Mao news - 2009-10 Olympic season!!

^Whoa! That's your blog, Batsuchan?! I enjoyed reading your posts, of course. I always do. I was actually hoping there'd be more posts about Mao.

I've also seen your blog's URL posted on Mao's FB fan page.

Ichiro's interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KGNr6lmBoo

Batsuchan wrote:

aoi88 wrote:

This is not news but I read an interesting analysis on Mao by one of her fans. I posted this link before in another thread, but I just found out that the link doesn't work. So here it is again. It provides great insight on how her personality relates to her skating style. I agree with this blogger that Mao is a true challenger that strives to make history rather than simply winning the OGM. I wish her all the best in February.

http://fuyu-no-ohimesama.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-you-should-care-about-mao-asada.html

OMG! aoi88, how did you find this?!!!

This is actually MY blog, which has been terribly neglected.

I'm glad to hear you found my rambling interesting. I do hope to update it sometime soon with a description of Mao's journey as a skater, so now you've given me some motivation.

Wow. What a coincidence ! I had some free time and was surfing around for Mao updates and news, and then I found your blog . I really liked your analysis and I hope you update it soon!

Haha, I read it too, but didn't realize it was you, Batsuchan. I agree with a lot of your points, especially the part about how Yuna works on perfecting the elements she has, while Mao keeps pushing herself to do more.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20100113it.html

New article on Mao in Japan Times. Article confirms that she will stick with the 2 3As in her LP, and also mentions the conspiracy theory rumors that are floating around. I like how this writer takes a objective stand on this issue.

Thanks for the article, aoi88!



Stupid conspiracy theory.

^ What worries me a little is this part:

"If anything, you could argue that those promoting this scenario are trying to affect the outcome in advance, which could be constituted as a conspiracy."

I almost feel like that is what they are trying to do--make the judges so conscious of not appearing biased towards the Japanese skaters that they go in the other direction.

But maybe I'm just being paranoid.

^You're not the only one, illani. I feel the same way, too.

Yea, I don't like these conspiracy rumors either, but I hope Mao puts on a great performance next month to silence her critics!

There's a poll on the highest scored Ladies LP under CoP at Golden Skates Forums. Three of Mao's LP are listed, so if anyone is a member of that forum, please vote for her

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=448392#post448392

aoi88 wrote:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20100113it.html

New article on Mao in Japan Times. Article confirms that she will stick with the 2 3As in her LP, and also mentions the conspiracy theory rumors that are floating around. I like how this writer takes a objective stand on this issue.

Thanks for the link, aoi88!

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with Jack Gallagher, as usual. Seriously, he needs to stop writing about Mao.

Quote :

Mao said after her victory that at her morning practice earlier that day she was not confident in her triple axel and cut back the planned two to one. The problem is that Mao is still planning to include two of the difficult jumps in her free skate in Vancouver.

Umm, no, she never said 'she was not confident'--in the interview with Mai, she said that they had decided to play it safe, but it would probably be ONLY THAT ONE TIME.

I don't think Mao has ever wavered from her goal of doing 3 triple axels (over SP and LP) at the Olympics, so I'm going to ignore this ignorant advice from Jack Gallagher (this is the guy who thought Mao should switch to Morozov, after all), and cheer for Mao to bring out everything she can do at the Olympics.

The conspiracy thing is really getting on my nerves. At first I agreed with bellarina that I would like to see both Mao and Yu-Na skate their best and Mao to win to prove that she's the best...but now I'm thinking it might just be better for Mao to crush the competition so there's no question about who should win. Sigh...

***************
Some happier news:

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0110/NGY201001100001.html

Coach Machiko Yamada did a talk show at the Toyota Home rink in Nagoya, and she talked a bit about the Olympics. She said, "if you reach the top, everyone has the same technique. It depends on bringing out your own flavor and drawing in the judges and audience."

About Mao, she said, "She has returned to charming skating. I think she's headed in a good direction."

Yes, forget Jack Gallagher; Coach Yamada is who we should listen to! That hug between her and Mao after the ladies' LP, that just completely warmed my heart!

kirakira wrote:

Ichiro's interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KGNr6lmBoo

Thanks for this, kirakira!

They ask Ichiro who he's paying attention to at the Olympics, and he says "Mao-chan." Then he says that before the final game of the World Baseball Classic, he happened to run into Miki Ando and Nobunari Oda in a pizza place, so he's following them too.

I wonder if the pizza place is CPK?? I should've eaten there more when I was at Worlds!

Batsuchan wrote:

I don't think Mao has ever wavered from her goal of doing 3 triple axels (over SP and LP) at the Olympics, so I'm going to ignore this ignorant advice from Jack Gallagher (this is the guy who thought Mao should switch to Morozov, after all), and cheer for Mao to bring out everything she can do at the Olympics.

The conspiracy thing is really getting on my nerves. At first I agreed with bellarina that I would like to see both Mao and Yu-Na skate their best and Mao to win to prove that she's the best...but now I'm thinking it might just be better for Mao to crush the competition so there's no question about who should win. Sigh...

***************
Some happier news:

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0110/NGY201001100001.html

Coach Machiko Yamada did a talk show at the Toyota Home rink in Nagoya, and she talked a bit about the Olympics. She said, "if you reach the top, everyone has the same technique. It depends on bringing out your own flavor and drawing in the judges and audience."

About Mao, she said, "She has returned to charming skating. I think she's headed in a good direction."

