World Championships 2010

I agree, bekalc.

Now it seems everyone is obsessed with transitions and they are given too much weight, imho.
Again it only shows that COP really lacks some kind of overal impression of the skate evaluation. I think you shoudn't win with a skate like Yu-Na's at Worlds or like some of Patrick's messy skates over a visibly clean skate with high level of difficulty (not like Laura's) no matter how great your transitions are.
I'm so sick of all the "it's not ice jumping" ! So now it's "transition skating" where quads, triple axels and difficult combinations don't mean much or are almost discouraged. How is this any better?

But it's not just the transitions. Looking in the protocols I agree that Yu-Na desrved higher transition and choreography/composition mark but the same points for performance/execution as Mao and 0.55 more for interpretation too? On what planet? Not for that skate!

I think the manipulation of the GOEs is still the biggest problem though. I'm all for the percentages!

Quote :

I think the manipulation of the GOEs is still the biggest problem though. I'm all for the percentages!

Well I want to see GOE based on percentages because in general I feel like the system makes it so you get more bang for your buck for perfecting easier elements than harder elements. Its not right that a double axel that gets plus 2 GOE, gains over half more of the value. But a quad that gets plus 2 GOE doesn't. The system is wrong there.

In general though Yu-na actually does deserve high GOE on her jumps. She gets height and distances, and she lands on nice flowing edges. Her 3lutzs are delayed When you consider she also added transitions to the passes, well the GOE at least that she's getting on the jumps is fair. I'm not so sure though about for the spiral. Laura is a lot like Yu-na in that the things she does is of high quality even the jumps when she does them. Its just Laura is no where near the jumper Yu-na is. I am so glad she's not World champ. I like Laura's skating and if she had medaled at World with a free like she did at the Olympics, I would have been happy. But 3 triples? No just no. People criticize Chan but at least he attempts 3axels and all the triples and isn't rewarded for doing doubles.

But in general you can see how the system is soo manipulated. For example Michal Brezina at Worlds probably should have gotten plus 2 GOE on every jump. You have to fill about 2 bullets for plus 1, 2 for plus 2. Brezina's jumps fill about four bullets every time. He gets great height/distance, his jumps are often delayed, and his landings are just incredible. The only thing he doesn't fulfill is complicated entrances.. If that kid were to do them, he'd be deserving plus 3 on every jump IMO. So with GOE its very easy for the judges to manipulate. Mabye though the judges didn't want to give it to him without harder entrances, (plus 2 GOE) I don't know. I still feel making GOE by percentage would make it harder for the judges to manipulate scores.

But ITA that I'm tired of hearing that this isn't figure jumping. Since when are jumps not part of the all around skater? When you have something that makes up over half of the elements in a sport, that thing should be considered pretty darn important. IMO.

Mao's FS (British Eurosports version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBMC50LQH14

bekalc wrote:

In general though Yu-na actually does deserve high GOE on her jumps. She gets height and distances, and she lands on nice flowing edges. Her 3lutzs are delayed When you consider she also added transitions to the passes, well the GOE at least that she's getting on the jumps is fair.

I agree she deserves high GOE on her jumps. I meant generally, it's easy to give higher GOE to yout favorite while keeping his/her rival's low whether deserved or not.
Actually, speaking of Yu-Na, I thought her jumps weren't that impressive for her standards at Worlds and she didn't have as much flow out of them as she usually does but she still got the same GOES as when she's at her very best.

bekalc wrote:

But in general you can see how the system is soo manipulated. For example Michal Brezina at Worlds probably should have gotten plus 2 GOE on every jump. You have to fill about 2 bullets for plus 1, 2 for plus 2. Brezina's jumps fill about four bullets every time. He gets great height/distance, his jumps are often delayed, and his landings are just incredible. The only thing he doesn't fulfill is complicated entrances.. If that kid were to do them, he'd be deserving plus 3 on every jump IMO.

