Grand Prix Final 2008!!!

CONGRATULATION MAO! I'M SOOOO PROUD OF YOU!! YOU DID IT! BOTH TRIPLE AXEL WERE P_E_R_F_E_C_T !!

Congratulation Maooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

I am sooooooooooo happy for mao that she won and the fact that she tried two 3A again!! I really did not like the judges for this competition though... and I was so happy to see miki going for quad!!!!!!!!! I think she did pretty well too!

Bravo, Mao! Congratulations!
A win, AND making a history again by putting two triple axels in one program in an international competition as the first lady ever!

WebTV didn't show the ladies' podium... Oh, well...it's bound to pop up somewhere soon...

Ladies FS vids: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=88ac9ba3858c88f991b20cc0d07ba4d2b7800dcaeef99c14
(incl. Mao's of course, and the warm-up!)

ETA: Russian commentator is still talking about Mao's 3A and Miki's 4S attempt after K/S's program.

clovera wrote:

ETA: Russian commentator is still talking about Mao's 3A and Miki's 4S attempt after K/S's program.

And thank you so much for the videos!

Mao's LP with Japanese commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lwoV_L0er4

Okami wrote:

Mao's LP with Japanese commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lwoV_L0er4

You beat me to it Okami .

Congrats to Mao!!! Great job!!!!
It was about time to get the GPF title back. Especially after that SP scoring.
She already has the World's gold so, as much as I'd like her to repeat I wouldn't be too sad if it went to Yu-Na this year.
Keep the rivalry going girls, you are both amazing!

I'm in a silly mood...


I'm still on a happy cloud for Mao, but I'm a bit sad for Miki. She's finally making progress artistically and she challenged a quad (it looked fabulous!)... Morozov was almost in happy tears after her skate... But got such low scores for her trouble. At least her PCS are slowly climbing... I hope she has enough time to banish the underrotation demons before Nationals and Worlds. Same goes for Yukari and Mao, of course.

Very nice pic Okami. It's a shame that Miki and Yukari were struck by a figurative lightning storm of UR's, but both are yet to be at 100%, and they both challenged their hardest element in a nerve-wracking atmosphere tonight...and they both landed it (just not ratified), so power to them. I was hoping CaroK won't be as error-ridden, but oh well. Joannie skated much better than yesterday. Overall, I thought this GPF was just so exhausting to watch with all the expectations and the frenzy going on in all the senior events. I'll definitely remember this one for a very long time though!

Now that the media brouhaha is (hopefully) over concerning the ladies, I hope the Korean fans can fully enjoy the exhibitions, which I'll watch...if WebTV will air it... (for most of the GP events they only showed about half...)

You can download KeyHole Tv and watch the exhibition on TVAsahi, 7 pm Japanese Time.

I've completely forgot I had access to TV Asahi. Haha. I'm in Japan, no duh. Thanks for reminding me SoMiTripleAxel - a week after exams and the GPF went to my head. TV Asahi is notorious though for skipping a slew of skaters for both the live comps and exhibitions so I'll just hope for the best.

YESSSSSSSSSSS! Mao,you're awesome girl! I love this perfomance,even she fell it was gorgeous! Oh and after Yu-Na's perfomance Vasya said "I thought that judges would give her 65 points for components and Welcome! and nooo finally the right girl won!"
he's brilliant comentator!
Congratulations to Mao and to all members of our forum! We deserved it!

Congrats to Mao for a very well deserved victory after the fiasco of yesterdays scoring. I just realised that Mao is now teh reigning GPF, 4CC and World champion!!!!!

Has a woman ever held all three of those titles at the same time before?

floskate wrote:

Congrats to Mao for a very well deserved victory after the fiasco of yesterdays scoring. I just realised that Mao is now teh reigning GPF, 4CC and World champion!!!!!

Has a woman ever held all three of those titles at the same time before?

yes, Irina But she has European title,World title and GPF title

Yes I knew about Irina. I just wondered if another woman had held World, 4CCand GPF at the same time before or is Mao the first??

floskate wrote:

Yes I knew about Irina. I just wondered if another woman had held World, 4CCand GPF at the same time before or is Mao the first??

At this point I think no but Euro is the same competition like 4CC for europeans. But I'm not sure since what time 4CC is held...

