Hanyu out of Team Event at the Olympics

[TontoK]

That's an odd take. If anything it might get easier for Shoma. If Yuzu was doing the team event they would probably have him skate the short and Shoma would do the long (like they did with Yuzu and Machida in 2014). With Yuzu out, Shoma will likely do the short and Keiji the long. I suppose Yuzu might have skated both segments, but that would have been pretty taxing on someone just making their comeback.

Shoma could stand to benefit from the Team Event if he can do well and beat some of his competitors like Nathan and Boyang, which might give him more momentum going into the individual event. But personally I think momentum is something that seems more obvious in hindsight than in the moment, especially with how unpredictable men's events are.

I'm not sure why it's such an odd take.

I happen to agree with you, I think Shoma WOULD benefit. My comment was intended to mean that while everyone was discussing Hanyu and the team event (good/bad), I think Shoma is the favorite, and nobody seems to inclined to discuss who the team event effects him (good/bad).

Although, in retrospect, the title of the thread IS about Hanyu and the team event, so I'm on a limb anyway.

I am more and more of the mindset that the podium will be some combination of the young guns - Shoma, Nathan, Boyang and one veteran - Javi.

 

[shiroKJ]

I must be missing something. Since the free has the higher scoring potential, why wouldn't you want your best skater (e.g. the one capable of securing the most points) going there?
Or does team scoring have to do with individual placements and not total points earned?

The countries first goal is to actually get to the free skate and to do that, you need your SP skaters to do well. For a country like Japan who realistically have no chance at a Team medal, that means sending their best skaters to do the the SP enabling Japan to qualify for the FP.

 

[daphenaxa]

Why?

Because the vibe around him is quite similar. The injury, the non-communication with the press and to some extend with the federation. Him being in this bubble of complete obsession about winning the gold.
I think Hanyu is stronger mentally than Joubert was at the time so it doesn't necessarily mean it will have the same outcome at all. But the vibes are similar.

 

[TontoK]

I must be missing something. Since the free has the higher scoring potential, why wouldn't you want your best skater (e.g. the one capable of securing the most points) going there?
Or does team scoring have to do with individual placements and not total points earned?

This is the key point for the team event.

It does not matter if the first placed skater beats the second placed skater by 1 point or 50 points.

The placement is what matters, not aggregate scoring.

 

[sailormoon]

I think it has something to do with Russia's participation in the Team Event, for which Russia is listed as "Olympic Athlete from Russia," contrary to earlier expectations that Russia would be banned from all team competitions. Japan could have won a medal after America and Canada without Russia's participation. Without a possibility of winning a medal as Team Japan, Hanyu doesn't have to waste his energy on the Team Event and he needs to focus on his individual competitions instead, making sure that he is going to make the podium. Hanyu will depart for South Korea later than other Japanese skaters who were photographed together at an airport.

https://twitter.com/ryuichi_kihara/status/959973778368348160

 

[Plumededragon]

Because the vibe around him is quite similar. The injury, the non-communication with the press and to some extend with the federation. Him being in this bubble of complete obsession about winning the gold.
I think Hanyu is stronger mentally than Joubert was at the time so it doesn't necessarily mean it will have the same outcome at all. But the vibes are similar.

Joubert didn’t even want to go to Vancouver, his moral was very low at that time and it showed in his performances. Yuzu, on the contrary, is motivated and wants to fight for the gold, to which he has a good chance of.

 

[YesWay]

The countries first goal is to actually get to the free skate and to do that, you need your SP skaters to do well. For a country like Japan who realistically have no chance at a Team medal, that means sending their best skaters to do the the SP enabling Japan to qualify for the FP.

If it was me in charge... given no chance of Team medal... my first goal would be to NOT reach the FS...! ie. Not burden my skaters with that, before their individual competitions...

 

[Marin]

If it was me in charge... given no chance of Team medal... my first goal would be to NOT reach the FS...! ie. Not burden my skaters with that, before their individual competitions...

Absolutely, imagine James/Cipres has to skate 4 programs if France qualifies for FS. Given how close pair competition is it can totally drain them and France will not get medal in Team no matter how they try. I always thought Team Event was not necessary, especially as Olympic discipline. It just adds additional pressure to this monster marathon. I can get WTT and such fun competitions but adding it as Olympic discipline is unreasonable for me. I always remember Yulia's example . the girl was going as heavy favorite for medal and she got burned out in team . I remember Yuzuru said same thing, He skated team SP and individual without pressure but by LP he said pressure hit him and his legs were shaking. I was checking Sochi timeline for Yuzuru these days and two points I wanted to highlight: 1) the peaking that he had to readjust after team event....2) the media craze after team and how he managed to keep a distance and get his own pace the unwritten message is for the fans to understand that if he ends up not doing team this time
there's no need to panic because there are various factors to be considered other than if he's fit enough to compete or not. In certain case it can be just waste of stamina.

