I have a hard time believing that Yu Na got anything less than a standing, roaring ovation after that perfect skate. The Canadian audiences know what they're looking at. They know the technical achievement she did, and perhaps more importantly, the mental one in overcoming the intense pressure on her. She could've skated to Ke$ha reciting the phonebook and they would've given her a standing ovation.
But I agree with your assessment of her program. It's actually my favorite competitive program of all the ladies this season. It's serene, joyful and yet has a sense of fun and flirtation (though the last two surely comes from Yu Na herself). I love the little bit of footwork sequence with the 3salchow sandwiched seamlessly in. She just floats across the ice like a watercolor brush to the peaceful yet delirious music. And yes, the music is peaceful, but it is by no means bland, it's got dynamics and rhythmic variations and color, all of which the choreography interprets beautifully. It's a very sophisticated work of art and a delightful contrast to her raucous, crowd-pleasing short program.
I'm so with you. I was so worried at first at her unusual choice of music - especially after the rousing Scheherazade of the previous season - and even after I watched it for the first time at TEB I was still feeling unsure, but then I realized that it was simply the most INTERESTING program I'd ever watched. I began to appreciate the transitions, the flow, the capricious changes in mood, the fun and the intensity. The music is extremely unpredictable - David Wilson talked about how difficult it was to edit Gershwin - and that in itself made skating to it such a challenge. There is no single way to pin down this program, it's simultaneously coy, sophisticated, even humorous. I'm both awed and thrilled that Yuna's Olympic season program was this one.
I really liked Mirai today too, but let's not hand out gold medal for Sochi just yet, that's just not fair to Vancouver that has just given us one of the greatest Olympics ever when it comes to ladies' figure skating Moreover, 4 years is a long time... nobody would have had Yuna beat Mao handily if they took a survey four years ago in Torino. I really do like some of the young skaters we saw today, and really hope they all realize their potentials.
Congratulations to Yu-na !
Mao...in fact, the silver medal is for Joannie not for you... Mao, you're a jump cheater...You just don't deserve it.
Even Ando was way better. Mao, you're such a cheat.
Congratulations to Yu-na !
Mao...in fact, the silver medal is for Joannie not for you... Mao, you're a jump cheater...You just don't deserve it.
Even Ando was way better. Mao, you're such a cheat.
Actually Kim would have scored 266.08 if she skated in 2006 lol They had qualifying round which gave skaters extra 20-40 points. Mao would have scored 238.43 and Joannie 235.46. And Kimmie Meissner actually scored 218.33 at the 2006 Worlds!
The qualifying round is your free skate score factorised by 0.25... It's gone now!
Kimmie would have came 9th with her score in 2006 behind Laura Lepisto at this Olympic games!!:agree:
Actually Kim would have scored 266.08 if she skated in 2006 lol They had qualifying round which gave skaters extra 20-40 points. Mao would have scored 238.43 and Joannie 235.46. And Kimmie Meissner actually scored 218.33 at the 2006 Worlds!Kim Yuna deserved to win, but why is that 228 total hyped as the world record? Kimmie Meissner scored 236 when she won 2006 Worlds. Stop calling Kim's 228 the world record!! It's Kimmie Meissner's 236 at 2006 Worlds! Get a Life! Grrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh!
The qualifying round is your free skate score factorised by 0.25... It's gone now!
Kimmie would have came 9th with her score in 2006 behind Laura Lepisto at this Olympic games!!:agree:
Actually it went something like this:
Mao: I'm vexed.
Interviewer: Why are you vexed? What was the most vexing thing?
Mao: I made 2 mistakes.
Interviewer: Oh. Tell us about your triple toe. What happened?
Mao: (trying to compose herself again)
Don't you think that's just nasty? :-(
Ugh. What kind of idiot asks her "why are you vexed"?
You hear that, jsteam4501s? That's the bell 'cause you just got schooled.
Tweaked? You say Tweaked? Did anyone with ISU or IOC actually hold a press conference and officially announce that the "Pre-Tweak scores do not count" ?
Also, Aftertherain, I have a life, and I was not addressing that remark to YOU, but to the officials and the announcers who think that a mere "tweak" is enough of a change to justify calling the pre-tweak scores meaningless, or rendering them meaningless in the official records of Figure Skating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op_2klX3Nfs
Mao's interview!! the description of that post in wrong... The interviewer isn't asking that kind of question!! Mao did say that she was very disappointed with her performance though... And that's why she's crying...
Translation:
Interviewer: What was your four minutes like?? ( FS )
Mao Asada: Well... It was really... Long but short at the same time...
Interviewer: Which part of the program did you feel that?
Mao starts crying... Trying to compose herself...
Mao Asada: It was four minutes... I was thinking too much and I thought it very was long... But if I look back it was finished so quickly...
Interviewer: Before your performance, you were listening to music... ( Almost crying... ) What was going on in your mind?
Mao Asada: But, I think I did what I was capable of.. But I'm still unhappy about the performance... But I did what I'm capable of...
Interviewer:You landed all of your triple axels at the Olympic stage and did you grain any confidence because of that?
Mao Asada: Yeah... I landed two of my triple axels so that went really well but because I made mistakes in the other parts, I'm not happy about it.
Interviewer: If you look back in to the last four years, I know you had many different stages, some difficult...l... If you return back home later , what will you be thinking about most?
Mao Asada: But, the performance it self, I wasn't happy about it and the triple axesl was the only good part of the program.
Mao Asada: Thank you very much.
It took me a while to translate it!!
lol. Who even cares about the scoring? It was obvious everyone was overscored tonight, probably to make sure that the winning skate would break a world record, whether it deserved to or not.
I like what the woman on NBC commented on ladies free skate a few minutes ago (sorry don't know her name) - "There's only one winner, but there were a lot of victories." I find it especially true for the last group of skaters. They all showed what they could do. I am saddened to look Mao disappointed because she didn't have the perfect skate, but she also wrote history landing three 3 axles in an Olympic competition.
And regarding Yuna's performance not having the 'fire', which would stir up the audience toward the end, I think her free program was designed to have more flow like water streams than fire. This is more like her Lark Ascending than Scheherazade, you don't really know when is the climax, (there's no place in the program you can clap to the rhythm of the music) but you can't take your eyes off of her until you realize the program is almost over.