U.S. Men in 2018 - articles & latest news

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Tomoki Hiwatashi, who finished 12th at Nationals (up from 15th in his senior debut last year) and will compete at Junior Worlds for the second time in 3 years, emailed Jack Gallagher (Japan Times' "Ice Time" columnist) his thoughts on the Monday after Nationals (link is posted in the GSD thread titled "Barton foresees rise in Japan skating, defends IJS"):
“Before the short program, I really felt ready. I went on the ice and I thought I could do everything,” Hiwatashi wrote. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned and I messed up all my jumps and skated terrible which led me to getting 15th. I was very disappointed with myself but I knew I had to get myself to do better for the long.
“Before the long program, I watched Mao Asada’s long program. In Sochi, she also did a terrible short and did the best long program in the world,” Hiwatashi continued. “By watching her video, I gained my confidence and told myself that I should try to attack everything in the long without being scared of mistakes. I was disappointed about my quad toe getting an under-rotation and popping the triple axel but overall I think I did good.
“Though, it was a good long, because of the short I was only able to get 12th. I am still disappointed about how I’ve done and placed, but I am happy to finish this competition with a good long.”
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Christy Krall and Damon Allen were the coaches with Hiwatashi in San Jose.
 
More:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-rippon-elliott-20180110-story.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/adam-rippon-first-openly-gay-221838116.html

:yawn: re the gay references; Canadian Eric Radford came out after the Sochi Games; everyone knew Johnny was gay, and he had no need to say so, as he always spoke of trying to be true to himself and his actions spoke much louder than words anyway. And Johnny was always asked questions about 'gays in figure skating' ;) ;) He answered as forthrightly as possible without explicitly coming out himself. I will venture that Johnny's expressiveness verbally and sartorially inspired a lot of skaters and fans alike to be true to themselves. Rudy Galindo came out while still competing, even though he was not an Olympian. John Curry was outed in the media shortly after his 1976 Olympics gold-medal-winning performance.

Also, everyone in the skating community were always aware of many skaters who were/are gay, but it was not politically correct to speak out back-in-the-day. In fact, it could be career suicide. And of course, not everyone is comfortable speaking out. But every gay person in the sport of figure skating who went through the fire before them, made it possible for Eric and for Adam to be outspoken in the current environment. I'm sure they both know that too, which doesn't diminish their courage in taking that very personal step to speak out. And of course, both Eric and Adam are role models for young people who look up to them and take inspiration from their experiences.
 
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Thanks @aftershocks for posting the link to Helene Elliott's column (she spoke with Adam at the Lakewood rink earlier this week): https://twitter.com/helenenothelen/status/951263723582193664
aftershocks said:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-rippon-elliott-20180110-story.html
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Excerpt:
Rippon tried to change his mannerisms to be “normal,” but he couldn’t pretend to be something he was not. Skating was his refuge. “I finally found something that was made for somebody like me and that I loved to do,” he said. But it’s an expensive sport, and as he grew older he had to pay his expenses himself. His coach, Rafael Arutunian, helped by co-signing his car lease and allowed him to defer paying for lessons, but Rippon’s difficulties went beyond finances. Despondent and feeling depressed after he didn’t make the U.S team for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Rippon nearly quit the sport.
“For a really long time I’d look in the mirror and I wouldn’t know who was looking back at me and I wouldn’t really like who was looking back at me, and it took me a really long time to own who I was,” he said. “And when I was able to own who I was, that’s when I had my most success.”
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I found out later that Elliott's column on Adam made the front page of the Sports section in yesterday's print edition of the L.A. Times: https://twitter.com/fredkarger/status/951497212361519105
 
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It's kind of sad as well to see a lot of people outside the skating community/fandom thinking all male figure skaters are gay and make fun of them for it. Gay or straight you should be allowed to participate in whatever sport you choose and not be judged or made fun of for it.
This isn't true, especially in countries like Russia and Japan where figure skating isn't seen as overly feminine. Even in the US there's a number of straight male skaters, including many who competed at Senior nationals this year.

