Ladies Free Skate

[Olympia]

My thanks to all the posters in this thread, and a special thanks to Morning Glory for the link to Mao's FS video. I am unsure of how to find the icons on this new board lol and I may have hit the wrong Reply function lol, but my gratitude is heartfelt.

I am an admirer of both Mao and Yu-Na, so it makes me happy when either of them do well. I think the rivalry between them adds to the excitement of Ladies' figure skating, and indeed, has raised that discipline to new levels of possibility. They have truly advanced the sport, both of them, and I think we are fortunate to get to see sport of this calibre. Both ladies seem to me to have great courage. I hope they both peak at the Olympics. If they do, it will be amazing, unforgettable sport.

I feel the same way. I love both Mao and YuNa, and I don't ever root for one of them at the expense of the other. Both of them bring something special to skating. That's why I'm so excited to see Mao picking herself up in this competition. I hope she's back to peak form in the Olympics. That will be some show if YuNa and Mao are both at the top of their game.

[Nadine]

Thanks, miki88!

For me, personally, I count the big ones moreso than the GP events, except the GPF! Thus, I didn't include 2006 NHK, but forgot about the 2007 GPF. For some reason I only kept remembering that she scored 123.17 at the 2008 GPF despite being the first woman in history to land two 3Axels in competition!

Anyhow, it's ALL good, Mao just needs to focus & stay consistent (easier said than done, I know!).

My only worry is that I wish for her to skate both a clean SP & LP, which she didn't do here. She'll be out of the running if she doesn't lay down a clean SP. That's her nemesis (reminiscent of Ashley Wagner). It's not either or, it's BOTH.

[PolymerBob]

That was a two footed landing...her left pick is in the ice while her right foot is landing. You can see it clear as day on the slo-mos.

Even after all these months, there is still a Mao / Yu-Na fan war going on over at YouTube. The Mao-bots posted a video of Yu-Na underrotating, and the Yu-Na-bombers posted one of Mao two-footing.

[miki88]

Thanks, miki88!

For me, personally, I count the big ones moreso than the GP events, except the GPF! Thus, I didn't include 2006 NHK, but forgot about the 2007 GPF. For some reason I only kept remembering that she scored 123.17 at the 2008 GPF despite being the first woman in history to land two 3Axels in competition!

Anyhow, it's ALL good, Mao just needs to focus & stay consistent (easier said than done, I know!).

My only worry is that I wish for her to skate both a clean SP & LP, which she didn't do here. She'll be out of the running if she doesn't lay down a clean SP. That's her nemesis (reminiscent of Ashley Wagner). It's not either or, it's BOTH.

You're welcome . I agree about the SP thing. Mao has never been a consistent SP skater. She either makes silly mistakes or something happens. How many times has she has to come back because of a subpar SP? Sigh.

On another note, I found this article kinda interesting ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/sp...30skating.html )
The author says when Yuna heard Mao was not going to GPF, "she tried to hold back a smile". Was Yuna really that relieved Mao wasn't competing against her? If that's true, then Yuna really sees a top form Mao as her only legitimate threat. Or maybe this writer is just trying to set up a showdon

[Nadine]

Lol, I honestly think both the Mao-bots & Yuna-bots are just insane, and unfortunately they BOTH make their respective skater look bad. Not only that, but they make it hard as heck to surf through youtube & look for any skater because they have Mao & Yuna's name in every post, practically.

I don't believe that there is any rivalry whatsoever, I have seen no evidence of it. OTOH, Johnny Weir definitely has a rivalry with Evan (though I don't think Evan necessarily does? with Johnny?). Anyhow, it's totally out & out there, ever since they were kids! I've seen footage of Evan watching Johnny as Johnny consistently used to outscore him time & time again. However, that ALL changed when Evan beat Johnny for his first US Nationals win, and hasn't let go of the lead since. IMHO even though Johnny is the more naturally gifted athlete & artist, it is Evan whom works the hardest, and is more focused. This is why he is so successful, and rightfully so...

