- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
On training so far at his first Olympic Winter Games:
"Training has been going great. It's working out as to where I need to be with the short programme, where I need to be thinking in terms of prep into jumps. Things have been cleaning up and I am really excited to start competing tomorrow after all the training I have been putting in. I think I will have a pretty good short programme."
On going to Chuncheon the past few days to train:
"I chose to do that just because of the limited ice time that they had available to us at the practice rink and it wasn't even on the main sheet so I decided that I would prefer to have a little bit of extra time on the ice to work things out should I need it. I was glad that I had the option to use it."
On if he can imagine competing at the age of 28 like Adam RIPPON (USA):
"Huge props to Adam for being able to do that. He's a whole 10 years older than me and it's pretty crazy to think that. Honestly, it's inspirational to me, knowing that although I am here at my first Olympics I still have a future ahead of me. I still can be skating. I can still be skating at a level that he is skating at 10 years from now. He's worked really hard for it and I am really proud of what he has done for the past couple of years. It goes back to me being inspired by him."
On having to work this hard at this level in 10 years:
"It's hard to say exactly what it will be like in 10 years. I can't even plan what it will be like tomorrow. For the most part, if I still have a dream or I still have something that I want to accomplish I will definitely put the work in."
On what quads he will be doing:
"I think I will include the quad Lutz, however, the number will be between four or five quads. I am capable of doing all of them, but Salchow, toeloop, flip and Lutz are the most comfortable at the moment and I think that's where my mind is set. Come the day of the competition I will decide specifically what I want to do.
On the potential of six quads in the long program:
"Throwing in the second flip is really preparing me for the short programme. I was thinking about doing the flip in the second half, just to get the repetitions in for my own confidence sake. However, I think it is too risky a programme as of now, I don't really feel as though that's something I am going to set my mind to right now. I think that five quads is pretty much what I am very confident about."
On who he sees as his main competitors now that Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) is back from injury:
"Honestly, just myself. I know that is cliche, but it's true. I can't control at all what these other guys are doing, and I know they are really stronger now. If I start dwelling on what they are going to do, or what I think they will do, it's just going to negatively impact myself.
"At this point in time I just have to think about the things I can control. Ultimately, I will be on the ice, by myself doing my programmes. They will have not factored in what I do in my programmes. That's really where my mind is set right now. Ultimately, I have to remind myself to think that way."
On what he thinks of HANYU back in the competition:
"Yuzu is great, especially having him back on practice. I haven't practised with him all week and a good portion of the first part of the season. As soon as the whole crew was together with Javi (Javier FERNANDEZ, ESP), Boyang, (JIN Boyang (CHN), Shoma (UNO Shoma, JPN), the whole atmosphere was elevated and everyone was trying a little harder.
"I definitely felt the energy come back and I am going to use it to my advantage, but again going back to the response before, I just have to focus on what I can do.
"I really feel Yuzuru's presence on the ice. It really elevates us and gets us to try harder. He has definitely inspired me and motivated me over the past few seasons to try newer quads, to try different things out and different layouts out. But when I am competing I can't end up dwelling on that. I have to focus on my own elements and skate as clean as I can."
On his dreams now:
"As of now, first and foremost, making the Olympics has been a dream of mine for a long time, definitely one of the dreams checked off on my to do list. I want to get another Olympic medal outside the team event. Really that is what has been motivating me and hopefully I will be able to do that here."
On how mentally prepared he is:
"I am pretty mentally prepared for this event, as prepared as I possibly could be in this point in time. But this is still my first Olympics so ultimately I don't really know what to expect, but from the team event, it honestly just really felt like another competition when I stepped onto the ice. The six-minute warm-up is still the same, the group of skaters is still basically the same. I am just going to take it as that and use experiences from the past to prepare myself for tomorrow."
On the young athletes on Team USA:
"It's pretty crazy that we all have accomplished this much just to get to the Olympics at 17 and 18, also we have Vincent ZHOU, who is also a part of Team USA, so it's crazy to see that we are able to have these really successful young athletes and hopefully we can inspire the younger generations to follow in our footsteps."
On any interactions with the North Korean skaters RYOM Tae Ok and KIM Ju Sik (PRK):
"I have seen them at a couple of other competitions. But it's super awesome to see them here, in the village, they are so united with everyone. They feel like any other athlete and any other competitor and it's really cool to see the Olympics do that, to be able to bring people who wouldn't normally be able to compete against us together.
"And obviously, I saw the North Korean cheer squad and that was interesting and really fun. Ultimately, I am really glad that they are here and really happy to see that figure skating is able to reach everyone."
On skating after HANYU in the short programme:
"I had skated after Yuzu a handful of times. The only thing I can take away from it is to be prepared for the Pooh-bears to be raining down from the audience. The good thing about that is it takes a while to clear them off and it gives me the extra time to get ready. I take it for what it is and I skated after him before and skated well. The crowd is always super hyped after him, so I will use it to my advantage as well."