I also think there needs to be more awareness that figure skating is (or at least was) a pretty homophobic sport. Not the skaters themselves - even in very conservative countries like Russia, some notable skaters are accepting of their LGBT competitors - but the powers that be. I remember that, despite being close to San Francisco, the parents at my rink organized an anti-gay marriage protest. There's also that a decent amount of skaters (particularly former ones), are evangelical Christians.
I think that's the biggest thing about Adam's naming to the team - that the powers that be at what was a very conservative organization decided to give an LGBT athlete the benefit of the doubt. That they stood up for him. One wonders if the USFS administration 10 or even 20 years ago would do that. Certainly they did help Johnny, but he wasn't out, and I've seen some homophobic people go to great lengths to convince themselves that some people who aren't out of the closet officially aren't gay.
 
I personally find the athlete's sexual orientation completely uninteresting. So I don't even read the articles on the subject. Having a gay brother who is probably more macho than I ever was, I don't put much into the "acting gay" thing either. But I do understand that there are still people who just can't accept it so I think it's a great thing that Adam is a posterboy for openly gay athletes.

I can say though, playing hockey with young guys: from what I have seen from that generation they are a thousand miles away from my generation with acceptance of LBGT people. The F-word gets you thrown out of a game (we are not talking about fukc here), a gay joke is simply not funny anymore. So I hope we are coming closer to a day when articles about what sexual orientation of a person is not relevant anymore.
 
I have always supported Adam's decision to speak about himself honestly and openly, and frankly, no, I'm not in that "this is so boring, big deal, being gay is no big deal, who cares" camp. Well, maybe for you, but not for a lot of folks, and :respec: to Adam for that.

I'm more bummed that Adam called Scranton "the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania".:mad: Adam, darling, you grew up in a small city of 70,000, and as best as I can tell, you're from "the Abingdons", a upper middle class section of Scranton. It's 80 flipping miles from NYC. I've been to the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, Adam, and Scranton ain't it.

Rant that no one else cares about over........:scream:
 
A big wish I have is that someone will instruct the Olympics camera people to please, please not go in on a close-up of Nathan's countenance at the start of either of his programs. Why can't someone explain that viewers need to see skaters entire bodies, and that we really want to see Nathan's opening moves to his programs, especially the creative moves to his sp, which are way more crucial to enjoying the experience than having a close-up on his expression and then he rapidly moves completely out of the shot! This happens because fs camera people and the sports directors are so clueless and uninformed. :rolleyes: :drama: I've begged before for split-screen shots if they must do those close-ups. What's the difficulty?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty87PBMS3gU sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGe__wx8R4 fp

Well, the streamlined outfits are kinda growing on me, but mainly because it's Nathan wearing them and they seem to fit him so nicely, and he appears to be comfortable wearing them. I wonder what the experience of watching Nathan was like in person for fans in the rink? :)

ETA: I disagree with Tara blithely mentioning during the sp commentary that Nathan became an artist only in 2018. Of course, he's matured and grown in his aesthetic skills this season. However, Nathan has always had a unique feel for the music, as well as precocious artistic talent. Here's proof for those who haven't witnessed the young Nathan (3 years ago). Listen closely to Ted Barton's commentary too: :) (ETA: Unfortunately, this is not the version with commentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf1l-ebzZ88

Nathan was struggling a bit during this period with his bone growth issues, and see what he was still able to accomplish!
 
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el henry said:
I have always supported Adam's decision to speak about himself honestly and openly, and frankly, no, I'm not in that "this is so boring, big deal, being gay is no big deal, who cares" camp. Well, maybe for you, but not for a lot of folks, and :respec: to Adam for that.

I'm more bummed that Adam called Scranton "the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania".:mad: Adam, darling, you grew up in a small city of 70,000, and as best as I can tell, you're from "the Abingdons", a upper middle class section of Scranton. It's 80 flipping miles from NYC. I've been to the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, Adam, and Scranton ain't it.



