. What's the incentive behind supporting the event anyway? It can't be making any money.

R175: The judges run the obsessive Tumblr accounts.

Do the judges ship Med and Hanyu?

Judges run that ship like the mother f’ing Titanic

I have multiple orgasms when I call Under-Rotations to everybody

I love the frightened look of Mirai Nagasu when she is waiting for her score to collapse

I still remember when I called UR on all Ashley's jumps

Sadly Karen put out that boots excuse when she saw my name on the panel

Interestingly I've seen more guys pant over Hanyu than girls, but every time the thread talks about him a few more times than others there's always this gatekeeping rage about how this thread needs to be protected from "fangurls". Is it a racism thing or a sexism thing or..?

[R180] don't know what the gatekeeper's motivations are but I enjoyed the expression "flicking the bean." Haven't heard it in awhile and for a long time just thought it had to do with village women standing around sorting beans and talking about stuff.

Seriously. If some want to talk about Hanyu let them. What is the problem? I see posts about Shoma, Chen, and others all the time.

R179 the Shin Amano posts are gold. Thanks for the laugh.

I was 28th in the World Championship. So fuck you and your under rotated post R179

Shin Amano is a DL legend. Just the type of caller DL's dreams are made of <3 <3

[quote] I don't care about all this shipping crap or what someone "likes" on Twitter. I thought the maturity level on here was slightly higher than Tumblr...maybe not.

[R134] DL is more Tumblr than Tumblr these days.

I think Adam and Yuna are my most favorite ship.

Shoma and any human are my favorite ship. He has a cute face but I can only see him with meats, games and sleep.

Deniss and Stephane confuse me. Are they together?

Dice Murakami announced his retirement. Does anyone care? He was a very good skater but got injured a few years ago and couldn't consistently put it all together. I'm a bit sad for him after all the years he has devoted to skating. It seems like you gotta make it big by your early 20s or else it's over. At least he's Japanese and should still get invitations to skate in shows. Whereas, what is going on with Jeremy Abbott's and Adam Rippon' s post skating careers?

Uh...Adam has only had a "post skating career" for a few months and he did DWTS and SOI. Jeremy mostly does choreo and SOI, and he competed a couple Japanese invitationals. There are no show opportunities that bring a real paycheck for a middling US skater outside of the cheesefest SOI.

Dice never did much for me, but I think part of it was those crappy Lori Nichol programs he always had. I couldn't help but see him as an inferior to the other Daisuke who was a better skater with better programs, and far more charisma.

I keep thinking about NBC announcing, in the middle of the Olympics, that Adam would be a commentator of some sort - then he announced he wouldn't. The rumor was that Johnny threw a fit and they took back the offer. If so, that's sad. I think Adam is sweeter than Johnny but I have to admit, I think Johnny is smarter than Adam and probably a better commentator - it seems weird to put it this way, but Johnny seems more real and authentic when he talks - Adam's always trying to land jokes and quips, and they often just don't land and it's cringeworthy. Johnny doesn't do that.

Although... I worry about Johnny's mental state because he keeps getting more and more outlandish with the clothes, hair, makeup. It's never ever enough with him. In that way, he reminds me a bit of Richard Simmons. OK Johnny, we get it! Now dial it back and quit trying to be an alien in a horror show. What reaction does he want from people? Screams? Is he gonna keep doing this into his old age?

Japan's outdated media practices when it comes to spoilers are seriously ridiculous. As if releasing a few pictures or short videos of the show will prevent greedy broadcasting stations from making bank. Yuzuru himself understands this and at his ice show back in April you had a free streaming for fans and plenty of pictures released. The ones in charge of Fantasy on Ice should take note instead of keeping everything under a tight lid and killing the interest of casual fans by doing so. It's especially disappointing because tickets are so expensive and difficult to get in Japan that you really only ever see the same rich obsessive old ladies attending competitions or ice shows and everyone else just has to wait for a badly filmed broadcast released 2 months later and a 200 bucks photobook. That kind of excessive milking is a real turn off.

R193 Aljona and some of the other skaters have been uploading some of today's performances on IG.

Alyona not giving a damn about those silly media blackout rules and coming through. Thanks God for her. And I can imagine the stressed faoi staff twisting their hands nervously not knowing how to tell her to stop while not appearing rude to an OGM and legend of the sport.

[quote] thought only the Finns and a few mom's at GS care about synchronized skating. What's the incentive behind supporting the event anyway? It can't be making any money.

ISU is proposing Synchronized Skating at Olympics. But IOC will almost certainly vote it down as it would mean more athletes.

The USFSA 2017/18 Guidelines for Synchronized Skating contained the following:

Q: For teams with male skaters, is there a preferred color for pants?

A: No, but the color should fit the program skated.

___

how do they decide if a color fits the program?

-I find Hanyu's taste for costume much worse recently. His recent costumes are horrible af.

-Marin Honda's jumps seem to get smaller. I watched some of her ice show programs, she just jumped double. Anyway I'm excited to see how much she could improve under Raf next season. Basically all skaters who changed coach this off season.

We didn't get a proper picture of the current one yet but from what was shared it looks similar to his swan exhibition costume just with more and longer ruffles. I'm still baffled that after all these years you still have so many people even among his fans who complain when he comes out with a new flamboyant costume like this and would like him to go for some Vera's 'manly' monstrosity. Let the guy have his glitter and ruffles and deep v necks on the ice, that's literally the only enjoyment he seems to get in life. Off ice he lives like a monk with his helicopter mom hovering around the whole time.

If we are on the topic of parents, it looks like Plushenko has his 5-year old son performing in ice shows. Coupled with some sort of training regimen, and some questionable parenting methods that slipped from his wife during an interview some time back, Plushenko appears to want to raise another himself. I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for the kid.

Well Plushenko's wife proudly admitted in a tv interview a few months ago that they give him so called 'tough love' (locking him in a dark room or using a belt when he misbehaves) as they want to make "a champion and a real man" out of him. The poor boy looks miserable on every picture they release of him and there are thousands of those. I feel truly sorry for him. It's also weird the hyper focus on their 2nd son (probably because he looks so much like his dad) whereas they seem to leave the eldest alone and barely ever mention him. Model parents they clearly aren't.

With Rika Kihira definitely planning a 3A and possibly a 4T in her programs next season (she says the percentages of landing her 4T are improving and she may put it in her long), maybe Mai Mihara is considering to counter with her own pyrotechnics: Many viewers of today’s Fantasy on Ice Kobe reporting that instead of a four-jump combination, Mai Mihara did a FIVE-jump combination!

With Wakaba challenging the 3A (or at least trying like hell to get ready to - even got some advice from Midori Ito, who said to think of her air positions as being like a pendulum), I wonder (hope) that next season will be exciting for the ladies. Med may be history, even with the coach swap? Or does Russia control the judges to such an extent that they cannot be beaten, no matter what?

Poor kid. I feel sorry for him. He looks unhappy all time. Is it because everything is forced ? He has to skate even if he doesn't like it. He has to admire and call Hanyu his idol even if he doesn't like his skating.

Kihira will need to learn to deliver during competitions before speaking about her overtaking any of the current Senior ladies. The one I hope to see rewarded properly for what she does is Wakaba. I also wonder how the new rules will affect Zagitova. For all the overscoring I prefer her to Medvedeva. Comes across as more genuine.

I think I like Zags better than Med too - but the tutu's and the extreme backloading have put me off a bit. Hopefully she'll be better, stylistically, next season. There's something offputting about Med and I can't figure it out - her beanpole legs? hideous tano's? busy skating - small jumps? ott miming? Oh well, if she can improve, maybe I'll change my mind. She has a beautiful face - so does Zags - I'll give them that (and it's no small thing in skating, I suppose I'm sad to say.)

Oh and beyond the skinny legs, Med has a weird body shape - a thick middle, compared to the rest of her - there's one dress she wears (a red one) where I swear she looks pregnant. If people can gripe about Wakaba's stockiness, I think Med's weird body issues should be fair game as well - it is a sport that depends on aesthetics a lot. BTW, Wakaba also has a beautiful face but I don't know if she'll ever be taken seriously in this era of model-thin skaters.

Zags is doing the Phantom of the Opera next season, isn't she?

I hope so - I love warhorses :)

Can the Japanese women get the PCS? It all seems rather moot. You would think Japan would be more powerful being that the Japanese are the ones buying tickets, putting on many ice shows, giving opportunities to the skaters to finance their careers, have Hanyu, etc. They seem rather weak in comparison to Canada, US, Russia. Fewer outrageous judging scandals like the bias this Olympics or bribing in the past, Chanflation, sudden PCS boosts, etc.

Maybe I'm wrong - but I think Zags grew three inches in the past year, from 5'1" to 5'4". I don't know when or how quickly it occurred, but I wonder if it had anything to do with her splatfest at Worlds? That was only one month after the Olympics, so probably not. She's taller than Med now, but only by an inch. It'll be interesting to see what she looks like when comps start, both costuming and physically. And I do hope the tutu's go bye bye.

R208 Her team said she had that growth spurt right after the Olympics and that caused her to struggle. I think the backloading was the main problem. The jumps were so crowded together that if you messed up once, there wouldn't be enough time to recover for the next.

I found this reference in an April 18 post on Golden Skate about Zags' growth spurt - wonder if it's over?:

" I read (google translate) more than 40+ korean articles of Alina and only one had a part of the interview were she said something like she grew 5 cm (before the olympics until now? not sure g.translate didn't help much) ... It is bringing her troubles when doing her jumps and that she and her coach Will work together to solve this problem. (g.translate kind of put the sentence in future)"

R207: I wish the Japanese females were scored higher. They are the best skaters

Did the judges treat Mao Asada that way? (not giving her the scores she deserved?) Or Yuna Kim (I realize she's Korean, not Japanese, but assume a similar bias might have been going on.) How do the Russians get such preference? And does it extend to the men - Kolyada and Aliev?

R207 Does Japan Fed spend all their budget devoted to bribing judges on Uno?

R212 On Kolyada, yes.....we remember the 9s he gets for a 3 splats FS

R212 Russians? In Mens the best candies are given to Americans.

That aside, the Russian men are a mess, they will always dig their own grave, no matter what lifline judges will want to throw them. Kovtun crashed and burned, Kolyada seems to be cracking under the pressure of the 4Lz (and I actually like Kolyada, an amazing SP step sequence turned me into a fan) and Aliev is from Rukavicin which, according to FSU, makes him a trainwreck by default.

R213 Well, they had to pay ISU off not to make any rules about the prerotation.

R196 [quote] ISU is proposing Synchronized Skating at Olympics. But IOC will almost certainly vote it down as it would mean more athletes. [quote]

You have to be kidding me! Even if they could somehow cover the logistics, are the synchronized skaters even at Olympic athletic level ability? Their skills should be comparable to rhythmic dancing or synchronized swimming teams but they don't look it at all. I really doubt they train as hard. Some of them are not even in shape and I'm not talking about skaters with naturally wide frames. The elite figure skaters could learn and perform their routines in one day and do it better. It's a hobby sport. Why does the ISU even care?

R216 well, yes, I only saw some videos from 2018 Synchro Worlds on youtube, and the first thing I noticed was that some girls looked like the girls weren't in best shape.

The average quality level being low is indeed another point against the inclusion. That's probably what costed mixed gender synchronized swimming the approval to be included at Tokyo 2020.

ISU don't seem to have a clear strategy to push for their inclusion. So probably it's not a serious attempt. They approved a rule change at Congress to say that if it becomes an Olympic discipline, they reserve the right to change the number of skaters per team and force the teams who have them to drop the few boys present.

I suppose if boys aren't allowed, the German team should change the entrance of the program...

R212 There were complaints about Yuna's overscoring and Mao's underscoring back in the day, but everyone agreed Yuna was the most consistent skater and the scores weren't outrageous enough to suspect bribery. Plus you had Sochi where she was underscored herself. Korea was and still is very dominant in speed skating, so they must have clout in the ISU (and have been accused of receiving unusually favorable rulings in that sport numerous times). R215 I don't understand the disparity between the Russian men and women. It's like they stopped caring after Plushenko and Yagudin.

R213 Seiko Hashimoto must have given up on Takahashi and grooming Uno now.

Alina Zagitova has most beautiful lines among current ladies. She has pretty face too. What I don't like about her skating is that she looks clumsy like a 5-year-old girl learning to skate when skating. I hope her skating skills will improve next season and she won't be the next flop bc I like her personality.

I thought Zaggy showed real artistic potential with the Swan Lake SP. It was breaktaking in its complexity of choreography, and she skated like a young woman, not a girl. The LP was a different story. I agreed with the Olympic results of Zagitova first in SP, Medvedeva first in LP. Would've put Med first overall because I'm old school and think the winner in the LP should take it when it's close.

People just have different body shapes. Apparently people that stock body fat in the middle and have skinny arms and legs are called apple shaped? And people who have long, slim torsos and heavy lower bodies are pear shaped. It's pretty rare to have someone look slim and proportionate all over. Leave the girls alone, they can't help how their bodies are proportioned.

Med arrived in Canada now

Anyone else notice in that photo of Hanyu and Plushenko's son, Hanyu isn't wearing his bead bracelet?

I've always thought Kolyada had incredible talent - I hope he has a great season. He just left from working with Stephane Lambiel for a while (I think - not sure when since Lambiel has been doing a lot of ice shows in Japan). Anyway, he has the highest jump (quad lutz) on record, apparently. I really like that guy - great personality, he's cute, he's self-deprecating, he takes the jibes from Tarasova with a stiff upper lip, go Misha! (and help us forget Ge ever existed)

Jason finally got a haircut.

Instagram of Kolyada with Lambiel, posted 5 days ago.

Kolyada is boring and sexless. Give me Aliev or Voronov any day.

Out of all Russian senior men, kolyada is the least annoying

R195 I think Aljona actually received permission from FaOI. Plushenko's wife said that she'd gotten permission for her videos and other skaters have been instatorying as well. The show will be broadcast tomorrow. Heroes and Future is a lot more strict, but the Shibs should be including some of it in their next vlog. We'll have to wait until next month to actually see the entire show.

Videos of the entire broadcast of the Fantasy on Ice Makuhari show are still available on youtube as well as the opening number for the Kanazawa show, but the promoter had all footage of the Kanazawa finale removed from youtube, make of that what you will.

Looking at R222, surely Med will transfer her crush from Hanyu to Jason Brown now - he's much more accessible! Her new Ge?

R230 Yeah, I don't think Jason's her type... and I think we can all agree that she's definitely not Jason's type.

Why the hell are Lypinsky and Weir on a show on Food Network..??

They can't possible be this desperate for attention??

It's kind of sad.

Why the heck is Jason Brown writing in Japanese on a tweet to welcome Medvedeva in Toronto?

Well I scrolled back through Jason's twitter account back to February and got tired... He puts Japanese in most of his tweets! He must be working on learning it. He had one of the Japanese women skaters help him write a best wishes message to Hanyu when he was injured at NHK in November 2017, so he wasn't fluent then. Maybe his real goal is to make a big enough mark to work in Japanese ice shows for years after he retires?? Maybe he's the one who's going to Toronto just for Hanyu, and not Med lol. Even if he's just studying the language - and good for him - but I still don't see the point in putting Japanese in your tweets unless he has some Japanese-only speaking friends and fans he wants to reach.

I feel sorry for Hanyu who will have to deal with these 2 weaboos on a daily basis from now on.

Satoko Miyahara FS: Astor Piazzolla Medley

As we need another Piazzola in a season with Tango as Rhythm Dance. ISU was basically pleading ice dancers not to use only Piazzola during the ID Technical Committee meeting with coaches in Milan

R236. if he's as reclusive as people here say, he won't have to. He'll just go to training where, I assume, everybody will be busy with training, and then go home and lock himself in his room.

R230. She posted a photo with him, obviously it means she's got a crush.

R234 In Brown's case, it'd be actually smart. I guess good for him that something he enjoys will be useful in the future. (I've known anime fans who started learning Japanese just because. I wish I could be passionate about learning a foregin language.)

