Then he did a live Q&A at the Uniqlo shop and lit their Xmas tree plus signed and posed for quite a few fans. The questions came from fans and it was posted as an IG Live stream plus some of the answers were sort of
translated here (very chaotic and hard to understand what was going on). Some replies were posted by Uniqlo and they are
available here. Clips of the whole Q&A are available at FB – am not sure if the person/group has made them public, but if you are interested,
try this, there are altogether 8 of them. The last question was about the current development on figure skating and he was asked what he likes and what he would change. He would change the age limits and then something about weight...
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I can´t remember when was the last time I translated something in this thread, the Spanish skills of the “usual suspects” around here are really impressive... Maybe I can help a bit with these videos. They are interesting because the questions are a bit different from the ones of a regular interview. There are a lot of videos, let’s see what I can do.
VIDEO 1– This is the most formal of all, they begin with the usual questions and the well-known answers: he began to skate around six, he never wanted to go into the rink but once inside, he never wanted to leave, he played hockey sometimes with his friends, but it was just a hobby and the moment or competition that he remembers the most was his first European title, because his family was around him and because it changed his mindset, "now that I've done what I thought I could never do, what's next?", and the other moment was his first world title, he didn´t expect it because he used to have small goals and it took him by surprise "Oh My, I'm world champion!". The question about what's next is what he is answering right now, the promotion of the sport and the athletes, the shows... all of that comes from there, from the time he spent competing…
I will edit this post to add the next videos... let's see if I can do it before the GPF begins…
VIDEO 2 - His projects at the moment are exhibitions around the world and, for the past three years, in Spain too, and summer camps, seminars, talks... The host asked him about Revolution on Ice and the voices in the audience began "come to Barcelona!", it's a show that is still new and that they do with all their love, they try to bring the best available skaters, the best available singers… theirs is a skating show with a different perspective, with live music, acrobatics, a new story they always try to tell... they give the opportunity to our people to see live skating, to see a show that doesn´t exist, not only in Spain but in the rest of the world, because this is a unique show and that's something they were told repeatedly by promotors from different countries… the host agrees with him, enumerates the singers and some cities of this year's tour and he comes the bomb "Barcelona I think is next year, well I don´t know if i am allowed to say it…" and the audience give them the appropriate response: "Ahhhhhhh". "Well, we still need to close the last screws" (that's literally what he said in Spanish), "we still cannot say it because…" And the host change the subject, to the open ice rink in Madrid "U on ice" that has just open and to Javi's relationship with fashion and Uniqlo. He's not a crazy fan of fashion but he likes Uniqlo, in fact it's a brand that he knows long ago because of his trips to Japan, where "there's one in every corner" and the brand style is the one he feels comfortable with on and off the ice.
And the turn for the audience to participate begins:
- GIRL: First of all, I love you…. didn´t you feel sad in the moment of retirement? Oh, my Good, I'm gonna cry…
- JAVI: Well, sadness… a bit because I spent 22 years, 24h a day train and compete, train and compete, train and... in the moment is a bit sad but I knew that, the moment I say "I leave it" it's forever, I'm not the kind to change my mind. The host adds that he left the competition but not ice skating, in fact we are going to see him more often, not only in ROI but in other shows he's working on.
VIDEO 3 -
JAVI - I'm going to be more available
HOST - In fact, now it's cooler because the competitions were not really available but now, we can see him closer. More questions.
BOY - I'm really bad making questions…
JAVI - Not a problem.
BOY - What do you think of the skaters that began later than usual, but they want to arrive too to the skating world.
JAVI - There are opportunities at any age, there're skaters competing at the Olympics that began almost 10 years later than me (I guess he's talking about Felipe Montoya). There's always a possibility if you want to. And there're competitions at any level, there're competitions and world championships for adults, I have training mates in their 60s and 70s and they still compete in adult world championships. There're always opportunities in this world and in the skating world too.
HOST - More questions, let's see here… stand up, please.
JAVI - Uy, and that jacket? It's from cricket club! CC is the Toronto club where I trained for the last 8 or 9 years. The jacket is from there.
LITTLE GIRL - Do you like Toronto?
JAVI - Yes, I like it a lot and they treated me super well, they took care of me and made me feel that I was part of them, Canadian, and that's something to be very grateful for. I like it a lot, it's a city that I feel a lot of affection for, for all the time I spent there and the way they were with me and the way it is.
HOST - Can I ask you why do you have that jacket?
LITTLE GIRL - Because I went to a course, to Toronto
HOST - Come on, more questions, the young lady
YOUNG LADY - Can you talk about the psychological training that you had before a competition or a presentation?
