NHK Trophy 2012

ballerinamao wrote:

i just re-watched Mao's sp, and my god it really becomes more and more amazing the more i see it, she really sold the program, i just couldn't take my eyes of her, her presence, timing, and joy on the ice is just incredible. and I'm so in love with the footwork.

then i re watched the fs and i again felt so captivated by her performance, her skating is just soo natural, and i just love how she floats on the ice, when she goes from one element to another!

I agree, while I wasn't a fan of her short program at the beginning, I'm liking it more and more. Hopefully she'll add 3-3 later in the season, that would be amazing.

Your description of her Swan Lake program is perfect. I love it that her performance wasn't affected by her mistakes, she kept selling it like nothing happened. Hopefully, soon, she'll have a clean free skate as well, not just the short.

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao being the target of bashers is the saddest thing... I don't even want to go to GS, cause last time in COC there were already lots of negative posts, this time you can only imagine... That is why I really hope that Mao would come back strong to shut them up.

I feel the same. I never understood why Mao is so disliked/hated, it's been so for years. It's like people only concentrate on her weaknesses and ignore all her strength. Whatever she does, she gets bashed.

Mao2012 wrote:

babayaga wrote:

Short interview in Russian of Lisa's coach Mishin about Lisa's participation in GPF: http://www.rsport.ru/figure_skating/20121126/632822063.html

I post it here since he made a comment about Mao's win: "It is hard to compete when, for example, a Japanese athlete Mao Asada did two triples in her free skate and still received high scores and finished first ... The components score often reflects not what happened on the ice, but how long one's career is. This situation worries me a little."

Like what happened to Plushenko at Euros 2012, right? In the SP, TR 7.50 without anything but cross-overs between the jumps (it should have been something around 4.50, in my opinion, because, since your step sequence IS an element, it must not be counted in the TR mark, the judges should have watched what there was BETWEEN the elements: NOTHING). His SS are one of the worst among the top men and he is still getting 9s just because of his speed: speed doesn't mean good ability in using the skates! I think plushy is certainly one of the skaters who receive exaggerated PCS, so, why is Mishin worrying? He was second (close to first) in the Euros SP without a quad, when he is the first to say that the quad is the Men key, and no-one complained about it. So, Mishing should have said that Plushenko deserved to be 4th or 5th in his Euros SP because he didn't have a quad when others did?

Mao2012 I completely agree, but then this is Mishin. He always has opinions on everything. As for Mao's PCS, she deserved it, her overall skating is amazing. Even the british comentators (who disagreed with her win) agreed on this.

I still feel for Akiko, and would put her in 1st, but like many of you stated, Mao had a huge point advantage over her, so... I guess she got lucky, the end point difference was minimal.

I don't mean to drag Yuna into this, but similar thing happened at 2010 worlds, where she won the LP with like 3 falls (if I'm not mistaken) over clean Mao. I was just wondering if there was any "bitching" (in the media, internet) about Mao being robbed and Yuna totaly overscored?

zarinaballerina, no Yuna had 1 fall and 1 pop that time. The problem was then that 3 axel didn't cost that much and Mao axel was DG Yuna also got higher PCS. I remeber Eurosport guys yelled about it, and after then ISU changed the base value of triple axel. But what's the worst then Mao did it often, we also had that DG rule, so her axel usually became a 2. I hate this

zarinaballerina wrote:

ballerinamao wrote:

i just re-watched Mao's sp, and my god it really becomes more and more amazing the more i see it, she really sold the program, i just couldn't take my eyes of her, her presence, timing, and joy on the ice is just incredible. and I'm so in love with the footwork.

then i re watched the fs and i again felt so captivated by her performance, her skating is just soo natural, and i just love how she floats on the ice, when she goes from one element to another!

I agree, while I wasn't a fan of her short program at the beginning, I'm liking it more and more. Hopefully she'll add 3-3 later in the season, that would be amazing.

Your description of her Swan Lake program is perfect. I love it that her performance wasn't affected by her mistakes, she kept selling it like nothing happened. Hopefully, soon, she'll have a clean free skate as well, not just the short.

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao being the target of bashers is the saddest thing... I don't even want to go to GS, cause last time in COC there were already lots of negative posts, this time you can only imagine... That is why I really hope that Mao would come back strong to shut them up.