My heart literally melted when I saw these:
https://2img.net/h/oi37.tinypic.com/zwku3p.jpg
https://2img.net/h/oi34.tinypic.com/nleeq1.jpg
https://2img.net/h/oi37.tinypic.com/28a0iu.jpg
https://2img.net/h/oi36.tinypic.com/2ailnhs.jpg
Mao and Yu-Na are just lovely, both are awesome competetors <3

Still I'm sooo glad Mao won. She was stunning. Two triple axels, even the man have problems with that. Wow! And they were executed so beautifully!

A pity she fell. I expected her to do the 3f-3t.. Good she changed her planned 3f-3l in a 3-2-2..

I expected Yu-Na to win. The beginning was just marvelous! Great 3-3, awesome Lutz combination and a good 2a-3t..
But then to fall on the Salchow :eek:
I love her program.. her expression has developed so much.

I was shocked when I saw the results of Yukari and Miki. So much downgraded
Great that Miki went for the 2a-3t and for the quad! I like this program more, her dress is better and the music suits her. She definitely should keep on doing the quad.

edit: an article about the gpf and Mao's victory:
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081213&content_id=57563&vkey=ice_news
Ok, this is just mean. Really. I think some photographers are doing this on purpose.

I love the commentary by Nicky Slater! He was on his own this time, but he made up for it with his enthusiasm. He praised the music choice, again admitting that he was mistaken at TEB thinking that this music won't fit Mao. And he said that everything went perfectly to the music, and that Mao danced even with her jumps and spins.

I hope somebody will post it on YT soon... This time I got it from FSVids, so if anyone has an account there, it's download time!

Sadly ES broadcasted only the long programs of the medalists... Some weird planning from the ES officials, one would think that the one event where all the GP qualifiers duke it out would be worth showing in its entirety.

I feel really sorry for Yu-Na,everyone in Korea wanted her to win and as she didn't, some people said terrible things about her This is not right!

Ok, I just went running around my apartment screaming and jumping up and down. Wow wow wow!!!

CONGRATULATIONS MAO!!!
You did two triple axels and you WON!!!

I'm so late to the party - I should've just stayed up and watched the ladies LP; I ended up not being able to sleep well because I was nervous/excited.

Mao looked sooo nervous before she started skating. It's just amazing to me how strong she's gotten mentally. Ok, sure, she's still having problems with the 3F-3Lo, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect that Mao would be able to do two triple axels consistently. Mao, you are AMAZING. GENIUS!! :worsip:

Sitting in the K&C, Mao and TAT were hilarious! So cute!!!!

I agree, Maya, I thought Mao left the door open with her fall, and then once Yu-Na did her 3-3, Lutz and 2A-3T, I was like oh no...but well, the rest is history. No one skated completely clean...

I am disappointed for Miki and Yukari. But I can't wait for Japanese Nationals!!

Maya - those pics are soo adorable!!!!!!

Ok, so way back after TEB I said that I thought Mao might just win the GPF! And I was right! So Mao and Yu-Na better go for some Korean barbecue, because I *expect* to see some happy Mao/Yu-Na hanging out pictures!!!

I was just watching Gala and I was so scared.
When Mao was skating it was so silent and the audience was like really scary!!!!!!!!!! It was too obvious!!! I think they shouldn't do that to a skater...

coconut wrote:

I was just watching Gala and I was so scared.
When Mao was skating it was so silent and the audience was like really scary!!!!!!!!!! It was too obvious!!! I think they shouldn't do that to a skater...

Awww, poor Mao!!

I just watched the Eurosport versions of Mao and Yu-Na's programs, and I was surprised by how much Nicky preferred Mao's!! Even I thought Yu-Na did a good job of really acting out her choreo, but Nicky said "But the big, big elements missing there, the two TRIPLE AXELS that Mao Asada delivered - not in there. The choreography - not as developed as her great rival here in this long program, yet...[they'll go away from this and figure out] where do we need to build the overall choreography of Asada's program." Yay!!

But yup, him calling Mao "Maya" is pretty

Congrats to Mao!! The LP was breathtaking! I'm so happy for her

coconut wrote:

I was just watching Gala and I was so scared.
When Mao was skating it was so silent and the audience was like really scary!!!!!!!!!! It was too obvious!!! I think they shouldn't do that to a skater...

Oh, that's sad... and at the same time, it makes me furious
Don't they have respect to the winner? Or are they thinking that Yuna should have won!? It might be a bit harsh, but those audience have to learn their manners. I was looking forward to watching the Gala tonight on TV Asahi, but it's depressing after hearing this news...(but I'll watch it anyway. Mao is still gorgeous how the audience may react )