Anyone who can attempt a credible quint axel has my eternal respect.
pleasepleaseplease do not say this too loud or some of them will hear and start on it the minute the 4A is landed....
Anyone who can attempt a credible quint axel has my eternal respect.
Anyone who can attempt a credible quint axel has my eternal respect.
As does anyone who does an artistic perfect 18 triples program have mine
How does one even do 18 triples in a program? Am I missing something?
I was making up things I don’t expect anyone to do a quint axel in my lifetime and I don’t expect anyone to do an 18 perfect triples program. But I thought the exaggeration would show that I prize the perfect jump more than the messy attempt at something new for the sake of doing something new.
My feeble attempt at humor
honestly now that yuzu has 2 OGM i have much less interest in watching him compete. i still love to watch him skate but i would be completely fine if he never skated competitively again. same for virtue/moir, as much as i loved their FD last year i had no interest in their comeback. for me if a skater has a decently long run at the top no matter how much i love them i would prefer if new skaters could take over the top. i know not everyone feels this way which is completely fair, but it's boring for me if i see the same names at the top for years on end. the ideal career trajectory for me is something like davis/white, they spent a decent amount of time as serious contenders, then spent another quad on top and retired after getting the OGM. i love them as well but if they had continued to compete it would've been really boring for me.
I totally agree. Meryl and Charlie are the perfect examples. It wasn't easy for them to make a decision not to compete any more, which they did in stages. Because they're fierce competitors, just like the others you mentioned.
But in doing so, they were generous, to the talented and awesome stars coming behind them, and to the challengers who got their chance to win world and olympic medals as a result.
And aside from the psychological difficulty, it was hard mental and creative work to find their passions in other directions, to pursue them, to live with ambiguity when all their lives up till that time had been about avoiding ambiguity. Or to put it another way, about single-mindedness and focus.
I loved Yuzuru's comments about wanting to continue because he wants to skate the programs that only he is capable of creating. But he could still do that in other venues, without risking so much injury by pursuing quads. I wish he'd go out on top ... for his sake, and also for everyone else's.
As for the 14-year-olds doing quads, I don't find it interesting. I can watch the programs while my brain notes that such technical prowess is admirable, but if it doesn't engage my emotions and my musical feeling, I'm bored. I can hardly watch a whole long program. Skaters like Alena Kostornaia and Rika Kihira, though ... I'm completely entranced watching them, because there's more to them than their jumps, even as young as they are.
But in doing so, they were generous, to the talented and awesome stars coming behind them, and to the challengers who got their chance to win world and olympic medals as a result
But in doing so, they were generous, to the talented and awesome stars coming behind them, and to the challengers who got their chance to win world and olympic medals as a result.
They retired because they didn't have a reason and motivation to compete anymore. Yuzuru has both a reason and motivation.
And about giving a chance to win world and olympic medals to others... If a skater is good enough, it shouldn't matter who is their competitior. I just saw on twitter a video with Yuzuru from 2012. He was competing with his seniors who were more accomplished at that time. And he said "I will not lose to my sempais". This is an attidude a champion should have. Not "I can't win when this and that skater competes".
And if Javi, Patrick, Daisuke and other skaters can go to 3 Olympics, why Yuzuru can't compete for a little bit more?
Plu skated for four Olympics. With various results, but with medals.
Plu skated for four Olympics. With various results, but with medals.
That was different. Plu shouldn't have skated his last Olympics. (And actually he didn't skate it properly; he just went and took someone else's spot, as some have argued.)
Of course, it's every skater's prerogative to choose how long to compete. It's my prerogative to state my view on the matter, but I have no compelling reason to argue with other people's opinions.
That was different. Plu shouldn't have skated his last Olympics. (And actually he didn't skate it properly; he just went and took someone else's spot, as some have argued.)