I'm sorry, but why is this news? Probably because figure skating is suffering from a huge PR problem right now and folks think crafting salacious stories like these will boost ratings.
Forgive me but I'm going to roll my eyes.
The story goes, Yuzuru Hanyu was doing a run-through of his short program on an official practice, and Dennis Ten was doing a spin right where Hanyu's triple axel was planned. He was forced to divert during his program and ended up falling on the jump and pitching a fit. Dennis Ten allegedly just DGAF, and has been accused of ignoring his fellow skaters when they have the right-of-way. The article painted it as this huge battle between the skaters.
Puh-leeeeeeze. Yes, the skater who is doing his/her program has the right-of-way according to ice etiquette. But if that right of way is violated, don't be a prima donna. Seriously, it makes you look like an a--hole. You have a right to assertively say "excuse me," and a right to be internally frustrated, but seriously, get over it. And if you're on the other end of the equation, you don't own the ice. Watch out for other skaters, please, especially during the official practice at Worlds.
Either way, it's not a big deal. It's reality for skaters. It happens every day, on every ice session, in some way or another. I've written about ice etiquette before, and I'm sure I'll write about it again.
I overheard a coach talking to a student on the ice the other day who was frustrated that fellow skaters kept getting in her way during Moves in the Field patterns. The coach advised the student to start acting "politely arrogant," as a means of asserting her right to be on the ice and complete the patterns. I don't like the use of the word arrogant, I think it has too many negative connotations. But the coach's implication was spot-on. You paid your money to be out there on that ice, and you have to assert your right to be there regardless of level or age. That's just the way of things when competitive athletes share a training facility. But at the same time, don't take it as the right to be a dick.
Actually, you only got half of the story. Sure based on what you said it might seemed like Hanyu is making a big deal over nothing. However, Denis Ten has already disturbed his runthrough twice in a row on the practice day before. Here is a video of that runthrough at the main rink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThTQ-lx4BgU
ReplyDeleteAfter this pratice Hanyu did try to handle this matter politely and approached Ten to ask him to watch out a bit more. Ten's response? The rink might be too small and it's probably Hanyu not used to skating with so many people.
When this happened again the next day (3rd time in a row in two days), and this time with a dangerous camel spin right in the middle of Hanyu's 3A entrance. Well, yes Hanyu had an anger outburst. He probably shouldn't have. But there are reasons behind his frustration.
But you are right, it is the reality for skaters that they have to deal with if their fellow skaters just don't give a damn. Just to follow up, Hanyu did reflect on his anger and reconciled with Ten on this. Ten however, doesn't think he should have any courtesy during others runthrough and claims he will not apologize for anything.
Do i sound biased? I probably am. I'm a Hanyu fans and I'm not pleased with Ten's attitude at all. It is what it is, but I just happened to stumble across your post (upon searching for ice etiquette :D) and thought I'd fill in a bit of detail. Hope you're not offended by my long post :)