Mao: post-Sochi news and articles

Hope the below thread keeps on going    

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?92547-Mao-s-LP-at-the-Olympics

silenceisgolden wrote:

Hope the below thread keeps on going    

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?92547-Mao-s-LP-at-the-Olympics

Thank you so much for the link silenceisgolden. There are so many wonderful comments there helping to spread
the word on Mao's legendary performance. I made the following post on goldenskate and will post on fsuniverse
when my account is approved.

There is a wonderful thread talking about how Mao's Sochi Lp had such a profound emotional impact on so many and how many think it should have broken the world record:

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...t-the-Olympics

The fact that such a thread has appeared over four months after the event shows how deep and lasting her impact has been. I know it has already been talked about a lot on this and other threads, but legendary art and performances grow greater over time only if people keep the memory alive. Since the judges didn't give Mao the credit she deserves, why don't we, those who were moved so profoundly by her historic performance, give back some more by posting our thoughts again on this fan thread or the one I have listed above. Now, the passing of time can provide a deeper perspective to express how deeply moved we were and still are by what she has given to us: for me she provided the consummate example of joyous redemption, tragic compassion, and artistic and athletic perfection that often makes me weep even now when I see it.

       





others here: http://veravalenta.gallery.ru/?p=albums&parent=l0ab

WowMao wrote:

Ridicule of her Sochi LP scores:

http://the-international-skating-onion.tumblr.com/post/77562691039/2014-sochi-olympics-analyzing-mao-asadas-free

The scores ridicule themselves...

Her tragic short program:



Her insanely amazing free:



That's interesting, her Skating Skills were only 0.18 better in the long program than the short.

And there is only 0.65 difference in Performance / Execution between the two. Hmm.

You can just imagine how this played out in the judging box:

Lakernik: There's too many triples to fake downgrade them all, it's not going to work!!!

Judges: Quick, lower all her components! Arrrrggghhh!! She's still out there gaining on us!!!!!!!!! NOOOO!

BelieveInMaoself wrote:

WowMao wrote:

Ridicule of her Sochi LP scores:

http://the-international-skating-onion.tumblr.com/post/77562691039/2014-sochi-olympics-analyzing-mao-asadas-free

The scores ridicule themselves...

Her tragic short program:



Her insanely amazing free:



That's interesting, her Skating Skills were only 0.18 better in the long program than the short.

And there is only 0.65 difference in Performance / Execution between the two. Hmm.

You can just imagine how this played out in the judging box:

Lakernik: There's too many triples to fake downgrade them all, it's not going to work!!!

Judges: Quick, lower all her components! Arrrrggghhh!! She's still out there gaining on us!!!!!!!!! NOOOO!

They were clearly determined to let the game play out, the way they wanted. and the severe underscoring just exposed them in the end, they simply tried too hard. I find it really hilarious that they scored both sp and fs performance/execution the same, just shows how they were throwing numbers randomly as if blindfolded and not present when Mao skated.

I

WowMao wrote:

Yet even with the historic Sochi LP, Kim is still given a higher score and regarded as a skater by the "powers that be" and countless figure skating devotees. It really is hard to exaggerate how much the press and judges have contributed to this "annointing" of Kim at the expense of Mao.
For me, the truth has been turned upside down because Mao is now the one who should wear the crown of magnificence.

Absolutely, beautiful post, I feel the same way.

What is it about Kim that is so different than any other skater, worthy of that much praise?

Has she ever been the first woman to do anything? Because every season, Mao was the first to do something. (2007 GPF, first to land two 3-3 and a 3A - And Kim has never even tried two 3-3s!)
Every time she lands a triple axel, the lifetime world record goes up by one - that tells us who is the real best of all time.

I would say Kim is the personal favorite of the ISU bosses. This photo will almost make you cry, when you think about how much injustice it represents. (It's Speedy, eying his pet while reluctantly giving the medal to the pariah.)

That blog author Kumako is excellent, using irrefutable hard science to disprove Kim's ridiculous inflation.
So far he has covered inflation. Now inflation is kind of subjective, it's hard to prove.

However, there are two ways the system cheats with Kim (and only her):

1. GOE/PCS Inflation
   
2. Tech-Violation Exemption
   

We've discussed that Kim is an inferior artist, but what if she were also a bad technician, and the marks were somehow hiding it... Could it really be that "textbook jumper" is actually a cover story hiding a chronic underrotator?

