What is the best strategy for amazing Asada to challenge incredible Kim at the Games? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

What is the best strategy for amazing Asada to challenge incredible Kim at the Games?

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
I really think Yu-Na needs one or two more outings before Sochi. She needs these programs under competitive scrutiny. Does she plan to go to Korean Nationals or 4CC? If she goes to 4CC perhaps she can see how her programs stack up against Mao's.
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
There's no real need to change her strategy. A sloppy skate with monstrous difficulty can get her a silver. A clean skate with monstrous difficulty can get her the gold. A clean skate without monstrous difficulty looks better than the first possibility and can also get her the silver but it's not like she always skates clean with watered down content, and if she does it then she'd be handing the gold to Yuna on a platter. Unless she starts bombing, I don't see how changing her strategy will help. She's done all the reworking she could fit in 4 years and restored all the jumps she can reasonably attempt. Now she needs to work with what she has.

I think Mao would rather win silver with a flawed, but extremely difficult program, than silver with a clean watered-down program. Of course she'd prefer gold in any case, but if she must lose to Kim again, I would think the former is the "lesser of two evils". So I don't see her changing up her plan at all.
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
If she can hit all her planned content without getting under-rotation calls, she should be able to win. She still has two months to get her sal more stable; it's still hit or miss at the moment, and work on the landing of her axel. Vancouver Olympics was the first time Yuna did her SP and FP perfectly. Maybe Sochi will be the first time Mao does her programs perfectly.
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
If she can hit all her planned content without getting under-rotation calls, she should be able to win. She still has two months to get her sal more stable; it's still hit or miss at the moment, and work on the landing of her axel. Vancouver Olympics was the first time Yuna did her SP and FP perfectly. Maybe Sochi will be the first time Mao does her programs perfectly.

Has Mao ever done two perfect SP/LPs? Perhaps in the 2005-2008 period?

Seriously, can Mao and Yu-Na just tie for gold in Sochi? :cry: :cry: :cry: I don't want any of either to lose.
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Has Mao ever done two perfect SP/LPs? Perhaps in the 2005-2008 period?

Seriously, can Mao and Yu-Na just tie for gold in Sochi? :cry: :cry: :cry: I don't want any of either to lose.

Well, no. But she might be able to, though it will be very difficult. BTW, Yuna has done her SP/FP both perfectly only once in her career, too. She got a lip call at Worlds last season, which was the next closest performance to perfect she achieved.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Has Mao ever done two perfect SP/LPs? Perhaps in the 2005-2008 period?

Seriously, can Mao and Yu-Na just tie for gold in Sochi? :cry: :cry: :cry: I don't want any of either to lose.
Surprisingly, the closest she came to a perfect SP & LP was Worlds 2010 (both 3A-2T combinations downgraded, but wrongly IMO). Or maybe not so surprisingly, as her attempted content was slightly less than in the previous years.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France

Well, you see, until recently Yu-Na was actually a vampire. She tried to contain her emotions and relent from engaging in affectionate embraces with the blood drinker she fell in love with, but it was too much. Her heart yearned too greatly. Soon after being turned (actually very uncommon, most people simply die, which is why more vampires don't exist in our world), her lover abandoned her for another. Apparently this vampire, an acquaintance of Tatiana Tarasova, has a fetish for turning famous Asian women. They were never actually in love with Yu-Na and just feigned it in order to get a taste of her sweet blood.

Yu-na, now heart broken and ashamed of her vampyric state, paid an extraordinary sum of money to a group of mystic experts so that they would quest into the Arirang mountain and hopefully procure an ancient remedy for her malady. It's said that only few extremely talented and lucky individuals are able to complete the quest every century. People are plucked out of childhood and trained in the arts their whole lives just to fulfill this purpose, but the task is nearly impossible. While living out her days as a vampire, uncertain if she would actually be cured, Yu-Na decided to also experiment with radical scientific procedures in order to cleanse herself.

