Mao News - The 2015-2016 Season!

Interesting..I was going to send an email to the JSF branch of the ISU about Mao's heavily deflated scores amidst many other skaters' inflation. However, the website is down.  

http://www.isu.org/  Server Error in '/' Application.

and for the JSF http://www.isu.org/en/about-isu/member-federations/jpn-japan-skating-federation

Server Error in '/' Application.

I will keep trying. If we all send an email, maybe it can make a difference.

I hope people place comments about Mao's performance on this video as well. It's the best monument of praise for Mao's magnificent performance of Madame Butterfly at Worlds. :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLHt8fsEwG4

Mao has by far the most views of any performance by any skater in any category in the Worlds LP.
305, 530 views on one video. This is what you call reaching out and moving people's souls and emotions and stimulating their love of beauty outside the confines and sanctions of a suspect  system. Tarasova, however, is too rough on Mao in regards to urs. I suppose she is now too close to Russian skaters like Elena, but she did call Mao's performance a second Sochi.

Here is another video with great comments. However, Tara Lipinski, except for one comment, is very annoying and way too talkative, though Johny Weir is much better at understanding the depth of expression in Mao's performance and knowing when to be silent.

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


I posted a lot of nice photos of Mao at Worlds at the following links. The uploading process is too time consuming on this site so here is the link where you can find them:    
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?38067-Mao-Asada/page208 post number 3117
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?38067-Mao-Asada/page209 post number 3135

@TheIceLegends spectators will discover "Le Poème"; a love story with Mao Asada,
@msKOSTNER and @StephaneLambiel

https://twitter.com/TheIceLegends

AbsoluteSkating ‏@absoluteskating
#IceLegends #IL16 Full program of legendary programs by legendary artists. Which one excites you the most? ;)pic.twitter.com/xbVfErAFIE

https://twitter.com/absoluteskating

To me, Mao is Japan's number 1 lady, no matter what the scores say and many others agree. In the court of public opinion on youtube, Mao was resoudingly Japan's number 1 lady in the Worlds LP. Mao's most watched freeskate performance at Worlds has almost 352,000 views with a like to dislike ratio of almost 15 to 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLHt8fsEwG4

while Satoko's has almost 38,400 views with a like to dislike ratio of almost 5 to 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-OKJr6CqTI

On youtube, Mao's view count is far higher than any other performance in any other segment at Worlds, with Javiar Fernandez's freeskate coming closest at almost 194,000 views.
Javiar Fernandez https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLt3J9JVOcU

To me, it shows there is something really wrong when the most watched video of a performance at Worlds by far in any segment only receives a distant 7th place in its own segment. This is a completely contradictory statistical aberration that seems inexplicable to me through normal means.

Here are some photos of Mao from Ice Legends:

https://36.media.tumblr.com/6e8b29c590f61a935ac858e904add35f/tumblr_o62riacKU21sre07co1_1280.jpg

https://40.media.tumblr.com/bd8ac3aea625b2073d90e66c99fac0ac/tumblr_o62riacKU21sre07co2_1280.jpg

[url=https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QhEJwqvlFbs/maxresdefault.jpg]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QhEJwqvlFbs/maxresdefault.jpg[/url]

At Ice Legends, I still can't believe how I froze up when I "tried" to talk to Mao. It was like there was some potent but very pleasant vapor in the air that held me spellbound. I did manage to say, "Mao, I love your skating so much." when I first approached her. Then, I remember a surreal moment of what seemed like silence during which I looked at her off and on, while she seemed to look through me with her beautifully captivating eyes. Then, I reverted to automatic fan mode. I remember offering her my gift of a drawing I made and some poems and writings about her performances with a few words like "I have something", but then Mao had to help me finish by asking "For me?." After the gift, she brightened up a bit. Then, I asked if I could take a photo and have an autograph, and I forgot everything else that happened other than greeting Daisuke and saying he gave a nice performance, which was much easier. Maybe I said something else to Mao, maybe I didn't. I know she said something else, but I can't remember what. I imagined talking and asking her about her programs but it was SO much more difficult when I was mesmerized with her standing right in front of me. My reasoning capacities were dumbfounded. She has an incredibly powerful presence and aura that is transcendent. Her great beauty, cool cultivated charisma and nobility is stupefying and her posture is impeccable. I was totally star struck, which I guess for fans is the flip side of stage fright for skaters, though Mao handles this a lot better. Mao did not come across to me as cute and sweet in person. First of all, she is totally gorgeous with a real knock out blow, though I admit in photos her beauty does have a real cuteness. As for sweet, I'm sure you have to know her better to see that side, but what I saw was more impressive in being confident and dominant, which surprised me and threw me off. She is a very strong woman. She was considerate because she held up my drawing without me asking her to when I took her picture. And she was definitely patient since I know I froze up while trying to talk to her, as if she had seen this many times before. If I ever got a chance to meet her again, I would have to practice like I was studying for an exam. Or maybe it is more polite just to give a compliment, a special gift and then leave her alone.

