Japan Today Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
figure skating

Hanyu 2nd at Cup of China after scary crash

22 Comments
By JUSTIN BERGMAN

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

22 Comments
Login to comment

I admire his spirit. But if he fell five times and nearly won anyway, what does that say about the competition?

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Hhmmm... conspiracy anyone? In China, Chinese skater, Chinese fishermen taking coral, the island dispute, the leaders grudgingly meeting, and now Hanyu takes a hit.

They can't stop you, Hanyu!

-9 ( +7 / -16 )

harvey:

Yeah, everyone's out to getcha! What next, someone framing you for the theft of a camera? Better still, don't go abroad.

I have to agree with sensei. I feel sorry that he had this accident and he showed he had more than two balls by continuing on with the show, but come on! Falling over FIVE times, and still coming second! I didn't watch the other skaters, but either the other skaters (apart from the Russian winner) were amateurs, or something's not right about the judging system (Kim Yuna and Sochi all over again).

It's becoming a regular pattern here - falling over left, right and centre, and STILL managing to get first or second position. At least Patrick Chan used to feel guilty about this.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

if he fell five times and nearly won anyway

You need to understand the scoring system. You get penalized for falling (minus 1 point), but you have to consider the "kiso-ten," the points you get for doing that move. For example, you get way more points for doing a quad jump than a triple, as it is very difficult to do, let alone land. Therefore, a person falling on a quad can get more points than a person who perfectly lands an easy triple. In fact, Hanyu's 237 points are terrible, almost 60 points less than his best. Anything under 280 is a bad score for him. I hope he is not seriously injured.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

I saw the crash live on TV, and it was clearly accidental and looked very painful. That said, little drama boy seemed to play it up somewhat and may have gotten some pity-points to get his final score.

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

Accidental crash? Look again! The heavier Chinese boy, yeah, Chinese, from a distance away was looking straight and skating like a well-aimed missile straight into Hanyu.

Hanyu's fault was his acceptance to skate in China in the first place. Happened in China, caused by a Chinese - coincidence? Think again!

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

'drama boy'? He didn't see it coming, and was going how many kph?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

It was an accident unless you have a set conclusion and dismiss anything factual. Both were skating backwards and just before the collision, Hanyu is the one that actually changed direction as Yan turned around making it impossible for both to avoid.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Hanyu, win or lose, he decided to finish the free-skate program…he simply possess a true spirit of an athlete…

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@ kickboard - Thanks for the info! I learn something every day.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Crash? collision is much more appropriate term in this chase. Unlucky to happen right before his performance. One of those things.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dangerous falls are common in training. The figure skaters should wear helmets and other protective gear just like in other sports, but that could take away the allure of the sport. There should be a way to find a compromise.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

torch:

The heavier Chinese boy

So it's his fault because he's heavier. Tell him to go on a diet.

kickboard:

I understand what you're saying, and I can understand it when you fall over once or maybe twice. But FIVE frigging times! I've NEVER seen a skater fall over that many times. There should be a rule where each successful fall earns the skater a heavier penalty.

Duncanpa:

They could let the skaters practise individually but that would take up a lot of time. And if Hanyu crashed into the wall, people like torch would blame the Chinese put putting the wall there.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

There should be a rule where each successful fall earns the skater a heavier penalty.

That's your opinion and I accept that. However, I am against letting people win by skating not to lose, ie not trying difficult maneuvers.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Note, they didn't crash during practice, but during the warm-up period.

Basically, these competitions are divided into "flights" of 6-8 skaters each. At the end of each flight, the next flight is given a roughly 5 minute warm up period.

If each skater was given individual warm up time on the ice, competitions would stretch on forever and a day, and never get completed.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That performance was definitely Blood Sweat and Tears.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There should be a rule where each successful fall earns the skater a heavier penalty.

I totally agree. The crazy scoring is why I left the sport after being a fan for more than 15 years.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

My God!! Not to my Japanese skater Yuzuru my god!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There should be a rule where each successful fall earns the skater a heavier penalty.

Well, he didn't just show up as usual and start falling all over the place...he was hurt, which may explain why the deductions were not as severe. He got 7 stitches in his chin and 3 in his head. You have to get hit pretty hard to open up your chin like that.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The mystery in all of this to me is, why was he allowed to continue?

His coach said he seemed fine and made a joke!!! Wow - that's scientific.

These days - in contact sports especially - any head injury would require as standard, a concussion evaluation carried out by certified medical officers. It's NOT the athlete's call. Such an evaluation will require time and if there's any doubt at all the person will not be allowed to continue.

Concussion is a real life threatening situation, not a bit of a bump on the head, ganbatte bull. Dropping dead mid-performance wouldn't make anyones day.

His following performance indicates all was not well and in addition he had a sprained ankle.

Serious lack of medico nouse on show.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What's up with the conspiracy theorists... Yan Han was the defending champion and so there is absolutely no logical reason for purposely crashing into Hanyu.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites