Let me rephrase that: my entire life revolves around figure skating and figure skaters.
Yes, that is what the majority of the content in this post will be about. Figure skating. "But why, Janet? Why have you suddenly become so obsessed with people dancing on ice with blades on their feet?" you might ask. Good question. I don't actually know why, it just happened. In the following passages I will explain to the best of my ability my journey of skating and love. I suggest you settle in, brew a nice cup of tea, prepare your favorite snack, and read on at your own risk.
I've never been the type of person to be interested in sports. Sure, I've watched an occasional game of football and I've played a very minuscule amount a things like golf and basketball. I've even been to a hockey game once. I just never really connected with sports. I thought they were, well, stupid.
Now, I should say that I am indeed the sort of person who becomes obsessed with things. These usually hang around for a few years. When I was younger I loved horses. I learned everything I could about them and became a self-proclaimed expert until I got bored with them about four years later. Then I fell in love with dolls. I read blogs, watched YouTube videos, and amassed a rather impressive collection of dolls for a fourteen-year-old. This, again, lasted about four years. Next was ballet. I adored ballet, I danced ballet, I became acquainted with the history of ballet. This lasted a few years. Now, at this point, I was growing bored with ballet and dance in general. Sure, it was beautiful and incredibly difficult. But something wasn't right about it. It was missing a certain element to make it complete.
Then, about one year and four months ago, I discovered something that would change my life forever.
Somehow I found this video of Johnny Weir, an Olympian figure skater:
Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big fan a Lady Gaga. At this point I also knew almost nothing about figure skating and didn't even understand what an "exhibition" is. But there was something about the way he skated on the ice, something about the character he played, that intrigued me. And I was hooked.
Of course after that I began getting videos of figure skating in my recommended on YouTube. This also happened to be the time that the 2017 US Nationals were happening, also known as January. What are Nationals? Well, of course, I was clueless. All I knew was that people were skating for a medal and a title, and it was actually kind of cool. None of them were another Johnny Weir, of course. He was on another level from these little skaters. I did, however, stumble across this gem:
Now this was good. It was fun, cute, and Mariah Bell had a personality on the ice that reminded me a lot of Johnny. I realized there was another video of her at the same event, this one called "FS" instead of "SP." It was longer, too.
Yeah, her choices of music were a little cheesy, but what can you expect? This is figure skating we're talking about, not some masterpiece.
I kept searching for videos of her other programs, but these were the only ones I could find. That was okay. I wasn't interested in any other skaters, so I pretty much forgot about skating for a few months.
April cam around and, oh, what's this? "World Championships"? Sounds like nationals but bigger. I realized that Mariah Bell was at World Championships, too, so I eagerly awaited her performances. Same ones. Well, I wasted seven minutes of my life watching the same exact programs I had watched a few months before. How silly of her to go to an international competition and use the same programs. How dull.
After Worlds came the off-season. This was when my true love blossomed and grew into something beautiful. I decided to follow my favorite skaters on Instagram. I began watching more of the programs from US Nationals and Worlds. Just the ladies, though. The men were boring. All they did were jump. They didn't even wear fun costumes. These guys were no Johnny Weir.
I became aware that the season we were heading into was an Olympic season. How lucky for me. I might just watch the Olympics if I felt like it. In the meantime, though, I watched some Olympic programs from 2014.
When I watched the winning skate from the 2014 Olympic Champion, I was stunned. Yeah, it was nice, I guess, but he fell so many times! How could that mess win? What had this sport I had seen be so beautiful become? Everyone made a big deal out of this Yuzuru Hanyu, but I didn't see what was so special about him. I couldn't even pronounce his name correctly. Still, I went along with the people and proclaimed him the number one skater:
The costume, too, was... interesting. Then I found out my hero Johnny Weir had designed it for him. Well, that's okay then. It was just a little crazy, which is never a bad thing, and as I was realizing, a crazy skating costume is really quite common. Also, I thought he looked like a girl. Ha. He even had a girl's body. What a weird sport.
