- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
Yuzuru Hanyu's interview: Brian is sometimes like a mother
Victor from Yuzuru's fan thread has just translated Yuzuru's interview with Canon. I hope people can enjoy.
http://web.canon.jp/event/skating/interview/int_hanyu03_1.html
(Q) I was so surprised to hear you got an operation just after the Japan National in December. Wasn't there any other options?
(Y) No, I had an abdominal operation. The doctor cut 4 cm in a crescent shape around my navel. Doctor explained to me that this method damages my muscles the least. It was done under a general anesthetic. Then I stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks. Since I got my fascias sutured, my doctor said, I had to be very carefully in daily life for a while, so I just took rests at home for 4 weeks.
(Q) It was very long. I guess you couldn't help feeling anxious?
(Y) Actually I was afraid of losing my muscle power, so I thought I should have vivid images of my good executions in my head. I watched the videos of GPF etc, where I did well, and watching them over and over, I rehearsed them like "Oh, that's the timing." and practiced all the jumps in my head. Thanks to the imagery training, the feeling of skating on the ice wasn't so changed as I had worried before.
(Q) What do you think the next season is likely to be?
(Y) I am now back to a position where I chase someone else, just as I tried to beat Patrick Chan during the Olympic season. This time, he is my teammate. Since Javi will be always close to me, I can maintain my frustrated feeling and move forward using that feeling of frustration as a spring."
(Q) I heard you got your right ankle sprained when you landed a quad jump. Did you feel anxious in those days? You seem to have been in a hurry.
(Y) The opposite rather. as I had 2 months more to the Worlds at that time, I felt like putting 3 quads in my LP as the original layout. So I did some training again and again, in which I practiced "the third quad in the tiring second half" after I did many run-throughs. I did the set many times. Consequently I got a sprained ankle. That's one of the learns I have to reconsider.
(Q) As a result, you resumed your training at the beginning of March. Is that the reason why you couldn't go to Toronto?
(Y) Finally I decided to practice in Japan, for I wasn't in very good shape yet, for the short-flight of Japan-Shanghai is preferable to the long-flight of Toronto-Shanghai considering my health condition.
(Q) Did you wonder whether you would be scolded unless you went to Toronto?
(Y) No, not at all. (Laughter) Brian always cares about me and he is not the person putting incessant pressure on you, not the person thinking all the time, like " I have to order him to do this or that to make him busy." He approached me in the same manners as usual, in order that I could be relaxed. I'm really grateful to him for his consideration.
(Q) How did you practice without him?
(Y) I e-mailed him every day. I asked him about everything, even about how to correct my ill-positioned jumps on the e-mails. It was such a hard job for me to explain everything in English. But Brian knows my original manner/capability of jumping well, so he compared my good jumps and bad jumps on the videos of COC, GPF etc. and gave me advice like, "Yuzuru, you have a tendency to do that, so adjust it in this way when it happens......" In that way, I regained my sense/feeling of jumping gradually, better and better.
(Q) Did you feel a kind of lag, a gap compared with given advices on face-to-face basis？
(Y) When I made some mistakes on jumps, I couldn't get any advice from him on the spot. That was hard. But I came to understand the points to be payed attention to when I jump, because the points Brian and Tracy are always advising me are mostly the same things recently. So, basically I recalled the advice they had given me at TCC for three years and followed them.
(Q) You had only 3 weeks of training. What practice did you aim at?
(Y) Anyway I did more run-thoughts than last summer or before GPF and tried gaining stamina. So I thought I'd got prepared better, in better condition than JN.
(Q) Then you determined to enroll WC, right?
(Y) No, in my mind, I didn't have the option to withdraw. Because I am a skater on the active list, a competitor, I don't have any illogical feeling about it. I was chosen as a member of Team Japan, then I must skate to compete there. I've always thought I'm happy that I can continue skating, which I love most, thanks to my family and the people supporting me, who have been always allowed me to do what I want.
(Q) You've come to WC at last and you met your team members again here in Shanghai
(Y) I was really relieved meeting them. Brian seemed to be relieved too. And when he saw my practice, he said to me, "Oh, good/that's fine/you're doing well!" So that words made me reassured. I think I'm happy that we could be reunited here this time.