R232 Why is it sad? Grabbing for attention is their job. I totally don't get why people complain about entertainers being attention whores. They have to be if they want any measure of success.

r236 And just when Miyahara conviced me she can have an interesting program (Memoirs of a Gaisha was the first time I dug her program). But then, probably better Piazzola fo her than another run-of-the-mill dramatic LP. She can do this sort of music pretty well.

Btw, can someone point me to a Tom Dickinson choreo that actually is distinctive?

r227 I genrally much prefer Kolyada to Aliev, but Aliev's SP last season was great, so I'm hoping this season he will get a non-boring LP.

[quote] Why the heck is Jason Brown writing in Japanese on a tweet to welcome Medvedeva in Toronto?

He's been studying Japanese for years and uses it on most of his posts.

Satoko Miyahara is planning on using lesser known pieces in her FS, not the warhorse ones.

Since the city where Misha bought the matching bracelets, Yuzuru has worn neither his bracelets nor his trademark necklaces. Probably good to break the superstition anyway. He once said he used to believe he had to put his left skate on first, but once he got it wrong, put his right one on first, and scored well anyway, so after that, it wasn't a superstition anymore.

Some are saying he's now performing his short program for the season at the ice shows: "Haru yo koi" - choreographed by David Wilson. A fan watched the rehearsal (practice) and said Yuzuru tried 4T-3A many times but couldn't land it but succeeded in the actual show.

Any update on the ice skating "Oscars" Ari Zakarian is trying to establish?

It's more likely the program by David Wilson will be an exhibition for next season. He has done the Notte Stellata/Swan for him and I see Yuzu sticking with Jeffrey and Shae-Lynn Bourne for his FS and SP. Both of them clearly get him and he seems to like both a lot. Invited them to his show back in April and that show was about all the skaters who influenced him.

Rika Hihira's FS, "Beautiful Storm."

Rika Kihira*

What's up with this obsession with Hanyu's bracelets. (That was a rhetorical question, I don't want the answer.)

All of David Wison's choreo are boring. I'm sleepy everytime I watch programs choreographed by him. Can't get why many like his work and get excited whenever someone gets their programs from him.

Hanyu's new costume isn't as bad as I thought but it looks like Uno's Winter costume a lot.

Have the skaters left Kobe yet? There was just a strong earthquake in that area, around a 6, strong enough to make it difficult to stand. There will be more aftershocks and the trains will be stopped. They might not be able to travel today.

That's hilarious that Hanyu took off his bracelet. I wonder if, like Dai and Tatsuki, Hanyu is going to go more and more "fuck it" and become more fabulous/outrageous as he ages. I love how he refuses to give up his Johnny Weir aesthetic after all these years. It would be interesting to see the reactions of people that defend him as masculine if he came out. And I agree that this choreo is kinda boring. Somehow Uno's David Wilson choreo didn't seem so empty, but maybe it's that Hanyu lacks that restraint that lets Uno look more focused. I feel like he does better with more structured movements, like Chopin and Seimei. - his exes are often more emotional and fluid and they tend to look like limp noodles flailing around. As Orser once said about his "16 arms and legs", his body easily seems to get overrun with passion.

r247. Well, if you dyed Uno's costume pink, made it longer, assymetrical, added shiffon sleeves, a fishtail and a ton of ruffles, they'd look alike a lot!

[quote] I love how he refuses to give up his Johnny Weir aesthetic after all these years.

I'm waiting for the day Hanyu dons this:

I like Yuzuru's new costume and I agree that it's refreshing how he doesn't give a damn about what people think and go for fabulous at least with one program every season. His hydroblade was incredible. The core strength needed to hold that stuff is amazing. However I feel like he still hasn't recovered or maybe had some asthma attack recently because he looked really thin (yes, even for his standards) and sweated even more than usual. I sincerely hope he can get back to his top form. There is really no other skater quite like him right now and to be honest most of the youngsters are boring.

R80 Do you have any theories as to why it took so long for Jason Brown to change coaches? Also, do you think Kori is the one who first suggested the change or Brown himself?

Yuzuru talk show in Kobe, Saturday I think?:

He talked about his performance in PyeongChang again, and he said that he looked younger in PyeongChang, saying many things had happened to him since then.

On Haru yo koi: He put his thoughts on life in the program, though he is not going to go into the details now. Maybe in future, when he changed his mind, he will. The song is known by everyone, so he hopes the program will be a reminder of everyone's past and future. He's not going to force his idea on others. The program is something close to a prayer for him. Each time he performs with many feeling inside, so the program changes in each occasion.

At Art Basel, a private European museum bought Elizabeth Peyton's painting of Hanyu for almost half a million dollars.

Slightly more than the portrait she did of Obama. Not sure about her Bowie and Cobain portraits but her painting of DiCaprio sold for over one million. Her latest work is of Justin Bieber.

"Hanyu (Yuzuru Hanyu)" 2018, oil on board.

Jason Brown on Instagram Stories (expires in about 12 hours): "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads out there who let their kids dance to the beat of their own drum!"

Is this another subtle attempt to come out?

R252 Kori's coaching style is to develop close personal relationships, and her strategy back in the early 2000s was to work with young beginners and build them up. She had a whole stable of 5 year olds just learning to jump on freestyle practice sessions with older kids. Since she worked with Jason from such a young age and tends to get so close to students I suspect there was some emotional co-dependency that made it hard for both to move on. No idea who decided to end the relationship, but since they're on good terms I imagine it was at least somewhat mutual.

Hasn't Jason Brown come out yet ? I thought he did. And I just read Mevedeva's interview in which she mentioned Yuna Kim, said something like she choosed Brian Orser because of Yuna Kim. Kim managed to win Olympic Gold at 19 and Silver at 23. LOL the girl even didn't know Kim broke up with Brian right after Vancouver 2010 and their situation was hers with Eteri. And he didn't succeed in coaching Tursynbayeva. I think she should stop giving interviews and telling nonsense.

Jason Brown might well be out in his private life, but AFAIK he's never come out publicly. Adam Rippon and Rudy Galindo are the only American singles skaters I can think of who were out while competing. Other like Johnny Weir and Matt Savoie came out after retirement.

R259: It’s going to be a glorious mess in Toronto. I can hear Eteri’s laughter.

[quote] Jason Brown might well be out in his private life, but AFAIK he's never come out publicly. Adam Rippon and Rudy Galindo are the only American singles skaters I can think of who were out while competing. Other like Johnny Weir and Matt Savoie came out after retirement.

Everyone doesn't need to have a public coming out moment, I actually like the way Jason handles his life. He appears to just be living his life by being himself, regardless of what anyone thinks, and has never pretended to be anyone else. Everyone should be allowed to have their own story.

Yeah, just seeing like 1938472 photos of Jason Brown and Evgenia in Toronto, I can imagine how messy it's now. They could be BFFs because Misha Ge retired. I hope Jin won't be dragged on this mess. If not, next season we might get to see a new trio taking photo together every gala.

I agree with your general point R262 and like Jason a lot, but there are ways he could be out that don't involve a big, official announcement. Couldn't he hashtag a #mancrushmonday or something like that?

[R264] Why the need to mention it at all? Just skate.

In that case, het skaters shouldn't their partners or crushes either.

I just read on Golden Skate in his thread there that Mikhael Kolyada celebrated winning an award with "his partner Artem." So he's out, in Russia?? Wow.

Unless partner means training partner or something but it didn't say that.

First post on the page linked.

I can't believe you can make a fortune off of drawing a picture of a living figure skater's face.

I would love to hear how she discovered Yuzu (probably at the Olympics judging by her focus on his Chopin SP) and what about him inspires her. I'm surprised a Japanese tv crew hasn't been dispatched yet to interview her to be honest.

I can respect other people having tastes, but it still creeps me out when fans get obsessive about a skater's face. Or a part of their body, or just gets super into the detail of their looks in general. Feels less like being a fan of a skater for their skating and more like taking apart a pretty object for their fantasy.

Koylada is gay? That's surprising but great if true. Russian male skaters are almost always straight.

r271 r267 probably a training partner, as one page earlier this was posted:

[quote]There was a recent interview with Artyom Lezheev who trains on the same ice as Misha and they used to live in the same University accomodation. He said that Misha's most distinguishing characteristic is that he is determined and does not give up. He has set goals in the past that seemed rather outlandish at the time but achieved them in the end whatever and however long it took, and according to Artyom Misha has no plans abandoning the quad lutz.

But hey, who knows.

You mean in the closet. Just because they have no choice but to marry and have kids doesn't mean they are straight.

This is probably the Artem they mementioned:

[quote]I can't believe you can make a fortune off of drawing a picture of a living figure skater's face.

r268. Especially a bad one which doesn't even look like the model.

R258 Thank you for the insight. Kori seems very supportive of Jason. I was also wondering if it was fear and an emotional dependency that had been keeping them from making the next step in Jason's career. Better late than never.

R267 No way would Kolyada come out. I'd rather he didn't while he's still living in Russia. The Russian fed would be the least of his worries. It's more dangerous now than it was during Sochi 2014. I don't care if skaters choose not to come out while they're competitive, as long as they don't pull a Lysacek.

What did Lysacek do?

R259 Yuna Kim's most ardent fans absolutely hate Medvedeva. It'll be interesting to hear their reaction to the interview. It was a weird answer.

For the Stephane & Deniss fan, your dream finally came true:

Apparently, Med's coach change has nothing to do with Yuna Kim. Even idiots know she was afraid to tell the REAL reason.

And what's the real reason then? Her being too old and busted for Eteri or chasing Hanyu? Or both.

The 2 Chinese judges got 1 and 2 years. Mrs Chen is also barred from officiating in Beijing

They challenged their scores on Boyang and Sui/Han. Feng already got a warning at GPFinal for inflating Sui/Han and Yu/Zhang.

R280 Both, although Hanyu being a two-time champ is probably a bigger reason and the crush is just motivation (I hope). She talked about longevity and how Brian helped Yuna to her second medal at 23 as her reason for the change, but Yuna left Brian after her first Olympics at 19 just as Med left Eteri after her first Olympics at 18. Brian's never coached a female skater beyond 19. It would have made more sense if she had said she admired Yuna's programs and style, of course she's never brought up Yuna as an inspiration before. Wanting to try something different at this point in her life, tailor made coaching and programs, more freedom, Brian producing four Olympic medals, Javier's late renaissance, jump techniques all would have made better answers.

Med's already posting tons of photos from the Cricket Club, I see. I wonder if her newest prop is supposed to signify anything? First it was Hanyu's bracelet and now it's a ring.

Does ISU read the document they put out? The two verdicts on the Chinese judges are full of typos. They wrote Boyang competed in the "Free Skating Pairs"

Isn't the ring a gift from her family after the Olympics? Not surprised if she is using it to imply something more with it though. She seems to love shipping herself with boys and generating baseless rumors.

R283 And gloves. I feel like the combination and posing is more convincing. You know Eteri is going to use all of this and taunt her about leaving Russia for Hanyu if she loses, embarrass Brian. I want Med to do well. If Eteri's little girls keep winning, women's singles will be over. Judges are also responsible.

Did Hanyu ditch those gloves as well, along with his necklace and bracelet? It's funny how the weeaboos were all up in his business when his hair so much as ruffles, but when he ditches those accessories after Med and Misha's incident they suddenly become naive "hm I guess he's not wearing accessories anymore for reasons no one will ever understand! Oh well I love a friendship"

I don't know if Evgenia made the meme or just liked it but there was one of her with hearts looking at pooh bear wearing semei outfit. I definitely think Hanyu ditched his bracelet.necklace, and gloves because of Evgenia and Misha. It cant be a coincidence.

Really, people? Really?

Gotta love the whiners who sit and cry about how the thread is talking about stuff they don't find interesting but also can't be bothered to contribute anything either. Just whining that they're not entertained.

R277 Lysacek was your classic closet stereotype. Famously gay but thought he could mask it by acting ultra masculine. He whined about skaters like Johnny Weir bringing down the sport with their girly ways. Said men's figure skating should be a many sport, an "extreme" sport, just jumps n tricks and none of that sissy artistic stuff. The guy who won the Olympics without a quad. He also tweeted about not being able to tell if Weir was a guy or a girl and pretended he'd been hacked after the backlash.

Meanwhile, Lynn Rutherford has Lorrie Parker's back. Will Jackie Wong say anything? Has Phil Hersh said anything? He criticized Leanna Caron but I can't remember if he said anything about Parker.

Questions still unanswered: What happened between Krasnozhon and the Cains? What is the story behind Virtue and Pelletier? How do people know they had an affair?

Thanks about that info about Lycesak. That's pretty douchy. Is it really apparent that he's gay, instead of, like, just homophobic though?

R190 In a recent video, he said the constant pressure from his Russian (Nikolai Morozov) coach to diet and lose weight caused him to develop anorexia at 17. He recovered after he moved to Frank Carroll who provided nutritional and psychological support. His years with Morozov were the lowest points in his life and hinted he might have done better had he moved to another coach sooner.

[287] And idiots on Tumblr who used to insist he had something with Evgenia, they were in love with each other but when he vehemently denied everything, they suddenly changed their tone: "Their friendship is so pure, I hope they won't let rumors detroy it"

That really sounds awful R294. It made me think of the very young Javier Fernandez moving to America to study under Morozov (before Orser - so he must have been 16 or 17?) Anyway, Javi said he had little to no English when he came and had to learn with sign language. I always think of Javi as a bit emotionally fragile - so anyway, his affair with Miki Ando, headcase though she may be, may have saved him from a lot of further damage by Morozov, who seems like a creep (by multiple sources.)

Well, I'm just rambling -- but watching Jason Brown's fragility in his youtubes, hearing about the other Daisuke - Takahashi - talk about his emotional struggles in his autobiography, watching Eteri tear into the teenager Med who left her, and then reading this -- there's an awful lot of mental trauma in this sport, good lord.

I used to find it a bit odd, but I think Hanyu may actually have needed to have his mother with him - and may still need her. What a nightmare this "business" is.

What is your problem R289? Are you Evgenia??

The most famous skater in the world is practically being stalked/used/tortured by a teenager and her abbetor (Micha Ge? because he's hurt that Hanyu didn't invite him to his own ice show?) And this exacerbates either his closeted status or at least unclear sexual orientation- and drives him into a corner, since she's followed him to his skating home, and presumably he will be forced to interact with this pushy little nut --

anyway, this is not Tumblr shipping -- this is a fucking interesting story, at least up there with which ice dance teams are going to move to which coach, that intersects with how sexualty and male skaters is an extremely touchy issue, especially outside US/WesternEurope but even inside, and how fandom and stalkers of all ilk are starting to negatively impact skaters, at least at Hanyu's level, the way they do with Kpop stars, one of which killed himself in December, probably because his life was too constricted -- and Hanyu talked of not wanting to live as recently as April because of what was said about him.

I mean, I get YOU don't care, but to say it's not an interesting story?? What the fuck???

Agree, R296. Hanyu's mother has never struck me as the tiger type, she's always been too much in the background. And Hanyu has always seemed particularly self-motivated, it's one of the things that is so fascinating about him. He tends to get very emotional when he talks about his mom and the support she gives him.

IIRC, Boyang Jin is taking not only his mother to live with him in Toronto, but also a full-time Chinese/English interpreter. Med's taking her mother and has been working hard on her English. They're both older than Hanyu was when he went to Orser. And it's a wise decision, whenever possible. Hanyu's mother seems very careful not to interfere - or at least I've never heard Orser suggest otherwise. And I get the feeling that Hanyu is not pushed around by his mother - he's a careful planner/thinker on his own, according to all accounts. I think most of us would benefit from having an assistant taking care of boring time-consuming crap for us, and we're not trying to stay on top in an extremely demanding sport.

Speed skater Apolo Ohno took his father with him to meets and such, way into his 20s, in a situation that reminds me of Hanyu's - though he had the advantage of being an American citizen and speaking English as his native tongue. And he still needed dad. (didn't have a mom)

Until recently, Evgenia was underage -- that's what makes the shipping inappropriate. Hanyu is a natural disaster survivor. Search "Sendai + earthquake + tsunami" on YouTube to get an idea of what his hometown experienced. He has real trauma. Evgenia is a nuisance but he's been through far worse. She may not like him anymore once she gets to know him and the other skaters at TCC may keep her busy.

