Worlds 2008

bibi, I love the montage you made
I am going to make it as my PC wall paper , thanks

Well, maybe is a stupid idea because I am not an expert. But I was thinking if Mao could be coached by Kurt, next season... Well, I don't know. I am not a expert, really! But my first choice would be Tatiana Tarasova, thought.

It would be fun! But I doubt it's possible. Mao wants to stay in Japan, and Kurt is often busy in USA and Canada - doing commentary and skating in shows. I don't think he has enough time to commit to coaching.

I think Lee Barkell would be a great technical coach for Mao. He managed to turn Nobu's jumps (no 3A, underrotations, bad flutz) into World's best beauties, and reportedly Nobu even got 4Lz in practice, though he does not have good body for jumping quads. So I think he could help Mao withher jump issues. She could visit him for a few weeks in Canada, and he could occassionaly go to Japan. Lee is also coaching Nobu, so he wouldn't be visiting Japan just for Mao.

Tarasova helped her a lot with artistry, so if they continued their working relationship, it would be great.

It would be also nice, if Mao had someone to be with her all the time in Japan... But it will be very difficult to find someone willing to move to Japan, and all the Japanese coaches seems taken... I was thinking Takeshi Honda, but he's busy in Osaka... Maybe she should just stay with the lady that was with her at Worlds. Mao seems to be very responsible and able to handle training alone, so maybe working with coaches just for a few weeks at time could agree with her. I think Chukyo has a nice system of cameras that allows to record and rewatch the moves, so she can see what still needs improvement...

We'll see!

Oh, I'd also love for Kenji Miyamoto to choreograph an EX number for Mao.

Yeah, I noticed that video, too. Perhaps you should know that the owner did not allow to rate the video, and he seems to approve only the coment that bash Mao. He didn't approve mine, explaining the "law of averages" rule, but he approved one saying that Mao should be lucky that the judges gifted her.

What an embarassment to all figure skating fans.

Poor girls!! They don't deserve that at all!!
The korean media only showed Mao's fall and Yu Na's best jump. They didn't show Mao's beautiful SP and the rest of her LP as well as Yu Na's fall in the SP. It isn't fair. I love all the ladies on the podium, I love their skating so much. To have a rivalry is good...but those media are not nice at all!!! I think Mao, Yu Na and Caro are all friends and they just went out there to skate their best!! Congratulation Girls, you are awesome!!

I agree with you, bibi.

The media acted very tasteless. Why try to turn healthy rivarly into hostility? Not to mention they present themselves in a bad light because of presenting either false news or ignorance of the rules. Perhaps they should switch to doing the commentary for boxing.

Here's an interview after the medal ceremony!
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gSCryc8-BwE
Could someone translate please?!
bibi

z4mboni, i was fortuante to read your comment when it was still there, mine was taken down too. Yu-Na fans are always saying on youtube how the japanese media takes things too far but i think its the korean media who is now becoming the problem. Not only for starting arguments over nothing but also following yu-na around everywhere, even when she is getting treatments. way to put the pressure on a skater.

sunshine wrote:

I have had an impression that Daisuke seems to think of Jeff very highly. He was very happy when he won over Jeff at 4CC, too. He generally pays a lot of respect to other skaters. He also commented before watching Lambiel standing nearby how handsome Lambiel was.

Woah, V/M won the FD! Too bad their mistake on the twizzle in OD put them out of running for the gold... But a silver medal in only their 2nd year as seniors is a historical accomplishment!

I am happy that Jeff and Johnny did so well in their SP, especially for Jeff who struggled during the GP series. His lead was a pleasant surprise to me. I am also happy to see Johnny being so happy.

But other skaters are all so close to each other that it's going to be really interesting to see their LPs. I hope that everyone will have their best performance.

Ladies turned out to be a little rough competition because of so many falls and injured skaters. I was sad that Yuna and Miki didn't have good health and Mao had a scary fall. I hope that all of them get better soon.

I hope that men will be able to do their best and stay healthy.

inskate wrote:

sunshine wrote:

I have had an impression that Daisuke seems to think of Jeff very highly. He was very happy when he won over Jeff at 4CC, too. He generally pays a lot of respect to other skaters. He also commented before watching Lambiel standing nearby how handsome Lambiel was.

Woah, V/M won the FD! Too bad their mistake on the twizzle in OD put them out of running for the gold... But a silver medal in only their 2nd year as seniors is a historical accomplishment!

I love them sooo much!!

Hey,z4mboni administer!
Could you make a new top page image of this　forum for the commemoration of Mao's victory??
please!

Nice to see you all again!

Firstly, congratulations to Mao on very well deserved victory.
I wish I could follow the results with all of you, but because of the work I had to undertake as a part of my studies I was away for a month, living in a small village where there was no internet access! I'm lucky I brought my PC, so thanks to z4mboni delivering 4CC DVD's to me, I could still watch recent programs and work on montages (thanks again!).

Mao's SP at Worlds was truly amazing. Incredibly difficult choreo performed perfectly, and so emotional. Great work by Tarasova. I think that SP deserved World record. And the LP proved just hw much Mao grown up in this season. She is a true fighter!

Once again, congratulations!

Popon wrote:

Hey,z4mboni administer!
Could you make a new top page image of this　forum for the commemoration of Mao's victory??
please!

I'll reply in z4mboni's name: we are already working on it! Also, on some new avatars, additional smilies, the new welcome page and a victory montage. We are just a bit late because of the Easter. It is a huge event here in Poland, preceeded by cleaning all the house, baking cakes, going to the Church... And followed by a stomachache because of eating too much.

