2008 GPF Gala

shallwedansu · Dec 14, 2008

Found some gala rehearsal pictures

http://i33.tinypic.com/15fm89s.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/200zo5i.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/2vmzjog.jpg

More Yu-Na/Mao goodness!

http://i34.tinypic.com/akiexg.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/5vakcm.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/33dhvcw.jpg

I love pictures with the both of them!

visaliakid · Dec 14, 2008

It starts in about 5 minutes.... NTV+ (Russian TV) webcasting it on WebTV (count down to 14th channel on the list.

shallwedansu · Dec 14, 2008

Yukiko is adorable!

shallwedansu · Dec 14, 2008

No one's watching??

Joannie looks great!

Patrick got to participate.

Bennett · Dec 14, 2008

I just watched gala. It was really great. Among singles, I loved Tomas, Joannie, Johnny, Yuna, and Mao. Taka was adorable. The audience sounded a bit calm for Mao. Yet, she had an encore nonetheless. They really loved Tomas, Joannie, Johnny, and Yuna, of course.

Medusa · Dec 14, 2008

Abbott was fantastic! Jumps were 3R, 3A (!) and 3L. He did the short program from last year - I loved that program and was incredibly sad that he never did it cleanly. Abbott's musical versatility is amazing, at this competition he had a classical short program, a Tango-long and a Santana-exhibition.

missysays · Dec 14, 2008

I didn't get to see this- could someone who did say who skated. I'm assuming all of the medalists. I noticed in the rehearsal pictures that a couple of the junior medalists were there too. Were their performances broadcast?

Thanks.

Medusa · Dec 14, 2008

Bennett said:
The audience sounded a bit calm for Mao. Yet, she had an encore nonetheless.

I take it that you are a really polite person? Well, I am not.

The audience was simply rude. Yes, they applauded a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end. But there was basically no applause during the performance, not after her jumps, not during her spiral, not during the steps... And she got an encore because every gold-medal winner gets one.

She was probably standing at the boards while Abbott skated - and witnessed how Abbott got loads of applause for his jumps, for his steps, for his spins... - and perhaps she noticed that they didn't do that for her. It's just unsportsmanlike to behave that way. I am starting to be really glad that Mao won this, just serves them right. Of course it's not Kim's fault and she deserved to win as much as Mao if she had the better skate.

bekalc · Dec 14, 2008

I take it that you are a really polite person? Well, I am not.

The audience was simply rude. Yes, they applauded a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end. But there was basically no applause during the performance, not after her jumps, not during her spiral, not during the steps... And she got an encore because every gold-medal winner gets one.

She was probably standing at the boards while Abbott skated - and witnessed how Abbott got loads of applause for his jumps, for his steps, for his spins... - and perhaps she noticed that they didn't do that for her. It's just unsportsmanlike to behave that way. I am starting to be really glad that Mao won this, just serves them right. Of course it's not Kim's fault and she deserved to win as much as Mao if she had the better skate.

Well, actually if you listen closely there was some applauding during her jumps and spins not much but some. I'm kind of saddened by this, but can I point out that Mao sort of rained on their parade, and it may be at this point hard for them to get into Mao.

If I understand correctly years back it was hard for the Japanese to get into Kristi... There was absolutely no mention if I recall in any Japanese papers of Kristi's heritage, and things like that. Now seeing as Japan has grown in figure skating knowledge and have tons of skaters, they've been able to recognize that skating is more than just their skaters, Korea gets their same space.

From what I understand though Mao does have a huge fan club in Korea, and I believe she was extremely well received at Four Continents, getting a LOT of cheers there.

And they did cheer for her too just not as much. (Plus may I point out that Abbot was throwing triple axels in his exhibition...LOL!)

Mao got the same cheers as Kostner got on the medal stand... I do wish though they'd have been more appreciative of Mao, but well it's not like she got no claps at all...

bekalc · Dec 14, 2008

Here's an article which kind of talks about this

One novel feature of the press attention to the Games was the almost total lack of recognition, at least explicitly, of the Japanese origins of the gold-medal figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi, a third-generation Japanese-American who speaks no Japanese.

Yamaguchi's ancestry was not discussed. There were no attempts to find any family here, or to trace her roots. Her name was even spelled, not in Japanese characters, but in the separate phonetic alphabet known as katakana, which is reserved for foreign names and words.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DF1230F935A15751C0A964958260

One thing that was sad for Kristi was she didn't get a lot of endorsements some think because of her (Japanese heritage at the time there was some tensions about Japanese trade) but wasn't liked in Japan for not being Japanese enough.

She said once she had reporters telling her she speaks nice English and she's like I should I lived her all my life.

harmy18 · Dec 14, 2008

bekalc said:
Here's an article which kind of talks about this

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DF1230F935A15751C0A964958260

One thing that was sad for Kristi was she didn't get a lot of endorsements some think because of her (Japanese heritage at the time there was some tensions about Japanese trade) but wasn't liked in Japan for not being Japanese enough.