As for Hanyu's mother, he moved to Canada while he was still a minor and the Japanese Fed has kept at least two bodyguards on him at competitions since Sochi or earlier after receiving death threats. Overzealous fans also figured out his bus route in Toronto and he has to have someone accompany him to practice now. I imagine his mom is there to keep him safe physically and psychologically. He has a few medical issues as well and has trouble with food. Brian and past coaches have all said that Hanyu's parents are hands off. His parents have also insisted children should be allowed to pursue their own dreams and make their own decisions. They're not like Chen, Zhou and Nam's parents. Speaking of Nam, what exactly happened between his dad and Brian?

The Hanyu fangirls need to start their own fucking thread. All the figure skating gossip is being drown by ferret boy talk. Hanyu is gay as the day is long. Fuck, move on.

So what is this about Krasnozhon and the Cain going at it? I bet it's about Hicks, that fucking little nazy scum Trump supporter. I hope the judges retired her sorry ass.

r297. Well, now that I think of it I actually do find it interesting. For a fanfiction. I just thought that the place for fanfiction is somewehere else. But oh well, if we have to devolve to the level of One Direction Tumblr stans, then sure, go fanfic ahead, entertain.

r300 I've heard about Chen and Nam's parents, but what's the story with Zhou's?

Zhou's mother has such a terrible reputation that many coaches have called each other to warned the others of Mama Zhou's screaming matches and terrible attitude.

No can someone fucking tell us what's with Krasnozhon and the Cain ?

[quote]Thanks about that info about Lycesak. That's pretty douchy. Is it really apparent that he's gay, instead of, like, just homophobic though?

Yeah, why is Lysacek thought to be a closet case?

[quote]Zhou's mother has such a terrible reputation that many coaches have called each other to warned the others of Mama Zhou's screaming matches and terrible attitude.

I'm finding it sad who those overzealous parents are often the reasowhy heir kids fail. Nam's career is going nowhere after Orser parted his ways with him, Nathan's mother was apparently the reason why changed the layout of his Olympic SP and fucked up.

[quote]No can someone fucking tell us what's with Krasnozhon and the Cain ?

I guess no insiders here today.

R301 What would Hicks have to do with the split?

At lower levels parents are not better. Sometimes they are more invested in the pretended success of their children than the children themselves.

When there was the big abuse scandal in Germany back in mid 90s (the one about the former coach of Brezina...can't recall his name right now), parents of the girls didn't come out particularly well.

Everyone knew and turned their head in another direction just because of their quest for a skating career for their (not so good) daughters.

And the father of girl who started the inquiry basically told the coach he could have as strict as he wanted in the training methods because she's from East Europe (IIRC she was Czech) and not "like those Western girls who can't take it"

I guess you could say Orser failed with Nam (who last I heard had grown to 5'11" and very quickly) - and he failed with Tursynbaeva. I think they both lost their jumps, and/or lost ground in general, either due to growth spurts or injuries. I would imagine no coach is perfect - maybe Orser doesn't really develop raw talent as well as he polishes fairly-well developed talent (Fernandez - is that true for him? - certainly Hanyu was already pretty amazing when Orser got him.) I don't know the Yuna Kim background story, but he's no miracle worker, or Nam and Tursy wouldn't have stalled.

Or maybe they would have -- not every young talented skater is going to improve, no matter who the coach is. It'll be interesting to see the trajectories for Medvedeva, Jin, and Jason Brown. If all three flop, the shine may be off the Orser brand, but who really has done any better?

Nam changes coach like underwear. No-one seem to last with him (and his father).

He went to David Glyn in May 2016. And he left him in December 2016 He then moved to Tracey Wainman. He left her in summer 2017 He moved to Robert Burke

Apparently Tursynbaeva's mother was also a problem, mother and daughter always ignoring Brian's advice, still training like she was with Eteri. They only had 30 minutes per session.

Jin has been continually underscored. His scores should go up based on his association with Brian alone, which is why his Fed sent him to Toronto.

Will the problem with Chinese judges impact Jin's scores?

It should go up but will they hold him down again scared that they can go out of the corridor if other judges continue to keep him down?

Problem with China is that they don't have many allies. So if their judges inflate, they will stand out.

The big Feds have allies. Russia can overscore the Russians and they will have some small feds (Turkey in Ice Dance...) to back them up. It ends up with a split panel and it can't be argued who was wrong.

R309: Why should Jin’s scores go up based on a move to Canada?

I'm not sure about Lysacek's sexuality one way or another. He had girlfriends when he was younger (my friend trained with his coach when he was young), but now he's well into his 30s and hasn't publicly acknowledged any partners of either sex since he won the Olympics. It's not clear to me if he's deeply closeted and gay or trying to hide a weird romantic relationship with Vera Wang.

[quote]In a recent video, he said the constant pressure from his Russian (Nikolai Morozov) coach to diet and lose weight caused him to develop anorexia at 17. He recovered after he moved to Frank Carroll who provided nutritional and psychological support. His years with Morozov were the lowest points in his life and hinted he might have done better had he moved to another coach sooner.

Kind of ironic that at least 2 female skaters developed EDs after training with Frank, then. And I've never forgotten that article about Frank slapping Evan in the face in front of a reporter. He's no saint either.

Agree about Orser not being able to develop raw talent. Yuna Kim had textbook jumps before she went to him, and Fernandez was already a huge talent too, just needed a better coach.

I don't get the screaming from the gatekeeping Hanyu haters. If you don't like a line in the thread, you can scroll past it. Are you a thirteen year old gamer boy? You don't own the whole thread. If you want to, though, feel free to keep talking about something you like, instead of throwing tantrums about other people talking about something you don't like.

As much as I don't give a crap, I think the Hanyu / Med shipping started largely because those two weren't careful about their behavior at first. They'd copy each other's poses and accessories, and you can tell that Med has a huge crush on him just the way she orbits him and copies him, and multiple cams have captured him often sticking to her side, touching her hair, giving her kisses through his teddy bear, etc. Just because we find it wrong agewise doesn't mean Hanyu found it wrong - Japan is not very strict on pedophilia. She IS a pretty girl, and with all that makeup cake, she looks way older than she is and certainly reciprocated. What's creepy is how fans made a huge deal out of it, and now that Hanyu is trying to keep his distance, they're making an even bigger deal out of their 'pure friendship' and getting into unnecessary screaming matches with anyone and anything. Plus Med is starting to come off as a little shrewd and scary with her continuous photo ops and prop work. I heard that Hanyu made a deal with the media that his family can't be filmed, but that seems out the window now with Med and her trigger happy camera at Toronto. Poor guy. He looks so much happier in ice shows now that Misha and Med are gone and he's with Javi. Maybe he's straight except when it comes to Javi, but who wouldn't be.

Is Rafael the only good coach left that isn't abusive? FFS. I do want him to get more talented skaters, he seems like a treasure. Shoma's coach seems like a nice lady but does she not teach jump technique? I thought that coaching team produced Midori Ito, so I'm confused about Uno's jump techniques.

"They'd copy each other's poses and accessories" Not true. It was always one sided and exclusively from her. He never gave her the time of the day more than he did with any other female skater but as she has the highest number of young fans they jumped on it and saw whatever they wanted to see. People who have seen then interact at galas or practises have always said how one-sided it was. I think he at least thought he could be friends with her and Misha but seems like he knows better now.

The 'pooh kiss' he did with Maia Shibutani and at least another girl. The teasing he does it constantly with Satoko. And watch any video from the Olympics gala practices and you can see him teasing and interacting with a dozen skaters male and female. He has a very childish streak but at the same time keeps almost everyone at a distance. He is clearly not straight and anyone who believes he is interested in Medvedeva or any other girl is really delusional. At most he will marry whatever Japanese girl his mom will approve because that's the norm there.

Dude... you haven't seen his Sailor Moon poses in his photos with her? Or him holding her Sailor Moon dolls?

I have seen them and fail to see how that shows any interest from his side. Also the pictures were taken either at galas or banquets with countless photographers and people around them. Even Misha mentioned how he and Medvedeva never see Hanyu outside of competitions. Javier has tried and failed for years to get him to go out. The guy is an hermit who lives entirely for skating. He reminds me of Christiano Ronaldo in a way. Closeted, single minded, obsessed with his sport and winning but at the end of the day a genuinely good guy from what can be seen.

He also said he wants to be married at 25 or 26 and has always talked about having children... so I guess if he is gay he'll never come out. Sad. Especially considering Takahashi is also Japanese and even older than himself and still low-key came out. BTW is Machida gay? His eyeliner is fabulous. I hope Uno doesn't end up inheriting the kind of hetero pressure that Hanyu gets. That guy genuinely seems to not be interested but looks like he'll get married just to get it over with and get people off his back.

Do they do any actual skating at TCC or is it a big instagram shoot? It sounds like 90210 with a less attractive cast.

I wonder what Anna who was standing 2 meters to the side from them was thinking while watching Hanyu make a move on her man.

According to a poster on FSU, Canadian Ice Dance judge, Turkish Ice Dance judge, Italian Pairs judge, French Pairs judge and Spanish Men judge all got a letter of warning for their scores at Olympics.

[quote]Japan is not very strict on pedophilia.

You're confusing cartoon characters with real people. It is illegal to get involved with a minor and they do arrest and prosecute. Young celebrities get flak for even hanging out with girls or boys who are over 18 but under drinking age (20). The Japanese side never started nor supports the shipping. That began a long time ago on vk with Russian fans and Evgenia herself. This could be the first time the subject is the originator. Her non-Russian fans have no idea. Some of them are also either too young or socially deficient to understand that a few photos, some of which were strategically cropped, don't indicate a relationship or friendship. Hanyu's sexuality is meaningless in this case. Evgenia's behavior would be just as annoying if he was straight.

R322 Spanish judge but nothing for the U.S. Judge who was even more obvious? What about the U.S. Dance judge?

Daniel Delfa, the Spanish judge, is retiring as judge. I guess with Fernandez about to retire, his services are not needed anymore...

The Italian is Toigo. He already got 2 years suspension in the past

French judge is Anthony Leroy. IIRC his marks were suspicious also at Euros (alliance with Russia there...here he did it with China...it's probably part of Didier's plan to get the Gold for P/C

The Canadian judge is Leanna Caron, the president of Skate Canada. Instead of withdrawing for conflict of interest, she keeps nominating herself to judge any major competition with Virtue/Moir

Turkish judge in Ice Dance is always a satellite of Russia. Now the Agafonava/Ucar have retired, we should see less of them...unless Turkey has another crap couple somewhere to be used as an excuse to invite a Turkish judge

r322 No US judge, tough? It must be nice it must be nice to have Washington on your side.

R323 On FSU they say "including" and then that list. Therefore, not just them...

[R314] To be fair, he was playing around, talking, taking photos with Evgenia and Misha Ge at gala because he didn't expect one day they used him and their "friendship" to start shipping, hype themselve up and drag him into stupid rumors. Different from Medvedava who purposely invited shipping rumors, he didn't do it intentionally when he was using his pooh to kiss her( which he had done to Maia Shibutani, Asada Mao before), touched her hairs ( which he did to Kanako Murakami), copied her poses ( Well, he likes copying others' choreo, he copied Oda, Plushenko, Fernandez, Yagudin... and many other skaters poses). I agree he somehow wasn't careful about his behavior but I have an excuse that he was too naive to realise that what he had done with many other skaters before when it came to Medvedeva and Misha Ge could be exploited by them some day. I wonder if he regreted about his naivety back to these days. [R319] About mariage and children, I think the latest time he mentioned about it is 3 years ago. Not sure if he changed his mind or what. I bet he wouldn't dare talk about those topics now given how popular he is and how crazy and sensible his fangirls are.

Yeah he hasn't mentioned anything about marrying and having kids for the past 3 years and when asked by the media replies with evasive answers nowadays. Also loving children and wanting to marry isn't something only straights wish for. Sometimes I wonder if I'm posting on the datalounge or breitbart given some reactions here.

Jorik Hendrickx on coming out

What's with the support for Lorrie Parker at FSU? They're acting like anyone who criticizes Parker's judging must be a Hanyu superfan. Buzzfeed singled out Parker before and after the Olympics. At this point, isn't it a little risky not to at least give Parker a warning for appearances sake now that non-skating people are taking notice?

Had no idea Jorik was openly gay. Nice.

Maybe Hanyu is bi, but pretty sure he was playing up the straight angle when he was talking about marriage and kids. He was already 20 and he talked about how he'd be a "henpecked husband" by his wife and how Uno would make a great daddy, etc. etc. As stereotypically gay as he acts on the ice, I think he really does like girls. Always been a gentleman to girls, opening doors for them and going easy on them in sports, while someone like Uno, on the other hand, notices girls exactly as little as he notices boys.

Maybe I'm biased because Hanyu reminds me of my brother. Same physique, same personality, almost the same look. Pale, hairless, girly, etc. etc. and he's as straight as you get. He just doesn't perform masculinity in the exaggerated way that most westerns expect.

During 2014-15 season 62 warnings were ginve out. lol. basically everyone got it?

R331 I believe he came out publicly some months before Olympics.

He has a boyfriend now

It seems a grown man Hanyu looked up to is a beautiful man. He said something like he's always attracted to beautiful people and he himself wants to be a beauty and proud of that in his Kobe talk show. I read it in Chinese but my Chinese is too doom to be sure if I got it right lol.

I have to agree with whoever on here or last thread was praising Deniss over the Russian men. I've watched his performances on FaOI and he's turned into a wonderful artist. As much as I love Lambiel, I had my doubts about him as a coach but he's done a great job instilling grace and style in his student. Their pairs program was also beautiful.

Anyway, Med is losing to Lambiel for Hanyu's affections. The Swiss skater is a total flirt on the outside but I feel like he's actually kind of shy when he's not performing.

[quote] No can someone fucking tell us what's with Krasnozhon and the Cain ?

[R303] Someone should go to the Broadmoor Open and snoop around this week. They usually have a large contingent from Dallas there.

Wow - is that a bicep I see on Hanyu? Surprising... And Stephane's passive reaction to having his wrists grabbed. However, I'd assume Deniss might have something to say about being displaced.

At the end of the ice shows, Hanyu gets kind of butch about pushing people out to do a little turn around the rink. He even did it with, of all people, Misha and Med at the last show they were all together at -- he grabbed both sides of Med from behind or maybe just put his hands on her back - but in any case, pushed her forward, along with Ge, to do a little show-off roundabout the rink.

When he came back from his own jump, he beckoned to Rika with a kind of hooked finger to come do a jump for the audience. He then thanks the musicians, tells the audience to cheer louder, waits till all the skaters leave the rink (I think he fist-pumps or hugs a lot of them as they leave?) and then he yells Arigato or whatever (thank you) to the audience as loud as he can and prances off the stage. So I think the wrist grab was just another example of his 'taking charge' at the end of an ice show and he wanted Stephane to go out and do a spin or something, there at the show's end.

I'm still not convinced he's gay - where's a boyfriend? I'm honestly getting a little "gender dysphoria" vibe off him. He loves feminine ruffles, flowy blouses, gems and jewelry, the Biellman he hangs onto longer than most guys have done, Arakawa's Inna Bauer - he said he learned the triple axel by studying Mao Asada's style and told himself that if such a skinny girl could do it, so could he (at age 12 or whatever) - on his youtube channel, there were girl groups as the first entries (before he gave it up, knowing the public would pounce on it.)

Now, a femme twink could of course end up being gay, usually are. But there's the Eddie Izzard type -- or like R331 - there really are effeminate guys who like to be with girls. He's nervous around women, delicate, chivalrous, very deferential - always was. Well, except with Kanako, who he teased the way he does Nobu and some of his other peer guys.

All that said, I think it's complicated. He may really end up asexual -- it's more common in exhibitionists, and he's said that when he was young, he realized he adored being the center of attention on the rink, and he's been known to act up when he doesn't get the attention he craves. When a Spanish crowd was still cheering for Javi when it was Yuzu's turn to skate, he got a bit angry and did a huge triple axel, as if to say, LOOK AT ME NOW!!! And they did. There's a sexual charge exhibitionists get out of performing that kind of takes the place of sex, at least in some people.

