Yuzuru Hanyu on ESPN World Fame 100 list
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Don’t love the accompanying articlei know it’s a lot to ask for especially from a western news site but I wish she could have taken the article somewhere other than “oh he’s so popular and all of his fans thinks he’s their dream lover and also his fans are only Asian.” Like i wish they did some more digging, it would have been cool to do a story on the HUGE banner fans had put together for him while he was injured
The journalist who wrote this attended his parade in Sendai and the first day of his show... and knowing that, the article is really dissappointing. Why spend money when you can write the same things by googling him.
Imagine if he actually hired some PR agency...
It's not really about the idea of him having sns account but more about the comment section. Shippers, haters and fans demanding things... But sure, I would probably make an instagram account and follow him.But if he get an instagram account tomorrow, you will be one of the firsts 10.000 fans who will follow him the same day.
Don’t love the accompanying article
And I'm pretty sure I saw on Twitter that during the Sendai parade some fans came from South America (Chile and Peru).
I was pretty disappointed to see the journalist post the article on twitter saying something like, 'my editor wanted to know about the poohs'.
I understand that it was more about his fame/following, but so many people follow him for who he is as an athlete and person, and that wasn't touched on.
For example, yes he won the olympics twice. How about mentioning his record length of time ranked #1, record # of consecutive GPF wins, 12 world records, his 2015 NHK and GPF records, Nice 2012, 2017 worlds win coming back from 5th place and setting a record. She has a line in there about how fans mention that he has shown he can overcome any obstacle. Did she research what these obstacles were? Even just look on his wikipedia page? The whole 2014-2015 season was incredible, especially coming on the heels of his Sochi win where there was criticism that he only won bc Patrick didn't do as well. How about his many, many serious injuries that he's fought back from. How about the fact that as a teenager he told his new coach that he wanted to win the next 2 olympics- and then he did?
All of his donations to 3.11 relief- giving proceeds from books, his earnings from the olympics, bringing up in press cons that people should spend money in Sendai to help them recover, the fact that neither of the 2 parades were paid for with taxpayer money, and they even made a profit to give back to disaster relief. His meetings with tsunami/earthquake victims. How about him tearing up at Sochi press cons as a 19 yr old being asked (IIRC) about what his win meant for 3.11 survivors. Or he's even mentioned in an interview not feeling worthy of representing the survivors because he wasn't affected as badly affected as some. (2015 Kenji's room) Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure after the earthquake he considered quitting for more serious reasons than the lack of a rink. He was already the 2010 jr world champ at the time, a fact she could have mentioned. It was after he was invited to an ice show a few months later and he saw how his skating moved people that he decided to continue. (Again, please correct me on this)
Any one of these things could have provided some context for his following, besides 'he's so beautiful.'
To end this mini rant, I'm mostly sad that she attended Continues with Wings and only referenced it as 'an ice show with his name attached'. That is a tragic misunderstanding of what it was and what he meant with it. Even if you're not a japanese speaker and have no familiarity with the sport, I would think a translator would be able to get across the significance and meaning behind the show and what he told the audience. People are not devoted fans to this degree just because he's 'pretty.'
I understand that it was more about his fame/following, but so many people follow him for who he is as an athlete and person, and that wasn't touched on.
For example, yes he won the olympics twice. How about mentioning his record length of time ranked #1, record # of consecutive GPF wins, 12 world records, his 2015 NHK and GPF records, Nice 2012, 2017 worlds win coming back from 5th place and setting a record. She has a line in there about how fans mention that he has shown he can overcome any obstacle. Did she research what these obstacles were? Even just look on his wikipedia page? The whole 2014-2015 season was incredible, especially coming on the heels of his Sochi win where there was criticism that he only won bc Patrick didn't do as well. How about his many, many serious injuries that he's fought back from. How about the fact that as a teenager he told his new coach that he wanted to win the next 2 olympics- and then he did?
All of his donations to 3.11 relief- giving proceeds from books, his earnings from the olympics, bringing up in press cons that people should spend money in Sendai to help them recover, the fact that neither of the 2 parades were paid for with taxpayer money, and they even made a profit to give back to disaster relief. His meetings with tsunami/earthquake victims. How about him tearing up at Sochi press cons as a 19 yr old being asked (IIRC) about what his win meant for 3.11 survivors. Or he's even mentioned in an interview not feeling worthy of representing the survivors because he wasn't affected as badly affected as some. (2015 Kenji's room) Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure after the earthquake he considered quitting for more serious reasons than the lack of a rink. He was already the 2010 jr world champ at the time, a fact she could have mentioned. It was after he was invited to an ice show a few months later and he saw how his skating moved people that he decided to continue. (Again, please correct me on this)
Any one of these things could have provided some context for his following, besides 'he's so beautiful.'
To end this mini rant, I'm mostly sad that she attended Continues with Wings and only referenced it as 'an ice show with his name attached'. That is a tragic misunderstanding of what it was and what he meant with it. Even if you're not a japanese speaker and have no familiarity with the sport, I would think a translator would be able to get across the significance and meaning behind the show and what he told the audience. People are not devoted fans to this degree just because he's 'pretty.'
