Ladies LP | Page 21 | Golden Skate

Ladies LP

ayayukiituka

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Mao don't need to take part in GPF.instead she should take a rest,bring her light and effotress jump back.
btw it is said that Tat said we may change both of sp and lp program if Mao want to do.:agree:
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
I found tarasova along with morosov too stress generating the way the stand at the boards and shout..morosov doesnt shout but he looks very stressful , at one point audience was looking at him instead of miki- who was really great i loved her program!
Tarasova i dont know what she does tell her on the boards but it doesnt help...Mao... i m so sad, I like Bells but i dont know what happens to her, she jumps 3\3 and 3axels in warm up greatly, then she bomps in competition.Still my favorite lady, i wish she skates on gala
 

Charlotte Elizabeth

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Hi CharlotteElizabeth, could you please give a brief translation of what Morozov said of Mao? I don't speak Russian and cannot understand a word he says:scratch:

Fisrt he was asked how he liked Ando' performance (SP). He said he is very pleased. And then immediatly reporter said that so surpising that Mao Asada is in the 6th place. Morozov says that he does not pay attention to what is going on with Mao although everybody always expect something from Mao Asada but nothing happens. Than reporter says that he assumes that TT will not be very satisfied. Morozov says that is her problems and smiles. After that he was asked about Miki, her FS , if she will fo 4S, if he fonds it hard to work with Miki comparing to Adam Rippon. He says it's not difficult at all after 2 years. Morozov says that it takes some time but result will come. The reporter asks about next Miki's' Gran pri (NHS) and wishes all the best to Miki and Morozov.
I made a translation for the whole interview, not just for some little things related to Mao. I think it gives a better idea for understanding. ;)
 

figurejennah

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
IMO, Alissa Czisny deserved better than 4th place. and what's up with Mao's crazy high PCS? Her overall TES is 9th but her PCS is 1st? I really don't get this. Whatever the circumstance may be, I think the judges made some horrible decision.


:agree: I agree with your post goPC2018.


Yep, I think Mao's PCS was fairly, justifiably deserved. :thumbsup::thumbsup::yes::yes::yes: There's a 'technical' side to the PCS too, maybe music choice isn't for her but her basic skills and skating quality far outshines many ladies, including Miki Ando! IMO

I don't think her movement of the body and lines were great there either. And you think jumping is unrelated to PCS that much? So... Basically you are saying that no matter how much you mess up the entire performance by popping the jumps, you can still make up the points in PCS.... That doesn't sound right to me because jumps are the most critical parts of the program. According to that logic, a skater who can't do any triple jump could get on ice, and then end up on the 1st position because she gets tremendously high pcs. Hmmmm.. I really enjoyed Mao's jr years, and I thought she was talented. But receiving such high PCS when she messed up the whole program is not fair to the other ladies, who executed their programs so much better by completing their required elements much more successfully. It was painful to watch Mao on the ice, and it looked to me as though she wanted to run away from the ice. Moreover, her spins were slower than usual, and her spiral looked like she was gonna stop on the ice. Don't forget that she didn't meet the 6 second requirement on her spiral in sp, and she still received that ridiculously high pcs.

And placing in the top 5 in the overall standings for men isn't? *cough yuna* She is ridicuously overscored in PCS. Her so called facial expressions is either a smile or a big ;O;....

............... See, this is what I am talking about. We are talking about Mao's PCS being inflated, and you again have to bring in Yuna. Sigh. Some fans say that Yuna's PCS is inflated, but Yuna always received PCS that is LOWER than her TES. On the other hand, Mao here received PCS that was 18-19 points HIGHER than her TES. So, applying that calculation, since Yuna got 43.80 on her sp TES in France, then she should have gotten around 52 on her PCS, which would make her SP to come to a total of 95. WOW. You think that makes any sense???

In reality, Yuna's PCS in sp was 32.28 with a clean performance, whereas Mao's sp PCS was 28.84 with a fall, and 2 jumps missing.... Not even 4 point difference.

