Nikkei's "Step! Step! Step! vol.5" was on the paper yesterday. Again it's an interesting article.
Is this the final?
Please continue, Nikkei-san!!
Sorry for my poor English! Enjoy!
Mar.2.2010 Nikkei Shinbun Step! Step! Step! vol.5
Daisuke talks about the olympics.- How do you feel after winning the medal?
I can breath again. If I hadn't won a medal, though I said I would, people would have said "Oh, it's again." Above all, I didn't want people to think that I was over due to the injury. Because I wanted to try hard before they lost interest in me.
(I thought ladies' division was more popular) But these days some people said to me like men's division was dynamic. I'm feeling men's figure skating has spread into the public in these four years in Japan, not far behind from Ladies'. But I couldn't win any big international comeptitions this season for the first time in the last five years. I had a fear that people didn't pay attention to me anymore.
- Did you have confidence?
Honestly speaking, even on the day of SP, I thought it would be difficult to win a medal. I've never worked so hard before and I could go to the cometition without any fear for the physical strength for the first time, including pre-injury seasons. However other skaters got fired up more than usual in the olympics, too. I thought it would be tough but also interesting.
It wasn't until February that I was able to do my own skating. I managed to make it at the very last moment. Before that, I became stiff as I skated. I got irritated, I felt uncomfortable.
There used be a certain rank of skaters back in Turin but nowadays we don't know who will win in figure skating. I could concentrate without overwhelmed by the atomosphere unlike four years ago. I warm-upped in the place away from people, so I didn't see any other competitors.
- What do you think of the score?
I was rather shocked because the score of FP was so low. I'm dissatisfied with the underrotaion call on 3F-3T. I think I messed the landing but the rotaion was enough. As for "!" on lutz, I couldn't help it. Because I jumped them at the place where they looked like so from the judges. I couldn't put them in other places.
I'm glad to get No.1 PCS in FP. At first I acted intentionally but I just burst my emotion naturally at the end. It was fun. However PCS is wobbly. It varies depending on the audience reaction, my emotion and the performance. TES is important.
- You tried the quad.
I was sure I could have skate perfectly if I hadn't tried it. But it was not my ideal style, to play safe and win a medal. In a big game I want to fight with my maximum ability. I could jump it twice before the injury and when I moved to senior it was the era that there was no chance unless people jumped quads both SP and FP. Probably it affects me strongly.
It would be another story if I were in the level of Plushenko but for us whether to put the quad or not makes big difference in the strain of practice and the pressure before competition. The quad definitely isn't a kind of jump which you can do in any condition. The future of the quad jump depends on skaters. People say it's about the rule but who does it is a skater. While skaters compete with pursuing their own ideal, the quad will become neccesary if all stakers start to do it. But if they don't think it neccesary the quad jumps will decrease.
- You thought of the retirement after this game before.
I thought so until I resumed skating after the injury. My body started to move after Japanese National Championships in Dec. and I started to think "It would be a waste if I quit."
The competition I could enjoyed this season is only once, this olympic games. I think I'm the real thing if I can win in the worlds. To be honest I want to have a rest, but I will go to fight.
What a man you have become, Dai-chan!!
I'll be really sad if this is the last installment as well, I've really enjoyed it!
Well, now that he has an Olympic medal, I don't think he has to worry about people not paying attention to him anymore. I'm still amazed at how much sales of his book/DVD/CD have increased since he won the medal -- I just read yesterday that his DVD is now the highest-selling figure skating DVD in Japan (even more than Shizuka's), and fifth highest out of all sports DVDs ever!
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