(Q) Did't you feel lonely while you trained alone by yourself?
(Y) Since you can practice freely using the music, it's not a disadvantage at all. Brian asked worriedly, "Can you keep your motivation?" But he also said like that, "but you're Yuzuru. You're gonna OK/You'll make it.“ Yes, definitely I was highly motivated to peak myself here to WC.
(Q) It's been a long time since you practiced among the other skaters last time. Didn't their skating speed affect you?
(Y) Oh, yeah. I was a little nervous during the public practice. Kozuka Takahiko, Mura Takahito, Michal Brezina, Dennis Tenn, and Javier were there and they were skating on top speed. And of course I probably had a bit of thought, "That was the Shanghai, where .....you know"
That's why I couldn't concentrate on the practice well.
(Q) How did you feel (when you were) with Javier?
(Y) This season, I've hardly practiced with Javi. Though, I got to feel as usual soon after we started the public practice, feeling like a kind of daily routine, Brian is there watching both of us.
(Q) And the day of SP, you stepped out the first 4T.
(Y) To say the truth, I'm not reconciled yet about the 4T. It's my score-making jump. It's big. First of all, I have a feeling I've lost my competitive intuition. I wasn't used to the tense atmosphere during the public practice and the 6 mins practice. So I might have lack my concentration on what I did.
(Q) Even though you couldn't concentrate on skating well, you got 95.20 and you were top at that point.
(Y) Yes, the 4T's mistake wasn't so fatal as falls, or 2T replacing 4T. I could manage it, just a step out. And I think this 3 weeks' hard intense training led the rest of the SP to the high level which I could add enough points to recover the ill-4T.
(Q) What do you think about the 2 quads in LP?
(Y) This time, I got the feeling I was much swayed by the circumstances, like the atmosphere in the venue, or my rival skaters......I had such kind of weakness (mentally) this time. I could make it during practicing, but I couldn't make it at the competition. That means, to me, I have to reconsider the method of practice and how to prepare (peaking?) for the moment of competition. Yeah, I executed both SP and LP pretty well at GPF, but COC, NHK, and GPF were scheduled in succession, not having a big blank between each competition. Brian and I had a picture like, "I was like that (at COC), now like this (at NHK), and will be like.....(at GPF)". But this time, I've had 3 months' blank. While my mental state has been changing (apart from competitions and skating), small lags/gaps occurred in my intuition.
(Q) In the public practice, you made 4Ss so cleanly.
(Y) Yeah, I didn't worry about 4Ss because my 4Ss had been more consistent/stable than my 4Ts, even when I practiced in Japan. I landed them in the same clean way all the time. Brian also said, "That's fine!" So I trusted my feeling, but it turned out to..."
That means nothing if you can't make it at a competition, you know."
(Q) What do you think about the result? (SP 1st with 95.20, LP3rd with 175.88, Total 2ns with 271.08)
(Y) I'd rather say, "I recovered well." I lost about 20 pts due to the quads' mistakes, 2S replacing 4S, 4T with a fall. I usually get GOEs too.I got the feeling, "My expressions, skating etc earned much points. That rescued me."
(Q) Fernandez skated after you.
(Y) It must have been very difficult for Javi. He was supposed to skate after me, there were so many flowers and stuffed animals in the ice. The stirring mood of the rink side, noisy. Moreover, as Brian was watching my LP, he had to be focused on his preparation alone in the hall until his turn, and came down to the rink and, at last, Brian joined him. This was his situation. So it was due to his unremitting efforts that let him execute the LP of that (high) level.
(Q) Fernandez stole the 1st from you/got the come-from-behind victory.
(Y) if I had been 1st and Javier 2nd, he would have congratulated me on my victory. Even though he envies someone's success a bit, he can subdue the fire deep in him or even put it out, and never ever show nor speak out negative things to annoy others. GPF was held in Barcelona, his country Spain. There he executed his LP very beautifully, yet he was the 2nd. He must have been very chagrined at the result, but he still congratulated me from the bottom of his heart. Then about me, 90% is "envy/chagrin.!" But I found an undoubted joy in me, a joy to celebrate the victory of my team mate. All the people on my team said to me, " Javier has been working on the training so hard this time. I've never seen him working on it so hard before!" And I'm really happy to see his efforts fruit at last because I can surmise how he's been practicing hard.