Rant that no one else cares about over........:scream:
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Adam is from Clarks Summit, Pa, outside of Scranton..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarks_Summit,_Pennsylvania
 
aftershocks said:
ETA: I disagree with Tara blithely mentioning during the sp commentary that Nathan became an artist only in 2018. Of course, he's matured and grown in his aesthetic skills this season. However, Nathan has always had a unique feel for the music, as well as precocious artistic talent. Here's proof for those who haven't witnessed the young Nathan (3 years ago). Listen closely to Ted Barton's commentary too: :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf1l-ebzZ88
Click to expand...

This program when Nathan was 11 years old shows his innate musicality very much. I don't know anyone else has done a 2A with arms crossed from entry, takeoff, in the air, landing and exit as Nathan did it there. Brian first did it from entry but broke off at takeoff. Also note the comment made by FSU historian floskate 7 years ago there.
 
My mom lives near San Francisco too, and she had a small anti-gay marriage prayer at her house. It bombed.

One of the female guests threw a hissy fit right when the event started, and she walked out. They had a prayer, but nobody discussed gay marriage. The main focus of the prayer was on the drama queen guest who made a spectacle of herself.

I told her that was God's way of telling her that she didn't have the right to judge people.

P.S. That same guest also hosted Bible studies at her house that always ended up in a huge fight. After 3 failed attempts at hosting Bible studies, she was told she could no longer attend or host a Bible study.

Willin said:
I also think there needs to be more awareness that figure skating is (or at least was) a pretty homophobic sport. Not the skaters themselves - even in very conservative countries like Russia, some notable skaters are accepting of their LGBT competitors - but the powers that be. I remember that, despite being close to San Francisco, the parents at my rink organized an anti-gay marriage protest. There's also that a decent amount of skaters (particularly former ones), are evangelical Christians.
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@tylersf The funny part was that none of them were particularly religious. In fact, all but one were (as far as I knew) Buddhist or otherwise not religious at all. I assume it's because most were recent immigrants from a country that, similar to Russia, has the government using homophobia as a political tool, making its citizens more homophobic?
Which, come to think of it, makes it even better that Adam was selected considering that parents from countries that have cultures that have heavy stigma towards LGBT individuals (China, Russia, and Korea) make up a healthy portion of those getting their children into elite skating in the US and there's still a good number of conservative Christians getting into skating. Not to mention the primary demographic in the sport in the US (wealthy white families) tend to be more conservative than other groups.
 
kwanette said:
Adam is from Clarks Summit, Pa, outside of Scranton..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarks_Summit,_Pennsylvania
Click to expand...

I don’t mean to derail this thread, but I am familiar with Scranton, with the area described in local newspapers as Adam’s home, and that Adam’s biography says Clarks Summit. It is actually a distinction without a difference, as Clarks Summit feeds into Abington Heights HS, and by whatever name, is an upper middle class area of Scranton. More than you ever wanted to know about Scranton:lol:

And I am still :angryfire at poor Adam. I have also spent significant amounts of time in DuBois, Hastings, and St. Mary’s PA, to name three out of many. *Those* are towns in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. Scranton, the Abingtons, and Clarks Summit are not.

Represent NE Penna, Adam, represent! They’re proud of you, be proud of them!:D
 
It would make perfect sense to put Adam as the flag bearer at the Olympics but I think with the political winds this year it will probably be a woman.
 
aftershocks said:
A big wish I have is that someone will instruct the Olympics camera people to please, please not go in on a close-up of Nathan's countenance at the start of either of his programs. Why can't someone explain that viewers need to see skaters entire bodies, and that we really want to see Nathan's opening moves to his programs, especially the creative moves to his sp, which are way more crucial to enjoying the experience than having a close-up on his expression and then he rapidly moves completely out of the shot! This happens because fs camera people and the sports directors are so clueless and uninformed. :rolleyes: :drama: I've begged before for split-screen shots if they must do those close-ups. What's the difficulty?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty87PBMS3gU sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGe__wx8R4 fp

Well, the streamlined outfits are kinda growing on me, but mainly because it's Nathan wearing them and they seem to fit him so nicely, and he appears to be comfortable wearing them. I wonder what the experience of watching Nathan was like in person for fans in the rink? :)
Click to expand...

