Daisuke Takahashi | Page 57 | Golden Skate

Daisuke Takahashi

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
So much info about Dai, thanks deedee! I did notice the changes that were made to
Sonatina at TEB.

Love Vogue Dai!
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
:cry: Why an injury now? Whyyy? God, this must be frustrating for Dai (and his fans who wanted to see him in Fukuoka)
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
Dai's blog entry about his injury translated by DTFF

http://w3.kansai-u.ac.jp/sports/message/takahashi/

Konnichiwa to all.

Today I have a thing to tell you. As I felt a pain in my right foot the other day, I had a detailed examination. I was diagnosed as right tibia bone bruise.
I have to undergo two weeks of treatment with rest. Now I keep quiet away from the ice. As I know there is no skater who doesn’t feel frustrated
by the situation, that he can’t practice, I think it all depends on me whether I save my feeling or press it. I will lead myself in a positive way and
face the situation without looking away from it. I will do what I can do right now as much as possible in consultation with my team. To all the people
who support me, people in figure skating business, sponsors, media and the people looking forward to GPF, I’m sorry for the inconvenience
and making you worry about me. I'm disappointed that I won’t be able to skate in GPF, but I will concentrate on the treatment
with the motivation to show my skate in front of you again.

Daisuke
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Thanks demarinis for posting translation of Dai's blog entry. And I agree with what you said in the Edge; I too have feared something like this might have happened since the beginning of the season...sad sad sad...

May I be allowed to re-post one of my own posts here from late June, please?

This one is for let's talk and other fans who miss Dai and his skating during this quiet off season:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr2ArhpVJLs

The above montage was uploaded by one of his fans when Dai injured his knee in 2008-09 season. I remember this montage helped many of his fans, me included, to keep a positive attitude when nobody was certain whether his comeback was ever possible at that time.

There was another montage featured with the song "The Rose" by Bette Midler that consoled my soul back then. It was deleted unfortunately, though... Let me allow to write its lyrics because is so beautiful.

-----------------------------------------
Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love it is a hunger
And endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
And you its only seed

It's the heart afraid of breakin'
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of wakin'
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dyin'
That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose

-------------------------------------

Daisuke and his beautiful skating is 'The Rose' for me. Even without an Olympic medal or World title he won. Personally I don't care about another Olympic/World medal, to be honest. I am simply grateful for the fact that Dai and his team can fully prepare for this season without worrying about any injuries this time. And fans can wait for another season to begin in peace and look forward to seeing his skating again. What a difference compared to four years ago! But I, for one, shall be most grateful to skating god if He let Dai skate one more time on the Olympic ice, because that's what he wants and because its venue 'Russia' means a lot to him, his team and his fans.

Russia is the venue where 17y.o. Dai and Utako sensei lived for months and had to share a small cheap hotel room to learn the world top level of skating skills for him and to learn world top level of coaching skills for her. Russia is the venue where Takeshi, now his jump coach, got the unforgettable/unfortunate ankle injury when it most counted, had to withdraw from the Worlds 2005 after the preliminary round, and had to put all burden to young Dai to get Torino Olympic spot(s). And Russia is the homeland for the devoted coach NM and for the devoted fan LT who fell in love with Dai's skating. Just like many of us.

The next morning after his disappointing 5th finish at 2011 Moscow Worlds. When asked about his future by J-media who rather expected a retirement announcement from him, Dai answered instead: http://www.47news.jp/topics/sportscolumn/2011/05/post_206.php

"I may not be able to end my competitive career with the best senario/results as I would hope for. At this point, I don't even know where the limit of my capability shall be. But I want to give it a try and see how far I can go from here. I may drop in the standings yet again, but I still want to fight it out with these fellow Japanese male skaters. I want to believe in potentials left in me."

The same day he and Utako sensei together re-visited the old ice rink and hotel in Moscow where they stayed in 2003, for the first time since then.

At the end of the above montage when asked about his dream, very young Dai answered shyly:
"Dream? My dream...? To get on the Olympic podium. That's my dream."

May an Angel be with Daisuke as he is heading into his 12th (and probably his final competitive) season on the senior circuit.

The words bolded are my most honest feeling right now. We, as his fans, can only wait and wish him a speedy and complete recovery. Let's send positive vibes to Dai.
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Please let me write a bit on Dai's LP, though it's been weeks since NHK Trophy.