Now, let's look at their LP programs. Yuna missed one flip jump, but everything else was flawless. Her TES was 67.55, and her PCS was 66.40, again her PCS being lower than her TES. I remember reading on this forum that some people were saying that her PCS was too high, since she missed that one jump. On the other hand, Mao missed.... gosh I don't even know how many jumps she missed... She missed more than 5... Her TES was only 40.06, but yet her PCS was 59.28.... HUH???

I am sorry, but I cannot agree with you on "whose score is clearly inflated." With a performance like that, Mao should not have gotten a high PCS such as that, and you really cannot compare Mao and Yuna's PCS on the same level.
I just feel bad for Miki, Ashley and Alissa, who performaned so much better than Mao. Especially Miki, I respect that she fixed her edge problems, and she is now clearly improving herself tremendously with her fairly new coach. I don't think Miki deserves any less than Mao. When I saw Mao's PCS, I really doubted what I was seeing.

And for your info, Mao also opens her mouth in "O" shape during bells of moscow...........And during her interview, the media praised her to be extremely expressive...
 
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newvie

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
I just think Mao was very tired (mentally if it is not physically) and october was not a good month for her.
When it really doesn't work, it doesn't work whether you force it or not.

Personally it's sad that i can't see her at the GPF, but i think it's rather good for her - it gives her more time and less stress.

She might 'wow' us at the olympics (or at the national) with new changes and more confidence.

Btw, congrats to all the ladies who got on the podium!! especially to the (relatively) fresh faces to the int'l podium : )
 

Kinga

Medalist
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
And while peaking is Tarasova's game plan, I don't think her game plan is to see her skaters having disasterous skates right before the Olympics either. I mean Illia had a bit of a disasterous season prior to his Olympic seasno. But he was looking incredibly strong in the Olympic season. So was Yagudin. Yagudin's win against Plushenko at the GPF helped his confidence a LOT.

Exactly. Apart from confidence, it is not excluded that poor outings in GP can hurt Mao's marks later this season (PCS), especially if her rivals perform very well. Has not happened yet, but who knows.

because she can barely do a double loop now, I highly doubt that she can do a 3-3 still. She evern got her 3flip downgraded, which never happened until this season. Mao got .20 GOE on her best jump, 3loop. She used to get 1.0 or so on that jump.. She is losing her jumps, she really needs a jump coach now.

Definitely, something is wrong with the jumps. Not only she makes mistakes, but even if she lands a jump, it does not have a 'wow' factor like it used to. Her jumps are VERY average now. No height, no speed when she apporaches them. I also doubt that she can manage 3-3 at this point.

What helps Mao is athletes like cohen,who are only competing in one GP. if she finishes in top 2, she is acting as spoiler by cutting others points. If Carolina Kostner finishes second ahead of rachel she again could do spoilers job.
She might need spoilers and some withdrawal from GPF.

Yes, ann, Now that is something I want to stress. Failed jumps, okay, that should be penalized in the TES which it did. Remember Tanith Belbin taking a horrible fall in the CD at Worlds in Sweden, and ended up with like the 2nd highest PCS that event. A performance may be marred by failed jumps but I think it's unfair, IMO to penalize a skater's PCS based on this. I think it's too 'easy" for girls like Leonova, Flatt to just get high PCS with such uninspiring, uncharismatic presentation level and just less than stellar basic skills, in skating and lines, body awareness, spazzy arm movements, just because a top-level skater had a few botched jumps (which again, is reflected already in the TES)IMO.

You are right in one aspect - this is your opinion ;)
How can you even judge Rachel's outings right now? She did not even perform yet in GP this season??? And Leonova performance was uncharismatic compared to Mao's??? What were you watching? Body lines aside, Mao's performance was really unispiring and uncharismatic in Moscow. And that should show in PCS.
 

katha

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Regarding the PCS, am I giving the judges too much credit when I speculate that they probably had the same reaction as most of the other viewers and just didn't want to slam her further? Yeah, I know, totally unprofessional behaviour, but something I probably couldn't totally suppress...;) But then I would make an exceptionally poor judge, wanting to give everybody medals and make everyone feel good...
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Katha, I'm with you on both counts! Maybe the judges, knowing Mao's capacities and wanting to keep her in the game, gave her the unusually high PC numbers. It's not as though they deprived anyone of a gold medal. They were probably playing favorites, yes, but Mao is such an unusual skater (at least she was) that I think they were trying to preserve some shred of her hopes to keep her going.

