Thread by @JustforYuzu

My thoughts on #YuzuruHanyu and fs. Long rant.

Having been a figure skater myself (decades ago), I’ve always known how corrupt the sport is. That’s why after I quit, I never followed fs closely but just occasionally watched competitions on tv (which was fun AND frustrating).

But Yuzu drew me in. He was special. At age 17, he started setting WRs, and it soon became clear that if anyone could beat Patrick, it would be him. I was happy to see him set new WR after WR, not because he was succeeding, but because the fs world seemed finally capable of

acknowledging the best as THE BEST.
He won Sochi, reached a level of fs nobody had ever thought possible, and won his 2nd OGM in 2018. By then the ISU realized that Yuzu was unstoppable, and something had to be done.

But even rule changes post Pyeongchang couldn’t stop him from setting WRs because his skating had no weaknesses. The ISU had no choice but to ignore the rules altogether.

Hence came the phantom ur calls, +3 and +4 GOEs on perfect elements, pcs caps for the tiniest of errors, coupled with lenient calls and generous scoring for his competitors. These were very effective, unfortunately, because Yuzu was a perfectionist.

For Yuzu, +4 GOE meant imperfection on his part, when it was only biased judging. The scoring in the past few yrs was, in a way, mental abuse. It destroyed his confidence in his skating.

But Yuzu being Yuzu, he continued to fight back. He continued to challenge his technical boundaries and created the most intricate programs (maybe with the hope that even the most incompetent judges might notice TRANSITIONS).

As a result, the gap between him and his competitors widened even further. This was not reflected in the scores, but the number of new fans only he was able to acquire with every skate proves this.

It’s sad the ISU couldn’t trust N*than to grow into a deserved rival to Yuzu. I truly think he had the potential. He could have grown so much as a skater had he been pushed. Fair competition between the two would have been so exciting.

ISU should have realized that Yuzu has more fans than fs has. He attracted so many people who had never watched figure skating. ISU’s sole job was to convert these new Yuzu fans into fs fans by promoting the fairness and beauty of the sport.

So sad about the lost opportunity. I fell in love with Yuzu’s skating and I wanted to fall in love with fs again, too. It is, after all, a sport I devoted a big part of my youth to.