Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk part 8

Previous thread

I don't think it's fair to assume that anything that anyone does from TCC is "copying" Hanyu - Cha was running like an awkward shy kid because he is one. Apparently he didn't know that he was supposed to hug Roman and got embarrassed? He's only sixteen and this is his first Senior medal after all.

More pictures of the ACI medal ceremony moment after the podium when Roman wouldn't let go of Yuzu's waist and ended up making him laugh.

I've never seen Cha do anything that wasn't adorable! Well, his beautiful jumps - they're stunning!

I hope we have him around a long time, especially to take away some of the sting when Hanyu actually retires - but if he wants to hang around till Beijing, I won't complain. True joy would be seeing both of them there, skating, running, smiling, laughing, prancing, holding their arms around each other's waists, for sure, with ass shots at every angle.

I hope this is his real breakthrough. At Pyeongchang, Orser said, "Do the judges think Cha is one of the six or seven greatest skaters in the world? No. Do I? Absolutely!"

I hope for his sake that Jun Hwan doesn't grow taller. 177 cm at 16 with a number of serious injuries behind him, if he grows any bigger things might become tough for him. I wish him well too. He is pleasant to watch and seems to be a sweetheart. Regarding Yuzu and Beijing Olympics he again reiterated this weekend that he doesn't think about it at all. I honestly wish the media would leave him alone. He just became the 1st guy in 66 years to win back to back Olympics but it seems to be never enough for some people.

ummm,hmmm, his first Olympics win was marred by splats on the ice.

This is very funny: Some French-speaking woman was able to speak to Ghislain at ACI and she blabbed about it all on her twitter. (All very positive stories about Hanyu/TCC, but I think it's odd to have a private conversation with someone and then recount it in detail on your twitter, but maybe that's me.) Here's the a tidbit I found hilarious:

[quote]Funfact 2 : when Ghislain saw Yuzu's POTO at COC after the crash with Han, he text an other TCC coach and says "this costume is too much... What is the thing on his head? Why blood?" he was not aware of the accident and Brian was like "U SERIOUS??????"

I'm still not completely sold with Hanyu's Origin costume but I really love the back of It. It seems to have some green elements meshed with the gold and feathers which make him look like some forest fairy. And it fits his silhouette like a glove. The front looks messier.

I have watched Hanyu's Origin about five times already. I'm loving it more each time I watch. I think he can make the performance better as the season goes on.

R8. I love his costume. If I'm not mistaken it also has some purple in there too. I also love his sp costume. It's so beautiful. Some comments on YouTube were not happy with the costumes and one person said is Hanyu trying to look like Weir? I don't think he is. The costumes don't even look the same. Maybe just similar in color.

R9 Are these people new to Yuzu? Don't they know that he just like Johnny has always held a love for ruffles and sparkles and making bigoted people around the world uncomfortable. I love his Otonal costume even though the colours are not really autumnal. It's like he is channeling his inner Elsa.

Thank you to the poster who valiantly transcribed TSL so the rest of us can just fast forward to the parts that are interesting to us if we even want to go there. I'm curious as to how they shade Meagan, since she's been their guest a couple of times.

I think both Otonal and Origin are incredible and incredibly difficult programs to pull off. Otonal has light, subtle touches that have to be done well or it will come off too spare and empty (even though it is not at all, technically). Origin is so dynamic that when he's tired or off (like at ACI), it loses its vitality and coherence. You could totally see that when comparing the parts of Origin that were shown on media day to the way it was performed at ACI. He's also changed his layout a bit, so that the programs feel very different from what we usually see from Hanyu. I really want to see these programs done clean because I love them, but I think it's going to be a challenge, like the poster from the previous thread pointed out.

I like Cha's skating but he's 16. He's still growing and adjusting so I'm not counting on anything just yet.

R6 LOL, Brian was just PRing and lying his way through Pyeongchang wasn't he?

R10. I went back to get the posters exact words. I knew they mentioned weir but they also brought plushenko up too. They might be talking about the performance and not the costume. Maybe both. I don't think Hanyu is trying to perform like weir and plushenko either. He is making it his own program. This is part of what was written:

"This new program is nothing special to previous one (Seimei) I think he's trying too hard to be like Johnny Weir and Plushenko and sorry to say that but it's just not working well. "

R12 Oh please, Otonal and Origin look nothing like Weir's and Plushenko's programs. This person is obviously an idiot who has never seen Johnny or Plush skate or is one of those annoying old school FS fans who are constantly whining about how today's programs don't hold a candle to the boring, corny clunkers they worshipped back in the day.

Yeah, he'll probably never get to skate Origin clean. Not like it is now. And with his stamina obviously on the wane.

I don't think you can conclude that his stamina is "obviously on the wane." Sure, it was lacking at ACI, but it was the start of the season, he hasn't been training that long after an endless, tiring off season of shows and appearances, and it is a new, challenging program. Great programs don't just materialize out of thin air people, you test them out and tweak them as the season goes along; that's what these challenger comps are for.

R12 Lol. That person is probably completely new to figure skating and has seen maybe 2 programs and believe they know everything. Even the cunts over at tsl liked both programs and said that they liked that it didn't feel like tributes in that they are not caricatures but Yuzu made his own thing out of them.

Higuchi's right calf was cramping up her entire time in Canada, but she also said that other random parts of her body started to hurt, so maybe it isn't just dehydration.

Brown says he plans to stay at TCC for at least four years. I know his parents are wealthy but does he have any other kind of financial help? I also think he shouldn't try to incorporate a quad yet and focus on skating a clean FS. Orser is making it clear that he is only a secondary coach.

Has Hanyu's comments after FS. I like how the news segments include footage during media day where he talked about how he was too attached to winning and doesn't care about scores anymore. As he was leaving after speaking to the reporters following his performance of Origin, he said, "There's no point if I don't win."

R15 I'm not checking but that comment felt like it was written by the Dai troll. Yuzu always had stamina issues and always had a bumpy start to every single season since he turned senior. He has asthma and has trouble gaining weight and muscles so if he doesn't train for a long time because of injuries or other things, it's always tougher for him to regain his stamina but he always manages to do it in the end. The only concern I have for him is his injury which I don't believe to be fully healed yet but let's hope for the best.

R17 I think Yuzu himself and his fans are a bit confused on this. I don't think it's just about winning. If it was then he should feel satisfied since he won. But what frustrates him is not putting the best performance he is capable of and not having a decisive win because he knows both are tied. I believe that he would feel less frustrated if hypothetically he were to put out 2 perfect clean performances and not win a competition (ofc it wouldn't happen since he is that good that if he skates clean he wins but let's imagine) than winning like he did now with imperfect programs.

R19. I totally agree with you. Hanyu wants the best performance. I also think he wants perfection. He is like a perfectionist. Sometimes I wonder if that contributes to his depression. Always wanting to be perfect.

I'm seeing Shoma back in drag camping it up, striking sassy poses, hanging off Lambiel and Takahashi and lifting his shirt to show guys his nipples backstage. I think new ice show footage? I feel bizarrely proud of him. Like a mother animal must feel when their newborn gets up and starts walking.

Shoma: Oh my.

Hanyu must have picked up quite a few new fans after Pyeongchang b/c I see people on SNS bemoaning the fact that he didn't skate two clean programs and how he must be losing motivation, stamina etc. Has the collective memory on this dude somehow been wiped clean? Do you know why I stopped getting emotionally invested after 2015 - 2016ish and have turned my attention almost exclusively to his ass? Because It has ALWAYS been a fucking struggle - the injuries, especially at inopportune times, his physical condition, the OCD tweaking of programs, jumps, every fucking element, the intensity, the pressure, the isolation, the crazy antis. Don't stan this guy if you expect perfection and happiness every time he skates. It doesn't work that way. Not in this quad era, not with this level of difficulty and certainly not with this fucking dramatic queen.

[R18] Just ask, i will tell you. No reason to spread lies

R17 TSL is right, this is the time for the ladies to make their move, with Zags and Med in flux and the Russian wunderkinds still in juniors. It's too bad that Waka's struggles are coming now. I hope Rika is able to get some attention; she has the technical goods.

R21 I think Shoma's hilarious, but I think I would enjoy him much more if he stopped skating altogether and turned his attention to full-time modeling and being a TV personality. I dislike his jumps and one note skating and resent the fact that he's been given these freebies throughout his career.

R23. I believe Hanyu himself is a perfectionist. Do you think a lot of his so called fans put a lot of pressure on him? I sometimes believe they do. Maybe that's why he thinks he has to be perfect?

Don't even get me started on his antis. They are obsessed and completely crazy. I seriously feel sorry for the guy. So when I see a photo where I see him truly happy (goofing around with the other male skaters for example) it really makes me smile back.

R23 It's like this every start of season and it's not just fans but also media people who each time are fucking surprised that he splats his first senior b event and GP when he has been doing this nearly his entire career. It's like a collective state of goldfish memory when it comes to him but I suppose that' s the price to pay when you are the best in the world: people always expect you to be at your best. And in a crazy difficult sport like male fs it's simply not possible unless you are some kind of robot which thanks god Hanyu isn't. And yeah between the injuries, the antis and the whiplash emotions he gives you every season, stanning this guy is hard but he is worth it in the end.

R26 I think he demands perfection from himself (there is a reason why I know random JPN words like mada mada and kuyashii), but it's also clear he wants to repay the people who have invested in his career (fans, family, other supporters).

Here's another post from the fan who spoke to Ghislain. Poor Ghislain, I think he is just a nice, personable guy who isn't used to putting his guard up when it comes to Hanyu and likely didn't think a private conversation would be discussed all over social media.

Is Tracy Wilson Jason's official head coach? Tracy and Karen Preston sat with him at the K&C. Is this a new thing for Tracy? Is she anyone else's head coach? I think Jason should drop the quad aspirations too. He has beautiful things to contribute without the quads. I wish he would dump the David Wilson program. I saw on twitter that DW was commenting on Rika. Get away from her, DW; do not saddle my girl with your shithole programs!!!

Here a post-ceremony fancam capturing the moment he hold Roman's hand. How he could turn away when Roman smiled and said "thank you" to him lol.

Also I noticed Yuzuru was constantly looking for someone in audience when he stood on the podium. He looked around the audience a few times.

Well, Medvedeva was there, in the audience.

r8 I'm not getting the forest vibe. I think some people on PH expressed my feelings about the costume when they compared him to a) Maleficent and b) that villain who burned a thousand villages.

Count me as another person grateful for the summaries of TSL, it's interesting to hear what they say but not having to sit through it. They're two-faced cunts for first throwing shade with Duhamel and then throwing shade at Duhamel.

Can someone post the link (preferably with a time stamp) to where Junhwan runs like Yuzu? Was he running on skates or without? Because if it was on skates then it doesn't count.

r31 Loool

But the fucking double standards here. Medvedeva wearing gloves like Hanyu sent people into hysterics but the guy who wore the exact same ones (Roman?) barely warranted a mention.

R29 I don't think Brian wants to be seen in the K&C with Jason until he's certain Jason can deliver under pressure. I'm pretty certain Brian does not think Jason will ever attain any consistency with his quads and that's why he said in an interview that it was Tracy who was keen on taking him. Jason seems to be Tracy's pet project.

And add me to the list of those who are very grateful to the person who summarized the latest TSL video--thanks so much!

R31 You're right. And don't forget Miyahara might have been there too. And his mom.

R32 I wasn't one of the ones getting hysterical about Med, but the difference might be that she had been coyly posting pics of herself and bracelets/fruit on her insta knowing they would garner some attention. I don't remember whether she posed with the gloves. These things and Misha etc etc throughout the summer annoyed some people. Again, I don't have issues with Med and think she's handled her move to TCC and everything surprisingly well all considering. I think she was having a little innocent fun with respect to Hanyu as well, but you can't compare Roman with Med.

R34 Don't forget Pooh. And some stuffed Goats. And Brian and Ghislain.

R28 I don't get people who betray someone's trust like that just for a few retweets and reblogs. And come on Ghislain, Yuzu can be very open with his feelings sometimes. Like the whole "can't do without you, Javi. You're so bad."

R30. I'm going to say Hanyu was probably looking for his mom. She is his guardian Angel.

R35 She took a photo with Maia Shibutani, wore that gloves and showed them to camera right after Yuzuru denied romantic rumor.

I'm sure he looked around to look for someone in the audience. Not looking at banners.

R30 We must have been watching two different podium ceremonies then because I have rewatched it at last 4 times so far from 2 different fancams and didn't see him looking at anyone in particular in the audience but I suppose you just wanted to introduce your Medo shipping topic and didn't know how to bring it up. Are we on planethanyu and not on a gay gossip board that some of you keep trying to pair a quite obviously non straight guy with any girl he interacts with.

R39 I always assume that anyone shipping Hanyu with a girl here is playing it for laughs. No? I haven't been there in a long time, but I don't think PH are shipper type people. They are pretty straight-laced when it comes to that kind of thing.

This talk... Ass enthusiast where are you?

R38. Yes! After he denied the rumors she flaunted the gloves as if to say how dare you Hanyu. Wtf am I doing? I don't want to talk about Med again. I already stated how I felt. LOL.

R41 You called?

R39 Urgg... I didnt say he was looking AT someone. I said he was looking FOR someone. You can watch the fancam I linked again and notice 0:51 -1:00, 2:28-2:34 and 3:14- 3:23.

And this in case you don't see it clearly. 4:58-5:03 and 5:50- 5:54. Don't tell me you didn't see him looking for someone in the audience again after watching the moments I took note.

R44 Yeah you clearly are a shipper and I don't know how you lost your way to end up here. Looking into things when there is absolutely nothing to see. I checked the clips again and as my brain isn't switched to shipper mode like you I just saw him giving a roundabout look at the audience and nothing else. Tell me, do you ship him more with Medo or with Satoko because I believe you were the one bringing up that she was there the other day.

Thank you [R43]. That one is particularly amazing.

R46 Well, I would ship him with myself before I ship him with Med or Miyahara. Believe that or not. It's up to you.

And you really didn't see what I pointed out ? ( that he was looking for someone ). If so, good. I hoped I was wrong. Lol

Ladies, ladies surely we can find some common ground here. An olive branch of sorts:

His mom was in the audience, there have been several reports of her from people sitting nearby.

R48 Yes, I genuinely didn't see it and even if he was looking for someone, the fact that you are immediately jumping to the conclusion that it must be Medo or another girl when he probably just was looking for his mom, is very telling of a twisted shipper's mind. I know it's a place for gossip and that you seem to enjoy the little conspiracy posts "she was here, he was looking there, I'm not saying anything but wink wink" but unless you are his anti, you would know he has repeatedly mentioned his distaste and hurt over garbage rumors about him and girls and maybe try to cut it out. Especially given how little ground all those so called clues of yours have.

R50. Yep! If he was looking for anyone it was for his mom.

R52 What?? Who said he was looking for a girl ? I didn't say it. I just pointed out that he was looking for someone in the audience. When there was a poster saying that was Med, I even said it might be his mom. You must have mixed me up with another poster. Mind you.

It was a different poster who randomly mentioned Meds. R31 originally

What the hell, I wasn't the one who posted it, but it was obvious that the Med comment was a joke. Given some people's obsession with making mountains out of molehills regarding Med and everything.

Geez, I'm from PH, and the folks there are not even in fraction as obsessed with Med (or Misha) as some of Yuzu fans here. And if anyone's curious, the only shipping that used to go on PH was Yuzu/Javier but even that wasn't particularly serious given Javier's apparent straightness. Med doesn't even register on the fans' radar as Hanyu's potential love interest over there. Well, nobody does, actually.

R55 Yes, my only complaint against PH is that they are too mature for me. I would get immediately banned if I ever posted there. Except for the occasional oddballs they are definitely not tinhatters, shippers or assholes.

I was the TSL recapper and I'm feeling funny about my comment that Dave shaded Duhamel -- I kind of turn off when the pairs talk starts because I don't know who they are. I think he said she was wrong about her comments about throw quads (and I can't remember exactly why or how - not worth the effort/danger/something something....) - and she took a photo of a pair's death spiral and captioned something like "the greatest death spiral ever" and he rolled his eyes and made some comment about it -- if I wasn't so lazy, I'd go back and listen but it's so long. It wasn't anything juicy. Sorry for the exaggeration/wrong info - I was just surprised, what with her being there the week before, that they went into anything about her remotely critical.

It was either Worlds '17 or the Olympics - Hanyu comes off the ice, hugs Tracy very tightly (which makes me think Worlds because he later said that she picked up that he was having a hard time emotionally - I think he came back from 5th place to win) and nobody else really noticed (hello Brian!) --- anyway, after the hug, Tracy turns and points out his mother to Hanyu, up in the audience, as if she felt he needed to see her, and he looks up at her.

And Bradie was in the audience too and mentioned the top flight of men were coming up. Oh and Wakaba as well! There were probably some men he knows there as well ;) Maybe even his dad or something, who I don't think often manages to show up (or his sister.) Could have been anybody really.

I've always found interesting that Hanyu is a very huggy person for a japanese, who are notoriously jaleous of their personal space.

R59 People jokingly (I think) point to Hanyu being with a handsy Spaniard for 6 years, but he was physically affectionate even before that - you can see it in his interactions with Nanami Abe and little kids when he was still training in Sendai.

He is such a hug monster. It's hilarious really.

R21 You forgot to post the video!

R28 Where do fans get the courage to approach the skaters and their coaches or family? Hanyu is expressive (verbose) to a fault in Japanese. It’s a giant part of his popularity and why the media follows him around so much. He can always be counted on to say something that would make a good headline or news clip.

R32 A week after your rink-mate angrily says he has nothing to do with you and tries to avoid being seen with you as much as possible, do you interrupt an ice show to force him to take a selfie with you, then copy what he wears? Interpreting every small gesture as imitating Hanyu is unfair, but Medvedeva did mess up this summer and that behavior isn’t comparable to Sadovsky’s fangirling at all. She’s doesn’t even seem to be doing any of that anymore and I don’t understand why people who think they’re defending her keep bringing it up.

R58 Or he was looking for Fernandez… until he remembered that he’s no longer there. “Jaaaviii!!!” Techno music.

Nagano Olympic speed skater Hiroyasu Shimizu has been elected to the JSF board of directors. He once dressed up as Arakawa on TV. Hashimoto, who must be blackmailing the prime minister, was also elected again and begins serving her seventh term next month.

More huggy Hanyu. Dude knows his way around a scrunchie (2nd video with the girl). Exhibit A: Gay for sure.

More from our Parisian spy:

[quote] Ghislain says a lot about crazy fans....He says that Yuzu is very nervous, especially when he is in Japan because that's where the fans are the craziest according to him. He says sometimes they find his room and followed him.

R64. That's really a shame that some people can't respect the guys privacy. No wonder he doesn't go out much if at all. I am a new fan of Hanyu's and he is worth it to be his fan. I do not agree with what many of his fans do but I guess that happens in many fandoms. Too bad these people who stalk him didn't learn anything from their parents on how to respect another person. I can't imagine doing something like that to someone.

r64 I feel Ghislain might soon start regretting being so talkative.

I wonder if Yuzu being most nervous in Japan pertains competitions as well. He usually does very well in Japan, and I've always thought the support of the home crowd was one of the reasons.

I'm really missing the "old days" when TCC's elite students consisted of just Yuzu and Javi. I find the Med ubers and the Jason ubers are really starting to get on my nerves.

R66 Yeah, I feel bad for Ghislain. I can see that this particular fan means well and is just excited to report some fun tidbits about Hanyu, but there is a fine line between being an enthusiastic fan and an intrusive one who invites greater curiosity about his private life and the people around him. She also tweeted about people waiting around for him after ACI to come out of the rink garage, and climbing on top of each other to run after and touch his car, but I mean, she was also there waiting for his car...

R67 Are there Jason Ubers? I think poor Jason could use a few Ubers. Then again, I don't know his fandom so I might want to eat my words.

[R67] [R68] I'm pretty sure Jason has ubers but I can't imagine where they would be posting where they would annoy Hanyu fans. Med ubers are another story.

Unfortunately people like that are everywhere. Figure skaters are celebrities in Japan and fan behaviour is gonna be fan behaviour. Much like we see in Hollywood and whatnot. Shame this happens to him but what can you do.