I photoshopped the photo I took of Mao to get rid of a lot of the glare.

http://postimg.org/image/oi7wfts35/

The most amazing sensation I had during Mao's performances was when she did two triple jumps about 5 feet in front of where I was sitting, the second jump in Ballade, and her second triple in Madame Butterfly. That close, the sound of skates going into the air has a very crisp and quick carving and scraping sound combined with a whooshing sound on lift off. I had never experienced that before. Unfortunately, my video camera did not stay in clear focus during the performances. Mao's twizzles, pirouettes and leg kick after this second triple in Ballade were also more impressive at ice level and it really displayed her smooth, fluid fast movement with sharp edges and this along with her long drawn out, graceful extensions with her arms really showed off her dexterity as a prima ballerina. I don't believe anyone comes close to having all these qualities summed up into one. Mao also did a great spread eagle followed by a beautiful Biellmann very close to where I was sitting during Ballade. I wish she had skated the whole thing through. Mao's step sequences are more impressive at ice level as are her performances in general because of the huge and seemingly easy sweep of such large swaths of the rink with what seems like such little effort. She often disappears into the extreme corners and suddenly comes zooming back out with smooth fluidity. The Madame Butterfly mini-step sequence after the lutz and the one at the climax again display Mao's quality as a prima ballerina and the graceful movements of her arms and legs in unison really do resemble a butterfly or swan gliding through a vast sky, especially when combined with her huge rink coverage. To me, Mao's expansive and easy rink coverage with sharp, smooth edges at ice level combined with subtle, intricate, and balletic grace is a combination that is unmatched and it is more impressive live. No empirical score given in COP no matter how astronomical will ever impress me as much.

Here is a snapshot I took from the video I had of Mao's Madame Butterfly:

http://postimg.org/image/ckmf8j8vl/

This is the end of the season and I wanted to tell how much I was happy to see Mao's back. I miss her even if it was only one year off. But she brings so much to figure skating and she represents Something special, beyond this sport which touch each of us. So I followed her and it was always exciting and a joy to Watch with the same emotion this wonderful program, Mme Butterfly.

For the next season, I want to see Mao wins compétitions, and not only make a performance (otherwise, she didn't need to come back). We all know that judges prefer 3 criterias : artistry, consistency and perfect jumping technique. Besides, when you pay attention to famous skaters (Yamagushi, Kwan, Yu na KIM, or Medvedeva now), well-known to be the judges favorites, they have the common point to gather this 3 criteria.

Mao has definitely the best artistry (she expresses so much feelings on the ice and she was simply beautiful as Mme Butterfly this season), but her 3 axel affects her consistancy and she still always has troubles with underrotated jumps, which impact negatively her PCS. Mao must absolutely solve her technical problems and ur jumps, because I fear judges carry on downgrading her scores and prefer russians girls, Satoko and the Amricans than Mao, like we see to the Worlds. I know that some people consider that Mao is perfect and judges are corrupted. Maybe, but please guys, look at the Truth : Mao has to improve her technique because she often ur her jumps. If she doesn't, we risks to see a drama end...... and I don't want that. I want to see Mao make THE perfect performance, without any possible doubts, and thus be recognized as THE only queen !!!

(Sorry for my poor English and forgive my gramma faults).

minhoudi wrote:

This is the end of the season and I wanted to tell how much I was happy to see Mao's back. I miss her even if it was only one year off. But she brings so much to figure skating and she represents Something special, beyond this sport which touch each of us. So I followed her and it was always exciting and a joy to Watch with the same emotion this wonderful program, Mme Butterfly.

For the next season, I want to see Mao wins compétitions, and not only make a performance (otherwise, she didn't need to come back). We all know that judges prefer 3 criterias : artistry, consistency and perfect jumping technique. Besides, when you pay attention to famous skaters (Yamagushi, Kwan, Yu na KIM, or Medvedeva now), well-known to be the judges favorites, they have the common point to gather this 3 criteria.

