Tough Question...

In a perfect world, Mao would win the Olympics, AND not retire from amateur skating. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen So if you had to choose her winning the Olympics, then retiring, or her winning silver or less, and sticking around a few more seasons, which would you choose? I want my favorite skater to win the Olympics, but I don't want to lose her either! I MUST not be selfish:!: What to choose?...

I think the best I can do, is hope she wins (I can't NOT. I can't allow myself), and the perfect world scenario actually happens.

Worst case scenario: she would win silver or less, AND retires. NOOO!!! I don't think that would happen though.

Maybe this poll question is a dumb, no brainer, but it was actually a bit tough for me to answer. I'm sure there is someone who will choose answer #2. And hey, that's ok. It's annonymous, so you can be honest.

..... I've thought of that a million time ..... and I don't have an answer yet ..... it may seems a little bit egoist, but I don't want her to retire, even if I want her to win the gold medal ..... well, we'll see!

I voted #1... It has been her dream since she was 12 (or before). I want her to win the olympics and see her dream (and ours) come true. It won`t be really nice (atleast for me) to see her in the Kiss&Cry seeing a "#2" mark and the next week she announces to continue for 4 more years. I don`t really think that would happen either...

I would like Mao-chan to win the olympics with a Personal Best (wow) and see her on the podium with all fans cheering. We can probably see her skating as a pro and as a commentator and announcer, like Shizuka.

All of this is Mao`s choice, though...

GO MAO!

SoMiTripleAxel wrote:

I voted #1... It has been her dream since she was 12 (or before). I want her to win the olympics and see her dream (and ours) come true. It won`t be really nice (atleast for me) to see her in the Kiss&Cry seeing a "#2" mark and the next week she announces to continue for 4 more years. I don`t really think that would happen either...

I would like Mao-chan to win the olympics with a Personal Best (wow) and see her on the podium with all fans cheering. We can probably see her skating as a pro and as a commentator and announcer, like Shizuka.

All of this is Mao`s choice, though...

GO MAO!

I think you're right..

Hmm, this IS a really tough question.

I definitely want Mao to win the 2010 Olympics.

But even if she does, I don't think she'll retire. I think she loves skating too much. And there probably will be many things that she'll still want to do with her skating, because I think Mao doesn't just want to be an Olympic gold medalist, I think she wants to be THE BEST FEMALE SKATER EVER. Or at least one of them.

If Mao retires in 2010, she'll have at most 4 Japan National titles, 2 World championship titles, and one Olympic gold. That's not much compared to Midori Ito or Michelle Kwan. If she keeps going after winning in 2010, she could be the first Japanese woman to win 2 Olympic golds.

And what about doing things like a 3A+3T? (I don't think any woman has done that yet in competition?) Or maybe a quad? If Mao wins gold in 2010, I'd think she'd take on all kinds of challenges like this.

Also - I think TAT has put the idea in Mao's head that she can aim for two Olympics, or at least Mao has talked about Sochi 2014 once or twice, so as long as Mao is in good condition I think she'll continue...

But yes, first and foremost, I want her to win gold in Vancouver in 2010!!! GooOOOO MAO!!

I'd definitely want her to win.

An Olympic gold is...well, what every athlete dreams of. You only get ONE chance every FOUR years to be called an Olympic Champion. And Mao's clearly in good form now; who knows what could happen four years later? Plus after the disappointment of not being old enough to participate in Turin, I think she'd want to make up for it by doing her best in Vancouver and win gold, sweet gold.

Even if Mao retires after winning gold at Vancouver (GOD FORBID IT. The retiring part, not the winning part) , at least she would've achieved something so incredible, something only an exceptionally talented and amazing athlete could've won. (Then again, Mao doesn't need an Olympic gold to prove that; in my heart she already is one! ;D)

Star85 wrote:

In a perfect world, Mao would win the Olympics, AND not retire from amateur skating. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen

Hmmm, why do you think so? She'd be 20 in 2010, and she should still be fine enough to stick around for a few more seasons. And I agree with Batsuchan; Mao clearly loves skating too much to retire after five seasons as a senior.



P.S. Kinda off topic, but since I'm posting at the Voting Booth... I want to post a poll, but I'm confused over this: "Enter choices and seperate them by a line break." What's...a line break?

Mirai wrote:

Star85 wrote:

In a perfect world, Mao would win the Olympics, AND not retire from amateur skating. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen

Hmmm, why do you think so? She'd be 20 in 2010, and she should still be fine enough to stick around for a few more seasons. And I agree with Batsuchan; Mao clearly loves skating too much to retire after five seasons as a senior.



P.S. Kinda off topic, but since I'm posting at the Voting Booth... I want to post a poll, but I'm confused over this: "Enter choices and seperate them by a line break." What's...a line break?

I think she will probably retire if she wins the olympics, because that's what majority skaters do. Especially women skaters. Skaters used to stick around longer, but not after the past few olympics. People have almost come to expect them to retire after winning. I would hope that Mao wouldn't follow the trend, and retire when she's 20, but I think she probably would. Hope I'm wrong. Plus, she's starting college.

A line break is hitting the enter button and starting a new line. I don't know if it means to press enter once or twice, but I did it twice.

Interesting question...but as people have pointed out, the Vancouver gold has been Mao's goal in skating since she started capturing media attention in the novice level, so first choice it is!