Oh I'm going too far --- but he also has an extremely powerful devotion to never ever ever bringing anything close to "shame" on his medals - he says it over and over. There are certainly 'some' people in Japan who would see him as doing that, if he had a same-sex relationship, and he knows he can't get away with anything without prying eyes figuring it out. Maybe it's like a priest or a monk's dedication -- the ones who don't cheat, of course, and I think there are some. He may be "married to his sport" in a way -- determined to be honorable and respected, because, well, he's a traditional kind of self-sacrificing Japanese. That's my best guess and if that's right, we may never know what he is. But does it really matter? He's a great skater with a slew of honors -- pretty good for 23 years old.

[R297] the kpop star that killed himself was Jonghyun from SHINee. He battled depression for years. There was a video on YouTube where he was crying and saying he just wanted to be himself. He felt like he couldn't be himself.

I'm glad Hanyu has his mom with him. I hope he never thinks life isn't worth living and never goes back to that dark place.

[quote] He even did it with, of all people, Misha and Med at the last show they were all together at -- he grabbed both sides of Med from behind or maybe just put his hands on her back - but in any case, pushed her forward, along with Ge, to do a little show-off roundabout the rink.

He singled them out because it was their last show on the tour. It's tradition and his job.

The photo of Lambiel is from a Kobe show. Hanyu had Lambiel lead the skaters around the ice. Just a cute photo of Lambiel, no need to overthink.

These posts are creepy. Please stop.

I agree. Those posts are creepy and the fraus who insist on Hanyu being interested in girls because he reminds them of their brother. Lol. He has so many mannerisms that I have never seen on a straight guy ever while the 'sweet to girls' persona is actually typical of gay men who are in the closet. Another example of that from Asia was the late Leslie Cheung but keep reaching with those posts on how he grabbed Medvedeva by the waist and is an exhibitionist. Jesus Christ I was one of those discussing about him here but I think I'll stop now because it clearly only ever brings up the same creepy replies over and over again.

Where is Boyang Jin ? He's supposed to be at TCC now but I can't spot him in, well, tons of Med and Jason's photos and livestreams.

I saw Deniss in person at Europe Championships 2018. He's interesting and his charisma on ice is second to none among European skaters. Much better than Javier Farnandez. Stephan is doing a good job.

[quote]These posts are creepy. Please stop.

They sure are. An essay length post on Hanyu being asexual ? Ugh. Mary please! The boy is gayer than a prancing pony shitting rainbows.

I'm going to the L.A Open, there is usually good gossip and cat fights between mothers. I once started recording with my iphone and this lady, whose identity I never knew, came up to me to tell me how rude it was to record a skater's program without asking them for permission. Yadayada, apparently skaters hate to see their programs leaked before they announce their program music.

I ended up flipping the bird to the frau and then I was escorted out. Blah

R344: More of this please. Please tell the gossip.

R342: There are no rules about the livestreams and photos?

Forgot about Lysacek. If you doubt his homosexuality, just watch him on Dancing with the Stars. None of his past "girlfriends" turned out to be real girlfriends. There are various threads about him on Datalounge and other gay websites that have talked about Evan sightings at gay clubs and his gay proclivities. They could be rumors but their sheer number across the gay community suggests something else. Johnny Weir also outted him. Could have been revenge on his part but just look at those DWTS clips of him talking. He's far more Adam Rippon than say Plushenko. Also, no straight man is that obsessed with Weir.

r339 Forget the skaters, I'm flabbergasted that they subjected paying audience to that female singer.

R345 Apparently, there are. I read somewhere that it's restricted to film and take photos inside TCC.

LOL at all the western dudes here that think they look at an Asian guy acting Asian and think "gay".

[quote]Speaking of Nam, what exactly happened between his dad and Brian?

r300 The rumor I heard was that Nam's dad didn't believe in off-ice training, when Brian wanted Nam to strenghten those growing musles supporting those growing bones. He wanted Nam to get more on-ice training. Brian reportedly was fed up with Nam's parents trying to dictate him the training methods. (What's interesting, it apparently took Orser quite a long time to convince Hanyu to do more off-ice training ; Hanyu was afraid that if he bulked up, he would have problems rotating jumps.)

"I've never seen a straight guy act like that so he must be gay" girl please. I lived in Japan and Korea, almost all guys act like that regardless of their sexuality. They don't feel the need to play up the macho hypermasculinity because they're not afraid of being called gay, because gayness apparently doesn't exist there or something.

R350 Thank you. That is interesting. Wasn't the Brian and Adam split also over off-ice training? I would love to know the off-ice exercise routines of these skaters.

R314 I've often wondered about that, too. Midori Ito is even shorter than Uno, only 4'9 (145cm) to his 5'3 (159cm) although I think Uno's height has been inflated like some of his scores. She didn't have today's boot technology, either.

I dont know if Hanyu is gay or straight. He deserves to be happy though. He has said he wanted to be married at 25 or 26. I am not sure that will happen. Unless he Is already secretly dating someone now.

OMG, enough with the Hanyu speculation. How the hell did this thread end up with a bunch of Hanyu-stans? Look, nothing's going on with Hanyu and Medvedeva and even if there were, it would still be fucking boring to talk about for 50-60 posts.

I would seriously rather read about Karen Chen's skates than more meaningless speculation on Hanyu's gender identity.

That's really sad that that Kpop star thought he couldn't be himself. I feel like a lot of that kind of pressure is pointed at skaters too these days, especially in Japan where you're basically a TV personality if you're a skater. It doesn't help that fangirls "defend" their favorites with "he's not arrogant at all, he's really humble!" or "he's not gay, he's actually really manly!" "She can't possibly have a crush because she's an athlete!" Imaging being gay or having a dumb crush or being a little bit cocky (which is not a crime) and hearing that. Being told by both fans AND haters that it's so bad to be who you are that you're simultaneously attacked AND defended against it. FFS let the skaters be human and make mistakes and have dumb crushes and do dumb shit. These fans that put them on a pedestal to squeal over how perfect they are really are not helping. I feel like fans do more damage to these people than haters tbh because they regurgitate the same perfectionist pressure as the haters, just in a different way.

All these in-depth posts analyzing every bit of behavior from Yuzu are super creepy. Y'all have way too much time on your hands. Is this what the "prancing ponies" threads were like?

R352 There is a youtube video where someone follows Maia Shibutani around and tries her exercise regimen. It's insanely hardcore. I also heard that Yuri On Ice has accurate depictions of off-ice training if you watch one of the earlier episodes.

I wonder if Midori Ito is the only great jumper that Yamada Machiko has produced? If so, she might just be an exception rather than the rule. I heard that Murakami Kanako had bad jumps too, like Shoma Uno, but unlike Uno she didn't like skating so just didn't last very long.

[R355] here is the clip of part of Jonghyuns interview. He was hurting for a while. And yes fans need to lay off these skaters. They are real people with real feelings.

Oda Nobunari is gay or he's just exotic ? He seems emotionally fragile and he acts flamboyant sometimes .

Kpop and Japanese figure skating have nothing to do with each other. Just because they're both East Asian and fetishized by Asianophiles doesn't make them the same.

Cizeron has choreographed James/Cipres new SP

David Wilson choreographed Kira Kihira's SP.

On GS China thread, they say Li Xiangning has been partnered with Xie Zhong. This means Yumeng/Zhong (4th at Junior Worlds last year) have therefore split

Yu is recovering from an injury. Grandpa Zhang skated with another girl in recent EXs

Peng/Jin are currently in Canada to get choreo from Lori Nichol (as usual for Chinese skaters)

Of course kpop is not the same as Japanese figure skating. However. I have never seen anything like I have seen in regards to Hanyu and his crazy fans. The guy can't even leave his hotel room.

Weaver/Poje won't do the GP season. They plan to come back in January for Nationals.

This means that Cappellini/Lanotte move to 1-3 seeding group for Grand Prix and Stepanova/Bukin move up to 4-6 seeds. Muramoto/Reed move to the "2 GPs guaranteed" category

If C/L retire/sit out, it would mean Chock/Bates moving up to 1-3 group, Zagorski/Guerreiro to 4-6 group and Smart/Diaz to 2 guaranteed GPs

I think it won't make a difference for M/R and S/D as they would have received 2 GPs anyway (especially M/R who can have NHK as host pick)

This means Gilles/Poirier will do GP as top Canadian team...but I guess we won't hear "but it's Canada" from Carol Lane for every suddenly inflated score they will receive.

R360 Have you seen the way they treat figure skaters in Japan? They need bodyguards and have paparazzi following them around, and every move, even a yawn, is taken apart by talk show hosts with guests. It's insane. No wonder Takahashi said he's glad he wasn't born into this generation of skaters. They ARE treated like idols, and you can see internet fandom squealing over how perfect and pretty they are all the time.

R360 well thanks for stating the obvious, Captain Obvious. Of course figure skating and singing have nothing to do with each other. But you'd be a fool to pretend that they have nothing in common if you knew anything about how figure skaters and idols are treated in Japan.

Isn’t it just Hanyu (and Takahashi before him)? I don’t recall Mura, Murakami, Tanaka, Oda, Kozuka, etc., being treated this way. Maybe Mao a bit, but being female, she didn’t have the fangirls lust in addition to the middle aged aunties, even grannies, following her around the globe. I don’t remember what went on with Takeshi Honda but I did happen to see an old kiss-and-cry moment and he had several Winnie the Poohs with him. Hmmm.

It feels like Takahashi started it, because he was cute, and Hanyu followed with his baby face, and that cemented the phenom (along with Kpop exploding in a way that seems similar to me, but only in regards to Hanyu.) Even Shoma says Hanyu has the fans and he hides in his shadow (but I realize he has his own following though it’s not the same level, is it?)

Has Hanyu pooped today?

Now for something completely different...

Iron Klaus‏ @Iron_Klaus 21 June 2018 Iron Klaus Retweeted チュッキョ

#ShomaUno #NathanChen #BoyanJin will do a program together at #TheIce2018

I thought Cappellini/LaNotte had retired, but I guess it's not official. Don't get Weaver/Poje sitting out the Grand Prix if they plan to stick around. This should be their season, but maybe they're just burned out from the way they've been pushed around because Virtue/Moir. Gilles/Poirier not playing by the rules and just doing their drama kid thing might have helped their competitive stamina. They really need some sort of functional Cirque de Soleil ice show for G/P.

So, top teams then will be--Papadakis/Cizeron, Hubbell/Donohue, Chock/Bates, Gilles/Poirier, Russians, Hawayek/Baker?

I think almost everyone assume C/L will retire...but it's Italy, you never know, they go on forever until pension age....

yes, top 10 should be those. Hawayek/Baker should finally pass Guignard/Fabbri in the ranking even with the bump G/F will get because of C/L's absence.

R366 R367 I know you said you lived in Japan before but I assume you weren’t familiar with the local language or into figure skating at the time. Hanyu is the only skater with that type of status, even Asada’s popularity has waned over time. Hanyu is the only skater who has bodyguards. Competitive skaters may occasionally appear on TV shows of their own volition, but that is mainly around Olympic season. The only skaters who are TV personalities are retired skaters who decided to pursue a career in television. Their star status is the equivalent of a b or c-list celebrity at most. Takahashi is notorious for his desire for fame. Unlike Kpop which seems to be a very big thing in Korea, figure skating is “small-time” compared to say baseball in Japan.

Discussing a skater’s interest in Kpop or a program set to Kpop is relevant. Posting an interview with a Kpop star who doesn’t even talk about figure skating is not. I’m not denying you can’t find some commonalities between Kpop and Japanese figure skating fandom, but you (not you personally) are (over)analyzing Japanese skaters using people from an entirely different industry and culture, and have gone off topic. And if you absolutely had to bring up idol fandom, why would you skip over pop idol culture in Japan, which would be slightly more relevant because at least you’re talking about the same country, and head straight to Kpop? Unless, you saw all East Asian cultures and people as the same. There are forums out there for figure skating fans who are also enthusiastic fans of Kpop and anime.

More entries announced for Japan Open

Miyahara

Sakamoto

Daleman

Vasiljevs

I think they still need to announce 2 Asian men, 1 Euro Lady, 1 America man

I think Shoma Uno is one of the Asian men for the Japan Open. Nathan Chen as the American man who's been announced, and Javier Fernandez as the Euro man.

Hanyu going for Lambiel's butt and daring you to protest.

You, little Japanese ferret, get your hands away from my mentor

Shibs finally show some political backbone. But what do Vincent Zhou and Courtney Hicks think? Also, from Jackie Wong (twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1009967370180485123):

[quote]So ISU suspends two Chinese judges for judging favoritism, one of them for "completely unrealistic" marks ... I mean, if you're going to do that for a couple of judges, you gotta do it for a whole slew of other judges from other countries

Too scared to go all of the way but better than Rutherford.

Nathan Chen, Jin Boyang and Shoma Uno will be performing a special program together for The Ice. Midori Ito along with Takahito Mura is performing at the Kancolle Ice Festival next month. Lambiel is one of the guests at Japan Open. R376 Hanyu's finally putting the moves he acquired from Zach to good use.

R373 You're the one confusing people while accusing others of confusing people because of their ethnicity... I'm not the one that mentioned Kpop. Yes, I speak Japanese, and I have seen camera crew follow figure skating stars around since childhood. They may not make it into a huge documentary once the star fades away, but for the most part they are under a lot of scrutiny and speculation. And no, not just big stars. For every talk show they attend, there are 10 shows without them where guest stars take apart their every move and play it backwards and forwards and in slow motion. That's what I mean by media personality, not saying everyone is a commentator like Oda. Frankly I have no idea where your confused outrage over Kpop comes from.

SP at BROADMOOR OPEN

1. Camden Pulkinen 77.87 (Oblivion by Piazzolla)

2. Emmanuel Savary 76.77

3. Andrew Torgashev 71.18 (Open Arms by Journey. At least it's not Mariah's version)

4. Jimmy Ma 66.41

5. Dustin Sheriff-Clayton 59.74

6. Tim Dolensky 57.34

7. Jordan Moeller 56.51

8. Ben Jalovick 51.24

Ladies SP

1. Alysa Liu 71.00

They used the +/- 5 GOE. It's a test event for USFSA on the new system. Scores are not valid internationally as it's not an ISU recognized competition.

Shibs are following in Charlie White's footsteps. After you retire, let it all hang out.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I think it's something Charity related

I thought Uno was sleeping at 1:56.....

Has there ever been a pairs or dance couple where both skaters had to change or acquire new citizenship? I don't mean a situation like Israel's or Aljona Savchenko's where she became German for one partner and then her new partner gained German citizenship, but a case where both skaters changed at the same time.

R376 Stephane just gets better looking with age. That Yuzu is a lucky dog, LOL that look on his face.

Alexanndrovkaya/Windsor programs for next season:

SP: Never Tear Us Apart (Joe Cocker). Choreo by Julie Marcotte

FS: Scent of a Woman Tango (Itzhak Perlman, John Williams). Choreo by Massimo Scali

Alysa Liu landed another 3 axel/2 toe loop combo in the FS, but she also singled the second 3axel again. Girl needs to nail those two axels if she wants to be competitive with the Russianbots.

R384 for Israel some switched at the same time (for ex Tobias/Tkachenko but he didn't have Israel citizenship as ISU require just one member of the couple to hold the citinzenship in order to represent a country).

Camden Pulkinen's 2018/19 programs: SP Oblivion Astor Piazzolla FS West Side Story

Why isn't Lysacek at any of the ice shows? Did he quit skating?

R379 [quote] For every talk show they attend, there are 10 shows without them where guest stars take apart their every move and play it backwards and forwards and in slow motion.

That is just hyperbole but I think I understand where you're coming from now. Those shows you see on youtube were broadcast over a span of several years and many videos are clips from the same shows. If you watch them all at once, you could get the impression that figure skaters are being covered all of the time but that's not the reality. As for footage that has featured some skaters in their childhood, those are local news interest stories. Hanyu and Mao (to a lesser extend today) are the only skaters who have received anything close to the extreme level of attention you're describing. In Hanyu's case, it only really started after the Sochi Olympics and this year has been unusual even for Hanyu. My Kpop comment was about the Hanyu talk turning into a Kpop only discussion which is why I added the "(not you personally)."

r368 No, you're right about other skaters not being treated that way. It started with Mao and in some ways it was worse than Hanyu due to how young she was when it began and the nationalism involved. Takahashi was the first male skater to receive decent media attention but he wasn't idolized outside the skating or gay community.