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But if he get an instagram account tomorrow, you will be one of the firsts 10.000 fans who will follow him the same day.
... if it took a day to get on, 10,000 would be left well behind. Can you imagine the Japanese reaction? and Chinese, and everywhere else, yes...) :shocked: But I'm with those who think he's probably wise to stay away from it (my favorite actor does the same, probably for much the same privacy reasons)
The article grates a bit where it glosses over his amazing record - just for a start, how many athletes, including the ones at the top of the list, have broken a dozen world records, of which only the first wasn't the previous one he set himself? - but from another viewpoint, I do like the way it again shows how much his own people - Sendai - love him. But then I'm just a big sentimental softie and teared up more than once watching the parade...
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I wish that people would take a chill pill, and stop going after journalist. They behave like teenager (maybe they are) fangirls of One Direction or Justin Bieber. They are not doing Yuzuru any favors why going after the media, specially western media covering him.
The article is short and about what he represents to people that follow him. The Pooh thing is quirky, and it was a moment in the Olympics, so there she mentions it because is the way you get attention and sympathy to an athlete that´s is largely unknown for the general public.
The article is short and about what he represents to people that follow him. The Pooh thing is quirky, and it was a moment in the Olympics, so there she mentions it because is the way you get attention and sympathy to an athlete that´s is largely unknown for the general public.
The list isn’t about the top 100 athletes (simply considering athletic achievements) - so while the article may not focus on what fans consider truly important - he’s certainly not the only one on the list whose looks are a factor. I can think of #21 Maria Sharapova and #23 James Rodriguez - I can’t imagine they would be ranked so high minus their looks.
While I'm not a huge fan of the article itself. (It's generally...okay...I guess?) We're so lucky to have Yuzuru Hanyu represent a little niche sport like figure skating while being Asian at that! He doesn't even have social media :eekn: I don't disagree about him being beautiful though, and a unique beauty at that. Always interesting to see his place in the sport because there's no one quite like him. A rare diamond. :agree2:
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I hope soccer fans in my country will see this :dev2:
Is soccer more famous in Japan?
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I do hope ESPN listens to the reviews and hire a Figure Skating Expert to write his article next year if he is on the list next year. Alot of the athletes in the ranking were in the Top 100 in previous years so this may be the start of ESPN paying attention to him and hopefully will give him more coverage. ESPN is a very influential sports media is it not? As far as I know the only rival magazine to ESPN that I know of is "Sports Illustrated". I did not like the article because it had literally no figure skating expertize but at least it is a start. My dream would be ESPN would start to give him more media exposure to major sports fans and wider public in NA and hopefully one day Yuzu can be on the cover of ESPN. That makes me wonder:I hate the article too. Sure, he's cute but people don't follow him just because he's cute. His popularity as an athlete of all things might be due to, you know, his skating? His world records, his achievements, his jumps & skating style, etc. but nope, his looks it is. In fact, if I read the article fast enough, I might even miss the fact that he is a figure skater
But hey, at least they stop implying figure skating is not a real sport because we have costumes. #progress
"Has a figure skater ever made the front cover of ESPN magazine?"
"Has any other figure skater other than Yuzu made it into ESPN World Fame Top 100 list?"
Would love some answers.
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Yes, soccer is very popular and its top players are richer than most of the figure skaters.
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I thought the article was fine, personally. As others have pointed out, ESPN is not especially well versed in covering figuring skating especially outside of North America. I'd love to see that change, obviously, but in the meantime, I think they made a genuine effort to show how beloved Yuzu is and how special he is to Sendai. Yes, they talk about Pooh and how beautiful Yuzu is, but they also talk about his charity work and his humbleness and how devoted he is to skating. Sure, it would be great to get a detailed profile written by someone who really understands and appreciates him as a skater, but this was a piece about his fame. All things considered, I thought it was pretty good.
Then again, I'm an American who is used to following sports the media here doesn't really get, so... low bar. Haha
Then again, I'm an American who is used to following sports the media here doesn't really get, so... low bar. Haha
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of all the other things the author could have probably quoted... l o l
this article brought me great giggles. but overall despite some blips, i think it's fine for the casual audience.
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Well other articles say they see him as an ideal son or grandson. They get nicknamed "aunties" so in a way it does kinda clarify that the feelings ain't always platonic
. His looks are definitely a thing though. When interviewing Japanese media in PC I just wanted to talk about the skating (even speaking in Japanese), but they really wanted to know was what I thought of his looks. I had to make it very clear that while he's cute (though not my type personally), it's all about the skating for me.
As for this article, considering that I was expecting 2 paragraphs max on this since they have 100 athletes, this was honestly more than I was expecting so I am generally okay about it. Along with everything OutsideEdge mentioned, they acknowledged the most important thing for him career wise which is why he was crying those 3 months ago, 2 Olympic golds after over 6 and a half decades. So it's safe enough to assume he's pretty good.
