2012 World Figure Skating Championships

Hey guys,
I landed in Cologne Airport a few our ago and when I arrived at home the thing I did was to check if my TV recorded all the competitions... It didn't But well at least I saw it live (and I saw Mao's performance with our German commentators and once again I noticed I don't really need to hear that!!!!)
So I hope I can remember all the details from the last two days:

Men FS:
We (my sister, my mother + me) arrived while Victor Pfeiffer skated so I was only for Taka taking the ice...! He had some problems with 4T in the warm-up but he was the most impressive skater in that group. I felt really nervous for him and was glad (and also sad) that he did okay...! There you could see the first time that the PCS aren't right; if Taka would have skated in the last group they'd gave him at least 5 points more, but well. All in all I can say that he wasn't on fire. He wasn't even near to the form he was at TEB last year where I saw him live but it is always something special to see him skate.
The first standing ovation received Kevin van der Perren because of his jumps (we all know that his overall skating is rather poor!). There followed a lot of good skates but nothing special. I hoped to understand why Jeremy Abbott is getting this high PCS but I didn't! He tries to create that emotional sentimental atmosphere but there was nothing of it for me. I really had to grin at him because it seemed a bit ridiculous to me but that's a question of taste I think.
But after that the star of the whole event (imo) came up: Yuzuru Hanyu! I really loved him before worlds and was nervous before his 4T but gosh, I had tears in my eyes and it gave me the chills over the whole body. And you should have sit there in the audience! All were freakin out, it was awesome!!! After that performance I wanted everybody to make mistakes because for me Yuzuru should have a medal... Really mean of me...
Of course the free skates of Brain and Florent were great (especially with this audience!) and I was happy for them but I was one of the few who screamed for joy when Joubert's scores came up and Yuzuru was still in first!
It was the first time for me to see Dai and Patrick live and I was curious to see the difference. And gosh there is one!! Dai was rocking it, from start to the end just amazing!! Sadly we hadn't the best places but I think if I were near to the boards I would be one of the girls freakin out when he's near to me.
But I have to be honest, in that night I was more impressed by Yuzuru than by Dai. Maybe because he's only 17 or maybe because his reaction was so cute - I don't really know - but for me (very subjective point of view) Yuzuru deserved the best FS of the night! I'm so excited to see how his career will develop... I just hope there isn't too much pressure through Japanese media!
I don't want to waste any words on the last skater; everything is said. Just let me say I was one of them who were booing! I was absolutely sure that Yuzuru should have the best FS of the day (but I knew that Patrick would win this because of the judges ). It would be okay if he won with 0.5 points or something like this but he didn't deserve that PCS!!! Today I feel a bit sorry for him because it was the judge's fault but at this moment there in the arena I was ful of anger! (btw, my mum mentioned just one word: corruption! )
All in all the Men's free skate was a great event that I will remember my whole life. A lot of good skates, a lot of standing ovations...!

Ladies' FS:
In the first two groups of the ladies I was so tired I almost fell asleep (I only slept 2-3 hours). There was noone to stand out like in the men's event. Very sad skate for Alissa (the audience was sooo nice to her!!).
When Ashley skated I was already too nervous for Mao. I hadn't the best feeling and I even wished Ashley to fall...
While Mao's warmup we tried to get better seats so that I couldn't watch her the whole time. But I saw a few 2A, one 3F-3Lo, 2A-3T and a popped 3A... I thought "Okay, Mao is in good form. She will do a 2A and everything will be okay!"
I couldn't really watch Alena's skate because of this nervousness. Just realized this overloaded make-up and the fact that seeing her skating live is not better than in TV... I'm not a fan of her.
But well, she did good and gosh, I was soooo nervous when Mao came to the ice!! In the first seconds (during Alena's slow-mo) Mao stumbled a bit and after that she tried to fix the bootlaces quite aggressively!
I definitely think she was going for a 2A in the beginning. And I so wanted to see the 3F-3Lo in competition but it wasn't her day! After the 3Lz I thought "She's back on track, she's the comeback queen, she still can do that!" but after that it was just a nightmare to look at... To me it looked like she had a problem with her right boot because she only popped the jumps were she needs it to jump off (I mean in the second half of the program). So I was really surprised that it was the 3S which she landed!
But also if there was a problem with the boot or with her nose bleeding I couldn't see the Mao I saw in Paris at TEB last year. She wasn't perfect there too but for me the program was more beautiful there. In Nice she couldn't really shine (for me it was the most beautiful skate anyway but some others (my sister for example) didn't recognize Mao's qualities there). I think Mao skated this program too often, she needs something new. This FS is soo absolutely beautiful but she made a lot of difficult experiences with it (her two worst world placements)....
I'm curious to know what she does next season and for me she will be my all time favourite figure skater and I will cheer for her whatever she does!
I cannot say anything about the other ladies because I was so shocked and sad after Mao's performance (actually I only wanted Mao to be in the Top 5 to see her Jupiter. I'm soo egoistic... ) Caro definitely deserved what she got and I'm happy for Akiko!
After Carolina's winner interview I was going outside; I couldn't see Caro standing there in the middle...
There were only a few people lobby: one of them was Elene Gedevanishvili sitting on her case - crying. I still had red eyes so I felt also really sorry for her. I went in the direction of the exit and 4 meters in front of me Mao was going very fast (almost running) with Taka (and a woman I didn't know) on her side. They went out of the arena very fast, nobody could even think about asking for an autograph or something like this... After seeing that I was a bit relieved to know that Taka is always there for Mao!

