Four Continents (4CC) 2011 - Taipei

Thanks a lot snowdrops!!! I like Tara's comments since 2010 WC, she's very wise and she always talks calmly, not overjoyed like someone. I can't wait to see Mao's skating live.
I hope I will be crying from happiness not from sadness this time in Moscow. I don't know why, but I can't hold back my emotions when I see Mao live, she's like a Goddess. It's so touching))))

klarification wrote:

roma wrote:

^Thanks for sharing, snowdrops24!
It's nice to hear they are being positive now.

Quite true. And I like the fact that they don't seem to exaggerate, meaning they do not make such a big fuss about her 'comeback' but they also don't present too much negativity when talking about Mao's situation.

MaoChan756 wrote:

I remember these two commentators during worlds 2010!
They were quite supportive!
Even here they genuinely appreciate Mao!

I was really surprised to hear Andrea Joyce being quite positive here + her last comment about how this is not about winning for Mao but about coming back because her blog posts on Mao is quite the opposite.

roma wrote:

klarification wrote:

roma wrote:

^Thanks for sharing, snowdrops24!
It's nice to hear they are being positive now.

Quite true. And I like the fact that they don't seem to exaggerate, meaning they do not make such a big fuss about her 'comeback' but they also don't present too much negativity when talking about Mao's situation.

MaoChan756 wrote:

I remember these two commentators during worlds 2010!
They were quite supportive!
Even here they genuinely appreciate Mao!

I was really surprised to hear Andrea Joyce being quite positive here + her last comment about how this is not about winning for Mao but about coming back because her blog posts on Mao is quite the opposite.

Hmm...
Can I ask a small question? This broadcast came out after the earthquake -_ right?
There might be a chance for the commentators being considerate about the Japanese skaters on ice -
That might explain Andrea's reaction -
I might be wrong - But duh! I hope I am wrong!

periperi wrote:

I pretty much agree with everything you said here, except for Mr. Button. I remember that Dick was always frustrated with the common occurrence of flutzing in the ladies competitions and was particularly critical of U.S. ladies (he never failed to mention Jenny Kirk's flutz) and frequently brought up Sarah Hughe's hammer toe. But when it came to Sasha both he and Peggy rarely had anything bad to say other than expressing frustration over her little mistakes here and there. Dick rarely called Sasha out on her flutzing, and I don't recall him ever mentioning Sasha's hammer toe. For all the praise that went to MK's edges, they ignored that Sasha lacked them. Dick really knew his stuff, throwing skating terms I'd never heard of left and right, so I have the feeling he was definitely a bit biased.

To give Uncle Dick the credit where it's due, in the video I watched (it was either her Swan Lake LP or the Rach one sometime during the GP series) he actually did mention Sasha's shaky edges on both Lutz and flip. He just didn't mention the hammer toe and instead praised her body position on the jumps and reaching out with the free leg - which surprised me, because high chances are, this body position was what caused Sasha's edges to be so unstable. Yeah, he can be very biased sometimes, but in this particular case I suspect he really didn't think Sasha's technique was flawed (aside from the flutz/lip issue).
I'll have to watch some Sarah vids with Button's commentary for comparison's sake, but I have a feeling that Uncle Dick overlooked the hammer toe on Sasha (and later Mao) because their positions were so good - free legs extended, toes pointed. Their jumps looked very light and pretty, and one had to watch the videos in extreme slow-mo or frame-by-frame to really pin-point the technique issues. And somehow Uncle Dick doesn't seem to me like the kind of person who would record/download the videos to dissect them frame-by-frame.

Quote :

Peggy, on the other hand, never caught any flutzing or lipping...EVER. If anything, I always got the impression that Peggy hated every time Dick so much as mentioned the word flutz.

That's true. She was more forgiving towards laybacks, too. :sweatdrops:

snowdrops24 wrote:

F
As for Tara saying she hasn't noticed any changes in Mao's technique: I think the biggest change Mao made to her Flip is her edges before her take-off. Before, her blade had always rocked to an obvious outside edge before swtiching back to the inside edge just before the take-off. The 'rocking-movement' (pardon my inexpert word usage) is a distinct habit in her flip jumps. Now, the 'rocking-movement' is gone; she holds the inside edge all the way through.

I agree!

I'm a bit surprised that Tara mentioned that she didn't see the difference - certainly the changes made this season were gradual and perhaps not so easy to spot, but if you compare Mao's jump layout to the one from the previous season? Hello, Salchow, Lutz, 2A-3T..? And the distance on 2A was very clearly to me bigger than ever before.
I think just the score shows the difference - with messy 3S, a bit flutzed Lutz and some URs Mao's score was close to her PBs, established back when there were more elements in the LP.