And, like you, I couldn't possibly hand out scores to skaters, who work so hard for hours on end, for years at a time. When they gave out the second gold medal to Sale and Pelletier at SLC, I was rapturous. I would have given Michelle and Tara a tie in 1998! So I'm plainly not judge material.
 

astimegoesby

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Kurt actually said (and said that he didn't say it lightly right on television) that Mao HAD to get rid of that program. Tracy agreed.

It's a good thing I wasn't drinking alcohol during yesterday's CBC broadcast of the ladies' LP because I would've been hammered within the first five minutes if I had to take a sip every time one of the commentators say something less-than-flattering about Mao's LP music.

Thanks to everyone who posted alternative arrangements of the music. I hope Mao will at least switch to one of those before the Olympics if it's too late for her to start from scratch with a brand new LP to different music.
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
The judges are probably giving Mao the benefit of the doubt, because they know what she has been and is capable of. I am not sure why people are obsessing about it for, because her PCS was not completely outrageous, and it doesn't change the the medalling outcome.

It is just like when certain YuNa haters complained about her inflated PCS at TEB - it doesn't change the results.

The inflation is not more than 2-3 points for either, in both cases.

I just wanted to point out to figurejennah, that also that TES and PCS are not required to be linearly related. That is, PCS are not required to follow high TES or low TES. PCS is supposed to be independent of TES (although we know that is not completely true in practice), and it has a much lower ceiling than TES. That is, you can keep increasing the technical difficulty of a program and achieve higher and higher TES (up to a certain point), as well as skate around the rink doing absolutely no technical elements and get a 0. You cannot do that with PCS - some PCS will always be awarded as long as you do something coordinated to the music, and at the same time, you cannot easily add things that make PCS higher and higher.

I thought Ashley was lovely, especially in the FS. And, she was thrilled with her mark. If Mao had gotten Ashley's score, she would still be depressed. Why? Because she--and everyone else in the skating world--knows that she has already done so much more. In a sense, you can almost argue that Mao has deserved this "benefit of the doubt" -- because she has proven how amazing she can be. It's not that great of a PCS score. I don't see what the nitpicking is about.
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
The judges are probably giving Mao the benefit of the doubt, because they know what she has been and is capable of. I am not sure why people are obsessing about it for, because her PCS was not completely outrageous, and it doesn't change the the medalling outcome.

It is just like when certain YuNa haters complained about her inflated PCS at TEB - it doesn't change the results.

The inflation is not more than 2-3 points for either, in both cases.

I just wanted to point out to figurejennah, that also that TES and PCS are not required to be linearly related. That is, PCS are not required to follow high TES or low TES. PCS is supposed to be independent of TES (although we know that is not completely true in practice), and it has a much lower ceiling than TES. That is, you can keep increasing the technical difficulty of a program and achieve higher and higher TES (up to a certain point), as well as skate around the rink doing absolutely no technical elements and get a 0. You cannot do that with PCS - some PCS will always be awarded as long as you do something coordinated to the music, and at the same time, you cannot easily add things that make PCS higher and higher.

I thought Ashley was lovely, especially in the FS. And, she was thrilled with her mark. If Mao had gotten Ashley's score, she would still be depressed. Why? Because she--and everyone else in the skating world--knows that she has already done so much more. In a sense, you can almost argue that Mao has deserved this "benefit of the doubt" -- because she has proven how amazing she can be. It's not that great of a PCS score. I don't see what the nitpicking is about.