Mao has definitely the best artistry (she expresses so much feelings on the ice and she was simply beautiful as Mme Butterfly this season), but her 3 axel affects her consistancy and she still always has troubles with underrotated jumps, which impact negatively her PCS. Mao must absolutely solve her technical problems and ur jumps, because I fear judges carry on downgrading her scores and prefer russians girls, Satoko and the Amricans than Mao, like we see to the Worlds. I know that some people consider that Mao is perfect and judges are corrupted. Maybe, but please guys, look at the Truth : Mao has to improve her technique because she often ur her jumps. If she doesn't, we risks to see a drama end...... and I don't want that. I want to see Mao make THE perfect performance, without any possible doubts, and thus be recognized as THE only queen !!!

(Sorry for my poor English and forgive my gramma faults).

I am glad you are wishing Mao well and I do agree with you that Mao needs to improve her consistency some. However, I disagree with you on quite a few points. Performances like Mao gave in the Worlds freeskate should earn her 1st place in my and many other's opinion or 2nd at worst, as very knowledgeable posters indicated below. As my post mentions above, hundreds of thousands of people have voiced opinions contradicting results that only a handful of judges determine with inconsistent application of tech calls and wild fluctuations in PCS scores. Mao had a 14 point advantage in PCS scores in the LP alone over Evgenia if you compare their last season bests before this season, which turned into more than a 3 point disadvantage in the Worlds LP and Mao had an 8 point advantage over Ashley coming into this season which turned into an almost 4-5 point disadvantage in the LP alone. In the LP at Worlds, Evgenia's wrong edge triple lutz was ignored. Mao's ! on her double lutz was turned into an e, Satoko's wrong edge on her flip in the LP was ignored, and Satoko's (at around 270) and Evgenia's at over 180 of heavy pre-rotation is ignored. Given the inconsistent standard applied, Mao will likely be called for urs if she tries to pre-rotate over 180 degrees.  Besides, Mao is never given borderline calls even when she begins with 180 degrees or usually less of pre-rotation, as was the case with her triple flip and loop at the Cup of China or on her triple toe at Worlds which started with less than 180 degrees of pre-rotation and landed 90 degree short, making the jump more than 2 1/4 rotations, which is more than Satoko rotates almost all her non ur triples.  You are assuming that the standards are the same but there is a double standard. Even my friends who watch do not understand why Satoko gets such scores compared to Mao for such small jumps. They also think Mao is in another league in artistry and skating skills, so the scores seem inverted to them, but it is they feel the same with any skater any time Mao skates what looks to be fairly clean.
 
But, there is so much more. Here are some views of knowledgeable posters giving detailed analysis of their conclusions on goldenskate: Two knowledgeable posters on goldenskate ranked Mao second and first in the LP and they are not huge Mao fans. Both said her triple axel was fully rotated, and thought the e should have been a ! on the triple lutz, while one gave her the triple toe. It's not like I am the only one or that this has not been discussed in detail by people genuinely trying to determine just scores. Here are some links:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...t-Your-quot-scoring-of-the-2016-Worlds-Ladies post number 1 with 46 likes (obviously many others again agree so it crosses over from one social media to the next) placing Mao in 2nd place in the LP

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...-quot-scoring-of-the-2016-Worlds-Ladies/page6 number 83 placing Mao 4th overall

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...quot-scoring-of-the-2016-Worlds-Ladies/page17 post number 247 placing Mao in first place in the freeskate and 4th overall again


Another point is this, how long can the ISU continue to give out 7th place scores to what is by far the most watched performance at Worlds as they did to Mao's Worlds 2016 freeskate and expect the mass of people watching to consider the scores to be legitimate?  They have taken a huge hit in credibility and will continue to do so. I don't support the COP because of ridiculous scoring like this and will do all I can to help undermine its integrity with posts all over the internet. Mao does need to fix her consistency and improve her jumps so do others who are getting away with tech calls,  but she should not have scores continually "fixed" against her. My contention is that this is done to try and work on her nerves and because the ISU head Cinquanta has said that he does not want any more Michelle Kwans. Besides, Mao was never the favored anyway.

Thanks to largeman for posting this:

Picture of Mao From Zijun's instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCzYuZzX5Z

Caption: ❤️ Cat sauce (sounds like Mao-chan in Mandarin)!

I think Mao looks so young and wonderful in this picture. Mao and Zijun are so heart warming and charming together.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/05/10/figure-skating/mao-mystery-finally-solved-eight-years-later/#.VzLuq9Q8KrV

I have no idea what to say. There's something sad about it definitely.

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/05/10/figure-skating/mao-mystery-finally-solved-eight-years-later/#.VzLuq9Q8KrV

I have no idea what to say. There's something sad about it definitely.

Arutunian was also talking about this matter at Absolute Skating a few years ago, IIRC.
It seems that he feels regretful for it even now.

