Japanese Nationals 2013

Someone tweeted:

During/after(?) Dai's performance Stéphane was crying ...

Mao's 3A landing was a bit shaky so she had to fight for it... but surely it was fully rotated and it wasn't even close to being two-footed. So I don't get why the TES is not over 40... unless the 3A was downgraded again like in GPF. Even then, scores are always inflated at Nationals. Are they releasing the protocol?

I think a lot of people were crying or felt like crying after Dai's performance... me included.    

My mood after opening this thread in moticons:

                      

l-spiralmao wrote:

My mood after opening this thread in moticons:

                      

So true!

ballerinamao wrote:

I think sochi team will be Yuzu, Machida, and Oda

Very unlikely.

Unfortunately the rules are formed in such vague way that Nobunari's medal at GPF holds no real value.
He didn't have a possiblility to catch up to top 3 in the ISU ranking because he still struggled with his injury last leason and didn't make GPF/4CC/Worlds. Because the scores at NHK were kind of stingy for Nobu, while lenient for Dai, Dai beats him on the "top 3 season PB" requirement as well.

Unless JSF is smart, wants a shot for the bronze medal and will crarify the rules (so that since Yuzuru qualified as the National gold medalist, the next GPF medalist will be considered for the team instead) Nobunari doesn't even have the chance to qualify as an alternate in case Daisuke withdraws.

Wow didn't know that the GPF bronze didn't hold any value when JSF has to decide the team   

Someone tweeted:

Leaving from K&C, Nobu shouted "Dai-chan gamba(re) !"
with some emotion-charged look on his face.

Iceriver wrote:

l-spiralmao wrote:

My mood after opening this thread in moticons:

                      

So true!

  

On a more serious note, Mao was awesome, even though her jumps were a little off, and I prefer her other dresses...

Satoko was also really good, but my video was a bit choppy.

And, inskate, is it really true that Oda's GPF medal has no value?   

inskate wrote:

ballerinamao wrote:

I think sochi team will be Yuzu, Machida, and Oda

Very unlikely.

Unfortunately the rules are formed in such vague way that Nobunari's medal at GPF holds no real value.
He didn't have a possiblility to catch up to top 3 in the ISU ranking because he still struggled with his injury last leason and didn't make GPF/4CC/Worlds. Because the scores at NHK were kind of stingy for Nobu, while lenient for Dai, Dai beats him on the "top 3 season PB" requirement as well.

Unless JSF is smart, wants a shot for the bronze medal and will crarify the rules (so that since Yuzuru qualified as the National gold medalist, the next GPF medalist will be considered for the team instead) Nobunari doesn't even have the chance to qualify as an alternate in case Daisuke withdraws.  

I agree with you inskate.
I do love Nobu and want him to be in the team, but I doubt he will be.  I think the team will be Yuzu, Tatsuki and Dai.  I'm sure Dai will be the one who will feel most ashamed of to be selected, he wouldn't like to be selected this way, but I think he will be selected.  

It seems the scenario was laid out even before GPF when you remember the UR call on Nobu's 4T at NHK while Dai's hook was overlooked.

Well, these days there aren't true sports anymore, everything has become sports business and figures skating is a part of it of course, business people need to factor in other stakeholders than athletes who actually sweat with efforts, and those people who make money want to try to make the most of those athletes while forgetting respect to sports.

Please let me hear that tomorrow's Olympic team:
Hanyu, Machida, Oda Asada, Suzuki, Murakami

For 4CC:
Oda, Takahashi, Kozuka Ando, Murakami, Miyahara

For World:
Hanyu, Machida, Kozuka Asada, Suzuki, Miyahara

New wave cannot wait for men's slot but they should
leave old boy as Oda in before retire. He had no chance
to prove himself last Olympic. Dai and Kozuka are not
secure enough to compete by their injury. But it will be
honored for them to go for world. (The same when Oda
was sent to World while Takahashi was sent to Olympic
in the old day.)

