Nontama0817 has already translated the gist of it above, but since I've already done it, here is my attempt.
It was kind of hard to understand Yuzuru's train of thoughts when he's still excited. Please let me know for any mistakes.
http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/column/detail/201511280006-spnavi?p=1
Thoughts after the FS (Yuzuru's reply only)
- Honestly, I'm so excited that I don't know what to say. I have a feeling of joy and also gratitude towards the people who have supported me until now. This isn't the PyeongChang Olympics yet nor the Olympics after that nor is it my retirement competition. I want to continue to work hard to give good performances. It's not about the score, but having a performance that will remain on people's minds.
Hanyu-senshu, as you were landing your jumps one by one, what kind of feelings did you have at the end?
- I just wanted to execute them carefully (any other better word for 丁寧?) and like everyone else who was surprised by my score, I was too. Right now, I don't have the words to describe how I feel, I haven't been able to digest how I feel towards my performance. I feel like I'm floating. Regarding the FS, it's not like I landed all the jumps nicely nor executed all the spins and steps well. I just performed by putting my feelings towards each of the elements, putting my trust in how I've been training and putting trust in my body. Each time people cheered for me after each successful jump, I could hear their voices, felt their gazes, thought that I could hear their inner voices that in reality I cannot hear, I felt something like that from all over Japan and all over the world.
A question for everyone. At NHK Trophy, all the skaters planned for quads in both the SP and FS. There were 25 all together which calculates to 2 for each skater on average. Looking into the future for the next PyeongChang Olympics, how many quads and how many types of quads do you think will become necessary?
- My lutz isn't stable unlike Boyang's. I have landed it by fluke once but the quality of my lutz and loop aren't as good as his. For the axel, I've challenged it a couple of times but I've never landed it nor rotated it.
So for the question, how many quads will be necessary in the future, my answer is that I don't know. I don't remember exactly, but I have a feeling that things tend to change with the Olympic Games. The most impressionistic Olympics for me was the SLC Olys and back then, all the skaters who placed in the top 10 all had high quality quads, but at Vancover Olys, Evan Lysacek won without a quad.
If I were asked which is correct and which is wrong, I think they are all correct. After Vancouver, a lot of people in the fs world were discussing whether a quad is necessary or if the winner should have been Evan Lysacek and an answer never came out of the discussion but almost 50% of us at Sochi Olympics challenged and fought with the quad.
I'm actually surprised that everyone (at NHK) went for the quad. But a quad isn't about just going for it, but it's about landing it nicely. Points are rewarded for landing nicely. The difference of BV between 3A and quads are only 2 points. A nicely executed 3A with GOE of 2~3 points is worth more than a quad. To put it bluntly, my understanding of the rules is that, if all jumps are given GOE of 3 points, you can win without a quad like how it was at Vancouver Olys.
The reason I'm going for 4 to 5 quads in the SP and FS with difficult entries and landings plus the 3A with qualities that are worth as much as quads, is because I think they are my greatest weapons. There will be more skaters of variety coming out. What I felt this time is that Boyang, who just came up from juniors, has included quads in the 2nd half of both his SP and FS and performed wonderfully. I think I'm seeing the future of figure skating in him. This isn't the only correct answer and I want to pull out everything I'm able to do and attempt quads with much more difficult entries and of higher quality.
Sorry for talking for so long
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