Yep... this is exactly why I'm hugely bothered by Raf's statements in this recent interview, where he puts all the blame for the short-term layout change on Nathan, as if he himself wasn't the one who taught Nathan to be this kind of competitor.
That’s why I wouldn’t worry so much about the interview. And I say that as someone willing to believe that some of it is a certain value of “true” — not that events unfolded directly as Raf says, but that he isn’t fabricating the entire narrative. Doesn’t mean I think it was a good idea to go public with it or that I’m not open to changing my mind.
Moreover, Raf is Nathan’s coach, and while I admire Nathan’s technical variety in quads, I feel he has numerous issues in technique that need to be addressed. And then there’s his 3A consistency. I’m not asking for his to be beautiful, but he does need to be as consistent as landing it as the top four, as that’s way too many points left to chance until he brings his hit rate up.
And I really do think he’s going too hard in terms of risking injury. The quad-heavy layouts are an ugly risk/reward game. I’d really love to see him slow down, focus on bringing up his level of execution on one or two (while dealing with the 3A), and then going back to variety. Quantity means less to me than quality, although I won’t deny it’s impressive. But Boyang doesn’t need every quad when his 4Lz is the standard against which everyone else’s is measured, and I’d love to see Nathan refine his jumps along those lines.
I'm also not buying that poor Raf was oh-so-powerless and that there was no point in trying to change Nathan's mind... (it sure sounds like he didn't even try, the way he describes it, or maybe that's just how it's transcribed...).
I can think of a few plausible scenarios, including Raf trying to reason with Nathan. But part of training a skater to switch layouts on the fly is that when you try to tell them “no,” it may not be effective. I don’t think there should be an immediate rush to judgment on any party — this sounds like a failure only multiple people could cook up — which, again, I take the interview for a “certain value of true.” It gives us a narrative, but there’s still plenty of missing pieces. I’m not comfortable assigning blame to anyone, but at the end of it all... it’s Nathan’s career, and if he really only wanted to skate one Olympics, this was probably his best chance with Hanyu being injured. Some of the blame has to fall for him for choosing to go risky while injured himself and without sufficient preparation, regardless of whatever mitigating factors there were.
I'm sure that layout change was a result of possibly pressure/ambition/nerves/pride/insecurity...? and not necessarily his family interfering (or at least not alone). And I sure expect a coach at that level of competition to be able to calm his student down and make him trust in his abilities, thereby preventing such a panicked rash action, or to be able to at least talk him out of it.
To quote Sebastian the Crab:
Teenagers. And Nathan was coming off a strong season where he hasn’t had to deal with Hanyu, who is the superior skater in terms of artistry, skating skills, transitions, etc., and that’s a bad contrast in the skating order, as Hanyu delivered a performance that, should Nathan make an error, would highlight all of his weaknesses. I’m not saying Nathan is devoid in those areas, just ... obviously not as complete a skater, and since his short went the way it did, Nathan’s strong points were never on display, and there just wasn’t enough program left in the short to even begin to make a decent comparison. It was extremely unfortunate, and given the skating order, another reason to go safe.
I've also noticed, on these boards alone, judging by several posts, that many people have quickly formed a negative opinion of Nathan just based on that one interview, badmouthing his (supposed) attitude and/or demonizing his family/mother... so Raf's definitely damaged his reputation. And that makes me sad for Nathan.
When you do something crazy and it works, it’s not crazy — it just works. (Military joke.) See: Hanyu skating with his injury. When you pull the pin and forget that Mister Grenade is no longer our friend, you get hit for imploding. I’m much more inclined to blame the media hype around Chen, as I think it was horribly dishonest and undeniably added to the pressure he was under... but — and I hate having to say this, because I just felt bad for Chen and like he was being thrown into narratives that weren’t his own creation and that he wanted nothing to do with, to the point he wasn’t even the lead in his own story — Chen wasn’t the only victim of inflated national expectations. It is what it is.
All of that being said... most people forget about figure skating until it’s an Olympic year. I strongly suspect Chen’s overall name ID is low, and that in two years, it will be low enough for all of this not to matter. For now, all we have is Raf’s account, which is incomplete; these things do pass. Don’t feed the fire and it will die. Maybe there was more going on than we’ll ever know and this was a way of lancing a blister in their relationship; maybe they’ll be able to have a serious talk and Nathan will come back stronger. We just don’t know yet.
(because there's also Yuzuru and he didn't want to participate).
