Okay, since both Dasani and NordEsque asked me about it, I've translated
this amazing comment of Yuzu's LP at 2012 worlds on France TV
It had already been translated by
Yuzusan but it was incomplete and I think there were quite a few mistakes... and I also wanted to translate that amazing comment by myself because it's fun, I confess
. I used Yuzusan's translation as a basis, so thanks a lot for the amazing work !
So, here you are....
Be careful, it's pretty long because Nelson Montfort, Annick Dumont and Philippe Candeloro just speak ALL THE TIME. It's part of their charm....
***
The commentators are :
Nelson Montfort (NM) : has been commenting on figure skating for ages on french TV (more than 30 years I think) but still know nothing about technique
. He's nice, though, and loves figure skating.
Philippe Candeloro (PC) : former french skater (pretty famous here)
Annick Dumont (AD) : french skating coach
***
NM: What a great afternoon, because what we are watching now and are going to watch in the 20 minutes to come is going to be crazy, and I mean it. Because today there is a real chance of medal, bronze or even silver, for one or two french skaters. We won't speculate more about this, it won’t be easy but it's still possible.
Now, Yuzuru Hanyu, young Japanese contender, who eliminated Oda at Japan Championship, which is quite an achievement in itself (ahem, I think Oda didn't compete in 2011 nationals, but, well). He was slightly disappointing yesterday (in the short program), but he is capable of doing great this afternoon.
PC: So, is he going to stay as gentle as a lamb? (It is a pun about the idiom « être doux comme un agneau » (to be as gentle as a lamb). PC is joking because lamb=agneau in French and the pronunciation of “agneau” is almost the same as the one for “Hanyu”. In french, that is, because we don't prononounce the "h"). We are going to discover that now … this young skater has lots of qualities, look at this quad… it's clean.
AD: Wow … OHLALALALA, WOW!!!
PC: It's already the fifth quad of the afternoon …
(1:19) here the triple axel, with an outstanding preparation, with a great eagle just before. It is a very strong start …
(1:33) triple flip, no problem, now let's go on (the tone he uses shows that he is in fact ironising about how easy it looks, while it is not easy at all).
NM : Let’s notice that this contender is seventh in ranking, just behind our French skater Florent Amodio after the short program. Amodio has managed to invite himself miraculously in the last group. It changes all but, but here we have to wait and see because, this skate here, especially regarding what happened yesterday evening, may put him close to a potential podium or a fourth place. Let's be careful !...
PC: Yes because he (Hanyu) may be dangerous -(NM : VERY dangerous) – for Florent.
(2:15) PC: Wow triple flip, look, what a flexion work !
AD: Oh …What a … what a sheer will … what a wheer will to hold this jump !!!
PC: Normally, this jump should have resulted in a fall on the ground.
AD: Of course, he didn’t put his weight where he should have at all !
NM: How did he succeed to stay up … I hope we will see better in slow motion.
AD: It is sheer will. Just sheer will.
NM: It defies gravity … I really hope we’ll see the slow motion …. [then a bit of uninteresting babble, NM is very chatty
]…
(2:55) The three of them : Noooo!!!
AD : This is unbelievable …
NM: What happened Philippe !...
AD: He has gone on the tip…
PC: Yes, yes, he toppled on the tip.
AD: … it is an edge mistake. A novice mistake …
PC: It is not serious, but it still costs 1 point…
NM : It wasn't even on a jump !
(3:09) AD+PC: … OooOOOOh triple axel, TRIPLE AXEL !!! ….
PC : he goes on without a pause !
AD : OHLALALALA TRIPLE TOE LOOP !!!! THIS SKATER IS FANTASTIC !!!!!!! (they're applauding I think
)
PC: As I said yesterday, I made few galas with him in Japan last July, he was already really very impressive.
(3:24) here triple lutz, double toe loop, followed by another double toe loop…
(3:48) perfect triple loop, see, this is an almost perfect program.
NM: Despite his novice fault, oh … what a pity, I hope we will see that in a few seconds of course…
AD: I think even him could not believe it.
PC: I think his hand is injured, because of the way he looked at his hand when he went up after the fall. But the triple axel triple toe just after the fall was just fabulous… So now, (laughing) there's even more, look at this step sequence, he is a very very fast skater….
(4:25) and supported by the audience, especially by the Japanese. There are so many of them this afternoon at Nice's « Palais des Expositions » …
PC : (4:47) he is quite light so he can hold the program perhaps a little bit longer, but we can feel he's becoming tired.
AD
4:57) Ohlala, he's given everything, he's absolutely exhausted. Absolutely exhausted.
(5:10) PC: and with spins out of the ordinary, in the men’s category.
(the program is finished)
AD: This is magnificent, this is a sporting feat !!! Really magnificent, oh he can be happy, I think he has no energy anymore, he pushed himself to the limit. I have the impression that he is injured … I don't know where but this fall that no one expected, even himself … he is exhausted. I told you, you can see it
PC: I think his hand is injured.
AD: I don’t know if it is his hand, or his ankle … I, I don’t know.
PC: Look at how much he is sweating, it's impressive ! We haven't seen that for any other skater this afternoon.
AD: I think he gave the best of himself, even beyond that. He may collapse before leaving the ice rink….
So many Japanese people in this rink.
PC : Now he's doing the ritual japanese salute (little laugh)
AD : in any case it's a program with two triple axels, including one in combination. Plus one quadruple jump, that I find absolutely extraordinary and deserving at least 2 GOE points, dear judges. This opening quadruple which arrives with more speed at the end than at the beginning really deserves at least 2 GOE points. As well as the axel by the way, the first one. And then, a fall on a novice mistake! In skating school, we explain that « be careful, there are big tips on the front of the blade and you always should be careful not to attach it into the ice !»
NM : The slow motion has begun, and we're very interested about it.
AD : Yes. One turn, two turns, three turns, four turns. It's beautiful. Just beautiful.
NM : I wish we could watch in slow motion this jump where he stood miraculously, you remember, Annick ?
AD : Yes, it's not this one. This one is the triple axel – and he does it with a great eagle just before, let's just say that he adds even more difficulties.
(the fall in slow mo) Oh ! He topples on the tip in the middle of a three-turn, in the middle of a counter rocker, to be more precise. And then just after, despite the fall, he goes on with a triple axel and that's particularly impressive.
PC : Yes because a little fall like that looks like nothing but can distract a skater in less than two second.
AD : Yes it would have distracted more than one skater, don't you think, Philippe ? Really...
PC : Oh were it be me, I would have stopped the program right away and then gone to the infirmary
laugh2
. I would have been to ER !
NM : I'm under the impression we won't see his spectacular save on the jump in slow mo.
AD : (seeing Nanami Abe with teary eyes) Ooooh this is so moving.
(seeing Yuzuru in close-up) Oh my god his face ! (she seems to be moved
)
NM : So, normally Hanyu should take the lead or we don't understand anything anymore !
AD : Yes, I think so, of course, he should take the lead because... (the score appears) Ohlalalalalala what a lead he has !!! 251 points in total.
PD : Wow it's very high ! Thankfully he's not in the last group, as you said before Nelson. But he's dangerous, very dangerous for our french skaters.
NM : what is happening is dangerous for Florent, and dangerous for Joubert too, but we recognize this amazing achievement.
And here we see Daisuke Takahashi, his fellow japanese countryman, how lucky we are to see these backstage images.
(the end)
***
(Epilogue : Florent Amodio finished 5th, and BRian Joubert 4th... . We know who were the three medalists in the end)
We better get going on that
you guys so crazy 
