Mao Asada: Olympic Gold Medal Favourite? | Page 10 | Golden Skate

Mao Asada: Olympic Gold Medal Favourite?

RABID

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
right now after watching both of them competing
they are in a almost in a deadlock for the gold with Yuna in a slight advantage as the reigning OGM

It will be interesting. I watched the NBC broadcast and Johny seems to think Mao is the favorite and YuNa the only one who MIGHT catch her. Either way Kim is not the runaway favorite anymore. The way I see it if YuNa wins she's the greatest ever, if Mao wins then their RIVALRY is the greatest ever.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Are you taking that score seriously? Ando was given 32+ in PCS and it alone makes everything dubious.
69 points is the right estimate in Sochi.

Oh please. Kim's performance was far better than her Worlds SP, even with her double axel mistake, so she wouldnt be getting a 69. You really think she would score any lower for that skate than Julia's COR which got a 72, LOL!
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Are you taking that score seriously? Ando was given 32+ in PCS and it alone makes everything dubious.
69 points is the right estimate in Sochi.

Well, by that logic, 148 points for Yuna's LP is the right estimate for Sochi, too. :)
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
It will be interesting. I watched the NBC broadcast and Johny seems to think Mao is the favorite and YuNa the only one who MIGHT catch her. Either way Kim is not the runaway favorite anymore. The way I see it if YuNa wins she's the greatest ever, if Mao wins then their RIVALRY is the greatest ever.

Based on the Grand Prix, of course. But Mao and Yuna didn't just appear on the scene this season. I do think this perception of Mao being the favorite will be a good thing for Yuna's own performance, like Worlds 2013 when everyone doubted her (even myself). She's a bit of a perfectionist so it's only going to motivate her.

On the other hand, if Yuna is beaten by a clean Mao who manages a clean SP with a 3Axel and clean LP with 7-8 triples with two triple Axels, well, I'll be quite happy knowing just what it took for her to take down Yuna. :bow:
 

Peach

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 30, 2013
It will be interesting. I watched the NBC broadcast and Johny seems to think Mao is the favorite and YuNa the only one who MIGHT catch her. Either way Kim is not the runaway favorite anymore. The way I see it if YuNa wins she's the greatest ever, if Mao wins then their RIVALRY is the greatest ever.

Yeah I agree. If Yuna wins, she's going to be the greatest ever (or at least top 3) and if Mao wins, then each of them will have one olympic gold medal and 2 world titles (I don't see Mao going for her 3rd world title after Sochi if she wins the olympics). Their rivarly is going to be the greatest rivalry that has ever existed (in the figure skating world at least).
 

Bartek

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Kim still has the advantage. Kim errs on a 2A and gets a higher scores in her SP. Asada has yet to do a clean FS. I'm going to take Zagreb with a grain of salt since Kim was (other than the FS) landing her 3-3 with ease, whereas Mao is still hit or miss on her 3A in practices and competition.

Actually it seems that in practice Mao lands most of her triple axels ceanly. If you look at the reports or practice videos.
 

andyjo24

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Actually it seems that in practice Mao lands most of her triple axels ceanly. If you look at the reports or practice videos.

Doing it in practice and in the actual performance are two completely different things. Mao lands 3flip-3loop in practice and the warmup but has failed to have done it in the actual performance. Maybe it's a mental thing?
 

NMURA

Medalist
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Asada usually skates best in February.
In this season, the baseline is much higher than four years ago.
She had a rough GP season but landed three Axels in Vancouver.
Since there's no worry about other jumps, she can concentrate on it.

I doubt the effectiveness of two Axels in the FS though.
 

Bartek

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Asada usually skates best in February.
In this season, the baseline is much higher than four years ago.
She had a rough GP season but landed three Axels in Vancouver.
Since there's no worry about other jumps, she can concentrate on it.

I doubt the effectiveness of two Axels in the FS though.

It is also worth noticing that apart from the triple axel Mao consistently lands the remaining 5 jumping passes in each performance. In the SP it's the same story and her flip finally has good flow on the landing that enables her to achieve a beatiful ladning posistion and gives judges the reason to up her GEO. In general, Mao's GOE on the jumps has increased substantially when compared with last season. She gets around +1,00 for every flip, loop and now even salchow. Tarasova added creative exit to the salchow (a little hop in the opposite direction) and the GEO is higher. Spins are also somewhere around +1,00 but it could be improved.
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
It is also worth noticing that apart from the triple axel Mao consistently lands the remaining 5 jumping passes in each performance. In the SP it's the same story and her flip finally has good flow on the landing that enables her to achieve a beatiful ladning posistion and gives judges the reason to up her GEO. In general, Mao's GOE on the jumps has increased substantially when compared with last season. She gets around +1,00 for every flip, loop and now even salchow. Tarasova added creative exit to the salchow (a little hop in the opposite direction) and the GEO is higher. Spins are also somewhere around +1,00 but it could be improved.