(Q) This time, Javier is 1st, you're 2nd, and Nam is 5th. The sons of B. Orser did a marvelous job.
(Y) I'm really grateful to Brian. I really realized that TCC with Brian is incredibly wonderful, and that we're training in such a happy environment.
(Q) Team Brian is the KEY, right?
(Y) Yes, it's Brian that travel with us around the world. But each of the coaches is a specialist in each field, with having the expertise of high level and they exchange their knowledge and opinions each other. And they teaches all the athletes including Javi and me equally with great care. Equally, no exception. It's been 3 years since I moved to Toronto. Javi is like a very thoughtful elder brother for me, and Brian is sometimes like a mother. He is a sort of warm-hearted person who is always with us and watching us growing (not only as a skater but also) as a person.
(Q) I'm saying it again, you've gone through an extraordinary season.
(Y) There have been so many accidents and unexpected events this year. But all of them can't be said to be negative. You spend only one-third or one-fourth of life as a skater. And I think all the experiences in this short term can be useful in the rest of your life whatever you choose as a second career. I've been skating for almost 16 years and I've had a lot of precious experiences which only I could go though, including the accident, injury, and so many, I hope I'll be in a position in which I can pass on my experiences and knowledge to the next generations beyond the field of figure skating, some day.
(Q) WC was over. What kind of thought do you have?
(Y) Gratitude. I want to say thank you to many many people, countless gratitude to countless people. First, of course to my family who let me continue figure skating. Figure skating is a very very expensive sport, though they respect my desire/determination and let me continue Figure skating. Then to the Salt lake City Olympics, which led me to this world. To Evgeni Plushenko, to many teachers and Brian. And to my shoes. They've been enduring the weight a couple of times heavier than me (when I jump),and protecting my ankles and knees. When this season ends, I'll say thank you to the shoes and keep them in my closet.
In Shanghai
March 29, 2015
PS: See the bold part? From now on I will call Brian as Mama Orser
Victor from Yuzuru's fan thread has just translated Yuzuru's interview with Canon. I hope people can enjoy.
http://web.canon.jp/event/skating/interview/int_hanyu03_1.html
(Q) I was so surprised to hear you got an operation just after the Japan National in December. Wasn't there any other options?
(Y) No, I had an abdominal operation. The doctor cut 4 cm in a crescent shape around my navel. Doctor explained to me that this method damages my muscles the least. It was done under a general anesthetic. Then I stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks. Since I got my fascias sutured, my doctor said, I had to be very carefully in daily life for a while, so I just took rests at home for 4 weeks.
(Q) It was very long. I guess you couldn't help feeling anxious?
(Y) Actually I was afraid of losing my muscle power, so I thought I should have vivid images of my good executions in my head. I watched the videos of GPF etc, where I did well, and watching them over and over, I rehearsed them like "Oh, that's the timing." and practiced all the jumps in my head. Thanks to the imagery training, the feeling of skating on the ice wasn't so changed as I had worried before.
(Q) What do you think the next season is likely to be?
(Y) I am now back to a position where I chase someone else, just as I tried to beat Patrick Chan during the Olympic season. This time, he is my teammate. Since Javi will be always close to me, I can maintain my frustrated feeling and move forward using that feeling of frustration as a spring."
(Q) I heard you got your right ankle sprained when you landed a quad jump. Did you feel anxious in those days? You seem to have been in a hurry.
(Y) The opposite rather. as I had 2 months more to the Worlds at that time, I felt like putting 3 quads in my LP as the original layout. So I did some training again and again, in which I practiced "the third quad in the tiring second half" after I did many run-throughs. I did the set many times. Consequently I got a sprained ankle. That's one of the learns I have to reconsider.
(Q) As a result, you resumed your training at the beginning of March. Is that the reason why you couldn't go to Toronto?
(Y) Finally I decided to practice in Japan, for I wasn't in very good shape yet, for the short-flight of Japan-Shanghai is preferable to the long-flight of Toronto-Shanghai considering my health condition.
(Q) Did you wonder whether you would be scolded unless you went to Toronto?
