Some notes after Cup of Russia 2017
From time-to-time, some skating media outlets, reporters (whom I shall not name) and bloggers keep twisting results and trends of previous events, reporting misleading numbers and information.
1) Some people have been consistent with their selective memories and making a big deal of Yuzuru’s performance as if they expect him to be an Alien Skater who breaks World Records all the time.
Every time Yuzuru Hanyu shows us he is just human, they talk like his time has ended, that he does not deserve to win big titles anymore. They act as if Hanyu making mistakes (a.k.a. being human) means the end of his career.
Silver at Rostelecom Cup 2017 is just normal for Yuzuru’s pattern as he has never won his first GP of the season in 8 years. Yuzuru’s first GP total scores have been:
2012 - 243.74 (2nd)
2013 - 234.80(2nd)
2014 - 237.55(2nd)
2015 - 259.54(2nd)
2016 - 263.06(2nd)
2017 - 290.77(2nd)
From https://twitter.com/tikudzi/status/921720443681361920
In fact, Yuzuru’s results at Rostelecom Cup has been the best performances he has ever shown at his first Grand Prix competition of any season thus far.
Most Yuzuru fans know that, as the season goes, Yuzuru will continue to improve as he reaches his peak. We are not “panicked fans who are afraid Hanyu’s career might be done.”
Some people keep talking down Hanyu for his “inconsistency,“ that it has been a long time Hanyu has not skate clean back-to-back.
What is "skating clean, back-to-back?” It is when a skater is essentially PERFECT in both the short program and the long program with NO negative GOEs, no popped jumps, no step-outs, no turn-outs, etc…
When was the last time a top male skater had clean back-to-back performances in an INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION, that is ACKNOWLEDGED BY ISU, technically CLEAN and WITHOUT mistakes (all positive GOE, no popped jumps, no step-outs, no wrong edges, no turn-outs, no eked-out etc.)?
It was Boyang Jin at Word Championship 2017, he did not break any records there. And before that, IT WAS AT GPF 2015, by Yuzuru Hanyu. NOT BY ANYONE ELSE. Yes, it was such a LONG time ago so some reporters have to remind Hanyu that they need him to skate clean back to back again because no other skater has archived the same.
Go look at the protocol of the men who have been skating for the last four years to see if there are any other scoresheets like this:
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1516/gpf1516/gpf1516_Men_SP_Scores.pdf
and this
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1516/gpf1516/gpf1516_Men_FS_Scores.pdf
NO negative GOE, not even small mistakes like step-outs, wrong edges, turn-outs, eked-out…
I guess you love Hanyu skating cleanly so much, you attack him for his “inconsistency.”
2) Some figure skating blogs and reporters and their fans are keen on talking down Hanyu, saying how disappointed they are to see Hanyu repeat a program 3 times.
But of course, if their skaters do that, no problem to them.
Here is Dick Button, 2 time Olympic Champion, one of the most influential icons in the skating world who happens to be American, saying that he used a program 3 times in the past. But apparently, no figure skating reporters condemned him as playing safe or artistically stagnant:
https://twitter.com/PushDicksButton/status/436572336750592000
Why no one in the skating media bashed Brian Joubert when he repeated his programs for years.
2002-2004 - Time
2005-2007 - Die Another Day
2008-2010 - Rise
2011-2013 - Genesis/Aerodynamic
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Joubert
Or when Jeff Buttle repeated both the short program and free program, even watered down his free program. He did that in 2008 and win Worlds.
Or why no reporter in the skating world bashed numerous other top skaters for repeating two programs in the same season.
* Surya Bonaly
1994 SP
1995 SP
original 1993-94 FS
She ditched it to go back to the previous year’s Four Seasons program later in the season, but then brought it back the next year: 1994-95 FS
* Kazakova/Dmitriev
1997 SP
1998 SP
1997 FS
1998 FS
Same two programs, two years in a row
* Elvis Stojko
1998 SP
2002 SP
1994 FS
2002 FS
* Totmianina/Marinin
2000 FS
2004 SP
2002-03 FS
2003-04 Grand Prix FS
* Elena Sokolova
2006 SP
2007 SP
2006 FS
2007 FS
Data collected by Blades of Passion and Gkelly from Golden Skate forum
3) Some make fun of Yuzuru Hanyu’s fans as if they have no idea about this sport.
In one instance, CBC highlighted a moment of a fan crying in the audience and used the image as a mockery stating she was upset because Hanyu lost. In fact, the fan was simply moved at the opportunity to see “Seimei” in person, as well as seeing him land the 4Lz in person. Absolutely an unnecessary action from CBC to “accidentally” commit cyber-bullying; this is not in the name of good sportsmanship.
and their video is still running on Facebook, shaming the poor girl.
This translation explains the true reason the girl cried at Cup of Russia 2017 was that she’s happy to witness her most favorite program ever: https://twitter.com/yt_figureskate/status/921795951248883712
4) Some people make it as if all Yuzuru’s fans act rudely towards other skaters and/or do not support other skaters.