"Training has been going great. It's working out as to where I need to be with the short programme, where I need to be thinking in terms of prep into jumps. Things have been cleaning up and I am really excited to start competing tomorrow after all the training I have been putting in. I think I will have a pretty good short programme."
On going to Chuncheon the past few days to train:
"I chose to do that just because of the limited ice time that they had available to us at the practice rink and it wasn't even on the main sheet so I decided that I would prefer to have a little bit of extra time on the ice to work things out should I need it. I was glad that I had the option to use it."
On if he can imagine competing at the age of 28 like Adam RIPPON (USA):
"Huge props to Adam for being able to do that. He's a whole 10 years older than me and it's pretty crazy to think that. Honestly, it's inspirational to me, knowing that although I am here at my first Olympics I still have a future ahead of me. I still can be skating. I can still be skating at a level that he is skating at 10 years from now. He's worked really hard for it and I am really proud of what he has done for the past couple of years. It goes back to me being inspired by him."
On having to work this hard at this level in 10 years:
"It's hard to say exactly what it will be like in 10 years. I can't even plan what it will be like tomorrow. For the most part, if I still have a dream or I still have something that I want to accomplish I will definitely put the work in."
On what quads he will be doing:
"I think I will include the quad Lutz, however, the number will be between four or five quads. I am capable of doing all of them, but Salchow, toeloop, flip and Lutz are the most comfortable at the moment and I think that's where my mind is set. Come the day of the competition I will decide specifically what I want to do.
On the potential of six quads in the long program:
"Throwing in the second flip is really preparing me for the short programme. I was thinking about doing the flip in the second half, just to get the repetitions in for my own confidence sake. However, I think it is too risky a programme as of now, I don't really feel as though that's something I am going to set my mind to right now. I think that five quads is pretty much what I am very confident about."
On who he sees as his main competitors now that Yuzuru HANYU (JPN) is back from injury:
"Honestly, just myself. I know that is cliche, but it's true. I can't control at all what these other guys are doing, and I know they are really stronger now. If I start dwelling on what they are going to do, or what I think they will do, it's just going to negatively impact myself.
"At this point in time I just have to think about the things I can control. Ultimately, I will be on the ice, by myself doing my programmes. They will have not factored in what I do in my programmes. That's really where my mind is set right now. Ultimately, I have to remind myself to think that way."
On what he thinks of HANYU back in the competition:
"Yuzu is great, especially having him back on practice. I haven't practised with him all week and a good portion of the first part of the season. As soon as the whole crew was together with Javi (Javier FERNANDEZ, ESP), Boyang, (JIN Boyang (CHN), Shoma (UNO Shoma, JPN), the whole atmosphere was elevated and everyone was trying a little harder.
"I definitely felt the energy come back and I am going to use it to my advantage, but again going back to the response before, I just have to focus on what I can do.
"I really feel Yuzuru's presence on the ice. It really elevates us and gets us to try harder. He has definitely inspired me and motivated me over the past few seasons to try newer quads, to try different things out and different layouts out. But when I am competing I can't end up dwelling on that. I have to focus on my own elements and skate as clean as I can."
On his dreams now:
"As of now, first and foremost, making the Olympics has been a dream of mine for a long time, definitely one of the dreams checked off on my to do list. I want to get another Olympic medal outside the team event. Really that is what has been motivating me and hopefully I will be able to do that here."
On how mentally prepared he is:
"I am pretty mentally prepared for this event, as prepared as I possibly could be in this point in time. But this is still my first Olympics so ultimately I don't really know what to expect, but from the team event, it honestly just really felt like another competition when I stepped onto the ice. The six-minute warm-up is still the same, the group of skaters is still basically the same. I am just going to take it as that and use experiences from the past to prepare myself for tomorrow."
On the young athletes on Team USA:
"It's pretty crazy that we all have accomplished this much just to get to the Olympics at 17 and 18, also we have Vincent ZHOU, who is also a part of Team USA, so it's crazy to see that we are able to have these really successful young athletes and hopefully we can inspire the younger generations to follow in our footsteps."
On any interactions with the North Korean skaters RYOM Tae Ok and KIM Ju Sik (PRK):
"I have seen them at a couple of other competitions. But it's super awesome to see them here, in the village, they are so united with everyone. They feel like any other athlete and any other competitor and it's really cool to see the Olympics do that, to be able to bring people who wouldn't normally be able to compete against us together.
"And obviously, I saw the North Korean cheer squad and that was interesting and really fun. Ultimately, I am really glad that they are here and really happy to see that figure skating is able to reach everyone."
On skating after HANYU in the short programme:
"I had skated after Yuzu a handful of times. The only thing I can take away from it is to be prepared for the Pooh-bears to be raining down from the audience. The good thing about that is it takes a while to clear them off and it gives me the extra time to get ready. I take it for what it is and I skated after him before and skated well. The crowd is always super hyped after him, so I will use it to my advantage as well."
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