R390 He had several injuries and had to stop in 2015, but you also have to be invited to these shows. He was more interested in being an actor at one point. He works for Vera Wang now.

Nastya Tarakanova has packed her things and left the Novogorsk Training Center, possibly quitting Eteri.

In the Hope and Future finale, Marina Anissina carried Gwendal Peizerat. Clip below.

Anissina/Peizerat used to do the gender reverse lift also when they were competing.

Kerr/Kerr and Faiella/Scali used to do them back in those days. Faiella/Scali had the one where she was carrying him upside down (which was then banned by ISU IIRC) and she dropped him a few times. It was 2006-07 season...the big question of the season was if Scali would have survived, literally, as he was basically dropping on his head.

Uno at Heroes and Future

and yes, in the last number, the fly of his pants was unzipped and he adjuted in the middle of a spin (5m55s-6m mark)

Yeah, rumour has it Anastasia Tarakanova has an eating disorder and was in the hospital for quite some time. It's a pity, she was a peculiar skater, something about her style drew me in. In any case, I hope she can recover and still continue skating (NOT under Eteri) if she wants to.

Anissina/Peizerat were the last ice dance team that really excited. God, I miss them.

I'm trying to follow the Cup of China drama but it's hard. Either because they're in a snit over their judges being called out - or they're trying to get ready for Olympics (this soon??) but they refuse to do their usual Cup of China - so the first rumor said it would be in South Korea. Now, rumors are Korea doesn't want it (will tear down Pyeongchang facilities?) and it might go to Europe (Helsinki, Milan, Barcelona ??) or even to Russia or Japan. Some just want to promote a different international tournament that's already set...

Supposedly the deadline on the decision is June 25th?

Shoma Uno has a great butt. A stand-out even among the skaters.

well, next week (26-28th) they were supposed to decide the GP assignments. So yes, they should know which country is hosting instead of Cup of China by tomorrow. Otherwise, they can't allocate skaters if one of the organizers is missing. Unless the 6th organizer become the trash collector and gets everyone not chosen by other 5.

Didier Gailhaguet re-elected as President of French Fed.

France will bid for 2022 Worlds

Former skater Alban Préaubert (8th at 2006 Worlds and 5th at 2009 Euros as his career best) has been appointed as chair of Figure Skating section

Dear god, we don't need any more competitions in France.

At this point the only thing separating Didier from French Fed Presidency is death?

He polled 78% today

Jason posted an Instastory saying he was crying watching Queer Eye. MARY! of the year award goes to...

Jason would cry even watching a commercial for breakfast biscuits

Kristina Astakhova has decided to retire - Rogonov will most likely continue

Bidar got a new partner. A random 17 year old Russian girl, Nika Osipova. I suppose they will skate for Czech Republic

No news from Duskova?

Who is still searching for a new partner?

I remember

Pairs

Anna Duskova

Francis Boudreau-Audet

Evgeni Krasnopolsky (lol!)

Ice Dance

Tina Garabedian

Elliana Pogrebinsky

Joti Polizoakis

Cortney Mansour (rumours indicate that Ceska has retired)

Attempting to switch from Singles to Ice Dance:

Stéphane Walker (confirmed)

Giada Russo (rumored)

Uno is the universe's answer to the white angst of "Asian skaters are doing so well these days because they have the BODY TYPE for it, look at the skinnies like Hanyu".

I have to say this is one of my favorite places to go to for figure skating discussions. I can't find this mixture of analysis, gossip and humor anywhere else. I have my favorite skaters, but I don't mind the savage comments about their skating, looks etc. Most other forums I've looked at (GS, FSU), the fandom can be a little too serious and sensitive for my taste. The downside is that the DL threads aren't always super active. Any suggestions of where else I can go to for skating news when DL goes dormant?

If you're looking for plain old news and idolizing, reddit could work.

I wonder if Machida has opened the gateway to fabulousness in all the male ice skaters in Japan now? Oda and Hanyu are both wearing eye makeup now, maybe in his honor now that he's retired? Makes one wonder if Takahashi, the non-makeup, is the only gay one.

Does Morgan Cipres ping for anyone?

Cipres is very Eurotrash

On IG he likes lots of pics of half naked women.

Among those I follow, Ponomarenko Jr and the Chinese ice dancer (Liu) are two others who put "likes" to almost naked slutty women.

On the other side, there are days Jeremy Abbott "likes" tons of pics from accounts showcasing men with naked butts

And Jorik followed an account of gay porno manga.

ESPN Body Issue is out.

What score should we give to Rippon's ass?

His ass looks deformed. Eww

Shin Amano: his ass is not fully rotated.

USFSA selection committee: that's an outstanding body of work

Rafael Arutyunyan: in Russia we would have whipped that ass until he loses all that fat

Lorrie Parker: +5 GOE! 10.0 for Composition. 10.0 for Interpretation. 10.0 for Performance.

[R414] Bless you

I don't know if it's the awkward posing, the lighting, or Adam himself, but those photos are a total turnoff.

R393 I couldn't find a video of the upside down reverse lift with Scali but saw a photo on wikipedia. That is scary. I wonder how all of those drops will affect him in the future. Any other retired dancing teams I should look into aside from Anissina/Peizerat?

I wish there wasn't so much attention on Alyssa Liu. Not even a junior and already expected to carry the weight of her country on her shoulders. At least the Russian girls can share the burden. I'm surprised Medvedeva is her idol when it comes to jumping technique, especially with the lack of a 3A, but I guess Yuna and Mao were too long ago for a 12 year old.

That's sad about Alyssa Liu. Maybe the US media hype around Med doesn't help either, when I first learned about her through the US media I thought she was some otherworldly phenomenon the way NBC talked about her. Pretty sure a lot of the American "she was robbed" outcry after Pyeongchang was influenced by that too. I don't know if it's Johnny's Russophilia or just white bias or what. I also feel like Karen Chen deserves more attention from the media, she's actually way better than the likes of Tennell and actually is young enough to still improve. I wonder if she would be talked about as the next big thing if she was white.

Karen is already 18 and she had plenty of chances to be the "next big thing." She's far too inconsistent to be a threat to anybody. It's BS to say she's not more popular because she's Asian when Michelle Kwan was the biggest skating star the US ever had, and Nathan Chen gets hyped to death. Having Tammy Gambill as a coach, self-choreographing her programs and the endless "boot issues" saga didn't help her either.

[quote] I don't know if it's the awkward posing, the lighting, or Adam himself, but those photos are a total turnoff.

The head doesn't go with the body.

Tennell is wayyy more consistent than Karen Chen. Chen was already the next big thing when she won the U.S. championships and snagged fourth at Worlds. Then she gave it all awaythe next season changing her programs multiple times, bombing at international competitions and barely getting third at U.S. Nationals. Race has nothing to do with it. If you follow Chen, you know she's a talented flake. I still hope that she'll mature and get it together, but I'm not counting on it. There are a number of talented American skaters who just don't hold it together under competition.

At least Gracie Gold had a couple of U.S. Championships under her belt.

Is Karen still going to do her own choreography next season?

R417 [quote] I couldn't find a video of the upside down reverse lift with Scali but saw a photo on wikipedia. That is scary.

the lift (and the fall) starts at around 2:20

Karen has already changed her SP. And we are still in June...

R423 Thank you for finding the video. Oh god, his neck! I'm surprised how quickly he was able to recover, as though he's so used to it and expected to be dropped. Love the Eurosport guys.

Karen deservedly got attention for her great performances at nationals and worlds in 2017, but in the Olympic year she was a hot mess. She's lucky the fed gifted her an Olympic spot over Ashley Wagner, and she didn't take advantage. She has time to turn it around but will need to reprove herself. Next year will be more difficult with only 2 US women's spots for worlds.

Jeff Buttle just posted a "Happy Pride from Tokyo" photo of himself and Scott Moir on Instagram. I'm new to figure skating fandom - didn't know Scott was gay. Are they a couple?

Also on Instagram stories, Evgenia posted another photo of her hand holding an apple, but this time without wearing a Hanyu-copycat bracelet. I think it's a signal. It's safe for you to return to Toronto, Yuzu. Wonder if Brian had a word? Oh to be a fly on the wall with Brian and his crazy kids.

And more ass pics of Adam on his Instagram. Full frontal tomorrow? Those picture make his butt look big.

[R427] Adam's butt IS big and makes his small head look like that of an insect.. He needs to grow his hair back.

r414. Can you do Tarasova and Orser?

Regarding Adam, I like his ass, ahem. Very juicy.

R427 Don't worry. Hanyu ditches his bracelet recently. Once he wears it again, she will wear hers again LOL

-Karen Chen has great potentials but last season she was a hot mess. I expected her to do something big after Worlds 2017 but she didn't live up to expectations. Also her short programs are usually boring af but I like her sp music next season. Interesting choice. US ladies field has no future at least until Alysa Liu moves to seniors ( assuming she doesn't lose her jumps due to puberty) -Post Olympics season, skaters should try something new. No more recycled programs. Please. I have no problems with warhorse as long as choreo isn't like shit.

Does Med bring around an apple to take photos with? I am very confused about her photos. I thought photography inside TCC was banned too but she seems to post literally every day inside.

R427 JButt is married to some guy named Justin.

Adam looks good in the pics that were released after the initial one. The lighting in the first pic was odd and made it look like he had excess skin around his upper torso. He's a handsome man with an athlete's body, so maybe that's why we expected more, but I think he looks good.

R431 I don't understand (and don't want to understand) the insta habits of teenage girls these days. She's a serious athlete in a brutal sport - she shouldn't be playing these silly games. On the other hand, maybe she just likes apples and we should just let her be.

Since there's been no word about Korea, does that mean they've turned down CoC?

R427 Scott Moir is straight. He's just been super pumped and crazy since Niigata where he was doing jumps I think? Maybe he's at his breaking point from performing Moulin Rouge too many times. Eric Radford was part of the Toronto Pride Parade. With all of the attention on Adam, I didn't realize he was the first openly gay skater to become an Olympic champion. Good for him.

Is Mirai competing this season? If not, then I think Karen has a good shot at going to Worlds. I could easily see a podium of Bradie, Karen and Alysa Liu (I think a seniors podium finish is her father's goal this upcoming season.) They'll hold Alysa's scores down on PCS to give the look of sending the top two skaters.

There are other long shots--Ashley decides to skate. Gracie actually *does* have a comeback. Polina gets her toe jumps and decides to seriously compete this season. Amber Glenn stops being a head case (she's a gorgeous skater, but nerves make her a non-issue.) Same with Mariah Bell. Ting Cui has a break-out season.

I don't think Starr Andrews is a threat yet--she has nerves and charisma, but basic technique just isn't there.

But right now, I expect Bradie on top and Karen C. second or third if she doesn't alienate her latest skate maker.

Dance--I'm thinking H/D, C/B, H/B--and that was easy.

So, biggest question mark for me is the men.

Biggest question isn't the order of the crappy pairs?

Serious question, why are there a bigger number of gay men in figure skating compared to, say, soccer? Is it just easier to spot because they make less of an effort to pretend to be macho? Or is everyone just trolling us and actually kinda straight?

If Korea has said no, I guess we won't get GP assignments at the end of this week as expected. Unless they find a new country immediately.

Maybe they should have a contest between the Challenger Series events: the most rigged one get the promotion. Even if it can be a bit difficult to establish the winner. There are good contenders.

Or let's resurect the Mordovian Ornament....with a full East Europe+Turkey+Israel panel and PBs for everyone!

Oh shit. WHY is Misha Ge at the Toronto Curling Club today? To show off his new Hanyu bracelet or make more Weibo trolling pix with Med?

I do recall him choreographing Brian Orser's Korean ice show. He sure knows how to attach himself to bigger stars than himself - but I wish he'd fuck off back to Uzbekistan.

What's the backstory for all the Misha Ge hate? Is it just his social media posturing and thirstiness or something else?

Because you don't treat "friends" like this

Loboda/Drozd have split

R438 Someone said he was at TCC for summer camp. I think he will give a lecture on how grateful he's to work with TCC skaters while hyping him up soon. Better ignore him. And where's Boyang Jin? Some said he had returned to China but I think he's still in Canada. If he's in China now, he should have updated SNS.

That weibo post could maybe get the benefit of the doubt as an obnoxious teasing friend thing, but what made me cringe at Misha was his post-Olympic instagram post of how Hanyu called him during his darkest times while depressed and in doubt and Misha was the one to encourage him. He wasn't even posting a behind-the-scene photo - he posted a public photo someone else took so he could talk about how he gave advice to the great Hanyu, under the guise of congratulating him. What's more cringey is how crying fans lap up their "pure and beautiful friendship". Which is why I find it hilarious that Hanyu took off his bracelet once Misha/Med got matching ones.

Ther are a lot of straight guys in pairs and dance. Singles, maybe half/half.

Loads of selfies coming out of TCC - Conrad Orsel, Jason Brown, the Med, Mr. Cha, Gabby (with spray tan up the wazoo - see link), etc... Is Uncle Brian around to chaperone?

This Twitter account (FSIgstories) has a lot of them, from TCC and elsewhere. Several of Wakaba with her choreographer (coach?) Benoit Richaud. Sort of pervy looking to me (Benoit's and the girls).

R444 yeah, I meant singles men. Half/half seems like a huge ratio, but then again maybe it's just that other fields are less obvious about it? I wonder if it's one of those rare places where you can flip the hetero script and assume everyone is gay unless stated otherwise.

Wow wow he looked hot.

R438 He's teaching one week of summer camp for Orser.

R439 He committed a series of blunders in a short amount of time. I think it started with him lecturing people about asking for photos of Hanyu and claiming he doesn't need to take photos with the skater to prove their friendship, but then shortly after interrupted an ice show to take a selfie with Hanyu and Medvedeva (who Hanyu had been avoiding since he publicly declared he had nothing to do with her). Then he uploaded a photo with Hanyu with a creepy long post about how they grew up together. Then deleted that post and replaced it with "No matter how you do good, people can turn it into bad" after criticism from fans and/or a scolding from staff. Then went out and bought bracelets for himself and Medvedeva that resembled Hanyu's signature bracelets. Chinese and Russian fans then found out? pointed out? that he and Medvedeva had been shipping Medvedeva and Hanyu on Chinese and Russian social media all while Hanyu was complaining about tabloid rumors. I'm missing some things but it's easier if you read through the previous thread.

Misha was already low-key hated in Japan. He used to latch onto Daisuke Takahashi and Mao Asada the same way he latched onto Hanyu, supposedly. He had also taken and uploaded photos of Hanyu and other Japanese skaters without their permission in the past. There have been questions about his relationship with the Japanese fed, who is backing him in Japan, how his agent Ari Zakarian has been able to get him on these shows and choreography work etc., but that's getting rabbit hole-ish.

R442 maybe Brian has Boyang off at that other rink they use in Toronto, doing some real work while the kiddies play with their smart phones at TCC, with Misha in charge (ai yi yi). I have a feeling that second rink is gonna get a real workout when Yuzu and/or Javi return. Wonder what they really think of all the newbies invading their old stomping ground (and safe haven.)

Still, Brian can't sit around to see how much longer these battleworn veterans decide to hang around. Once he compared Yuzu and Javi continuing after Pyeongchang to university students who move back in with their parents after graduating (though he later backtracked, esp about Hanyu, saying he could skate for "many more years")

R443 R448 Thank you for all the info. Yeah, I had previously dismissed it as harmless SNS silliness, but see what you're saying - when your supposed friend has said repeatedly, he doesn't welcome this kind of scrutiny/rumor-mongering, you stop even if the initial post was just harmless ribbing among friends. No wonder Hanyu seems to adore Javi - I'm sure Javi has stories to tell if he wanted to, but has remained mostly radio silent about any behind-the-scenes drama at TCC.