I think Ando Miki will be in 4th or 5th, not enough but
Japan should send her as honor too. However, Dai and
Ando may quit even World when they found that they
are not listed in Olympic team.

I think it is not fair to have Dai in Olympic team, he is
awesome and surely Japanese team's ACE but maybe
this is the time and JFS should not stuck the slot on
old skater when they have strong new skaters to secure
their medals in next Olympic.

Fortunately, Murakami and Miyahara are not good enough
for Japan to secure medals (in the case that Asada was
not good in condition.) so Suzuki Akiko might be sent.

Did Amano ur Mao's 3A again?

aoi88 wrote:

Did Amano ur Mao's 3A again?

Judging from the TES, I think so. I'm beginning to seriously, legitimately HATE that man.
That 3A did not look overtly underrotated, nor was it two-footed or anything. I feel really bad for Mao because you can tell from Mao's reaction when she saw her score that she was like... "Oh I got 73 again". I don't want her to feel helpless when she's actually doing awesome and her score should be bigger than it is.

I hope Mao scores HUGE on the FS tomorrow. If she wants to hit this homerun and send the message to everyone that she's the frontrunner for Sochi Gold, I think she should score over 210 overall. Which is not impossible. An FS score of 140, even with mistakes, should be possible since this is nationals... and if she skates clean, even way higher than 140. If the judges are gonna inflate scores like they do every year at nationals, now would be the MOST proper time to do it. If they lowball Mao tomorrow, with this being her last season and everything...   Oooo... you betta believe imma do sumthin

aoi88 wrote:

Did Amano ur Mao's 3A again?

Mao's 3A was a little bit URed and deserved a <, though I expected the technical panel wouldn't be so strict considering it is national. But you know JSF never knows how to promote their skaters...

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

aoi88 wrote:

Did Amano ur Mao's 3A again?

Mao's 3A was a little bit URed and deserved a <, though I expected the technical panel wouldn't be so strict considering it is national. But you know JSF never knows how to promote their skaters...

I think it was a little bit more UR than 90º, but quite close. However, not 180 º as some people like to say...

Since he can still judge at nationals, it means he is still considered part of JSF, so means he is not going to be at the Olympics. At this point, that is the only thing that makes me feel better about the whole thing. Maybe also the reason JSF doesn't really care how he is judging now, since it's a moot point if he's not going to be in Sochi.  

At this point, I don't believe it really matters to Amano the condition of Mao's 3A in reality. Her 3A in GPF SP was clearly better but it makes no difference in his marks. On the other hand, I felt the one she did today was at least as good as the one she did in the LP, which he ratified. It just makes no sense that out of all her 3A attempts, he does not ratify the one that was the best, something apparent to everyone else but him.

Iceriver wrote:

AmazingGraceMao wrote:

aoi88 wrote:

Did Amano ur Mao's 3A again?

Mao's 3A was a little bit URed and deserved a <, though I expected the technical panel wouldn't be so strict considering it is national. But you know JSF never knows how to promote their skaters...

I think it was a little bit more UR than 90º, but quite close. However, not 180 º as some people like to say...

Definitely not. Haters are going to hate...

When will they publish the mens team?   

Mao 3a def was ur    , but the rest was wonderful .
About Dai it was sad, but he deserve her place in Sochi   , sorry but Nobu was out of the picture a lot of time and he never get love of any judges, national or international, her sp was deficient. Taka was more inconsistent than Dai this season, this comp. was his best and it was not good, not as Dai in NHK, if Nobu or Taka were clean at least in this comp but they were not, sorry, they were not convincing. I am sure Dai has more opportunity to get a medal in Sochi than Nobu, Taka and even Machida.

chapis wrote:

Mao 3a def was ur    , but the rest was wonderful .
About Dai it was sad, but he deserve her place in Sochi   , sorry but Nobu was out of the picture a lot of time and he never get love of any judges, national or international, her sp was deficient. Taka was more inconsistent than Dai this season, this comp. was his best and it was not good, not as Dai in NHK, if Nobu or Taka were clean at least in this comp but they were not, sorry, they were not convincing. I am sure Dai has more opportunity to get a medal in Sochi than Nobu, Taka and even Machida.

chapis! There is still hope for Daisuke?