Holy shit, this person needs to stop before the Russians come after Ghislain too.

r71 Saving her life? Lol, it's a bit too much to believe. I'm starting to think the girl is an attention seeker and made some shit up.

R71 Amazed that this girl actually thinks Briand/TCC will let her back in for lessons after blabbing and hashtagging all this. They all lurk, and anything involving Hanyu or Medvedeva gets spread far and wide anyway, so they'll find out she isn't a person to be trusted.

Any interesting tidbits from that dinner with David Wilson? Has it alreasy taken place? How many "we saved Med and her happiness" soundbites we're going to get?

R72 She clarifies after someone asked, that she meant Med's "life as a skater," but still as R71 said, anything about Hanyu and Med spreads like wildfire, so she shouldn't be screwing over Ghislain like that, even if she's not ill-intentioned.

So I read that persons tweets and the whole thread. Wth? I'm nervous for Hanyu. That's just crazy shit going on. R68. If she is there waiting for his car then she is also a stalker. Shame on all of them for doing this.

Why is Meds so popular? Is it because of the Hanyu association? I don't like to watch her skate because all I notice is her skinny calves.

C'mon R77 she's a 2x world, GPF, Nat'l champ, OSM; she was undefeated and looked invincible up until recently. I'm no fan of her skating, but her popularity doesn't have anything to do with Hanyu.

Granted, R78.

Did I get this right? Says privacy should be honored. Reveals private conversation on twitter. Complains about fans waiting for Hanyu and his car. Waits for Hanyu and his car. Complains about fans following Hanyu to his hotel and room. Signs up for lessons at TCC. Complains about skaters under stress. Adds more fuel to Orser/Med vs. Eteri war.

[R80] I cringe to think how many ubers sign up for lessons at their fave's rink just to get close. Sick.

R80. You got it right. she looks fucking nuts. And nobody is pointing it out either over on Twitter. Jesus Christ she needs to shut it already.

R80 Yep, sounds about right.

Shoma + titays (well, his own; don't get too excited)

Shoma's such a sweetheart. Always makes me smile!

Apparently that person on Twitter says it's basically ok she tweet all this stuff.

R86 Riiight. I'm sure she said to Ghislain, "You mind if I tag Hanyu and tweet our conversation to the twitterverse and beyond (she also posted on FB), as long as I promise not to reveal any of the personal stuff?" And Ghislain was like, "Sure babe, I trust your judgment."

Just mentioning that she skipped details about Yuzuru's personal life will only tantalize people more.

R78 Well, not really. Big section of her fans have nothing to do with her skating. I mean those Kpop boyband fans and amine fans... and after going train in Canada, she got support from TCC stans and no doubt she ( and Misha Ge) also got attention from Hanyu fans for "being his BFF". This year, I saw news about her everywhere on my timeline despite of not following any her fans acc. Yeah, it was Hanyu fans who tweeted about her. Anyway, Hanyu fans are like that. Instead of only focusing on him, they like to care about people around him. Did Roman get some attention from them for a while after ACI ?

Lol Maybe who needs a personal bodyguard now is Ghislain. Those fans will come after him instead of Hanyu next competitions.

R89 I have no horse in this race b/c I don't care about Med, but please, you cannot dismiss her considerable accomplishments and attribute her popularity and reputation to bits of her fandom that have nothing to do with her skating. If she weren't already popular and accomplished, no one would care about her interest in anime or supposed interest in Hanyu. Sure, these are distractions that are blown out of proportion on Tumblr or wherever these fans dwell, but this is not the main reason for her popularity.

I don't know why I always end up defending Med here, especially when I can't say enough times, I DISLIKE her skating and barely notice any of the ladies. I'm not directing this at you R89 because I can't tell from your post whether you are one of those people, but I find her antis to be absolutely insane and vicious in their hate of her. Seriously, just say you hate someone's skating (or even their personality), why the need to make up shit or contort the truth to justify your hate?

So I'm getting this persons tweets all over my Twitter timeline all of a sudden. The people I follow are retweeting. Wanted to share this one that popped on my timeline. She seems to be looking for attention. Is she trying to make it look like her and ghislain are best buds now?

Do you Hanyustans really think he's gay? He doesn't really ping, he's just annoyingly cutesy in my opinion. He's trying to be a living anime or something.

[quote]He's trying to be a living anime or something.

R92 Are you dumb on purpose or is it the result of an unhappy childhood accident?

I agreed on "a living anime" part. LOL

R77 Medo is popular because of her anime and kpop love which brought her tons of teenage fans. I think she is the skater who got the biggest number of new fans with the airing of Yuri on Ice. Also her sailormoon exhibition. She also got the kpop crowd as she proclaims herself to be a huge Exo fan. Basically she's got all the weaboo and koreaboo fangirls who live vicariously through her.

I present you exhibit 1 of 'straight' Hanyu. And don't tell me he was acting or being fake. The guy was having a mental breakdown over Javi's retirement. I have yet to meet a single straight guy pulling this kind of gestures. And he does it all the time. Especially the limp wrist.

As for that French girl with a bad case of tweeting fever, she seems indeed to be a straight up attention seeker. I feel sorry for Ghislain and I hope it won't sour his relationship with Yuzu in case the latter ends up hearing about this. And yes, lol at the whole thread she wrote complaining about bad fan behaviour while stalking him herself. That total lack of self awareness. Is this millennial culture?

R92 I hear you man, when I see a dog walking down the street, I get so confused and think, "Whoa, is that dog like trying to be a living Scooby Doo or somethin?" Or when I encounter a racist fuck who types fat on DL, I think, "I see you Cartman, up to your old tricks again!!"

So in conclusion: 1) you're totally right, a Japanese person who looks Japanese and has Japanese mannerisms is just trying too hard to be the living embodiment of a Japanese cartoon; and 2) go fuck yourself.

[quote]I had a skating class in TCC and Ghislain was inform that I'll maybe became a member. He recognizes me and we talk French together his talkative

[quote]Next step is a Pic with Yuzuru

Team JPN Dirt Czar, where are you? Give us the goods. What is Daisuke M. doing with Vera's gimp?

Can we see more exhibits of 'straight' Hanyu, R96?

r101, I'm not r96 but here, he's very straight here.

Btw, I saw that video where Junhwan's running is supposedly like Hanyu, and c'mon not even remotely close because he's on skates. You simply can't run any other way if you're on skates.

And, those of you here who do Twitter, maybe you could tell the Canadian girl that she's being a stalkery attention whore?

Not a 'straight exhibit' but while looking for one I came across this moment which always manages to make me laugh. Poor Yuzu probably doesn't realize that Boyang doesn't speak English.

Some backside appreciation.

R103 How do you say "stalkery attention whore" in French? I want to make sure I get my message across.

I don't care how the rest of Hanyu swings as long as his ass is gay.

Interesting bit I found in the old Hanyu thread on goldenskate. That poster is paraphrasing a part of the Team Brian book where Orser talks about how he sees Javi and Yuzu.

"It's in Team Brian 1. Part 5 of the last chapter. It's a message to Yuzuru, and it's all really really touchingly worded. I forgot quite how touching. But yes. Basically "If Javi's like a cute son that I have to worry about, Yuzuru is like the twin brother of my younger self. Every time I look at you, I can't help but sigh in my heart, 'I understand you...' 'So young...'."

r74 Dinner took place on Sunday, but all I’ve seen on twitter is someone complaining that her husband wouldn’t accompany her so she didn’t feel like going anymore.

r84 Thank you! Was he making sure they were still there?

r101 At the end of his latest video, where he skated for the first time in four months, he said he feels like entering a competition and almost let out a giggle.

Miyahara updated her blog with another post about Lambiel’s camp in Switzerland. Ever the good house husband, Deniss baked a gluten-free avocado tart, apple berry scones, and tiramisu for everyone.

r100 Han't Frank Caroll retired? Maybe they're going to continue his coaching legacy.

Hanyu to the media: "please ask me about Javi. I know the journalists always ask him about me but I wanted to talk about him too."; "I copied his 4S entry in my program as a tribute to him because he is an extremely important person to me."; "I cried in front of the whole world that I can't do it without him when he told me he was retiring."; "I printed his name right next to mine on the Ciontu goods even though he couldn't be assed to come to the show and just did a half ass 30sec perf via shitty Skype to compensate."

Meanwhile Javier: "stop asking me about Yuzu."; "it's not my fault we are not close anymore."; "we are not friends."; "I don't like his entourage."

I feel truly sorry for Hanyu for carrying a one- sided (torch) friendship for a guy who clearly doesn't feel the same or hides it very well.

Yuzuru is running on skates in that video as well, R102

R111 LOL Isn't it because he won Olympics ? If he had lost to Javier, I don't think we could see them together again.

R99, And the next step is rescuing him from a car wreck, right Annie? R108, are you sure it's not vice-versa? Javi as younger twin and Yuzuru cute son he worries for, seems more close to reality

Why are the stands always filled with screaming women at competitions? Where are Yuzu' male fans at? C'moooon

R115, in a very small minority. Most of his fans are women.

R112. There is another video clip of him running the same way and I don't think he has skates on.

R114 No, he compares Javi to a son and Yuzu to himself. Actually it's not the only time he has mentioned seeing himself a lot in Yuzu. He has never said as such about Javi. And I think it's clear that he doesn't have this paternal bond with Yuzu like he has with Javi and the reason is probably because he and Yuzu are actually too similar. I found it interesting anyway especially when you remember all the things young Orser was going through, not just skate related. I will not say it's a 'straight' Hanyu exhibit but it definitely makes you wonder.

R115 Actually the problem isn't that the stands are only filled with women, it's that they always are filled with the same few hundred old and crazy rich Japanese ladies who buy all the tickets before anyone else managed to even log in and make it extra hard for anyone else: younger fans, male fans etc. to get a chance. He does have some male fans though who come to see him compete like this Spanish dude who was crying after his free skate at Worlds 2017 (don't know what happened to that guy the past year though. He is nowhere to be seen anymore) and this uncle fan who comes with his wife and wears pooh ears. And he has tons of Japanese uncle fans but most of them keep it private as they are afraid of being mocked. There are regular discussions on Japanese chat boards or blogs between his male fans asking for advice as they would like to attend an event to see him but are afraid how they are going to be perceived. It's a bit sad really but what can be done. Figure skating in Japan as well is mostly seen as feminine and a guy who would be into it especially for a male skater would be thought as gay by most people.

R119 Those rich old woman were much better than Chinese fangirls who are loud and unbearable. Since last season, the number of these fangirls has grown fast. They can't go to any competitions without causing chaos. They screamed, then cried then laughed like crazy during his perfomance and practice. Urggg.

Aren't those the ones Yuzuru hushed because they were screaming right before other skater was going into the ice? I think there's pictures, he looked pissed.

What's the Boyang Jin fan contingent like, I wonder? Does he have Chinese fangirls, considering he's Chinese, or is his career not quite distinguished enough yet?

R120 Well, apparently the ones following him around to his car and hotel at ACI were his Japanese fans and he has mentioned several times how in Japan he can't even go out anymore. Not to say the Chinese fans aren't annoying but I guess I can tolerate this kind of behaviour more from a young fan than from a 50 or 60 years old lady who should know better really.

This woman is now unironically tweeting out advice re: acceptable and unacceptable ways of stalking Hanyu

Mild mannered Boyang doesn't appeal to the crazy fans.

R124 I speak French and she and her friend sound like 2 cunts in the thread below the tweet. The only difference between her and the other stalkers she criticises is that she has daddy to pay for her entries into places like TCC if she wants to get close to her idol. Of course she is not going to run after a car.

R126 I concur. It's clear she's not unaware of the criticism of her own behavior, but she thinks as long as she doesn't plaster herself all over his car window, it's totes okay. Anyway, someone call TCC security, she's inside the building!

Someone is calling her out and fans who were next to her at ACI are disputing her accounts on weibo.

I'm about ready to call her ass out on Twitter after I get a chance to catch up on her tweets. I don't care if she blocks me either. I tried giving her the benefit of the doubt here

r129 Apparently she got permission from Ghislain to talk about the stuff she did, so maybe she's not so crazy?

R130 best way to find out is to send these tweets to Ghislain’s way so he is well aware of the results of such “approval”

R130 She was a little vague but said Ghislain was okay with her sharing already public info. Maybe Ghislain is naive, but I very much doubt he imagined she would use his very private student's info to launch herself to the top of the attention-ho podium on SNS or that she would now hold herself out as some kind of authority on what Hanyu is/isn't comfortable with. The fact that she's being super condescending towards his Asian fans will be well received in those circles, I'm sure and will not at all bring unnecessary controversy for his student.

R129 This girl is incredibly righteous with no sense of self-awareness so don't expect a satisfactory response. Sorry I can't help you because my French isn't fluent enough, but maybe a French speaker here can tell you how to say "stalkery attention whore" in French to make the effort worth your time.

Hanyu has said multiple times in interviews that he avoids interacting at competitions with individual fans because doing so would not be fair to the rest of his fans. Unsaid, of course, is that he wants to avoid pissing anyone off.

Ghislain needs to be more careful now that he's officially part of Hanyu's coaching team.

R129 You can write her the following: "Dans le genre hôpital qui se fout de la charité, vous vous posez là. Et un peu de recul sur vous-même ne ferait pas de mal parce que là vous faites un peu OSS 117 qui s'ignore avec vos tweets depuis 4 jours. Enfin je dis ça. Je dis rien."

I understand now why Brian never goes off script to tell us anything besides "Yuzu works hard and lives with his mom" and or why Javi says, "Yuzu is mysterious. Otherwise, I don't know her." This is why nice, personable people close themselves off when they become famous, because of idiots with boundary issues who ruin it for the rest of us.

R135 Yeah. Really a shame.

R130 She didn't say Briad gave her permission to talk about Medvedeva, only that what she said had been said by Med herself. The bad fan behavior isn't new, but more are disputing her account of ACI.

Nothing changes the fact that she approached Briand (more than once?) to get details about Hanyu's personal life and is trying to join TCC to get closer to him. That's crazy and even worse than the fan behavior she described.

I used google translate only but didn’t she also mentioned in French after first day that she will try to meet Hanyu through Ghislain the next day during comp? Perhaps it’s lost in translations so I could have misinterpreted that. She also wrote something about Ghislain recognizing her as official TCC member but then also noted later she got into TCC to skate as an invited guest. As far as I’m aware, the members are able to sign in guests for a short visit. Other stalkers have gotten in through this way before.

R138 Post what she wrote in French and I will tell you if it's as bad as it seems. I hope she is really not just using poor, gullible Ghislain to get into TCC and close to Hanyu and the other star skaters there.

I have no idea if he's even close - but Keegan Messing has a chance to land the first ever quad axel at Nebelhorn this coming weekend. And Zagitova goes up against Rika Kihira. (unless they can't get her paperwork sorted yet again). I don't have the complete roster in front of me, but looks like Marin Honda will be there - so one of Raf's big hopes will either show up (or not) - tough competition for her, with Zags coming onboard last minute (or not, judging by Worlds and Russian test skates).

R140 Thanks for the reminder. Here's info on entries, scheduling, & livestreaming for Nebelhorn.

I think I screwed up and it's Mai Mihara and not Rika, who was just as Nepela. Sorry about that.

Now will Zags show up?

The men are pretty weak, sheesh.

This is scary shit. And if I were Hanyu I'd be pretty afraid. What is ghislain thinking? I have to read more from her Twitter but imo she is trying to hopefully get to Hanyu and she is an attention whore.

R134 what does that say? I can post it but I'm making a second account. Some of those people that are following her follow me too. They'll think I'm being an idiot LOL.

I can't remember where I saw it - probably her twitter - but she said her next goal was a selfie with Hanyu? Maybe she was at ACI and she got to tick off the box of seeing him skate - so the next step was meeting him/photo.

TCC may need to get even tighter restrictions. They've got Elvis in the house (sorry can't think of a more current idol - don't know the Jpop Kpop boys' names)

She just wants that photo to get lots of attention. She is making me sick. I truly hope she never gets it. Please someone protect Yuzuru over there. Ghislain needs to protect him.

If Messing lands the 4A the apocalypse is gonna come early

Gods stop with the protect thing, I'm sure Yuzuru is quite alright

R143 I don't think Hanyu is in any danger. As you said, she's an attention whore. She wants the envy of other Hanyu fans. A photo with him is probably her ultimate goal.

What I wish these crazy ass fans would understand is that they mean absolutely nothing to the celebrity they're stalking. Even if the celebrity is kind and agrees to a selfie, it means nothing to that celebrity. Because that celebrity does not know them. Same with getting autographs. Meaningless.

Hanyu will be just fine. It's poor Ghislain who will need protecting from future honeypots that come his way. LOL.

R146 Has Messing made any progress on the 4A because last time I checked he was still far from it?

R50 I don't think he's made progress but you never know for sure, like he might try this next competition

You are all probably right. Hanyu will be fine. I can't stand people like this Twitter lady doing this stuff for attention. And she keeps at it. I'm glad she got called out by some people.

Thanks for info - all I know is I heard Messing was working on the 4A - nothing more. However, he has nothing to lose, especially with this tepid list of men (unless there's somebody I'm underestimating.) And in any case, it's his one chance for glory. I'm not expecting any world championships for him and I doubt he is either.

Nah, Messing was still in harness with a wonky axis in that Instagram vid. You don't go from harness to program ready on a quad in three months unless your aim is to break your leg and not even get your jump ratified for your trouble.

Thanks R154 - that's a relief. I didn't even know about the Instagram.

It also depends on Messing’s priority this season too, yeah he’s not going to be a world champion but the Canadian champion title could very well be within his grasp. And he needs consistent jumps if that’s what he is going for, he was a bit of a mess in the Skate Ontario summer comp and lost out to Nam despite the huge lead in the SP. If he focuses too much on 4A he might open the door for the younger kids to takeover. Altho it does seem Skate Canada is betting their chips on him, his PCS for that messy skate was still better than Nam’s relative clean program. They were extremely generous on the GOEs too.

That's interesting - I hope he wins the Canadian title. And I feel guilty for not wanting him to beat Yuzu to the 4A. I shouldn't feel that way - I wish him the best. He's a cute little guy.

Fans who attended the David Wilson dinner had to promise not to share details about the meeting on social media. Gallagher could be publishing a report in The Japan Times. The dinner was four hours long and Wilson talked about a new project.

In an interview with Sports Hochi, a reporter asked Hanyu what he said to himself after his FS performance. Hanyu: “What? Did I say anything? I don’t know what you’re talking about. (laugh)” Reporter: “It looked like you yelled something.” Hanyu: “I don’t know. (laugh)” (It was “kuso.” Shit! Fuck! Dammit!) The reporter also pointed out how he’s always disappointed with his first competition of the year.

Savchenko will be participating in Nebelhorn as a coach for the first time. The Knierims are competing.

If you haven’t already seen it, Uno’s cover for a special issue of 25ans has been revealed.

R158 Sorry for the Uno lovers but he looks like a kid who stole his dad's suit.

I think even Uno lovers can see that. He looks even younger in a suit than otherwise.

Seems like Javier was the one who played a major role in Medvedeva's decision to switch to TCC. Yuzu to Javi: et tu, Brute

Any links to Messing practicing the 4A?

R158 He's trying not to be a bitch but he is just a bitch. I love it.

I finally read the rest of the tweets from that attention seeker. I've decided nobody should waste their time responding to her. I also read replies and other tweets regarding Hanyu and what he goes through. I needed to think a bit before posting here because for me anyway I find it disturbing. Disturbing that some people who call themselves fans would act like this. I saw a photo of these people surrounding his car. I am sure Hanyu and whoever else was in the car were afraid. These fans say they love Hanyu? That isn't love. They won't be satisfied unless he or someone gets seriously hurt? Maybe I just don't get it. But when I love a celebrity I believe in giving that person their space and privacy. I'm truly sad for Hanyu. I know he never signed up for this.

Now now R164, I don't think Hanyu's whole life is threatened by that. It sure sucks but he seems to have a good support system and I think he has learnt to live with it by now. It's not like he lives surrounded by crazies, he obviously has plenty of private moments. Like, everything we talk about here is speculation right? We don't anything for sure and that's because he has managed to protect his private life.