The next season came around and, whoa, hello there, Grand Prix Series. You sneaked up on me. With September brought the beginning of my end. I had no idea how hard my love of figure skating was going to hit me.
I watched more of the men in the GP Series, quickly finding out that some of them weren't so bad after all. This American guy, Adam Rippon, and the Spanish skater Javier Fernandez, were pretty good. I liked both their skating styles, and I began to watch what they did.
During this time, Yuzuru Hanyu, the man I was a little confused by, injured his foot in a practice session. This was apparently bad, because he was looking to defend his title at the Olympics, something no man had done since Dick Button 66 years ago. He had also been beaten by the rising American star, Nathan Chen, in the last competition. This was not boding well for Hanyu's fans.
At this point I watched every single Johnny Weir program I could find. I loved this man, and his skating was phenomenal. I proclaimed that he should have medaled at the 2010 Olympics and said, many times, that he was underscored (spoiler alert: he was, and I still believe that whole-heartedly). I got on Evgeni Plushenko's side of the Plushenko vs. Lysecek battle during the 2010 Olympics. Plushy was the best. Lysacek was boring and didn't even have a quad jump. What is that? A jump with four revolutions, of course. Yeah, but what does that mean? At this time I didn't really know. These quads were becoming a big deal, though. Nathan Chen was favored for gold at the Olympics because of his massive amount of quads in his programs. This was not art, this was a quad-craze. I began to hate the quad-craze as much as any staunch figure skating fan.
My revelation happened in December when I watched Yuzuru Hanyu's free skate from World's 2017. Yes, the Worlds I was around for. No, I didn't watch it back in April. Who cared about Yuzu back in April? Not me.
I watched the record-breaking free skate, thinking it would be good, because this was why everyone loved the Japanese skating prodigy, right? Exactly. I was finally getting it. I will say, I cried when I watched the program. This was the first time I had ever cried watching skating before, but for some reason Yuzu's skating had filled me with so much emotion that I practically ran out of my room the second I finished watching it and presented it to my mother so she could share this special moment. I can't count how many times I've watched that program since then, but it's still one of my absolute favorite programs of all time, and I've watched a lot of skating. I have no words for this program, but please, if it's the only video you watch in this post, do it. His reaction to his score is the best, too:
I became a true Yuzuru Hanyu fan. This was the king of skating. He deserved to win at the Olympics. But wait! He was still recovering from a bad ankle injury. I, like thousands of other skating fans, waited with bated breath to see if he would be able to go to the Olympics to defend his title. As an aside, this is one of my favorite figure skating costumes ever. It's truly stunning.
In the mean time, I began streaming skating competitions. I was now aware of the schedule for the rest of the season, and every competition I watched hours of skating live. Ladies' singles was no longer my favorite. Men's singles had become my life, and I had my favorite skaters like everyone else involved in this sport.
I discovered one of my non-skating heroes when I was looking for a good, accurate analysis of all these events. Jackie Wong of Rocker Skating became my savior. He still is, and I credit my still being alive through the Olympics to him.
I was soon finding out that this season had been the worst skating season ever. It all started with Yuzu's injury back in November. Soon dozens of skaters were withdrawing due to injuries, illnesses, and whatever else you can imagine. No one seemed able to skate a clean program anymore. At one point there were even bugs on the ice. That never, ever, ever happens. That might be the weirdest thing I've seen in skating to date.
In January the Olympics were looming ahead. I now knew every skater's name and country they represented. I could identify all six jumps and I knew what elements to expect in programs. I finally understood skating. I had also hooked my poor, dear mother into this world of ice and costumes and tears and laughter, and she was now watching the competitions with me. Everywhere I looked I saw skating. Oh, your name is Karen? Karen Chen? No, sorry, wrong Karen. Wait, did I see "gold medal" written on that sign? Nope, false alarm. Ah, Scranton. Where is Scranton? Pennsylvania, right? Yep that's where Adam Rippon is from. Never mind, that's not Scranton, that's just the word "station." Haha, forget I said anything. Yeah, I'm fine. I promise I'm okay. Don't worry about me, let's just get this nightmare of a season out of the way and pray it doesn't follow everyone to the Olympics.