Exhibition:
I went to the practice Sunday morning. We could choose the best places which was really nice. Takahashi/Tran were hilarious. Mervin had a battle with Eric Radford They tried to do 3Lz-3Ts and so on. Eric definitely won it, he almost landed a 3Lz-3T-3T... But also Mervin landed one or two 3Lz. During that Narumi tried a lot of 3Fs; they looked quite good but she did fall a lot.
Yuzuru did a lot of beautiful 3As (Oh my god, I'm such a big fan of him now!! ) When they practiced the final and the opening it was interesting to see how the skaters communicate with each other. I have to say Patrick was the one who was standing there alone most of the time... And team Japan was amazing!! Dai tried different entrances to 3Lo and Kanako corrected him After that Kanako and Dai tried also some things with their head before the 3S. It was just so funny to see...! Kanako is so cheerful the whole time.. she danced with Yuzuru on the other side of the rink. There you could see that they just normal people like you and me. They reminded me of me and my friends when we try some stupid things on the ice after practice. It's funny to see that even champions do that (only on another level )
When Dai and Patrick practiced their Exhibition programs you could see who is the true world champion! Dai tried a few 4Ts, one of them was absolutely stunning!!! He also did some 3F-3Lo-2/3Lo (he popped the last jump because he hadn't enough speed). I never saw him doing 3Lo as second jump, so that was awesome to see...
In the evening there were a lot of boring programs... Team Japan totally rocked it and showed everybody which country has the best figure skaters in the world! T/T got an standing ovation in the gala and Yuzuru and Dai were the only skaters who did a 3A!
I was also excited to see the pairs once again; V/T and S/S are both outstanding and in another league but for me S/S have that ultimate perfection which V/T doesn't... (Just wanted to say that )

After the gala we were trying to enjoy this beautiful city and walked on a little mountain. And there was a big black Taxi holding near to the place we were standing. Four people got out - I didn't really looked at them - and then I was hearing some Japanese words. I turned around to them and there was Taka with a man and two other woman (unfortunatly not Mao). There were doing some photos with the city in the background. I was so excited and just whispered "omg, there's Taka, there's Taka, it's Kozuka!!" to my sister... After they did enough photos they jumped in the Taxi again (they were in a hurry), I couldn't even ask for an autograph...

But it's nice to see that he enjoyed the city, I hope Mao could do the same!!
Well, I think that's all I remember. Love you guys!


PS: Omg, that's my longest post ever! I know it's Mao forum but I had the feeling that I should share all that little details I was impressed of with you... Sorry...

i'm not sure what to think about Mao and her chances at Sochi anymore. There are only 2 years left and nothing short of jaw dropping will give her the gold. Consistency gains you higher GOEs as well as PCS. Mao has been throwing away the good stuff she built up when she was 14, 15, 16, maybe 17. But since then, she's given the judges the idea that it's nearly surprising when she skates well...i feel that she has to start NOW to build it all back up in 2 years and even then, is that enough time? Kim yuna was never off the podium even when she was off...that's how consistent she is. If the Russian girls are anything that they seem to be at the moment, and emerge from growth spurts largely unscathed, I think it's almost over before it even began...

I'm not saying that there is no chance because many things can happen between now and sochi..i just hope Mao isn't too hard on herself if she doesn't get the gold in sochi, especially because it's her dream and that her mother passed away between these two olympics.

