Yuzuru Hanyu: 2013-14 Season | Page 13 | Golden Skate

Yuzuru Hanyu: 2013-14 Season

zydeco88

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
^ You're welcome. :)

A couple months ago I remember watching a documentary online that chronicled Yuzu's move to Toronto. I can no longer find the video on youtube. Does anyone know where I might be able to find it again?
Are you talking about the 'Spirits of the Athletes' documentary which was aired back in 2012? It has been removed from YT due to a copyright claim by NHK. I have it but it's not subtitled in English. If you're fine with it, I can upload the video and pm you the dl link. :)

nonchan from Tumblr has also translated the recent BS-TBS sports documentary on Yuzuru, titled "Yuzuru Hanyu - The Determination of a Young Challenger".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVF75xm4_M
 

msteach3

Medalist
Joined
Mar 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Wow the documentary is so much more enjoyable when you know what they are saying! Thanks a second time zydeco88 for sharing.

Has anyone seen or read an interview with Yuzu after his skate in Canada? One in which he talks about how he was feeling, thoughts on the program, etc.?
 

Becki

Medalist
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
http://prw.kyodonews.jp/opn/release/201310295805/
Summary:
Yuzuru (and Daisuke) have been selected as Sochi Olympics ambassadors for P&G Japan. They are participating in the 'Proud Sponsor of Moms' campaign and a slew of promotional and advertising activities will be set in motion starting from December 2013, which include, among the others, the athletes' anecdotes (to be shared on P&G facebook page) and web short films centering around the campaign theme 'Bonds between a mother and a child' and 'Familial bonds'. Both athletes will express their gratitude towards their mothers and families who have been supporting them towards achieving their dreams.


http://www.darrensim.com/2013/10/29...s-unite-kick-sochi-2014-olympic-winter-games/

I can't wait to see this! P&G is a genius in marketing - brilliant idea. I think I will be in tears when I see his video :'( I was almost in tears watching Evan's..and i am not exactly an Evan's fan.
 

PrincessBeany

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 29, 2013
^ You're welcome. :)


Are you talking about the 'Spirits of the Athletes' documentary which was aired back in 2012? It has been removed from YT due to a copyright claim by NHK. I have it but it's not subtitled in English. If you're fine with it, I can upload the video and pm you the dl link. :)

nonchan from Tumblr has also translated the recent BS-TBS sports documentary on Yuzuru, titled "Yuzuru Hanyu - The Determination of a Young Challenger".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVF75xm4_M

Thank you! I hadn't seen that documentary. It's great to hear him talk about how much Romeo & Juliet means to him.

Yes the other documentary was the NHK one. Too bad it's been removed, I've been able to find a copy of it but without subtitles I can't understand much.
 

Rin

Spectator
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Hello!
Some people think Yuzuru's new LP costume is not good. But I like it rather than last season's one:laugh:

Many people discussed about his results in the Skate Canada.
But, please don't forget Japanese media put him huge pressure in this season!:think:
In Japan, Yuzuru have to get 3 Olympic spots before the Olympic. 6 mans fought for 3 spots. The battle is very severe. The standard for selection is including GPS's results.
And, Yuzuru is sometimes spinning his wheels, especially in the competition with Patric Chan. This is because he respects Chan, and wants to cross swords with him as equals. So he looked very nervous in the Skate Canada.
In TEB, I hope Yuzuru will overcome the pressure!:thumbsup:
 

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Yuzuru's costumes are very similar. Definitely a sense of style and point of view, which matches well with his music, but not much differentation from season to season it seems to me. I could see it being a good thing for him to be more varied in his costume choices as he continues to mature and progress.
 

zydeco88

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Has anyone seen or read an interview with Yuzu after his skate in Canada? One in which he talks about how he was feeling, thoughts on the program, etc.?
If you're looking for a full-length feature interview like the one conducted and published online by Canon last year, unfortunately there has been none. The majority of the newspaper articles I came across online basically highlight the same thing: his vexation for having delivered a sub-par performance despite the fact that he was well-conditioned (he was completely healthy, didn't have any injuries whatsoever) and frustration over his inability to understand what exactly had gone wrong. He hasn't figured out the roots of the problems yet and plans to dissect the videos of his performances again in detail and get to the crux of the problems. He considers this setback as a means of sustenance as he gears up for TEB. He was frustrated and even dejected after he ended his performance, but now he's all ready to regroup, move forward and do his best at the next competition.
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2013/10/28/0006452826.shtml
http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/sports/news/CK2013102802000112.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/131028/oth13102809250001-n1.htm
http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20131028k0000e050170000c.html


