2012 NHK Ladies Free Skate

[Mao88]

LADIES FREE SKATE - VIDEOS & RESULT

1. Mao ASADA (JPN) - 185.27 Free Skate
2. Akiko SUZUKI (JPN) - 185.22 Free Skate
3. Mirai NAGASU (USA) - 176.68 Free Skate
4. Zijun LI (CHN) - 174.11 Free Skate, 2nd Copy
5. Agnes ZAWADZKI (USA) - 160.37
6. Elene GEDEVANISHVILI (GEO) - 156.96
7. Ksenia MAKAROVA (RUS) - 156.52
8. Haruka IMAI (JPN) - 145.42
9. Sofia BIRYUKOVA (RUS) - 139.12

[jChamp]

another hater

if you bothered to look at the protocols everything is explained there, Mao almost had a 10 points lead over akiko going into the free skate that's a huge lead! and what you guys seem to forget is that akiko did win the free skate, but at the end of the day what led her to losing was that akiko messed her sp, and even through asada made mistakes on some of her jumps, she made sure that those mistakes didn't affect the other elements!

Do you actually watch the performances or just look at the protocols? I definitely don't think they explain everything. In what ways are Asada's PCS components so much better than Suzuki's today? I also don't agree with judges awarding +1 and +2 GOE for her doubled jumps and 0 GOE for a double flutz and 1S.

You keep mentioning Suzuki's huge mistake in the SP, but I don't see how one singled jump is worse than three doubled + 1 singled jump from Asada. I also don't agree that those mistakes have no effect on the performance. They do.

[Olympia]

I've just read through the thread. This is mind-boggling. I love Mao, but from what everyone says, she was far from gold medal quality today. What an embarrassing situation. She didn't fix the judging, but if the judges gifted her with this win, they put her into the incredibly awkward position of looking as if she personally robbed Akiko of a well-deserved gold. That creates pain for both Akiko and Mao, and neither of those ladies is in a position to change the outcome.

I think another country should adopt Akiko. I volunteer the United States to be her new skating federation! Or maybe she could go to Switzerland. Or even Australia!

[MaiKatze]

Because everyone is blaming the JSF. Are the judges for NHK all japanese?

[axelmaster]

Argument that ignores the technical level is meaningless...
Do not contempt to specially mao.

Problems in judges and ISU rules(and JSF).

[plushyfan]

True joy to watch?

Are you serious or just kidding?

Joy to watch her SP, that 's true.

[StellaCampo]

Because everyone is blaming the JSF. Are the judges for NHK all japanese?

NO. This is the interesting thing. Conspiracy theory needs to explain the precise causal link. In fact, promoting just one skater is contrary to JSF policy. I saw a video on youtube where Noriko Shirota, JSF official, said that after the failure of promoting Midori Ito just her and no one else they realised putting all eggs in one basket (or one egg in one basket?) is not a good strategy. Their aim after Midori era is therefore to have multiple skaters all aiming the podium. You can see this has been partly achieved for men in this year's GP series. I don't see why it should be different for ladies. Today's judging is wrong but the mechanism should be explained. I am completely puzzled.

[queen_of_ice]

Figure Skating is not a sport anymore.

I'm afraid it might be kicked out of the Olympics.

[Nadia01]

I think another country should adopt Akiko. I volunteer the United States to be her new skating federation! Or maybe she could go to Switzerland. Or even Australia!

America would LOVE to have a skater of Akiko's skills, work ethics and presentation. Akiko would score so much better if she had her federation to back her (or at least not actively sabotage her).

If America had Akiko skating for them this year, it could have potentially won 3 spots for Sochi (along w/ Ashley they'd do well enough for it). But since Akiko skates for Japan, she'll continue to be robbed as her federation has ZERO love for her. It actively seems to hate her.

[Nadia01]

NO. This is the interesting thing. Conspiracy theory needs to explain the precise causal link. In fact, promoting just one skater is contrary to JSF policy. I saw a video on youtube where Noriko Shirota, JSF official, said that after the failure of promoting Midori Ito just her and no one else they realised putting all eggs in one basket (or one egg in one basket?) is not a good strategy. Their aim after Midori era is therefore to have multiple skaters all aiming the podium. You can see this has been partly achieved for men in this year's GP series. I don't see why it should be different for ladies. Today's judging is wrong but the mechanism should be explained. I am completely puzzled.

Sponsorship $.

[glam]

I think you are a blinded by your jalousy, everyone knows that the sp is the key to victory, and we have seen this many times before! and when it comes to the rest of you're comments i will just ignore it, cause by the end of the day everything is explained in the protocols, and the final results speaks for itself honey!

Well, the sp is not the key to the victory anymore, it depends on the skater. Look what happened to Amodio last week end.

[jasminum]

NO. This is the interesting thing. Conspiracy theory needs to explain the precise causal link. In fact, promoting just one skater is contrary to JSF policy. I saw a video on youtube where Noriko Shirota, JSF official, said that after the failure of promoting Midori Ito just her and no one else they realised putting all eggs in one basket (or one egg in one basket?) is not a good strategy. Their aim after Midori era is therefore to have multiple skaters all aiming the podium. You can see this has been partly achieved for men in this year's GP series. I don't see why it should be different for ladies. Today's judging is wrong but the mechanism should be explained. I am completely puzzled.

You are right. In their efforts to find potential skaters in novice class from all over Japan JSF started Nobeyama camp. It's been working very well. Shizuka, Miki, Mao, Akiko, Yukina, Dai, Nobu, Taka were among those who took part of it.

[mary01]

Well, the sp is not the key to the victory anymore, it depends on the skater. Look what happened to Amodio last week end.

yeah but 95% of the time it is!

[Li'Kitsu]

I haven't watched the FPs yet, but it does seem odd to me that people continually lash out at the skaters that questionably place ahead of her (Leonova, Osmond, and now Asada). I'm quite an appreciator of Suzuki and hate to see her edged out like this when she's had the better skate, but given the pattern it does seem to be more about not scoring her highly enough than scoring a series of other skaters too high.

This exactly. Akiko was robbed again, but instead of people mainly being sorry for Akiko, quite a lot are coming up to hate Mao (or before her Kaetlyn or Alena - although the latter does get the hate on a rather general basis).

It's not as if bashing Mao now would help Akiko, or as if she'd want to hear something like this. I really adore both of them. It's an awful situation for them both and both tried to keep their smile.

And Akiko has always been a classy act. You don't hear her complain or envy others, no matter how underrated she is. I think she's been lowballed for years now. She's got the determination and the storng will of a real fighter, but it doesn't look stubborn one bit. Everything about her seems so positive, elegant and light. I feel so sorry for her now, 'cause just before this competition there was an interview in which she said she considered quitting. And look at how she skated today. She said she felt she still had something to offer, and could still get better - and hell was she right. But she's not getting the jugdes appreciation for that. And I really, really don't get why.

Edited, because I need to learn to watch my mouth

[Jammers]

Sounds like Mao is getting the treatment that Chan has been getting for the last couple years but at Patrick can land a few triple jumps. Mao has been regressing technically for over 3 years now yet is still being held up. Say what you want about Carolina but at least she was landing more then 3 triple jumps last season when she was winning.