She said once she had reporters telling her she speaks nice English and she's like I should I lived her all my life.

I just wonder if Mao had relationship with Korea? If she had, then it would match the case; if not, apparently, they are totally different cases. If Mao had korean ancestry, I understand why the audiences acted like this.

I quite agree with Medusa in this case, the audiences apparently show little respect to Mao comparing with how loud their applause toward others; on the contrary, Mao did show her respect toward the audiences.How ironic......I kindly felt I like her after this GPF in Korea

bekalc · Dec 14, 2008

harmy18 said:
I just wonder if Mao had relationship with Korea? If she had, then it would match the case; if not, apparently, they are totally different cases. If Mao had korean ancestry, I understand why the audiences acted like this.

I quite agree with Medusa in this case, the audiences apparently show little respect to Mao comparing with how loud their applause toward others; on the contrary, Mao did show her respect toward the audiences.How ironic......I kindly felt I like her after this GPF in Korea

You would think If Mao had Korean ancestory, the audience would like her better. Just as you would think the Japanese audience would like Kristi better because she had Japanese ancestory.... (Just saying)

The audience could have been more friendly too her. And Mao has always been very likeable.

Wrlmy · Dec 14, 2008

bekalc said:
You would think If Mao had Korean ancestory, the audience would like her better. Just as you would think the Japanese audience would like Kristi better because she had Japanese ancestory.... (Just saying)

The audience could have been more friendly too her. And Mao has always been very likeable.

Wasn't Miki rumored to have Korean ancestory? Was she any better received than Mao? I'm dissappointed to hear the crowd didn't loosen up even after the competition, but sort of understandable. I wonder whether the crowd at 4cc was composed of more of general fs fans, and this time mostly of exclusive Yu-Na fans.

bekalc · Dec 14, 2008

Wrlmy said:
Wasn't Miki rumored to have Korean ancestory? Was she any better received than Mao? I'm dissappointed to hear the crowd didn't loosen up even after the competition, but sort of understandable. I wonder whether the crowd at 4cc was composed of more of general fs fans, and this time mostly of exclusive Yu-Na fans.

Reports are Miki does not have Korean ancestory... Who knows, but I know that the crowd clapped to Nakano's long program so she was really well received.

AS for 4 continents, I think it may be that Yu-na wasn't there and competiting, so Mao didn't beat their hometown girl, so to speak... Also, I think tickets to the GPF were really hard to get, so maybe it wasn't the general fans who got the tickets. (who knows) In the end they did cheer for Mao.

gourry · Dec 14, 2008

Medusa said:
The audience was simply rude. Yes, they applauded a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end. But there was basically no applause during the performance, not after her jumps, not during her spiral, not during the steps... And she got an encore because every gold-medal winner gets one.

Well, I remember she said in an interview after an iceshow in Korea about her jump mistakes that the loud cheering from audience and somewhat dark light caused her mistakes. It is quite possible the audience remembered it as well and paid her respect in that way. She got quite applause after her performance.

Besides, it is my understanding that most of the figure skating fans in Korea are young ladies and basically they root for male skaters. You can't really compare that to, you know, Mao. . :laugh:

But really, I don't think the audience was particularly rude for Mao. I saw lots of presents were throwed for Mao and THAT surprised me honestly!

SusieH · Dec 15, 2008

Medusa said:
The audience was simply rude. Yes, they applauded a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end. But there was basically no applause during the performance, not after her jumps, not during her spiral, not during the steps... And she got an encore because every gold-medal winner gets one.

I honestly don't think it was that bad. I even went back to watch the video again. Yeah, the crowd was somewhat subdued and less enthusiastic (so obvious probably because Korean audience tends to be 200% enthusiastic toward any skaters), which made me feel that maybe lots of them clapped more out of sheer politeness and formality than out of heartfelt love for Mao. But there were still clappings and cheerings in the beginning and the end and even throughout---even though not as many as what Abbott had just received. I'm not sure if I will call this kind of reaction rude.

That said, I do hope the crowed could warm up more to Mao's performance. But she did just beat their one and only hope. One cannot expect that the Red Sox receive showers of gifts and cheerings if they beat the Yankees at the latter's home ground at the last game of ALCS, right? (Well, I know professonal baseball is structured very differently from figure skating, but in the particular case of Mao and Yu-Na, this comparision may not be that far-stretched).

I actually felt a little worried when Mao stepped on the ice because I really don't want her to feel bad, and I remember I literally let my breath out after she stepped out from the ice and thought to myself: "OK, not bad." Anyway, tough situations usually benefit people more. Don't we all say that what didn't kill you makes you stronger? This experience will benefit Mao in the long run. It can certainly be viewed as a good thing to her. The same goes for Yu-Na. I assume it is unbelievably hard to compete under such enormous pressure. Let's hope something good will come out of it. (Skating-wise, show us some mental toughness at the worlds and the olympics, ladies! Gosh, I can't believe they are just eighteen-year-old girls.)

