Mao still has to do it | Golden Skate

Mao still has to do it

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
With all that has been said about Mao in Japan and indeed all over the world, i think we were all expecting her to be pretty much unbeatable. So far, her first season as a Senior was the best, when she was a little girl in pink who we all thought would grow and develop artisty and be the next worlds champ. 2 years later has Mao proven herslef?

Not to me. She was expected to walk away with the world title, and it went to miki. she did not win the GPF last year, and only landed the 3 axel at worlds and even there it was called 2 footed (athough it was clean to me). A second triple axel now seems completely out of the picture and as for this new artisty, well i have to say i liked the old mao better. I don't see anything great so far this season, she looks like a shizuka wanna be now.

All in all do you think Mao can ever live up to her expectations?
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
I have no idea what you base a 2nd triple axel being completely out of the picture on. Yes though she gets alot of hype for someone who hasnt even won Worlds yet.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I think she's still in class of her own, but not unbeatable...

Sums up my thoughts in one sentence.

However, she is still a heavy favorite at worlds this season no matter what happens. She should win TEB pretty easily, so she's a shoo-in for the GPF. Both she and Kimmie are lucky that they are skating at weaker events.
 

rtureck

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
With all that has been said about Mao in Japan and indeed all over the world, i think we were all expecting her to be pretty much unbeatable. So far, her first season as a Senior was the best, when she was a little girl in pink who we all thought would grow and develop artisty and be the next worlds champ. 2 years later has Mao proven herslef?

The Japanese media hyped her, at least Mao and her team didn't.

Not to me.
Maybe you have some experience of witnessing some other skaters who were hyped, and never lived up to it. Skaters like Tara and Michelle are rare, they were hyped and they lived up. OTOH there were plenty of skaters who were hyped to be the greatest ever, but never came close. NNN - due to injury, Lisa Kwon due to injury, Cohen never landed that quad sal in competition, and was never the first lady to land a quad, guess what, Miki beat her there. So Ando beat Cohen to the quad, and Mao to the world champ.

She was expected to walk away with the world title, and it went to miki.
I am not sure Mao was expected to walk away with world title, I thought YuNa was expected to walk away with worlds last year. Anyway, at least Mao had a silver at her first world. It took some other skater more time for the world silver.

A second triple axel now seems completely out of the picture
Since when did Mao said she is doing 2 triple axels?

and as for this new artisty, well i have to say i liked the old mao better.
When Mao retires from ISU competition and starts to do SOIs maybe we can talk about artisty. Artistry is not being judged under COP currently.

I don't see anything great so far this season, she looks like a shizuka wanna be now.

All in all do you think Mao can ever live up to her expectations?
She is on pace, and has a much greater chance than many other skaters.
 

museksk8r

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
You never know what to expect in this sport, particularly when it comes to the Olympics.

Michelle was supposed to take gold and Tara silver in Nagano.

Michelle and Irina were scheduled to duel for the gold in Salt Lake City. At the worlds, Sarah Hughes' best finish had been 3rd.

Irina practically had her name engraved on the Torino gold medal. Shizuka entered the event ranked 9th in the world.

Kurt Browning was heavily favored to take gold in Lillehammar, but found himself buried in 12th in the SP and finished 5th overall. Alexei Urmanov's best finish at worlds had been 3rd.

Elvis Stojko was the heavy favorite going into Nagano, Todd Eldredge was supposed to take silver, and Ilia Kulik came in ranked 5th in the world.

The ice is definitely slippery!
 
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R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
^ THAT is why I love the Olympics. :laugh: just when you think you have it figured out...
 

cassieandcheetah

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
You never know what to expect in this sport, particularly when it comes to the Olympics.

Michelle was supposed to take gold and Tara silver in Nagano.

Michelle and Irina were scheduled to duel for the gold in Salt Lake City. At the worlds, Sarah Hughes' best finish had been 3rd.

Irina practically had her name engraved on the Torino gold medal. Shizuka entered the event ranked 9th in the world.

Kurt Browning was heavily favored to take gold in Lillehammar, but found himself buried in 12th in the SP and finished 5th overall. Alexei Urmanov's best finish at worlds had been 3rd.

