06 April 2016, 16:39
EXCLUSIVE. We do not want to mar our relations with Japanese colleagues for one athlete’s misconduct
– Kazakh National Skating Federation
ASTANA. KAZINFORM Head of the International Affairs Department of the Kazakhstan National Skating Federation Tatyana Russinova
commented on reports of some mass media regarding the incident which occurred between Kazakh and Japanese figure skaters Denis Ten and Yuzuru Hanyu at the ISU World Championships in Boston.
“The representatives of Japan’s Figure Skating Federation called me on Monday. I have also received an official letter from them. Every day, when I switch on my computer, what I see?
A plenty of letters and messages from the Japanese figure skating fans. They apologize to us for Hanyu’s behavior. Some of them write that Hanyu’s behavior discredits upon their country,”
said Russinova in an interview to Kazinform correspondent Damir Baimanov.
Tatyana Russinova kindly agreed to read out one of the letters from a Japanese fan:
“I am writing to offer my apology to you for Yuzuru Hanyu’s misconduct and for the actions of his crazy fans.
Japanese fans know that Denis is a noble young man, who will never hurt other skaters. We believe that Hanyu demonstrated a piece of childishness.
It is a shame to Japan. Those who send bad messages to Denis Ten are not real fans of figure skating.
They are just faithful fans of Hanyu justifying any wrongdoings from his side.
I would like Denis and people of Kazakhstan to know that Japanese fans feel sorry for this,” the email reads.
Russinova noted she receives such messages several times a day. She also emphasized Ten’s reaction to the criticism he had to face.
“I saw his posts in social media and I can say that he is a well-mannered young man.
He responds to the comments and messages without giving up to provocations and hysteria,” she pointed out.
According to her, Kazakhstan Skating Federation does not want to mar relations with their Japanese colleagues because of this incident.
“Our colleagues from Japan called us not to lodge complain to the International Skating Union. They urged us to avoid any scandal.
We are closely cooperating with the Japanese Federation. We do not want to mar relations with Japanese for one athlete’s misconduct,
even if he is an Olympic Champion. This is very important. Japanese Federation did their best to make Hanyu be sorry for what he had done,” added Russinova.
Figure skating is not an aggressive sport. Skaters compete against each other, but off the ice they are mostly friendly with each other.
Rivals might sit together in the dining room and have lunch before they go out trying to better each other on the ice a few hours later.
But sometimes their fans think they need to be at war with each other.
In the Men’s short program practice at the practice rink at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston on Wednesday, March 30,
Japan’s super star Yuzuru Hanyu and Kazakhstan’s Olympic bronze medalist Denis Ten got close to each other on the ice.
This happens sometimes, skaters get too close to each other, maybe not paying enough attention as they are too absorbed in what they are doing.
Several eye witnesses confirmed that Yuzuru was skating to his music while Denis was doing a spin. There was enough room around Denis,
but Yuzuru almost ran into him. There was no physical contact, nobody was hurt. Apparently Yuzuru got upset and yelled at Denis.
It was a minor incident that usually quickly would have been forgotten. Unfortunately, when Yuzuru spoke to the press in the mixed zone that day,
he accused Denis of trying to hurt him and intentionally being in his way. There was no reason for this kind of severe accusation, however,
some media greedily picked it up and blew the whole incident out of proportion.
Who could seriously believe that one skater tried to hurt another skater? I’ve been covering figure skating for more than 20 years now.
I’ve seen many near-collisions in practice and warm up and several actual collisions, but never ever one skater accused another skater
of intentionally trying to do anything wrong. Yuzuru probably said this as he was under high stress and had the terrible accident
on his mind when he collided with Han Yan in the warm up during Cup of China in 2014. So he kind of overreacted,
but some journalists happily used it to create a scandal and even wrote about a “protest” or “complaint”
that the Japanese Skating Federation planned to file.
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As a result, some of Yuzuru’s fans also overreacted and started sending threats and hate mail to Denis.
Authorities in Kazakhstan read the one-sided media reports and were not amused.
There were also reasonable voices from journalists and fans, but they somehow were overheard in the cacophony of the outraged.
Someone even went as far as posting a video from another warm up or practice session where Denis and Yuzuru came close to each other
and used this as “proof”. Get a life. You can see many, many such situations between many different skaters.
Interesting enough, the video of the practice session in Boston was not shown, although Fuji TV was there and taped the session.
There should be footage from the incident, but they don’t release it.
Unfortunately, the Japanese Skating Federation apparently did not realize how the whole situation developed
and did not intervene right away. Only on Saturday team leader Yoshiko Kobayashi told the press that the Federation doesn’t file
any kind of protest and never intended to do so. The Japanese Skating Federation also confirmed this in a letter to the Kazakhstan authorities.
In the end, only both skaters suffered from these careless words in the mixed zone, because Yuzuru received also some criticism.
Yuzuru approached Denis on Saturday, they talked to each other, they shook hands. They closed this chapter, but unfortunately some people
(who think they are fans) still didn’t let go. Even when Denis published a photo of him and Yuzuru shaking hands, they wouldn’t stop arguing.
It is enough now.
And, by the way, in the free skating practice at the main rink on Friday, Yuzuru, who was skating to his music, got really close to Shoma Uno,
who was doing a spin. Shoma just was able to get out of the way in the last second. Would anyone seriously believe that Shoma was intentionally
in Yuzuru’s way or tried to hurt him?
There was a lot of feedback to this article, both negative and positive. There are some people
you can discuss with and some you can’t as everyone has their own truth sometimes.
Therefore I decided not to react to Twitter comments. This matter should be put to rest.
However, I thought over everything again and I edited the article in four places and marked them by stars.
*My main criticism towards Yuzuru Hanyu was that he accused Denis Ten of being intentionally
in his way or even “trying to hurt him”. This criticism was based on an article that quoted
Yuzuru in that way. However, I did not make it clear that I relied on a quote in an article.
The quote in the article might have been distorted or wrong as some people say. I cannot prove
one or the other as I have no voice recording from the mixed zone.
**I took out “Yuzuru’s fans” as some of his honest fans felt offended as they never would send
hate mail or nasty comments. I do not want to blame all of his fans. There are just some nasty
people out there that hide in the anonymity of the internet, they are not necessarily Yuzuru’s fans.
***I changed “careless words in the mixed zone” to “incident”.
**** I added another paragraph to make my point clear. I realize that many people read this article
who don’t know English so well and they might not completely understand all nuances.
This article is not directed against Yuzuru Hanyu or any other skater and it is not about who was doing
what in the practice session. The main point of this article is to illustrate what can happen
when comments are blown out of proportion and to criticize those people that continue to fight
even after the issue has been settled by the skaters.
An unforgettable event occurred at the Sochi Olympics.
We arrived at the hotel for a meeting with the Japanese producer of ice shows.
We go into the hotel: a semicircle are standing - Yudzuru's mother, father,
representatives of the federation, judges - bow to us and for a long time so stand.
The girls at the reception opened their eyes to the forehead! Unforgettable feelings.