I feel the same. I never understood why Mao is so disliked/hated, it's been so for years. It's like people only concentrate on her weaknesses and ignore all her strength. Whatever she does, she gets bashed.

well, i have a few theories about this. one is the overstated yu-na and mao rivalry. since mao is the obvious underdog, it's "easier" to hate on her. and in the moments she beat yu-na, of course people will get angry since the majority of people like her and people will hate on whoever beats the overwhelming favorite. another thing, yu-na has a style that is easy to appeal western audience and many of these bigger and very vocal forums are made up of mostly western members. plus, yu-na has an interesting story of being from a country without a strong skating history and moving to the top of the podium.

another thing is that mao has a very unusual management. in my opinion, most skaters most of the time compete with programs that work for them and not against them. though with mao, she usually competes with programs that work against her or don't allow her to compete at her fullest potential, especially recent years. she continues to mystify audiences with strange competitive programs but amazing exhibition programs (why does this mismatch happen?) so this really frustrates people. add abysmal jumps and that makes her such an easy target for people to hate on her.

interestingly, mao also has a huge following even outside of japan. i mean, this forum is very much alive with members from all over the world. so i think it's fair to say that she's still a popular skater and very much loved, regardless of what happens to mao! she has to have some special and lovable qualities for this to happen.

my post doesn't really belong to this thread, so moderators, please feel free to move my post elsewhere if necessary!

Yes, I just re-watched Mao's performance and I like her Swan more and more, it's just fabolous how many transitions are there, a lot more than her old programs, all those graceful movements, she's really like a ballerina on the ice! I'm surprised that most of the judges gave her higher marks for PE than for TR, I would have personally given 7.50-7.75 for PE and 8.25-8.50 for TR! And, it's strange that, after the first 2Lo, she was so serious and (almost) emotionless, but she really began performing in the second half, after those mistakes, she maybe thought: "Ok, the jumps are gone, just enjoy it!"
And, I'm really liking her SP now, but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

Quote :

well, i have a few theories about this. one is the overstated yu-na and mao rivalry. since Mao is the obvious underdog!

well just because the judges may have prefered kim, which was reflected in her PCS and goe she received especially at the olympics, doesn't make Mao an underdog, the right word for that would be "under appreciated". because she truly was, far most of all Mao's victory's and dominance where due to her having the hardest technical layout in ladies figure skating, because the fricken whole flawed system and judges where boosting kims scores, her 2A almost received the same point amount as a 3A at times, it was crazy!

her fanbase at the olympics, tried to justify her crazy scores by making her sound like genius, who just landed two 3-3 and a 3A in the same program!

and even with all that hype around her the only thing that she achived more then Mao was one title, and i still remember the first time i saw both Mao and kim at the olympics, i was totally was spellbound by Mao's skating, while kim's performance left me cold and uninterested, even through the commentators where gushing like crazy, I was unmoved by her skating, unmoved by what the commentators where saying, and unmoved by her score at that time, the only one that remained in my memory was a skater named Mao Asada!

(now i do respect that some people here are fans of both skaters but please remember this is a Mao Asada fan forum, , i would appreciate if you would try to remember this in the future when posting)

ballerinamao wrote:

Quote :

well, i have a few theories about this. one is the overstated yu-na and mao rivalry. since Mao is the obvious underdog!

well just because the judges may prefed kim, which was reflected in her PCS and goe she received especially at the olympics, doesn't make Mao an underdog, the right word for that would be "under appreciated". because she truly was, far most of all Mao's victory's and dominance where due to her having the hardest technical layout in ladies figure skating, because the fricken whole system and judges where boosting kims scores, her 2A almost received the same point amount as a 3A at times, it was crazy!

her fanbase at the olympics, tried to justify her crazy scores by making her sound like genius, who just landed two 3-3 and a 3A

and even with all that hype around her the only thing that she achived more then Mao was one title, and i still remember the first time i saw both Mao and kim at the olympics, i was totally was spellbound by Mao's skating, while kim's performance left me cold and uninterested, even through the commentators where gushing like crazy, I was unmoved by her skating, unmoved by what the commentators where saying, and unmoved by her score at that time, the only one that remained in my memory was a skater named Mao Asada!

(now i do respect that some people here are fans of both skaters but please remember this is a Mao Asada fan forum, , i would appreciate if you would try to remember this in the future when posting)

we may be going around in circles, but i think that since the judges prefer yu-na and since mao is underappreciated, that makes mao the underdog.