We sat right by one of the cameras this year and got to know the operator - Sam. We told him we are of the Doug Wilson (great ABC figure skating director) / Fred Astaire school of camera work for skating - hands and feet in every shot. I don't think it will make a difference.

NBC is taking their own cameras to Korea so we won't get the world feed. I don't know if that is a bad or a good thing. If you are really serious, search until you find the name of the NBC director for figure skating at Pyeongchang and send an email to him - you can usually find the name on the credits. They will often read and respond.

As for seeing Nathan live, it was great. There were doubters this time, especially after seeing one of the worst practices possible earlier in the week. I was concerned at the time, but I noticed Rafael was unconcerned and they were just doing what they could - very low key. A few minutes into the practice we realized that Nathan looked sick. The next day he looked and skated somewhat better although we didn't see a lutz all week. I confess to being nervous when he skated. I relied on my confidence in Nathan's ability to compete. He proved it. For me the best moments of the whole week were the last minute of Nathan's long. I sat there and realized that the moment I had waited for - starting 15 years ago - was actually going to happen. A very sweet feeling. I bet Nathan felt that - times 50.
 
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At the Gala, Adam interviewed by Andrea and he didn't endear himself to me anyway! He seemed to just be happy things worked out for him! He gave no "dap" to Ross and only cared that he persevered and made it; and's the oldest 1st time Olympian per Andrea! Not nice! :rolleyes: :wall: :barrel :COP: :duh: :judge: :revenge:
 
@Fiero425 Are you just looking for a reason to hate Adam? I don't know what "dap" is, but he probably didn't mention Ross because he wasn't asked about it. They're under a time crunch, so he has to keep his answers short and to the point. He has said very nice things about Ross and sent a very gracious tweet since.
As for saying he was the Oldest 1st Time Olympian, you probably weren't listening. She said he was the oldest first time US Olympic male skater in 80 years. So not that he was the oldest first time Olympian from any country, or even the oldest US Olympic male skater to make an Olympic debut.

Per said:
It would make perfect sense to put Adam as the flag bearer at the Olympics but I think with the political winds this year it will probably be a woman.
Click to expand...
I think it won't be Adam because there's plenty of other athletes. Elena Meyers-Taylor or Lindsay Vohn if they want a woman. Sean White (on his 4th Olympics) if they want a legend of their sport. Gus Kenworthy (gold medalist in Sochi) if they want a gay athlete. If any US Skater would get the honor I think it would be Mirai - she has a great story. But generally it seems the US likes to pick past medalists.
 
Willin said:
@Fiero425 Are you just looking for a reason to hate Adam? I don't know what "dap" is, but he probably didn't mention Ross because he wasn't asked about it. They're under a time crunch, so he has to keep his answers short and to the point. He has said very nice things about Ross and sent a very gracious tweet since.
As for saying he was the Oldest 1st Time Olympian, you probably weren't listening. She said he was the oldest first time US Olympic male skater in 80 years. So not that he was the oldest first time Olympian from any country, or even the oldest US Olympic male skater to make an Olympic debut.


I think it won't be Adam because there's plenty of other athletes. Elena Meyers-Taylor or Lindsay Vohn if they want a woman. Sean White (on his 4th Olympics) if they want a legend of their sport. Gus Kenworthy (gold medalist in Sochi) if they want a gay athlete. If any US Skater would get the honor I think it would be Mirai - she has a great story. But generally it seems the US likes to pick past medalists.
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Being picked instead of earning his place would just be another slap in the face IMO! He'll have to deal with the drama behind underperforming and his "big mouth" for yrs to come! He didn't endear himself either with comments at the GALA; "it's all about him and his satisfaction!" I couldn't care less about his Tweets to Ross trying to get past this slight! :rolleyes: :judge:
 
