Denis Ten: “I’m Like a Grandpa Who Likes Saying Philosophical Things”

Here's an interview I did with Denis Ten at Shanghai Worlds, when I worked as an amateur journalist for a Chinese website. The Chinese translation came out earlier in April thanks to the help of a devoted Chinese fan, but the English version was done only a few days ago because of my terrible procrastination.

The interview is very, very, very long and covers lots of interesting information. Hope you enjoy it!

This is the first thread I've posted here so I can't attach any link. Just see my reply below for the link.

Here's the link.
http://skatingchina.com/interview/denis-ten%EF%BC%9Aim-like-a-grandpa-who-likes-saying-philosophical-things/

welcome to forum!! and thanks for the article too bad he doesnt think about trying new choreographers, it would be interesting to see even for EX number but he should do whatever works for him the best, and funny how he doesnt watch his own programs and watch Lambiel, Yuna and Yagudin best of luck to him for next season

matmuh said:

welcome to forum!! and thanks for the article too bad he doesnt think about trying new choreographers, it would be interesting to see even for EX number but he should do whatever works for him the best, and funny how he doesnt watch his own programs and watch Lambiel, Yuna and Yagudin best of luck to him for next season

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The whole process of this interview was indeed very, very funny: biggrin: Denis kept making jokes, and it was such a pity that I couldn't write down all of them. Let me just divulge one: when I asked if he would choreograph for himself, he said, "You can congratulate me on this: I just choreographed twenty seconds for the men's ex."

Thanks very much for interview!!! Why don't you upload a wider version of his interviews containing jokes and more inside for his fans?

I love this interview. He is a very eloquent and thoughtful young man, but also full of spirit and humor.
In their own way, each of the top 3 guys at Worlds this year has that inner spark of humor that makes me cheer for them, not only as athletes, but as people.

This was a great interview. Denis can have such contrasts in personality, he's mature beyond his age but he can also drop very funny comments out of the blue. It will sound selfish but thank God he didn't take the year off since he got great results this season and, from what I read, it would have been hard for him to return to competition if he had. He's so talented, it would have been a shame to see him go prematurely. But it's nice that we'll have him until the next Olympics Thank you for the interview and translation!

Heloise2700 said:

The whole process of this interview was indeed very, very funny: biggrin: Denis kept making jokes, and it was such a pity that I couldn't write down all of them. Let me just divulge one: when I asked if he would choreograph for himself, he said, "You can congratulate me on this: I just choreographed twenty seconds for the men's ex."

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well, you have to start somewhere

DTFan said:

Thanks very much for interview!!! Why don't you upload a wider version of his interviews containing jokes and more inside for his fans?

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Newbiespectator said:

I love this interview. He is a very eloquent and thoughtful young man, but also full of spirit and humor.
In their own way, each of the top 3 guys at Worlds this year has that inner spark of humor that makes me cheer for them, not only as athletes, but as people.

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I'll try to recollect some interesting things happening in China right here.

1. When I asked Denis about his long-program costume, he said that was his pajamas. And he said he used to sing in a choir; though his voice wasn't so good now, maybe he would sing someday.

2. In the past two months Denis was obsessed with Weibo (a Chinese version of twitter), and kept making fun of himself and teasing his Chinese fans. So when we released the Chinese translation of this article, we asked him to sing a song for us or dance in his pajamas, as he suggested in the interview, as an act of REVENGE. He said the proposal was tempting, but agreed only to upload another selfie, of which we already had a bunch.

3. One example of Denis's teasing: his agent, a beautiful Korean lady, came when we were doing the interview. I asked how his life changed with a management company, he pointed to the lady and said, "Look at this beautiful face!" I asked, "Is that all?" Then he began his speech on the advantages of working with a company.

And I agree the other two guys are great! Only in a different way. I also did a short casual interview with Javi before the competition. One of my questions was if he was a humorous person off the ice, and he kinda suggested that he was everything: he would be humorous when he wanted to, and be serious, mad, or anything, when he needed to be. He said although he skated well, it didn't make him a better person than others, who might be good in just different areas. Such an amiable guy!