I don't want to continue this this meaningless discussion, but i will only say this much, even with the judges and flawed systems huge boost to kim, Mao never let it stop her from beeing a dominating skater, and she achieved that on her own relying on herself and on her skills, that both technically and artistically far surpassed kim! and the fact that neither the judges nor the flawed system could suppress her from earning her all her titles, making history time after time, and becoming one of the most successful skaters. the way she made her way to the top is what makes her soo outstanding!

even if there was no one to remind the audience, that this girl was doing extraordinary things, even if there was no one to remind and say she is the only one who time after time has done so, even if the media and judges ignored it, I will always remember her for it!

i don't need the judges to point out when something extraordinary was done, cause i have seen it with my own eyes time after time!

Mao2012 wrote:

but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

No, I don't think that 3F was UR. The height was quite good in that 3F (especially compared with the one in COC SP). I am afraid it is the pre-rotation on the 2lo (which in inevitable) which gave you the impression.

thank you "linglang" for this detailed explanations regarding Mao's coaching situations.
I didn't see this post till now but I thought it was very interesting response/reason by Takeshi declining to be Mao's jump coach. now I understand.

I went back to re watch one of my favorite performances by Takeshi, 2002 SLC Olys SP "Don Quixote". I was even more impressed now how incredibly talented Takeshi was not only as a tremendous jumper(4toe/3toe, huge 3axel and true 3lutz out of steps), excellent basic skating skills(power, speed, strong edges), excellent spins and steps but incredibly artistic/musical with his arms/body movements. and he was doing all this before "cop" scoring system


re. jump coach. Wasn't it Mr. Nagakubo who said Mr. Sato didn’t want to work with him together for Mao because their approaches were totally different? While Nagakubo wanted to do a drastic form change, Sato wanted to tweak little by little to correct her lutz. I agree Takeshi could be a great jump coach for Mao, but I heard Takeshi declined to be her jump coach because he thought the burden was too big for him. I’m sorry I don’t have a source for it but I think I read about it somewhere. I can understand him. It’s a huge responsibility for a coach to help correct jumps of OSM and two time world champion skater and people's expectations are really heavy.

re. Yukina. She's a beautiful skater. I was surprised for joy and thrilled when I saw her first time that finally, finally there came a Japanese figure skater who skated like ballerina on ice. I love her layback ina-bauer and Turandot too.

you will be surprised how many figure skating fans still fondly remember Yukina Ota although she had a very short career.

Everyone, let's all take a chill pill. It doesn't matter if other people are fans of other skaters because the fact that we are here means we are Mao supporters!


Everyone loves each other here!

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao2012 wrote:

but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

No, I don't think that 3F was UR. The height was quite good in that 3F (especially compared with the one in COC SP). I am afraid it is the pre-rotation on the 2lo (which in inevitable) which gave you the impression.

Ah, really? I was wondering about that 3F too because it looked iffy to me. I thought it was underrotated when I rewatched Mao's program.

Anyway, any thoughts about Zijun Li? She did a lovely 3-3 IIRC (lacking height and distance though) and I like her style of skating better than, say Julia Lipnitskaia's. Ah, speaking of Julia, the Russian babies who were supposed to usher in an era of Russian dominance have been quiet lately hmm...

klarification wrote:

Everyone, let's all take a chill pill. It doesn't matter if other people are fans of other skaters because the fact that we are here means we are Mao supporters!


Everyone loves each other here!

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao2012 wrote:

but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

No, I don't think that 3F was UR. The height was quite good in that 3F (especially compared with the one in COC SP). I am afraid it is the pre-rotation on the 2lo (which in inevitable) which gave you the impression.

Ah, really? I was wondering about that 3F too because it looked iffy to me. I thought it was underrotated when I rewatched Mao's program.

Anyway, any thoughts about Zijun Li? She did a lovely 3-3 IIRC (lacking height and distance though) and I like her style of skating better than, say Julia Lipnitskaia's. Ah, speaking of Julia, the Russian babies who were supposed to usher in an era of Russian dominance have been quiet lately hmm...

thanks, klarification!

Actually, there are still many Mao supporters on other forums. They may not agree with her choice of programs in the past but they appreciate her skating skills. It's just that whenever events come up, there is always a group of people who will start posting negative things about her. I mean it's usually the same group of people plus some new members who just seemed to sign up to post something negative about a skater. It seems to happen often during events that involve Mao but I think that is also (ironically) another sign of her popularity . I mean it's kinda amazing how some people will waste their efforts on a skater they apparently dislike a lot. Anyways, I think Mao has been a somewhat polarizing figure even since she entered in skating world. She was the prodigy that beat all of the eventual medalists at the 2006 Olympics but was too young to compete there. Back then, fans were already divided into two groups. One group believed she was the actual frontrunner for the OGM at the time. While the other group criticized her technique and skating style. It has always been like this and things kinda exacerbated when Mao chose to do programs like "Bells." However, it also seems to me that Mao has some of the most dedicated fans. Remember the skater Armin? He made a series of piano performances of Mao's music choices over the years and posted them on youtube. I think in this aspect, she is like Sasha Cohen. Skating fans had divisive opinions on her but her place in skating history is undeniably special.

