#pyeonchang 2018

[russianfigureskatinghell]

Good for them. I hope the skates hurt and I hope Zhenya caught the first flight to Canada.

(I'm pretty sure Eteri is making stuff up cause she's a bitch...)

[captainfreelance1]

Team USA's Brenna Huckaby (Green) vs Amy Purdy (Red) face each other in 2018 Paralympic Snowboard Cross Finals.

[niemernuet]

Lucas could race for Brasil in a sequined race suit and a carneval-headgear, he would never come close to be as extra as Felix Neureuther...

Some call you a traitor.

I can live with that. I already called out things in my time as an active racer. I loudly criticised the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014 and Pyeonchang 2018. Nowadays everyone knows that I was right to do so.

You didn't boycott the Games.

My plan was to win Olympic Gold in 2018 and refuse the medal. As a sign of boycott.

You would have done that?

Of course I can proclaim a lot in hindsight, but back then I wasn't quite sure. It was my big motivation though. 2017 I won the first race of the season, I had a great form. Two weeks later I tore my ACL. I wanted to continue but in the end I had to go for surgery. That's why I missed the games.

Interview with my local newspaper (paywalled unfortch...)

[tutuandscoot]

Ok so firstly.. it’s so sweet and humble of them to acknowledge their incredible achievements and insane records they hold, personally I’m sure it means a lot to them but they certainly had and do have the mindset that those medals and records aren’t everything and it’s what they did for each other- the experiences they shared and what they built together that mean the absolute most- this was soooooo much more than a sport to them.

For T to say to S that she believes he’ll be coaching some team that blows all their records out of the water is a huge complement to him and I know she believes he will change this sport for the better, and that coming from her who he sees on just this completely unreachable pedestal, it must be hard for him coz frankly he said no one will be as great as her and he has to remind himself of that when he’s working with teams ‘I can’t expect these girls to be TV’. 🥲

BUT…

For the sake of it.. let’s explore the possibility for a team- from any country to break TS Olympic medal tally record:

Remember: their record is 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈

That’s over 3 Olympics.

The first one was from Vancouver: 1x🥇.There was no team event at this point.

Next was Sochi: 2x🥈🥈 the first year the team event was held.

And finally Pyeonchang: 2x 🥇🥇. Gold in the team, gold individually.

So to break TS record a team would need to achieve any of the following combinations (once you get into 6+ medals the colour is interchangeable as long as least 3 are gold and at least two are silver).

🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇

🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈

🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇

🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈

🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈

🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈

🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥉

So: a team needs to win AT LEAST 3 gold: that could come either individually or in team event. Individually seems the most likely, however with the rate that the sport is changing, over 8 years, and don’t forget ageing/ teams splitting up/ politics/ judging… there’s a chance.. but not a huge one. Really the only team who came close to this was.. drum roll please 🥁 VIRTUEMOIR. The team event scenario is less likely. This requires there to be a STRONG AF national figure skating team across the board- all disciplines averaging essentially top 5 finishes consistently over 8 years.. so if you look at the state of Canadian figure skating right now, heck just look at the 2022 olys.. that country in particular needs to completely rebuild their national team. And frankly, VM’s era really was a golden age across the board in Canadian figure skating.. multiple times world champions in dance, mens and pairs, world medalists in ladies and WC winner at the worlds directly after the Olympics. There haven’t been any world medalist from Canada after the 17/18 season (that I can think of, GP got a bronze in 2021). This team situation goes for the USA as well, but they are in better shape, a lot of ‘great’ skaters retired after either 2018 and 2022, and as a team they are yet to win gold (still don’t know what’s happening with medals from Beijing) and then Russia I’m not gonna bother talking about coz you know.. they’re currently committing war crimes..

These 5+ medals will of course need to come from both success in the team and individual events- because an even more unlikely scenario is an ID team attending 5 Olympics and winning either 5 gold or 4gold and a silver in either event.

So, those are the broadest examples, and really everything after that are just derivatives from those scenarios.

A “possible” instance for eg: is 6 medals across 3 games: 3 gold coming from a combination of the IE and TE, let’s say 2 individual gold and 1 team gold (same as VM), two silvers- one from the team and one individually (same as VM) and lastly either another silver or bronze from another team event..

For the reasons pointed out above.. that is possible.. but a long shot because it depends not only as a single ice dance team’s success, by the strength of the national team as a whole, and again removing Russia from the equation, coz they have always been strong but also.. doping, the Canadian team in 2018 was somewhat of a unicorn, and they just happened to have strong af skaters in every category- all of which medaled individually in 2018 or had medaled previously (Patrick in 2014) (+Gabi who didn’t medal but was still a world medalist). Individually it will require a team to essentially be.. really top 3 in the world over 8+ years, and or mount an iconic comeback.

The most recent ID winners did not compete in the team event at either olys (18/22) and their team won’t ever be a team medal contender (in the near future anyway) so they have no chance of beating VM’s oly medal record.

So with that mostly covered.. let’s move onto some of their other records.

Let’s examine their reign as the youngest ever oly champs:

They were 20+22 when they won in YVR. I do not watch ID religiously so I don’t know every team or exact ages, but everyone currently competing and even attended the previous olys are already past VM’s age record- all the medalists in Beijing were in their mid- late 20’s/early 30’s, and the next crop behind them- the next 10 teams let’s say, were all well into their 20’s, so at the next olys it would have to be a new team, probably currently in juniors. Now I’m even more uneducated on the Junior Circuit, but I believe the majority of those teams, even if they were to rise above the level of seniors now, wouldn’t age wise be able to cut in under VM.