I want to see Mao skate an amazing LP this time. She's already proven that she is able to skate her SP close to perfection (despite Amano's "<" at the GPF), but she still has to skate the LP to her full potential. I'm not expecting absolute perfection YET but something close to it.

silenceisgolden wrote:

Someone tweeted:

During/after(?) Dai's performance Stéphane was crying ...

You mean Stephane Lambiel was watching?

l-spiralmao wrote:

And, inskate, is it really true that Oda's GPF medal has no value?   

Unfortunately, yes.

The team will be chosen from:

1st spot: The winner of the Japanese Nationals. (Yuzuru)
2nd spot: Chosen between silver medalist at Nationals (Tatsuki), bronze medalist (Takahiko), highest placement at GPF (Yuzuru). Yuzuru already qualified as the National champion, Tatsuki has silver and better ISU ranking / season PB score -> Tatsuki gets the spot
3rd spot: Chosen between whoever qualified in point 2 but wasn't chosen (Takahiko), top 3 season's best score (Yuzuru, Daisuke, Tatsuki), top 3 ISU ranking (Yuzuru, Daisuke, Tatsuki). Daisuke qualifies both via ISU season PB (NHK) and ISU ranking.

I agree with linglang:

linglang wrote:

I think the team will be Yuzu, Tatsuki and Dai.  I'm sure Dai will be the one who will feel most ashamed of to be selected, he wouldn't like to be selected this way, but I think he will be selected.  

It seems the scenario was laid out even before GPF when you remember the UR call on Nobu's 4T at NHK while Dai's hook was overlooked.

Well, these days there aren't true sports anymore, everything has become sports business and figures skating is a part of it of course, business people need to factor in other stakeholders than athletes who actually sweat with efforts, and those people who make money want to try to make the most of those athletes while forgetting respect to sports.

This is so disappointing... Doubly so, because it's sad to see such a great competition marred by questionable judging (again). I think all the skaters skated the best they could today, fought for every point, and deserve an enormous standing ovation.    
A golden era of Japanese men skating ended today... I'm sure new, talented skaters will appear in the future, but those are the skaters who helped raise Japanese figure skating from crappy obscure rinks into filled arenas, to build new rinks and save from closing old ones, to show that a rivalry can thrieve even in a classy, polite environment...
Thank you, Daisuke, Nobunari, Takahiko, Tatsuki, Takahito, Yuzuru and all the rest who made this an amazing event.         
For me, you will always be the best team ever!  

inskate wrote:

 
A golden era of Japanese men skating ended today... I'm sure new, talented skaters will appear in the future, but those are the skaters who helped raise Japanese figure skating from crappy obscure rinks into filled arenas, to build new rinks and save from closing old ones, to show that a rivalry can thrieve even in a classy, polite environment...
Thank you, Daisuke, Nobunari, Takahiko, Tatsuki, Takahito, Yuzuru and all the rest who made this an amazing event.         
For me, you will always be the best team ever!  

Wow this was so touching   . It's always hard to say goodbye, and knowing so many wonderful skaters will retire this season leaves me with a strange feeling. I try not to be sad; everything comes to an end and it's better to remember the good moments than torturing ourselves thinking that we'll never see them compete again. However, for me this is the first time I see so many of my favourite skaters retiring. I started watching this sport in 2004 but became a fan around 2006, so this is the generation of skaters that I've been watching since my very first days of a figure skating fan. I've been watching them skate for so long that the mere idea of not seeing them in competitions anymore seems strange to me. I suppose that we'll get used to seeing new faces and get to love them too, but we'll never forget these wonderful skaters!

Sorry if I sounded too dramatic

Does anyone know whether Mao mentioned if willing to attend Worlds if she get's the assignment?