R162 - here's Keegan Messing's 4A in harness

So how much is a skater helped by a harness like that?

R164 Come on, cheer up. As the other poster mentioned he has a good support system around him and anyway he is someone who always preferred to stay home, even before he was famous so I don't think his daily life is too impacted by the crazies. I find worse the paps who now seem to bother him even near his home in Toronto. To cheer you up, have some Mean girls/figure skating mash-up with Yuzu as Regina George ofc.

Thanks R162. Even if it's in a harness, still very impressive.

That 4A sure looks good to me. I remember Brian Orser talking about Yuzu doing a 4A in a harness, and the operator of the thing told him later, "I didn't feel any weight on it!"

I assume the guy meant that Yuzu really jumped the thing by himself, and that was unusual, because the guy with the pole is usually holding up some of the skater's weight.

I can't remember where I saw the interview but it stuck in my mind because it was the first I heard that Yuzu might actually be able to jump a 4A already. And others have said they've seen it, without the harness (P O'Roarke or somebody like that?) but he can't land it at a high enough percentage yet to put it in competition? something like that.

R167 In this case you can clearly see that the coach is holding him quite a bit so it definitely helps.

Yeah, it seems like he goes into the 4A from a standstill. Surely that's not possible, so the coach must be doing some lifting to get Keegan in position.

Not really a standstill as he comes with a bit of speed but not much indeed and yeah, you can see the guy holding the harness is holding quite a bit of weight from the tension in the pole. Still a good job though. That's such a monster jump.

Well, not a standstill, but a very casual leadup and not much of the leg-swing you even see with a 3A.

Thank you for the Shoma link! Yes, we Uno fans realize how young he looks. We still find him adorable, though. :-)

I'm surprised I didn't notice this before given all the bracelet/fruit pics people have posted here, but Med's forefinger is uncommonly stubby. Or is this just a weird angle?

Since Keegan is competing this weekend at Nebelhorn, I found his short program from this summer at his thread on Golden Skate. His jumps look really good - the 3a is so high!

His body reminds me so much of Shoma Uno - I think I've read that Keegan is 5'4" and they're both slightly stocky. Anyway, cute guy. I wonder how he'll do vs Samohin Majorov Krasnozhon etc - I know nothing about those guys! Maybe he'll win?

Has Zags made it past customs yet?

Thank you R168. That had me laugh out loud! : )

This interesting. Iron Klaus translated a few Hanyu interviews. There's a whole series of them you can read on her twitter, but in this one, the interviewer asks Hanyu about his comments during CWW and he elaborates a little.

Yury BALKOV shows up again. Ice Dance judge at Nebelhorn this week. He was scoring at random in JGP last month

Nebelhorn is also the test event for judges taking the promotion exam. I guess it is "if you have scored like Balkov, we have a problem" test

Sviatoslav BABENKO is on the Junior GP panels this week. He is my favorite dodgy judge. He is really shameless

And we have Laimute KRAUZIENE too.

I guess we are only missing the now retired Alexandre Gorojdanov to have a full set

Alla SHEKHOVTSOVA (wife of former Russian Fed big boss) and Leanna CARON (Skate Canada president and perennial judge when there is something at stake for Canadian skaters) are also serving this week.

R180 I find it a bit worrying how he keeps repeating how he can't live without skating or that only on the ice he can fully express himself and that when he had no choice but to stay away from the ice for a long time because of his injury, he went to some dark places (mentally). He needs to find some other things in life to enjoy, otherwise at some point it's going to be very difficult for him. It's not like he can keep skating competitively or not forever.

Is Keegan actually wearing a grampa vest? Goodbye my eyes hurt.

It's so weird to see Keegan with his long-haired coach who looks like he's in a hard rock band or something - and there's Grandpa Keegan.

Are the coaches in the 80's and love to see routines that would fit in the 1960s?

I shouldn't be so harsh but I don't really like that dated jazzy snazzy crap from the Rat pack days. All the music in the world and we get "You've Got a Friend in Me" by Michael Buble?

I do think he knows the day is coming when he'll have to hang up the skates, either for competitions or altogether. He's a meticulous planner so I really do think he's thought about this. He's spoken about how there aren't enough facilities in Japan for skaters and he'd love to have a school, maybe like Plushenko's, where he has a lot of great skaters giving classes or lessons or whatever. And he does stay in touch with all these people pretty well, so it looks like he'd be positioned to do it.

Like he said in that "cat" answer in Iron Klaus' set of interviews, he thinks he needs to grow up. (he's said that before - that an adult can compromise, and he can't but knows he needs to learn how to) All good signs that he'll cross that bridge when he gets there.

R181 Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes I think skaters (or their parents) must be mental for looking at this sport, with the limited potential for earning income, injuries, politics and judging shenanigans and think, "I want to throw away my youth and fuck up my body for this." Nebelhorn should interesting even if the lineup isn't stellar.

The intrusions on Hanyu's privacy suck, especially when he's made it clear he doesn't welcome it. Who but the biggest users and attention whores would want to get close to someone who is followed around all the time and under such scrutiny? As he expands his world outside of FS, I hope he has the judgment to weed out those people.

R181 Do you like Babenko b/c of the foot tapping or has he done other outrageous shit?

R181 Babenko always tries to give away totally random excuses without any kind of shames

During the foot tapping inquiry, he told ISU that he didn't consider his previous warnings as warnings but just as friendly advices. One of the warnings was at Worlds 19xx (Lausanne, which year it was? Late 90s, Urmanov was still around) when he spent the whole SP talking to his next door judge after each performance. They were waiting for the applause not be heard but they were caught by those sitting behind them in the audience and reported to the referee

When he was caught again 2 years ago talking to Laimute Krauziene during Nepela, they tried to claim they were just talking about the monitors not working. Then half of the panel reported the incident to the Referee during the round table discussion post competition and the referee (Belaus) ignored the complains. When they reported to ISU and ISU investigated, Babenko and Krauziene tried to insist that no-one reported the thing during the round table discussion.

he was 2 warnings pre toe tapping and one suspension post toe tapping. Maybe some other warnings in and there

R182. Don't make me feel sad again. : ( I think we can all see how being on that ice makes him feel. I hope he can continue doing ice shows after he retires to continue performing. I believe he loves performing. Like R185 said he knows one day he will need to retire. I guess having his own skating school might be good. He can still be on the ice. Oh I just want this guy happy. So much he has gone through.

R182 I think most of us would go to a dark place mentally if we had spent years working toward another Olympics and then sustained a serious injury months before. I'm still amazed that he was able to pull off a second OGM with that level of injury--and with such grace and good humor.

This is how I want to see Hanyu! Laughing and having fun. It makes me smile.

R190 I don't think he was talking about the NHK injury; it was such a short period between NHK and Olys that if anything, it forced him to focus. I've lost count now, but I think the major injury periods were after 2014 CoC, 2016 WC and NHK 2017. When were the tabloids the worst on him? I know this is all dark, but I'm glad he's not backing down or minimizing what he said at CWW, even though they're giving him the opportunity now and he knows people were so shocked by what he said they censored it. Like R190 said, I'm amazed he was able to pull off Olys. All these NA assholes shading his girliness would have ended their career after any one of the many big injuries he's had during his career, much less a major one 3 months before Olys.

R189 Sorry for being insensitive. Hopefully, I can make it up to you with some ass.

I wish his performance pants were as tight as his training pants.

R193 Seriously, his PCS would be through the fucking roof.

Is it because of the tiny waist? Javi's ass is nice too, but it doesn't seem, I don't know, as eager or willing to play in the way Hanyu's is. These are the important life questions I ponder in my spare time.

Sometimes, don't take his words too seriously. He likes to overexagerate everything. Just a little reminder.

Yeah, the tiny waist makes everything else look bigger. Also, I hadn't noticed how much see-through this costume has until now.

R196 What do you mean? I sometimes don't take his words seriously because he tends to minimize things (like his injuries) or he's vague/careful for strategic reasons. I don't recall any tendency to exaggerate though.

As gorgeous as that costume is, I don't think the black and gold complement his skin tone as well as his, say, Chopin. Also makes him look extra skinny, which is not a great look with flailing arms.

Was I the only one that got reminded of Uno's costumes with Hanyu's recent ones? The Ladies and Lavender and Black Winter seemed very similar to the Otonal and Nijinsky. Hanyu even did the weird arm swoosh landings that Uno does.

R198 I would say it's a Dai troll so don't bother but its grammar isn't horrendous for once so I might be wrong.

Yeah! I agree the new costumes look like some Shoma has worn. And deep necklines are kinda Shoma' thing so the costumes remind of him at first glance.

R199 Hanyu does not have "flailing" arms. His arm movements are very well choreographed. And that costume looks fab on his perfectly proportioned body. He really does have the perfect body type for figure skating.

R199 I see where people are coming with the Shoma costumes comparison but Yuzu's look so much more detailed and personalized (even though I'm not a fan of the front cuts of the Origin one and would re-do them). Probably because Yuzu is always playing an active part in the designing of his costumes while Shoma doesn't as far as I know. And it's not 2012 anymore. He doesn't have flailing arms. He uses them masterfully to match the music accents. And I personally like his skinny queen esthetic. He has such a beautiful body and lines that even a so so costume will look good on him whereas Shoma's unfortunate build limits his choices.

R199 Shoma looks a thumb decked in velvet and sequins, so no Hanyu's costumes don't remind me of Shoma. Anyway, Hanyu's Origin costume looks like the POTO one. Deep necklines have been around since the beginning of time in men's costumes.

R203 hmm I don't think he's that skinny this season. I actually think he's looking more broad, not so boyish anymore.

In terms of costumes, for me so far nothing has topped the Swan. It's a masterpiece.

R205 He has been looking a bit broader since 2017. It's not something recent. Actually I found him a bit skinnier at ACI than earlier during the summer.

"Shoma looks a thumb decked in velvet and sequins" LMAO R204 I don't agree with this opinion but I couldn't help but laugh.

R197 It's actually black lace over a nude base giving the illusion of seethrough material over bare skin. I don't consider it as a sexy costume.

R199 yeah, many fans tried hard to convince me that both costumes looked similar to what he had worn before though. They don't want him to be Uno's clone, I think.

He and Uno have the same costume designer and she must have run out of ideas. Her works for Uno and Yuzuru looked almost the same recently.

R203 The only costume he really paid attention to is Seimei 2.0. Other costumes not too much. Maybe he just told her which colors he chose for them.

R205 His body already got broader since season 2016-2017 and hasn't changed much until now. It's just that black costume made him look skinner.

R208 How do you know how involved Hanyu is in the design of his costumes? My understanding is that he is very involved in all aspects of his programs--music, choreography, costumes. And, of course, his hair.

R208 It's well documented that he pays close attention to all his costumes since at least the RJ one Johnny did for him and even before that he was involved. He is very meticulous about the details even things which you would never notice, like adding rhinestones in places where they won't be visible, wanting the RJ costume to be both Juliet and Romeo, hiding the wing kanji part of his name in the design etc. He is so particular and careful about his costumes that he hand washes them himself.

R208 You're wrong. This is what the costume designer had to say about the process and she wasn't just talking about Seimei:

"Ito-san took charge of Hanyu’s costumes beginning in the 2014-15 season. At the time, she was commissioned to do his backup costume, but then “the incident at Cup of China happened. That night, they got in touch and asked if I couldn’t start work on the costume at once.” The [original] costume was stained by blood, and a new one had to be made before the next event in two weeks. Ito-san designed at a rapid pace, and made it just in time.

From then on, they’ve been fighting together [as a team]. “Hanyu-san is the designer, and I’m the assistant,” said Ito-san. Every year in June, they’ll take measurements of different parts of his body, the readings a top secret. In August, they deliver. Everything down to color, material, and the “image” is decided by Hanyu."

Jesus, I want to be a costume designer. "Oh Hanyu-san, I'm so sorry, I misplaced the measurements for your ass again. Also, I don't think they were as precise as they should be; can you come without pants next time?"

Oh wow, so many valiant defenses against flailing arms. It's not an objective statistic, it's just a subjective opinion. Hanyu's arms often look flaily to me because it's so long and skinny and it's often limp and loose. Didn't realize that this is hard data stuff.

Same, R212

Some programs to be debuted at Nebelhorn this weekend

Loena:

SP It's All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion .

FS Differente by Gotan Project .

Both choreos by Adam Solya

Chartrand:

SP Paint It Black (Westworld soundtrack) by Ramin Djawadi

FS Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Choreos: Wilson

Mariah Bell

SP To Love You More by Celine Dion

FS The Piano/ Experience by Ludovico Einaudi.

SP choreo by Adam Rippon. FS by Shae-Lynn Bourne

Majorov:

SP Bang Bang by Asaf Avidan.

FS Tina by Randy Edelman/ Saint James Infirmary by Hugh Laurie/ Cuban Pete by Jim Carrey.

Choreos: his mother and Marica Sandström Lindh

Virtanen:

SP Milonga de mis amores by Pedro Laurenz.

FS yes, La Strada again

Knierims

SP Castle by Halsy

FS Wicked Game by James Vincent McMorrow

Choreos by Richaud

Gilles/Poirier

RD Tango: Angelica's Tango by Piernicola Di Muro

FD Vincent (Starry Starry Night) by Don MacLean, Govardo.

Choreos by Carol Lane

Nazarova/Nikitin

RD Cell Block Tango/All That Jazz (Chicago)

FD: Charlie Chaplin.

Choreos by Bourzat

R215 Thank you. Didn't someone else use the same version of Paint It Black at ACI? I think a men's singles skater.

R216 Diego Saldana, I think.

yes, Saldana according to ISU bios

R217 r218 Thank you.

Don't Trusova and Majorov both have "Bang Bang" as their short program?

R192. Thank you! I look at both Hanyu and Javier and Hanyu has the better ass hands down. Maybe because Javier is not wearing anything tight? Even if he did Hanyu would win the ass contest.

What did CSG think of Medvedeva before she switched coaches? It's strange seeing him interview the skaters now. I had the impression that most of the Canadian GS/FSU people didn't care for her until she moved to Canada.

r199 Agreed on the SP costume, it IS similar to Shoma's, but the black FS one is a redux of his own Phantom of the Opera one. 8 think it was a bit inspired by Plushenko's Nijinsky costume too, at least colors.

R199 R223 Otonal is a mashup of Notte Stellata (front) and Haru Yo Koi (back), in his lucky record-setting SP color.

Origin does have echoes of his second PotO (which I always thought was too mature a design for him to carry effectively back then), Nijinsky, and superficially Winter, but the textures, colors, and overall vibe are singular to Hanyu. Everyone's making the Shoma comparisons because Hanyu's had years of higher necklines and is now doing deep Vs, which Shoma has always had.

(Ironically now Shoma's necklines have gone up, which makes him look younger and stubbier.)

That's actually kind of a shame, I thought Hanyu looked better in high necklines what with his absurdly long neck. Shoma needs a deeper neckline with how stubby he is. Oh well, they seem to be switching things up this year.

All of those new programs sound terrible (except Loena's Gotan Project which is actually recycled from last season). Yuck, Celine Dion.

a couple of minutes ago at Ostrava JGP

Diana DAVIS / Gleb SMOLKIN 56.55

she is Eteri's daughter

They got a -2 deduction.

I’m streaming ladies SP at Nebelhorn and seeing idiot chat comments about Yuzuru fathering a baby with Med.

Where are you streaming it, R228? I don't see any chat on the official stream on Dailymotion.

Anyone know anything about Ashley Lin? She delivered a strong short program at Nebelhorn and is only 15.

R228 Well, they shut that chat down quick. It's disabled now. I'm surprised they opened it at all after having to shut it down last time too. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

I ‘m streaming Nebelhorn on YouTube. Most of the chat comments are not in English.

Chat still going strong on YouTube. Mostly about Alina.

Zagitova over 79 points.

Loena, Mihara and Bell all solid in the 70-71 range

Honda flopped, one fall downgraded and one UR. 56.something. And only because she has highish PCS. She is behind even Weinzierl

Jackie on Zagitova's PCS:

I don't see Jackie complain like that when Shoma gets similarly overscored for his 2-foot skating with a hundred crossovers and 2 transitions or that he gets +GOEs on UR jumps with awkward landing. Not saying Zagitova's PCs are not ridiculously high but the double standard is getting a bit annoying. She had a strong showing in any case. Those horrendous music cuts though. Poor girl.

This tweet has top 8 judges scores of you're having trouble with the pdf like me.

Marin Honda looked taller. I wonder if it's puberty affecting her jumps which are getting smaller, she's never a big jumper though. It would be a shame if she loses her jumps because of puberty. She's such a beautiful skater with excellent SS.

Mai Mihara. No one and nothing can save that program. This is the first time also the last time I watch her SP.

R236 Yikes, I feel sorry for Hanyu, really. He doesn't deserve those dumb fans who like to drag him into nonsense debates which even have nothing to do with him. Even if they're really upset with Zag's score, they need to stop calling him out again and again.

Why are so many women choosing to skate to Celine Dion? I counted three out of 15 short programs using some sort of Celine song today.

Happy for Zag because I’m tired of all the hate that’s been heaped on her.

r228 wtf

I hate Zag's SP less than I thought I would. Clean and with a nice costume, the impression is much better. The girl is a looker. In this race I'm kinda rooting for Med actually, but Med's programs despite not being warhorses are not particularly appealing either.

R241 They sure haven't done Medvedeva any favors with those programs -- I hope they get better because they really aren't all they could be right now. I'd like to see what Shae-Lynn Bourne could do for her.

When it comes to Zags.....I don't know if it's from exposure or from a surfeit of Celine Dion, but her SP is sounding better. I don't dislike the music as much as I did before. WTF, me?

r242 Wilson seems to have done pretty well for Javier and Junhwan's SPs but his choreo for Med, especially FS seems really meh.

An ass for this fine September evening. Or whatever time of day it happens to be.

R244 I love his ass. It's smaller than most FS asses but its got such can do spirit.

R245 Indeed it seems to be a very capable tiny pair of globes.

Thank you r246 and R244 for the good cheer as I watch my country (USA) further dissolve into a pile of shit and misery today.

R247 I just came here to post exactly what you posted. Figure skating and Mr. Hanyu in particular have become my escape from that ugliness.

Thank you R246 that's amazing.

R247. Agree! Thank goodness we can come here and get away from it at least for a little while.

Thanks R244 and R246! Beautiful!!

r247 - r250 Don't forget to show your displeasure by voting, that's the only way to fix it.

According to Miwako Nagata‏ at Nebelhorn, Krasnozhon has changed his FS from “Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16” to a new arrangement of last year’s SP, “Korobushka” by Bond. The changed was made recently.

My repi (www. myrepi .com) has more interviews and some photos Hanyu took of Toronto and TCC. You need to create an account to see them but it’s free.

Kozuka is going to be on TV tonight to talk about Hanyu. Sure to be interesting after what happened in July.

25ans Making Of video of Uno for the special issue.

Yazuzu doesn't ping but Shoma does.

Okay R251 I told you to go fuck yourself for your anime comment but now we can be friends again. However by the time we vote they will have already stolen 2 lifetime seats. Okay, I'm back to hating you and your shit advice. Go fuck yourself (kidding this time; today has left me feeling unhinged)! Alright, I'll leave the politics off this safe place. Someone show us some ass!!!

r254 Oh come on, he's very dramatic, calling it anime was all in good fun. In terms of voting, just make sure your ass gets to the polls this November and vote democratic.

R255 okay fine. I might have overreacted. I'm in CA and not even in Devin Nunes' district. I've got nothin!! Now where is that ass?

Hanyu's got nothing on this. Is he wearing a dance belt?

I hate to bother you R252, but myrepi is in Japanese - I'm not sure I can figure out how to make an account - can you relay any new interview info? (I'm the Dave Lease recapper btw, though that doesn't mean you should have to bother, I know.)

Also, what happened in July with Kazuka? Takahiko Kazuka?? I looked him up but it didn't ring any bells - except his girlfriend works at a tv station? I have a vague memory of something happening. Was he involved with Daisuke's announcement, the night before Yuzu got the award from Shinzo Abe? Oh shoot - my memory sucks. But I'm always concerned when I hear about Japanese skating politics and how Yuzu isn't really with the 'in crowd' like Dai was (though with the French kissing, maybe it's best he was up north in Sendai after all).