Yuzuru made jokes mostly in Japanese (although he seemed to understand some English jokes. I once saw him laughing like crazy at Denis's joke, but would never know what it was.). I don't know if you've already heard of them from the translations of the press conferences. He was also very high-spirited in the exhibition gala rehearsal, when he played with Jason's hat and parodied an Ina Bauer with his upper body hunching forward instead of bending backward, to the music of Turandot.

xibsuarz said:

This was a great interview. Denis can have such contrasts in personality, he's mature beyond his age but he can also drop very funny comments out of the blue. It will sound selfish but thank God he didn't take the year off since he got great results this season and, from what I read, it would have been hard for him to return to competition if he had. He's so talented, it would have been a shame to see him go prematurely. But it's nice that we'll have him until the next Olympics Thank you for the interview and translation!

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I guess all the skating fans are somehow "selfish" in that we don't want to see those great skaters leave. So good to see Denis also satisfied with his decision to stay. Thank you for your comment!

The ability to give an interesting interview is pretty rare amongst athletes. Since they specialize in sports, not speech-writing. It makes it clear that Denis is very gifted in so many areas isn't he?
And thank you Heloise for sitting down with Denis and also sharing the interview with us.

If you have any other anecdotes about Denis or any other skaters that stood out to you, I'd love to hear those too.

Newbiespectator said:

The ability to give an interesting interview is pretty rare amongst athletes. Since they specialize in sports, not speech-writing. It makes it clear that Denis is very gifted in so many areas isn't he?
And thank you Heloise for sitting down with Denis and also sharing the interview with us.

If you have any other anecdotes about Denis or any other skaters that stood out to you, I'd love to hear those too.

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Denis is absolutely a gifted talker. I actually planned only to do a 30-minute interview, but some of his answers were very long (and of course, interesting). I found it impossible to interrupt, so the interview turned out to last one hour. And he was always willing to show his phone. He played an episode of the adjusted music for me, and when he said Kenji was his friend, he also wanted to show a picture.
About the three costumes of Denis: he immediately replied that he had more than three, one of them was the Indian style, like the outfit of a Bollywood prince.
Now Jason. When I saw him at the hotel after Men's free programme, there were some people asking for autographs. He said a sweet, prolonged 'of course' and knelt on the floor to give his autograph possibly because there wasn't a table nearby. His kneeling was quite abrupt and we all were impressed.
Maybe you know Joshua plays the guitar? He played it backstage, just before his short programme! Looked like a young artist.
There were to-die-for anecdotes in the press conferences too, if you haven't heard of the recordings yet, I would talk tomorrow. Now it's time for bed. XDDDD
I find the desire to share anecdotes which I couldn't report then quite irresistible, as these skaters are all amazing people, and the more I get to know them, the more I love this sport.

Thanks for the interview, Heloise! What a lovely young man Denis is

"Inside myself I’m like a grandpa, I always teach people how to live and say philosophical things"
Haha, another Tatsuki Machida...you know Tatsuki's nickname was "the philosopher prince"?

It's gutsy of him to aim for the next Olympics. I wish him the best of luck, though I still hope Yuzu wins ;-)

Heloise2700 said:

I find the desire to share anecdotes which I couldn't report then quite irresistible, as these skaters are all amazing people, and the more I get to know them, the more I love this sport.

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and we feel desire to read anecdotes haha! since its off season we need any little info about skaters we love

Another reason to Denis! Thanks for the interview!

Sai Bon said:

Thanks for the interview, Heloise! What a lovely young man Denis is

"Inside myself I’m like a grandpa, I always teach people how to live and say philosophical things"
Haha, another Tatsuki Machida...you know Tatsuki's nickname was "the philosopher prince"?

It's gutsy of him to aim for the next Olympics. I wish him the best of luck, though I still hope Yuzu wins ;-)

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Yes I'm aware of Machida-san's reputation. Actually I almost titled the interview as 'Light Philosophy on Ice', but then I realized that the word philosophy was always associated with Machida-san. I'll reserve this title for him, unless Denis publishes a book on his philosophy. XD

Wish best of luck to Yuzu too. He's incredibly tough and cute!!

iluvtodd said:

Another reason to Denis! Thanks for the interview!

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Don't let him want for love But certainly he won't: he won more than a few hearts overnight during Shanghai Worlds.

^ He won my heart with "The Artist" in 2013 (as much as I like Patrick, I felt Denis should have won those Worlds). I was over the moon when Denis won the bronze medal in Sochi!