 

[Spinning]

If it was me in charge... given no chance of Team medal... my first goal would be to NOT reach the FS...! ie. Not burden my skaters with that, before their individual competitions...

Especially these team events is such a farce, why burden the top teams in a short period of time. What happened to Mao in 2014 is still my nightmare.

Why the ISU didn't come up with new tweaks to the formatting is beyond ridiculous.

 

[charlotte14]

Hanyu going into this olympics reminds me a little bit of Joubert going into Vancouver...

I didn’t know Joubert was the reigning WC and Olympic Champion going into the Olympics 2010... and Joubert did skate both his GP as well as Europeans. Nice parallel which aren’t even parallel at all.

 

[charlotte14]

Because the vibe around him is quite similar. The injury, the non-communication with the press and to some extend with the federation. Him being in this bubble of complete obsession about winning the gold.
I think Hanyu is stronger mentally than Joubert was at the time so it doesn't necessarily mean it will have the same outcome at all. But the vibes are similar.

Huh? I didn’t know JSF hate Hanyu as much as French Fed hated Joubert... do you wish to see it that way?

 

[demarinis5]

Why all the snide remarks towards @daphenaxa. It was an opinion regarding the similarities he/she perceived between the 2 skaters, period.
I did not see any hidden agenda or slur towards Yuzu with the posted comment.

 

[FCSSp4]

Why all the snide remarks towards @daphenaxa. it was an opinion regarding the similarities he/she perceived between the 2 skaters, period.
I did not see any hidden agenda or slur towards Yuzu with the posted comment.

Indeed let's not single out daphenaxa because the general attitude in this thread is pretty dark...I can't figure out if people are genuinely concerned or just projecting what they want the outcome to be. I really hope it's the former because otherwise I think that's pretty cruel. I get that at this point the media black out is frustrating but it's really no surprise. Everyone wants to take apart every single thing he does so for once, focusing on his training and health just seems fair to me.

Also if someone makes a comparison like that of course people are going to agree/disagree. I don't think Joubert and Hanyu are comparable simply because we don't know A) Hanyu's condition B) the outcome at the olympics.

 

[nekun]

The closest one to Yuzuru condition right now is Yuna Kim in Sochi, She was the reigning Oly and World Champion, She skiped GP series due to injury(?). Unsurpriesingly she skated clean in the Olympic but still it was not anough to beat the host country own skater(Adelina).

The history will repeat itself if Cha Junhwan beat a clean Yuzu in PyongChang and win the gold.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

If it was me in charge... given no chance of Team medal... my first goal would be to NOT reach the FS...! ie. Not burden my skaters with that, before their individual competitions...

Uh, then why not pull out of the team event altogether?

 

[TontoK]

Especially these team events is such a farce, why burden the top teams in a short period of time. What happened to Mao in 2014 is still my nightmare.

Why the ISU didn't come up with new tweaks to the formatting is beyond ridiculous.

Regardless of how some fans might view the Team Event, it seems to have been a hit with the skaters themselves.

Even the skaters from teams that had little chance of a medal seemed to like the format. It gave them a chance to get an Olympic performance under their belts before the individual event.

I might be wrong, but I don't recall a top skater from any team last Olympics that declined the opportunity to skate the Team Event.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Because the vibe around him is quite similar. The injury, the non-communication with the press and to some extend with the federation. Him being in this bubble of complete obsession about winning the gold.
I think Hanyu is stronger mentally than Joubert was at the time so it doesn't necessarily mean it will have the same outcome at all. But the vibes are similar.

Thank you for elaborating. As demarinis5 pointed out I don't get the snide remarks about you simply expressing your opinion. The more defensive responses certainly got quite.... creative.

 

[da96103]

Wonder if it would be better to have the team event AFTER the individual events. It's not like Gymnastics where performance in Team event qualifies you for individual apparatus.

 

[kevinVchicago]

Or if we must make skaters perform their programs twice... do it after the individual competitions.

I totally agree with that.

 

[Ares]

Wonder if it would be better to have the team event AFTER the individual events. It's not like Gymnastics where performance in Team event qualifies you for individual apparatus.

People are always amazed or freak out when they find out that Bobrova / Solovyov call themselves Olympic Champions and are asking whether there is a mistake in an article etc. I think it is very telling about people not putting much importance into Team Event.