Even if she did win gold though, I don't think Mao will retire just yet. As long as she stays injury free, I can picture her in the competitive scene until at least Sochi (which Mao herself mentioned a few times).

And for the college thing - Yukari, Fumie, and Shizuka are/were in college while skating competitively (Yukari is in grad school now, for one thing!) so I don't see why Mao can't handle it either!

I also want Mao to win the Olympics in 2010 but I don't think she'd retire after that. What Batsuchan said.
As long as she stays injury free I think we can enjoy her skating for a pretty long time. I hope she has a very successful and very long career ahead of her.

edit:
Just realized I used almost exactly the same words as Clovera.
Well, great minds think alike obviously.

I'm absolutely sure that Mao won't retire after the Olympics no matter if she wins them or not (and I'm a little bit surprised that it seems not everybody shares this certainty of mine), that's why I see this question only as a hypothetical one (i.e., kind of a tough indeed -).
Personally, I don't care about any medals at all. Figure skating is the sport of random randomness. It would be the most subjective sport of all even with the *perfect* scoring system, with *perfect* judges and with *perfectly* smooth ice. And it doesn't possess none of these.
People have hearts as well as their own ability to think and comprehend. There's no need in any numbers or medals to justify anything. While everything that is need to be proven by Mao, is already proven for many times (and if somebody can't see this, well...).

P.s.
I really don't care about what the crowd will think of Mao, if she's the greatest female skater of all time or not. She is (and I'd say, she's much more than just this), and those who need to see this fact, will see it sooner or later.

And yes, in this hypothetical situation, of course I'd choose the first answer. I dearly want Mao to win the Olympics (and everything else), as long as she wishes it herself.

I don't think she'll retire after winning gold,not Mao She loves figure skating to death, and wants to became two time gold olympic medalist, I'm sure she can.

I don't think that Mao will retire after the Vancouver Olympics, no matter what the result will be (barring injury or some other problem *knocks on wood*).
There was a progam with Mao broadcasted not so long ago. Mao was asked to list her goals up to the Vancouver Olympics. (Winning Words last season, protecting her national title this season, and winning Olympic the next season.) After shortly talking about these gals Mao said that she doesn't really plan to retire, so after the Vancouver Olympics there would be a next set of goals... But she added that she doesn't ink about the next set of goals right now, instead she's just focusing on her training.

Why are you so sure she will retire after winning the Olympics.
I'm sure she won't. Mao is a tough girl and she'll always push figure skating forward. She's not the type of girl who just wants to win(of course this is important, but it's not everything).

I think Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes, who both won the olympics when they were 15/16 immediately retired after their victory.
I don't know why, but it's kind of coward. Sorry, I couldn't find another word.
Both were amazing and could have won so many more medals, but they prefered to retire, maybe because they were afraid of the pressure and expectations.
I think Mao is different. Still I do hope she'll win in 2010.

Maya wrote:

I think Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes, who both won the olympics when they were 15/16 immediately retired after their victory.

It's just a hypothetical poll of either/or, nothing to get worked up over!

The early retirement of Tara/Sarah is pretty obvious, really. There was the infection fiasco that stopped her from going to '98 Worlds, not to mention her constant hip problems (from overpracticing her trademark 3Lp-3Lp) - she's the quintessential skater who peaked early, and I think her decision to stop was correct.

Sarah, on the other hand, well... I doubt (and probably she herself did as well) that she can ever repeat the results she had at the Olys, especially with Michelle/Sasha/Irina/Fumie etc. still around, and the 6th place finish at Worlds 03 probably sealed the deal. Then there's the whole studying at Yale thing, and I'm not surprised at her retirement at all (similarly, I'm not very surprised at Emily's disastrous showing at TEB since she has been injured and has been studying full time at Harvard).

I was going to say that both Tara and Sarah were in a bit of tough situation, but clovera beat me to the cake.

14-16 is a dangerous age. How many skaters we have seen peaking at that age and then struggling because of growth spurt or injuries (Naomi Nari Nam, Yukina, Kimmie, Mirai, Caroline, Yuki, Elene Gedevanishvili)... Very few lady skaters are able to sustain or improve on their form after hitting puberty.

I just hope that mao will be able to enjoy a long, injury-free career...

I think it would be also nice if the pro competitions were revived. I miss them, and I think that with the new blood (Shizuka, Sasha, Jeff, Stephane, Takeshi) they could be really interesting.

I just hope Caroline and Mirai will be able to put it together and come back in full force. It would be such a shame to lose these two because of the puberty monster.

And Elene... she still is such a lovely lovely skater but...
I loved her ever since I first saw her and was hoping she would be up there with Mao and Yu-Na now. I'd so love to see them on the podium together at say Worlds or any other big competition. It's very unlikely to happen now but I'm still hoping she might at least get a medal at Euros one day .

I vote for the first, because she really deserves an OGM.

clovera wrote:

Even if she did win gold though, I don't think Mao will retire just yet. As long as she stays injury free, I can picture her in the competitive scene until at least Sochi (which Mao herself mentioned a few times).

Exactly!
So mine is first choice

I'm sure that Mao won't retire after Olympics. As for the results... I would love for Mao to fulfill her dream and win, but I don't want her to become the slave of the Olympic gold medal... Sometimes when you try too hard reaching the goal becomes only more difficult. It was the case with Kurt Browning, Midori Ito, Michelle Kwan...
I think it's important not to get too overwhelmed with the Olympic fever and treat it as just another competition.

Don't jinx her!