I'm kind of miffed at Andrea saying that it was Nobuo Sato who decided to completely rework Mao's jumps... The improvement of jumps was Mao's own goal that she announced before she even chose a new coach; and it was Nagakubo who first made Mao go back to basics, while Sato reportedly preferred a more gentle approach to fixing the jumps, but chose to continue Nagakubo's work nonetheless. Please check the facts, dear commentators...

Okami wrote:

To give Uncle Dick the credit where it's due, in the video I watched (it was either her Swan Lake LP or the Rach one sometime during the GP series) he actually did mention Sasha's shaky edges on both Lutz and flip. He just didn't mention the hammer toe and instead praised her body position on the jumps and reaching out with the free leg - which surprised me, because high chances are, this body position was what caused Sasha's edges to be so unstable. Yeah, he can be very biased sometimes, but in this particular case I suspect he really didn't think Sasha's technique was flawed (aside from the flutz/lip issue).
I'll have to watch some Sarah vids with Button's commentary for comparison's sake, but I have a feeling that Uncle Dick overlooked the hammer toe on Sasha (and later Mao) because their positions were so good - free legs extended, toes pointed. Their jumps looked very light and pretty, and one had to watch the videos in extreme slow-mo or frame-by-frame to really pin-point the technique issues. And somehow Uncle Dick doesn't seem to me like the kind of person who would record/download the videos to dissect them frame-by-frame.

This reminds me... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVi5mgwkokc&feature=related (caution: video quality is pretty bad, turn down the volume on your speakers lol)

Uncle Dick is very very quick to comment that Shizuka doesn't reach very far back on her 3Lz... While it's certainly not one of her best, she doesn't reach much further on any of her lutzes, which are among the best out there. From all the reading, browsing and lurking I've done over the years, I got the impression that a slightly bent picking leg was better. Anyway, it seems very efficient for Shizuka. I'm too lazy to go on youtube right now and have a look, but I'm thinking you're right. I don't think Uncle Dick ever mentionned her hammer toe and he was always raving about her flat back, extended toes and straight legs. So I'm not sure if he was aware that it was "bad" technique and just chose to ignore it because the whole jump looked really nice, or if he just wasn't aware of it.

chiyori wrote:

[

This reminds me... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVi5mgwkokc&feature=related (caution: video quality is pretty bad, turn down the volume on your speakers lol)

Uncle Dick is very very quick to comment that Shizuka doesn't reach very far back on her 3Lz... While it's certainly not one of her best, she doesn't reach much further on any of her lutzes, which are among the best out there. From all the reading, browsing and lurking I've done over the years, I got the impression that a slightly bent picking leg was better. Anyway, it seems very efficient for Shizuka. I'm too lazy to go on youtube right now and have a look, but I'm thinking you're right. I don't think Uncle Dick ever mentionned her hammer toe and he was always raving about her flat back, extended toes and straight legs. So I'm not sure if he was aware that it was "bad" technique and just chose to ignore it because the whole jump looked really nice, or if he just wasn't aware of it.

I think it's possible that Uncle Dick just wasn't aware of it. Back in his days skaters just didn't attempt the jumps and combinations the skater do today. The concept of "textbook perfect" jumps appeared fairly recently. I've seen some fans claiming that the "textbook" jumps are more difficult, but actually I think it's quite the opposite - having good technique actually helps the skater to fully rotate jumps and helps to avoid injuries. Point in case - Shizuka is still able to land a 3-3 combination.



Has anyone watched the CBC broadcast? PJ and Tracy were very positive for once. It sounded like they approved of Mao's strategy this season, and one of them actually said her Lutz looked OK this time.

Quote :

Has anyone watched the CBC broadcast? PJ and Tracy were very positive for once. It sounded like they approved of Mao's strategy this season, and one of them actually said her Lutz looked OK this time.

Could you/anyone post this video?

maofan93 wrote:

Quote :

Has anyone watched the CBC broadcast? PJ and Tracy were very positive for once. It sounded like they approved of Mao's strategy this season, and one of them actually said her Lutz looked OK this time.

Could you/anyone post this video?

Uploading right now...