And a note on that as well, the ID landscape has shifted since VM.. they were an anomaly. They shouldn’t have won when they were that young but they did. An odd sequence of events- the change in the judging system and therefore the athleticism of the sport started to favour younger teams, but now that isn’t so much the case and the younger teams have grown up with this new system and are now older, and are just as athletically capable as the younger ones, but also have the maturity to service the artistry side.

So probably at least in the next several Olympics that record seems pretty out of reach.

Winning at a home games:

(This won’t be breaking a record but only being the second to do it).

This really just depends on luck of the draw. The olys are decided 8+ years out so there’s no way a team 10 years away can guarantee a win that far in the future. The Vancouver olys were announced in 2001 and at that time VM were 12+14- hadn’t moved away from home yet, we’re still growing, no injuries, anything could of happened but as we all know it just worked for them (and they worked for it) so the stars just kinda aligned on that one.

Winning an olys before a worlds title:

(Again will be second to do so).

This is probably the most attainable, but really the least significant, esp since VM have already done it, and it can only happen once coz once you win them both you can’t do that again.

Finally let’s look at the Super Career Grand Slam (my personal point of pride for my dancing bbys):

On the surface this seems possible, but when you think about it..

A team has to first win both the JGPF and Junior worlds, this achievement is very possible, but they then have to first; stay together (if teams split it is often between juniors and seniors) now they can achieve the SCGS with separate partners- but to be second after VM they need to stay together. They then need to win either 4CC or Euros, the GPF, World champs AND the Olympics. That last one is understandably the most likely place to fall flat because they only have once chance every 4 years. The olys and the junior titles are the most critical pieces to complete to gain this title. DW couldn’t do it because they didn’t get the junior titles, PC couldn’t do it because they didn’t get the junior titles. It requires a sustained and gaining excellence across both circuits and about 10-15 years of reign at or near the top.

That’s where VM stand out against everyone else.

There are of course numerous other records regarding points which will easily be broken coz the rules get changed every year, and number of national titles- which they don’t even hold, but ALL OF THE ABOVE… it will take a team with sustained, decades long greatness in a single partnership with the right chain of events and strength of the sport as a whole to top them. It’s a subjective sport so of course people will develop new favourites.. but what’s on the record on paper.. well there’s a reason there’s an acronym for it:

GOATs.

I rest my case.

[why-is-every-name-used]

Retrato- Yuzuru Hanyu.

Los retratos presentados son de un patinador profesional sobre el hielo, Yuzuru Hanyu. He estado haciendo este retrato durante dos meses, más o menos, una a dos veces a la semana, e incluso no está terminado del todo ya que le faltan detalles todavía. 

Es doble campeón olímpico en Sochi 2014 y pyeonchang 2018, el primero en ser ganador consecutivo en las olimpiadas de este deporte desde 1948. Doble campeón mundial de 2014 y 2017. Ha sido campeón del Grand Prix de patinaje artístico sobre hielo desde 2013 hasta 2016, y seis veces campeón nacional japonés. Se convirtió en el más joven ganador de los juegos olímpicos desde Dic Button en 1948, y el primer asiático en ganar el oro olímpico en patinaje masculino. En 2020 ganó la final de Cuatro Continentes, convirtiéndose en el único patinador masculino solitario en la historia en ganar todos los torneos a nivel junior y senior. Teniendo 20 records mundiales.

Decidí retratarle porque, aparte de que es considerado el mejor patinador sobre hielo de toda la historia, su actitud hacia el deporte que practica es demasiado edificante. No puedo encontrar palabras exactas para describir su espíritu, pero es aquello que me ha motivado a trabajar duro en mis estudios. Cada vez que me siento desmotivada y considero que todo lo que estoy haciendo no tiene ningún sentido, pongo vídeos de él practicando donde cae una y otra vez, pero se levanta y sigue como si las heridas no dolieran hasta que consiga lo que estuviera practicando. Y aquí salió su dilema de sobre la vida:

“If you can’t do it, practice until you can. If you can do it, practice until you can do it perfectly. If you can do it perfectly, practice until you can do it perfectly every time.”

[virtuemoiraesthetics]

[kawaiifigureskating]

meet the three adorable boys training under brian orser

[pollys-manganime]

Yuzuru Hanyu dedicated his performance to Notte Stellata at the PyeongChang 2018 figure skating gala to the victims of the devastating 2011 earthquake in Japan.

[saucylittlesmile]

[virtuemoir-positivity]

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

Suddenly my life doesn´t seem such a waste

It all revolves around you

(x)

[kingquadandco]

Reblog for international friendship and sportsmanship

[peachykisa]

“I would never even think about skating with somebody else. The whole reason I wanted to come back to skating was to be close to Tessa again, and to share those moments.”

[forevermorous]

I would like to apologize to my followers, all six of you, for the Olympics spam. After 25th February, we will return to regular broadcasting.

[thedarkestgreys]

Things I’m still not over

[axellenceandthecuttingedge]

I think Johnny said it best when he said “Zhenya skates with her whole soul.” She’s crying, I’m crying, the world’s crying

[virtuemoiraesthetics]