aoi88, thanks for the wonderful insight. i think armin being smitten over mao is one of the cutest things in skating, ever!

aoi88 wrote:

Actually, there are still many Mao supporters on other forums. They may not agree with her choice of programs in the past but they appreciate her skating skills. It's just that whenever events come up, there is always a group of people who will start posting negative things about her. I mean it's usually the same group of people plus some new members who just seemed to sign up to post something negative about a skater. It seems to happen often during events that involve Mao but I think that is also (ironically) another sign of her popularity . I mean it's kinda amazing how some people will waste their efforts on a skater they apparently dislike a lot. Anyways, I think Mao has been a somewhat polarizing figure even since she entered in skating world. She was the prodigy that beat all of the eventual medalists at the 2006 Olympics but was too young to compete there. Back then, fans were already divided into two groups. One group believed she was the actual frontrunner for the OGM at the time. While the other group criticized her technique and skating style. It has always been like this and things kinda exacerbated when Mao chose to do programs like "Bells." However, it also seems to me that Mao has some of the most dedicated fans. Remember the skater Armin? He made a series of piano performances of Mao's music choices over the years and posted them on youtube. I think in this aspect, she is like Sasha Cohen. Skating fans had divisive opinions on her but her place in skating history is undeniably special.

As a supporting evidence, Mao has a tremendous number of fans in Chinese forums.

klarification wrote:

Ah, really? I was wondering about that 3F too because it looked iffy to me. I thought it was underrotated when I rewatched Mao's program.

Well, I could be wrong. But I don't think it was UR because the height was good. If it is a solo 3F, it would look clean (because she won't need to pre-rotate ). It is the -2lo that makes it looks a little iffy.

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao2012 wrote:

but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

No, I don't think that 3F was UR. The height was quite good in that 3F (especially compared with the one in COC SP). I am afraid it is the pre-rotation on the 2lo (which in inevitable) which gave you the impression.

Exactly. The problem with loop is that in combos pre rotation is almost usual thing, that's why a lot of combos with loop usually UR while the single jumps is ratified. I watched many versions of Mao SP and everyone said her flip was fine. I remember Miki got her UR of loop combos cause of pre rotation,then she stop doing her 3-3 , which I found was good, judges should learn this issue more. I heard from Russian technical specialist about pre rotation on loop jumps, and that some specialist are not knowledgable about it and mark UR automaticlly.

polosatik wrote:

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

Mao2012 wrote:

but I'm afraid to say that, watching her combo at slow motion, the 3F was definitely UR, she was lucky that they considered it clean...

No, I don't think that 3F was UR. The height was quite good in that 3F (especially compared with the one in COC SP). I am afraid it is the pre-rotation on the 2lo (which in inevitable) which gave you the impression.

Exactly. The problem with loop is that in combos pre rotation is almost usual thing, that's why a lot of combos with loop usually UR while the single jumps is ratified. I watched many versions of Mao SP and everyone said her flip was fine. I remember Miki got her UR of loop combos cause of pre rotation,then she stop doing her 3-3 , which I found was good, judges should learn this issue more. I heard from Russian technical specialist about pre rotation on loop jumps, and that some specialist are not knowledgable about it and mark UR automaticlly.

This is correct, but if you watch the slow motion in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sN8eSJfyZ0) at 5:36 you can really see her blade touching the ice 1/4 revolution earlier, I think it actually was <, when the loop was good... But, consideirng how harsh the technical panel has been in China, I think it was fair to be generous with her, at least once!
And, don't you think that the slow motion in Japan has been wonderful, really accurate? They always showed the key elements, I was really able to watch (for example) Mao's flip or akiko's lutzes (yes, she still deserves the edge calls )!