I'm super impressed that he made this list with only one attribute to his name since earnings and social followers are unknown.
Yeah, Asian media talk about his looks too. For some fans it can be part of his appeal, so I don't think it's a big deal they mention it since the article isn't relegating his popularity to just that. Same with the mentions about Winnie-the-Pooh, it's going to be mentioned no matter what as it's an interesting and noticeable piece of trivia, but it's not the primary focal point in the article.
Overall, I think the article is okay. It could've gone a deeper and done a bit more research, but my expectations were low as this was a top 100 list (was also expecting just 2 paragraphs) but it hits some of the general key "talking points" when it comes introducing non-skating fans to who Yuzuru is and what he is for the sport:
- He's the first to become back-to-back Olympic Champion in 66 years, and he did it while recovering from an ankle injury and not competing for 3 months.
- Ice shows sell out in minutes when he's announced for the cast.
- He comes from Sendai and lost his home rink due to the earthquake and tsunami on 3/11 and considered quitting.
- Sendai had a parade for him which drew over 100k people.
- He's private and doesn't have any public social media accounts, yet still made this list.
- He trains in Toronto and Brian is his coach.
- For different people he symbolizes different things, and he brings people together.
Some things that would've been nice to include, and maybe they can add some additional info in the print edition before it's released:
- His history breaking records in the sport (I actually would've expected this to be mentioned in some capacity).
- How his home rink actually closed down a couple of times during his childhood.
- He considered quitting after 3/11 not just because he didn't have a place to practice.
- How he didn't want the parade to be paid for using tax payer money and funds were raised through donations and t-shirts and wristbands sales which was enough to cover the cost, with some left over to be donated to recovery efforts.
Either way, it's cool to see an Asian male figure skater make a list like this. I think there's a misconception that people only care about ladies when it comes to figure skating, so it's nice to see that it's not just ladies that can draw attention and interest to the sport.
Overall, I think the article is okay. It could've gone a deeper and done a bit more research, but my expectations were low as this was a top 100 list (was also expecting just 2 paragraphs) but it hits some of the general key "talking points" when it comes introducing non-skating fans to who Yuzuru is and what he is for the sport:
- He's the first to become back-to-back Olympic Champion in 66 years, and he did it while recovering from an ankle injury and not competing for 3 months.
- Ice shows sell out in minutes when he's announced for the cast.
- He comes from Sendai and lost his home rink due to the earthquake and tsunami on 3/11 and considered quitting.
- Sendai had a parade for him which drew over 100k people.
- He's private and doesn't have any public social media accounts, yet still made this list.
- He trains in Toronto and Brian is his coach.
- For different people he symbolizes different things, and he brings people together.
Some things that would've been nice to include, and maybe they can add some additional info in the print edition before it's released:
- His history breaking records in the sport (I actually would've expected this to be mentioned in some capacity).
- How his home rink actually closed down a couple of times during his childhood.
- He considered quitting after 3/11 not just because he didn't have a place to practice.
- How he didn't want the parade to be paid for using tax payer money and funds were raised through donations and t-shirts and wristbands sales which was enough to cover the cost, with some left over to be donated to recovery efforts.
Either way, it's cool to see an Asian male figure skater make a list like this. I think there's a misconception that people only care about ladies when it comes to figure skating, so it's nice to see that it's not just ladies that can draw attention and interest to the sport.
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one thing to mention... social media is many things... a skater doesn't need to have an instagram to be the center of social media... yuzu has a lot of of presence on social media, including on this site. (and others specifically dedicated to him)... it's not like he is completely cut from social media.. his fans do the job for him.
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The problem lies with the author, I think. I read her write-ups for 3 other skaters in the 25 Famous Female Athletes list, and they are just as inane as this piece about Hanyu. (The 3 are Tessa Virtue, Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva). Even within the same list (with focus on the fame) other journalists are plainly better at writing about each athlete and their respective sports.
But obviously ESPN has nobody that can write figure skating, so oh well, I'll take it.
Also, unrelated to FS: why do people assume the top 10 or even 20 will change if a different publication/country makes it? IDK, I don't follow all the sports listed, but I know all those people's names so it seems fair to me. Summer sports are also way more popular than winter, so not surprised at the disproportion. I mean, not to be rude, but do ESPN really need restraint to not include many Americans at the top? Maybe Americans are just not as famous and/or exceptional at some of the most famous sports (the real football, for one). Food for thoughts
But obviously ESPN has nobody that can write figure skating, so oh well, I'll take it.
Also, unrelated to FS: why do people assume the top 10 or even 20 will change if a different publication/country makes it? IDK, I don't follow all the sports listed, but I know all those people's names so it seems fair to me. Summer sports are also way more popular than winter, so not surprised at the disproportion. I mean, not to be rude, but do ESPN really need restraint to not include many Americans at the top? Maybe Americans are just not as famous and/or exceptional at some of the most famous sports (the real football, for one). Food for thoughts