A.H.Black said:
As for seeing Nathan live, it was great. There were doubters this time, especially after seeing one of the worst practices possible earlier in the week. I was concerned at the time, but I noticed Rafeal was unconcerned and they were just doing what they could - very low key. A few minutes into the practice we realized that Nathan looked sick. The next day he looked and skated somewhat better although we didn't see a lutz all week. I confess to being nervous when he skated. I relied on my confidence in Nathan's ability to compete. He proved it. For me the best moments of the whole week were the last minute of Nathan's long. I sat there and realized that the moment I had waited for - starting 15 years ago - was actually going to happen. A very sweet feeling. I bet Nathan felt that - times 50.
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Thanks for sharing your first-hand account, @A.H.Black! :) In case you haven't visited Nathan's fan thread lately, I posted these 2 articles there after Nationals:

ABC News' follow-up story on Nathan from when he was their "Person of the Week" at age 10 (Feb. 19. 2010) - original video included: For Nathan Chen, a 10-year-old's figure-skating dream is now an Olympic reality

Salt Lake City local news story on Nathan (his 3rd grade teacher plans to make the trip to Korea to watch him compete at the Olympics): http://kutv.com/news/local/utah-oly...yes-gold-after-us-figure-skating-championship
 
I just realized that this link wasn't posted earlier in this thread ... Elliott Almond wrote this feature article before the start of the men's competition (published on Jan. 4) with the (prophetic) headline ‘He’s not to be denied’: Is this Vincent Zhou’s breakthough moment? https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01...ied-is-this-vincent-zhous-breakthough-moment/
Excerpt:
“I’m not just a jump machine,” he said. “I don’t want to be that.”
Until he is a more balanced skater, Zhou considers himself a work in progress. It’s difficult to expect a teenager to transform his personality on the ice, but that’s what Zhou has been trying to do.
He recalled struggling to act in a school play at age 6.
“I wasn’t very good,” Zhou said.
Talk about harsh critics.
Gambill laughed at her skater’s evaluation.
“When he was a tiny boy he was very much a showman and a crowd pleaser,” she said. “It’s in him to do it.”
Gambill could tell she had a special one when starting to work with Zhou. But over the years, the coach also has had to counter that unbridled push to succeed.
“Sometimes he will drive himself too hard with the jumps,” Gambill said.
Click to expand...
Almond also wrote the excellent feature article on Dinh Tran before he competed (2018 U.S. Junior men's silver medalist who landed 3A for the first time in competition and in both programs) - link to the GSD thread I started, in case anyone missed seeing it during Nationals: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/from-the-tenderloin-san-francisco-to-triple-axels-how-dinh-tran-is-overcoming-skating’s-long-odds.102805/
 
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A wonderful exhibition skate by Ross:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40IremoFSu0&feature=youtu.be
Rusty Kath gave a rousing greeting to Ross in announcing his name, but that doesn't make up for the Olympics selection snub. Terry G, Scott H, and Tanith were complimentary and careful in their comments during Ross' exhibition performance in order to stay within the status quo lane. They have to keep saying that Adam replaced Ross. Nope, Vincent became a solid part of the equation once Jason 'left the room.' The committee never seriously considered adding Ross to the team. :( Adam's BOW quotient had already secured him a berth after he skated a great sp, and a good enough fp. USFS has spoken (rather sloppily and ineptly, but spoken/ i.e. chosen nonetheless).

The skaters know how to send their messages too with their skating! Thank you Ross! A remarkable career. :respec:

And Adam is responsible for taking his career into his own hands when USFS was more interested in 'phasing him out' in 2015 with that low-ball sp score. Adam was having none of it. There has been a huge problem for many years with depth of talent among U.S. men and no solutions for many skaters. I'm glad Keegan Messing had options and found his solution. Now he will get to experience his first Olympics. Ross won the opportunity for the Olympics in his finest moments at US Nationals, but the decision clearly was always dead set against him, before he even skated. So his greatest performances will be his golden moment forever.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd-ON95n-JG/?hl=en&taken-by=rossminer Ross thanks his fans

More exhibitions from the men:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvwPHER2i-I Adam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUCI0Cxtge4 Nathan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5ba-9u9n4 Jason
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6JOVS73sAE Vincent

Amazing U.S. men! :encore: :swoon:
 
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