Brian Orser: TSL Interviews the 1987 World Figure Skating Champion

Brian Orser was in town to teach a seminar for the Ice Theatre of New York with fellow Canadian pro Doug Haw. I had a chance to catch up with the master coach following his seminar. Fresh off the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships, we discussed the success of Gabby Daleman, Yuzuru Hanyu's historic win, Javier Fernandez's disappointment in the free skate, quad lutzes, injury prevention and the upcoming Olympic season.

[@niclowyx]

Met him in Singapore! Was so star strucked when i saw Brian! Managed to get a quick photo with him, he was really friendly & chill! So excited to see all his skaters at the olympics next year!

[@lananhvu3488]

Yuzuru Hanyu is my favorite skater and also my favorite person. But I don't know why some of his fans are so rude 😥. It's so sad because Hanyu himself always respects Brian Orser while some of his fans bash him so hard 😕. I don't think Hanyu and Orser have a really close relationship like father and son, but no doubt Hanyu respects Orser as his coach. Hanyu has stayed with Orser for many years and i think Hanyu knows what is the best for him.

[@moma-b]

People are rude because they're immature. Smart people are almost never rude. (imo, ofc) 🙂

[@fernandamagalhaes867]

I can see the similarities​ between Brian's speech and Yuzu's speech, they talk very alike lol

[@sweetmarcipan]

But of course he has no idea what Hanyu's idea of what's next, haha. It's Javi who trusts his coach to set the plan and Hanyu is a genuine leader, he sets the target and puts down a plan by himself. Brian is there to assist Hanyu to get to the target in the most efficient manner. That's really awesome. All those whining and complaining nannies just don't get it that Hanyu is an adult and he knows how to deal with his life better than most of people in their 30's or 40's do.

[@immhanuelpiras2877]

If you truly trust your coach , no doubt you share your plan with him/her , in Boston Orser assisted Hanyu in the most efficient manner , Yuzu's rivals completely agree and are still delighted haha!!!

[@sweetmarcipan]

It's too early to share the grand plan- Yuzu haven't finished this season yet. WTT is coming!

[@paquigm6827]

Do not compare Javi with Hanyu, Javi's sports history and everything that this sport entails gives a thousand twists to the sports history of Hanyu. Javi comes from a country that barely knows the artistic skating, Spain has almost no ice rink, has hardly any artistic skaters or any recognized Spanish skater, barely has visible moments and visibility in the audiovisual media, has no means or facilities to that sport, has not fanaticism for that sport. In summary, it has almost nothing. Are you going to compare the Ice artistic skating of the only Spanish and Hispanic skater that has been recognized around the world with one recognized Japanese skater of the many known Japanese skaters and Asian skaters? A Japanese skater who wins trophies and has many achievements is to admire and recognize his achievements and his talent, also as other skaters like him with his achievements and his talent but is not as remarkable or comparable with another skater when there are so many known Japanese skaters that coming from a country where ice skating is a recognized sport, it is not difficult the routine of that sport in the country, it has a lot of fanaticism, is an elite sport in Japan, recognized and famous in Japan, recognized and famous in many Asian countries.... If you really like artistic skating then think a little, Javi for the simple fact that he is the only one and first Spanish and Hispanic skater in the whole world with an incredible track record, winning big championships, being the top 5 among the best of the world, running a wonderful skating ... All that coming from a country and having a culture that has nothing in favor or easy with this sport for him and even so he is still the only one and first Hispanic ice skater in the whole world that in history has reached the top of that sport. For all that Javi is already a legend of ice skating and a sports legend. Javi does not deserve any disdain or underestimate if you really like ice skating so much, also if you know the sport of figure skating so much, on the contrary every fan of ice skating would have to put Javi on a pedestal and idolizing it, especially now that he retires and those great moments of skating with Javi and Hanyu are over. Greetings.

[@yunilius7193]

Paqui gm Wow heya I read the comments and I don't think anyone is underestimating Javier You misunderstood the context Please read one more time carefully because English might not be your first language and hence you misunderstood

[@mariamrusishvili1724]

sweetmarcipan in the end of the day he was right about yuzu and quad lutz ... brian is not stupid ... he has huge amount of experience and he knows what he is talking about

[@ssmith6870]

Dave, this was more fluid than your interviews have been in the past. You're becoming a better journalist!

[@bindysweett9723]

Nice work Dave. A professional interview, with great questions! Your skills are growing.

[@mademsoisellerhapsody1868]

what a nice guy, great interview, Dave!

[@rrenatabp]

I would have liked at least one question about Elizabet! she did AMAZING in this WC and tbh I think she deserved much higher pcs both in the short and the free...