(Y) No, not at all. (Laughter) Brian always cares about me and he is not the person putting incessant pressure on you, not the person thinking all the time, like " I have to order him to do this or that to make him busy." He approached me in the same manners as usual, in order that I could be relaxed. I'm really grateful to him for his consideration.
(Q) How did you practice without him?
(Y) I e-mailed him every day. I asked him about everything, even about how to correct my ill-positioned jumps on the e-mails. It was such a hard job for me to explain everything in English. But Brian knows my original manner/capability of jumping well, so he compared my good jumps and bad jumps on the videos of COC, GPF etc. and gave me advice like, "Yuzuru, you have a tendency to do that, so adjust it in this way when it happens......" In that way, I regained my sense/feeling of jumping gradually, better and better.
(Q) Did you feel a kind of lag, a gap compared with given advices on face-to-face basis？
(Y) When I made some mistakes on jumps, I couldn't get any advice from him on the spot. That was hard. But I came to understand the points to be payed attention to when I jump, because the points Brian and Tracy are always advising me are mostly the same things recently. So, basically I recalled the advice they had given me at TCC for three years and followed them.
(Q) You had only 3 weeks of training. What practice did you aim at?
(Y) Anyway I did more run-thoughts than last summer or before GPF and tried gaining stamina. So I thought I'd got prepared better, in better condition than JN.
(Q) Then you determined to enroll WC, right?
(Y) No, in my mind, I didn't have the option to withdraw. Because I am a skater on the active list, a competitor, I don't have any illogical feeling about it. I was chosen as a member of Team Japan, then I must skate to compete there. I've always thought I'm happy that I can continue skating, which I love most, thanks to my family and the people supporting me, who have been always allowed me to do what I want.
(Q) You've come to WC at last and you met your team members again here in Shanghai
(Y) I was really relieved meeting them. Brian seemed to be relieved too. And when he saw my practice, he said to me, "Oh, good/that's fine/you're doing well!" So that words made me reassured. I think I'm happy that we could be reunited here this time.
(Q) Did't you feel lonely while you trained alone by yourself?
(Y) Since you can practice freely using the music, it's not a disadvantage at all. Brian asked worriedly, "Can you keep your motivation?" But he also said like that, "but you're Yuzuru. You're gonna OK/You'll make it.“ Yes, definitely I was highly motivated to peak myself here to WC.
(Q) It's been a long time since you practiced among the other skaters last time. Didn't their skating speed affect you?
(Y) Oh, yeah. I was a little nervous during the public practice. Kozuka Takahiko, Mura Takahito, Michal Brezina, Dennis Tenn, and Javier were there and they were skating on top speed. And of course I probably had a bit of thought, "That was the Shanghai, where .....you know"
That's why I couldn't concentrate on the practice well.
(Q) How did you feel (when you were) with Javier?
(Y) This season, I've hardly practiced with Javi. Though, I got to feel as usual soon after we started the public practice, feeling like a kind of daily routine, Brian is there watching both of us.
(Q) And the day of SP, you stepped out the first 4T.
(Y) To say the truth, I'm not reconciled yet about the 4T. It's my score-making jump. It's big. First of all, I have a feeling I've lost my competitive intuition. I wasn't used to the tense atmosphere during the public practice and the 6 mins practice. So I might have lack my concentration on what I did.
(Q) Even though you couldn't concentrate on skating well, you got 95.20 and you were top at that point.
(Y) Yes, the 4T's mistake wasn't so fatal as falls, or 2T replacing 4T. I could manage it, just a step out. And I think this 3 weeks' hard intense training led the rest of the SP to the high level which I could add enough points to recover the ill-4T.
(Q) What do you think about the 2 quads in LP?
(Y) This time, I got the feeling I was much swayed by the circumstances, like the atmosphere in the venue, or my rival skaters......I had such kind of weakness (mentally) this time. I could make it during practicing, but I couldn't make it at the competition. That means, to me, I have to reconsider the method of practice and how to prepare (peaking?) for the moment of competition. Yeah, I executed both SP and LP pretty well at GPF, but COC, NHK, and GPF were scheduled in succession, not having a big blank between each competition. Brian and I had a picture like, "I was like that (at COC), now like this (at NHK), and will be like.....(at GPF)". But this time, I've had 3 months' blank. While my mental state has been changing (apart from competitions and skating), small lags/gaps occurred in my intuition.
