There is nothing I don't love about that program!
And talking about it, subbed favorite version at the moment, GPF, of my fave commentators
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54te1u_yh-gpf16-sp-esp-ita-diretta-del-08-12-2016_sport
I do so love those two. I was rewatching and had to post it as we were talking about it
They are just so informative as well!
Thanks for posting this! I love reading what other language commentors are saying and the Italian commentators are definitely very huge fans. I was looking for other subbed commentatories from them and came across these
links to translations of their podcasts from the 2015 season (for some reason, I only remembered reading about the Patrick vs Yuzuru scoring at Skate Canada). It seems like they really studied and understood Yuzuru's mindset and strategies pretty deeply. Maybe some things are obvious (especially by now) but there were some quotes that I thought were still quite interesting in retrospect:
- Had Hanyu worked alone, without a coach, a guru like Brian Orser, probably despite of all the problems he had he would have performed the programs like he planned them, regardless of injuries and issues, because that was the important thing for him. [...] (this was in reference to the 14-15 season, where he stuck to 2 quads in the FS instead of the planned 3 quads at the beginning of the season)
- Last week, Plushenko talked about Hanyu's 3 quads and another one that may come in the future: the three quads are obviously Toeloop, Salchow and Loop and the fourth one is the Lutz. [...] So maybe Plushenko is the one who understands Hanyu the most and according to him Hanyu will go to the next Olympics with 3 different quads in his programs and maybe a fourth one too. [...] Yuzuru Hanyu didn't clearly state “I will go to the next Olympics with 3 different quads”, but it's evident that his path is leading him to this goal. It's not that he will need those 3 quads to win, but this is where you really understand how his mind works: he's not somebody who competes to win the event, he competes because figure skating is a challenge against himself. So, being able to execute those difficult jumps in competition, maybe even with difficult steps before them, it's the biggest pleasure for him. Not being able to do it, because of an injury or because the coach doesn't allow it, it's a deprivation.
- I'm sure that he's thinking about this kind of program for 2018, but I'm also sure that someone will make him change his mind, explaining him about the importance of the victory, and that it would be better to have an easier program - if one of his programs could be defined as easy, when he does the quad with a step before, because without it will be too easy and even other skaters can do it. But if he had the opportunity to decide on his own, be sure that his free skating for 2018 Olympic Games would have 4 quads and seven triples planned.
I think it's also relevant in this discussion of Brian's role as Yuzu's coach and what he should've or could've done in different situations.
With regards to what happened at Boston for example, it's probably not an easy situation to be in, where the skater is injured and yet has the need/want to keep practising to compensate for that injury, and to tell him to stop. And it's not just anyone, it is Yuzuru, who has been in many situations where he had skated while injured or in less than ideal conditions and yet pulled out performances like in 2012 and 2013 Worlds, which probably convinced him that he would, somehow, prevail no matter what if he just willed it enough. And after what happened in the SP as well, where it seemingly happened yet
again, how would anyone convince someone as determined as Yuzuru, who has this 'history' to back him up,
not to do something in that situation?
And if Brian had managed to somehow miraculously convince Yuzuru to take it easy after the SP and yet the result ended up the same (which would not be unlikely, given his physical condition), what kind of regrets would both of them have then? Given Yuzuru's mentality, I would not be surprised if he would think 'if only I had practiced more' and Brian would end up being the scapegoat for the fans again, since he 'stopped' him from practising. It's a lose-lose situation. It's different for Javier, who was also injured at Worlds, but most likely had the mindset of trying to practise less under the circumstances. For one, he's older and more well-aware of his own physical limits. At the end of the day, both skaters are adults who did what they each wanted to do themselves and Brian had to find a way to support both of their decisions. Yuzuru has to learn his own limits himself, that he has to take care and listen to his body more, and yes, this was a hard way to learn it, but honestly, what other way does Yuzuru know? One thing I don't think ever crossed his mind was 'ah, why didn't Brian or Ms. Shirota stop me from practising so much?'
When Yuzu landed 4T3T successfully, even knowing there were two 3As remaining, Brain already felt like going to another planet
He had goosebumps behind his neck. Forgetting he was a coach, he wanted to go out to the rink to skate with Yuzu.(I nearly cried when I read this phrase.)
And thank you Daisy for all the translations! If only they released the book in the original English.... there seems to be so much nuance that could've been lost in the translation to Japanese (and then again to English). I thought that him wanting to go out to the rink to skate with Yuzuru at NHK was really interesting. He wants to skate alongside him? Like, skate beside him as he skates? And... do the same thing? Just be next to him on the rink? Or skate against him as a competitor, since he's forgetting that he was a coach? I'm not quite sure I understood what he meant there.
There was a lot that was going wrong in Boston, a lot of that out of Yuzu's & his teams control, and some of that within their control. Most parties involved made mistakes of some sorts, but everyone does - which coach/team doesn't? Making mistakes doesn't mean you're 'utterly incompetent' by any means. I rather think all of them owning up to their mistakes shows that Yuzu has a great team... and they learned from it. Yuzu, Brian, Shirota and I'd wager the rest of the team too. So I really don't see a reason to be worried because of Yuzus team right now.
