I know. It was tough to watch, even though I kinda expected it since she said she was reworking her jumps. But I think this is needed in order for Mao to be a strong contender in four year. It's the only way for Mao to bring back her lutz and 3/3. It's better to fall now then for her to reach a roadblock by the time the next Olympics comes.Originally Posted by Layfan
But it depends on what the others do. Like if the really Mao Asada comes back to us. I haven't watched her LP. I can't bear it.
Thanks Miki! Your post was positive and lifted my spirits about Mao somewhat
she would have smiled had she enjoyed doing what she was doing. poor girl didn't really have a choice.
Only thing is, Mao never had a true lutz. I love Mao, but her jump technique has always been questionable. I hope she can fix it. She is such a beautiful skater otherwise.
Apart from getting edge calls on her lutz, what's wrong with her jump technique?
She's known to under-rotate her jumps and receive downgrades. Lutz and Salchow are problem jumps for her. This season she also seems to have lost her flip too.
She has issues with the entrances to her toe jumps (flip/lutz). Mao's flip is usually affected when she starts fixing her flutz. The two jumps are kinda related.
I never thought the salchow was such a problem jump for her. I just think Mao doesn't like that jump much. Btw, she has landed all the sals she has attempted so far this season.
Last edited by miki88; 10-24-2010 at 09:29 PM.
It stands to reason that Mao's having flip problems while trying to fix her flutz, because in reality, she's been doing two flips, not lutz and flip. It's too bad that she waited until she was 20 years old to rework her jumps. She's less likely to be successful now because habits ingrained over the past 8 years are hard to undo.
Joannie Rochette successfully reworked her lutz, but she was in her mid teens, and she basically took a year off from competition to just work on that jump. Joannie hadn't had big successes yet, so the 'lost' year was a good investment for the future.
It's true it's much more difficult for Mao at her age, but perhaps it was worth the wait in her case. She already won all the big prizes except the Olympic gold. Will Joannie have as much success in the future? I don't know. She certainly has the capability but there are also many young challengers waiting in the wings.
Finally saw Mao's LP and felt so sad for her. It is so brave of her to commit to fully overhauling her jump technique, when she has already won Olympic silver and World gold. It just shows how dedicated she is, and just how much she loves figure skating through and through. I have no doubt that Mao will fix her jumps well before Sochi.
On a positive note, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she landed a salchow again, and her speed and flow over the ice had improved. And she was just so, so beautiful.
Actually, under the CoP, that is a viable strategy. Sort of like the debate about quads for men.
A skater might well figure it is a better bet to back off the tech and try to win by garnering points in other areas. Under 6.0 judging this could not happen. You had to bring the tech (and cleanly, too.) Then, among those that did, the winner was decided by the second mark. But you couldn't win a major championship with three weak triples no matter what.
The other thing you couldn't do under CoP judging is win the competition in the short program. The most the short program could do was put you in position to skate for the championship in the long.
Exactly. She will always be a two-time world champion and an Olympic silver medalist no matter what. Who knows if she is too old to start reworking her technique but she has four years until the next Olympics, so I think it's smart. Even if Mao does have "lost" year, so what? She's already a star.
Didn't Mao also have problems with the triple toe also? I think she has or had problems with all the toe jumps. And didn't she also have a rough start last year too, but came back with an Olympic silver and the World gold.
I watched the ladies Lp last night, WHY nobody warned meI dont know what to comment
She does the two-footed salchow (instead of letting the free leg simply "sweep" the ice), which can come across as a variant of the 3Lo or 3T. Goebel got into a fuss over this. ISU counts it, though. Purists don't.
I hope her overhaul process addresses the developing mule-kick. It's gotten worse.
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