I watched in slow-motion a couple of times her 3F-2L combo from the short. It wasn't fully rotated but I think it was just less than 1/4 under-rotated. And I believe when the jump is so close, it must be given the benefit of the doubt. The double loop was fully rotated and cleanly landed.

aoi88 wrote:

Actually, there are still many Mao supporters on other forums. They may not agree with her choice of programs in the past but they appreciate her skating skills. It's just that whenever events come up, there is always a group of people who will start posting negative things about her. I mean it's usually the same group of people plus some new members who just seemed to sign up to post something negative about a skater. It seems to happen often during events that involve Mao but I think that is also (ironically) another sign of her popularity . I mean it's kinda amazing how some people will waste their efforts on a skater they apparently dislike a lot. Anyways, I think Mao has been a somewhat polarizing figure even since she entered in skating world. She was the prodigy that beat all of the eventual medalists at the 2006 Olympics but was too young to compete there. Back then, fans were already divided into two groups. One group believed she was the actual frontrunner for the OGM at the time. While the other group criticized her technique and skating style. It has always been like this and things kinda exacerbated when Mao chose to do programs like "Bells." However, it also seems to me that Mao has some of the most dedicated fans. Remember the skater Armin? He made a series of piano performances of Mao's music choices over the years and posted them on youtube. I think in this aspect, she is like Sasha Cohen. Skating fans had divisive opinions on her but her place in skating history is undeniably special.

I very much agree, and if some of you guys are bothered by what some pple are saying about Mao in GS or FSU, I'd advise you to go and take a look at the opinions posted on NHK trophy results thread in ISU discussion board:

http://forums.isu.org/viewtopic.php?t=1965&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

It helped me chill down alot to know that nobody is bashing Mao at all for the outcome there, and it seems like 2 or 3 people are just having arguments whether Akiko deserved her scores or not based mostly on their ego. The pple in this board are hard core figure skating fans who are too proud to admit they made mistakes on estimating skaters or anything to do with the sport itself, but OTOH after reading all their post for several years now, I've always felt they definitely know more about the rules and (maybe not all but) in some ways how the figure skating world actually is backstage, rather than us...nope, sorry...l'll just say, rather than me. And although it does seem that the majority of the members there seem to think Akiko should've won, they see it only as a result of some flaws in the judging system which has always been there eversince the 6.0 era ended, and has been repeatedly happening in countless competitions. They are in no way making a big deal out of it because it concerns Mao this time. The attitudes of some members there get on my nerves sometimes as most of them are pretty arrogant about their opinions, but I've always sensed they really love the sport as much as we do. So, I think true fans of the sport like them will never bash Mao nor any other skater for how the judges score them. They will question the system like most of us had probabaly questioned it sometimes when we felt Mao had been judged wrongly, but that's all there is to it amongst real rational fans of the sport. We should just ignore the type of pple who bash skaters for their scores which is totally out of line but keep acting like fans of the sport, cause they're obviously not.

When I look back on how badly the ladies FP results disturbed me at first, I think it was because of how much Mao looked uncomfortable with it along with the audience. I simply disliked seeing her in such an uncomfortable position. But after reading lots of articles analyzing her scores, also reading all the posts here and in other places written by reasonable pple, I think Maos' PE score being higher than Akikos' was incorrect judging, but all the other stuff including the GOEs they gave her for the doubled jumps were fair according to the rules. Personally I don't think rules which allows skaters to achieve +GOEs for a doubled jump and allows URd triple jumps to achieve harsh -GOEs are righteous at all, but at the moment that's how the rules are so what is there to do about it anyway? But I still think PE is something which should reward the skater who simply delivered best the most. It's not good for the skaters to have to feel bad about their wins because the judges didn't do that, and it's just too disappointing for the audience when what the majority of them had felt do not reflect in scores. Making pple feel disappointed in a sport like figure skating which is supposed to make them forget all the ugly things going on in the world off the ice is such a pity. If there was no audience, there wouldn't even be a need for scoring PE in the first place. And there are alot of things which only the audience who are watching the performances live in those stadiums can see and feel than those who are watching it on tv or YT. If some of you feel differently, I don't mind. But I trust the people who bothered to pay for those expensive seats in the audience, and if they had that much doubts about the results...not just NHK but in any competition, the system has flaws which should be corrected.

And now for something completely different!

http://zasshi.news.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20121127-00000301-sportiva-spo

I'm only going to translate what Mao and Sato said after NHK...

Mao:
1. I think I've come half way (towards my destination). The past 2 seasons I wasn't able to get any good results and my performances and skills were unstable and unsatisfactory. It's been after this season started in which I was capable of making a pretty good start and feel like I'm getting back in shape. I was able to make Finals, I think that what I've been working on has given me strength, that's why I can feel that way. The rest of the half (which I'm working on) until Sochi Olys, I think will need a little more time to be perfected.