Yes, forget Jack Gallagher; Coach Yamada is who we should listen to! That hug between her and Mao after the ladies' LP, that just completely warmed my heart!

Yea I don't think Gallagher should give advice either. Doesn't he know Mao cannot win with just one 3A? But he's more tolerable than that Hersh guy, who first wrote about this conspiracy stuff.
I also hope Mao can crush the competition and silence her critics once and for all! And I heart Coach Yamada

conspiring? lol...
I don't even want to see the word anymore. It's so out of the blue...
can't wait for vancouver though

Well, at least Jack's take on the conspiracy theory was far more professional than the charade Phil cooked up. Still not a fan of his articles though.

This is my Mao bias speaking, but I'm personally not too keen on a Mao/Yu-Na showdown where both skate relatively cleanly - judging from the scores during the Grand Prix I'm still not utterly convinced that even a perfect Bells with two 3A and no UR calls will be enough especially when Yu-Na has scored over 130 in her free skate for two competitions (Worlds, TEB) with a 5-triple program and an omitted element.

With all the uneasy hyping and people (as well as media) ready to pull the *wuzrobbed* card out, a situation that mirrors Torino might ironically be more helpful for the sport's reputation, compared to a phenomenal competition where a UR call or something similar may create a stir in the final standings.

On a brighter note, there's less than two weeks remaining until 4CC! I hope Mao's practices are going well~

Well, I've decided I won't read Japan Times anymore until that guy is still there and Batsuchan isn't.

As for the "conspiracy theory"... Depends on what exactly we're talking here about: the dark voodoo powers of Nikolay Morozov or the dirty you-know-whose money.

If money - I guess the only chance for Mao to be engaged in the battle for gold is to deliver a perfect short program. Then the other girl might get nervous, then things might go not as planned.
If Mao doesn't rotate one of her LP 3A-s, there still may be chances. If she fails something in the short - judges won't feel shy of making another 10-15 points gap, and hardly anything will be able to solve that.

conspiracy...nonsense everytime seeing articles like this, I feel
I hope no one believe this ridiculous rumor.
Batsuchan on Japan Times...

Mao interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts3ce6yFHG8

Hahaha, thanks for the vote of confidence, summervie!

kirakira wrote:

Mao interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts3ce6yFHG8

Thanks kirakira! I heart Honda-announcer; Mao seems really comfortable around her.

Mao's expression when she was like, "after the performance, I was so relieved," and she keeps closing her eyes and sighing--that was cute/funny.

Her hair looked quite brown! I wonder if that was the lighting or if she colored it recently...

At the end, they said next week's clip will be on Mao too. YAY!

^thanks kirakira and Batsuchan!

Are there clips on Mao and her preparation for 4CC? Or maybe about Tatiana? She's probably in Japan now, right?

A bit OT: I've read something about Yukari withdrawing from 4CC because of injury. That's just really sad.

roma wrote:

^thanks kirakira and Batsuchan!

Are there clips on Mao and her preparation for 4CC? Or maybe about Tatiana? She's probably in Japan now, right?

A bit OT: I've read something about Yukari withdrawing from 4CC because of injury. That's just really sad.

Yes, that is sad about Yukari.

The last article I saw said that TAT was supposed to come to Japan around the 10th--that was from the article about Mai and Shizuka's ice event.
I wonder if Chukkyo Figure will cover that? That would be AWESOME!

Yukari...hope she'll recover from injury soon

Well,This is Honda-announcer's blog. She wrote about Mao on Jan.13.
http://weblog.ctv.co.jp/ehonda/top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We came back from Chukyo University. We coverd figure skating, of course!
It was not interview with Mao, but when we arrived there, she was just practicing.
After practice, Mao ran up to me and said "I saw Chukkyo Figure today!"
We were sooo happy! "Well,whose interview was aired today?" when I asked her on purpose, she said "Me! next time will also be about me,right? I'm sure to see it!"
I haven't thought she might be looking forward to seeing our program!
We'll support figure skaters more than ever before!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so cute

The TV program "Chukkyo Figure"that Mao saw was the video which kirakira posted above.

mingming wrote:

Yukari...hope she'll recover from injury soon

Well,This is Honda-announcer's blog. She wrote about Mao on Jan.13.
http://weblog.ctv.co.jp/ehonda/top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We came back from Chukyo University. We coverd figure skating, of course!
It was not interview with Mao, but when we arrived there, she was just practicing.
After practice, Mao ran up to me and said "I saw Chukkyo Figure today!"
We were sooo happy! "Well,whose interview was aired today?" when I asked her on purpose, she said "Me! next time will also be about me,right? I'm sure to see it!"
I haven't thought she might be looking forward to seeing our program!
We'll support figure skaters more than ever before!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so cute

The TV program "Chukkyo Figure"that Mao saw was the video which kirakira posted above.

hahah! this is soooooooo cute!

LOL! Mao is so adorable. You'd think she'd be used to seeing herself on TV!

mingming wrote:

After practice, Mao ran up to me and said "I saw Chukkyo Figure today!"
We were sooo happy! "Well,whose interview was aired today?" when I asked her on purpose, she said "Me! next time will also be about me,right? I'm sure to see it!"

Only like a month and some till the olympics
http://www.47news.jp/CN/201001/CN2010011401000987.html
article
Yoshioka Nobuhiko, a figure head of the Japan Skating Federation stated that Mao Asada will attend the Four Continent Event only just 14 days away from the Olympics.
The rest talks about the men skaters