Bennett · Dec 15, 2008

One novel feature of the press attention to the Games was the almost total lack of recognition, at least explicitly, of the Japanese origins of the gold-medal figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi, a third-generation Japanese-American who speaks no Japanese.
Yamaguchi's ancestry was not discussed. There were no attempts to find any family here, or to trace her roots.

Well, it was a long, long time ago and I didn't even read news papers at that time. But I think that everyone knew her heritage. It is also very hard to believe that the media failed to mention her as a Japanese American whenever she was mentioned.

I remember a TV show featuring Kristi vs. Midori, in which Kristi was cooking rice. They also reported how their parents supported her, blah blah blah.

Her name was even spelled, not in Japanese characters, but in the separate phonetic alphabet known as katakana, which is reserved for foreign names and words.

Again, I do not think that this author is making a valid point.

If a foreign person actually has a name written in Chinese characters, the media spells the name either in Chinese characters or in Katakana.

For example, Yuna Kim and Mirai Nagasu are spelled in either Katakana or Chinese characters.

For a person like Kristi, however, I think it more appropriate and common to use only Katakana. First, there is no way to spell her first name in Chinese characters. Second, although "Yamaguchi" would have originally been spelled in Chinese characters when her grandparents were in Japan, it would not be appropriate to spell as such when all of her current documents would be only in English.

Back to the topic, I do not think that the media was as indifferent to or unappreciative of Kristi's Japanese heritage as the author of this article claims to be.

Mirai is a lot more hyped for her Japanese heritage. But that's another story because she is still second generation, has dual nationalities, leaving a possibility to compete for Japan, speaks pretty fluent Japanese, and was born in the age when FS is a lot more popular.

During the gala broadcast in Japan, a very popular male Japanese singer who is fluent in Korean interviewed Yuna in Korean. Yuna also spoke a little Japanese, like "thank you." I think that these little things help a lot in enhancing favorable audience responses.

ks777 · Dec 15, 2008

We all knew Kristi was a japanese/american. I was living in Japan at that time and all the media mentioned her as a japanese american. Even though we already knew she was by her last name. Kristi is a 4th generation Japanese american and didn't speak japanese so she really was an American. She probably didn't have any relatives living in Japan anymore since her ancesters moved to the US back in the early 1900s, I am guessing. Kristi's mom was born in the internment camp so even if they had family still living in Japan, they weren't allowed to contact them for years and probably lost contacts after the war.

I think it would be weird for the japanese media to treat Kristi like they do treat Nagasu. Nagasu does speak fluent japanese and her parents are from Japan and Nagasu is a japanese citizen(and a US citizen)!! I am actually really happy that the japanese media won't leave her alone, maybe she can get some sponsorships from a big japanese company soon. I am crossing my fingers.

I don't think Kristi would have liked to be treated any different just becasue she is a japanese american.

Bennett · Dec 15, 2008

ks777 said:
She probably didn't have any relatives living in Japan anymore since her ancesters moved to the US back in the early 1900s, I am guessing. Kristi's mom was born in the internment camp so even if they had family still living in Japan, they weren't allowed to contact them for years and probably lost contacts after the war.

Yeah, I was actually surprised that the author of the article implies that the media should have traced her relatives back in Japan to pay adequate respect to her Japanese heritage. That's a bit too much to ask for.

I am with you that I am happy with Mirai's one of the media darlings

The Korean-Japanese media follows Yuna very closely.

But there are a lot of Yuna fans in Japan who are not related to Korea.

Sponichi Annex, one of the top sport news agencies, has an online cheering corner for athletes in various sports, called "Go Athlete(s)!" Along with Japanese top four ladies, Shizuka, Daisuke, Mirai, and famous athletes in other sports, Yuna has her own section where her profile, news, and pictures are updated.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/athlete/index.html

harmy18 · Dec 15, 2008

bekalc said:
You would think If Mao had Korean ancestory, the audience would like her better. Just as you would think the Japanese audience would like Kristi better because she had Japanese ancestory.... (Just saying)

The audience could have been more friendly too her. And Mao has always been very likeable.

No, I meant if Mao had a Korean ancestory, then I understand why audiences dislike her.
Mao is adorable?? well....I think I'm really wierd :banging: I like her merely becoz the audiences dislike her.......

2008 GPF Gala

shallwedansu

visaliakid

shallwedansu

shallwedansu

Bennett

Medusa

missysays

Medusa

bekalc

bekalc

harmy18

bekalc

Wrlmy

bekalc

gourry

SusieH

Bennett

ks777

Bennett

harmy18

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