2. Since I'm being able to be consistent in my SPs over the past 2 competitions by excluding 3A, I wish to go on that way. But I of course still want to challenge a 3A, so I'm hoping I can be able to include it sometime during this season asap.

3.(At Finals) I do not want to repeat my mistakes at NHK. I hope to do well in both SP and FP, jumps and skating.

Sato:
1.This time there were lots of mistakes, but we have been working very hard, so I think these mistakes will stimulate her in a good way. I'm ready to coach her hard once again from the start which I think should put her back into shape more or less, so this (competition) was a good studying experience.

2.I want her to do large jumps with ongoing speed, but because of her habits from the past she tends to lose speed right before she jumps which makes them small and URd, which is something I am trying to clear and make sure wouldn't happen above all. But we are still in the middle of fixing this. The more speed you gain many miscalculations start rising to the surface, so when you feel too strongly about keeping good speed that causes mental influence and mistakes, which is usually referred to as popping. Even when you think you know the right feeling (to do a speedy jump), sometimes skaters are betrayed by their own selves, so we just need to keep on practicing it over and over a little more.

And in this article...http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20121126-00000009-spnannex-spo Mao said when she goes to Finals, she wants to check the rink and how high the ceiling is in the stadium. Plus she said it's a big relief just to know where you put your skating shoes on and where the toilets are (before Olys), and said "I do want to enter Sochi Olys. I hope the competiton (Finals) will motivate me (more)".

I think these articles are the first articles in which Mao mentioned she has Sochi Olys on her mind straight forwardly. I think it's a real good sign! She's not only gotten her happy feelings about skating back, but she's becoming the eager competing skater once again. Even though it may be still take some time for her to be completely ready, she is getting her confidence back too. There's still more than an year till Olys. Let's believe in what she and Sato is working on, and hope she can become more confident by then!

That makes sense about the popped jumps - I was wondering why Mao was losing all the lovely speed she was having when she was entering jumps! Maybe that is why she popped so many at NHK... well, at least Sato is working on it. I like his "slowly but surely" approach. It's working quite well so far.

Pochinko, thanks so much for those interviews!!! It's good to know where her mindset about 3A is, though personally I'd prefer if she'd put 3-3 in her programs asap instead of 3A, but at least she's not stubbornly competing with 3A this season.

zarinaballerina wrote:

Pochinko, thanks so much for those interviews!!! It's good to know where her mindset about 3A is, though personally I'd prefer if she'd put 3-3 in her programs asap instead of 3A, but at least she's not stubbornly competing with 3A this season.

well i am happy either way, but i think i would prefer her to bring back the 3A, since she is the only woman capable of bringing it back to competition after all, and her 3A is just such a beautiful jump, and that beside her 2A-3T gives almost the same amount of points as a 3-3 does already!

ballerinamao wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

Pochinko, thanks so much for those interviews!!! It's good to know where her mindset about 3A is, though personally I'd prefer if she'd put 3-3 in her programs asap instead of 3A, but at least she's not stubbornly competing with 3A this season.

well i am happy either way, but i think i would prefer her to bring back the 3A, since she is the only woman capable of bringing it back to competition after all, and her 3A is just such a beautiful jump, and that beside her 2A-3T gives almost the same amount of points as a 3-3 does already!

I'm really glad my translating Maos' and Satos' words made things all brighten up bit for you guys. I've made my peace with how NHK turned out, and it seems Mao is gradually and that should be what's most important for us fans. How our opinions and the way we took the NHK results in various ways shouldn't go on bothering us nor Mao.

Mao is the kind of person who can change an unsatisfying performance according to her standards into motivation in doing better next time. We'll have to wait and see how she'll do at Finals, but I'm sure she's very much up to doing the best she can with Sato to prepare for a much better performance there. If she can manage to fix the speed issues before going into jumps like Sato said, she has enough chance to win at finals as much as the other competitors. But even if she doesn't win, if she can skate even just a bit better than the past 2 competitions and feel more satisfied with her performance there, I think we should all feel happy that she's made some progress.

In anycase, I'm just simply relieved that her motivations for Sochi Olys are starting to rise!
And like zarina, as much as I'd like her to get a 3-3 back, I'd still would love to see her go for a 3A at some point. When I saw her succeed it live in front of my eyes in the very first WTT, it was truely the most beautiful jump I had ever seen in my entire life. It was so perfect in a totally different way compared to how Midori Ito jumped it, and also entirely different from 3As in mens performances. It wasn't just a 3A; it was a 3A which Mao can only do.