yuzuru choosing haru yo, koi as his beijing olympics gala performance, a program that is about preserving through the bleakest of winters by clinging to the knowledge that spring will surely come again, bringing with it a time for rebirth and renewal, and all the while knowing full well — or at least, knowing there was a solid chance — that he was going to retire and this would be his last post-competition gala exhibition..……. bitch.
Ok, so shit happened yesterday, and Ilia Malinin said VERY homophobic statements and also dragged Yuzuru down the bus. To recap, he essentially responded to a question asking him if he needed to prove that he is straight. Ilia responds by saying that he cannot say that he is straight so that he can get a higher PCS score. This is essentially implying that gay skaters like Jason Brown, who has literally been such a positive and supportive mentor in his life this past season gets free PCS points because he is gay and that Ilia doesn’t. On top of that horrendous statement, he also said that Yuzu looked “pissed off” at Ilia because he landed the 4A first, but still congratulated him.
I have several things to say about his live. First of all, making excuses--especially such offensive ones as a competitive athlete really highlights your personality and how you see yourself. Someone like Yuzuru Hanyu, who has achieved what no one else probably will in their careers is constantly critiquing himself. He’s faced so much adversity whether it is injuries or the ISU’s blatant underscoring--especially in PCS--when we all know he deserves SO much better in that category. His humility and readiness to accept criticism whether it is deserved or undeserved is seriously commendable. We never saw him giving any shitty excuse about why certain parts of his scores weren’t up to his standards. Stop trying to be oppressed and play the victim. You’re not.
Additionally, I just realized this, quite stupidly. When people host insta lives, they choose which questions to answer. If Ilia really wanted to, he could’ve just not read that specific question. But the fact that he did shows his true colours.
Anyways, our unbothered and unproblematic king continues to reign and I cannot wait till FaOI
this has been on my roughs for too long…I don’t think I’m strong enough to clean it anymore…but with all that’s happened to yuzu and with a new dgm chap coming out soon I guess it doesn’t hurt to share this :,)
it’s allen skating to the 14th’s melody
(obviously yuzuru hanyu referenced: intro from ballade, quad lutz from origin, twizzle from tenchi, jump and spin combo from hope and legacy)
I’m sorry the only clean frame here is the first one but i hope that you still like it :,)
After Beijing I swore I wouldn't read opinion pieces or listen to any commentary about Yuzuru and his career (especially not by Americans), but self-destructive me couldn't help it and now I'm mad, like really mad and nobody in my real life cares, so I'm gonna write this into the void that is the internet🤣
My question at this point is, what else does this man have to do to be acknowledged as the greatest (male) figure skater of all time (and yes, I'm talking objectively)? After what I've read/seen I just don't know anymore, but let's just look at some indisputable facts, shall we?
He is the only men who has won every competition on the junior as well as the senior level.
He has won back to back Olympic gold medals, which hasn't been done since 1952. And if we're being honest here, figure skating then was a completely different sport. So nobody has done it in modern figure skating
He also has 7 World medals (2 of which are gold). I don't know if people, especially the ones saying that there are people with more titles, know how crazy it is to be consistantly medaling at Wolds over a DECADE, not just a quad. Again no other man has done that in modern figure skating and only 4 men have more Worlds medals but guess what, that was PRE WORLD WAR 2!
He has been one of the people pushing the quad revolution forward, being the first to land the quad Loop. So, another one for the record books. And of course the whole 4A saga, that he has been the driving force behind for the last few years. And don't tell me someone else has tried it before, because yes, I know someone has, but nobody has brought that jump into the conciousness of the other skaters and the public like Yuzuru has. It was considered impossible until he started openly training it and now everyone and their mother wants to try it, too.
He has broken 19 World records, more than any other person and also over the timespan of a decade, which again, is insane in a sport people often don't (or can't) even compete that long in general at the senior level.
He won 4 Grand Prix Finals, which also noone else has done (and consecutively I might add).
Now those are some facts. Now you can of course also talk subjective points like the effortlessness with which he skates, the musicality and fluidity but that is not what this little (or maybe big😊) rant is about, cause I know there are people who for some reason don't like that style and prefer something else. Alright, you do you! Not my point right now.
I am also aware that the populatity of someone in whatever field doesn't automatically make them great, but if you take a look outside the tight knit skating community (which I know a lot of people in there, especially in the US, don't like to do) and see the impact Yuzuru Hanyu has had on this sport, it is quite astounding. The amount of people becoming interested and invested in figure skating all over the world because of one person is insane. His name alone can fill arenas.
The reason I'm mentioning this is the question I've asked at the beginning. What else does he have to do? If all the medals, titles and records aren't enough, what else? Maybe being the face of the entire sport? Maybe his unique style? Maybe the fact that the ISU changed the scoring system to scew over one person and show him the door cause he got bigger than the sport itself?
Now I thought maybe Beijing could be that competition where people finally acknowledge the fact that there has never been anyone, who was better but of course the man has to have the most bad luck a person can possibly have at a competition. But you know what? I honestly think had there been another outcome, it wouldn't have changed anything, cause it's just never enough, no matter what he does.
It will always be "He may be one of the greatest" or at most "He is one of the greatest". No, you know what, if you take all the biased bullsh*t and subjectivity out of the discussion and look strictly at what he has accomplished? He IS the greatest of all time.
Now I don't even know why I wrote this about someone doesn't know I exist and that I obviously don't know, but I've been following Yuzu's career since I was 14 (and he was 16) and figure skating has always been "my thing" since even before that. So even though it's stupid I just needed to get this of my chest and for some reason I feel better now even if it doesn't really matter🤣 (and I'm pretty sure Yuzu's a lot more hung up on that damn 4A than all of this, but I can't help it)
So, I don't have an answer to my original question, but maybe someone else would like to enlighten me or has some other comment?😅