The Greatest Figure Skater Ever Is Michael Jackson on Ice, Surrounded by Winnie the Poohs

For me, Hanyu is the greatest male figure skater of all time. He is perfect blend of musicality, artistry, difficult technical elements, performance and skating skills. He works super hard, never complains, very humble and gracious in defeat and when winning. He makes everything looke easy and effortless. 2015 He beat the world record twice in a two week period His performances at the 2015 Grand Prix Final are considered the best ever. Here is the free program from the 2015 Grand Prix Final. https://youtu.be/QWQs--Rgl4k

Why is it that the amazing stories of American women skaters, one steadily building to triump and one with an astounding comeback, are lumped into one group story on the back page of the sports section - while the story of one erratic male skater (much adored by his countrywomen, natch) takes not only the front page of the section but a double truck (TWO facing pages in their entirety) inside the sports section? Who would the young women need to sleep with at the NYTimes to get adequate coverage for their sports accomplishments?

Off to You Tube I went for a look at Hanyu's performances. I have to say, Chang W. Lee's photos say more to me than seeing the actual performances. If I were Hanyu, I would frame the photo with the caption "He's powerful and tender," one fan said. "His emotion will heal your heart." This photo is not of Hanyu doing a quad, nor a spin, it just seems to me to be a perfect capture of what I believe is Hanyu's aura, presence, his utter appeal.

Great skater, athlete, but MJ? Hunh?

With better music selection his gifts would be showcased even more.

Hey NYTimes digital team, we have a bunch of photos of the skating but only a video of the scrum with the stuffed animals. Could we perchance add a video of the man skating so we know what the fuss is about?

It always makes me laugh when Frank Carroll puts down skaters. This is the guy who pushed and pulled to have Tara Lapinski compete at the senior level, even though she was a little girl. She went pro after the Olympics, so she would not be beaten by Kwan or the other female skaters who had bad days on th eice.

"His routines bear the appealing, tense contrast between art and athleticism at the heart of figure skating. " What's unique about Yuzuru Hanyu's figure skate is that it beautifully combines art and athleticism together. He is capable of producing programs with got high technical/element scores (high base value of element plus excellent grade of execution) and high program component scores (factors of which are skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, interpretation of the music). This is why he has broken world records for 12 times. In fact, as he matures, he is one and only person who breaks world records in the last four years, 10 times between Dec 5, 2013 to Sept 22. 2017, inclusively. He just start jumping his new Quad Lz publicly in 2017 Rostelecom Cup in last October. Those 4lz were executed astonishingly. The one that he put in his long program earned him positive grade of execution. To me it means that he has not reach his full potential. I am very looking forward to his performance in the future competitions.

Hanyu is not the greatest figure skater and is not even the greatest male figure skater. I watched his program from 2017, and then rewatched Plushenko's 4 Olympic performances, Yagudin and Kulik's medal winning performances. No comparison with them, even really, in terms of technical ability -- if they had trained under the new system they would have adapted. And his countrywoman, Mao Asada, was a more beautiful and passionate skater.

The “Greatest Ever” is such a ridiculous expression. New heights are reached through a combination of new training and equipment development. Have you seen today’s skates vs those of 1960? If we didn’t progress to new heights it wouldn’t be a natural evolution. It’s like saying the greatest car or computer ever was built in 2018. Can’t compare to the first that ever was produced that started a whole new technology.Thus, please define the greatest ever.

Greatest figure skater ever? The definition has repeatedly changed over the years, but in my view, after sixty years of watching skaters, not by a long shot.

If you look at the picture in the article you will see that they are the Disney Pooh bears. The Pooh in the AA Milne stories looks more like a Stief bear which is the classic Teddy.But Disney has pretty much taken over the character since the animated film.

Thank you. I am going to Korea for the Olympics. Now, I have a reason to make it an interesting trip - just watch the Japanese fans and Winnie. Tickets to many events are still available, so I need to see if I can snag a ticket when this young man is skating.

Frank Carroll's comments about Hanyu were very interesting. Possibly he remembers Hanyu's Olympic winning skate in 2014 as being the most flawed program ever to win an Olympic gold, and which said more about the current figure skating scoring system than about his abilities. At the age of 23, Yuzuru Hanyu is now middle-aged for the sport, and given the severity of his injuries, his fans should be happy if he can just come back and stand on the Olympic ice without regard to how well he can perform. It will certainly be one of the central figure skating stories of these Games.

Yuzuru hanyu may not be the one has included most quads in his program, but he is definitely the best one who makes all quads part of his program. He once said, i wanted all my quads can get a high GOE no matter who watched it. And that is what he is working on. His quads include complex transitions and difficult entries, and take off from no where, have a beautiful in air position, left the curve on ice with scientific beauty. That is how he attracted the audience. He combines the artistry and athletic together with his high technique. And it is totally different from other skaters, that is why he attracted audience who lack of interest in figure skating. His figure skating is new, is live, is with inspiration and personality. His great technique makes quads effortless, and taken the men's figure skating to another level, not because of the calculated base value. Once watched his program in arena, you will know why people think it worth their long traveling and high price.

he's such a beautiful skater.