And that's interesting R253 - I think I've more often heard the opposite from posters here, though you never know how many different people it is (or isn't) - anyway, that Yuzuru pings but Shoma doesn't. In any case, is Shomita the world's smallest model? Since he's a tad shorter than his supermodel brother? ;) Is he the current skater who is the teacher's pet of the fed queen? After how startled he was at a mere cheek rub from Yuzu - imagine if she planted a big one right on/in Uno's mouth!? Poor little guy might be scarred for life.

I'm probably making too much of it, but Zags seemed out of breath after her short program - gasping for air a bit. Seems like her pattern, at Worlds and the test skates, is to do ok in the short and fall apart in the free skate. I guess we'll find out soon enough. She sure was overscored compared to Loena, Mai, and Mariah Bell, imo - but I suck at assessing skating and jumps. Jackie Wong said she was overscored, anyway, and I think he knows what he's talking about

He recapped and those three girls didn't have any problems with any of their jumps, according to Jackie, but Zags did - she "hung on" to one of her jumps - here's what he said:

"Zagitova: 3Lz3Lo, 2A, 3F(hangs on) ... no way no how is Zagitova's program components FIVE POINTS higher than all of these other women's program components."

And true to form, Marin fell apart: "Honda: 3Lo3T(hangs on), 2A(fall), 3F(<<,step)." She's way down in seventh place out of thirteen. It's a shame - her skating looked really smooth and stylish (until she screwed up all her jumps.) Raf didn't look too pleased. He has his trials, but Mariah did him proud in the short. She's fourth - can she manage a bronze?

R258 Here is the Kozuka stuff from the first thread:

"[T]he reason Japanese fans are pissed off is because Kozuka compared Yuzuru's strategy at Pyeongchang to the one employed by the Japanese football team against Poland during the World cup recently. Except that's an awful comparison. The football team knowing they just needed to keep the score and not get any yellow cards and would pass the group stage over Senegal had a kind of tacit agreement also with the Polish players and basically spent the last 10/15min of the match barely moving so as to preserve the status quo. It was seen as shameless by most people in Japan and the coach even had to apologize so to compare Hanyu who despite an awful injury and nearly 3 months of the ice still put everything on the line and did 4 quads (albeit not the loop and Lutz) in the free is really unfair and dickish. Kozuka also commented that he thought someone with more accomplishments would win. For 2018 that would mean Nathan or Shoma but for 2014 it makes no sense because Yuzu came into Sochi number 1 in world standing and having beaten Chan at GPF. Anyway not the first time Kozuka has made a negative comment about Yuzu. The guy reeks jealousy from all his pores. A lot of Yuzu's seniors in team Japan do to be honest."

"I guess I'll post my gossip here but it's mainly about Kozuka. To add onto [R11], the pianist who accompanied Hanyu’s new exhibition at the Fantasy on Ice show was also on the program and later tweeted he disagreed with what was said and didn’t think it was right to compare Hanyu’s performance to the Japan vs. Poland game. The show was aired on Fuji TV, which is the station that loves to criticize and gossip about Hanyu, and Kozuka’s wife Yukari Oshima used to be a Fuji reporter. She officially left Fuji in December to take care of her child, but trying to return to television as a freelance announcer.

The show is partly scripted and edited, and some viewers think Kozuka was told to compare Hanyu to the Poland match to get views to boost his and his wife’s TV careers because the comparison was so bizarre. The next day, he and his wife appeared together on another TV show about their family life. By the way, Kozuka said he thought Hanyu wouldn’t win at Sochi or Pyeongyang, and he was publicly backing Shoma Uno before this Olympics. They attended the same university and from the same rink. (1/2)

The juicy stuff. Takahiko Kozuka is son of figure skating coach and international judge Tsuguhiko Kozuka. In 2014, one of his former students at Chukyo University accused him of molesting her at his home in 2012. Tsuguhiko already had a reputation according to insiders at his rink, but in 2012, he invited his former student out for a bite to catch up and talk about the old days but instead of taking her to a restaurant as promised, took her to his home where he refused to let her leave and molested her.

Since two years had passed, the police were unable to collect evidence but she also filed a lawsuit which could be ongoing since no one has reported the result. Oddly, while this type of story would immediately make the headlines, it was not reported in the news until late 2015. Takahiko retired in 2016 and it’s believed his father’s situation caused him to retire. Now, Takahiko and his wife started dating in 2010 and wanted to marry in 2013 but Tsuguhiko wouldn’t allow them. They finally became engaged in 2015 (months before the molestation case was revealed) after Tsuguhiko relented and married in 2016. (2/2)"

R260 This is like vintage dirt now from Team JPN Dirt Czar.

Oh shit - thanks muchly for the repeated info R260. How could I forget that? Poor Yuzu. Maybe there's no chance for him and that school in Japan he's spoken of (for his future.)

Maybe he could team up with Plushy in Russia? He said he wanted to learn Russian so he could talk to Plush better - and also English to better communicate with the world - but judging on his progress, uh, well, maybe 'that' could be his post-skating goal. I think he'd have to really knuckle down to tackle either language judging by... well, 'nough said. I don't think he's put that much effort into English - I hope not, anyway, but not everybody is cut out for picking up additional languages easily. I know because I'm one of them.

Still... Canada has multiple skating "centers" with only 36 million people. Japan has 127 million people and a more avid skating audience and far bigger slate of competitors so you'd think there would be room for multiple hubs, and Yuzu could bring a lot of foreign coaching/choreo talent to work in Japan, maybe on a rotating basis (unless that would be a cultural no-no?)

Anyone have a link to the article Vaitsekhovskaya wrote recently about Hanyu? She's a Russian journalist who usually hates his guts, but I guess the new article is favorable?

R262 LOL I think it's pretty clear that language learning is not his bag. Plush and his school seem pretty sketchy to me. I think it's best that Hanyu admire him from afar.

Here, have some 'straight' Hanyu running exhibit.

Seems to me Hanyu's a meticulous, long-term planning, goal-oriented kind of person. Who knows, he might succeed in getting that school created. He's bound to have enough clout to get the ball rolling, the rest depends on how much he'd be fine with focusing on organizing and managing rather than for example coaching. Rather than Plushenko, he'd better look at Orser.

What are his college studies again?

Human informatics? Something like that. There was another part to the name of the major. I think it may be like sports psychology? Maybe it also involves anatomy, kinesiology, biology, related to sports or physical exercise?

Anyway, the university is highly regarded, moreso than the one Shoma goes to, that has the skating facilities.

Marin Honda's SP: not convincing. I actually like the cover, the singer has a fantastic voice and there's almost no annoying saxophone. Marin's costume would suit the original rock version but it doesn't suit the jazzy cover. And her style of skating suits neither, it's too... well, balletic. Her arm movements are lovely on their own but don't suit this program at all.

r266 If his studies are indeed comprised of these subjects, then they sound like a good basis for coaching.

Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences at Waseda University. I think he's said he wants to go to grad school but he has to be on campus for that. Machida is there.

r258 It looks like they’ve just renewed the page and you can see old interviews without an account even though they’re still labeled members only. If you scroll down, each photo links to an interview. Most of the interviews are about how much he appreciates his family. Some info relevant now: He hates to lose but for him, winning means not only winning the competition but skating cleanly, showing growth, and giving the best performance. He admires Plushenko so much because the skater rarely fell or made mistakes during his performances.

Adding onto what I said about Kozuka before (which r260 kindly looked up), he works for Toyota which is Uno’s sponsor and club. It’s literally his job to promote Uno and he’s called on shows just to do that. I don’t think he has a personal grudge against Hanyu. I think he has trouble balancing his obligation to Uno/Toyota and commenting on Hanyu objectively. And he’s a terrible commentator and speaker for TV in general.

R262 Real estate is more scarce and expensive. It’s far more costly to build and maintain a rink and sports facilities in Japan compared to other countries. While watching the sport is more popular in Japan than in other places, it’s still not a major sport to watch or try. Foreign coaches and choreographers are brought in all of the time, but they would need to learn Japanese to be based in Japan. As I understand it, most of Canada’s rinks are actually devoted to and maybe funded by hockey (which is almost nonexistent in Japan) and there are very few true figure skating hubs. Tohoku is still recovering.

Kozuka is already married ? I didn't know. TBH, I know nothing about him because I don't care much but I remembered he was rumored to be in love with Mao Asada when they were still competing. I thought both were single back then. Did I confuse him with someone else ?

R259 We will find out today. If she flops, she will officially become next Lipnitskaya.

Rika Kihira got big chance to dominate this season. It will be more difficult for her to skate clean because she's not a consistent skater and her content is insanely challenging but her consistency has improved so much after doing tons of iceshows during off-season. As long as she pulls off 2 clean programs ( with three 3As), she will win even if she's underscored.

Back to ACI, Yuzuru and his team need to reconsider their strategy. He needs a fixed layout which is flexible enough yet competitive enough and stick to it throughout the season. I don't think anyone can skate a program clean without doing enough run-through to a fixed layout. Successfully executing a jump in practice and succesfully executing it in program is two different things. He is gonna fuck with his mind on which jumps to do if he jumps arbitrarily, which cost him dear at ACI when he fell, popped and had only 1 combo in the second half.

He was too naive to think he could enjoy skating and be free from competitiveness and pressure without thinking too much about scores, ranking,... when he still competitively skates.

As far as I remember Yuzu mentioned wanting to do coaching internationally (travelling around the world to do trainings and seminars, working with renowned international athletes and coaches) and not just limit himself to Japan.

R270 Yuzu is ALWAYS reconsidering his strategy. He probably was already doing that in the K&C while awaiting his scores.

Agree that he was naive to think he could suddenly will away his competitive self and not care about winning anymore. But that's because he's so young.

Anyone watching the men at Nebelhorn? It's dreadful so far - 31 year old Valtter Virtanen wearing a torn suit and flopping like he always does. Tim "Heterosexual" Dolensky flopped too. Artur Dmitriev with his hideous skating leads so far. Maybe Krasnozhon will win this. Only one I like here is Daniel Samohin, but he's a disaster on ice too, 90% of the time (didn't even crack 200 at Nepela Trophy). Why such a poor lineup for men this year?

Oh, I forgot Keegan was here too. I can't stand his troll face and corny ass jazzy programs. But he could probably win in this field.

R273 Thanks for the reminder. Completely forgot about the men. Got it on now and just saw Keegan's very long-haired coach. Certainly easy to pick that fellow out at the boards.

The camera people at Nebelhorn seem to enjoy cutting to the "crowd" of mostly white and gray haired people--people who mostly look bored out of their minds.

OMG, Daniel had to stop and tie his skate laces. It's always something with him. Amazing.

I liked both Daniel and the Swedish guy's programs.

r277 Can't watch right now but that sounds so like Samohin. At least it's not a dislocated shoulder this time or lost boots.

FYI, someone on here asked if there were other places to go besides PH since GS and FSU competition threads are locked for paid members only. /r/FigureSkating on reddit has been doing competition threads and there are some reasonable FS groups on discord for chats and discussions that doesn't end up muddled with the ridiculous stuff - like talking shit about juniors and med/yuz babies - (but the one I'm on is unfortunately too heavily modded). I prefer DL for being anon and for the delicious tangents beyond skater's competitions and programs anyway.

Watching the ladies at Nebelhorn right now; still on Group 1. One positive about this comp is that you can at least hear some of the K&C conversations.

Noticed that Rafael has been looking quite dour at this competition. Maybe one of his ladies will skate well and cheer him up.

Hopefully Mariah Bell will skate brilliant again and cheer him up, R281.

Agree that that was a horrible men's event. What happened to Alexei Krasnozhon? He was a complete mess.

Poor Alaine Chartrand! How many times did she fall?! Lost count. Seems like she can land the 2A but not the other triple jumps. At least her coach seemed to be consoling her in the K&C.

Krasnozhon was horrible. So awkward looking.

Alaine had one season where she looked promising, but she's been a disaster since then. It's a shame because Gabby is really all Canada has now...and she's not exactly consistent either.

Marin Honda really stepped up today and got Raf to smile. Did catch him saying in the K&C that she still doesn't trust her technique but that's okay, that this will come in time. Lovely program and costume.

Alina rocked it! Hope that will shut some of her bashers up, at least for a little while.

Just watched it. She did so well. I really love that girl. And say what you want about her skating but her program is full of transitions and most of the jumps have preceding steps and she has a good flow out of them. Plus, like Yuzu she does a lot of one-foot skating which is much more tiring but more dynamic to watch. And I'm disgusted at all the so-called feminists or SJWs on Twitter and elsewhere bashing a 16 years old constantly. I bet if she moved to Orser they would suddenly turn a blind eye to get PCs inflation. Bunch of sheep really the lot of them.

First time watching a full program from Alina. Is that really the level of the reining olympic champion? She skates like a junior and I know she is just 16 but this is a senior ladies event. And Eteri has even younger girls next year...jesus. I've never liked Evgenia, her style is just ugly to me(not to meantion the jumps) and now this. Why are most ladies such flops these days? Where are the bitches who owned the rink before they even set their foot on it? Or have they always been such flops and I just have forgotten? I used to still watch ladies back in the Kwan era and maybe I should go back and watch if my memories are false of the skating quality being much better back then but if those two are the best in world now... Same with ice dance. I used to love ice dance but now during the olympics I was bored out of my mind. The skating is good but the programs are boring. Where's the art, innovation, suprise, anything? F*** the CoP it's not like the judges even use it like how it's meant to be used and the ISU just ignores the problems. Sure the judges were sometimes actually drunk during the competitions in the 6.0 era but at least they were honest that they just happen to like that skater/pair more than the other instead of blatantly ingoring the rules.

R288 Abloobloo Your memory is clearly failing you or don't you remember a 15 years old Tara Lipinski winning the Olympics with a level that was below any girl from the top 10 nowadays. In general as someone who has been following skating since the 90s, no it wasn't better before. Overall the level is much higher nowadays. Doesn't mean some of the old programs aren't still enjoyable but this 'make skating great again' mentality is really dumb.

R287 Old feminist here whose respect for Alina just continues to grow. That was one difficult program and she nailed it.

Alina also her much taller since the Olympics. Medvedeva isn't the only skater who's gone through bodily changes.

R269 There were rumors after he first kissed her (on the cheek) during an ice show, but he was already dating his future wife. I don't think any of the men have been interested in Mao.

I was skeptical of Alina's OGM (thought she deserved to win the short but not sure about overall), but she's won me over with two sublime performances this weekend. Not only were her programs intricate and complex, she skates with real maturity and sophistication.

Here's the kiss r269. That was the first time in public. He used to tease her like that all of the time.

Zagitova nailed it. And her FS music cuts are wayyyyy better than SP. Choreography wise, surprisingly not bad. Also she connected to music much better than last season maybe because Carmen is her favorite piece. But she needs to work on her postures. I don't want to see her skate like Bradie Tennell and Konstantinova.

R293 That's the chastest sibling kiss ever and I'm not talking about Shibs either.

R292 Different strokes for different folks I guess. I dislike Zag's skating less than Med's but I have never seen anything "sublime" from her. For the Med/Zag fans out there, what do you think their most memorable performances were? I'd like to give these a second look because I'm not seeing what you guys are seeing right now.

R291 I don't really know that much about Mao, but she seems to have such a pristine/pure reputation/vibe. Is that why no one wants to come near her? Doesn't Yuna have a similar problem? What happened to that cheater hockey player she was dating a few years ago?

Forgot to say I love her FS dress. Her skating hasn't improved much, postures got worse and her jumps looked more labored because of body change but in terms of style and interpretation, I saw a quite obvious improvement and maturity.

R296 I think Mao is too much like family for the Japanese figure skating men and while she has a clean and sexless image, her father is a former hostess bar and brothel owner with multiple criminal offenses, and her sister is a fame whore, so she has many things working against her, not to mention extreme fame and high expectations.

Did Samohin shorten his SP and was it ever explained how his team never realized his program was almost 30 seconds too long?

Mao talks like a baby. I can see people getting turned off by that.

I completely don't get the delight over Zag's FS. It's fucking Carmen. It's the most boring shit out there. No matter how she kills it, it's still the same Carmen with all the same old moves. The entire program, I kept thinking they should add an Originality component, starting with Carmen being an automatic "0" and music no one has ever used before at 8, music no one has ever used before and a rare genre at 9 and add unusuyal choreo to get a 10.

Zag is only 16 years old. Give her a break.

R301 She is only 16, but she is also highly capable and an Olympic champion. They should give her programs that are worthy of her.

R300 The most boring shit ?? I bet you hasn't watched Mai Mihara's programs. Her programs made me fall asleep faster than philosophy books.

And she doesn't compete in Juniors either so what does it matter if she's 16? 16 year olds ARE capable of having good programs. I like her, I think I can even enjoy her PotO, but I don't think there's a skater who can make me enjoy Carmen unless they do a parody, and nope, Zag's Carmen isn't enjoyable either.

r303 Yes, I watched Mai Mihara. Yep, boring. And still Zag was even more boring. Which is very telling.

R303 I'm not R300 but yup, Carmen is the most boring shit ever no matter how you package it. Philosophers are boring? You don't know what you're talking about. Ever heard of GE Moore, who once famously said, "1) If S then not-CS; 2) CS; 3) not-S". Snort. stick to figure skating pleb.

We have a highly intellectual conceptual philosophical free dance

I usually despise Carmen programs but I think Zag did a fine job with hers, especially this early in the year. And especially given the pressure she's under being the reigning OGM and having grown significantly since then.

The real question here is not whether you like her program or not but whether the judges do--and whether they end up preferring her to Medvedeva. And if they do end up preferring Alina, then Eteri will have won the first round against Orser. lol

I don't hate Alina, I just feel absolutely nothing watching her. It's just a bunch of ticking off boxes and 2-second transitions. Sorry, that's not interesting to me at all. She lacks charisma, and the person who said her music cuts are good is high as fuck. I don't give a fuck what kind of names you want to call me for not worshipping her, but I'm not a fan.

I know comparing scores across competitions is pointless but Alina's FS score being too many points above Rika's FS score last week (although Rika has superior skating and BV) is a fucking joke. We already know who will come out on top this season, irrelevant of actual skills.

Am I crazy or is Yuzuru making fun of Junhwan limp wrists when he forgot, then congratulated Roman, then went back to his side of the podium?

I love the woman saying, "Awwww" in the background.

They cut the livestream for P/C at French Masters!

R310 Looks like he's just making fun of the cutesy shuffle. The limp wrists are his own.

I think you're right - but Cha definitely looks like he has his own pair of limpies. And he IS so cute - awwww!

Where can I watch French Masters? I know nothing about dance, so it allows me to enjoy all the performances and I think P/C are divine. But then again, I also thought what R306 posted was fun. Don't kill me. LOL.

R311 French Fed actually published this

In the interest of confidentiality and in the light of foreign competition, we did not wish to broadcast the program of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. We thank you in advance for your understanding

I mean, they only train at Gadbois where 80% of that foreign competition also train!

R314 it is entertaining. I mean, if you are middle tier team, it is better that kind of program than some conceptual thing you can't pull off (and yes, I mean that Cancer themed FD by Muller/Dieck with creepy voiceovers)

Wut? I was just going to ask this - they cut it on purpose? Is this something that's commonly done?

R306, you can't just float a cancer program and not provide a link for our entertainment!

R317 yes, they cut on purpose but they didn't advertise that they would have done it...

and no, in the past they didn't do it. Either they didn't stream at all, or streamed everything

R318

here we go...we will all die

R320 THIS IS A GIFFFFFFT. I love it with alll my heart.

there was an extreme case of deep V in ice dance yesterday

And check the beginning with the slap

Disco and cancer programs. This shit is what figure skating was INVENTED for. Glorious.

r320 Of course they’re German.

I watched the show with Kozuka (“Sports Cross” on BS Asahi), but I don’t think anyone’s uploaded a recording yet. It was about the new rules and which Japanese skaters to look for at the GP. They talked about Hanyu and Kozuka was very positive about Hanyu’s quality of skating and how the rules should work for him. They showed his FS performance from ACI. Kozuka also gave positive comments about Uno’s growth, but they showed Uno’s first? performance of his SP at Heroes and Future (where he was jumping triples instead of quads) and just a little footage from his FS at Lombardia.

