Kasai would be a member of any national team. No nation would be willing to go without him, he's just that good. And every ski jumping fan likes him at least, most love him. He's definitely more popular than Zhang.
Too right he would! :agree:
As David Goldstrom frequently says in commentary, he is super human!
And in Ski Jumping world, everybody love Noriaki, me included. He's also the best in his National Team. And I will totally believe him if he ever say he will stay untill 2022 Olympics. I agree that age isn't the factor that is most importatnt in the length of career. Health is (that's the only reason I think Plushy should retire, too many injuries for him). And the willingness. So I wouldn't write Zhang off. Though I'm strongly against them to change his partners as he/Chinese Fed likes just to lenghten his career. I'm okay with him competing, but not with splitting good, established pairs that have bright future ahead of them.
Couldn't agree more with what you say.
I am a massive Nori Kasai fan as well. He is one of those guys that you can't help but like. Not just because he is the oldest guy out there, or because of what he is achieving at that age. But, he does seem to be a really likable person.
It is always difficult to know when to call it a day. And I will stay with ski jumping for this discussion. If you go back a few years, my 3 favourite jumpers who I was a big fan of and always cheered on were Noriaki Kasai, Adam Malysz and Simon Ammann.
Nori didn't retire when many said he should have. And he was right. He was going through a bad patch for the best part of a decade, but didn't give up. He came through it and re-established himself as one of the top jumpers in the world.
Adam retired too early. He had just got himself back up to being one of the best in the world, and then he called it a day at the end of the 2010 - 11 season so that he could concentrate on his other passion, rallying. And I was gutted. I have no doubt that if he had carried on, he would have won the season long World Cup the following season. And he would have been one of the favourites in Sochi.
Simon should have retired, but didn't. Simon had had a very successful career, winning almost all the main accolades in the sport. Some would say he should have called it a day after the Vancouver Olympics (when he won 2 gold medals), but he wanted to win the one major title he hadn't - the overall Four Hills title. So, I think he was right to carry on after Vancouver. But, he should have called time at the end of the 2013 - 14 season. The Sochi Olympics hadn't gone well, but he did finish higher in the overall World Cup than he had the previous 2 seasons. Admittedly, he hadn't won the Four Hills overall, but he had finished in 3rd that season after being way down the order the previous 2 seasons. But, he carried on, and ended up having 2 big crashes in the 2014 - 15 season, hurting himself badly in the second. And he hasn't been the same since. But, still he carries on.
Ammann is now in the same position as my favourite Men's skater, Plushenko. As a fan, I would love to see him to do a Kasai and come back against the odds. But, at the same time, I know his body won't let him. And I don't want him to hurt himself again. I want him to live happily ever after with his nice Russian wife. So, I would prefer to see him stop.
So, my 3 favourite ski jumpers all had to make the decision on whether to retire or not. Two of them arguably made the wrong decision. But the oldest of them, the one in the dodgiest position, was the one that called it right.
Zhang Hao isn't quite in the same position as the ski jumpers I have discussed. Although he hasn't reached the heights he did with Zhang Dan, he hasn't been doing too badly with Peng Cheng. So, I would like to see him carry on.
But, not at the expense of a couple that is clearly world class.
CaroLiza_fan