(Q) In the public practice, you made 4Ss so cleanly.
(Y) Yeah, I didn't worry about 4Ss because my 4Ss had been more consistent/stable than my 4Ts, even when I practiced in Japan. I landed them in the same clean way all the time. Brian also said, "That's fine!" So I trusted my feeling, but it turned out to..."
That means nothing if you can't make it at a competition, you know."
(Q) What do you think about the result? (SP 1st with 95.20, LP3rd with 175.88, Total 2ns with 271.08)
(Y) I'd rather say, "I recovered well." I lost about 20 pts due to the quads' mistakes, 2S replacing 4S, 4T with a fall. I usually get GOEs too.I got the feeling, "My expressions, skating etc earned much points. That rescued me."
(Q) Fernandez skated after you.
(Y) It must have been very difficult for Javi. He was supposed to skate after me, there were so many flowers and stuffed animals in the ice. The stirring mood of the rink side, noisy. Moreover, as Brian was watching my LP, he had to be focused on his preparation alone in the hall until his turn, and came down to the rink and, at last, Brian joined him. This was his situation. So it was due to his unremitting efforts that let him execute the LP of that (high) level.
(Q) Fernandez stole the 1st from you/got the come-from-behind victory.
(Y) if I had been 1st and Javier 2nd, he would have congratulated me on my victory. Even though he envies someone's success a bit, he can subdue the fire deep in him or even put it out, and never ever show nor speak out negative things to annoy others. GPF was held in Barcelona, his country Spain. There he executed his LP very beautifully, yet he was the 2nd. He must have been very chagrined at the result, but he still congratulated me from the bottom of his heart. Then about me, 90% is "envy/chagrin.!" But I found an undoubted joy in me, a joy to celebrate the victory of my team mate. All the people on my team said to me, " Javier has been working on the training so hard this time. I've never seen him working on it so hard before!" And I'm really happy to see his efforts fruit at last because I can surmise how he's been practicing hard.
(Q) This time, Javier is 1st, you're 2nd, and Nam is 5th. The sons of B. Orser did a marvelous job.
(Y) I'm really grateful to Brian. I really realized that TCC with Brian is incredibly wonderful, and that we're training in such a happy environment.
(Q) Team Brian is the KEY, right?
(Y) Yes, it's Brian that travel with us around the world. But each of the coaches is a specialist in each field, with having the expertise of high level and they exchange their knowledge and opinions each other. And they teaches all the athletes including Javi and me equally with great care. Equally, no exception. It's been 3 years since I moved to Toronto. Javi is like a very thoughtful elder brother for me, and Brian is sometimes like a mother. He is a sort of warm-hearted person who is always with us and watching us growing (not only as a skater but also) as a person.
(Q) I'm saying it again, you've gone through an extraordinary season.
(Y) There have been so many accidents and unexpected events this year. But all of them can't be said to be negative. You spend only one-third or one-fourth of life as a skater. And I think all the experiences in this short term can be useful in the rest of your life whatever you choose as a second career. I've been skating for almost 16 years and I've had a lot of precious experiences which only I could go though, including the accident, injury, and so many, I hope I'll be in a position in which I can pass on my experiences and knowledge to the next generations beyond the field of figure skating, some day.
(Q) WC was over. What kind of thought do you have?
(Y) Gratitude. I want to say thank you to many many people, countless gratitude to countless people. First, of course to my family who let me continue figure skating. Figure skating is a very very expensive sport, though they respect my desire/determination and let me continue Figure skating. Then to the Salt lake City Olympics, which led me to this world. To Evgeni Plushenko, to many teachers and Brian. And to my shoes. They've been enduring the weight a couple of times heavier than me (when I jump),and protecting my ankles and knees. When this season ends, I'll say thank you to the shoes and keep them in my closet.
In Shanghai
March 29, 2015
PS: See the bold part? From now on I will call Brian as Mama Orser
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I appreciate his honesty about the "envy/chagrin," mixed with his genuine happiness for Javi. Not to mention the tribute he pays to everyone who inspired him and helped him.