Totally agree on Michal's jumps! He has the best triple axel out there by far and he should be definitely getting +2 for it. His other jumps are a thing of beauty too.
But I was actually rather surprised he beated Brian in the FS. I didn't study the protocols that much but Michal's skate was pretty watered down. His most difficult element was 3A+2T, he had no quad, no 3-3 and two double axels.
I know Brian had a lot of small mistakes and a fall but his two quads looked pretty good.
I just find it surprising to be feeling this way as I'm not a Brian fan, love Michal and I'm Czech, so obviously I'm rooting for him...
I guess I just have to watch the two skates again.
Michal is not receiving gifts from judges yet and I think he was actually quite robbed in SP at the Olympics so the scoring was probably correct at Worlds.
Can't wait till he brings the quad!

kirakira wrote:

Mao's FS (British Eurosports version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBMC50LQH14

Thank you so much for this! I've been waiting for it!
I would gladly have these guys over our NBC commentators every day. They are just wonderfully honest and really highlight a skater's strengths and give really good opinions on the standings!

MaoMaoRevolution wrote:

I would gladly have these guys over our NBC commentators every day.

Who wouldn't?!



Sandra and Scott are, by far, the most annoying commentators out there! The English guys are much more fun to hear and aren't biased.

So I have had very little access to the internet for about two weeks! It's been about that long since I've been on here . Have I missed much? I'm not even going to begin to try to catch up on everything... That would take a nice little chunk of my day, which I don't really have to spare. lol.

So this won't be the first time I'm the last one to give my opinion on a competition, but here it is, if anyone cares!:

Well first off: MAO WON!!! I am SO happy about that! She was pretty much flawless, except for the UR on her 3As, and she totally deserved gold. I was dissapointed with her scores, but at least she won. Speaking of scores, wtf?! Why did Yuna score higher than Mao in the LP?! That kind of blew my mind, with all the mistakes Yuna had, but the important thing is that Mao won. I wonder what happened with Yuna anyway . The scores do have me worried, because they proved once again, that no matter how great Mao skates, she will pretty much always lose to Yuna, unless Yuna totally blows it, like she did this time. I see both Mao's skating, and her scores improving next season though. So it will be interesting to see how things play out next season on. And I hope Yuna doesn't retire, because I want Mao to compete against, and beat the toughest competition.

Although I'm complaining about the score, I do have one possitive thing to say about them: For the first time all season, they weren't very inflatted ! The judges were tough on everyone this time. They didn't seem to be singleling anyone out as bad, or giving as much special slack to anyone (except maybe Yuna in her LP. Her score was pretty high for what she did ). I really like seeing the judges being nitpicky like this. And although I would agree that they weren't completely fair (for example, I think Patrick Chan's scores were more generous than pretty much any other guy's for what he did... ), it was definitely a step in the right direction!

I was so sad for Mirai . I LOVED her SP, but her LP really fell short... I was really hoping for her to win silver before her LP. I thought Laura did very good, and deserved a medal. I LOVE her opening jump combo!

It was so nice to hear them say so many possitive things about Mao on universal sports. This was the most possitive things I've heard them say about her in a long time. And much of it was before she skated too! I agree with a lot of what Johnny and Tara had to say about her. I'm starting to really like Johnny even more than before! He's so honest, and blunt, and says whatever's on his mind. I'm sure NBC wasn't too happy with some of the things he said, but I though he was entertaining! I thought it was especially interesting when he said that he thinks Mao does something funny with her ankle when she lands her 3As sometimes, which makes it look like she's under rotating, but she's really not. I hope the judges caught wind of that comment, and look very closely at her landing foot from now on, because I think he's right....

You were missed Star85! Glad to see you back! Johnny is adorable. A lot of people when they say goo things about Yuna,they putting down Mao. But Johnny said everything perfectly. He admires both girls. I want him and Tara to comment at Universal sports next season.

Not sure if this has been posted... so I apologize if this is redundant.

Mao's SP (Universal Sports) + English Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnSIfSK6LtU

FS (Universal Sports): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsCZCM8AKCU&feature=channel

Mao's English interview was so cute <3

I was never really a fan of Tara Lipinski's skating, but she made some very good points about Mao skills and areas that Mao should try to improve on.

Thanks jeniez for posting the links!

I agree, Tara is a good commentator in that she points out the good parts of Mao's skating and gives constructive criticism as well. I think it was either her or Johnny Weir who also said that Mao does the triple axel so much that people really overlook it and don't see how amazing it is every time she does it. She is the ONLY woman who does that jump regularly!

Does anyone else get annoyed every time people mention Mao's placement at last year's worlds? I know she placed off the podium, but she was still 4th place. A lot of people talk about it as if she went from like 1st to 10th and it was this huge fall from grace . And I know that it was her first time finishing off the podium in international competition but seriously, people talk about her placement as if it meant that her skating was going downhill or something

Glad she came back this year and got 1st!