Kumako is going to do an upcoming article about this, but since you brought up the subject, have a look at the video I made in the last few weeks. It will blow your mind.

Not only is Kim an inferior artist...

She gets away with underrotating no less than THREE triples in her Sochi FS, probably four, possibly all!

Yuna Kim Sochi FS Underrotations: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqwzGmKKy28

What's funny is the Yunabots literally could not argue against it! They were forced to admit Kim had 3 URs AND STILL thought she should win!

Name one skater that could get away with 3 or more URs in an Olympic program?

Here's the thing: If Kim is such a good skater, why do the judges have to inflate her, and why do the tech crews have to overlook her URs? If she were truly good, she could win in a fair system - which she could not.

There has never been anyone in any sport so fake as Kim, she is 90% Inflation and Tech-Violation Exemption.
Who gets away with 3 URs?

The judges could make anyone look as good as Kim, simply by blowing up their score and ignoring all mistakes.



Edit: YouTube removed the video. (?!) Here is the new link.

WowMao wrote:

I want to make it clear I think Kim is a good person and skater, but I'm really upset by the preferential treatment she has been given compared to Mao without attempting the risky and more difficult elements that Mao does due to the COP's crazy scoring system and judging bias. 6.0 would have made the results far different with no ridiculous GOEs, no slo-mo ur targeting, higher rewards for the triple axel, and less scoring obsession with speed.

And this is the main reason why I really, really dislike her, that and her sense of entitlement. Like you, I think she's a good skater, she and Mao (though Mao almost never received any credit for it    ) have pushed this sport, but the worship Yuna has been getting from EVERYONE for the past 7 years is seriously pissing me off. I don't know who started all this "Yuna is the greatest ever", but I sure wish that JSF or the japanese sponsors would've done the same for Mao. Honestly, if there would be a competition for skaters who got screwed the most by ISU, Mao would've won without competition.   

BelieveInMaoself wrote:

I would say Kim is the personal favorite of the ISU bosses. This photo will almost make you cry, when you think about how much injustice it represents. (It's Speedy, eying his pet while reluctantly giving the medal to the pariah.)

        This is just wrong.

I wish Cinquanta would leave ISU already, he's ruining this sport, though the alternatives are no better either.

BelieveInMaoself wrote:

Not only is Kim an inferior artist...

She gets away with underrotating no less than THREE triples in her Sochi FS, probably four, possibly all!

Yuna Kim Sochi FS Underrotations

What's funny is the Yunabots literally could not argue against it! They were forced to admit Kim had 3 URs AND STILL thought she should win!

Name one skater that could get away with 3 or more URs in an Olympic program?

       Holy cow! I knew whe underrotated her Lutz, but so many?!    Damn Lakernik, I hate you!!! And she still scored higher than Mao. And people wonder why this sport is loosing it's fans.  

"BelieveInMaoself wrote:

Here's the thing: If Kim is such a good skater, why do the judges have to inflate her, and why do the tech crews have to overlook her URs? If she were truly good, she could win in a fair system - which she could not.

There has never been anyone in any sport so fake as Kim, she is 90% Inflation and Tech-Violation Exemption.
Who gets away with 3 URs?

The judges could make anyone look as good as Kim, simply by blowing up their score and ignoring all mistakes.

THIS. 

Though I do wonder how must Yuna and her team feel. I mean, they must know she's underrotating left and right and while the ISU is willing to look the other way (for whatever reason), the fact remains that she's cheating. I wonder if she feels bad about it, or she simply doesn't care and believes her own hype.  
And I'd really like to know her own feelings about Sochi and silver medal. Does she think she should've won, especially if she's seen her jumps in slow-mo...
IMO, a skater with her TES base value and UR's, shouldn't have been in top 5, let alone win a medal. Yet she had won silver, and Mao was robbed of WR instead, with her bogus UR calls. What a farse.

zarinaballerina wrote:

And I'd really like to know her own feelings about Sochi and silver medal. Does she think she should've won, especially if she's seen her jumps in slow-mo...

No, that camp is completely out-of-their-minds crazy. Four months later, they are still peddling this "wuz robbed by the evil ruskie girl".

The KSU is actually going to take the ISU to International Court over the "stolen gold". And really, who do you think is pressuring them to do that? I would say the one complaining about "those absurd Sochi results".

Also, there is strong evidence she underrotated both the Salcows, but it is harder to definitively prove without slow-mo. That said, it is mathematically proven that she UR 3 high-value jumps.