Elvis Stojko‏@Therealestojko
Look who stopped by #RTC the other day! #maoasada pleasure sharing the same ice with her!

https://twitter.com/Therealestojko/status/730411902866698244

I remember he once said  "Mao has an innocence about her skating with grace" or something like that.

(Mao says) she dropped her jaw like this when she was able to land 3A for the first time.


https://twitter.com/ri_omochabako

http://www.goldenskate.com/2016/05/one-time-japans-mao-asada/

Some of my favorite quotes:

“I used to think as long as I am a competitor I should aim for the top finish. But since I was selected to the world team, I decided to change the way I think,” Asada offered. “I started to realize I should first focus on delivering a good performance to the audience. Result is important, of course, but I should first try to skate a performance that I am satisfied with, and that was the reason why I decided to return.”

About the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships, “Usually I would be very disappointed at how I did in my short program at such a big stage, but since my thinking was different this time, I was able to reset my mind, and skated my free with confidence.”

Before, her mental strength was affected by mistakes in elements like the 3A or something like the short program. I believe that with Mao's new mindset, she was able to deliver such a beautiful free program in this year's worlds. She shows that a change in mindset can make all the difference.

“In the world of sports, 25 can still be considered young,” she said. “There are so many athletes who are older than me still working hard every day, and I want do the same thing.”

She is such a hard worker! That's what makes her so so so inspiring!

“I want to keep pursuing the artistic side of the sport, but coming back to competition as a competitor at the end of the day, I want to achieve good results,” she said. “The technical development has achieved high level around the world. In order to aim for a higher finish, I really have to further improve my jump techniques, up the ante, and be a stronger skater.”

Wow. Even now, she is still working to improve her jump technique. Since I don't know much about figure skating, all I can say is that I hope Mao improves because she herself wants to improve, too. I believe that there is no such thing as perfection anyway. There is always room for improvement.

“Only a couple of years are left for me to compete as a figure skater,” Asada continued. “I want to end my career with a smile. When I look back, I want to be able to say that I’ve done my best, it was the right decision to come back, and my skating life was fabulous.”

Mao, your life is already fabulous and, most especially, an inspiration.

IFS Magazine ‏@ifsmagazine  
Mao Asada graces the cover of the July/August issue of IFS.

silenceisgolden wrote:

IFS Magazine ‏@ifsmagazine  
Mao Asada graces the cover of the July/August issue of IFS.

OH WOW!!!

How do we get a copy? Will there ever be an online version? I want to read her part!

Wake-up call from Mao

pic.twitter.com/TVJee9oijV

— Paleblue⚛ (@palebluefruits) 2016年6月24日

Ritual Dance by Zhang Kexin at WC12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOYFtAgIx8

If Wiki is right, David Wilson choreographed this program.

As silenceisgolden alluded to, and as rosewood from FSU forum posted, Mao's new music choices have been announced as Ritual Dance /Danza ritual del fuego from the ballet El amor brujo/Love the Magician by Falla) for both SP and LP.
Very interesting and somewhat risky to use the same music for both programs. It seems like she may use the piano version for SP and orchestral version for LP.

Here's what I could find for music on Youtube:
Orchestral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRUxPPqDcQ
Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6_5qWZCDY

Her EX: Cello Suite (Sarabande & Bourree I/II) by Bach
It doesn't say which of the cello suites she's using though...If Mao could do Prelude from the 1st suite one day that would be amazing!

sapphiresky wrote:

As silenceisgolden alluded to, and as rosewood from FSU forum posted, Mao's new music choices have been announced as Ritual Dance /Danza ritual del fuego from the ballet El amor brujo/Love the Magician by Falla) for both SP and LP.
Very interesting and somewhat risky to use the same music for both programs. It seems like she may use the piano version for SP and orchestral version for LP.

Here's what I could find for music on Youtube:
Orchestral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRUxPPqDcQ
Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6_5qWZCDY

Her EX:  Cello Suite (Sarabande & Bourree I/II) by Bach
It doesn't say which of the cello suites she's using though...If Mao could do Prelude from the 1st suite one day that would be amazing!

Yes it's risky, but I feel like Mao will find a way to differentiate the programs, despite using the same music. For instance, she used Scheherazade like Kim Yu-na, but when we first saw the program, we realized that the music were very unlike each other. Thus, I trust Mao will find a way to make the SP and LP unique.

Mao and Mai at the event held in Chiba pref. yesterday.

I can't wait to see Mao's new costumes, and of course,  new programs, too!




















http://allmyliesarewishes.tumblr.com/post/147382849392/mao-x-costumes