Ina day-two everything should be ready, though!

Nice to see you, Okami.

I just uploaded Mao's LP with CBC commentary (Kurt Browning and Tracy Wilson), I thought you might like to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3HPPobOO8E

Kurt's commentary's great as always. He praises Mao how quickly she recovered and joined the program, and says that the young skaters should record this and remember how it should be done. He said that after such a hard fall some skaters pause, go to the boards, stop the music, restart again... But Mao recovered immediately and nailed a 3-3 right away.
Take that, annoying press!

Firstly, my belated congratulations to everyone! I was literally unable to speak on the matter during these last two days (way too much emotions ).
Actually (watching the whole event live on the Russian Eurosport), I am still a bit scared.
Thank you, everybody, for just being here all this time!
MAO IS THE WORLD CHAMPION!!! Hurray!!!

On the side note (more on the matter - later ), it's always quite a fun to watch the Worlds with the commentators of the Russian Eurosport. They are two men. One of them, a former ice dancer, is *very* knowledgeble, has commented FS from (apparently) the early Stone Age and knows every single Russian FS person personally (sorry), starting with TAT to some obscure coach (or a skater) from a remote Siberian village with a population of 65 citizens. The other man seems to be somewhat younger (and therefore, not that experienced), but still, he knows everything (as for me) a FS commentator should know. The only "problem" with them - the both obviously aren't a big fans of the internet and probably don't have another sources to watch the main international events of the season except Worlds (and sometomes 4CC, which Eurosport broadcast from time to time (but not this year)).
Therefore, they are aware that somewhere - far, far away - there is Mao Asada "who levels cities with her beautiful skating" , but they almost never actually see her. So when Mao enters the ice they are like WOW all the time. "WOW... HAVE YOU SEEN THAT?.. WOW... BUT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!.. WOOOOOW! " Something like this. Very funny.
This time they were so impressed during the SP, they were sure Mao's 3-3 was lutz-loop and then couldn't understand why judges gave her a negative GoE for her actual lutz.
P.s.
As I understand, TAT doesn't comment this Worlds?.. It's a pity.
P.p.s.
Go Daisuke-san!

The Russian commentators really sound like Nicky & Chris from British ES!

One of them also was an ice dancer, they also don't cover lesser events and therefore sound surprised all the time (one of them gasped really loud when Mao did a split jump right into twizzle in SLSS, and then kept going on on how difficult the step sequence was ), and they also mistook 3F-3L for 3Lz-3L (seriously, I know they were ice dancers, but through so many years they could learn that Flip is always done after a 3-turn, while Lutz is approached backwards ).

Is the Russian version available somewhere online? I would love to see it. (I think I'll go YouTube searching )

bibi wrote:

Here's an interview after the medal ceremony!
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gSCryc8-BwE
Could someone translate please?!
bibi

My English is not perfect but I'll try. I hope you'll understand.

interviewer:Wonderful goldmedalist Mao Asada is here.
Congratulations!

Mao:Thank you.

i:First of all,could you show that bright medal to the camera?
What do you feel looking at this medal?

M:I'm very happy.

i:What did you feel when you were on the top of the podium?

M:I felt really good.

i:Looking back(at your performance),how do you think it was?

M:When I fell on the 3axel at the beginnig...well...how to say...
I had the feeling I'd never experienced.
But then I managed to recover from it and I think I did well.

man:Mao-chan!

M:Oh,hello.

m:Conguratulations!

M:Thank you.

m:As you said,when you fell on the 3axel,we all were surprised too
but you recovered so well.What were you thinking then?

M:Well...hmm...

m:You went blank?

M:Yes.I thought "I'm done for",for a moment,
but the failure made me think I had to do other elements well.

m:From us,it seemed you were very composed after the fall.
Do you agree?

M:Yes, I was able to be composed.

m:At the Kiss&Cry,before the score was announced,you cried because of sadness
but once you knew the score,your tears turned into the ones of joy.Is it right?

M:Yes,uh...maybe some different feelings were mixed.

woman:Hello,it's Uchida.Congratulations!

M:Thank you.

w:You won the silver last year and this time you won the gold.
What do you think about that?

M:I had determined to win the gold this year,
so I'm very happy for achieving it.

m:Thank you very much.We were touched by your performance.
Rest yourself well.

M:Thank you.

m:Show us the medal when we see each other next time.

M:Yes I will.

I think I found the Russian ES version!

SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPOiKqbKNs
(beware of weird echo effect )
LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DCeZ4c9sJ4




And thank you, maothebest, for the translation!

One of the sides about Russian commentators in general I do like is that they are not overburdened with the unnecessary politcorrectness. They can freely talk about "underground flows" in FS during the broadcast or, for instance, some "questionable" judges' decisions, like this time in the case of Kostner. (Yes, the men were pretty annoyed when their beloved (they are a BIG fans of the European trio Korpi-Kostner-Meier ) Carolina got that high after the Short and got that high after the Free Skate with the personal best. )
And I still feel quite bad for Yu-Na and Yukari. Especially for Yukari.

And for Miki, of course. (

My predictions for the Men (never have liked predictions, but well...-):
1. Verner
2. Takahashi
3. Lambiel
Hope I am wrong dramatically, though. )

maothebest, thank you very much for your translation.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?k=21596&id=02b17fb3-b94a-4a4b-9cd8-a10f433404c4&p=1

I believe this is the article the korean media was referring to.