Agree her spins could be improve. She mentioned after the GPF that her back prevented her from practicing her spins more. So I guees, her team decided that is more important for her to practice her jumps than her spins. She mentioned that prior to the GPF her back pain got worse
 

Colanboy

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
It is also worth noticing that apart from the triple axel Mao consistently lands the remaining 5 jumping passes in each performance. In the SP it's the same story and her flip finally has good flow on the landing that enables her to achieve a beatiful ladning posistion and gives judges the reason to up her GEO. In general, Mao's GOE on the jumps has increased substantially when compared with last season. She gets around +1,00 for every flip, loop and now even salchow. Tarasova added creative exit to the salchow (a little hop in the opposite direction) and the GEO is higher. Spins are also somewhere around +1,00 but it could be improved.

No she doesn't. She's been very hit or miss with her salchow, doubling it almost as often as she hits it.
Also, this is the second time this season that her double loops have been called underrotated. For such a simple jump, this really hurts her base value and GOE
Compared to NHK, her 3F-2Lo-2Lo earned 2.40 fewer points at GPF.
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
No she doesn't. She's been very hit or miss with her salchow, doubling it almost as often as she hits it.
Also, this is the second time this season that her double loops have been called underrotated. For such a simple jump, this really hurts her base value and GOE
Compared to NHK, her 3F-2Lo-2Lo earned 2.40 fewer points at GPF.

Her 3F-2lo-2lo was much closer to the boards at the GPF compared to at NHK, so no wonder that the latter turned out better then the first. As for the 3S she landed it in all the competitions she attended except NHK where she double it, so no need to exaggerate!
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Mao needs to NOT try two 3As in the FS. She got less credit for falling on one 3A and URing the second not in combo than she would have gotten for doing one clean 3A. Too much risk for too little return. And it looks bad to start off a FS with a double whammy.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Mao needs to NOT try two 3As in the FS. She got less credit for falling on one 3A and URing the second not in combo than she would have gotten for doing one clean 3A. Too much risk for too little return. And it looks bad to start off a FS with a double whammy.
Absolutely agree! A first half with 3A, 3F+3Lo and 3Flutz is a lot better than a 3A, 3A+2T and 3F, more secure for Mao (even if her 3F+3Lo is called UR)...
 

Colanboy

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Her 3F-2lo-2lo was much closer to the boards at the GPF compared to at NHK, so no wonder that the latter turned out better then the first. As for the 3S she landed it in all the competitions she attended except NHK where she double it, so no need to exaggerate!

Mao doubled it at 4cc, hit it at worlds, underrotated it at WTT, had a hand down at Japan Open, hit it at Skate America, doubled it at NHK, then hit it at GPF. That's roughly a 50% success rate.
 

desertskates

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
I don't think either lady has a lock on it. Mao had a great season, Yuna has 2 months to work things out. It will make for some interesting watching. :popcorn:
If I had to venture any kind of guess:
1&2- Yuna and Mao in any order. 3- Julia, 4- Ashley (the almost girl), 5- Akiko, 6- other Russian, then Carolina and Gracie???
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Actually it seems that in practice Mao lands most of her triple axels ceanly. If you look at the reports or practice videos.

Reports and practice videos are modified to showcase the skater. If out of 15 attempts a skater lands a quad or 3A once they will air the clean attempt and people will believe that they're landing elements consistently. It's what happens in competition that counts and as mentioned she has not the best success rate.
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Mao doubled it at 4cc, hit it at worlds, underrotated it at WTT, had a hand down at Japan Open, hit it at Skate America, doubled it at NHK, then hit it at GPF. That's roughly a 50% success rate.

Now we are suddenly talking about last season? Well that's fine with me, out of the 7 attempt you mentioned she landed it 5 times. She may not have milked every point she could from this element each time, but That's not the same as " a hit or a miss " like you originally phased it.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Reports and practice videos are modified to showcase the skater. If out of 15 attempts a skater lands a quad or 3A once they will air the clean attempt and people will believe that they're landing elements consistently. It's what happens in competition that counts and as mentioned she has not the best success rate.

Or they will zone in on the few times you actually fall.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I've seen many more "clean" practice reports than ones that show skaters falling (unless it's like a run-through or something).
 
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