Then Miyahara and Sakamoto were very briefly mentioned but no footage shown. They moved onto to Higuchi and showed her at her high school and part of her 2017 Cup of China FS performance. Kozuka praised her jumps and power. Then introduced Kihira and showed her 3A+3T at 2017 JGPF. They showed a tiny bit of footage of Honda training in the US. Then they talked about skating boots and Kozuka showed off his blades, which was probably the main reason why he was on the show.

No mention of Mai Mihara, Yura Matsuda, Mako Yamashita, Kazuki Tomono or Keiji Tanaka. No mention of pairs or dance.

R310 Yuzu was just laughing at JunHwan's cute mistake. The limp wrists and gay little shaking of his head before turning to Ghislain were not an imitation of Jun Hwan but his very own reaction to it. I can dig out other examples of it. I mean why would the king of limp wrists and gay shuffling himself make fun of his mini me for doing the same.

Throwback to when Raf excitedly asked Yuzu to sign him an autograph because it will never not be funny.

R325 He imitated Junhwan. At GPF 2016 gala practice, he bursted into laughter and imitated Zhang Hao's "girly" V sign ( video 1:14), in Faoi Kobe 2015 interview, he told Oda Nobunari to be girly when the latter did or said something ( I don't remember). It seems he usually notices other guys gay gestures.

He didn't imitate him, he laughed. That's how he reacts to things, by flapping his arms around and being ridiculously dramatic. I don't know why you are so set on trying to show him as a guy who mocks other guys for being girly when he does things like this with his idol Johnny Weir. And many more. And he always teases Nobu regardless of what he is doing. That's basically their schtick for the cameras.

Here is another exhibit with the total package: flapping arms, limp wrists and fabulous shuffling. He does that all the time and if you believe he is acting or making an imitation of someone else every single time then give the guy an Oscar really.

Btw here above it was his reaction to drawing his sp start number iirc

R328 I never meant he mocked others for being girly ( well, it's possible though). He must have been aware that those gestures are considered "not manly" to tease them like that. But he himself does those gestures so 1. He's too dumb to know what he did is even more girly than them. 2. He knows and that's saying something. Sometimes, you mock your friend for being lazy when you know you're also a fucking lazy ass like her, right ?

R287, I hear ya. You make a good point. R329, please tell me you have a link to that video, or a gif in better quallity!

R331 Well, yes he knows he is rather girly and feminine. He mentioned in a past interview than rather than playing a samurai he would fit more the role of an onnagata (a female role played by male actors in kabuki). Even in Japan, his little girly exhibits are seen the same as in the West: from his fangirls: squealing over his 女子力 (literally girl power, as in he behaves more girly than a real girl), from homophobic men who hate him: カマホモ or きもい (homophobic slurs like the f* word or saying he is disgusting).

Samohin TES in the FS at Nebelhorn is at Nathalie Weinzierl's level..to sum up his performance.

Economides won the FS at French Masters. Aymoz won overall. Economides second, Tesson third, Ponsart 4th

Samohin is such a waste of talent. He needs to get away from his dad and get a real coach if he plans to stay in the sport.

Trollface Keegan will easily win with his corny recycled Chaplin program. Why am I even watching this shit? One of the worst men's competitions I've ever seen. But Krasnozhon made me laugh with his fist pumping after his mediocre skate.

Messing 257.16

Majorov 226.64

Dmitriev 225.31

Dolensky 209.02

Krasnozhon 194.10

Samohin 189.03

Virtanen 162.something

Stroll 160.something

I don't want to be harsh but they should introduce the cut after SP in Junior GPs when there are 100 entries. The Ladies FS started this morning and they aren't into the final group yet

r336

[quote]Samohin is such a waste of talent. He needs to get away from his dad and get a real coach if he plans to stay in the sport.

Agreed, time for Samohin to make a change. Dude's capable of 2 quads, but he needs to skate semi-cleanly and for that I guess he needs some good training conditions.

It's a sad men's event when half the field can't even crack 200.

I stopped watching the Nebelhorn men's event in the middle of Messing's skate and went to the UPS store to drop off some packages--and the guy there was way more interesting than any of those skaters.

I don't know if I would even be watching FS now if Hanyu wasn't still competing.

Ting Cui fell three times in her long program and dropped from 2nd to 7th at the JGP. She's an incredible talent, but will she ever find the consistency she needs?

R342 My guess is probably not. Because with the current level of jump difficulty demanded of skaters, consistency is likely to remain a very rare quality.

Camden Pulkinen skates beautifully, to my untrained eye. Nathan Chen doesn't. I still wonder what he got out of 5 years of ballet training. Is there any footage of him doing ballet dancing? I'd love to see it because he skates in such an introverted way, I wonder what he'd look like if he let go.

Didn't Nathen Chen also play hockey? That might explain it.

Rr344 The article has a video and that's the only footage I've seen anywhere.

I wonder how much dance classes he got in the last years. Dance classes (including some classical) are often part of a skater training, especially in European training schools.

R346 LOL I would have booed that little fucker off the stage.

Give credit where credit is due, it is hard to do the number and variety of quads that Nate is able to do, so props to him. I don't enjoy his style of skating and the look of his jumps. What I hate is that the North American narrative on figure skating changes depending on which of their skaters is on top. When it was Patrick, it was always BUT HIS ARTISTRY + SKATING SKILLZZZZ. Now with Nathan, it's we need ATHLETICISM in this sport, not girly men. While it was hard for anyone to defend Patrick's splats, I resent the hard sell we're getting with Nate's ballet training and artistry. I'd be less annoyed by his ascent if his supporters didn't act like he's a complete skater.

I know this isn't the Dance/Pairs thread, but anyone know what happened to P/C? They withdrew? Something happened to Cizeron hand?

R348 I think the withdrawal was already planned. Earlier this week I read on GoldenSkate or FSU that they would have done only the RD

Orser is in Ostrava with Phan

Andrei Mozalev wins with 217 points. Pulkinen second (2012). Phan third (207)

Phan keeping third place over Kirill Iakovlev (205) also meansthat Iakovlev stay behind Gogolev in the standings for the final. Sumoto also fails to pass Gogolev and is out of the race.

Awww thanks R346! Tiny Nathan. Maybe the 5 years of ballet were from age 3 to age 7, so, well, that might explain that it doesn't mean a whole lot.

R352, can you read? And if not, that article also contained a picture and video of him doing ballet in 2011...

No I didn't read it - just went to the first video and watched it.

Gogolev is gonna qualify for JGPF. Other competitors are too inconsistent and many of them just got lucky and medaled.

R352 No problem. The articles says he at the SLC ballet from 7-12 years old. There should be more videos of him if he performed in their productions every year. They would have recorded them, but maybe the children's parts were too insignificant in the other shows.

Another interesting music choice by a Russian (Mozalev).

Orser looked like he hadn't slept in a long time. I was just thinking of what would've happened if Boyang Jin had moved to Toronto. I don't think he would've spent as much time with Medvedeva and I think Brown would've been set aside by the entire team except for Tracy, although Wilson's Fs choreography already looks like an afterthought.

Holy crap! I had so many posts to read. I was preoccupied the last few days defending someone I stan on Twitter. (immature assholes who don't know when to stop) anyway I just wanted to say that I love how Hanyu moves his arms.his wrists, and I love how he runs. He is just perfect.

Hanyu being perfect:

R358 I've seen that skate so many times, but it never gets old. Like Mao's Sochi free. Love a good comeback, especially when it's a virtuoso doing what they do perfectly.

R358. I love that freeskate. Everything was perfect. His hair. His costume. And the performance. Beautiful!

It wasn't perfect, but the Oly Seimei encapsulates for me why he's such a compelling skater. The grit, the joy, the obstacles in his way, the fight to overcome them - it was all there in that skate and on his face, even before we knew about the painkillers and the extent of his injury. Other skaters have had more technically perfect Oly outings and I've been a bigger fan of skaters other than Hanyu, but I've never seen anyone with more panache and charisma on and off the ice.

Ballet should be a basic requuirement for all figure skaters. After all, it's often balletic performance on ice. It's ridiculous how the US media treats it as if it's special just because Quad King did it. Many people do it if they want to be the complete package. Doesn't mean they gain musicality or a sense of rhythm that they never had. I like Nathan fine but I don't feel like he really feels the music deeply like some other skaters can.

I always thought it was a wrong choice for Med to leave Eteri, and I’m glad to be proven right. Zag stayed and blossomed. I’m happy she shut down the haters at Nebelhorn and showed that Eteri is the superior coach.

Orser is overhyped. Both of his most successful students (Kim and Hanyu) would do just as well with any other half-decent coach. Maybe he’s somewhat better than homegrown coaches for those from countries that do not have rich figure skating tradion (Korea, Japan, Spain), I’ll give him that, but even that is exaggerated: he’s been praised for keeping Kim injury-free, but she never upped her jump content with him and her loop was always MIA, and he most definitely did not do such a good job of keeping Hanyu injury-free when he was doing the harder stuff. Orser was utterly useless for anyone who had less raw talent of had technical problems (Rippon, Phaneuf, Gao, Gede, Tursy, the list goes on). He knows that too, but he wants all the credit for their success and none for the failures, that’s why he avoids taking full responsibility for headcases such as Daleman.

R363 I don't disagree with some of this, but isn't it a little premature to declare victory for Zags here? We've seen Med and Zag in one challenger comp each. Zag was good (and I think her tech content was even harder than it was at Olys, but I could be misremembering), but she was nothing really special. Med/Brian have always maintained that it will take awhile for her to fix her jump issues. I guess I'm glad to see Zag stans out there because goodness knows the girl gets treated like the forgotten orphan half the time despite being Oly champ.

I think Brian's comeuppance vis-a-vis Eteri is going to come when her 3 junior ladies graduate. They are fab.

I feel sorry for Med. She thought Brian was her savior. The worst case scenario she envisioned was probably she would get the same level coaching, choreography and packaging, but far away from the blood-thirsty wonderbabies in her old group. Instead she got three lutzes in the jump layout, a mothballs short and a snooze fest free, tragic bangs and the dress so bad she had to cut off half the skirt before going on the ice. The level of incompetence is staggering.

Despite never warming to her skating, I always rooted for Zags because she seemed under-appreciated and didn't have crazy fans. R363 R365 thanks for relieving me of that burden! Just kidding, I still hope she does well, but your hatred for Med is a little OTT

R341

[quote]I stopped watching the Nebelhorn men's event in the middle of Messing's skate and went to the UPS store to drop off some packages--and the guy there was way more interesting than any of those skaters.

Was this your version of the refrigerator break? And why was he more interesting? Was it ass? Pics please.

I agree, the men's field right now is so fucking shallow I may have to start paying more attention to the ladies. I really like Rika and the 3 Eteri girls. I'm gonna need to take my love for ass to another sport.

I don’t hate Med, I was actually rooting for her at the Olympics. I like Zag too. Somebody was asking about their best skates - Zag won me over with her LP at the French GP last year. She had a disastrous short, but she managed to put it aside and skated a sublime free program. That’s when I knew she was fighter.

But I still like Med, she’s a fighter too. Many thought she was done after the Olympics, but she showed she still had some fight left in her by switching to Orser. Too bad he let her down so spectacularly.

I don't like any of the Russians whores, they are overrated.

You guys are a bunch of Hanyustans, so you've already seen this I'm sure - its the English sub NHK documentary re: Hanyu's injury, training and 2018 Olys. I only saw it today and it is really good. Hanyu is a tough, calculating little shit. Amused by how he said he knew Javi like the back of his hand. No wonder he loves Javi's 4S and the 3A. They're what saved him in the end.

R369 Why whores? Pray tell. I'm assuming you're not talking about the Russian juniors.

I don't think it would have worked out for Med if she stayed with Eteri. With Rika and the emerging Russian girls likely to take over, I'm not too confident of Zag's chances - it depends on who can hang onto their jumps I guess. Maybe girls can't keep quads, maybe they can - I don't think there's enough data and I'm sure a lot depends on body type, but that's true for the men too, to some extent. But the past proves they can hold onto 3A's with the right amount of effort - well, there's more precedent.

Maybe it was impossible, but I think Med should have tried to switch countries if she could and aim for a Carolina or Loena type career - it's clear the competition is going to be really really tough, worse than Japan, and that's saying something. And she loves drama - someone at TCC should have recommended either Shae Lynn or Rohene or Benoit - someone innovative. Surely they must see that David Wilson is hackneyed - Yuzuru saw that at 18 or so and made the switch (the evidence was right there for Med to see or someone in the know to advise her (Tarasova? Tracy? I'm assuming Orser is as stuck in the past as Wilson.) Give me Danlil any day over DW.

Though from some comments he's made, I think Orser thinks this is what the judges want to see - not necessarily the public. Are most judges over age 70? Is it a Canadian thing? (after cringeing through Messing's messes - even with a coach from Spinal Tap.) Oh well, tough sport, in so many ways. Med was lucky to be overscored with that powerhouse Russian fed and/or Eteri's reputation to boost her - I've never thought she was as good as the judges thought and a lot of girls were hard done by imo, Alina for one! so now it's her turn - eh, it happens to most of them. I'm rambling - sorry. Skating is still interesting but without Hanyu, I doubt I'd hang in there for long. He really does have that it factor I don't see anywhere else right now - maybe Trusova.

Hey why were they wearing witches hats at the Nebelhorn gala?

Galeman has withdrawn from Jpn open due to "poor physical condition." What does that mean?

Interesting bit about Hanyu's triple axel and how he took inspiration from Mao to start jumping it because she had a similar body type as him and made him understand he didn't need too much power to be able to do it. And before that he learned to jump the 2A as a kid by watching his sister Saya do it. Interesting that his best and most stable jump was inspired by a woman, although the funny thing is that nowadays he is unable to jump a 2A. During the jump recovery process in January he couldn't do a 2A, so he went directly for a triple and it worked.

[quote] Are most judges over age 70?

None of them. When you reach 70, you are automatically retired from the list of ISU and International judges

I guess I'm out of the loop - I didn't think anyone actually liked Sinatra and Elvis if they were under 70 - and most people aren't familiar with Charlie Chaplin either, much less enthralled with a skating program with someone mimicking his movement. Sure, a film historian or theatre student - maybe - but the average young person really cares?

And I don't even know how to classify Evgenia's short. 1940s WWII girl band music, like the Maguire Sisters? (yes, I was a history major and love that stuff - but really - you can't get much more dated that that) - well, I forgot Chaplin. What's next, a tribute to Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford? I get classical music from yesteryear but I don't get pop culture from the 1920s through the 60s. Does TCC know there are skaters using Amy Winehouse and Muse? Does David White know who they are?

Oh and I saw Yuzuru talking about studying Mao to learn the 3A in the Kenji's Room interviews. He said she was skinny and seeing her do it made him believe he could - well, that's what you said - but I wondered if the original source were those interviews. They're packed with details, even though in the first few minutes, Yuzuru looks at Kenji and says something close to: "You have no ability at interviewing, you know" (when the interview started off stiffly)

* David WILSON -- I don't know why I called him David White. Because his choreo is so blah and empty?

R376 I might be wrong but I think he mentioned it in another interview as well. It's nice to see a guy take inspiration from a female skater just like he nowadays is taken as a model by so many fs ladies, in particular most of the Eteri girls. Unrelated and I know I'm a bit obsessed with this but sometimes his wrist limping is so severe that I wonder if it's actually not just broken.

I saw Alina's EX and what were Eteri/Daniil or whoever was in charge of dressing her into those tight pants thinking. Poor girl couldn't even spin or jump properly in those.

Typical stupid frau's reasoning. How about those 60 years old grandpas, like their female counterparts, just enjoy looking at him and his juicy butt. From what I have seen of his uncle fans on the Japanese web, it's the likelier explanation rather than them buying a calendar full of beautiful or sexy pictures of a young man because they see him as a grandson. This stupid tweet was also reposted on planethanyu. When I say that place is a cesspit of old conservative fraus it's what I mean. It's subtle but happens so often that after a while you get an idea of who you are dealing with.

I think Daleman is done. She can only fight for Canadian Title, on international field, she can't win against a junior. If she wants to stay in sport, she need to make a change: coach change, attitude change, whatever. Also there was someone on PH overhearing Ghislain talking to a Japanese VIP about Yuzuru and he mentioned a lazy ass at TCC whom I assumed is Galeman. Not sure if she deleted it because many people suggested her to do so, they were afraid it would cause gossip against that skater.

"GHISLAIN TO THE VIP: "Many years ago, I worked with Elvis Stojko, who was a work-a-holic. He had many injuries, including a bad recurring groin injury. It was such hard work, I promised myself I would never work with a work-a-holic again... (raises eyebrows, pinches lips together, shakes head, and sighs very dramatically) "...but then came Yuzu - and l've worked with a lot of hard workers the Japanese are ALL hard workers - but Yuzu is literally the hardest worker l've ever seen He's spoiled me for the lazy ones. I hate working with lazy skaters now like (REDACTED NOT Javi, but another big name.) He/She is sooo lazy, and (REDACTED name I didn't recognize).. I decided - and I told Yuzu this - when HE retires, I'm retiring too. I just can't work with anyone lazy again"

I bet Ghislain is regretting letting himself go a bit with that girl. He probably didn't expect her to report in detail each and every tiny bit they talked about. And why do people think it's Daleman? Is she known for being lazy? Anyway, the part about Yuzu is really sweet but come on Ghislain, not everyone can be like Yuzu and have absolutely no life outside of skating. It's not necessarily laziness but that level of dedication is actually not very healthy and I say that as the biggest fan of him.

The Grand Prix didn't even start yet & you're all so sure that Evgenia is not going to make any improvements? Please. Alina has bombed many times - her test skate was fucking terrible. And it would have been stupid for Evgenia to stay with Eteri where she kept getting injured and was no longer top dog. Once you are not at the top of the pyramid any more, Eteri loses interest and is on to the next shiny new thing. Next season Alina will be gone too...mark my words.

R383 please these are elite athletes you are talking about that are constantly pushing their limits, it’s unfortunate but this sport is prone to injury, it doesn’t just happen to the eteri girls. Hate that woman all you want but there’s no need to demonize her on everything that didn’t go smoothly for Evgenia. It’s not like TCC skaters have any less injury than eteri’s girls. It’s just part of the sport.

And if I would guess, I’d say after this weekend, Evgenia will probably pick up some old training habits from her old days. Perhaps the going full “westernized” approach might not be exactly what she has envisioned afterall.

R382 He was talking to a Japanese V.I.P, not that French attention whore. And the poster who reported their conversation was different person. If she said it was a V.I.P, I don't think it was just a random person, he/she could even know Yuzuru personally.

And why I assumed the lazy ass he said is Galeman? I used my brian. It's a big name. Not Javier, Not Yuzuru, them who ???

R384, I'm well acquainted with Eteri's training methods and I know that she pushes her skaters to do many runthroughs, much more than other coaches. How else do you think they get it drilled into them to skate clean? And most of her skaters are very thin, tiny girls. Of course you can get injured anywhere, but some training methods are clearly harder on the body than others. It seems to me that Brian has a more individualized approach but I also think he was dumb to start pushing quads on Gogolev so young. Only time will tell. None of these coaches are perfect. But where else could Evgenia go if she had enough of Eteri? All the other Russian coaches kind of suck in their own way, too. Mishin is stuck in 6.0 era, Buyanova's track record is pretty sketchy. Everyone else would be a massive step down.

I'm new to skating (after flouncing after Weir's 2nd Olympics because I just couldn't take it anymore)... anyway, from what little I've been trying to pick up, it seems there's a "pretty North American girl" syndrome, with Gabby, Ashley, maybe some others - they know they're beautiful and that lack of humility isn't spurring them to work their asses off - they want to glide on by with their looks and resultant popularity.

Well, it's just a theory. I tried to watch a Gabby Daleman youtube with her ludicrous fingernails and raccoon eye makeup - I think the video was going to be ABOUT makeup good lord - and I couldn't take it. She made the Kardashian girls look grounded and self-aware.

I wait to be corrected on this theory - but I think, at least with those two, they ooze arrogance. And for no particularly good reason! Ugh.