[@rane4302]

Awesome work Dave! I loved this interview!

[@RaphaelaPareto]

I've been waiting for this so much! Thank you! ♥

[@milaroberts2961]

haha "behind the russian girl". now he's coaching that russian girl lmao hopefully he knows her name now

[@WeiWei-bc5sv]

Yuzu will probably go for 4 lutz next season...wow how exciting!

[@benbailey159bb]

No he'll probably do 5 quads - Loop, 2×Toes, 2×Salchow. His 4Lz isn't consistent. He himself says his 4Lz is nowhere near as good as Boyang Jin or Nathan Chen's

[@sweetmarcipan]

Then unfortunately his BV will be lower than of those hungry youngsters and who knows what plays it's part in gaining that Oly gold.

[@benbailey159bb]

That makes perfect sense. Otherwise he'd just be swapping a 3A for a 4T - not worth the extra 1.8 Base Value for the change in difficulty especially as the 3A is so easy for him

[@benbailey159bb]

He can't do two 4T, 4S an 3A - you're only allowed two repeats. So if he does 5 quads he either needs to ditch one of thr Axels or add a new type of quad

[@SymphonicMotion]

Even if he doesn't retire after the Olympics, he might not need it anyway as there are rumours that the ISU plans on giving more weight to the PCS after the Olympics in order to counterbalance the gap between those who can jump and those who are better at other elements.

[@ioseb14]

Please make a video for Worlds 2017. Please please. We can't wait!

[@rinpowers8389]

he jinxed the "no injuries" thing omfg hahah

[@SarahB1863]

And yet Hanyu came back and won gold despite not being on the ice at all for three months. Remarkable! AND Javi got bronze. It was a great competition!

[@soniamali4006]

I was scrolling through the comments looking for this comment.

[@soaringeagle6918]

yeah.. that knocking on wood stuff is no help at all haha

[@ManuelPabloArnao]

Will you do a World recap video? If so, I can't wait. I LIVE for you videos, lol.

[@victoriagill3337]

I love how he says they decide what jumps they need to put in to win. This has been going on for years. Frau Müller used to do this with Katarina Witt - if you didn’t need it at that particular performance why risk messing the programme up to incorporate it. Brian himself said the Olympic champion isn’t the one who falls in their programme

[@amberelibrennan]

I wish this interview was longer .. ☹️ lol

[@TheSkatingLesson]

Amber Brennan Brian was in his skates for 6 hours and had a car coming. I grabbed him after NBC. He was very gracious. Hopefully we will get to chat for longer in the future :)

[@amberelibrennan]

TheSkatingLesson yeah thats what I was assuming... but yes if you got him back for another interview that would be awesome!! 😁

[@laughysophie8818]

His voice is so cute it's a lot different than I expected

[@mulanpradhita7348]

omg...did he say he will go to Bali??? for 6 days???😮

[@angelicam7179]

Will we be getting a worlds recap?

[@JJuliaSmile]

What is he talking about no injuries? Yuzu literally almost had to retire in 2016 after worlds👀 (but I guess Boston is sth everyone involved would like to forget, although for vastly different reasons...)

[@user-kw2sk8zu1s]

Bali for 6 days ! So jealous.

[@fishythefish7984]

On the topic of American skaters, he coaches Jason Brown right? When did that happen? I'm a new figure skating fan, so wondering. 🤔

[@leeharry1565]

Tracy coaches jason not him.he refuse jason.

[@fishythefish7984]

@@leeharry1565 what do u mean? And I'm asking when he went to Canada and all to start training there

[@txprettyboy07]

Where the hell is the Worlds Recap

[@moma-b]

5:40 Yuzu is not a big fan of coming second. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@lyc8905]

it's interesting that you could find proof from brain collaborating some of the personality traits you learnt from skaters during their competitions-- hanyu doesn't like to go second, and has his own sense of what's next, while javier is more free-style, and doesn't seem to have that strong a mind-set like hanyu does (javier's cool, i am just saying that he may not be the type which could pull back and being regardless/spontaneous like hanyu). some of the emoji brain does was so cute. I found trump in him @ 4:11 , 8:08 . And funny ones like 9:33 . I always only look for interview of stakers, or choreographers, designers. Great to have coach orser here. Just wish that TSL would have better audio setting next time. It is in the hallway of a gym? and the material wasn't very sonic friendly. When orser turned away, i could still hear it at second time, but still hardly. Plus, I couldn't find that piece of information anywhere in regard of Orser's first language. but he's canaidian, and he sounded a little breathy, so.....better machine for next. but great to have this!