This season Mao was doing really great, receiving the best score for her FS through the GP events, until you know what. So please, stop speculating about chances etc. Next season it will be more clear. Who was Evan two seasons before Olys? I'm only praying for the happiness of Mao, I wish there won't be any personal dramas, injuries or anything like that. And then we'll see what Mao really can do.

josling, thank you so much for your report!! Do you have any pictures from the event?

thanks for the report, josling~~

Josling, thank you so much for sharing your experiences!
Sounds like you had tons of fun. Shame you couldn't see Jupiter at the gala though..

princessinpink, try not to be so pessimistic. I am sure that this year/season was the toughest one for Mao, especially personaly. I think we, as her fans, should be more understanding and keep our fingers crossed that she comes back stronger than ever.

i don't think i'm not understanding towards the situation. i just hope that she comes back stronger soon enough. it's only out of concern for her really because we all know how much that olympic gold means to her.

maybe i'm still hungover from the unfortunate weekend

Thank you josling , you are lucky, you watched Mao and Taka in TBP and Nice.
And yes, sure it will be difficult win the olympic gold, but not impossible, and if she will not win is not important, the important is she achieve the best she can, in the olympics or another competition.

thaaans for the report josling, but you having watched mao do all the jumps including 3-3 shows that her problem was mental and probably overwork too... and to be more positive as long as she has her jumps under controll most of the time i dont mind her having a day off especially when we think about all she has been through - and loosing her mother at such a young age most have been a nightmare...

Thank you for the report Josling, i love it! =)

Thanks for sharing that with us, josling! That was a really interesting read.

Thanks for sharing that with us, josling.
I was so sad for Mao, but now looking at the photo of her landing in Japan, I hope she'll take a break, refresh her mind and pull it off soon. She's obviously nothing short of talent, but what she lacks is consistency.

shikure wrote:

ballerinamao wrote:

any pictiures of Mao?

finally got one ~ thanks fans from local forum

do you notice..Mao's hand always in the air even with ladies...

thanks shikure! do you know who is the other girl in the pic?

wow! thanks for the report, josling! you're so lucky to see Mao and the whole team Japan skate live. Not only that, you also got to see them on other unexpected locations! I envy you so much... too bad Mao and Taka were not in the gala, though.

btw, is it true that Taka looks better in person than in pictures? I really wish I could see Mao and Taka in person (and upclose) someday!!!

josling, THank you so much for the report.

You have exactly the same reaction of Jeremy FS as me when I watch him at Cup of China.

But his SP and FS last year is better live.

It's seem Mao main problem is her boots, then there is not much to worried, she will absolutely be fine at next competition.

josling wrote:

Just let me say I was one of them who were booing!

And my great respect to you for that!

josling, thank you for your report! I wish I could've been there, I'm so jealous!

polosatik wrote:

This season Mao was doing really great, receiving the best score for her FS through the GP events, until you know what. So please, stop speculating about chances etc. Next season it will be more clear. Who was Evan two seasons before Olys? I'm only praying for the happiness of Mao, I wish there won't be any personal dramas, injuries or anything like that. And then we'll see what Mao really can do.

I hope your wish will come true!

josling, thanks for your detailed report!

otoh, Jeremy Abbott's WM posted this on FB: http://fskating.com/2012/04/mao-asada-the-fight-must-go-on.html It's a nice read!

found these videos

men's small medal ceremony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdlLoQgZFhI&feature=related
both yuzu and dai said patrick was their favourite skater. interesting!

brian and florent doing twizzles during gala practice. cute!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhhmvtDkDhM&feature=relmfu

Thanks Roma for the insightful article. It makes me want to root for Mao all the more.

found this video but dont understand what it is saying. What happened to dai's leg?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJEifBB5uY&feature=related

roma wrote:

otoh, Jeremy Abbott's WM posted this on FB: http://fskating.com/2012/04/mao-asada-the-fight-must-go-on.html It's a nice read!

Great Article! Thanks Roma for the link! As a fan, I want to support Mao in all her decisions, but it's hard to not question them sometimes- after all, this world is based on results and it's frustrating because I want Mao to realize her goal of Olympic Gold.
However, it's good to read articles like this sometimes to help me realize that the reason that we love Mao, is that she is different from others. If she did everything only to win competitions, I would probably not be as much of a fan. Her perseverance (which requires stubbornness sometimes ) and her achievements are all what makes her who she is.
If she didn't push the sport, ladies figure skating would probably be very blah (as in this season).
I feel bad for questioning now, and will continue to support her in her decisions. Sometimes her strength makes me forget all the things she has been through these past few years. She will ultimately achieve her goals because that is who she is.

Just realized....isn't Carolina the first ladies singles champion in the history of sport wearing pants/jumpsuit or whatever it's called?

And I don't think she's fallen once during this season, only put her hand down once...the same goes for Mao, she's only fallen once this season (the 3a at worlds)? Must be some kind of record for both of them !

What a great article!!!! I agree with every sentence) We all believe in our Mao chan. So let's just support her together!!!

ClairDeMao wrote:

Just realized....isn't Carolina the first ladies singles champion in the history of sport wearing pants/jumpsuit or whatever it's called?

And I don't think she's fallen once during this season, only put her hand down once...the same goes for Mao, she's only fallen once this season (the 3a at worlds)? Must be some kind of record for both of them !

In the long program yes, but Irina was wearing pants at her 2005 Worlds SP