Some US and Canadian fans continuously mention this, despite the fact that it has been debunked numerous times as mere lies. Here is a post by Dasani, a fellow Canadian, exposing all the wrong comments: http://chibura.tumblr.com/post/166387658185/some-people-accused-yuzurus-fans-of-acting-rudely
But in reality? I saw two girls were fuming after the ladies short program at Cup of Russia. They put their Poohs beside them, intended to save those Poohs for Yuzuru’s free skate. Yet someone snatched away their Poohs and threw down for other skaters. Who are the rude ones now?
ADDED: I SAT RIGHT THERE ABOVE THE KISS and CRY AREA and THERE WAS NO ONE booing or wailing for ANY OTHER SKATERS.
Some ridiculous people are saying Yuzuru’s fans were trying to hit other skaters when they threw the Poohs down to the ice. If I have a facepalm gif I might have used it right now. I was one of those who threw the Pooh (along with our letters) and all I thought was to let it land on the ice. If we are that good at throwing Poohs so that they deliberately hit other skaters, we should be athletes already.
By the way, at Cup of Russia as well as at many other competitions Yuzuru has competed, there is this sad fact: most Yuzuru fans, AS WELL AS MOST OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAPPENED TO BE AT THE ARENA, had to wait for almost 20-30 minutes in VERY LONG LINES just to use the restroom, so we had to apologize to the skaters of whom we could not watch. You want us to stay and watch all the skaters? Fine, give us a better schedule and restroom arrangements. We are human, which means we have to answer the call of nature. Sorry!
5) Yuzuru Hanyu’s fans are very diverse. There encompass all kinds of people from various backgrounds, and it'annoying when some people keep generalizing us into a certain stereotype.
The demographic survey done by Alia Jackson has shown that Yuzuru Hanyu has fans from all over the world. Watch this short video and you will see a huge number of international fans who are NOT Japanese yet happen to know and love figure skating thanks to Yuzuru Hanyu:
Yuzuru has inspired so many people in so many countries in the world. We have done so many things thanks to Yuzuru. We have learned new things because of him, done research because of him.
Because of Hanyu, I have learned how to identify which jump is which, I know which is the wrong edge, I can tell pre-rotation and under-rotation, I can even tell the level of spins and footwork. All because I have spent time and invested energy to study the rules and technical notes issued by ISU.
At Rostelecom Cup, I have met many people of both genders, some who are younger than me but so lively and mature, and many others who are 10-20-30-40-50-60 years older than me, who love Yuzuru Hanyu as a skater and a human being. We have spent so much time, energy, money to travel from competition to competition, to watch and cheer for Yuzuru Hanyu whose talents, humility, hard work and classy personalities have inspired us so much for so many years.
* There’s a 16-year-old Russian girl with her grandmother who came quite a long way to see Yuzuru in Moscow after they watched his amazing performance at Helsinki WC 2017. She was so nice to offer me a poster, a banner, and a magnet.
* There was a lively tall girl from Germany who is so smart and understanding of great technique and so honest to all people.
* There was a great lady from Spain who let me stay with her in her hotel room in the first time we met.
* There was a nice Japanese lady who offered me a band-aid when my old shoes broke after I walked almost 21 km in Moscow’s windy weather.
* There was a gracious European male skater (who loves Yuzuru) whom I shall not name, who helped me get to the arena when I got lost and cried for help but no one understood me as I did not speak Russian.
* There was a wonderful Chinese girl who was pretty chill with Yuzuru’s less-than-best results as she truly believes in his ability to do the best as the season go, she gave me tea and candies just because I am a fellow Yuzuru fan.
* There was a generous Russian professional assistant who took me to the train station through half of Moscow as she was scared I might lose my way in the metro (I did, by the way, get lost in the metro station 3 days in a row)
* There was a sassy American biology researcher whom I never met, but he has offered me help from time to time, who’s so good at analyzing and drawing skating steps turns on the laptop.
* There was a super lady from Hong Kong who is so talented at translating multi-languages and making videos.
* There was a sweet Korean girl whom I never met before who gave me tons of Korean cookies so I would not get hungry during the long tiring day at the competition.
* There was a Vietnamese guy who loves snarky comments who sent me cookies and special pencil
* There was a Russian-Greek scientist with great wisdom who has encouraged me many times in my life
* There are many great and nice fans on twitter whose opinions might clash with each other from time to time, but then all can stand together in support of an unknown woman who got cyber-bullied by a prestigious North America media outlet.
We Yuzuru fans as a whole are a huge fandom with great diversity. We should be proud of our love and support for Yuzuru, and should not feel ashamed of our love and dedication towards him.
7) Some certain reporters, bloggers and commentators called Yuzuru’s programs as being “SIMPLE” and “EMPTY”.
I can not tell you HOW WRONG all of this is. Yuzuru Hanyu’s programs have always been the most packed in the men field when it comes to transitions, complexity. There have been MANY posts analyzing his programs and transitions over the years: http://chibura.tumblr.com/tagged/figure-skating-analysis
An analysis has been made into the video here:
