2009 Rostelecom Cup Of Russia

On the subject...

Does Mao have a really big fan base in Russia? I remember from somewhere that a lot of Russian skating fans seem to really support Mao.
I wonder what the turnout for her fans will be like here.

Mao doesn't have any russian forums but at all around figure skating forums it seems that Mao has a lot of fans! About Tat, you know it will be weird if i come to her and say do like this please! So I'll try to talk gently and to know more about situation, also a B plan is a letter, I'll write it anyway so if I won't have a chance to talk to her I'll give her a letter, and a plan C is Shanetta Gosh so much plans! I think it will be like running through the rink for all day!
P/S I talked to one person who knows Tat and he said that he was in shock about all critisism , because it looks like everyone thinks that Tat is a completely fool and this her first coaching experience.Btw he also mentioned that he don't understand all situation about Shizuka, everyone put her as a example for Mao to leave Tat, but it's seems strange to him because first" Do you really think she couldn't won with the Tat?" second" we all know that it wasn't a complete win, a present from other skaters" And that at Og he thinks that Mao won't do three triple a, it's always tat strategy , also Alexei did an easier for him jump layout, because just imagine you 're running somewhere and you have 5 big bags on your shoulders and then suddenly your put 3 on the ground , would you run faster?

polosatik, it's sooo awesome that you'd get to meet them!! Would it be too much to ask for a quick photo?

polosatik wrote:

...all situation about Shizuka, everyone put her as a example for Mao to leave Tat...

Hm... May I ask, where those "everyone" dwell?
I still follow my self-preserving plan, so such exquisite places for figure skating gourmets as FSU and GS are out of my reach at the moment. Or... maybe the bearers of such a deep life wisdom can be found among so called "Russian fans"?

summervie wrote:

polosatik wrote:

...all situation about Shizuka, everyone put her as a example for Mao to leave Tat...

Hm... May I ask, where those "everyone" dwell?
I still follow my self-preserving plan, so such exquisite places for figure skating gourmets as FSU and GS are out of my reach at the moment. Or... maybe the bearers of such a deep life wisdom can be found among so called "Russian fans"?

yeah, some of the russian fans(who are seems more like Yuna fans) and also fsu and gs, the most weird things they're suggesting ,Mao go and talk to Shizuka why she left Tat?"

polosatik wrote:

yeah, some of the russian fans(who are seems more like Yuna fans) and also fsu and gs, the most weird things they're suggesting ,Mao go and talk to Shizuka why she left Tat?"

I see, I see...

I plan to attend Rostelecom Cup as well. But I don`t think that I will be able to go and talk to TAT, right now I don`t know if I have the right words for her... But I will cheer for Mao and Takahiko! I am not the type of person who can scream loud, but at least I will be clapping and support them in my soul. It will be the first time I will have a chance to see Mao skating live.

polosatik wrote:

Mao doesn't have any russian forums but at all around figure skating forums it seems that Mao has a lot of fans!

Maybe we can create a forum or livejournal community for her, because it`s a pity that there is no such place where russian fans can talk about Mao. I don`t know if she really has many fans in Russia, but people are talking about her at different russian forums and it seems that some of them really like her.

Olive wrote:

Maybe we can create a forum or livejournal community for her, because it`s a pity that there is no such place where russian fans can talk about Mao. I don`t know if she really has many fans in Russia, but people are talking about her at different russian forums and it seems that some of them really like her.

I was considering creating a 'livejournal' community around 3 years ago, but then it appeared to me that I'd be the only one following it (at least because at that point I was the only person out there who had "Mao Asada" written in the 'interests' part).
As of now, I think there's still not that many her fans (at least of some decent level of devotion, so to speak) in the historical homeland of birches. And there exists a 'vkontakte' (a Russian version of 'facebook') group dedicated to her, so I wouldn't worry about the well-being of Russian fans that much.

Olive wrote:

I plan to attend Rostelecom Cup as well. But I don`t think that I will be able to go and talk to TAT, right now I don`t know if I have the right words for her... But I will cheer for Mao and Takahiko! I am not the type of person who can scream loud, but at least I will be clapping and support them in my soul. It will be the first time I will have a chance to see Mao skating live.

polosatik wrote:

Mao doesn't have any russian forums but at all around figure skating forums it seems that Mao has a lot of fans!

Maybe we can create a forum or livejournal community for her, because it`s a pity that there is no such place where russian fans can talk about Mao. I don`t know if she really has many fans in Russia, but people are talking about her at different russian forums and it seems that some of them really like her.

Why not? A Mao's group vkonatakte has 152 members I think we can try to create livejournal community for Mao, it will be great! Are going to all competition days Olive?

polosatik wrote:

Why not? A Mao's group vkonatakte has 152 members I think we can try to create livejournal community for Mao, it will be great! Are going to all competition days Olive?

Yes, I think we can at least just try to create some community. I`ll think about it... Maybe there will be not so many members at the beginning, but it`s ok. Nevertheless, it will be good to have some special place for russian fans of Mao.

And I plan to go to all three days of Rostelecom.

Olive wrote:

I plan to attend Rostelecom Cup as well. But I don`t think that I will be able to go and talk to TAT, right now I don`t know if I have the right words for her... But I will cheer for Mao and Takahiko! I am not the type of person who can scream loud, but at least I will be clapping and support them in my soul. It will be the first time I will have a chance to see Mao skating live.

YAAY, have fun too, Olive!

I have to admit, as worried as I am about Mao, I can't help but be slightly delighted that she and Taka-chan will be in the same competition! Maybe she will take him to all her favorite spots in Moscow!

Uhhh! You guys have fun!



Are there any photos of some pratice sessions yet?

MikiAndoFan#1 wrote:

Uhhh! You guys have fun!



Are there any photos of some pratice sessions yet?

I think the first practice will be at Thursday? Am I right?

Batsuchan wrote:

I have to admit, as worried as I am about Mao, I can't help but be slightly delighted that she and Taka-chan will be in the same competition! Maybe she will take him to all her favorite spots in Moscow!

As ignorant as it is...I keep remembering that Mao will barely have to travel for this competition. I'm sure that will boost her morale quite a bit and she'll feel a little more awake
I think Mao really has the potential to perform much better here than she was able to at TEB. And she'll have her GP events out of the way early in order to make any *changes* to her programs

MaoMaoRevolution wrote:

I think Mao really has the potential to perform much better here than she was able to at TEB. And she'll have her GP events out of the way early in order to make any *changes* to her programs

Yes, this is true, but I think Mao's either got to nail her LP and win (thereby locking a spot in the GPF), or really do badly and have no chance of making GPF.

Because if she's 2nd again, I think that means she's going to have to wait it out for the next 4 competitions to see if she makes the final, which would not only be kind of nerve-wracking, but I think it will also interfere with making changes to her programs.

Though I'm pleased to see that Mao's already considering changing her SP to 'Caprice.' I think she was testing that out even in the EX at TEB - she did 2A, 2A, 3F, which will become 3A-2T, 2A, 3F, I'm guessing...

If she locks up a spot at CoR, that still leaves her over a month to change her programs before GPF...hmm...

And then, in my imagination: back in Tokyo at the GPF, she remembers how it felt to be there as a 15-year old, she remembers the excitement, the joy, the FUN, and she performs 'Caprice' as the SP and an amazing new LP in happy, Mao-like fashion, and wins the title in front of a wildly adoring home crowd. And then, since she has learned the power of enjoying herself, or really not taking it TOO seriously, she is able to skate like Mao at the Olympics and wins the gold!

Batsuchan wrote:

Because if she's 2nd again, I think that means she's going to have to wait it out for the next 4 competitions to see if she makes the final, which would not only be kind of nerve-wracking, but I think it will also interfere with making changes to her programs.

I think that even with a 2nd silver she'll make it to GPF.

MikiAndoFan#1 wrote:

I think that even with a 2nd silver she'll make it to GPF.

That's probably true, but Mao would have to wait for the other 4 competitions to find out. Which I think could be annoying, because I bet she would train very differently if she had a competition in early December versus nothing until the end of December...

Best to know earlier, in my opinion!

summervie wrote:

Olive wrote:

Maybe we can create a forum or livejournal community for her, because it`s a pity that there is no such place where russian fans can talk about Mao. I don`t know if she really has many fans in Russia, but people are talking about her at different russian forums and it seems that some of them really like her.

I was considering creating a 'livejournal' community around 3 years ago, but then it appeared to me that I'd be the only one following it (at least because at that point I was the only person out there who had "Mao Asada" written in the 'interests' part).
As of now, I think there's still not that many her fans (at least of some decent level of devotion, so to speak) in the historical homeland of birches. And there exists a 'vkontakte' (a Russian version of 'facebook') group dedicated to her, so I wouldn't worry about the well-being of Russian fans that much.

Hmm, there was a livejournal community called "Mao Asada" a while ago, but it seems to have been deleted by the user.

If someone decides to create a Mao Asada community on LJ, I'm all for it. Although it would be pretty much the same thing as this forum, except you can do things like embed videos.

But I still want Mao to maintain her FS program. She still has many times to
make it her program. If she left Prelude, this program would be some kinds of
curse (as Kwan could not carry it to Olympic).

Batsuchan wrote:

That's probably true, but Mao would have to wait for the other 4 competitions to find out. Which I think could be annoying, because I bet she would train very differently if she had a competition in early December versus nothing until the end of December...

Best to know earlier, in my opinion!

You're right. Waiting so much time could be nerve-racking!

If Mao hits her LP, she will win.... it just has such a dramatic climax and a wonderful ending....

Just in:

Houdou Station (TV Asahi) will once again air some footage of today's practice. The scheduled time block is anywhere from 22:09～23:25 JST - no details have been given; it's probably better that way, since they had a concrete schedule set for the TEB practice and aired it almost an hour later.

thanks for the tip, clovera!

clovera wrote:

Just in:

Houdou Station (TV Asahi) will once again air some footage of today's practice. The scheduled time block is anywhere from 22:09～23:25 JST - no details have been given; it's probably better that way, since they had a concrete schedule set for the TEB practice and aired it almost an hour later.

Yay! I was hoping to see some footage of Miki and Mao!

Thanks, clovera, for the news!!

Am gonna watch via keyhole tv. TVants' asahi stream sometimes does not work for me.

Still searching for a live feed other than webtv for this competition. Without Yuna, I doubt that the korean channels will be broadcasting it live...I'm trying to save up my webtv trial subscription for the big events because I'm not sure whether the Asian TV channels (SBS/Asahi) will broadcast it live (just in case).