Fascinating to hear that he has a history with Takahashi as well. Why is Dai regarded as attention-starved? I get that he seems like a sensitive personality... did he throw public tantrums or something?

r412 I always thought I liked a curvy ass but Adam just seems gross. r433 That's because the team competition is a joke. It's only relevant to people who want to fool casual fans into thinking their resume is more impressive than it is and to console has beens and chokers like Chan... sure, that's just as good as winning the singles event.. yay for winning the Olympics even though you zamboni'd the ice with your ass. But congrats to Eric for being the first openly gay skater to medal at a legitimate Olympic competition with his bronze in the pair event. r445 I'll never understand how people can be this tan and not realize how bad it looks. r443 For a while I thought all the Med/Ge/Hanyu talk was just catty gossip but I've never seen Hanyu act so weird about taking a photo with skaters, especially since he doesn't seem to have any issue with photos with other skaters. If even 1/2 the gossip about Med and Ge is true, at best, they seem like dumb fangirls rather than friends. It would also explain why Orser seemed more concerned about Hanyu's reaction to Med coming to Toronto than Boyang. r450 funny thing about Javi is that in the news he actually says that he and Hanyu aren't even friends but that seems like the most touchy feely of all of them. r451 Dai said in his book or some interview that he was depressed over not being as famous as others.

R447 Poor Maxim, I've often wondered if his career trajectory would have been different had he gotten to go to Sochi instead of Plush (he had actually won nationals, but Plush got the sole spot based on his rep). Plush just wanted that team gold and then withdrew during the individual competition. Seemed like a waste of a spot.

R452 I imagine that Javi and Hanyu's relationship is pretty complicated, given their long history and rivalry. I'm sure the dumb fangirl shipping didn't help and made things awkward for them publicly. Now that the pressure is off though, they're back to being affectionate and touchy again. Also, that blurb Hanyu wrote about Javi during his ice show sounded like a love letter (though I don't think there's anything romantic between them, at least on Javi's part). There's clearly a lot of affection and respect there, even if it's complicated and they aren't straightforwardly friends (may be hard to be friends with someone who is a hermit because he's constantly stalked by fangirls).

R452 Apparently there's a lot of demisexuals who develop crushes on close friends over time because they fall in love with the personality, regardless of gender? Maybe it's not as clear-cut as gay vs. straight or attraction vs. platonic. I can see how a history of intimate friendships can morph a kind of affection that isn't easy to classify into a neat box.

You mean a Bi-curious person.

Everybody loves Javi - even Patrick Chan. How can you not?

R452 You're right, the team medals are kind of ridiculous and unfair for the smaller feds although I enjoy watching them. Chan has more golds than he deserves.

Has there been this much social media from TCC before or is the uptick due to the arrival of Jason and Med, or Hanyu's absence? Has Boyang been this silent before?

R457 yes, Javi does seem like a good guy. However I suspect that Patrick wouldn't be so gracious if Javi were his actual rival. Patrick's defense mechanism seemed to be talking down to people he viewed as threats. It always made me feel sorry for him because he seemed to be overcompensating and pathetic.

Adam Rippon has a video on youtube of behind the scenes during a show in Japan several years ago. Patrick Chan's lying down gesturing at his own ass in a come hither way. It's in the middle of the video for maybe 2 seconds but I noticed it. Patrick's skating skills are gorgeous, but he sounded arrogant in too many interviews, and I got tired of him winning with too many falls.

Zagitova is 16 and acts more mature than Evgenia. Evgenia really needs to grow up. I wonder if the misha ge and Hanyu friendship is over?

Evgenia needs to grow up? She's more mature than Jason and Misha...it's all relative, you see. Alina probably seems more mature because she has no discernible personality. Even with her fancy dog, she's a bore.

From my admittedly limited input, both Boyang and Jason seem to be genuinely kind-hearted people, like Javi. I'm inclined to give Evgenia the benefit of the doubt - she's been egged on by Misha Creep to do some stuff I think is rude, but I can't think of anything she's done on her own that either seems self-aggrandizing (Gabby's me-me-me video) or hurtful. And she's a lot younger than the creep Ge. God I hope he's not a regular fixture at TCC - but Hanyu may need to learn about users and secret haters anyway, for future reference (and maybe he already knows - seems pretty analytical to me if a bit hypersensitive). At least with asshole Patrick, it was all in your face and not behind your back shit.

From what I understand, Alina's kind of a Cinderella story - ignored, even disdained/sent away, by Eteri but toughed it out anyway. She seems to be a strong girl - well, both of them do, and with all the headcases spinning around in this sport, that's important. But both girls may need to tend to their technique and jump repertoire - I'm really excited to see next season Ladies competition. Seems like it's gonna be a free-for-all with the Russians and Japanese coming out with all guns blazing. I hope judges bias doesn't play an outsize role in who prevails.

Only Med's fans fail to see how silly she acts both on SNS and in real life. Anyway, forget her.

I'm more fond of Zag. She's matured and cool. I love her answer to Japanese media's annoying question about her ideal type. There are some rumors she will do tango next season ? If that, good choice. I want her to try a new style. Backloading is going to be limited, her programs should be more balanced. That said, I don't have much trust in her team. She will do DOI ( or The ice??? ) in Japan, maybe she will skate new programs there.

I'm rooting for both Med and Zag to do well next season even though I'm not really a fan of either. Med bc the odds are against her and she has chosen to fight for her career. Zag bc as others have pointed out, she has shown true grit and because she's stuck in what seems to be an abusive, joyless environment and the pressure has increased for her to do well to assuage someone else's fragile ego. Also, her Oly win seemed overshadowed by Med's Oly loss, so I felt bad for her.

Oh please don’t cry for M’Diva. She is fighting to stay near Hanyu. Zag’s is the Russian orphan in the shit-storm. Brian turned M’Diva down how many times before a misguided M’Diva enabler talked him into it. That is creepy how long she’s tried to infiltrate Hanyu’s comfort zone.

Didn't Orser say that he thought Evgenia had talked to both Yuzuru and Javier about going to Toronto? That seems to imply that they were both ok with it - I mean, why would Brian say that? I guess he could have just been assuming they talked when they hadn't, but if I recall correctly, it's weird he'd name both boys - I mean that's a level of specificity that suggests she actually did and they encouraged her.

Oh well, it's getting weird, are we worried about a 23 year old double-gold medallist being stalked by a teenaged girl, and they don't even speak the same language. I'm sure he can handle it. I'd put money on her preferring Jason, at this point - maybe that was the point of the apple with no bracelet yesterday. Jason can help her English - hope he lends Shingo and Junhwan or whatever Cha's first name is - Yuzuru is not much of a mentor type it seems, but sweetie-pie Jason does.

I'm not saying Med doesn't invite these comments with her current SNS shenanigans, but I cannot imagine she would uproot her life and career for someone who has shown no discernable romantic interest in her. But I agree she seems to be invading Hanyu's comfort zone for whatever reason. I just can't imagine that those reasons are romantic. I thought Brian said that she asked him one time? Who do you think is the enabler? Brian is very strategic with his words though. I don't usually take what he says at face value.

Just when I gave in and started to enjoy this soap opera, R466 had to be a creep and kill the entertainment. All this abuse here hurled at a teenage girl speaks way more about some posters here than about Med herself.

That said, can anyone dish more about Ge's sins against Takahashi and Asada?

Whatever his faults, though, I still do think Ge is talented show skater and a talented choreographer. The programs he did for Pogorilaya and Tursynbaeva were good; Tursynbaeva doesn't cut the world's best Carmen but her choreo was better than Daleman's.

R467 Well, what did you expect Hanyu to say if Brian or Med had asked him ? It's NOT his business and TCC isn't his home. Even if he felt uncomfortable, you really think he dared say NO to Med and Brian once they had everything settled? Same with Fernandez or any TCC skaters. They know they have no right to stop Brain from taking new skaters. If Hanyu feels uncomfortable with training along with anyone at TCC, the only thing he can do is packing his suitcase and going back to Japan.

I mentioned Tursynbaeva, and since we're on the topic of TCC, it reminded me of her description of the TCC training when she started there, which was basically "low pressure" and she was a bit confused by it. It was up to the skater whether they wanted to train or not. The coaches were there to recommend, guide and explain - must have seem different from the whip methods of Eteri Tutberidze.

So anyway, I wonder how Med will fare in this sort of environment. For self-driven skaters such as Hanyu it turned out very effective, Javi was said to skip practice every now and again but it doesn't seem to have hurt him terribly. On the other hand, Tursynbaeva didn't make great progress, despite being reportedly a very hardworking skater as well. Perhaps more pressure and higher expectations would have suited Tursy better? Med is used to working hard, and her decision to leave Eteri shows that she's highly motivated. So, will the transition from high-pressure Sambo to low-pressure TCC affect her and in what way?

I'm surprised we're not hearing a lot from Jin Boyang. Isn't he pretty active on social media? Saw some pics of him recently all decked out in gold and givenchy. Will be amused to see how this all jives with the ascetic Hanyu. Saw a hilarious video once of Hanyu spotting and quietly judging Boyang's Rolex watch.

It's funny to think of Hanyu as ascetic, with his feathery ruffley flowy costumes, but in real life, I guess you're right. Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression, but Jin just seems so easy going and sweet. I remember at worlds in the kiss and cry after his disastrous skate (nine points deduction for falls), anyway, he laughed. I thought that was really cool. Shoma seems capable of that reaction too but I can't imagine Hanyu laughing - unless it was through tears.

I'm not meaning to negatively judge any of these people - well maybe Ge, so thanks for the reassurance that at least he's talented, R469. I can't get over the weibo - I just can't. Or him buying the bracelets AFTER Hanyu said that media nastiness had made him question whether he wanted to go on living. Rabbit-holing a bit, I think Misha may have been pissed that he wasn't invited to Hanyu's personal-pals ice show. Thus, the "reminder" he gave Hanyu of how they'd grown up together (huh?) and he'd been with him through thick and thin.... Ugh.

Oh well, it's just too irresistable not to wonder how it's going to play out at TCC with all the heavyweights up there. I love Hanyu but I can't imagine there's any way but down for him to go and I dread it, a la so many who faltered and ended on a dreary note. I also happen to feel that way about Med because her skating never impressed me (not even as much as Zags and her tutus). Well, what do I know... they're both determined as hell, so maybe they'll prove me wrong.

Brian said she may have spoken to one or both of them. She was doing Stars on Ice with Javier right before she reached out to Orser, so I think she at least approached Javier. Hanyu told the press he wasn't involved in any way. His English skills are still very limited, so I question how much he could advise her. I think the deep conversations he's supposedly had with Mish are one-sided. The silence from Jin is the biggest mystery. I hope the mess with Cup of China doesn't hurt him.

Philip Hersh had to convince Brian to take Meds. Seems that Brian said she’d asked about 4 times prior to his giving in. Hanyu can protect himself but he should not have to at TCC. Anyone know who Brian is sending to 2018 Autumn Classic?

R473 LOL you're right, I was thinking more of Hanyu's off-ice personality and wasn't thinking of his performances. I think Jin is sweet and I liked his whole demeanor at the olys and worlds which must have been disappointments for him in different ways. The height on his jumps is amazing and I hope he learns to control them and develop other aspects of his skating at TCC. Given his 2 OGMs and many achievements, it's funny to say this but I hope Hanyu is able to end his career on an up note, on his own terms because he clearly loves skating and has chosen to stay and do more when most people would have understandably cashed in and quit by now.

I also read that Medvedeva had to ask several times before although Brian said her text was the first time she had directly approached him. I think it was a quote from another Russian coach. But they didn't specify when she first asked TCC to consider her. I'll have to look for it later.n The original article wasn't in English.

I can't help but find it sad that after 6 years coaching Hanyu Brian still seem as naive and clueless as ever when it comes to him and how Japanese people react to things in general. If he expected him or anyone from his entourage to frontally voice their discontent about Medvedeva or Jin moving to TCC then he clearly still doesn't get it. Hanyu may be more emotional than most Japanese and also quite the hug monster but he still would never complain directly about an issue. When Orser told him he probably had his best pokerface on and nodded to everything that was said to him but everything he has done or said since then indicate that he is at least quite unhappy with the Medvedeva thing. As for her she should tone it down or consult if she really can't distinguish real life and anime. The apple picture taking is apparently a reference to Hanyu's favourite anime. It's getting quite a bit creepy and I agree with everyone that said that 15 years old Alina shows more maturity than Evgenia.

R478 According to Hanyu, Tracy Wilson has been the one to help him through the tough times. I think she will step in if necessary.

I hope for his sake that Hanyu will be able to recover fully but it doesn't seem to be the case so far. He still struggles with most jumps and only manages to land his beloved 3A and 4T consistently. It's been 8 months since he injured himself and he still can't jump a lutz and struggles with the loop and flip as well even as triples. Unless he is planning on competing while on painkillers like he did during the Olympics it might become difficult for him. And that's tragic because skating really seems to be his one big love. He lives and breathes for it.

r475. r477. is there any source? Because frankly, it sounds more like something that goes around in circles on the internetz until peopke believe it rather than genuine fact.

This is what Orser had to say, and it doesn't sound like he ever turned her down.

[quote]I read your words about how much you were amazed by Medvedeva’s request to take her to your group. How much time did it take to say “yes”?

– When I received a message from Zhenya early in April, she asked me to find an opportunity to meet with her in Korea, where she was doing shows, I replied that there is such a possibility, but I needed some time. I needed this time to talk first with Tracy Wilson, as we work in one team, and then with the rest of our team, including the choreographer David Wilson. It was necessary to understand how realistic is it to fit Medvedeva into the team. To see the whole picture: who continues to skate, who is going to leave, how busy this or that specialist is, whether I myself can give the athlete as much time as she needs and so on. As soon as we all realized that the task was real, a decision was made.

Geez, I'm starting to sound like Med's greatest defender but I just can't with this thread.

r478. If the apple is an anime reference ( I thought it was Twilight, fml that I know such things) then it's probably reference to Death Note, and I thought Hanyu was mentioned in the context of a different anime. Shit, the girl is an otaku, not everything has to be about Hanyu.

I will never be able to see Medvedeva as not creepy again after seeing the amount of posts/manips of her and Yuzuru she has liked and all the other things she has done like a rabid fangirl to try and imitate him or get close to him. She can delete all the posts and pictures on her instagram but that won't cancel those suddenly. Moreover she keeps on doing everything to associate herself with him even after the announcement of her move to TCC and Hanyu voicing his displeasure over the rumors. Re: the bracelet, forced picture taking etc.

R481 I don't know a lot about Med's personality and agree that not everything is about Hanyu but for some reason I'm compulsively reading this thread and enjoy reading even the extreme takes on her behavior. I think it's because everytime I look up and see what is going on in the world, I want to barf and die.

It's not the apple - it's the fact that she had on a bracelet identical to Hanyu's as she held the apple (in the first apple Instagram.) In the second one, made at TCC when Misha was also there, no bracelet. So those two are discussing strategy with this stupid bracelet shit - obviously, since Misha bought them. It makes no sense that Misha would "ship" Hanyu and Med. Misha, at least, is just using this situation, I'd assume to get revenge on Hanyu for not inviting him to the ice show? (not sure when the weibo was done - but same reason?)

Well, maybe something else makes sense - since Med is in on it - why would she care whether Hanyu had Misha at the ice show. It's just all so stupid. Ge must realize he looks STUPID and in fact, sinister. Her? Just flirting I guess, and enjoying some hijinks with her bestie Misha. Keep touring Toronto with Jason, Zhenya, and please stop mindfucking Yuzu!! And Misha just needs to go awayyyy.

R484 Such a troll.

Funny enough Med said she moved to Canada because of Yuna Kim. It was a joke. Bless her mind.

R484 Well, you better know you failed. How embarrassed.

Any Japanese speakers here who can give us their take on how Hanyu comes across when speaking Japanese? He seems to give long, nuanced answers and since Japanese is such a subtle, nuanced language, I think it's hard to get a sense of him, even with translations. Even after many years, I don't think I have a handle on his personality, unlike other skaters. He doesn't strike me as a fragile flower who can't fend for himself, but many people seem to think of him that way. I mean, he can be cute and silly, but I don't see how anyone can survive the politics and physical strain of skating, esp at the elite level, without some amount of savvy and toughness.

Or maybe you can start a Hanyu thread R487 and not hijack this thread?

