Ok, well, I wasn't quite sure where to post this, as its the latest column entry in the
Mao wa tobu! [Mao will jump!] series in the Nihon Keizai newspaper, but it's all about Mao's rival, i.e. Yu-Na Kim....
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Here's a transcription from a Mao fan site:
http://mao.babyblue.jp/news/article_00834.html[Mao will jump #4] “Yu-Na, a worthy rival—close and far” December 18, 2009
For Mao Asada (Chuukyou University), Yu-Na Kim is probably a skater that she has to think about no matter what. They’re both 19; the titles they’ve won are roughly the same; and their relationship is becoming the biggest rivalry story in figure skating history. Asada started with a one-step lead, but this season she has been chasing after Yu-Na Kim.
“I will show Yu-Na around!” [Mao said]. That friendly occasion when they went shopping together was in the spring of 2007. It was after they had finished their first World Championship (Tokyo). Asada was 2nd, and Yu-Na Kim was 3rd. That time of mutual innocence was probably the last one.
Being aware of each otherAfter that, Asada and Yu-Na Kim divided all of the important Ladies’ titles between themselves. And for these two, who were said to be raising the level of Ladies’ figure skating, it became difficult to be friendly. In February 2009, when they were asked about each other, they replied as if they were bored by the question; they gave safe answers that you wouldn’t think
18-year olds would give. “I’m glad that people focus on me and Yu-Na, who is the same age as me.” “I’m used to being compared to Mao. I can understand why people compare us.”
I wonder if that is all they are aware of. When she was asked about the rival that she was concerned about, after a long silence, Asada replied, “Yu-Na, I guess.” Yu-Na Kim answered the same way. Junior Worlds, Grand Prix Final, Four Continent Championships, Worlds… All of these titles—Asada won them 1 year earlier. “Yu-Na has always been watching what Mao does. Now she finally is able to look ahead,” said Brian Orser, Yu-Na Kim’s coach.
Asada’s struggles with her jumps may have benefited Yu-Na Kim and Orser. Yu-Na Kim had wanted to master the triple axel (3.5 revolution jump), which only Asada can do among the ladies. In the beginning of the summer of 2006, when she went to Canada for choreography, she told Orser, “While I’m here, teach me the triple axel.” She ended up liking his teaching style, so she asked him to be her coach.
At that time, Yu-Na Kim was not a performer; she was a young girl who loved to jump and was not afraid of skating fast. Every off-season, she would zealously tackle the triple axel. Even though it would always cause her knee to hurt, she tried it every year until last year.
Orser, who won silver medals at both the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and 1988 Calgary Olympics, was the first man to do two triple axels in a single program, and was called “Mister Triple axel.” And yet, he said “(Mao) will do two triple axels? There are other elements to do, so if you make the first jumps too difficult…” Yu-Na’s team is not attached to the most difficult elements.
“Under the new scoring systems, there are the grades of execution that are applied to each element, and there are also the five program component scores. They measure the quality of the program,” Orser says. The overall balance is important. He respects Yu-Na’s decisions, and to help her become “the total package and a magnificent skater,” he has a fantastic staff. David Wilson, the famous choreographer, teaches expression. Tracy Wilson, the Calgary Olympics Ice Dance bronze medalist, looks at the use of edges and the flow of the overall program. These three Canadians, who have known each other for almost 30 years, use a private club outside of Toronto as their home base, and the three of them watch Yu-Na Kim practically everyday. At the club, they even have technical specialists/judges.
Over the past three seasons, Yu-Na Kim has used roughly the same jump layout. Now that underrotations are being judged very severely, Yu-Na Kim, who improved her accuracy, is the only woman who reliably lands the triple lutz- triple toe loop combination (a men’s level jump) in her short and free programs. She has also fixed her flip jump, for which she received wrong-edge calls, and is stabilizing her salchow, which she notably struggled with last season.
The pressure of being #1On the other hand, on the performance side, Orser is not very enthusiastic, and gets annoyed. Here the cheerful David takes over. In contrast to the adorable Asada, who can’t help but make everyone smile, Yu-Na Kim is a cool, frank girl. There he found a “chic, refined and cool woman,” who he brought out in Yu-Na’s performances.
“David is good at teaching you how to express things,” Yu-Na Kim said. “Just before last season, it seemed like she had reached a new level. She began to enjoy every aspect of practicing,” Orser said. Yu-Na Kim, for whom technique and expression had meshed at the time when she was changing from a girl into a woman, was a “happy skater” (Orser).
Last year, when Asada beat Yu-Na Kim, it was by a small margin, but when Kim won, it was by a large margin. Yu-Na Kim felt the pressure of being #1 for the first time. “I worried if I could maintain these scores.” After she broke the 200-point mark at last season’s World Championships, she has repeated it numerous times.
In this season as well, at the Trophee Eric Bompard (October), she made a new world record in her overwhelming victory. I wonder if she started to feel that she needed to maintain that. “The high scores became a source of pressure.” In the Skate America (November) free program and at the Grand Prix Final (December, Tokyo), she won, but she made uncharacteristic mistakes. This was the first time she had crumbled since the 2008 World Championship SP. And now the performances where she wasn’t herself have continued.
But it seems that Orser is not concerned about this. “In order to find problems to work on and maintain your motivation, it’s better to have competitions where you do badly. I also don’t like it if things go too well before the biggest competition.” He thinks failure is one step in the process of winning the Olympics.
At this month’s Grand Prix Final, there were many Japanese fans waiting for her to come out. Miki Ando (Toyoto Motor Co.), who finished 2nd and claimed an early ticket to the Olympics, also basked in the spotlight.
During that time, Asada was consumed with practicing in Aichi at Chuukyou University.
Aiming for the Japan National Championships (Osaka, 25-27th), she has been practicing with Tatiana Tarasova’s assistant coach, Zhanna Folle, from the end of November. Tarasova was tied up with the Russian Skating Federation, but the young Folle is someone Asada can easily open up to, and people have high expectations for their efforts. That strength that allowed Asada to come back and beat Yu-Na Kim by over 10 points in the free program at the 2007 World Championships—will it be resurrected?
Masako Hara,
Nihon Keizai Shinbun (Nikkei), December 18, 2009 Morning
edition
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Overall, I must say that I am pleased to see a piece of Japanese journalism that is so respectful and even praises Yu-Na.
I find it really ironic that “Mister triple axel” is now coaching the skater who doesn’t do them. My friend keeps telling me that she thinks Mao is more like Orser (and Yu-Na more like Boitano), but I didn’t watch the “Battle of the Brians,” so I can’t comment…
I DO think that what Orser says about doing badly before the Olympics = a good thing really argues for MAO winning, but that’s just me.