Ok so saw your tag about ISU putting a target on Nathanâs back to push him out of the sport via overscoring him. Iâm intrigued and see where youâre coming from with this but please elaborate, I have not seen it in this perspective
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Recount with me the events of the ladiesâ singles event at the Sochi Olympics back in 2014:
Yuna Kim is the crowd favorite.
Yuna does not win; the gold goes to Adelina Sotnikova.
The results prompt people, especially Yuna fans, to be consumed by outrage against the judging system and corruption of the ISU.Â
Some take to the internet to bash Adelina in every possible way and the attacks become personal, all because she held a gold medal that someone else gave to her. She is very young, and there is no way her mental state doesnât take a hit from the harassment.
In the following years, Adelina falls almost completely off the radar. She cites injuries behind why she canât attend competitions. Regardless, her legacy is stained and will remain that way.
Replace âYunaâ with âYuzuruâ and âAdelinaâ with âNathan.â Obviously, the last point isnât true for Nathan, but I hope you see my point: the unfair scoring harmed Yuna, but it also harmed Adelinaâpossibly even more so.
None of the Yuzuru-Nathan fiascos are on that scale; and at the very least, Nathan has already made enough of a name for himself that he wonât vanish. But with Yuzu arguably being even more of a superstar than Yuna, the backlash on Nathan has been terribly unkind. The guy canât even post a goat emoji on Instagram without being crucified.Â
Specifically, I donât think that the ISU wants Nathan out; not in the same way that they want Yuzu to go. Not too sure what they would gain from that (though, Iâm not too sure about anything when it comes to the ISU). However, I do think that theyâre not interested in keeping Nathanâs legacy clean. He has the capacity to win fairly, so why wonât they let him? They inflate his PCS in comparison to Yuzuâs in such plain sight that no one can miss the numbers. They have to get him to take home the gold while letting people question his victory and challenge his abilities as a figure skater. Oh, and while being harassed by the internet. Hmm.