The quality is not extraordinary for the size of the file (sorry I don't have a smaller one and I wouldn't know how to make it) but I do like the commentary. Universal Sports was positive as well but I kinda disliked that Andrea insisted the decision to rebuild Mao's technique came from Sato. That's totally untrue. Mao herself said her jumps hadn't felt right for a while but she chose to wait after the Olys to do something about it because there was no time. Anyway, it's just a detail, but I hate that she sounds so know-it-all about this, as though she was there, while in truth, she's just as misinformed as everyone else. At least Tracy Wilson (aside from her comment on Russian choreographers... again) is not spouting stories she knows nothing about.

ETA: Maa Asada - 4CC LP (CBC)

Thank you Chiyori!
It might take an hour with the speed I have...
But its worth it!
I am always elated when I hear people saying good things about Mao's skating!
It feels so special when they like what you love! ^_^

(I always thought Andrea and Tracy were the same person! )

Thank you for the video, but it turns out I can watch it on cbc.ca in the US!!

maofan93 wrote:

Thank you for the video, but it turns out I can watch it on cbc.ca in the US!!

Nice! I always hesitate to post those links 'cause I think a lot of people are geoblocked... CBC.ca's broadcasts used to be open to everyone in the world, but I think they noticed the traffic a few seasons back and blocked all IP addresses outside of Canada, even from the US, except maybe those areas whose tv broadcasters offer the channel. Nice to know they reopened it a little... Universal Sports is not available for me

Aside from the japanese broadcasts, I think Championship Figure Skating on CBC is one of the most complete skating coverage around. It's all season long, all events on the main network, on Bold AND online... They do put a lot of emphasis on "Canadians", be it skaters, coaches or choreographers, and while it is to be expected, I sometimes find that a little overbearing and think they are trying too hard to sell it. But overall, it's very nice and I wish more people had access to it.

You're welcome, MaoChan756!

Thanks for the headsup chiyori!

I watched it on cbc.ca- it was great! The commentators were very positive! Our Mao has been improving step by step at each competition hasn't she? It always touches me to see where she was at at the beginning of the season.

And she'll only get better! Watching it reminded me of how much I miss watching her skate! Only a few more days till World's. Go Mao!

sapphiresky wrote:

Thanks for the headsup chiyori!

I watched it on cbc.ca- it was great! The commentators were very positive! Our Mao has been improving step by step at each competition hasn't she? It always touches me to see where she was at at the beginning of the season.

And she'll only get better! Watching it reminded me of how much I miss watching her skate! Only a few more days till World's. Go Mao!

I finally watched the video with the CBC commentators! I love them literally. During worlds last year, I think they called Mao a figure skating prodigy. In the 2011 Four Continents free skate, they were so impressed by her tremendous improvement. They said that they could tell that she hasn't stabilized with her techniques yet, BUT they said they expect great things from her with her type of progress. Mao is truly amazing. She's just so inspirational and courageous!

One more thing that impressed me was Mao's ice coverage on the 3-3 combo in the warm-up:
https://2img.net/h/oi54.tinypic.com/107u9as.gif
Even at Mao's best, it used to be more "up-and-down", but now it has almost the same coverage like combos with 3T on the end.

the combination has wonderful coverage. i can't wait until she stabilizes her jumps and increases her height and length of her jumps.

It did have nice coverage, but after seeing it in slow-mo it was about as rotated as the one she did at 08 worlds in her LP - and that was downgraded. Right now it would receive a < not a <<, but it would still get -GOE and most likely be worth less than a 3F+2Lo. Hopefully she will get it rotated by worlds, because it does have greater ice coverage than the 09 season where she got downgrades almost every time.

Mao @ 4CC Taipei walking towards K&C

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

Athletes and coaches have to watch out for flying gifts, otherwise they may end up like Frank Carroll.

linglang wrote:

Mao @ 4CC Taipei walking towards K&C

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

Athletes and coaches have to watch out for flying gifts, otherwise they may end up like Frank Carroll.

Aww, that was funny and cute. But flying mascotts can be dangerous - I remember Yukari got hit in the head with an enormous teddy bear a few years ago.

Okami wrote:

linglang wrote:

Mao @ 4CC Taipei walking towards K&C

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

Athletes and coaches have to watch out for flying gifts, otherwise they may end up like Frank Carroll.

Aww, that was funny and cute. But flying mascotts can be dangerous - I remember Yukari got hit in the head with an enormous teddy bear a few years ago.

And how could we forget: the person who threw down a big sunflower and seeds went everywhere ... Oh those Yuna bots made sure to see to it to not let Mao fans live that one down, as if it were anyones fault but that individual person