[roma]

Caroline Zhang's FS: http://bit.ly/9gpz6n
Alexe Gilles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajJU0r7dFWs
Amanda Dobbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZG4Uc0Q44o

[chapis]

and about that stupid videos, the worst is that Yuna and Mao or their moms, dads, friends, coaches are like we all, if they want to watch theirs performance or another skater, they will find garbage like Mao is [color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color][color=red]*[/color]? or Yuna is hated for all the world!!, the poor girls would be really upset about they being treated like that.

[Morning Glory]

Caroline seemed to be really happy! Really great performances right after such a disappointed Nats.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20...p-spo.view-000
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20...u-spo.view-000

[kandidy]

You're welcome . On another note, I found this article kinda interesting ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/sp...30skating.html )
The author says when Yuna heard Mao was not going to GPF, "she tried to hold back a smile".

Haven't heard of that before, wouldn't it because of reporters usually asked unexpected stuoid questions to her and she was surprised?
I always think Yuna always laugh and relaxed in front of the interview.

Anyway, congrats to al medalists and great little come back for Caroline, I think this is some consolation for her and she will have new motivation to come back strong and fix her technical problems.

[miki88]

miki88, I think it's the latter. i think find this author saying kim "fought to hold back a smile" pretty laughable. a little stretch of imagination? as a fan who have been rooting for her since her junior years, i find this kind of nonsense somewhat disturbing. is it really how they see her??? holding back a smile because one of her rivals didn't make it to GPF?
kim is very well known for being considerate, kind and respectful. during recent korean press conference, yuna said firmly that she believes mao will overcome whatever she's struggling with and will come back to olympic stronger. of course yuna sees mao as her big threat... afterall, isn't it same way for mao? sorry my reply is getting longer, but i just dislike the negative image this author is tyring to portray and am sad that many will believe this is true. why can't they just enjoy yuna/mao' awesome skating?
yuna and mao were once good friends. it is unfortunate that more and more articles like this make it harder for them to stay as good friends. must be real tough for two 19 year-olds.. i really feel for them already

Yea you're probably right. Actually I also found that line quite funny so I just wanted to know what others thought of it. I remember seeing a picture of Yuna and Mao together at a party held for skaters, and they were really friendly with each other. But this was when they were younger; it's probably harder for them now. Sigh.

[christinaskater]

Caroline Zhang's LP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOkkpgnKCbo

[aftertherain]

Medal Ceremony (Snippet):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzInX0bbMQ

Look at the smiles on all their faces. :D

[Bennett]

I am a bit surprised that Mao's second 3A was not DGed. She was DGed with even cleaner looking ones. The judges here were more lenient than some others?

[Figure88]

PolymerBob

Even after all these months, there is still a Mao / Yu-Na fan war going on over at YouTube. The Mao-bots posted a video of Yu-Na underrotating, and the Yu-Na-bombers posted one of Mao two-footing.

Excuse me? I have no idea what is going on in youtube. I came across this video when I was reviewing performances that won medals in international competition during previous years. You should at the very least come up with concrete evidence before accusing someone.

All I said was that 133 is bit high for a performance with a 2 footed landing and an UR penalty. I think that is fair. I found it a little weird Nadine would deny that Mao 2 footed a landing during that international competition. That's the reason I linked another video as further evidence.

[Figure88]

On another note, I found this article kinda interesting ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/sp...30skating.html )
The author says when Yuna heard Mao was not going to GPF, "she tried to hold back a smile". Was Yuna really that relieved Mao wasn't competing against her? If that's true, then Yuna really sees a top form Mao as her only legitimate threat. Or maybe this writer is just trying to set up a showdon

I find it's Mao fans that like to play up the rivalry, really. And always, with the nastiest comments about Yuna. I find it a little tiresome. I don't think Yuna fans really care that much about Mao. I mean, Yuna is already at the top.