I really appreciate and agree with everything you said. Whatever happens Mirai has given me some very happy skating memories.Originally Posted by Spun Silver
I'm not trying to make excuses, but some compassion as well as negativity is in order at this turning point in Mirai's life. I'm very distressed at the possible waste of such a great talent, but I will try to live in hope, like skfan.
Good luck, Mirai!
Umm, other threads have gotten closed for same things. Everyone has "mental problems" and it is not fair to assess someone via internet and dx them with ADHD. Next we wil hear Aspergers or something else. A lot of youngsters have concentration problems -the last several generations were raised by TV, then, internet. Look at the strange way everyone under 25 or more walks around with ear buds for music while texting non stop about mostly nothing. Twitter is an exercise in rudeless I think, and the fact that people like Charlie Sheen have milions of followers or Ashton Kutcher. Granted these people do some good things but I have much more to share on important topics, and life. Video games have been proven to have a hot of ill affects, and the average child is having learning problems as our schools get stripped of money. It is very common to have difficlty concentrating, but Mirai's is sporadic. I have no idea how much elite skaters have to remember as they go through a CoP long program, but the best skaters make as many or more errors than Mirai, so why these armchair dxs? She reads these baords, or did in the past I read. It's not like I never criticize a skater, but we can say she appears ro show poor concentration, but Fran himself does not know why. It is clearly not severe enough that required assessment at early grades, so I don't think its prudent to say that stuff. I can tell you of a stupid doctor in thee 60's who assessed me for something that had common reasons (I was very underweight) and he said something that I later looked up. It was wrong and traumatized me. So, she reads baords, let us not diagnose her without any data.
I think we all know she is not great at concentrating at times, but only a Phd level neuropsychologist can make these dx's. The average PCP doesn't have the skills and can only guess. If Lori and Frank can't do it for her, I doubt these latest folks (a Hockey player????) will help her. I have long said I can be wrong, but my money is on Vancouver being her best skating and her only Olympics. Its sad for US skating as Mirai was simply magical. Skating seems to keep people a little immature when they are elites doing nothing but. Most skaters seem immature to me compared to counterparts on their own at school with no "team" to make decisions. Mirai is bright with a great family.She'll be fine whatever she chooses.
If there were oodles of money for "free" training for Olympic sports,(America doesn't want to fund basic/special needs education, keep schools open, libraries are cut or closing!) Mirai could stay in and do very well, but that is never going to happen. She can light up a bldg and Scott loves her, so if SOI survives, she will have shows here and in Asia. Of course, I wish her luck, and hope she has some great skating days ahead. I think she loves to skate. US skating cannot compete with other nations who subsidize, or the way Asian skating parents mortgage their homes is a risk most families could not/should not take with no rewards out there re big money to pay off the bills, so...) Maybe she will surprise everyone. I think Frank is a steady, good person. Lori and Frank made MK the skater she was. You don't get much better than what she had. This is a step down for her training/choreo wise. So we shouldn't expect results like she once produced, despite her talent, the other variables don't bode well.
She is adorable, and I will still watch her Olympics. She was the star that night,lighjts out, joyous, not a care in the world-wonderful, memeorable, for me it was the best performance of the ladies.
It would be great if she proves us wrong, and gets all the types of training she needs to catch up with Ashley. Go Mirai!
I guess 'if' there is work issue for Rippon, it only will be off-ice training issue.
Yuna has even said that she was impressed by Rippon & Gao's hard work in her autobiography('7 Minutes Drama' published at january 2010).
I agree!I think that Mirai should be just herself when she skates. This season, I find that she tried to lost her personnality for becoming more mature. And, we can see the difference compared to the olympic season.
I think that she should keep her personnality even if it looks immature, she skates better when she smile
Not sure I agree with you on that Skate Canada 2009. I have the FS on tape. Mirai had a very sloppy mistake filled FS and was correctly hammered by the judges. She got a 156 total in 4th. Czisny likewise had a poor skate with 2 falls, likewise got hammered by the judges and got around 163 in 2nd.
joannie also had a poor skate, fell out of maybe 3 jumps, one with a hand down on the ice. but somehow, she didn't get hammered. She scored a 182.