US Nationals came around again, which was a bittersweet time for me. My first competition I had ever been around for! Aw, I might cry. This was a big deal, though. This was when the Selection Committee would decide who should go to the Olympics. Nathan Chen could go out and sit on the ice and he would still go, thanks to the massive technical score he achieved with his quads. It seemed obvious as to who else would go, but that's when the whole world had a meltdown because of two skaters: Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon.
What? How could they not send Ashley? She was mad, too. I still believe they underscored her on purpose, but that's a rant for another time. Adam Rippon, on the other hand, had just secured a spot at the Olympics at the ripe old age of 28. But Ross Miner placed above him on the podium. Why were they sending Adam? People who had no idea what they were talking about began to butt into the conversation of who the US was sending to the Olympics. If you don't know much about skating but know what happened in January, believe me, they sent the right man.
I nearly died when the Olympics finally came around. All right, that's an exaggeration. I did put my life on hold, however, because this was the moment everyone had been waiting for. Yuzuru Hanyu hadn't had nearly enough time to prepare. His technical content was much easier than he had planned at the beginning of the season. There was no way he could win gold a second time.
The second man I cared deeply about was Javier Fernandez. He deserved a medal more than I could ever say. He fell off the podium because of a stupid, tiny technical mistake in 2014. He had to get a medal this time. He had to.
On February 15 I settled down on the couch to watch 4 1/2 hours of men's singles at the Olympics. I watched every single man, savoring the hours I spent doing it. Finally the last warmup group came on. It was a six-man battle for just three spots on the podium, and two of the men had their eyes on the gold.
Nathan choked. He bombed. He flopped. His short program was an absolute failure. He had just given up his spot on the podium. As sad as it made me to see him look so defeated, at least I knew now Yuzuru Hanyu had a great chance of winning the gold.
I practically stopped breathing when Yuzu took the ice to skate. This was the first time we had seen him skate in months. It all came down to this moment. Three perfect jumping passes. Same breathtaking style of skating. The King was back.
The next day was the men's free skate. This was the day Nathan redeemed himself with an amazing free skate. But when Yuzu was on, I genuinely almost couldn't watch. I had to force myself to keep watching. 4 1/2 minutes can feel like an eternity. But he did it. Yuzu had secured the gold with an almost perfect free skate. I definitely cried way more than I should have. He cried too, which made me cry even more.
I got my dream podium at the Olympics: Yuzuru Hanyu with gold, Javier Fernandez with bronze, and another Japanese man, dear little Shoma Uno, with silver. It was amazing. All the records that were broken at the Olympics, all the moments of history that were made... I had been there to watch them. One year after I began watching it, I felt like a real skating fan. Most importantly, we had made it through the Olympics with some of the best skating of the season.
My friends, we've finally made it to present day: the world of skating is in the midst of World Championships, the final major international competition of the season. I believe I'm done rambling on about figure skating, so I'll leave you with this unbelievable free skate from Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot:
At some point I'll create a vault of my favorite skating programs ever, including many form Johnny Weir and Yuzuru Hanyu, and even some from the ladies. If you made it this far, congratulations. You deserve a medal. An Olympic Medal.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey into the deep abyss that is figure skating. If you enjoy any of the videos scattered throughout this post, please, watch more! Figure skating is a very welcoming sport, and if you need help understanding anything, I think I know enough to give some incredibly detailed answers. Remember, Yuzuru Hanyu is the King of Skating, and if you say that Nathan Chen is the man who started the quad-craze, you're wrong: it was actually Boyang Jin. He's pretty cool, too, and if you're into Star Wars you might enjoy his free skate from this season.
Until next time! (Which might be five years from now, who's to say?)
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