As someone with a fairly good understanding of Japanese he comes across as extremely well spoken and clever in his mother tongue to the point that a lot of journos are frustrated with him because no matter the question, even unprepared he always has the perfect nuanced answer to it. On the other hand he appears to be emotionally fragile. Like, he is a fighter and extremely competitive but at the same time very sensitive which means that little things can mean a lot to him and actually throw him off during competition. He also seems to be very superstitious and religious (shinto). I think even to the Japanese he is still a bit of a mystery especially with how strongly he tries to protect his privacy and the one of his family. He is a fascinating young man and quite unusual for an athlete in terms of personality.

It's not that fascinating. He's got the classic case of the bipolar. It's probably not something that's talked about given how taboo mental health issues are to discuss in Japan, but y'all need to stop idolizing him as if he's some mysterious enigma. He's just a kid with a lot of energy who loves attention and bounces off the walls, but learned from an early age that being too open is dangerous. His father is an educator, so he was always taught to think and speak well. He makes up for his bounciness in interviews by putting on the adult male personality that Japanese men are expected to put up, and he just happens to wield it with better polish than some others who are more open about themselves.

And whoever said Alina has no personality, learn to distinguish between YOU not knowing someone and THAT PERSON not having a personality. Get a grip. Also, she's a fifteen-year-old. How much personality did YOU have at fifteen?

Gawd, are we still going on and on and on about Medvedeva and Hanyu? First, he ain't helpless and he ain't a fragile flower. Fragile flowers don't win back-to-back golds in figure skating. Second, she's a teen-age girl, her pix of Hanyu are less weird and stalkery than that of the posts here about them. He'll deal. She'll deal and it's really not worth giving a fuck about.

At this point, I kind of hope they'll have a crazy affair just to mess with your collective minds. Too bad it won't happen, at least it would generate real gossip instead of this obsessive Instagram stuff.

So, what are the odds of Jason Brown getting a consistent quad under Brian? I know he needs two to be truly competitive, but one would still be better than where he is now. Will Nathan Chen really stick around? And is Vincent Zhou his only possible successor?

Will Bradie Tennell show some elegance with her Romeo and Juliet program? Will she get her own fan base or will she continue to garner resentment for daring to come in last season and beat all the other fan favorites?

What will Ashley do?

Will Gracie Gold actually attempt a comeback?

See, lots of other things to discuss besides Medvedeva's Instagram. I'm rooting for her, by the way, just because she's trying to keep her skating career going past her Eteri expiration date. I think Zagitova is more emotionally fragile, so I expect burn out, unfortunately. Plus, puberty monster--I think she's like Lipnitskaya--her natural build is to be a bit more voluptuous than is currently optimum for skating. She has a Olympic gold medal--is adding a world worth the starvation?

Alina certainly displayed personality in that weird ass candle exhibition of hers. Bless her little heart.

Mirai Nagasu will sit out the GP series

Med and Jason seem to get on swimmingly. Must be their shared weeaboo-ness.

It's fucking ridiculous that some suddenly became a skater's fan just because he/she is close to XYZ, she/he's training under Brian Orser, she/he's Japanese. She/he left Eteri.

Bradie Tennel could have a chance of conquering hearts if her program choices weren't so damn mediocre. Just how is she supposed to grow a fanbase skating to princessy warhorses? I can't really blame the girl herself, because I doubt she chose it herself, but her team might at least attempt to think a little outside the box. She's 20, so it's not like she's limited by age-appropriateness.

I'm on the fence with Gracie, I've never been keen on her skating, but even she was more engaging than Bradue or Karen. With the field so depleted, it's a good moment to try to make a comeback. But it was poited out that she lost her competetive shape, and getting it back might prove too much given her issues. I think it'd be better for her if she didn't try, if not for US figure skating.

Although I'm loving the Hanyu/Med drama you cunts are wailing into the ether, I'd like to propose a few minutes analysing (and just generally enjoying, in a bitchy way) Vincent Zhou's Instagram captions.

Mirai is 25. It seems like she's just delaying the inevitable and looking for options. It must be hard to spend your entire life devoted to one thing and then have to start integrating into the real world in your 20s. GP assignments come out tomorrow apparently.

r497. I find it hard to believe he wrote it himself. It's as if he read a bunch of articles and DS posts about himself and then produced this, lol. So self-aggrandizing. Or maybe his mother wrote it.

Has he always been like that?

R497 R499

Don't miss the handwritten breakdown after French GP

R481 It was in an article but as I said, it didn't specify when she, her agent or the Russian federation contacted TCC and if they contacted Orser directly. It could have been that they pushed a few times between Medvedeva's text to Orser and their last meeting, or they had talked to someone else at TCC. There was no implication that she was going for Hanyu. That's 466's interpretation. But the apple isn't the only photo she took of fruit with a close up of her bracelet and she was liking comments telling her to get with Hanyu even after she reached out to Orser, and she's subscribing to Hanyu fan accounts again after she unsubscribed the day of her big meeting. I still believe she went to Orser primarily for her physical and mental well-being, but her Hanyu obsession is not just a rumor. She said she had no friends and was very isolated socially in Russia so I think she doesn't understand why some of her behavior is inappropriate. Misha and Jason don't present the best examples of mature behavior either. Maybe she can get some pointers from Gabby about boys, although Gabby seems like a Kardashian wannabee.

R497 r499 oh good god, "While saying all this, one wonders at the difficulty of being completely truthful, especially in a turbulent sea of opinion." One wonders, indeed, Vincent.

Yes, R499, all his other captions are like that. His Stars on Ice post reads like a resume entry.

[quote] I made the most of my performances and had lots of fun spending time with my Team USA peers and engaging with the audience.

R502, A sentence that could be quite poetic, for a child, had he only substituted "opium" for "opinion".

Ngl, I'm having a lot of fun right niw reading Vincent's instagram. It's so hilariously pretentious.

R500 Was this around the time his fans discovered he was a transphobic gun nut? I wonder who "adored" him and who thought he was a "threat" as he's always in Nathan's shadow. "And with that, I bid all of you adieu." Christ.

omg, from Vincent's insta:

[quote]Viewed the solar eclipse today with my $300 Versace aviator sunglasses

^^

Oops, it was a joke on his part, thank god.

R505, and others, you're most welcome!

[quote]Happy Olympic day everyone! Today, we athletes celebrate not just being an Olympian, but what bearing the title means, as well as the responsibilities that come with it.

Oh god, I think this may be the most cringe-worthy:

[quote]These are memories that I will think back on many decades later and smile an old, withered smile complete with knowledge that I made the most of my life, especially as a 17 year old Olympian. I placed 6th among the best skaters in the history of this sport and I am so very proud to do so representing the USA. My place is here and my time is now.

Oh, VZ's from Palo Alto, so I completely believe it's him. He's a type that's not uncommon around there--self-important, a bit mannered, deadpan sense of humor, a bit spectrum-ish when it comes to social nuances. He's unusual in the figure-skating world, but not for his hometown.

What was the transphobic comment? He can't be as obnoxious as Courtney Hicks--she's so awful that I'm glad I already disliked her skating.

Is this picture Yuzuru's message to Misha/Medvedeva: don't ever think you can replace Javier in my heart

R511

Sorry, having trouble with datalounge. R511 He's liked anti-gun control tweets and tweets like "Don't forget the science! XX XY. " This was after he publicly supported trans in the military. He's a fan of Ben Shapiro and follows and likes at least one other right wing tweeter. I used to think he was a Mormon adoptee because of his mannerisms and dress.

He's not anti-Trans but he is more aligned with Datalounge. DLers don't like the bullshit that often comes with the Trans rethoric. Vincent's gun love is a problem though.

I wonder when Vincent is going to come out. He had an older gay companion that mama was not happy about.

R511 I'm sure this was Javier's message to them.

Whoever said we can make a Hanyu thread? This is the figure skating thread. That means anything or anyone related to figure skating. I will not give Med a pass because she's a teenager. What she is doing is stuff teenagers do to actors, singers, and other celebrities. She skates with him. Immature on her part. I hope Zagitova has a great season and beats her again.

Guys, the block button works wonders. Half of that creepy Medvedeva/Hanyu stalking stuff just disappeared with one click. Now I'm working on the other half.

Someone just posted this translation at GS from an interview Orser recently gave when he was in Kobe:

・Yuzuru has been recovering gradually taking long term while he has been patient. ・The time length of LP became shorter and Orser thinks it is going to be more difficult, but his students are good in the area of transition, skating skills, and gaining speed, so those will be their strength in new system. ・It is good rule change for Yuzuru because he is an all-round skater, not just a jumper. He has great spins, steps and transitions, and he is able to adopt various choreography. (he said "Everything is ready.") ・Yuzuru has not changed at all after winning two times in the Olympics, he has been always motivated and it is really amazing. He loves skating and competing in the games. He has been matured and responsible for many things, has also a lot of goals. ・There is no reason for him not to do 4A if he is healthy. He also tried that jump a little last year but he concentrated on the practice for the Olympics, but now the situation has been changed. Yuzuru is ambitious so Orser can't stop him (doing 4A), if only he is healthy. ・New students are hard workers and have great personalities, which is very good for Yuzuru.

Have Donohue and Smart broken up?

R515 [quote]He's not anti-Trans but he is more aligned with Datalounge. DLers don't like the bullshit that often comes with the Trans rethoric.

Given his love of racist homophobe Ben Shapiro, I'm going to have to disagree. Ben Shapiro, who also ripped his teammate Adam Rippon to shreds on radio. I wonder how Adam feels about Vincent now.

No words about Boyang Jin from Orser ? I wonder what happened. He was supposed to start at TCC in June.

Seeing Vincent and Med makes me think maybe teenagers shouldn't be given free rein over SNS. But then again, Alina has a cute dog.

Fun fact: a wiki page about Shoma Uno includes this under fun facts about him: "he looks similar to a Shiba Inu". I think it's supposed to be a compliment, considering Hanyu called him a puppy on air. Lol.

Boyang seems like a nice boy, but he looks painfully straight. Kinda reminds me of Patrick Chan. Does heterosexuality get in the way of expressive skating for men? Asking for a friend.

[quote] Does heterosexuality get in the way of expressive skating for men?

Homosexuality didn't help my expressivness in skating

R517--a teenager being immature? Oh, yeah, that's never happened. Seriously, take your obsession to Tumblr. I would block you, but I'd prefer it if you just curbed the obsession a little. Mix it up with something else.

[quote]Have Donohue and Smart broken up?

Where was Cizeron when this took place. We all know he would eventually convert him.

Wonder if Vinnie's kind of a libertarian--it's a common type in the Valley. Ironically, their anti-government attitude is enabled by the Internet, which, of course, resulted from a Dept. of Defense project.

R519 Japanese media should interview Hanyu's fans instead of Brian Orser. Really. He always says what everyone knows. I even don't need to read his interviews to know what he would say about his students: "S(he) is hard-working and motivated", "we have plan for her/him", "I'm amazed by her/his talent/determination", "S(he) has amazing jumps and skating skills, we just need some...". I prefer reading Raf's interviews and listening to him roast his students to reading innocuous things Brian Orser said day and night.

Is Vincent a DLer ??

He sounds like one...

R487 What R489 said except he's just superstitious, not religious. He's been well-spoken since his earliest interviews when he was little. When he speaks casually to other athletes, he talks like a typical 20-something Japanese man. He's not putting on a hyper masculine performance just because he doesn't speak like a host from a gay bar in Tokyo's red light district as one DLer seems to believe. Foreign skaters as well as overseas fans and media would probably see him very differently if they could understand Japanese. I think his broken English contributes to the fluffy baby image that some have of him.

R519 R528 Orser's only worked with Brown and Medvedeva since returning from Kobe, which could be why his answer was vague. Any link to the original article?

Also, any Chinese speakers here who can check Boyang's weibo activity or Chinese forums for any information about what's happened to him?

Here's a link to the article you asked about R530

[R518] thanks for the reminder.

[quote] Have Donohue and Smart broken up?

I thought that was her in his insta story that just expired, in the front seat of he car.

R530 C'mon. He has said the same things when being asked about Fernandez, Hanyu, Cha Jun Hwan...FOR YEARS. He will say the same about Med, Jin, Jason next years if he continues to work with them...I couldn't be more certain about that.

And did you mean gay can't be well-spoken and talk like a man ?

R531 Thank you. So it was just a blurb and not a lengthy interview.

R533 I wasn't disagreeing with you but Orser hadn't even met with Brown and Medvedeva in Toronto at the time of the interview, so there really was nothing he could say. As for the gay comment - I was implying the opposite. Someone here keeps insisting Hanyu must be acting hyper masculine to mask his sexuality just because he doesn't speak like a Japanese Johnny Weir or Adam Rippon.

I heard that Tanith Belbin and Charlie White had a baby...is that true?

Yes, they had a baby boy last fall or winter. Charlie's mom posted pics on Facebook or something. Tanith looked surprisingly thin at nationals just a month or so after the baby was born.

Enough about Med, bracelets and her so called obsession with Hanyu.

Mirai is engaged. I was hoping she'd stick around another year as the other US ladies don't seem any better than her.

Boyang is like Patrick?! I see no similarity whatsoever, in their looks, body types, or skating.

Mirai sticking around won't make much difference, IMO, since only two slots for Worlds and neither Mirai nor Karen Chen are going to finish high enough to bring the numbers up to three. Mirai's got jumps, but she can't be bothered to retain choreography. We already have a reliable jumper in Bradie Tennell who has a chance of moving up this season with the fed behind her--she needs some luck for the podium, but she's in good shape for a top five finish--particularly if Carolina Kostner retires. Chen's probably the better bet--she can skate beautifully on rare occasion.

R489 R530 Thank you for the info.

R488 after the lengthy expositions on Med and her choice of fruit and jewelry, it's a question about the Japanese language and Hanyu that triggers you?

[R525] you do what you must. We all have the right to our opinions.

Grand Prix assignment should be out today! Or tomorrow according to your time zone

So what happened to Boyang Jin?

Oops

About Boyang Jin, this was posted on Weibo on June 20 but I can't read Chinese so I don't know what it's about - an ad he's doing in China for a new apparel endorser?

Han Yan is back, has changed coaches, and says he wants to work toward 2022 Olympics in Beijing (in men's singles - not dance, as was rumored.)

14-year-old South Korean Young You landed a 3A at the Broadmoor Open (June 20-23, 2018)

Alisa Liu, who'll be 13 on August 8 and just won the Junior US ladies title, landed a 3A-3T at the same competition.

So I just checked the Boyang link and saw a post where people are guessing whether it's him on someone's photo. I would say it looks like him but it could also be Cha which is more likely

Is Adam gaining weight? Second picture.

GP Helsinki instead of Cup of China!

I guess it means Dr Virtanen getting the host spot!

Assignments are up on ISU twitter.

Gracie Gold is back! Assigned to Rostelecom Cup

MEN

Skating America: Jorik, Nguyem, Brezina, Ponsart, Moris, Bychenko, Rizzo, Yee, Voronov, Chen, Zhou, TBD

Skate Canada: Kerry, Messing, Sadovski, TBD, Aymoz, Samohin, Tomono, Uno, Cha, Samarin, Majorov, Brown

Finland: Jorik, Boyang, Brezina, TBD, Harris, Bychenko, Hanyu, Tanaka, Erokhov, Kolyada, Lazukin, Krasnozhon

NHK: Reynolds, Rizzo, Sato. Uno, TBD, Vasjlievs, Lee, Aliev, Voronov, Paniot, Alexander Johnson, Zhou

Rostelecom: Messing, Moris, Maurizio Zandron, Hanyu, Tomono, Ten, Dimitriev, Erokhov, Kolyada, Majorov, Krasnozohn

France: Nadeau, Boyang, Ponsart, Besseghier, TBD, Samohin, Tanaka, Vasjlievs, Aliev, Samarin, Brown, Chen

PAIRS

America: Li/Xie, Yu/Zhang, Hocke/Blommaert, Efimova/Korovin, Tarasova/Morozov, Cain/LeDuc, Knierms, TBD

Canada: Aussies, Moore Towers/Marinaro, Ruest/Wolfe, Walsh/Michaud, Peng/Jin, James/Cipres, Boikova/Zozloviskii, Denney/Frazier

Finland: Ziegler/Kiefer, Seguin/Bilodeau, Sui/Han, North Koreans, TBD, Della Monica/Guarise, Pavliuchenko/Khodrykin, Zabiiako/Enbert

NHK: Moore Towers/Marinaro, Peng/Jin, Sui/Han, Hocke/Blommaert, Suzuki/Kihara, Zabiiako/Enbert, Kayne/O'Shea, Knierims

Russia: Aussies, Austrians, Della Monica/Guarise, Efimova/Korovin, Pavliuchenkova/Khodykin, Cain/LeDuc, Stellato/Bartholomey

France: Seguin/Bilodeau, North Koreans, Yu/Zhang, Esbrat/Novoselov, James/Cipres, Boikova/Kozlovskii, Denney/Frazier, Kayne/O'Shea

Hanyu in Helsinki and Rostelecom and Medvedeva in IdF and Skate Canada. Lol. Pretty clear message from Hanyu.