Daleman has, erm, some kind of self assurence problems, I think. She used to photoshop her IG pics quite heavily (and in a bad way) to show herself slimmer

R386 Shoma is also known for doing many run-throughs in a training session, again this “genius” methodology is not exclusive for eteri girls. So should Shoma run away from coach fluffy too? And for the record, I never said zhenya should have stayed with eteri, she clearly resented everything in that coaching relationship after losing to Alina who trains alongside with her. My only point is there is no need to demonize everything that eteri does or doesn’t do. As you said, no coach is perfect. Eteri is yet to prove she can coach a senior skater past puberty, just as Orser is yet to prove he can develop a junior skater from scratch. (Gogolev is still a case in progress, I’ll say Orser has been doing a great job in PR so far)

Gabby is very shallow, but I think she was much more naturally talented than Ashley ever was. I could see potential in her if she was more focused. She clearly has some kind of body dysmorphia, judging from her Instagram. Seems like she has self destructed somewhat. Therapy would probably do her some good.

Ashley on the other hand, is definitely a lazy, self-entitled, mediocre, narcissistic bitch who just wanted to show up to the marquee events and be treated like the queen of England.

All narcissists do everything they can possibly do to look better - hair, makeup, photoshopping, etc. To me, it's a sign of self-centeredness in extremis. Gabby isn't famous because of how she looks - it's because she's an elite skater. But it seems she wants everyone to focus on how absolutely fabulous she looks. Try acting or modeling, FFS. In a way, maybe all narcissistic people are insecure at the core - but it's still a sign of self-indulgence - like look at MEEEE - look at my gorgeous face with a ton of makeup on it - look at my glamorous fingernails - and my hot hot hot body.... Shit girl, just SKATE! Most of us don't give a shit how your makeup looks or how skinny you are.

Serious question, how does one even train in those creepy long nails? I’d imagine it would take forever just to lace up the skating boots. And are they prone to breaking when the skater falls on a jump? Would there be a deduction -1 if the broke off nails were left on the ice during a competition?

r380 PH denizen here: PH skews younger. There are more "I've got school/college" than "I've got work" posts. Also, I'm not sure it's so conservative, you should have seen how quickly a commenter who made "gay" sound like an insult was dealt with.

r385 There's also Evgenia, Jason, Junhwan and Gogo, all pretty big names in a FS world, even Gogo, I would say. Gabby does have the worst track record of all of them though, so maybe the reason is that she doesn't apply herself enough.

It's fascinating how everybody says Yuzu is such a hard worker when his on-ice training time is amongst the shortest. I suppose he's a hard-worker but not workaholic, effectiveness over long hours. I know he wants to minimize the risk of injury, so upping his runthroughs is probably a no, but perhaps Yuzu should just add two hours a week for spins, lol.

R393 He has always trained less than other skaters not because he is lazy or more efficient but because of his asthma.

And maybe the ph members are not all old but yes most of them are pretty conservative with how they can't see female/male interactions any way other than romantic whereas male/male relations are always 'brotherly' or 'fatherly'. Like when they were shipping him with that pianist girl who he just did an interview with. And they used to be pretty open about the shipping with Medvedeva too but I guess being called out by some members for their hypocrisy made them tone it down. Still, saying like that ph poster that old men are buying this calendar to show their grandsons or sons how to be a great person is the kind of next level reaching which you only see from someone in serious denial over same sex attraction. There was literally a very well known old hockey coach in Japan who said after Sochi that Hanyu has feminine eroticism and that if he were a girl, he would love to sex him up. That same guy was behaving all smitten while interviewing Yuzu after Pyeongchang and you could see Yuzu knew about his declaration because of the knowing smile he had throughout the exchange. Lol.

Not hockey but baseball coach

He cannot have an asthma. How is that even possible? My friend has and he cannot go upstairs.

When Frank Carroll fired Carolina Kostner for not wanting to do full run-throughs, it’s been widely discussed as ‘American’ vs. ‘European’ way of training (Americans doing run-throughs, Europeans/Russians not doing them). Basically, it was declared Kostner was lazy and everything that happened to her in Vancouver was her own fault. Now Eteri is evil for forcing her students do run-throughs?

Kostner has always had that "whatever" attitude, even after bad skates

R396 It's well documented that he has asthma. He has had it since he was 3 years old and was often sick as a child. It got better as he grew older but he still has it and even had a major attack a few days before Worlds 2017. He takes medication for it and has to be careful of his environment and not to get sick. And there are quite a lot of athletes with asthma. Actually a Japanese speed skater who won in Nagano also has asthma and he explained how years ago a lady and a child approached him for an autograph and the lady asked him to encourage her son who had asthma and that lady was Mrs Hanyu with Yuzu.

R396 asthma varies in severity. I have it mildly, and I only need to use an inhaler for exercise and occasional times I get sick or have terrible allergies.

R397 It's the famous North American double standard like Alina and the Eteri girls are bots but Nathan is balletic and Gogolev artistic.

R394 Maybe people go the grandpa/grandson route bc it's that or pouring bleach onto their eyeballs to wash out the image of a bunch of geriatrics rubbing it out to Hanyu. I don't go there often to defend them, but I don't see shipping on PH. There was more med talk here than there frankly. And most of the new ones who are breathless about Hanyu are totally young college age types.

R396 Are you a troll or what? Thanks for the great anecdote but maybe your friend is just one of the lazy asses we've been talking about. Hanyu's asthma is pretty bad. You can see it in some of his earlier performances like 2012 wc. He chose to train at TCC based in part on his breathing problems. Anyway, his asthma issues are well documented so you must either be a troll or wondered into the wrong thread.

R394 who is the baseball coach? I want to see a video of the interview, even if it is in Japanese.

One of the other skaters at TCC - I'm pretty sure it was Nam - was talking about Hanyu. He said the guy was amazing at working hard, than in a single day, he would do sixty quads. Can you do that in the time that Yuzuru claims he skates? Which I think he just changed from 14 hrs/wk to 10, but I could be wrong - and how accurate is ISU bio anyway. But why would Nam say such a thing if he hadn't witnessed it? And just looking at Hanyu's quads, you know he's practiced them a lot - I don't think anybody can just be naturally good at jumping and landing them, without having to work at it - a LOT.

Lol joke's on us. We're all talking to Daitroll R396 again.

R405 Thanks for the heads up. I was going to reply seriously to R404 but I suppose it's that pest as well.

r394 There have actually been many many discussions about Yuzu being feminine. It's a topic that recurrs periodically.

You're right that male/male interactions are usually shoved under umbrella of brotherly/friendly but the reason is most posters don't dare to say gay/romantic because that crosses into the realm of speculation about his sexuality, and well, I guess they'd rather not because that would turn ugly really quickly. I suppose in that regard PH is conservative, that they'd rather avoid the topic than let it be discussed. I suspect I'm not the only one who comes here in order to admire his ass or mention the exhibits of his "straightness". Oddly enough, I get an impression that older fans are less conservative about it that the younger ones.

I haven't noticed any Med/Yuzu shipping there though, most of posters actually stamp down on that one quickly, and that Hanyu/singer shipping was about the same as Yuzu/Shoma shipping, or Yuzu/Lipnitskaya, namely not serious at all. They're rather treated like a running joke. Trust me, the only actual shipping there was going on at PH was Yuzu/Javier.

You're totally right about that calendar shit, though, that's ridiculous. Or maybe r402 is right.

r402 Lol, r396 must be a Daitroll because its posts don't show up for me.

But I'm pretty sure I read one of the major reasons nowadays for Hanyu's fairly limited on-ice training time was to minimize the risk of injury. It makes sense too, the longer you train, the more tired you are and the greater the risk of injury, especially if your runthroughs contain a bazillion of quads.

R406 Hi - you may not want to reply to me and I'm 404 - but I'm not 396

[R402] [R405] Do you know someone with REAL asthma? That kind of person IS NOT ABLE TO play sport or work out PROFESSIONALLY! He cannot forget about sport . Not many athletes has asthma. names please. Or do you mean those cheaters norway cross country skiers like bjoergen

[R409] He can forget about sport, sorry

R409 - just a quick check on Google - have you heard of David Beckham? He's an athlete, btw, along with the others on the list - and the speedskater mentioned upthread - and Hanyu. Asthma VARIES. Maybe some people with it are extremely limited, like you say, but many people (I'd say most) are not and probably benefit from strenuous exercise, provided they are careful:

Check out the profiles of just a few inspiring athletes who are among the nearly 24 million Americans living with asthma.

David Beckham... Jackie Joyner-Kersee. ... Greg Louganis. ... Paula Radcliffe. ... Jerome Bettis. ... Peter Vanderkaay. ... Amy Van Dyken. ... Tom Dolan.

[quote]When Frank Carroll fired Carolina Kostner for not wanting to do full run-throughs, it’s been widely discussed as ‘American’ vs. ‘European’ way of training (Americans doing run-throughs, Europeans/Russians not doing them). Basically, it was declared Kostner was lazy and everything that happened to her in Vancouver was her own fault. Now Eteri is evil for forcing her students do run-throughs?

Are you really so dense that you don't understand the difference between "doing run-throughs" and doing excessive amounts of run-throughs?

r394 Do you have a link? I'm curious about what a smitten older basketball coach interviewer talks like...

[411] dopers, dopers, dopers.......

R403 Here you go. It's only a small excerpt from their introduction. I know the whole interview is somewhere on yt. I need to dig it out.

Seriously people, you're trying to reason with the Daitroll again? Haven't put her on ignore yet?

LOL I love it when Daitroll R410 goes back to correct a grammar issue in its post, like that's the only thing that's separating the post from coherence or sanity.

[R17] Goes back? So i am IMPROVING YOU SAY??? > THANK YOU, thank you , thank you i am still learning hahahah

PS Get laid ,please

Sorry R416 - I was gonna try to not do ignore but... well, good point about clogging up the thread with pointless arguing.

[R16] Yes, Serena Williams has an asthma, too. Americans are dopers as hell. No real person with asthma can be an athlete. ASK A DOCTOR

[R417] English is not my mother laungage. Sometimes I post something with good grammar(when its not hard ), other time I dont. So i am not "going back" for purpose. Why do you lie all the time? DO you make it on purpose?

r415 lol, I'm not sure Yuzu must have known about the guy's words, I think the guy's enthusiasm would have got that reaction from him anyway.

and problem with breathing is NOT an asthma.Those people you mentioned have no REAL asthma, those stories for people like you who loves such whining stories like " I have an asthma and i made a succes as athlete. You can to." . It is a pure PR bullshit.

R421 It's not the laugh to the enthusiastic 'hajimemashite' but the smirk at the end that makes me think he knows. And Yuzu is well known for keeping track of what is said about him good or bad. More than once he told a media person that he saw or read their latest article or tv show where they mentioned him. Anyway iirc later the guy starts stuttering while asking his question. It was really funny.

So to balance out the ridiculous "grandpas buy Hanyu calendar for their grandsons to have a role model" theory, someone posted a more reasonable "or they buy it for their fanyu granddaughters" lol.

While every other Chinese skater has to suffer bored Lori's annual choreos, Yu/Zhang are getting new choreos by Benoit Richaud. But well, Richaud can be hit or miss, so maybe they will get a monstrosity anyway

See how the old man clung to Yuzuru throughout the interview. He was trying to get closer to Yuzuru ( and even Yuzuru leaned on him lol). Compare his position at the start and the end of video.

That one's a bit creepy, r426, I'd rather not imagine old dudes being into a 13-yo-looking Hanyu.

r425 So Yu/Zhang are NOT splitting? Whew, good to know. I hope they manage to last until 2022, for the girl's sake.

R427 Yeah, it was creepy. I just want to give an example of "an old man attracted to Yuzuru"

I have no idea what's written on them but I love all those big cards they give guests to write on in these Japanese shows. Mao's had a pink border with little flowers decorating it - Yuzuru's was blue with snowflakes. Something so "Hello Kitty" about it all. I wish I lived in Japan and everything would be so cute like that all the time - sunshine, buttercups and rainbows all day, I guess.

PH isn't conservative, more like it's run by SJWs, the bane of the internet and those sort skew young. I believe some of the PH people do want to discuss things beyond the mundane about Yuzu but are forced into the closet at PH. Well it's a board that's useful for Yuzu-only fans and collecting information.

R429 I love Japan but believe me living there is not all sunshine, buttercups and rainbows.

R426 LOL! It looked like Hanyu just wanted to be held. Omg. I was laughing while watching.

R426 I had forgotten about this interview. So fucking creepy. Look at 7:48 for instance where the old perv is putting his hand. Poor baby Yuzu. Unrelated but can you believe he didn't even have a mobile phone at the time (he was 17). He mentions it here.

Aw, but it's nice to dream, R430. It's gotta be better than here good lord (usa). Yuzuru is like the Japanese anime guy of dreams - he looks just like Colonel Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist - well, and hundreds of other characters. Movie star looks with an ass made for ogling. I think he likes it, but unlike Gabby, he doesn't have to try too hard.

I love all the info at PH but can't really get into the back and forth. I suck at idol-centered boards. But PH is a sweet one. Almost all of the others I've known eventually become the domain of a tsarina who rules the roost, with her clique of followers, and it just collapses into bullying and gatekeeping - well, like high school. But I don't think PH is like that (other than the stringent thought control but maybe you have to have that or you'd end up offending Yuzuru - I guess that's the end goal of all the boundaries. I should hush - I like the place - it's the only free place to discuss even Senior B's without Yuzuru, other than here.

r430 Had to look up what SJW was. You might be right.

When I said R430 I meant R431 - it's tough keeping up with the numbers!

It was Mao's birthday the other day and her "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" SP was being retweeted. I think it's a good example of an old timey jazzy program. It was actually choreographed by Lori. Having superior skating skills also makes a difference but I think the choreography is much more effective than Wilson's program for Medvedeva. It doesn't feel cheesy to me.

That was her first program after she took off a year, by the way.

R434 The problem for me with PH--and I was one of the people who contributed some money to help create it--is that it's over moderated. What's the point of having a free place to discuss Senior Bs if you have to carefully word everything so as not to offend or risk being reported as an evil "basher"? I love sarcasm and humor and soon grew tired of censoring my posts. I also came to realize that I'm not a fan of "idol-centered boards" either.

R439 This. All of this. They deleted half of one of my posts a few months ago because I wasn't being 100% positive about a skater. I kindly told them what I thought about that crap and left that place. I only check it sometimes for info but usually they are behind everyone else on that front. And the poster mentioning a board with tsarina owner. In PH's case it's not one person indeed but a clique of oversensitive hypocritical babies and I have no time for that.

Well, I did quit going very often, so I basically agree with you R439. With a lot of experience of the "vibe" I sensed there was little I could say other than, "Isn't he just dreamy!"

That's not fair but you have to police every utterance and it's very tiring (and boring.) The format is weird too - where all the previous posts get reposted every time you click on a new one, in an overlapping pattern -- oh I don't know how to explain it but it's tedious, not simple and clear, like here.

Oh and I agree with you too R440 (you just showed up.) There is a clique of tsarinas, just like always. I think the power goes to their heads and they make the board in their own image, often school-marmishy or like you said, SJWs. Usually the 'insiders' can push the boundaries and criticize or even gossip, but woe to anyone new or on the outside who even hints at impropriety, to a standard the most puritanical Victorians would be shocked by. Power always corrupts I guess - and bullying usually ensues.

When there's a single Queen Bee, she almost always has Narcissistic Personality Disorder - those boards are evil!! Lots of fake user names that chime in with the "accepted" point of view - fakery everywhere. I don't think PH is that bad, but it's often hard to see how manipulated these things are till you hang around awhile and start to see the cracks behind their pristine front.

Lol Fake people. They bashed Zagitova's scores and programs as if her programs had broken into their house and murdered their families but when it comes to Medvedeva or Japanese girls, they soon turned a blind eye and changed their tune, though Sakamoto, Mihara, Medvedeva's... programs were basically as garbage as Zagitova's. They did so because she has nothing to do with Hanyu. I think I will text Alina Zagitova:" History says if you take many photos with Yuzuru Hanyu and claim yourself a fan of him, you will get Fanyu's immense support. And you know what to do in Helsinki and Moscow next month. P/S: Remember not to like shipping posts on VK or Instagram, if you like shipping, better do it with your pets or Nathan Chen"

I can understand why the PH folks are so anal about gossip - their site has Hanyu's name on it and they don't want a hater/vicious reputation attached to their fandom. It makes the site less fun, but maybe also less toxic. I rarely go there because it makes me feel like a child in a house full of adults who know the juicy gossip or the backstories, but won't share any information with you and will shush you up if you ask questions, but I have nothing against them. The site is very well run and organized.

R442 Seriously, you Zag fans are out in force on the interwebs the last 24 hours, going nuts on people who question her PCS or technique or whatever. Of course, Hanyu fans who dislike Med are also accused of disliking her because of her intrusion into his life etc. Most people have opinions of other skaters that have nothing to do with Hanyu, even if they're Hanyu fans. I dislike both Med and Zag. I like the 3 Eteri Juniors. I like Rika. I hate Canadian and American skaters. Now try to connect all of that back to Hanyu because spoiler alert, Hanyu is actually not my all time favorite skater.

Lol, no. They bashed Shcherbakova and Gogo too, loved Kostornaia and for some reason they seem to loved Young You. Basically, they're biased in favor of skaters from Asia.

Hanyu media day interview with Tracy Wilson

R443 yeah, it's you and you didn't get blinded by love but not everyone is like you. If Zagitova changed coach to Orser or she and Hanyu had some interactions, you will see their tune about her change. Zagitova is just an example. They prefer Shun Sato over Gogolev because he's from Sendai LIKE Yuzuru They prefer Japanese girls over Russian girls because they're Japanese LIKE Yuzuru. To them, things related to Hanyu is better than others. His friends, his rinkmates, his coaches, his costumes, his music choices,... everything. And I hate this attitude. Apparently this attitude is very popular on PH. Unlike many posters here, I'm ok with how PH was run but not OK with those fans who like to judge things based on whether it's related to Hanyu or not.

r446 I would agree with you but by your logic they should love Gogolev by virtue of him being from Hanyu's school and under Hanyu's coach, just like Medvedeva. Which is not the case.

R447 It depends on how they organize priorities.

Thank you R445!

PH denizen here. I love the place for what it is, but don't expect more imo. Also, if you want some gossip, reach out to another poster who has the info through PM. That's what some posters had to do to talk about conspiracy theories concerning "JSF bias against Hanyu". I wonder if Mods check PM on that site. Now that'd be overboard.

I understand the extreme modding of PH actually, because everywhere else Hanyu fans have a bad reputation: tumblr, twitter, etc. PH is a site to drop by for many fans before going elsewhere for the dirt.

Also, not everything relates to Hanyu. I'm just a old weaboo who prefers cute Japanese girls to overscored other girls.

r450 Mods use the PMs to discuss stuff that isn't discussable on boards themselves, and therefore I doubt they care what people discuss in private as long it doesn't end up on boards. r443 is right about the reason why PH mods are so anal. I believe they got in trouble for threads that were basically ass appreciation and had to take them down. The most intersting thing is, however, that even PH doesn't reach the level of "world revolves around Yuzu" attitude that some Yuzu fans display here. Like suggesting Cha running on his skates is copying Yuzu. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Can you ph inhabitants and fervent defenders please fuck off back to your homeplace. Now I know where the poster who keeps posting subtle shipping shit about Yuzu and girl skaters like Satoko or Medvedeva comes from. There is a typical frau way of writing and clearly that poster and a few others here have it. Go back to that amazing place and discuss dirty het gossip with your fellow members over there via DM or secret threads. I didn't flee that place to find you guys everywhere else and especially not on dt.

Finland Trophy next week

Men: Kolyada, Aliev and Cha are the podium favorites. Bychenko, Kvitalashvili, Rizzo, Majorov, Nadeau, Erokhov and Yamamoto are also present

Ladies: Kuktamysheva, Tursy, Kostantinova...and not much else

Pairs: Tarasova/Morozov make their seasonal debut. Junior World Champion Pavliuchenko/Khodykin makes their Senior debut. Moore Tower/Marinaro, Alexandrovskaya/Windsors, Ziegler/Kiefer, Kayne/O Shea also there

Ice Dance: Stepanova/Bukin . Soucisse/Firus. Shpilevaya/Smirnov (after being robbed of the GP host pick). Lauriault/Legac. Yanovskaya/Lukacs. And Hurtado/Khaliavin vs Smart/Diaz juicy head to head.....