Rather than his lack of physical endurance and posture which has been the subject of unending humdrum criticisms, I'm more concerned about his mental aspect. He's certainly got the grits and resilience to make a comeback especially after experiencing a descent from the zenith of success to the nadir of adversity, but I don't think that he's all that mentally tough. When I watch athletes like Yuna Kim or my favorite male artistic gymnast, Kohei Uchimura perform their routines, I can be sure that they will put my mind in peace and not disappoint. Yuzuru still doesn't have the presence of mind, that these athletes have, to stay calm and composed under any kinds of circumstances, unfettered by fear or insecurity. I remember reading a full-coverage documentary article on Yuzuru published in a Japanese figure skating magazine, Sports Graphic Number 822, titled "Boundless Desire of an 18-year-old, Young Alive On Ice", where he says,
“I always keep my mind open and absorb everything I see and feel. That’s why I honestly let my feelings out. If I didn’t open up my mind, I wouldn’t be able to absorb anything. Wouldn’t that be uninteresting?”

He takes in whatever enters his field of vision, but the downside is that he sometimes lets it distract his mind, which was what happened at Skate Canada. He even admitted in his interview post-SP that his mind was just going around in circles (like Rin has pointed out) during the official practices and the 6-min warm-up: he was unable to focus and constantly getting distracted probably by Machida's strong showings at Skate America, the fact that he had to face Patrick Chan, etc. As he grows as a skater, I hope that he will build on his self-belief and focus. I'm not optimistic that he'll be able to cope with all the mental pressure this season, but he can prove me wrong.
 

zydeco88

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Yes the other documentary was the NHK one. Too bad it's been removed, I've been able to find a copy of it but without subtitles I can't understand much.
That's really unfortunate. The translator is actually a member of this forum. S/he used to frequent this thread, but I don't see her/him that much as of late (s/he could be just lurking around the board though). You might want to ask people over at YH Forum for help (there's a video request thread), I'm pretty sure some of them have the subtitled version and I believe, they'd be more than willing to help you. :)
 

yude

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
A bit off topic from skating, but,

I think many of you know that Yuzuru is a baseball fan.

This year, (Sendai based) RAKUTEN Eagles won the league title. And also, Hiroshima Carp, Yuzuru's favorite team secured the spot in the Climax Series (just like the Wild Card in MLB). Hiroshima Carp (only team owned by citizens, not by an enterprise in Japan) could not win for years, so Hiroshima fans are so excited :clap:

Yuzuru must be very happy and excited too. I hope this could be a propitious sign for him :)

Both teams are now fighting to win the title of Japanese Champion.

I'm sorry for the late reply, but RAKUTEN has just became number 1 team in Japan this year!!
Yuzuru's favorite team couldn't make it to the Japanese Championships, but he must be happy and proud of his hometown Sendai being the champion!! :clap:
 

lakeside

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 29, 2012
When I watch athletes like Yuna Kim or my favorite male artistic gymnast, Kohei Uchimura perform their routines, I can be sure that they will put my mind in peace and not disappoint.
Oh, come on! Uchimura almost made Japan fall off the podium at the team event in London due to his big mistake. I don't see how he's more mentally stronger than Yuzru.
 

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
I wish someone would provide translations of the commentary from both Japanese and Russian broadcasts. Would be so interesting to hear what is being said
 

zydeco88

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Oh, come on! Uchimura almost made Japan fall off the podium at the team event in London due to his big mistake. I don't see how he's more mentally stronger than Yuzru.
Here's the thing: a measure of one's mental toughness should not be based solely on a single event in his/her life. Even legends, regardless of their sports disciplines, do make mistakes one time or another. Just take a careful look over what Uchimura has achieved throughout his career as an artistic gymnast (won four consecutive (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013) world titles in All-Around Event, a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics) and at the way he frequently delivers his routines with confidence, sureness, consistency and dexterity, if it's not called mentally tough, I don't know what it is. It's true that he made several uncharacteristic errors at the 2012 Olympics, he fell off the pommel horse and high bar in the prelims and ended up qualifying in ninth, didn't do exactly better in the team finals by making the same mistake in the pommel horse routine which led to the judging controversy. His calm and collected self was not there and he was not in his usual zone. But imagine the immense amount of psychological pressure he had been subjected to as he headed into the men's All-around event, which was compounded by the unsympathetic ignorant outcries of the haters who wished him to perform badly in response to the judging controversy. Amidst all of that, even though his performance was nowhere the quality of what he usually puts out, he managed to rebound and come out on top to snatch that gold medal. Olympic pressure is just on a whole different level to the kind Yuzuru's faced up until now. Whether Yuzuru will be able to stay relatively unfazed by it and come out with his dignity intact remains to be seen. Uchimura has years and years of experience behind him and he has more often than not, been able to get into the right frame of mind before a competition.