Thank you for sharing those videos, jeniez!



Mao's English is simply adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZHxERm1zQ Small medal ceremony for Fs. The last question was

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZHxERm1zQ Small medal ceremony for Fs. The last question was

That was so adorable!

polosatik wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZHxERm1zQ Small medal ceremony for Fs. The last question was

Thanks for posting this!

soooo funny how they play "american woman" and none of the medalists are even amercian! who organizes these things anyway haha

darlingdaydream wrote:

soooo funny how they play "american woman" and none of the medalists are even amercian! who organizes these things anyway haha

That was EXACTLY my thought too!

I totally didn't realize Miki was 3rd in the free. Yay Miki!

The last time the three of them were gathered like this--was it 2007 Worlds? Interesting!

Someone posted a compilation of all the Mao+Dai pair skating clips!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9il0lcYr40

And I will take this opportunity to say I've (finally) updated my blog with my thoughts on Worlds... Check it out if you're interested!

At first I was confused about that video. I kept thinking, "why is Miki in third, with the bronze instead of Laura??" But after reading Batsuchan's post, I understand now that it was just a ceremony for the LP. lol Thanks for clearing that up for me Batsuchan! I wonder what they were saying at the end when they asked them if they were all three friends... I know Mao and Miki are, and I think Mao, and Yuna are more like aquantances (or frenemies maybe? lol), but I don't know about Miki, and Yuna...

Star85 wrote:

At first I was confused about that video. I kept thinking, "why is Miki in third, with the bronze instead of Laura??" But after reading Batsuchan's post, I understand now that it was just a ceremony for the LP. lol Thanks for clearing that up for me Batsuchan! I wonder what they were saying at the end when they asked them if they were all three friends... I know Mao and Miki are, and I think Mao, and Yuna are more like aquantances (or frenemies maybe? lol), but I don't know about Miki, and Yuna...

I think Miki and Yu-Na also get along!



Here's a photo of both of them at the 2008 Superstars on Ice.

http://www.life.com/image/76682018

And I think they talked on the podium at last year's Worlds!

Batsuchan wrote:

Someone posted a compilation of all the Mao+Dai pair skating clips!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9il0lcYr40

And I will take this opportunity to say I've (finally) updated my blog with my thoughts on Worlds... Check it out if you're interested!

Thanks Batsuchan! LOL! That was pretty funny....and Makino-san's watching in the background when they were practicing backstage- I love his expression...maybe he knew that it wouldn't work out too well lol...

Did someone post this video here?
Worlds 2010 Nobu, Akiko, Taka, Dai at Miki FS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnQc4kxaq18&playnext_from=TL&videos=pxRZT5e7zHA

Dai-chan seems a little bit girlish when putting his hands over his mouth.

yuki wrote:

Did someone post this video here?
Worlds 2010 Nobu, Akiko, Taka, Dai at Miki FS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnQc4kxaq18&playnext_from=TL&videos=pxRZT5e7zHA

Dai-chan seems a little bit girlish when putting his hands over his mouth.

Thanks for the link! They seem so concentrated when they're watching! I love how everyone's so supportive of each other!
And it's funny how they're sitting in front of a huge Shizuka background

yuki wrote:

Did someone post this video here?
Worlds 2010 Nobu, Akiko, Taka, Dai at Miki FS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnQc4kxaq18&playnext_from=TL&videos=pxRZT5e7zHA

Dai-chan seems a little bit girlish when putting his hands over his mouth.

That's so cute! The Japanese are so supportive to each other!

yuki wrote:

Did someone post this video here?
Worlds 2010 Nobu, Akiko, Taka, Dai at Miki FS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnQc4kxaq18&playnext_from=TL&videos=pxRZT5e7zHA

Dai-chan seems a little bit girlish when putting his hands over his mouth.

Japanese team is the best team in the figure skating world! Dai is hilarious I love his move when Miki's footwork begins. I'm dying to see their support for Mao at the same event Thank you for posting!

polosatik wrote:

Japanese team is the best team in the figure skating world! Dai is hilarious I love his move when Miki's footwork begins. I'm dying to see their support for Mao at the same event Thank you for posting!

Me, too! If someone finds a link for this, PLEASE post!