[@paquigm6827]

I think that's your sensation and I think it's just the opposite, Hanyu has a restless, nervous and desconcentrated personality and by his personality he is a dependent person because he is easily deconcentrated and feels pressure by the nerves and those nerves are what in most of the moments have affected Hanyu in the execution of a program and needs someone to calm him or advise and Javi has a calm, appeased and concentrate personality and by his personality he is an independent person because he does not deconcentrate easily and he is able to calm his nerves before running a program or if he makes a mistake while running his program is able to calm his nerves so it does not affect him in his execution or he does not press himself too much in the rest of the execution of the program and most of the times he does not need someone to calm or advise him. Hanyu himself has said that Javi is the one who says funny things to him or talks to him about something so that he forgets the pressure and not feeling very nervous and he also said that Javi because of his personality is usually the one who calms his nerves. And I think Hanyu is for that reason that he's going to miss Javi a lot more when Javi completely retires from skating. I was not surprised when I heard Brian in this interview at the time Brian says that another skater was nervous and that she called Javi by phone for that reason, because it seems that poor Javi is like the daddy who calms the nerves of the other skaters and to who they speak when they are nervous or pressured. Hahaha. Greetings.

[@tonya--7704]

Brian's first language is English and he didn't say Yuzu doesn't like to GO second he said that Yuzu doesn't like to BE second as in not the winner. It's got nothing to do with skating order and everything to do with not getting the highest scores. Yuzu likes to win. We like for Yuzu to win because when he wins it makes him happy. We want Yuzu to be happy because we love Yuzu. It's as simple as that.

[@deeperedges3100]

9:10 what did he say?! If they were staying past the olympic... smth like that? Anyone plz explain what he meant

[@masodemic4509]

If they keep competing after the Olympics

[@TruWatcher]

I think that was Brian's subtle way of saying that Yuzu and Javi are not going to freak out and feel as if they have to do as many quads as Nathan Chen at the Olympics in order to win. They're going to focus on doing the jumps they do most consistently and hope their PCS will carry the rest. Of course, Nathan's PCS will likely not be too shabby either. Or Shoma's, and even Boyang Jin is getting better at it all the time. It's going to be exciting to see who stands up under the pressure and can come through for the medals.

[@TruWatcher]

In other words, if Yuzu and Javi were planning on sticking around and competing in the years following the Olympics, they'd have to worry more about keeping up in the quad race. But chances are they're not.

[@moma-b]

@@TruWatcher Reading this in 2022. Yuzu stayed. 🥲

[@raineq4412]

he's coming to singapore?????

[@quadrevolution3029]

he's conducting a 3-day course here fr 11-13th to teach skaters !! :') i think he also gave the straits times an interview ab it a few days back, saying he wants lesser known countries in figure skating to also do well + get on the map

[@raineq4412]

quad revolution i don't even figure skate and i'm happy that he's coming yay

[@janehernandez9237]

People keep saying Yuna could not have done it without Brain Orser, but she went to the 2014 Olympics without brain and won

[@TruWatcher]

Silver, not gold. Please, people, enough with the myth that Yuna was this magical skating genius who was so gifted she would have become Olympic gold medalist even if she was coached by a brown paper bag. Give Brian credit where credit is due. I know that's not a popular position nowadays since she split with him, but it's only fair.

[@yunilius7193]

It's Brian not Brain... Wtf...

[@crackedup3378]

@@TruWatcher you don’t know either only Yuma knows. She was quoted to say it wasn’t as happy as it appeared on camera

[@EEDiazL]

You see Dave, you can do good interviews without mentioning what male skater is hot, and you'll like to date, or do without mentioning what coach wants you to go backstage and have sexy times with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@carlottamapelli3791]

Incredible Mann I

[@yechingto8184]

Many fans and I don’t trust Brian Orser as Hanyu’s coach. Brian is more like a businessman rather than a genuine coach that Hanyu can truly depend on. But, I really hope I am wrong. Even I myself and his fans have much more genuine love for Hanyu than Brian.

[@happyarmy3661]

bitter. hahaha

[@DeepSeas..]

Yeching To HAHAHA He's one of the best coaches ever. He coached both Yuna and Yuzuru to Olympic glory.

[@yechingto8184]

Daniel_ Brian is the luckiest coaches ever. Almost all of his fame and money are brought by Kim and Hanyu.

[@DeepSeas..]

Yeching To I guess Fernandez is just luck as well. Get real. If some of the best skaters ever spent years with him without switching coaches, he's clearly not just "lucky."

[@yechingto8184]

Daniel_I didn’t say ‘Brian is just lucky’. We also see that he runs his business well.