Think about this: She provably underrotated. HALF. HER. TRIPLES.
Who does that? She is just not a top level skater.

Akiko Suzuki is a Real Estate Agent who skates for a hobby. In the olympics, she did not make one major mistake, only a lipped flip, which was called obviously. She landed a difficult 3Lz+2T+2Lo (compare with Kim's weak 2A-2T-2L), and her FS was 8th place.

So how can Kim be ranked higher than that? Kim landed half as many (assumed) clean triples as a Real Estate Agent who skates for a hobby. That's how bad she is.

BelieveInMaoself wrote:

zarinaballerina wrote:

And I'd really like to know her own feelings about Sochi and silver medal. Does she think she should've won, especially if she's seen her jumps in slow-mo...

No, that camp is completely out-of-their-minds crazy. Four months later, they are still peddling this "wuz robbed by the evil ruskie girl".

The KSU is actually going to take the ISU to International Court over the "stolen gold". And really, who do you think is pressuring them to do that? I would say the one complaining about "those absurd Sochi results".

Also, there is strong evidence she underrotated both the Salcows, but it is harder to definitively prove without slow-mo. That said, it is mathematically proven that she UR 3 high-value jumps.

Think about this: She provably underrotated. HALF. HER. TRIPLES.
Who does that? She is just not a top level skater.

Akiko Suzuki is a Real Estate Agent who skates for a hobby. In the olympics, she did not make one major mistake, only a lipped flip, which was called obviously. She landed a difficult 3Lz+2T+2Lo (compare with Kim's weak 2A-2T-2L), and her FS was 8th place.

So how can Kim be ranked higher than that? Kim landed half as many (assumed) clean triples as a Real Estate Agent who skates for a hobby. That's how bad she is.

Yeah, I forgot about the salchow. One looked UR'ed or at least very close to it with naked eye, so with slow-mo it should show, IMO.

Are you serious? They are actually dragging this to the court?!   The expression "sore losers" doesn't even begin to describe them. What do they (KSU) think they'll achieve with this? If anyone should've complained is Mao not Yuna, but Mao is way too classy for that.

Imagine that the defending team (I assume that'll be ISU?) would show the court all those slow motions of Yuna's jumps, that would be hillarious. Too bad they ignored them, so they can't.

Here she was gifted with the silver medal (despite all those UR's who were misteriously missed), and instead of taking it with grace, they're whining about it.

As for her statement about Sochi result being "absurd", someone should've replayed those jumps to her, and than ask her the same question. It'd be interesting to hear her answer.

It's so sad to see how she's changed from that cute and shy 16 year old girl, to this entitled woman.  

The fact that Mao remained down to earth type of person, despite all the success, love and "worhip" she receives in Japan, makes me admire her even more, if that's possible.

linglang wrote:

Thanks COHK for the info!
I read a tweet by a Japanese person who said he/she happened to see Mao in Vienna.  I wasn't sure if the info was true or fake.   According to this tweet, it seems she is there for a TV program.

Mystery solved...
Mao was in Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary for a Jpn TV program. She started a new challenge as the show host/reporter, and visited places such as Franz Liszt museum

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20140627/oth14062705040008-n1.html

Some photos:




The program will be broadcast on Jul/5.

Thank you for the information, COHK   

It was Mao who was eager to take part of  "世界ふしぎ発見" Discovery of the　Word's Mysteries
as a reporter (called mystery hunter    ) because she is a fan of this long-running TV program
which started  about  thirty years ago.
The theme for this time surely is figure skating   




Edit:
Backstage short clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdn4-bo9RBk&feature=youtu.be

Yuzu's new SP is Chopin - Ballade No. 1
I know the title of this thread, but ...

silenceisgolden wrote:

Yuzu's new SP is Chopin -  Ballade No. 1  
I know the title of this thread, but ...

I just saw the news clip of it... the beginning is exactly the same cut as Mao's
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzMyNzQyMzgw.html
can't wait to see the whole thing, mostly to see if there are some moves of Mao's in there

Thanks COHK for the info!!!I am glad she is traveling the world, see more than just ice rinks and hotel rooms.

COHK wrote:

Mystery solved...
Mao was in Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary for a Jpn TV program. She started a new challenge as the show host/reporter, and visited places such as Franz Liszt museum

No,no, noooo.   Why didn't I know she'd be in Slovenia, this is where I'm from.  