Very sensible post especially Paragraph 4. Thank you.
 

steyn

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
I just wanted to point out to figurejennah, that also that TES and PCS are not required to be linearly related. That is, PCS are not required to follow high TES or low TES. PCS is supposed to be independent of TES (although we know that is not completely true in practice), and it has a much lower ceiling than TES. That is, you can keep increasing the technical difficulty of a program and achieve higher and higher TES (up to a certain point), as well as skate around the rink doing absolutely no technical elements and get a 0. You cannot do that with PCS - some PCS will always be awarded as long as you do something coordinated to the music, and at the same time, you cannot easily add things that make PCS higher and higher.
First, Let me make it clear that I am not particularly interested in Mao's PCS. I just hope that she will recover soon.

That said, I don't agree with you. I believe I fully understand your point but your argument is incomplete, IMHO. I know many people think that way but I never agree. The reason is very simple. Skating skills, performance/execusion, choreography, interpretation and so on, these program components have to be all related to how a skater executes the technical elements. You can say that it is not linearly related but it does not mean that they are totally unrelated. If a skater fails some of his jumps, then the performance score should be lower because his whole performance is worse. It should also make bad effects on choreography and interpretation. Otherwise, the program should have no contents from the very beginning.

For example, If success or failure of a jump does not make any difference in performance or interpretation, then the program must be very badly choreographed because the jump is not effectively positioned in the right place of the program to make it look spectacular.

The whole performance including technical elements, transitions, flow, edge quality and so on, all should make a single complete program. You cannot simply detach technical elements in evaluating PCS. They do make huge difference. The better a program is, the more PCS should depend on TES. If not, something is wrong; either the score is wrong or the program itself is empty.
 

bmelanie

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
I just wanted to point out to figurejennah, that also that TES and PCS are not required to be linearly related. That is, PCS are not required to follow high TES or low TES. PCS is supposed to be independent of TES (although we know that is not completely true in practice), and it has a much lower ceiling than TES. That is, you can keep increasing the technical difficulty of a program and achieve higher and higher TES (up to a certain point), as well as skate around the rink doing absolutely no technical elements and get a 0. You cannot do that with PCS - some PCS will always be awarded as long as you do something coordinated to the music, and at the same time, you cannot easily add things that make PCS higher and higher.

I thought Ashley was lovely, especially in the FS. And, she was thrilled with her mark. If Mao had gotten Ashley's score, she would still be depressed. Why? Because she--and everyone else in the skating world--knows that she has already done so much more. In a sense, you can almost argue that Mao has deserved this "benefit of the doubt" -- because she has proven how amazing she can be. It's not that great of a PCS score. I don't see what the nitpicking is about.

ITA that PCS and TES are not linear, but I also think figurejennah's point is valid and that there should be some correlation. Ashley and Alena skated with vim and vigour - they might not have the streamlined elegance of some of the top-tier skaters like Joannie and Yuna, but I'm sure it will come with time - and I was shocked to see their PCS so low, while Mao who looked harassed and distracted for a good deal of her program received PCS higher than anyone else. Moreover, in the first minute where the 3As are packed, the program is basically devoid of choreography aside from some arm-flailing.

Most importantly, I feel like giving Mao such high PCS at this point just because she deserves benefit of the doubt is actually doing more harm than good. She needs a wake-up call, badly, and giving her a little pat on the back saying 'you had a meltdown but we're still giving you fifth place because we know you're talented' is not helpful at all. No one denies Mao has talent, but talent is nothing unless you nurture it and make sure it is channeled in the right direction. I read a Japanese article this morning that said she's STILL putting in all the 3As in all her programs and there will be no changes, so any warning signs this competition might have given her was lost; if anything the Russian cup placement reassured her that the 3As are the only problem (which is clearly not the case).
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I've just managed to get the courage up to watch Mao's long program. Not pleasant viewing. She's really a lost soul this week. I can understand why she's feeling overwhelmed. But the grownups around her shouldn't be overwhelmed. They should be taking action. It's not as if she's the first skater ever to take to the ice! Experienced people such as her coach and the Japanese federation should have some inkling of what to do, and they should be doing it. Shame on them, letting her go to waste like this--and letting her suffer like this.

Something sprang out at me as I watched it all the way through. I don't know much about skating technique, though I understand the points people make when I hear them. I don't know how to detect such things myself--whether she's over her legs or her hips are in the right position or whatever. But one thing I do understand is music. Several of you have pointed out that the Rachmaninoff is a powerful piece. Yes, it's a powerful piece--in its entirety. But Tarasova's choice of orchestration has left out the allegro section and just used the andante portion. (Musicians among you: I'm not sure those are the exact terms for this piece--please feel free to correct me. I mean that there's a rapid section that's missing from this version. The original piece goes from A to B and back to A. This orchestration is just A...A...A.) So there is no melodic narrative, just an insistent dirgelike pounding. And Mao has to do the rapid footwork pass to that music! No wonder the footwork looks hectic and forced. Rachmaninoff, the master of scherzo writing, must be turning over in his grave. What I'm saying is that there's a fundamental weakness in this program even before Mao gets out there and skates--even before she puts on that fussy dress. (Vera Wang, where are you when skating needs you?)

I don't give up on Mao by any means, even for this Olympic cycle, but I just wish she didn't have to go through this when there are so many ways to give her a chance to improve her performance.
 

Medusa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Just rewatched Leonova - she is the best bet for the European title. If she skates like this weekend or a bit better at Europeans, she should win. Between Carolina Kostner, who seems totally lost, and the Finnish girls, who rarely land more than 3 or 4 Triples in their programs - and those are often the easy ones, Leonova is the best European Lady out there. I just enjoy seeing her skate. Yes, she is not refined or anything, her edging is rather mediocre, her spins average - but she gets the job done, and delights large portions of the audience with her job.
 

Enthusiast

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 21, 2009
:agree: I agree with your post goPC2018.




I don't think her movement of the body and lines were great there either. And you think jumping is unrelated to PCS that much? So... Basically you are saying that no matter how much you mess up the entire performance by popping the jumps, you can still make up the points in PCS.... That doesn't sound right to me because jumps are the most critical parts of the program. According to that logic, a skater who can't do any triple jump could get on ice, and then end up on the 1st position because she gets tremendously high pcs. Hmmmm.. I really enjoyed Mao's jr years, and I thought she was talented. But receiving such high PCS when she messed up the whole program is not fair to the other ladies, who executed their programs so much better by completing their required elements much more successfully. It was painful to watch Mao on the ice, and it looked to me as though she wanted to run away from the ice. Moreover, her spins were slower than usual, and her spiral looked like she was gonna stop on the ice. Don't forget that she didn't meet the 6 second requirement on her spiral in sp, and she still received that ridiculously high pcs.




............... See, this is what I am talking about. We are talking about Mao's PCS being inflated, and you again have to bring in Yuna. Sigh. Some fans say that Yuna's PCS is inflated, but Yuna always received PCS that is LOWER than her TES. On the other hand, Mao here received PCS that was 18-19 points HIGHER than her TES. So, applying that calculation, since Yuna got 43.80 on her sp TES in France, then she should have gotten around 52 on her PCS, which would make her SP to come to a total of 95. WOW. You think that makes any sense???

In reality, Yuna's PCS in sp was 32.28 with a clean performance, whereas Mao's sp PCS was 28.84 with a fall, and 2 jumps missing.... Not even 4 point difference.

Now, let's look at their LP programs. Yuna missed one flip jump, but everything else was flawless. Her TES was 67.55, and her PCS was 66.40, again her PCS being lower than her TES. I remember reading on this forum that some people were saying that her PCS was too high, since she missed that one jump. On the other hand, Mao missed.... gosh I don't even know how many jumps she missed... She missed more than 5... Her TES was only 40.06, but yet her PCS was 59.28.... HUH???