I am very disappointed that this article wasn’t accompanied by a video illustrating why he’s so great. A big omission, editors.

I wouldn't call him the greatest male skater ever even though he has a good mix of quads and artistry or even cause he has adoring fans in Japan. There are others who were better with or without quads such as Kulik, Browning, Cousins and Yagudin and Chan ( despite his inconsistencies). Also, greatest only lasts until the next figure skater comes along , which is generally about one season later. So by this measure by 2019, we will be calling Nathan Chen the greatest ever. F

Why no video of his performance in this article? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcbyQujtFro Breathtaking.

Isn't it time there be weight classes in competitive figure skating now that the sport is essentially dominated by waifish men and women that have far less mass to move around?

When Hanyu skates, he becomes the performance and the performance becomes him. There have been a few times when you can see that hasn't happened. Perhaps Mr. Carroll was referring to those moments. More male skaters seem to be achieving this. Fernandez has become very convincing on the ice, and Mischa Ge knocked me over with his Massenet this year. Nathan Chen isn't close, though he can be considered potentially the greatest jumper ever, if he can attain consistency. Then he has to find his own style, find music that fits his personality and do the same thing. No reason to assume he couldn't. What I have always found interesting in Hanyu is that he manages all the grace of a ballet dancer but also has what would typically be called a killer instinct in sports, which we don't normally associate with graceful athleticism. Particularly, once he gets ahead in the short program, he becomes focused on winning. You can see that at the end of his free skate performances when they're flawless. I'm not sure if he is feeling he has conquered the routine or his opponents on the ice, but conquered something, he has. Uno is getting that fire in himself too and learning to express himself on the ice as well, not copying Hanyu, but learning from Hanyu's success. Since I first saw him, I look at Uno and swear I am seeing a Japanese Kevin Arnold from "Wonder Years". Oh, and finally, yes, Yuzuru Hanyu is the greatest... so far. Who else is Plushenko and Curry rolled into one?

Go for it Yuzuru. Ganbatte...

Honestly, I am disappointed by the lack of fact-checking. "But in Moscow, he landed clumsily on a quadruple salchow and put his hands to the ice after an awkward combination jump. The judges placed him second to Chen." The second sentence (and the video immediately following this paragraph) suggests that the context is the SP, where Hanyu was placed second after Chen (whereas in LP it was Hanyu followed by Chen). Hanyu didn't even have a salchow in his program. Any figure skating fan will see that this is not a trivial factual error. Such mistake on the writer's part points to nothing but a lack of journalistic standards and leads readers like me to doubt the credibility and strength of the arguments presented in this article. If the article means otherwise, please clarify.

He may be the greatest "male" figure skater but not the greatest figure skater ever.

The Japanese fans are hysterical about their skaters and enthusiastic supporters of all good skaters. They make competitions fun with their enthusiastic support. This is in opposition to the Russians who sit on their hands for all but their skaters and are resentful when their skaters don’t win.

Great story, Jere!

I have been following the brilliance of Yuzuru Hanyu and his amazing skating skills. He performed the triple flip, quad sal triple toe, triple Salchow, triple axel, and double toe loop flawlessly. Each jump was precise, consistent, and dang near perfect. Every move he made was SO perfect; he resembled a fine tuned, fine oiled machine. I recall so fondly Brian Boitano’s gold medal performance at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. What he brought to the audience and the viewing world was PASSION in addition to a clean and perfect skating program. His grace, enthusiasm, and determination brought the house down in his final stance. He was electrifying. Technical perfection in and of itself is truly something to strive for. However, when perfection is blended so beautifully and poetically with performance interpretation and presentation that it can stir the soul, well, that’s another entirely different level of greatness. Mr. Boitano delivered greatness that evening. One thing is for certain, Yuzuru Hanyu will NOT disappoint his fans next month in Seoul. The best of luck to all competing Olympians!

I don't know if I would go so far as to call him the "greatest figure skater ever," bar none. Hanyu is incredible, but there have been a lot of incredible skaters, and it is difficult to compare skaters from generation to generation in a sport that has changed so dramatically over the decades. Also, figure skating may be "fading" in the United States, but the United States is not the world. It remains incredibly popular in countries like Japan and Russia, and will most likely - again - be one of the most watched sports of the Olympics in the US.

One of the world's greatest athletes!

Winnie the Pooh is NOT a "Disney" character. He is an A. A. Milne character. You should apologize to all the devoted readers of an earlier generation.