Considering such bad physical conditions hitting him series of injuries starting shoulder, knee, ankle and so on the whole season, very very well done at the J-Nats, Daisuke! :thumbsup:
I went to Yoyogi with my husband on Day 1 of J-Nats for Pairs SP and Ladies SP (as I said, no luck for Day 2-4 sigh...) When we entered the venue and started up the slope to the 2nd floor, my hubby suddenly told me, 'Look down the rink. Isn't he Takahashi skating toward our direction?' Then I remembered: there were official practices of Men that afternoon, and the opening time of the venue for audience overlaped the second half of the final group. Yes, yes yes he was assigned in the final group! Forgetting (not completely but almost
) my husband being beside me, I stared in wonder because he did try a quad toe if I'm not mistaken, slightly Ur'd but landed on one foot! With more fixity stare at him, I saw him land a couple of beautiful 3A, one with 3T. Watching Dai skating and jumping was mere 10min. or so till the end of practice but it was as if I were in heaven or in my sweet dream. 1-day delayed birthday gift to me. I will always remember his airy 3A and his smooth beautiful glidings on the ice in my heart. :luv17:
We are so lucky to see Daisuke on competitive ice one more time, aren't we? In the autumn 2008 we almost feared he'd never have come back upon his knee's torn ligament, then in 2014 we believed 'so, that's it;;;' I am grateful so mcuh to a skating angel who whispered into his ears again and again during Men event J-Nats in 2017-18 season;
'You can come back if you want. Why don't you give it a try at least? Competitive ice is calling you, Nerves, fire and passion is calling, the crowds is calling. Come back come back come back...'
These 18 months have been full of another ups and downs, as many of us anticipated. But at the end of the day he had one last precious opportunity to skate his programs on his home ice, to express his deep gratitude to Utako-sensei and his parents in public (I read somewhere Dai did invite his parents to a competition for the first time). Also, to say a goodbye to the competitive ice and his fans. Same for his fans; to return a BIG 'ありがとう大ちゃん!' in unison. Something Dai, Utako-sensei, other members of Team d1sk, fans
all of us had been feeling 'missing' since Sochi. All pieces finally settled.These moments were truly Christmas gift from the skating angel.
Did
you enjoy his very last solo dances from the sky, too? It was
you, right? And thank you,
Olympia.
But oh boy,what a
RIDE has Dai invited us all once again for the last 18months!
Normally athletes dicide whether to come back after sitting out only year, or two at the longest, aren't they? 4 years?! It IS
typical of our Dai it took him the whole Olympic quad to consider a come back.
It's been a great pleasure and such an honor for me to cheer for him together with you all on this GS Forum, incl young, new comers/post-Sochi fans.
Dailler-coaster never let us off rides, it seems. Onto the next chapter!
arty:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6fs7gBpj3f/ 
:
:
Hope he enjoys tomorrow, we'll do for sure!