I am sorry, but I cannot agree with you on "whose score is clearly inflated." With a performance like that, Mao should not have gotten a high PCS such as that, and you really cannot compare Mao and Yuna's PCS on the same level.
I just feel bad for Miki, Ashley and Alissa, who performaned so much better than Mao. Especially Miki, I respect that she fixed her edge problems, and she is now clearly improving herself tremendously with her fairly new coach. I don't think Miki deserves any less than Mao. When I saw Mao's PCS, I really doubted what I was seeing.

And for your info, Mao also opens her mouth in "O" shape during bells of moscow...........And during her interview, the media praised her to be extremely expressive...

the other ladies who executed programs better by completing their required elements were justly rewarded in the TES. That's my point.
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
ITA that PCS and TES are not linear, but I also think figurejennah's point is valid and that there should be some correlation. Ashley and Alena skated with vim and vigour - they might not have the streamlined elegance of some of the top-tier skaters like Joannie and Yuna, but I'm sure it will come with time - and I was shocked to see their PCS so low, while Mao who looked harassed and distracted for a good deal of her program received PCS higher than anyone else. Moreover, in the first minute where the 3As are packed, the program is basically devoid of choreography aside from some arm-flailing.

Most importantly, I feel like giving Mao such high PCS at this point just because she deserves benefit of the doubt is actually doing more harm than good. She needs a wake-up call, badly, and giving her a little pat on the back saying 'you had a meltdown but we're still giving you fifth place because we know you're talented' is not helpful at all. No one denies Mao has talent, but talent is nothing unless you nurture it and make sure it is channeled in the right direction. I read a Japanese article this morning that said she's STILL putting in all the 3As in all her programs and there will be no changes, so any warning signs this competition might have given her was lost; if anything the Russian cup placement reassured her that the 3As are the only problem (which is clearly not the case).
I honestly agree with everything you said.

You can say that it is not linearly related but it does not mean that they are totally unrelated. You cannot simply detach technical elements in evaluating PCS. They do make huge difference. The better a program is, the more PCS should depend on TES. If not, something is wrong; either the score is wrong or the program itself is empty.
I was not disagreeing with those statements.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
About the correlation between technical scores and program component scores, I think sometimes people are looking back to the old division rather than at the new.

In the 6.0 system the two scores were technical and presentation (to avoid that much maligned term, "artistic.")

Under the new system, the technical part comprises the individual element scores together with Skating Skills and Transitions. Thus the split in the new system is 70%-30% in favor of tech, compared to 50-50. Supposedly, this new emphasis makes the sport more "sporty."

The skating skills are supposed to be about edges, speed, blade control, etc., appart from jumps, spins and footwork. Transitions means, do some interesting moves in the field, or at least some nice turns and steps, between scored elements.

By the way, Transitions seems to be the program component that the judges are most confident about, and thus it is amost always the lowest of the five component scores.

So I think the intent is that Skating Skills and Transitions are indeed almost completely independent of success of the jump and spin elements. If you fall on every jump you can still do wonderful transitions.

For the other three, I think Steyn's point is valid. If you spend half the program on your backside you are not interpreting the music or executing the choreography very well.

Mao Asada, by the way, has astonishing "Skating Skills," and IMHO always deserves huge marks in that component whether she completes her triple Axel or not. This is not "protocol" judging. It's just the way it is. :)
 

figurejennah

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Exactly, skating and basic skills are a part of the PCS too, too many of us armchair fans associate PCS=performance + failed jumps. Mao's skating, and her lines and posture is execellent

So in that case, Mao won't have to worry about her jumping techniques as much as other skaters. Of course she will have to get those jumps back to win, but she's always got that insurance that she can depend on I guess. Whether she completes the program flawlessly or not, she will be guaranteed to receive high PCS, so how nice is that? As we all know, sometimes the rank can be determined by very little score difference, and PCS often plays the role in determining that. I just think it's so funny how some people think that it's not ok for a skater who delivered a perfect program to receive a high PCS, but a skater who basically bombed the entire program deserved a high PCS. Yes, Mao's PCS score would not have changed who would have gotten the medals, but it did affect who performed in LP and gala. Let's not forget that 2008 world champion was determined by 1 point difference.
 
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