R553 What? Since when do skaters get a say in where they get to go?

Kostner is still going on!

Marchei/Hotarek and Cappellini/Lanotte are not on the list.

Top skaters even besides World top 3 definitely have a say in their assignment. Hanyu has always loved Finland and won there several times, so I wouldn't be surprised if he asked for this spot.

ICE DANCE:

Skate America: Muller/Dieck, Fear/Gibson, Guignard/Fabbri, Polish, Min/Gamelin, Zagorski/Guerreiro, Nazarova/Nikitin, Hubbell/Donohue, McNamara/Carpnter, 1 TBD

Skate Canada: Gilles/Poirier, Sales/Wamsteeker, Soucisse/Firus, Wang/Liu, Lauriault/Legac, Tweedale/Buckland, Skoptcova/Aleshin, Sinistina/Katslapov, Smart/Diaz, Hubbell/Donohue

Finland: Mansour/Ceska, Torn/Partanen, Guignard/Fabbri, Popova/Mozgov, Stepanova/Bukin, Hurtado/Khaliavin, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Chock/Bates, McNamara/Carpenter, 1 TBD

NHK: Soucisse/Firus, Wang/Liu, Papadakis/Cizeron, Komatsubara/Koleto, Muramoto/Reed, Skoptcova/Aleshin, Zagorski/Guerreiro, Nazarova/Nikitin, Hawayek/Baker, Parsons

Rostelecom: Garabedian/Proulx, Yanovskaya/Lukacs, Muramoto/Reed, Polish, Endokimova/Bazin, Stepanova/Bukin, 1 TBD, Hurtado/Khaliavin, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Chock/Bates

France: Gilles/Poirer, Lauriault/LeGac, Papadakis/Cizeron, 1 TBD, Alison Reed/Lithuanian Dude, Popova/Mogoz, Sinistina/Katsalapov, Smart/Diaz, Hawayek/Baker, Parsons

Skate America: Loena, Lecavelier, Honda, Myahara, Sakamoto, Radionova, Samodurova, Tsurskaya, Rajcova, Andrews, Tennell, TBD

Skate Canada: Austman, Chartrand, Daleman, Higuchi, Matsuda, Yamashita, Tursky, Choi, Med, Panenkova, Tuktamysheva, Bell

Finland: Loean, TBD, Schott, Kästner, Hongo, Sakamoto, Shiraiwa, Kostantinova, Panenkova, Zagitova, Rajcova, Karen Chen

NHK: Daleman, Li, Mihara, TBD, Choi, Radionova, Sotskova, Tuktamysheva, Bells, Hicks, Wang

Rostelecom: Schott, Higuchi, Matsuda, Yamashita, Tursy, Lim, Tsurskaya, Zagitova, TBD, Paganini, Chen, Gold

France: Lecavelier, Meité, TBD, Kostner, Honda, Kihira, Mihara, Kostantinova, Medvedeva, Sotskova, Matilda Algotsson, Tennell,

I read somewhere that the last 4cc or something was supposed to be Misha's retirement skate. Did he come back out of retirement to go to the Olympics?

R559 My friend, don't tell me you trust Misha's words. He might come back anytime LOL

Alina Zagitova SP Phantom of the Opera FP Carmen

Hubbell/Donohue and Chock/Bates both being protected from competing directly with one another and against Papadakis/Cizeron. Poor Hawayek/Baker and the Parsons (though they're not really contenders) are up against Papadakis/Cizeron twice.

Hope Chock/Bates have a good year, they've been through the wringer.

What are the odds of the North Koreans making it to the GP finals?

Well, well, well, Gracie Gold's emerging. Fingers crossed. Bradie Tennell's assignments look okay--I'd say she definitely has a chance of medalling at either one or both.

I kind of half expected Nathan Chen to be at Skate America and Skate Canada just so he didn't have to travel so far from Yale, but maybe it works with his school breaks.

I can see Helsinki agreeing to do that GP being conditional on Hanyu skating there. Because no other skater can fill those seats like he can.

R560 Lol I guess I'm confused because one of his more recent SNS posts was a pretty passionate complaint about people asking him not to retire, saying they don't understand how hard it is to keep skating. Maybe this time he'll actually stay retired I guess.

Yeah, apparently the organizers of the event in Helsinki wanted both Hanyu and Zagitova.

[quote] Hubbell/Donohue and Chock/Bates both being protected from competing directly with one another and against Papadakis/Cizeron

P/C, H/D and C/B were top 3 seeds. So they couldn't meet each other.

Ah, didn't know it worked like that. Well, hope Zach stays on his feet this season.

Skater puff piece for the 4CC with dogs. Will note that Vincent Zhou is such an awkward interview that he only appears once. The ISU is probably praying for Jason Brown to get a quad so they can boost him up. Bradie's getting less awkward--she's had a little media training now. Zach and Maddie are clearly dog people.

Rostelecom Cup have managed to invite a team that has split? It's a record even for their standards

Well, they completed the men field inviting Maurizio Zandron....where did they find him?

Maybe they invited Gracie thinking she was one of the worst available.

Carolina Kostner is continuing just to piss Hersh off when he sees her scores?

Stolbova/Klimov are missing from the GP list.

Also Buckland/Coomes. Another one bites the dust in Michigan Ice Dance world?

I expect Chen to withdraw from one or both of his assignments.

Has VIncent already posted a deep reflection on his GP assignment?

Misha is a coach now? He posted from TCC thanking Brian and Tracy for teaching to be a coach.... he sure is in demand!

r570 I'm so waiting for that. r571 Maybe he wants to expand from being a choreographer.

well, Vincent has spoken!

govincentzhou I couldn't be more honored to say I'll be coming to Skate America and NHK Trophy this year. I'm somewhat at a loss for words--but I'll do my absolute best to make good of these two incredible opportunities. See you in Everett and Hiroshima❤️

R573 Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. Here I stand humbly before you to say that I could not be more honored and invigorated by this distinction that you now bestow upon me - to represent my country, the country of my birth, in the upcoming Skate America and NHK Trophy this year. I'm somewhat at a loss for words, but speak what I do know, that I will do my absolute best, to lay my heart and soul before you and to make good of these two incredible opportunities. May we meet again in Everett and Hiroshima, mon amor. --Ed. Mama Zhou.

R574 "Amour" -- Mama Chen, Yale parent class '22

In neither of these versions did he mention he was seventeen, Mama Zhou is slipping.

Vincent will be the top USA guy with Chen focusing on school.

R572 Misha just finished coaching a one week camp at TCC. Next he will teach in Shanghai for one week, then do another week in Beijing, with more seminars to follow. I think he could actually make a good coach for a novice or junior skater, but even as a choreographer he tends to make it all about himself.

R574 That sounded more like Vincent than what he actually wrote!

R577 He focus on both!

R536, I'm happy for her, but I hope her anorexia hasn't come back. Her mother obsessed over her weight when Tanith was competing and even sent her to fat camp when she was a teenager...

Can artistry be taught? Because after seeing Hanyu and Uno I get so bored watching Chen and Zhou. Someone please teach them to feel things.

Artistry can be taught to a degree. Carolina Kostner looks pretty ordinary as a teenager. Some skaters seem to have very little feel for interpretation (Gracie, Mirai) ever, but some kind unbend a little as they become more assured performers and technicians and become more expressive. I actually think Bradie Tennell will get better that way and I think Vincent might, though he's kind of all over the place with quads interspersed right now.

I'm looking forward to what Alysa Liu does--Her GayAsian skating dad modeled one of her outfits after one of Sasha Cohen's, so I think he likes artistic skaters.

I really hope Liu's jumps survive adolescence just because the father is sort of the distilled essence of a skating parent/fan. It's kind of like a great experiment.

Though Han Yan says he's coming back -- and he was 19th at the Olympics; 26th in the current world ranking; 23rd in the 2017-18 season's world ranking (Denis Ten is 35th; Kevin Reynolds if 42nd), but he didn't get even one GP assignment. Thanks, China federation for fucking over one of your best two male skaters. (Both Ten and Reynolds got assignments - Ten didn't even get past the short program at Pyeongchang; Kevin wasn't there).

Han Yan took this season off on purpose.

Just trying to catch up on this thread and the secondhand embarrassment from Zhou's posts is overwhelming. I already loathed his skating, and when he went to the White House it basically sealed it for me. I will NEVER root for that little douche. I hate Tom Z. more than ever now too, after he posted his nauseous thank you to Shitler.

Zhou is turning me into a Nathan fan. Though it's a bit fun to have a male headcase for a change.

I can't stand either Vincent or Nathan. So sick of these kids who can do nothing but jump poor quality quads, and who cares about performance, passion, artistry...

If you're going to be a jumper, at least be a jumper like Boyang, who has jumps that look good and plenty of personality.

r586 That's really harsh. Nathan's skating might be lacking but he seems like a nice guy. Not his fault judges overscore him. Vincent with his pretentiousness and dubious opinions, though, doesn't deserve the pass.

[quote]Top skaters even besides World top 3 definitely have a say in their assignment.

No more say than any other unseeded skater. Feds will take into consideration skaters' wishes if it fits their agenda: for example, I doubt it's a coincidence Jorik and Loena Hendricx have both their events together, they probably asked for it. I read somewhere that in the 2013/14 season Hanyu asked for the same events as Patrick Chan, and he was not exactly an champion backmthen. So, you don't have to be a top skater to havevsome say, but I seriously doubt that if Hanyu had asked for NHK and IdF he would have got them, they would have sent him to Finland to put Japanese (and possibly not only Japanese) butts in those seats anyways.

Didier had bragged that he would get Hanyu to IdF this year. So if that's true, either he doesn't have that much power; or Yuzu and/or Nathan didn't want to go head-to-head this year (or someone else didn't want them to); or maybe they had to give some candy to Helsinki to take the GP event at the last minute - I heard they wanted both Olys gold medals - Yuzu and Alina. They got them, along with Carolina Kostner, so that's a good guess. But superstitious Hanyu loves Finland and has had good luck there - and he won his first Olympic gold in Russia...

Oh I'm tying myself up in knots lol. I like the lineups. I wonder if it was figured in that Messing is posting 4As on youtube - they put him at Rostelecom with Hanyu. Sheesh I can't get out of the rabbit hole... Off season will do that to you.

I'm a bit tickled that Alina apparently has both POTO and Carmen as her programs :) Will she kick Med's butt and survive the Japanese onslaught? I think I'd bet on the Land of the Rising Sun. They have a helluva deep bench, maybe even compared to the Russians. The rest of the girls might as well give up?

Except for Host picks, lowest ranked (Season Best list 2017/18) Lady to have received a GP is Alexia Paganini (66th). Lowest ranked man is Maurizio Zandron (67th)

Craine, Lindfors and Dastich are better ranked than Paganini but were passed over.

Pulkinen (or is he planning to do Junior GP?) and Dolensky were higher ranked than Zandron but were not chosen. I guess one of them will be the Skate America final host pick (there is no point in giving a second GP to Alex Johnson who is making his GP debut at 28)

Lowest ranked man to get 2 GPs is Matteo Rizzo (36th). Cha (24th), Nguyen, Kerry and Paniot had a SB higher than his but did get only 1 assignment .

Lim (33th) is the highest ranked lady in SB List with only 1 GP. I think Lecavelier (51th) is the lowest ranked lady with 2 GPs but she benefited from a host pick. Otherwise, I think Nicole Schott (50th) is the one with lowest SB with 2 assignments.

USFSA Team Envelopes 2018/19

TEAM A

Chen

Zhou

Rippon

Brown

Tennell

Nagaus

Knierim/Knierim

Kayne/O Shea

Hubbell/Donohue

Chock/Bates

Hawayek/Baker

TEAM B

Hochstein, Miner

Wagner, Bell, Andrews, Wang, Karen Chen

Denney/Frazier, Cain/LeDuc, Stellato/Bartholomay

Parsons/Parsons, McNamara/Carpenter

TEAM C

Hicks, Cui, Ma, Glenn, Kalyan, Liu

Johnson, Hiwatashi, Krasnozhon, Pulkinen, Dolensky, Torgashev, Naumov, Tran

Pfund/Santillan, Lockley/Prochnow, Lu/Mitrofanov, Feng/Nyman

Aldrige/Eaton, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Lewis/Bye, Green/Green

Pulkinen intends to compete as a junior on international level and as a senior on national level.

R592 thanks. He should aim at podium at Junior Worlds. Well, he could have medaled last year too given the field and performances there.

The distribution of team envelope money is just ridiculous. How can the USFSA underfund their biggest talent ?

Team C: Liu, Green/Green {Dance}, Lu/Mitrofanov (pairs), Feng/Nyman (pairs)

This group should be receiving maximum financial aid because they show serious world talent and they are posting results. They are instead throwing away money to skaters that will not win anything and are long past their due date.

Team C: Krasnozhon, Pulkinen

Why are these two not at least in envelope B ? Krasnozhon would have won junior worlds had it not been for and injury that took him off in the middle of his FP. Why are we underfunding them since they show the most potential out of the juniors?

Cha seems to show a lot of promise. Too bad he only got 1 GP placement. Does that mean he's destined to not make it to the GPF? Not quite sure how this works.

Orser said that judges underscore skaters they see as junior-ish based on looks. Does anyone agree that this seems to be the case for Elizabet and Cha?

17 years old Hanyu looked 12 and still broke world records (at least with his sp) so not sure if it's looking junior-ish which leads judges to underscore a skater.

R595 With just one GP you don't qualify for GPF because even if you win your GP, you can't score more than 15 points. 2 4th places will outscore you.

I think Cha is likely to pick a second GP at some point when someone will withdraw. They usually choose skaters with 1 spot as substitutes, more so this year given every half decent skater already got one spot.

I gotta disagree with Hanyu looking like he was 12 at 17. He might have stayed with an 18-year-old face since then, but I think he looked his age at 17. But Cha... he's 16 now? To me he looks his age but I've heard Americans comment that he looks 12. Maybe it's the huge puppy dog eyes. I wonder how he'll fare with the quds - he's been having recurring hip injuries, and he's apparently very tall and still growing.

I hope Alina's continued growing doesn't mess her up either. It's kinda gross to hear people discuss her body though.

And I have to agree that Nathan looks like a nice kid, but that doesn't mean you can't criticize their skating. Not criticizing someone just because you think they're a nice person seems like a weird fanboy thing to do. I like Nathan plenty but I think his programs are horribly bland. When I saw him live, you could tell he was a kid who was really inexperienced with life, the way he was just going through the motions instead of really feeling the music. Karen was way more artistic to watch. And Zhou was just cringey, you can see the pretentiousness seeping from the skating.

So Karen Chen's down in the B group--yeah, USFSA is fed up with her, aren't they?

Wagner's getting dough as is Rippon, but not the ShibSibs. So is she not retiring? But are the ShibSibs done?

Zhou is full of himself and not very clued in. Yes, he can jump, but at this point, his record is not all that. I'll take Nathan any day--he works, he delivered at Worlds and his FS at the Olympics after bombing the short was valiant. I respect that.

That said, I'm sure the USFSA is rooting for Jason Brown because he's a much better ambassador for the sport than Vincent and Chen doesn't seem fully committed to skating.

this thread is getting closed soon. New thread to discuss Cha's appearance