The 2nd Day of NHK, I was sitting with my husband very very far and above from the ice again.
During the 2nd group's 6min warm-up, Dai popped 4T into triple twice, then had a hard fall on the third attempt, (unlike the previous night's warm-up of SP where he tripled twice but landed a perfect quad there and everyone went crazy) and made us worried...Thus when his name was finally called and he greeted the crowd and judges prior to the performance, the crowd cheered for him, waving hundreds of d1sk towels with every colors everywhere, much harder than the night before. :laugh:

The opening quad was successful, looked to me even higher than in his SP. Thunderous applause from the crowd, because no worry at all for UR call this time. ;) When he took the opposite course, from when going for a flip/lutz, we instantly knew he would gor for a second quad, I heard a lot of people me included held their breath, then sighs of relief, sort of you know, to see he actually tripled it, why, he did avoid a possibly scary fall that might have caused damaging his already injured knee further, you know. 3A, a thing of beauty; high and distant which is something missing from his jump repertoire in the last few seasons.
After landing 3A and skating backward on two feet toward judges, 'oh no, Dai, you are going too far to the corner! Can't close your circle in the end!', I cried out to myself! Dai skated towards Judge #1 almost, and I, feeling hopeless, saw other judges leaning forward a bit from their seats and to the left to watch his step. But his step sequence to Come Together was just huuuge! It probably covered 3/4 of the whole ice, his every step and turn covered so much ice and he effortlessly closed his circular against my needless worry, while fascinating all the people men and women young and old sitting in the front raws. :laugh: Did I say already I love his step sequence? I can watch him doing only this step all day. Lori said in a recent interview that she loves this tango-arranged Come Together, thus has been saving it standby for a suitable skater to show up for her to choreograph for many years but didn't meet any, until she finally worked with Dai this summer. ITA with Lori. Who else can do such less flamboyant but very sophisticated tango to this music! :love:
A shame on the second 3A. That (almost going down on his injured right knee on the landing) was soooo scary to see for us all and some let out a small gasp actually, but very gutsy for him to tack 2T at the end. And the rest of the program was just like a dream for the crowd! I love love loved the choreo sequence! He skated from one end to the other end of ice like, what shall I say, a balmy breeze in the spring, or a bird flying in the blue sky in the summer; so airy and smooth, soo effortlessly and freely. There was a moment/choreography right after a short back spiral in the middle he looked up the ceiling and bringing both arms up, and it looked like he was filling the entire arena with his love for skating. Such a happiest moment for all his fans that night, I thought. Sincerely hope his performances here at NHK would give Dai and his team a confidence boost as he is heading to the Nationals the most important competition late December.
Jeremy was also great. Nobu did even better in LP. Dai, Nobu, Jeremy, their skating skills and performance ability simply stood out, compared to the rest here, or for me at least. The podium was just I had hoped for (in any order)! :yes:

"Sometimes things do not go/turn out as planned or smoothly as hoped for, and this has become kind of my norm lately. So (a bit ironically to say) the thing not having turned out as planned were like as if planned as far as me concerned", Dai said somewhere I heard...(((Daisuke))) Then he added, "How do I feel the situation I am dealing with right now? 'Damn it!' I would say." (ETA: Dai actually said 'くっそー' in Japanese, so I would rather translate as 'You shall see come Nats!') From the way it sounds, I think he does not lose his fighting spirit at least. Get well soon, Daisuke!
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
As always deedee love your first hand report of Dai's FS at NHK, it was a "dream" wasn't it.
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
:eek:: I did, actually. But been weeks since NHK and too late to write something in the Comp thread, I thought... I will do so when I have time, if any of you would be interested.
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
^Dai is getting his hair done, he must be feeling good. lol

He sure looks great!
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
I am going to J-Nats this weekend. To root for all skaters who dream to get compete at the Games, and to say a big 'thank-you' & 'goodbye' to those who plan to retire after this season so meaning their final Nats: Dai, Mao, Akiko, Miki, Nobu, probably the Reeds...oh so many! whom I have loved and rooted for all these years...Whatever its outcome shall be, it's going to be very emotional for all these wonderful skaters and its fans.

As for Daisuke, we now know thru his book 'BeSoul2' that he has been competing while quite in pain over a year (and the pain got really worse before London Worlds 2013 and since...), so I have a very very mixed feeling on his decision to compete at the J-Nats, to be honest. But if that's his wish and his team's decision, with a green light from his doctor, then as his fan I just wish him good luck, hope he won't damage his knee further and will root for him with all of my heart, just the way I have been always doing.
I know not all of his fans on this GS Forum can be there, of course, but I want to believe you all being by my side at the arena and rooting for him with me. :yes: And Dai sure needs support and big cheers from you all, as usual and probably more than ever! :)

ETA Millions of thank-you to demarinis from me. in many ways! :)
 
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