JAVI - In order to prepare psychologically, I never had something stablished, there were moments in my career that I had a psychologist but not really… (and here come some jokes from the audience that I can´t understand but everybody laughs)
YOUNG LADY - I don´t mean external but your own mental preparation.
JAVI - That question can have a long answer but the best coach for your body and your mind, for everything, is yourself, the only thing you need to do is listen to yourself and your own feelings, there're moments that it's easier and others that it's more difficult… let's say that I'm at an important competition and I've been working a lot in training, so if I know that I'm prepared and trained enough, I'm going to be more calm. I'll be nervous, of course, but much more calm. They key is being conscious that you are ready and you are going to do it.
HOST - More questions.
GIRL - Have you ever thought of being a coach?
JAVI - Yes
HOST - Does anyone want to be trained by Javi?
AUDIENCE - Yeeeeeeeesssss
JAVI - Yes, I think about it, it's an idea that I have for the medium term, but not for the short or long… in the next 4 or 6 years, I still don´t know, I want to begin to teach. My idea and my dream is to have an ice rink, of course, with a club and try to teach as much boys and girls as possible. Right now, it's inviable because I travel so much and I do so many things... What would I have a club for if I cannot be there? That's the reason why I'm not doing it now.
HOST - How many of you skate?
[URL="https://www.facebook.com/ana.canon.16/videos/pcb.2626149750836693/10221843439375572/?type=3&theater&ifg=1"]VIDEO 4[/URL]
HOST - Who's next? Your turn
GIRL - I'd like to ask you when you had hard times in your personal life, what did you do or what were you thinking about to help yourself get over it?
JAVI - Sometimes it was easier, sometimes harder to get over the hard moments, when I was younger I wasn´t so conscious about how serious the problem was or how to solve it. When you grow up, you are more conscious, but when you have a problem in your life, there are people around you that you can rely on and I always relied on my friends and family. There will be moments when your mind needs to disconnect, that's a problem I see in young people and in the world in general, quite often we don't know how or we can´t disconnect, and our mind cannot work at 1000% day after day. As I said before, listen to yourself, what I want, how I want it and what can I do to improve.
HOST - Another one
GIRL - How did you control your nerves before a competition, when you are there waiting for the music to start playing?
JAVI - That's very difficult, we all get nervous, very nervous, and in addition, that moment is the worst moment, people are watching to you in silence…
HOST - That and the moment of the scores, when the camera is on your face…
JAVI - In that moment I don´t mind, it's over, even if I fell 10 times, I'm done by then, but the worst moment is when you go out, on the ice, and there are, I don´t know, 10.000 people and suddenly all of them begin to shout and then everything is in silence and you are there alone, you only hear the pum pum pum (of your hart)… and your mouth dry… it's a very peculiar feeling. You are never going to get rid of your nerves, the adrenaline, they are a defence of your own body, you want to do it right and that's why you are so nervous, because you don´t want to do it wrong. How do you control it? Believing in yourself and being positive about what you have been doing and what you are doing in that moment. It's like when you are doing a test, if you have studied a lot, you'll probably do it well. It's the same, if you have been training a lot, the competition will probably go well.
HOST - Message: train a lot and do your homework.
ANA - My name is Ana and I want, first of all, to thank you for coming here to Barcelona. My sister and I, we have never skated but we have always love skating and we always were fans of you and Plushenko. We wanted to know if you can tell us some anecdote that you share with Plushenko.
JAVI - With Evgeni, yes. I'm going to tell you the funniest one. When I was young, I used to go every summer to train to a summer camp in Jaca. And there came Evgeni's coach with Evgeni and all their group. Plushenko's coach was in charge of the class… I mean Evgeni Plushenko, we are talking about the same person. I went there for many years; my level was lower… I was a trainwreck. And that is a funny anecdote because he keeps reminding me about that, he tells me "OMG, when I saw you there, jumping, you were like this (horizontal) in the middle of the air and the next jump to the other side, you were a train wreck, I thought what is this boy doing here, skating, he should do some other thing". That's why he tells me "I don´t know how you did it, from the skater you used to be to the skater you are now, I would have never imagined". Now we are very good friends but he keeps reminding me about it because it’s a funny moment, to say how bad you used to be and how good you are now.
ANA - If you allow me, I want to tell you, on behalf of my sister and myself, that not only skaters follow you, there are people too that have never skated, that know nothing of the sport, but you are a person that transmit so many things that it's a pleasure to watch you.
JAVI - Thank you very much.
It will continue...
Stories from Marca and El Espanol. Plus the usual summary clip from ROI.
I don´t miss the frost in the mornings, but in december, without clouds or wind, there should be some frost at night, and there's not… This good weather is going to cost a lot to all of us, so, don´t you dare to waste a sunny day while you are here! Enjoy your time!!