Elvis Stojko was the heavy favorite going into Nagano, Todd Eldredge was supposed to take silver, and Ilia Kulik came in ranked 5th in the world.

The ice is definitely slippery!

Umm. I think you're wrong about Elivis Stojko being a favorite. If I remember he was quite injured at the time, so was a question mark at best, and on the other hand all the major newspapers were predicting Kulik to win because he had had an awesome season leading up to the Olympics (winning the European that year and what not), and he's much better at the second mark that either Eldredge or Stojko.
 

Fozzie Bear

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
rtureck said:
I am not sure Mao was expected to walk away with world title, I thought YuNa was expected to walk away with worlds last year.
:confused: Yu-Na was injured last year, and Worlds was in Japan. I don't remember anyone thinking she would walk away with the title. Not even after that stellar short program.

Mao has some gorgeous basic skills, and she's developing her presentation skills. The hype surrounding her technical superiority have been exaggerated though.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Elvis Stojko was the heavy favorite going into Nagano, Todd Eldredge was supposed to take silver, and Ilia Kulik came in ranked 5th in the world.

Kulik had finally found his consistency in the Olympic season and had won the GP final handily beating both Stojko and Eldredge. He was most peoples pick to win pre-Nagano, even before people found out about Stojko's injury. Elvis was his biggest competion for gold and expected to finish 2nd most likely. Eldredge was considered a shot at silver, but probably not gold, and was picked by most to finish 3rd.
 

rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Kulik had finally found his consistency in the Olympic season and had won the GP final handily beating both Stojko and Eldredge. He was most peoples pick to win pre-Nagano, even before people found out about Stojko's injury. Elvis was his biggest competion for gold and expected to finish 2nd most likely. Eldredge was considered a shot at silver, but probably not gold, and was picked by most to finish 3rd.

This is how I remember it as well. People still had hope for Stojko, because he was always such a fierce competitor (I've never seen a skater before or since who looked less rattled than he always did) but with a pretty serious injury, many were just hoping he'd be able to hold up and medal. But Kulik was definitely the odds-on favourite.
 

carolinefan177

On the Ice
Joined
May 17, 2007
People come on...
First of all, did Mao ever say she was going to stop doing the 3A??
No....
Secondly, she scored 119.58 points in the FS with three 2A, a 3L, 3Fltz, 3F, and a downgraded 3F-3L...I'd say that's pretty good. After all, Yu-Na's pb is 119.32, and Mao wasn't even, in my opinion, at her best, and three axels is a pretty smart strategy in my opinion...chuckm can back me up on this
Thridly, What made her lp program so horrible? Artistically, what was wrong? To me, it was a steller performance, and I'd like to know why so many people think she did a terrible job and is a Shizuka "wannabe." A lack of expression, is not the only factor involved in PCS...

The mystery, to me, is Nakano's axel
 

mizu_iro

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
People come on...
First of all, did Mao ever say she was going to stop doing the 3A??
No....
Secondly, she scored 119.58 points in the FS with three 2A, a 3L, 3Fltz, 3F, and a downgraded 3F-3L...I'd say that's pretty good. After all, Yu-Na's pb is 119.32, and Mao wasn't even, in my opinion, at her best, and three axels is a pretty smart strategy in my opinion...chuckm can back me up on this
Thridly, What made her lp program so horrible? Artistically, what was wrong? To me, it was a steller performance, and I'd like to know why so many people think she did a terrible job and is a Shizuka "wannabe." A lack of expression, is not the only factor involved in PCS...

I really liked Mao's LP as well, it suits her subdued style and lightness. I had my doubts about her pulling the piece off, but this program is a huge improvement over Czardas and it gives her a more mature look. The repetition of jumps did bother me, though.
Yu-Na's current PB also isn't her best, though - it was with five clean triples, a step-out on another, and a fall on a double axel. One more clean triple than Mao, but this was only her second GP event and judges dinged her for being new. Yu-Na's GOE's on her 2A's are just as good as Mao's and her GOE's on the other jump elements are much higher, she will probably beat out a 3A-less Mao, and given Mao's growth it's not certain as to whether she'll be able to keep the 3A.
Loved the program though. She'll never be an emotionally enthralling skater, but she has grace in spades.
 

lutzskate

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
As I watched Mao in the competition this weekend, I couldn't help but think that, while she makes all the jumps look very easy, she doesn't connect with her music. She looked to me like she was just going from trick to trick. I didn't "feel" the music from her interpretation. I don't know if she understood the music of her long. It was a very sophisticated piece.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
As I watched Mao in the competition this weekend, I couldn't help but think that, while she makes all the jumps look very easy, she doesn't connect with her music. She looked to me like she was just going from trick to trick. I didn't "feel" the music from her interpretation. I don't know if she understood the music of her long. It was a very sophisticated piece.
I think that's just her style. She does seem to skate with a certain detachment, like she is in her own little world. To me, there is nothing wrong with that.

The alternative -- to wear your heart on your sleeve and emote with passionate facial expressions -- maybe that suits some other skaters, but I don't know that I really like it any better.
 

lutzskate

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
I think that's just her style. She does seem to skate with a certain detachment, like she is in her own little world. To me, there is nothing wrong with that.

The alternative -- to wear your heart on your sleeve and emote with passionate facial expressions -- maybe that suits some other skaters, but I don't know that I really like it any better.

It's not just about the facial expressions. It's about how she "feels" the music, and I don't think she does at this point.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
It's not just about the facial expressions. It's about how she "feels" the music, and I don't think she does at this point.

Mao's getting better in this department.

But I think despite her generally amazing basic skating skills, Mao has one quirk, in that she goes up and down on her knees a lot, and this bobbing up and down particularly mars the musical interpretation when the music is more darkish & somber, like her choice of SP this year. It doesn't stand out nearly as much when she's skating to cheerful music, like last year's Chopin nocturne, in fact it can feel quite appropriate.

Maybe she's working on staying down on her skating knee, but it comes out more when she's a bit distracted, such as when she makes a mistake and goes on auto-pilot. When she doesn't go up and down, it gives her quality a smoother, more lyrical quality.

Anyway, I quite enjoyed the footwork sequences in her SP & LP. They were well-choreographed & well-skated, especially in the LP.
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
I think that's just her style. She does seem to skate with a certain detachment, like she is in her own little world. To me, there is nothing wrong with that.

The alternative -- to wear your heart on your sleeve and emote with passionate facial expressions -- maybe that suits some other skaters, but I don't know that I really like it any better.

I don't necessarily think that Mao has to have tons of facial expresions, but I do think she could concentrate on maybe moving her arms more. I just never feel like she's skating to the music, more Rather at the music.

Her arm movements and the steps didn't go to the music really whatsover....And that IS a problem.
 
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Oscilla

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 1, 2006
I'm surprised reading some of the posts above, as one thing that I liked the most in her LP yesterday was amazing connection to music and by far the best arms of any ladies today.

I also don't think cheerful music suits her well. The Czardas LP was a fiasco, IMHO, and she herself admitted that she didn't feel the music suited her at all.
I thought she is the best in slow, lyrical pieces, like her Nocturne LP (I can't even count how many commentators stated that "Chopin must have written this piece for Mao" or some variation of thereof, and I agree) or her EX this season. However, yesterday she proved to me that she can skate well to more dramatic, faster music with changes of tempo.

She totally disconnected from the music in the SP, though. Sadly, she seems to do this often when she makes a mistake that she cannot forgive herself for. This is one thing that she needs to work on.

As for the jumps - I think what we have seen was a very temporary jump layout. Because of the fire in Lake Arrowhead and mandatory evacuation she lost some training time (and certainly it affected her mentally as well). I can't give the link to the interview, because its up on icenetwork, but if you'll search for it you should find it.
She didn't have that much time to work on jumps during the summer - the injury, shows, ballet training and improving steps and presentation with Tarasova took her a lot of time. I think she meant to work on jumps harder when she got back with Arutunian, but then there was that fire.

I don't think she is going to stop attempting 3A. In a recent interview she said that she wants to attempt two 3A in her LP at Worlds, but maybe give up the brackets into it, at least into the combo. From looking at her practices I think she wil attempt a 3F-3T. She wrote a message to YuNa recently saying that she loves that combo. YuNa was very amused. :)
 
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