But I'm glad she's exploring differenet countries. I hope she had a blast.  

silenceisgolden wrote:

Yuzu's new SP is Chopin - Ballade No. 1  

I like this. I think it's going to fit with Yuzu very well. Can't wait to see this.  

another promotion video of the "世界ふしぎ発見" :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyq8Qn6biGY&feature=youtu.be

Some photos and content of the program (in Japanese) can be found here:
http://www.tbs.co.jp/f-hakken/next/p_1.html

It seems she's having a good time!

emory903 wrote:

silenceisgolden wrote:

Yuzu's new SP is Chopin -  Ballade No. 1  
I know the title of this thread, but ...

I just saw the news clip of it... the beginning is exactly the same cut as Mao's
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzMyNzQyMzgw.html
can't wait to see the whole thing, mostly to see if there are some moves of Mao's in there

Thanks COHK for the info!!!I am glad she is traveling the world, see more than just ice rinks and hotel rooms.

whole program: min 4:37 http://vk.com/yuzuru_hanyu

Mao was on the live radio program "School of Lock".




http://www.tfm.co.jp/lock/staff/index.php?itemid=2714&catid=36

"世界ふしぎ発見" unreleased footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf6jkVREm28&feature=youtu.be

and some photos have been added on their website:

http://www.tbs.co.jp/f-hakken/bknm/20140705/p_3.html

You can find videos of Mao hosting the episode about the connection between classical music, ballet and figure skating at the following thread:

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?89260-MAO-CHEER-THREAD-starting-on-her-23rd-BD-lt-3/page21

Thanks WowMao:
I just saw that too, and I was about to post them, then I saw that you had already done so!

My fav is this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yykr-by3IZM

Mao shows us her spins, her 2A and 3Salchow (she says it's her least favorite jump, but does a beautiful one anyway).
And the she does awesome figures- she even has pictures of figures on her phone to practice with- that's amazing!

thx for the videos!
love that she is having so much fun outside of skating

WowMao wrote:

You can find videos of Mao hosting the episode about the connection between classical music, ballet and figure skating at the following thread:

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?89260-MAO-CHEER-THREAD-starting-on-her-23rd-BD-lt-3/page21

Thank you!

I didn't understand almost anything, but I loved to see how much fun she had, and she's such a food lover.   

And I must say (though this is going to sound weird), that I'm really happy she wasn't in Slovenia (as previously posted) but instead in Slovakia. Our beautiful country is small so you can litterally be on the other side of it in a matter of 2-3 hours, so I'd be really depressed if I'd missed her, since I already missed a chance to "stalk" her in Vienna.  

I was quite amazed by how quickly Mao can do the figures. Amazing precision!   

3S  

I quite enjoyed the "simple" spins. Too bad they aren't worth too much right now (unless you gain the levels by executing other features, like accelerating or using all the basic position on both legs)... I love how they look, especially as a part of the combination spin. I miss the twist sit spin (like the one in Sheherazade/Liebenstraum), too...

I found some wonderful pictures of Mao's exhibition at the following site posted by user ionap:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...o-Asada/page22

Does anyone know how you can see videos of the show because they are not currently available on youtube. I would be willing to be pay to get a video version via internet even if it is never loaded on youtube, but that seems unlikely.

I found it fascinating that Mao used an uplifting spiritual song about redemption, "I'm Going to Let it Shine," for her newest exhibition, since that is what she has come to symbolize in the wake of her nearly miraculous comeback in the freeskate at Sochi. The song was written in 1920 and is often thought to be an African American spiritual song based on The Bible. It became a Civil Rights Anthem for African Americans in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Significantly, the head dress that Mao wears resembles the ones that African American slaves or later servants wore when working as maids or in the cotton fields. The famous blind African American singer, song writer and composer Ray Charles also sang a secularized version of the song called "This Little Girl of Mine". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Little_Light_of_Mine.

I also found it interesting how closely a movie in which the song is played, Corrina, Corrina starring Whoopi Goldberg bears some similarities to Mao's own life. In that movie, the African American actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg, who herself experienced personal redemption in her own life by overcoming drug addiction, plays the role of a nanny named Corrina who takes care of a little white girl named Molly, whose mother has passed away and whose father is an atheist. Molly and Corrina quickly form a close bond through the love of music and Corrina gives Molly inspiration and helps the little girl cope with the passing of her mother by explaining "that Molly's mother is with the angels and perhaps Manny (Molly' father) is jealous of the angels who get to spend all day with his wife. Molly finds comfort in knowing her mother is somewhere happy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrina,_Corrina_