Mental toughness has different facets. In my opinion, Yuzuru does have the perseverance to push through against all odds, resilience to rebound from disappointments or mistakes, willpower to better himself but he still lacks the initial mental preparedness to cope with the stress of strong competition, insecurities and/or anxieties. Well, that's understandable since he's still very young, but I hope he'll get better at it as he gains more experience.
 

zydeco88

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Partial translation of an interview with Natalia Bestemyanova and Igor Bobrin (only the part where Plushenko and Yuzuru are mostly concerned, Kovtun is mentioned a bit here), courtesy of LT over at evgeni-plushenko forum.
Link to the original article: http://rsport.ru/interview/20131104/698256186.html

- As an ex-leader of the Soviet National Team, the European champion and the World Championship medalist, do you feel upset that Russian single skater in Men, whoever he may be, will unlikely medal in Sochi Olympics?

I.B.: Well, let's not discount Zhenya Plushenko. Although I do not know how well his health now is. His desire to participate in the Olympic Games is huge, but the health conditions are not always on his side in this. As for the other guys, there is sure a certain failure. And ironically Zhenya is partly the one to blame. Too many skaters tried to follow his syle, basicaly copying it. But it's a known fact that a copy is always worse than the original. That is where I see our misfortune: there's no individualities, no persons who could fully say that you can go in a different way. If you allow me to say it- to do what I did at my time.

- A Maxim Kovtun ? Do you believe in him?

I.B.: It all depends on psychology, how well he will be prepared. Sometimes he is the fifth in cometitions, sometimes- the fifteenth. The Olympics is a special event, you can't compare them to any other competition. This is a very different intensity of fight, someone must have nerves. In psychological terms, it seems to me foreign athletes are better prepared than we are now.

- You used to work with one of them- the Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu. Who found whom in your cooperation, he contacted you or you contacted him?

I.B.: My wife and I were invited by the Japanese Federation of figure skating. They knew about us, and about that I choreographed the programs for Lena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze with which they became the Olympic champions, as well as the program for Irina Slutskaya with which she became the World Champion. Natalia and I also choreographed the program for Sasha Smirnov and Yuko Kawaguchi, so I have some records in terms of choreography. And in all these contracts I was working not as a coach but as a choreographer and the creater of programs. Apparently, the Japanese watched all the stuff, they liked it and decided that it would be beneficial to invite such a choreographer for the young athlete.

I remember that from the very beginning we built a great relationships with him. It's incredible how he trains and follows all the demand of the choreographer! And sometimes the demands were to try something new, while we were not sure if that new will be included in the program. He implicitly tried everything what we said, and at each practice he worked hard, "till to sweat", literally to the point of exhaustion, feeling almost unconscious. When the Japanese television came to shoot his practice with us in Moscow, I thought this would be his last day in life, so hard he tried his best ( laughs).

N.B.: There is an idea that sits in our minds: the Japanese are different in terms of working hard. A year ago, before the World Championship where Hanyu won a bronze medal, the television visited us. After the interview with Hanyu they came to us, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong: they were just staring at us. Then the interpreter explained: "He said in the interview that he goes on every practice with the feeling of wild fear. He is afraid that he won't survive until the end of the practice." That's how he was given himself to work because he believed truly in what we were giving him. He's a very talented guy, and at every practice he worked really hard, as if it was his last time. Not so many athletes can train this way.

-Can Hanyu win in Sochi?

I.B.: Anyone in top 10 can win. They all go there for the Olympic gold.

N.B.: This is the main competition in any athlete's life!

I.B.: I can say that Hanyu is a very emotional athlete, he can make interesting creative programs. That is to some extent can be on his way: he doesn't have the nerves of steel. But, nevertheless, he has already gain quite a big competitive experience, he has proven more than once that at the decisive moments he can "gather" himself. Probably it's not a patriotic thing to say that I'll be rooting for him but I'm definitely wishing him to succeed.
 

Paola D

Rinkside
Joined
May 19, 2013
Thank you, zydeco88 and seniorita.
Glad to know quite a few Russian big names said great things about Yuzuru : Tarasova, Plushenko, Mishin, Yagudin, Eteri Tutberidze (if it could be considered as a praise ;) ) and Bestemyanova & Bobrin.

he has proven more than once that at the decisive moments he can "gather" himself.

It is exactly what Arakawa said in a recent news show. " Hanyu's mental strength at the decisive moment"

Good luck Yuzuru, at TEB!
 
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