No we can't. Deal with it or put us on ignore.

What does PH stand for?

r453 Were there any rumors as to why Hurtado/Diaz split? I've never understood it.

Men's at Finland looks the strongest of all Challengers.

r455 planethanyu

Are there any promising skaters from Latin America or have been ever?

R456 That's her version of the breakup

Apparently we need another new thread titled "Yuzuru Hanyu and other figure skating talk and PH people" LMAO. Shit. The irony of complaints about mods on another site turning to posters wanting to mod this place and make it exclusive.

Well I think we're due for some ass appreciation.

Thanks R458 I think she's the one who interviewed Hanyu when he won Worlds in Barcelona ?? If so, I fell in LOVE with that girl - her slightly raspy voice, her gorgeous laugh, I think she called Hanyu to his face "this little guy" and he held his fingers up to show about one inch - it was so delightful. I hope she finds a good partner - Javi? He's pretty brawny (though short I guess for an ice dancer) - well, I'm just dreamin'

Yesss! Here's the interview. She said she was there with this "little person" - he looks scared lol - I don't know if he's scared of her or of the Spanish he's listening to or what??

r458 She talks a lot but it basically boils down to "I didn't feel it" despite the fact they were getting good results. Weird. Especially that she says that she and Diaz remain friends.

r461 She already has a partner, and so does Diaz. It remains to be seen whether new partnerships will be as effective as the old one, but in the fairly empty field now both teams should climb up.

r462 He's probably scared of speaking in English.

R462 That's probably my favorite non-Japanese Hanyu interview ever. Hurtado was so warm with him and I actually thought he was MORE comfortable than usual. Enough to pull faces, look sheepish, and crack jokes instead of just staying politely pleasant. Maybe he was just thanking God he got a foreign interviewer he could actually understand after years of sorting out Javi's English.

R461 She has a good partner. Khaliavin is a former Junior World Champion and he is technically better than her. Old school though.

She went at Olympics this year. Olivia Smart would shake her head and start yell some insults at why H/K went to Pyeongchang instead of her and Diaz.

R465 You know, you're right. There's a longer version of this interview without the interpreters talking over both of them, and in it, when she first gets him to sit down, he shakes his head in a frightened way, like "No no!" and she says "It will be ok!"

I think he thought she was going to interview him in Spanish and he was trying to get out of there - but now I can't remember, but she either grabs his arm to sit him down or just calms him down a little by using English? But you're right - she's so empathetic and fun and everything, it does end up being just the best Hanyu interview in English ever.

Though I do like the one where he tells the guy that when he "learns more for the English, he will go to the fo-rest for the Pooh" - something like that. Another great one, and he was very clever I thought, making that joke.

r452 I'd agree with you but...no offense but aren't you the one who rambles about hanyu's every tick and draws conclusions about him about him based on what your therapist told you about yourself? You're kind of intense too no?

R433 Don't know if it's mentioned in the interview but Hanyu has said elsewhere that he didn't feel like he could ask for something as expensive as a mobile phone when his parents were saddled with so many other expenses because of his skating. There was another interview with him at like age 8 or something where he was really concerned about the price of train fare. He seemed always very worried about his parents' money situation at a young age. I'm impressed he didn't just cash out on his fame as soon as he was able (he's taken advantage of some opportunities, but certainly not as much as he could).

R465 No the cutest interview in English where he seemed most comfortable was this one.

R468 I literally just once drew a parallel to my case and many other people when it comes to crying a lot and depression in reply to an idiot who was acting like Yuzu being a strong competitor means he can't be depressed or have mental weaknesses and now I'm the 'therapist' anon. lol. And yes I analyze his quirks but I don't gossip about things he has himself expressed distate over (like shipping him with girls) or try to read into things like him looking at the audience means he wanted to catch Medo's eyes or any other girl's some of you ship him with. I also am here in one of the few places on the internet where I can maybe speculate a bit about him not being exactly straight without being harassed by bigots while you have plenty of playgrounds where to post, so shoo shoo.

r468 If by intense you mean crazy enough that only DL would tolerate it?

R433 if you kicked the fraus off this thread it would probably be just you, me and backcounter 3a jerking off to ass everyday.

r470 And who can't recognize a joke either.

R472 And wouldn't that be perfect? Tbh I am even baffled at what most of them are doing here.

R473 I don't know , sometimes I give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they are joking (4everchan lover, Daitroll etc.) and realize I'm sorely mistaken so I sympathize with the pugilistic reaction.

R470 you're fine, no need to defend yourself. I'm curious though, do you speak both French, Japanese and English fluently? I think people like that are amazing. I took French for 6 years and it never fucking took.

Geez does anyone but r470 actually believe anybody here ships Hanyu with a girl? Wtf.

R477 I'm pretty sure Med is pegging him right now as we speak.

r472 Oh you're so naive...r470 is the frauest of them all!

R476 Not fluently for all of them but yes, I speak those 3 languages and 4 others to some degree of fluency. I actually use 3 of them for my work on a daily basis. I think the key to learning a language isn't how long you study it but which specific interest you have in picking up that language. If you have a necessity or something you are really into then the learning process is much smoother and faster. As for Yuzu, I think his English when he isn't put in a high stress situation like post competition interviews is ok. I have watched quite a few fancams of practices where you can hear him speak comfortably with Brian. Of course he still makes some mistakes but not to the extent he does during interviews. And tbh for a guy who never goes out and talks to people, and learned most of his English from listening to his Spanish teammate with a thick accent and Canadian coaches during training he does just fine. I love that he got Brian's gay Canadian accent when he speaks English.

R480 Lol audio please! What's a gay Canadian accent?

R480 I think learning languages is innate talent. There's no way I would be able to pick up 7 languages, no matter the quality of ass attached to them (you mentioned specific interests).

Plushenko is coaching but why I hardly see him in competitions with his students ( except SA 2017 he was there with Serafima Sakhanovich ) ?

r478 That's about the only way to make that relationship work.

r483 He's too busy skating shows in Japan, being Hanyu's hero, training his son into a mini-me and mushroom hunting.

R483 the skating school sounds pretty sketchy to be honest. It seems he's at every ice show (he was recently at the opera on ice thing with Javi), he made a show of picking up Adelina but she went nowhere, he's always promoting himself, the son, wife, and as you mentioned, I never see him at comps with his so called students. Wasn't he supposed to have opened a big state of the art facility? Plush is a strange one.

r480 r481 Lol, I'm also curious what makes an accent "gay Canadian" . Maybe I can't hear it since I'm not Canadian but Brian doesn't sound all that flaming the way David Wilson does. Are you sure that the gay part of Hanyu's accent isn't his own? Though I always thought it was weird how his voice sounds completely different when he speaks English vs. Japanese .

Good to see the thread getting less intense again. I hopped on the computer just because I thought we needed some emergency ass but looks like we're good again.

hmm. According to the DL caption, Hanyu is a top but he's presenting his ass with O-face

Stephane Lambiel keeps being named as coaches by Ted Barton at these junior events but he's never there, though I'm pretty sure he always shows up with his, uh, protégé, houseboy, toy boy, or whatever he is, Deniss Vasiljevs.

R488 Lambiel showed up at Nelbelhorn this week for Matilda Algottson.

R470 I enjoy your posts about Hanyu's psychological state. My own theory about him is that, if he does get depressed at times, it is likely linked to his obvious anxiety as anxiety can convert quite quickly into depression. As an anxiety sufferer myself--and as a former psych RN--I really feel for him when I see him in distress.

R486 That is just too lovely for words!

And yeah, what the hell is a gay Canadian accent?

R481 R486 You can watch the video I posted a bit earlier and when I say gay Canadian accent I obviously don't mean that he doesn't still retain his own Japanese accent and pronunciation just that it is layered with a cute slightly lispy way of speaking and intonation which Brian, Wilson and a few others have in different degrees. I find it cute. And about his voice in Japanese, it keeps changing. Sometimes it's slightly higher pitched and 'lispy' like in the video this gif is from (for some reason I can't find it anywhere at the moment and it frustrates me because I love this interview) and at other times it's flat and lower pitched. I suppose his natural tone is somewhere in the middle.

Thanks R489. Lambiel seems to have quite a few - at least of the juniors. Maybe he's the one Hanyu could team up with, since Plush sort of acts like a conman or something with his skating school or whatever it is. (Lambiel is a lot cuter too. I still think of that hot picture of Hanyu grabbing Lambiel's wrists at an ice show, showing that he does actually have biceps, and Lambiel looked turned on - maybe I can find that one again - maybe not as hot as ass but suggestive of some hot action with those lookers - sorry but Deniss doesn't do it for me.)

Here it is - hope it's not too blurry

R485 Yeah, I have no clue what Plushenko is doing either. When I saw him at that one gp with Serafima I thought he was really committed and doing a good job. I liked how supportive he appeared to be but clearly the coaching business isn't for him. I suppose he wants to keep skating as long as possible and maybe come back to coaching more seriously in a few years.

r492 Well, Lambiel's students could use some jump instructor.

r486 That's not his O face, this is his O face.

R493 I love Yuzu being a teasing little shit.

Oh that's the best one, for giving us hope for his future, R496. Though I think, at least in part, a lot of his appeal might fade if he finally hooked up with somebody. It's like being vicariously sexually frustrated lol.

Playing catch up, wow this place is the place for cattiness but armchair diagnosing someone as a pathological narcissist just because she is insecure and wants to wear makeup and do her nails is nasty to the extreme here, folks. That's so not how a narcissistic personality disorder works.

Doing run throughs is common practice in Asia too, it doesn't mean anyone is an abusive or crazy coach. Hanyu does it a lot too and Orser was not pleased with it.

I guess it's a good thing these threads are keeping Hanyu's name in them because every discussion seems to circle back to speculating about his sexuality and every nuance of his mental state lol. I don't believe he can't possibly be depressed because he's an athlete - anyone can be depressed and I'd believe it if he said he was - but I am not a fan of diagnosing him with depression because my own therapist told me that my tears are symptoms of my own depression.

Is a "lisp" universally accepted as "gay" in western culture? As with limp wrists? I live in the west and I'm still baffled by this.

R497 No way, if Hanyu hooked up with someone, I would vicariously tap that ass so hard he would be simultaneously deep throating me.

I am not sure what reason Yuzuru would have for leaving Brian at this stage of his career, let alone going to Lambiel. I'm a Stephane stan, but he is still a very young coach & it remains to be seen if he can teach Deniss even one consistent quad,, let alone anything beyond that. What would Yuzuru need him for?

Plushenko isn't strange, he's very obviously all about the money. His school is a vanity project, his team is clearly doing most of the work while he gets the credit (not that there's been any real success story so far...we'll see if Tarakanova sticks around, unlike the rest). I'm sure he only cares about training his moneymaker mini-me. Stephane, OTOH, does show up for his students, but now that he has more of them, it's obviously not possible to attend every competition.

[quote]What would Yuzuru need him for?

Are you asking a serious question? Stephane looks like a dreamboat, makes avocado tarts, lives in a swiss chalet nestled in the kind of bucolic setting made for sweet shepherd on shepherd gay sex, and you're asking why people would want to send Hanyu there?

r500 I don't think anyone was suggesting Hanyu should become Lambiel's student. They were suggesting Hanyu and Lambiel fofm a coaching team.

Or, as r501 says, it's about avocado tarts. There'd be Deniss Vasiljevs in the package too.

R502 No Deniss!! His eyes are too close together, always a sure boner killer for me.

Plush does seem to be all about the money - both making it and showing it off. I thought he was already pretty wealthy (and his wife is too), but it seems he is hustling for every little bit.

There's some other man in the chalet for Deniss - I forget - a trainer or something? Maybe he's a chaperon lol (how old is Deniss?) In any case, Stephane needs a real man, not a chubby faced boy, and that's our Yuzu (tongue in cheek yes please don't be literal)

speaking of... I'm the one who brought up Narcissistic PD but NOT in connection with Miss Gabby. I said that people who take over fandoms and become "queen bees" there often have NPD, in my vast and painful experience -- I knew one that was investigated by the FBI for pretending to be somebody else and using her damned government job email to do it... anyway you'll just have to trust me on this. But I didn't mean NPD for her though if I slipped up and said "narcissistic" it was in the very general way that someone calls another arrogant or stuck up or self-centered. All of us have some degree of narcissism but NPD is a whole 'nother kettle of fish and really closer to psychopathy and don't ask me about that either but I consider myself an expert having been raised by one.

OK back to the meat of the thread because really, what else matters? Take it all off, Yuzu! (sorry to be into frontal, at least for a little variety)

I doubt Plushenko's kind words and support towards Yuzuru are from his heart. He might just do it for fame.

You're such a cynical bunch.

r506 You might be thinking about Stephane's manager/boyfriend.

Aliev is saying he wants to add the 4A to his program if his body is in good condition.

OMG. And he's competing this weekend at Finlandia. Could he beat Yuzu to the quad axel? Little Dima? Who said he was afraid to look Yuzu in the eyes on the practice ice because he, well, spooked him or something - that all the juniors were in awe - I forget the details - something about his intimidating aura lol. So much for hero worship.

R508 R509 I think it was Dmitriev, not Aliev.

Yes, I meant Artur Dmitriev, sorry about that. Google translate says he'll add it when he feels confident but doesn't want to reveal anything.

He attemped 4A once in a local competition. So he must have been landed it in practice.

Dmitriev just did some voodoo 3A-1Lo-3Lo combo (as in an actual 1Lo not an Euler). He might have landed it in practice, he's been trying for a long time.

R513 It was a 3lz-3f combo. Pretty cool.

He was just 3rd at Nebelhorn - and he's scheduled to be at Rostelecom with Yuzuru. It looks like he only has one GP, as of now. Would they each keep secret what their layouts were? If it was planned for the free skate, odds are Dmitriev would skate before Yuzuru (unless they were both in the final group)?

Oh well, they must have spies or something to keep on top of these things ;)

The article implied he's landed it and just waiting to get in good shape and consistent, and for the right time. But that's with Google translate.

So we can essentially guarantee that known lurker Yuzuru has seen this and will attempt the 4A in Finland, before Dmitriev's first GP (Rostelecom).

Tracy Wilson interview on Hanyu's media day at TCC on August 31 of this year (this was translated from English to Japanese, published in Japan, then translated back to English on "Where's Space Pooh" tumblr site:

— Hanyu’s aim being to jump the Quad Axel, how do you feel about his current condition?

Tracy: He’s training it. What’s interesting about being Yuzuru’s coach is that things that you thought, “Is that even possible?”, sometimes, it suddenly becomes possible. It’s very interesting to watch the way he trains. The genius creativity that he possesses is brought into good use not only in skating but also in technical challenges. He’s also hard at work tackling the Quad Axel, so I would like to watch over that process.

As if Yuzuru planned to attempt 4A at Rostelecom Cup. You guys are too positive about that. If 4A is ready, he will add it to program as soon as possible.

Oh I didn't realize the Finland GP was before Rostelecom. Oh well, I'm not necessarily positive - about Hanyu or Dmitriev - it's just interesting that there's a potential rival, and there I was afraid little Keegan would land one at Nebelhorn just yesterday! He didn't - but he did win the tournament with his grandpa vest and Charlie Chaplin stuff. Men's figure skating has suddenly got sort of weird. I wonder if Yuzuru is worried enough to try the thing at Finlandia, possibly endangering his GP Final eligibility - while for Dmitriev - like who cares? with one GP, he can't make it anyway.

The comments in the Russian article are scathing. They're very skeptical, telling him he should work on his overall performance instead and complaining about his attitude. I take it he's not well-liked in his home country?

* not Finlandia - Finland GP. I can't keep all this straight!

Russians eat their own, don't they? Well, maybe the Japanese do as well. God, is every sport cutthroat. Everything is, shit. I'm the "a participation trophy for everyone" kind of person - so I'm not sure why I'm into this nervewracking sport. After suffering with Johnny Weir all those years - you'd think I would have learned my lesson. (I hate you, you stick insect Evan!) BTW, somewhere, probably here, I think I read Evan was gonna be a coach? Is Vera kicking him out on his lazy lanky ass?

R520 Keegan seems like he's out of the 4A race for the immediate time being. End of August he said he'd never tried it out of harness, it's terrifying, and that he stopped training it as the season approached to focus on other things. He wanted to get back into it ASAP but it's pretty safe to say his won't be making an appearance on the GP circuit.

Dmitriev's skating is shitty in every respect other than the fact that he is willing to try these difficult jumps & combos. I mean, if you can find something to like there, knock yourself out. But he's never going to be a top skater.

R506. Totally agree with you. I saw someone tweet that plushenko never commented on yuzuru's program from ACI? If he did afterwards I don't know about it. Johnny Weir otoh tweeted about Hanyu after his performances. I think Johnny adores Hanyu and truly cares about him.

And there is no question in my mind Hanyu suffers from anxiety and depression. I read an article that Josh Groban liked on Twitter (he also suffers depression) and it was very interesting read. If anyone wants me to post it just let me know!

Well, there's one down - that Yuzu doesn't have to worry about.

But there are still Senior B's that haven't published their rosters. I suppose Dmitriev could compete at one of them and try it there? At least Yuzu could stop fretting if that happened - and I'm only guessing he might be - I'm sure he's aware of all possibilities and has a plan a, b, c, etc. and should all fail, he has his gold medals to keep him warm - and all of our fond lascivious wishes - well, most of us.

I'm sure the place is swarming with Nathan fans - and btw, he's kind of fetching in this blankie!

So what's the gossip on Nathan? Is he as boring as he appears to be?

A lot of the comments were about Dmitriev's attitude and being disrespectful or arrogant, so I think he did something and it's not the usual Russian trolling. We need someone familiar with Russian gossip.

R527 When I posted the video from the photo shoot, no one said anything.

Hmm R526, that's kinda sad. But for years, Plush has been pretty vocal in his support, in the media, handing him a bouquet at Sochi. Not every skater would have done all that, even if it was self-interest. And there was that one ice show when Yuzu skated away from Plush who was trying to grab his hands - something like that. He was probably trying to catch Javi who was only there for that one night, but it looked a bit embarrassing for Evgeni.

Oh lord what details to dwell on. But as silly as it is, it's better than thinking about politics just now imho. Come on OCD, keep me focusing on these ice princes and princesses - even if it feel like fiddling while Rome burns. Can't put out the fire alas.

R528 - don't you think he's cute in his sweater thing? But seriously, I don't think Nathan is boring. I think he's sweet, shy, introverted, does a shitload of quads. Well, maybe he is boring, come to think of it. But he's cute. I hope he doesn't give up on skating - I'd miss him. (Vincent, you can give up)

I'm sorry R527! I must have missed it!! This place gets quiet sometimes and I forget to check it - but today's been a wildfire. Are you a fellow fan? If there are fanyus what are Nathan's fans called? Nayfans?

R531 Sorry, I'm not a Chen fan. I thought it didn't get a response because he didn't have fans here and was joking about it. At least you'll get to see him perform in a week.

Nathan is definitely cute R30 but I find him kinda cold. I feel like he's a Mr. Darcy type.

I forgot - is Nathan at the Japan Open? or something else? I'm a fan but not a very good one, clearly. When these tournaments start, they really rain down on you, don't they? And I don't even follow pairs or ice dance. However do they keep up?

R533 it just struck me, looking at the photo shoot, that there's a pretty deep melancholy about Nathan's expression. I'd never really thought about it before but I think it affected how I felt about him. At first, I thought he resented Hanyu because I saw him sort of dodge a question about him - but then later, I saw him praise Hanyu pretty whole-heartedly, and I realized he was no Patrick Chan - that he was a good guy, at heart.

But there's a sadness. It was touch watching "Andi" interview him after his disastrous short at Pyeongchang. He holds everything in but she had him nailed against that wall - what happened to you? what are you gonna do now?? God I was cringeing for him, even after the US media had made me practically despise the guy with their bombast.

