2012 NHK Ladies Free Skate

[Mirunna]

It really looks more like a beauty pageant now. Asada always gets high PCS because she's pretty and rich no matter how many mistakes disrupt her performance. Suzuki never receives PCS her performance deserves because she's old and not pretty or rich enough.

This is completely unnecessary and I hate it when people bash the skaters for the system's faults.

[mary01]

185.22 vs. 185.27???? That's really bad luck for Akiko Suzuki.

it was really sooooo close!

[mikeko666]

I don't agree, the same happened for akiko last year at NHK where akiko made big error in the free, but still won.

Suzuki's FS last year was nowhere near lifeless as Asada's this year.

[christinaskater]

I have to agree that skating is starting to turn into one big beauty pageant.

Akiko is one of the best skaters and she doesn't get the PCS scores she deserves because she is not as pretty as the others which is unfair.

It's about the beauty of skating. Akiko may not be one of the prettiest but she is beautiful in her own right.

She may not get the endorsements and the publicity as other superstars but she is a superstar in her own right.

[PftJump]

This...is not surprised...
Mao's TES score is always super lower than her PCS.

NHK trophy is jpn sponcered competition.
I really understand this result. Beloved ASADA, Hated SUZUKI.

[yuki]

it was really sooooo close!

The problem is, it shouldn't have been. Akiko was lowballed on PCS (again!) for what is probably the best LP she has ever skated. Mao shouldn't have even been ahead of Mirai in the LP here, yet she edged Akiko for the gold. That was completely unnecessary and a slap in the face for Akiko. Even if Akiko had been first and Mao second, they would have both still qualified for the GPF.

[Li'Kitsu]

I agree but it's clear by watching the protocol the judges tried hard to let her win. Huge GOE on everything she did. The triples she did were OK, but not worthy of +2 GOE, for example. She got the benefit of the doubt for the first time in years on the 3 jump combo(when is the last time she got one completely ratified)?
I don't think the PCS Mao got were the problem, but the GOE she received IMO. This is were she won.
And Akiko should have won in Canada also. She really should skate for another country

I actually think the GOE for her spins and steps were okay, could have been a little less but nothing that would make me think of a scandal or maybe a little too much vodka before the event. And the 3Lo+2Lo+2Lo looked rotated to me and it didn't really get GOE at all. So the only elements I think were overscored were the 3F and 2A+3T - but that's just about 2 points. She would have still been way ahead of Mirai... it's weird, how I can look at those protocols and agree with the single elements scoring, but not with the whole.

Besides that, just to have said it once more: poor Akiko was low-balled in PCS. Someday I'm going to visit an event where she skates just to throwing something that stinks like hell at those jugdes

[PftJump]

Considering margin between MAO and AKIKO...
Judges are super mathmaticians, Maybe...

[pitterpatter]

With her lead from the SP and knowing her PCS scores, I actually would've been okay with her placing second, since Mirai had a number of UR issues. But Akiko...

[quikrush]

I totally admire Suzuki for keeping a smile on her face. It must have taken a superhuman effort.

[PftJump]

three doubling, one singling...only 3 triples...missed one combination...

and got 117.

what a super...

[pitterpatter]

ALSO - thanks sequinsgalore for the pbp!

[naan]

I couldn't believe my eyes. Wow, it was a joke! One of the worst and unfair judging I've ever seen.
Poor Akiko She's my favorite Japanese lady, but she's always underscored. She wuzrobbed at SC, too.

Mao should have been 3rd or 4th... 64.54 for PCS with that blah performance?
Even her 3F in SP looked UR. ( I thought it was fluz...) And she got GOE on double jumps! 1.2 GOE for her 2A+3T? I thought Mirai's 2A+3T was better, but she got 0.5 for that..
Even Mao's clean jumps all looked small. I don't think her other elements were great. OK, her SP step was fab, but not her LP. She looked slow today. Her spin was not fast..
I don't understand how she got almost 53 for TES...

[Mirunna]

Even her 3F in SP looked UR. ( I thought it was fluz...)

How can a 3Flip be a flutz?

[naan]

How can a 3Flip be a flutz?

I don't know.. It looked like flutz to me, but when I watched second time, it was surely 3F ( I remember some commentators called her 3F 3Lz before, haha!)