Scott Hamilton, who did the pbp for US television, went on an extended rant for a few minutes about how Joannie better get her act together with a home Olympics coming up. Of course, Scott was a big Czisny fan, but he couldn't go on an extended rant if their wasn't something obvious to complain about. Mirai did skate poorly and deserved her low score, but Joannie's poor skate got a huge score.
I completely agree with your comments on Mirai's 2011 SC performance. That may be the worst performance Mirai has ever given, very lifeless. Dropped to 5th. She skated a week later in Shanghai, saw it in person. Still a little lifeless, but pretty good technically, 2nd to Kostner and ahead of Sotnikova's senior debut.
Lepisto skated poorly in the SP at 2009 SC, whereas Mirai skated quite well, that's why it was upsetting the former pulled ahead for the Bronze with barely any jump content in the LP. Mirai should have had a sizable lead after the SP but instead she barely had a lead at all because they were judged too much on reputation, Lepisto being the reigning European Champion at the time and Mirai trying to recover from a poor previous season.
I was just watching a clip of 13-year-old Mirai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEPME...feature=relmfu) and wow, wow, wow. Those wonderful Russian wunderkids pale in comparison. The commentator said that she gets up at 4:45, trains for two hours before going to school, goes straight to ballet lessons after school, goes back to her parents' restaurant to eat dinner, does homework, and goes to sleep in the storage room, and then her dad takes her home still sleeping, and gets up the next morning to repeat the whole process again. The dedication that has gone into developing Mirai's talent is just unthinkable. It strikes me that Mirai's really been hit by puberty monster more so than other elite skaters (163-cm with sizeable torso). And trying to find a place for herself in both American and Japanese figure skating milieu is added pressure as well.
It must be hard being Mirai Nagasu, and it's no wonder she's feeling overwhelmed. If she can find a place where she can just be herself, maybe everything will fall into its rightful place.
I agree Mirai when she was 13 could easily have competed with the Russian girls that everyone seems crazy about now. Tuk at 13 had nowhere near the speed or flexibility that Mirai had for instance and Mirai's spins would have blown her away. There was quality in everything in Mirai's skating.
Last edited by Jammers; 04-05-2012 at 07:43 AM.
I didn't realize she was 5'4. That's fairly big for a skater, unless you have a very wiry, long-limbed body type like Carolina. Maybe her problem is just that she's not naturally tiny and pettite,and that caused her to lose ground.
I don't know if she's even a full 5'4" but in any event that's a pretty average size for a figure skater these days. Kostner and Zawadzki are around 5'7", Korpi and Korobeynikova are about 5'6", Czisny, Kim, Meite, Silete, Gao, Gold are all in the vicinity of 5'5", Asada, Ando, Murakami, Lepisto are all like 5'4" so really Mirai's height is not an issue, and plenty of these ladies who are the same height or taller aren't stick figures either and still manage to jump well. Mirai's body did change a lot, but look at Caroline Zhang, she changed her technique and managed to get her jumps back stronger than ever even with her new body type. Further Mirai looks muscular and strong now, if she can land 3a without the harness (albeit cheated), she's clearly a strong and talented jumper. I think it's more a matter of her training.
I thought her training was fine. Her run-through was good, wasn't it?
She needs to learn from Caro. Look at this epic melt-down, and she still kept her performance level up. Removing the jumps, it was an engaging performance until the final spin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExBdQ...eature=related
Mirai can skate great in runthroughs and then freeze up for the FS. Where some skaters (like Kostner or Leonova) turn the switch "on" for performance, Mirai turns her switch to "off".
I agree. When Mirai makes a mistake she stops performing and almost gives up. That's why she falls so far down the standings sometimes. Someone like Sasha kept on going even when she screwed up and that's why she was on so many podiums in her career.
And I am sure that this was completely frustrating to Frank C! (The off switch after a mistake)
If it's true that Carroll stresses not giving up, stressed this to Nagasu, and she's STILL giving up after a mistake- then there's probably not a whole lot of hope for her in that arena. It's true that Cohen never gave up and of course that's the reason why she has an Olympic medal in the first place. If it was Nagasu she would have doomed herself immediately just like at 2010 worlds.
Mirai will turn 19 on April 16. There's still hope.
So much depends on how badly she wants it.
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