Sad and melancholy is really kind of cool. I think that's what I like about him - and why, in a way, he isn't really boring. He's like an old soul, trying to keep up with the hypey manic American scene but it isn't really in him (though sometimes you see a happy side, like at the ice shows - I enjoyed him gossiping with Mariah about Raf telling some female skater that she's too fat, that pigs can't fly, and they were talking about how mean that was. I think there were in a rickshaw type thing in Japan - it was heartwarming.)

Go Nathan, you deserve to have your dreams come true. I don't really think he can fall short because he doesn't really seem to have much of an ego. And sheesh what do I know - but obviously, I like the guy.

r506 I think Plush's admiration is genuine. Hanyu has always openly stan'd him so Plush doesn't need to do anything to attach himself to the Hanyu brand and Plush was praising him long before Hanyu won his first Olympics. Was thinking yesterday that Hanyu does seem to have an actual crush on Plushenko. Weir seems to have a greater influence on his style, but you don't see Hanyu collapse into blushes and giggles around Weir. Strange to me since Hanyu seems otherwise more into traditionally handsome types but maybe he just wants a more "manly" man and Plush's machismo overcomes his ugly face

r516 Dmitriev Jr is disappointingly fug. way back when, I had a crush on the elder Dmitriev, though he aged horribly.

r527 is that photo for real? It looks weird, like the blanket got photo-shopped

r530 I like Nathan just fine - well, I don't dislike him any more than any other skater anyway - but between the 2, I'd much rather that Vincent stick around. Zhou's skating is crap but DL is so much more fun with him around.

r531 I don't think Chen fans have any particular name that have caught on yet. I like "Chenatics" for the Chen fans and while "Fanyu" might be catchier, I've taken a fancy to the DL specific "Obsessive Hanyu Loon".

Just came across the below photo. Loving this new costume.

Been saving a pic for you too, r505 Love how you can see all the little muscles in this pic

Gotta love those pecs!! That is what they're called - right? Nice tight pants too, just like he knows we like them. So many skaters in those baggy drawers, but maybe they just don't have the curves for them.

He really has an amazing body. No wonder that basketball uncle got hot for him, if only he was a girl. He's kind of like a skating Cillian Murphy or kpopper - can androgyny get any more perfect? I can't think of another man with such a tiny waist, flaring out to muscular meaty thighs like that. Maybe there's a supermodel somewhere with his shape - I'll have to be on the lookout for one.

Answering R536 and glad to hear you think Zhenya (the boy one) does really care about Yuzu. If he doesn't, he's spent a lot of years pretending - he was sweet to Hanyu as a little kid, even, encouraging him to keep working and "come beat me". Yuzu said in one of his books that Plush's wife didn't like him helping Yuzu with his jumps, so I guess he was even helping him while still competing himself - pretty cool, actually. Ha ha on Dmitriev, and to think he might foil Hanyu's final dream. Oh well, might be the best thing that ever happened - for Yuzu to actually fail and rebuild - he's kinda good at that, maybe better than handling dreams-come-true.

And yes, that's an actual photo shoot of Nathan (I'm 99% sure anyway). And a stylish one, if the cardi is odd - he's in a suit somewhere, looking quite hot, as well. He's aging nicely (if he can keep his joints functioning.) I do see the fun of Zhou but I think I agree with Dai: the #1 thing a skater needs is to look absolutely fabulous! (sorry Vince) And Evan proved it wasn't true anyway, not to mention Plush lol. But it sure doesn't hurt.

And this obsessive Hanyu loon -- I love that too -- and I love that new costume. Both of them really, but the dark one is actually manly, of all things. Like Seimei. You never know what's coming with Yuzu - or what he is, lol. Other than hot! Maybe he'll turn Plushy yet since Weir doesn't really seem to ring his bells -- I think I'm kinda relieved -- I loved Johnny back in the day but he's getting so extreme and he seems lonely but detaching or something. Oh he's probably fine but he keeps wanting to push the limits to outer space and I don't understand why he's so driven. OH and he just bought a farm out in the boondocks in Pennsylvania WTH?

R537 this is one of my all time favorite pics of Hanyu, the quiet moment at the beginning of Chopin. This is actually a good version of this picture. It's usually cropped in an annoying way. Thank you!

Perhaps DL has corrupted my mind beyond normal human response, but while I do actually love the costume itself, in r536 I was referring more to the way it hugs his every curve so tightly. I'm rather surprised that anyone is looking at that picture and seeing anything other than a luscious ass being presented for destruction.

The recent pics have created quite the narrative in my mind. r505 is after walking through the door. He lets you know what's racing through his mind as he starts to remove his clothing. r495 is him arching into the foreplay. r536 is him bending over to receive you. r486 he's reaching back for you as he comes undone in the throes of ecstasy

lol, am I glad that this forum is anonymous

R541 Hahaha your fan fic is hilarious.

Remember the early days of this thread, when we all had to maintain a little bit of dignity (esp. given how the thread started) and tried to stick to skating and stuff and maybe indulged in some team jpn gossip? At what point did we break down and start posting ass pics? I also remember people getting a little perturbed when someone said Hanyu had manga body proportions (that might not be the exact description, but something like that). No one would bat an eye at something like that now.

When did Dolensky leave the Cains? Daniil Barantsev is his coach now.

R543 I just read an interview with him where he said he started working with Daniil in late 2017 as a side coach for things such as his choreo and jumps and maybe made the switch sometime in Spring of this year.

R544 Has Ashley thrown any shades? We want drama

Actually, he must have made the switch sometime after the spring, because in the summer I think he was still referring to the Cains as his coaches.

Here is the interview I was talking about where he said he worked with Daniil on jumps in the spring and things seemed to click.

R545 When I run into Ashley at Seapoint in Southie, I'll let you know.

R545 Lol I just realized you were talking about Ashley Cain, who is completely off my radar. Well, except her frighteningly gay faced bf. I don't understand these figure skating girls and their broken dars.

Is Yuzuzu catholic? What's with him crossing his chest before he skates?

R548 No, he's not catholic, it's his way of reminding himself to check his body axis when he jumps.

r514 He did 3Lz-3F at test skates but at Nebelhorn he did 3A-1Lo-3Lo, it looked weird as fuck and he got negative GOE but that's what protocols stated. 3rd jump in his FS if you want to look it up. I'm wondering why it looked so weird when a 2Lo mid jump looks quite normal.

r543 Didn't Krasnozhon also leave the Cains? According to the protocols, his FS at Nebelhorn was a mess of 126 points and he didn't attempt any quads, so new coaching isn't working out for him just yet. Does anyone have a link to his FS? Can't find the video anywhere.

R548 He is doing the 土 basic kanji for earth to stabilize himself and remind himself of his axis as the poster above said.

R550 Here's all FS from Nebelhorn Krasnozhon starts at around 47 minutes mark

Bless you r552. It didn't look as bad as the score would indicate. He kept his old FS, which is good because that's about the only kind of program which makes his skating enjoyable. I couldn't tell if he was talking to himself after he finished because he was pleased or displeased with himself. But the way he hunched and walked like a Neanderthal towards the K&C makes him look more like a linebacker than a skater.

R553 yes, I was wondering the same Re what he was saying at the end

I think he talked about a new FS program this summer before reverting back to the old one. Something choreographed by Zueva.

8th Wonder of the World.

r555 Before the pic loaded, I thought we'd get some piece of wisdom from Vincent Zhou.

[quote]Lol I just realized you were talking about Ashley Cain, who is completely off my radar. Well, except her frighteningly gay faced bf. I don't understand these figure skating girls and their broken dars.

I have no idea what you're talking about!

R542. I'm pretty new to this board. But omg it must have been boring here years ago if most didn't post like they do now. I've always been somewhere where someone posts fanfic. It's so much fun to read. And R541. That was great! lol

Vasjlievs will make his season debut at Minsk competition on 18-21 October. He will win by a mile given the field. It is a Senior C

December 2017 - Dmitriev's Quad Axel attempt at Russian Nationals

I love "straight" Hanyu soooo much!!

I went ahead and made a new thread.

R550 Dmitriev did the 3lz-3f combo in his short at Nebelhorn. It's around 1:12. Someone commented that Dmitriev is what you get when you put Joubert + Yagudin together and they had arthritis. LOL.

R556 There is more enlightenment in R555 's pic than all of Vincent's insta.

Partial Recap of DAVE LEASE TSL "This and That" (Sep 30) - It's about pairs till Minute 23 (mostly about Kneirems/Aliona Savchenko frustrations); then LADIES: Script has flipped and now Eteri & Russia love ZAGS now, when before it was Med/now Med is the bad guy due to leaving for Orser. They thought Zag did well but think she's still growing and next year might spell doom - that her jump landings are "always a fight" - they thought her +4's should have been +2's and components too high (only the Canadian judge gave her correct 8's instead of 9s - she hunches like Med; rocking on edges during footwork; trite programs. But they still wish Zags had gone to Orser instead because she has more potential than Med in jumps, athleticism, artistry.

LOENA HENDRICKX: "Flailing to Celine" (they hated the mishmash of Celine songs). Though her brother's dropped out (getting married, doesn't care anymore), she's coming into her own - athletic w/potential - more confidence now; good for her to be isolated in Belgium w/same weird European choreograph who does Tuk's. MAI MIHARA: So pleasant/sweet but needs to project more personality and come out of her shell - the way Cha has done since going to N America from Korea - maybe Mai should do that. Consistent, good edges, but needs to "pop".

"DAMMIT MARIN": Dave called Honda his pet "daughter" and was very disappointed - had hoped for better with Raf but now thinks she's just lazy/sloppy/hopeless unless she has a come to jesus moment. Thinks Raf may have thrown his hands up about her, like he did w/Ashley. Shaded Phil Hersh for blaming Raf - they think it's Marin who needs to grow up. Maybe she's so talented and everything came so easily for so long that she doesn't know how/isn't willing to actually work, but they think she could easily be #1 in the world if she had Satoko's work ethic (capable of +5 quality). MARIAH BELL: Rippon choreo: only Shoma or Dai should ever end on footwork sequence but otherwise her short was a "moment". Judges wd love to promote her because she has personality and Bradie doesn't -- but she lacks Bradie's mental fortitude. Dave hates her Edea skates because they cut off her beautiful line. She has it all -- except consistency and drive. But Raf may give her more attention now, as he might be fed up with Marin. ICE DANCE starts at minute 59. (to be cont)

MEN (last 20 minutes or so?): DOLENSKY has overtrained his upper body and lost his jumps - no 3A. Krosnozhn (sp?) left Cains (coaches) and now Dolensky has left as well - Kros left revealing message when he left that he was unhappy there. DMITRIEV triple lutz landed on opposite foot in combo - a cool thing but it looks awkward – his jump landings have always looked awkward; they’re bad. He’s kind of like his father and shd have done pairs – he’s stiff and tall, but anyway, the combo is cool and he’ll get attention/points for it. But too many mistakes in long – he lost to Majorov.

KEEGAN MESSING used to be in the 1st (lowest) group in US but he’s willed himself into being a pleasant top Canadian. Did it have to be the Chaplin though? but he has that Hamilton/Javi showmanship thing, so ok. His Quads are scary and wild; he’s too square shaped and so his jumps get strange. His twizzles w/such a boxy body also look funny but he’s becoming a "pleasant" skater. He and Nam may fight it for Canadian champs, but Sadovsky could possibly step up. This is Keegan’s moment to win. Messing reminds Dave of Megan Duhamel, using sheer grit to make it happen, without great natural ability – the opposite of Marin Honda who's wasting tremendous talent.

MOMENT OF WEEK Jonathan just adores Kostornaia and she's his moment of the week, though Eteri's harsh "DON'T MESS UP" attitude let her down (instead of a more positive attitude - she seemed to start out scared). Dave’s moment was Mariah Bell's short program - plus Zagitova really delivered (taking advantage of that needed week off they think the Russians arranged with the paperwork mixup). They’re wondering if Aliona will compete yet again next year and Alexa should hope she gets pregnant instead (??)

Sorry for bad link - trying again

r563 Thanks for the info, I must have zoned out during Dmitriev's SP.

R559 We'll get to see Deniss this week at Japan Open. I guess he'll be presenting his new FS. We'll also get to see Nathan + Javi.

Here's the lineup for JPN Open (Oct. 6): Team Japan: Shoma Uno, Nobunari Oda, Satoko Miyahara, Kaori Sakamoto Team Europe: Javier Fernandez, Deniss Vasiljevs, Alina Zagitova, Maria Sotskova Team North America: Nathan Chen, Jeremy Abbott, Mariah Bell, Bradie Tennell

Dai will also be at Kinki Regionals this week. I've lost track - is Javi just planning to do JPN Open and then Europeans?

Finlandia is Oct 4-7. Some of the line-up:

Men - Kolyada, Cha, Aliev, Rizzo, Bychenko, Kvitelashvili, Hino, Yamamoto, Raya, Nadeau, Erokov, Alexander Johnson, two Majorovs

Women - Tursynbaeva, Konstantinova, Tukmatasheva, Hongo, Lindfors, Toth, Peltonen, Angela Wang

* Tuktamysheva

r568 I'll be most interested to see Nathan and how he's faring a continent away from his coach while doing collage. If he manages more than half of his 2018 Worlds content, I'll be impressed.

Then Javi. I'm rather sceptical about Javi's participation in Europeans, to be honest, though seeing the men struggling with new rules and new tech content, Javi's old tried 3-quad layout might be perfectly enough against Kolyada or Aliev.

r569 Was Nepala Kolyada's once-a-season clean skate or is he going to surprise us at Finlandia?

Is Rika a part of IMG? Wondering if the sponsors are not regretting inviting her. They lost out on Hanyu. Should get Rika signed on.

[quote]I'll be most interested to see Nathan and how he's faring a continent away from his coach while doing collage.

What a loser Nathan must be if he can't manage skating and collage at the same time. Just how much time does he need for trips to Michaels and Jo-Ann's to get his glue gun refills? Fraus all over America are probably judging him hard, as well they should.

Collages are hard work unless you have the perfect magazine to snip off of! I suggest Uno's handsome brother.

Aren't American colleges known for driving their students to mental breakdowns? And figure skating sure is the same so double breakdown for poor Nathan.

R572 She signed with Avex Group a year ago and this was very controversial because Avex is a music entertainment agency (responsible for the likes of Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and the Pineapple-Apple-Pen Guy). She attends their Avex Artist Academy Osaka school three or more times a week for dance lessons free of charge. Red Bull and Yamaha Motors are her sponsors, but I don’t think they actually provide much support.

Kihira was in SOI, FaOI, Heroes & Future and DOI this summer. She’s been promoted as the top Japanese ladies skater on sports and figure skating TV programs since the Olympics ended, although I think Marin Honda’s received more screen time. Kihira might need to win some big competitions to get good CM deals. Honda was signed to Oscar Promotion, a talent agency known for their actresses and models, until she joined IMG in July, so maybe Kihira will also switch to a sports management agency in the future. But I think the dance lessons at Avex have helped her performance quality.

Unlike some of the other figure skaters, Kihira comes from a middle-class family. Both of her parents were regular company employees until her mom quit her job to work part-time at a department store, so she could drive her daughter to practice.

R573 So funny. But seriously, Chen’s mom would sooner die than allow her son to pursue the fine arts. Collages seem more like Zhou’s thing.

Collages totally seem like Zhou's thing.

r576 Japanese Dirt Czar, who of Japanese skaters come from wealthy families and who from middle class background?

I can see Zhou doing collages of pieces of papers with his wise words written all over them

r577 Rich: Uno (dad is IT company president), Miyahara (both parents doctors), Honda (granpa owns several miso companies), Asada (dad owned several hostess bars/brothels), Oda (dad president of industrial piping company), Ando (granpa owns a famous café chain), Kozuka (family owns skating club), Arakawa (dad NTT executive), Kanako Murakami (dad president of food company), Suzuki (family owns two restaurants), Sugiri (dad pilot for JAL)

Middle or lower class: Hanyu (dad middle school principal), Kihira (dad company worker, mom part-time department store worker), Sakamoto (dad policeman), Takahashi (dad construction worker, mom hair stylist)

? Mihara’s parents own an unknown hair salon, could be rich or just getting by. Dice Murakami’s parents run a restaurant or chain in USA. Mura's dad is a coach and trainer.

R575 Nah, it's getting into elite American colleges that's driving students to mental breakdowns. Once you're in, subsequent mental breakdowns will depend on your major. Unfortunately, I think Nathan is pre-med, so even gentleman's Cs will not do. If he continues, I think he's going to change to sociology or psychology or one of the soft sciences. Like R576 said, aint no way Mama Chen's gonna let her son stoop so low as to major in English or worse yet - Comp Lit. - even if it's much easier to earn Blowjob Bs in those departments.

R580 Thanks, TJDC. As always, you're so darn comprehensive. It's interesting that the biggest attention/fame whores from Team Japan are from wealthy families. I guess they're not just hustling for money.

Wow most of them are shitting money. I guess it makes sense given how expensive everything in figure skating is.

Just remembered, someone up thread was asking about the perception of limp wrists and lisps in the West. Not sure if it was Dirt Czar or if it was asked rhetorically, but considering all the time we spend on JPN culture, it would be nice if we took the time to return the favor in case they were genuinely asking.

In the US media, there's a number of sort of "caricatures" of gay men, one of which is the effeminate gay man with either a lisp or a lilting quality to the way he speaks. He's either ultra gentle or "fierce"/sassy in his personality. They have feminine qualities that are so exaggerated that it would seem strange if you saw it on most women. This is a small portion of the gay population, but very often the community gets painted with this image.

As for how gay men are perceived by the average person, my guess is that it varies quite a bit from region to region, though I'm a bit of an oddball so perhaps I'm not the best person to explain how "normal" people perceive things. There are a lot of stereotypical gay qualities and interests and I don't think any single one necessarily means you're gay, but if you have multiples, you are perceived as gay. And if a particular quality is rather pronounced, around here anyway, people are at least going to wonder.

That being said, I know 2 guys with perpetual limp wrists and neither are gay, though one is pushing 40 and we're 99% sure he's still a virgin so he might have just never had the opportunity to figure it out. Funny thing is that his acquaintances never discuss the limp wristed virgin being gay. The other limp wristed guy I know gets teased all the time for being gay in spite of whoring around with all his female friends, but he also has that lilting manner of speaking. I personally never thought either were gay but I'm also the one that gives Hanyu 10% likelihood of being straight (though that's dwindling the longer I spend on DL - frankly, I enjoy thinking of him as gay so I run with it for the most part).

In Hanyu's case, I think he just ticks off so many boxes on the American gay list that he'd be thought of as gay even without the wrists. But the limpness of his wrists is so EXTREME, that I think people would think he was gay without any of the other qualities.

My opinion is that Hanyu hasn't figured out what his deal is.

R584 I can see this in Hanyu's case because he's such a fuckin oddball, but has anyone who's ever had to ponder the question of their sexuality ever come out on the side of heterosexuality? Heterosexuals live in a world where their internal views and desires are the norm. They don't need to examine or question them in the way that people who don't fit that norm are forced to do.

Yazuzu sounds straight either in Japanese or English especially serious Yazuzu when he's being interviewed in Japanese. I think once his skating career is over he'll settle down with some chick. Besides the wrist there's not much gay there. Uno on the other hand is just weird.

Who are you talking about there R586

R586 I would agree if your definition of "chick" includes guys and excludes all chicks without dicks.

R586. His mannerisms even in interviews tells me differently. Hmmm. He surely doesn't run as straight guy. Have you seen Hanyu run?

Serious question. Have you seen any straight men receiving medals on the podium act like a Miss World at the crowning moment like he always does? I don't know him personally, I don't know what he's like in daily life but how he acts in font of camera ( photoshoot, CM, MV shooting, ceremony,...) unconsciously or not is very girly.

R590 Wait, what? How he acts when receiving medals is among the least girly things he does in front of the camera. Video?

Link to new thread.

Lol. Is that poster dai troll of what. There are plenty of exhibits of 'straight' Hanyu just in this thread. And no he doesn't sound straight when speaking Japanese. You can see he just controls his way of speaking. Just like how he did that post Pyeonchang interview with this jpop idol from Arashi he is a fan of and at the end was acting all fidgety asking him for a picture together and blurting out he always looks at the picture they took after Sochi. That was a golden 'straight' Hanyu moment. I'll post it later.

Might

as well

end.

this

thread

oui?

or no?