One very diabolical scientist said he had a cure for Yu-Na, which had so far been successful on mice. She was willing to try anything and underwent the surgery. The scientist had lied to her, though. What he actually wanted was to experiment on her supernaturally altered body, trying genetic mutations that would quickly kill any normal human. His experiment was successful; he altered the DNA of the bones in Yu-Na's legs to make them nearly unbreakable, which was tested by trying to slice through part of her lower leg with a silver saber. However, a side effect was caused by this procedure: Yu-Na was in immense pain daily as the genetic mutation constantly created internal pressure within her body. Enraged by the scientist's treachery after discovering what he had really done, Yu-Na quickly consumed his blood and used his corpse as kindling for her fireplace.

Luck shined upon Yu-Na, though! One of the mystics had returned from the Arirang mountain and actually been able to obtain the cure for her vapirism! She immediately drank the potion and found herself returned to a warm-blooded human state the next morning. The pain in her legs was even gone. Upon returning to the ice rink to train for the glorious Golden Spin of Zagreb competition and get back on track with her life, she found her legs to feel a little heavier than before. The experiment performed on her had carried through back to her human state and she now had unbreakable leg bones that were a little denser then before. At first this extra weight threw her jumps off, but every time she fell her legs were never in danger. This quickly gave her the confidence to jump without fear and adapt to the additional weight gain.

In summation, it's going to take a lot of strong hits with a nice heavy crowbar to really hurt Yu-Na's legs. Her bones are super-reinforced now and one wimpy little Nancy Kerrigan whack won't be enough.
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
I would argue that Mao really needs a YOLO skate i.e. at least 1 3A and 3-3 in her FP to have a shot if Kim is clean throughout. This is because at the Olympics, the judges will award GOEs like crazy and the person who benefits from this most is Kim.
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Well, you see, until recently Yu-Na was actually a vampire. She tried to contain her emotions and relent from engaging in affectionate embraces with the blood drinker she fell in love with, but it was too much. Her heart yearned too greatly. Soon after being turned (actually very uncommon, most people simply die, which is why more vampires don't exist in our world), her lover abandoned her for another. Apparently this vampire, an acquaintance of Tatiana Tarasova, has a fetish for turning famous Asian women. They were never actually in love with Yu-Na and just feigned it in order to get a taste of her sweet blood.

Yu-na, now heart broken and ashamed of her vampyric state, paid an extraordinary sum of money to a group of mystic experts so that they would quest into the Arirang mountain and hopefully procure an ancient remedy for her malady. It's said that only few extremely talented and lucky individuals are able to complete the quest every century. People are plucked out of childhood and trained in the arts their whole lives just to fulfill this purpose, but the task is nearly impossible. While living out her days as a vampire, uncertain if she would actually be cured, Yu-Na decided to also experiment with radical scientific procedures in order to cleanse herself.

One very diabolical scientist said he had a cure for Yu-Na, which had so far been successful on mice. She was willing to try anything and underwent the surgery. The scientist had lied to her, though. What he actually wanted was to experiment on her supernaturally altered body, trying genetic mutations that would quickly kill any normal human. His experiment was successful; he altered the DNA of the bones in Yu-Na's legs to make them nearly unbreakable, which was tested by trying to slice through part of her lower leg with a silver saber. However, a side effect was caused by this procedure: Yu-Na was in immense pain daily as the genetic mutation constantly created internal pressure within her body. Enraged by the scientist's treachery after discovering what he had really done, Yu-Na quickly consumed his blood and used his corpse as kindling for her fireplace.

Luck shined upon Yu-Na, though! One of the mystics had returned from the Arirang mountain and actually been able to obtain the cure for her vapirism! She immediately drank the potion and found herself returned to a warm-blooded human state the next morning. The pain in her legs was even gone. Upon returning to the ice rink to train for the glorious Golden Spin of Zagreb competition and get back on track with her life, she found her legs to feel a little heavier than before. The experiment performed on her had carried through back to her human state and she now had unbreakable leg bones that were a little denser then before. At first this extra weight threw her jumps off, but every time she fell her legs were never in danger. This quickly gave her the confidence to jump without fear and adapt to the additional weight gain.

In summation, it's going to take a lot of strong hits with a nice heavy crowbar to really hurt Yu-Na's legs. Her bones are super-reinforced now and one wimpy little Nancy Kerrigan whack won't be enough.
You need to pitch this to Joss Whedon ;).
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
I would argue that Mao really needs a YOLO skate i.e. at least 1 3A and 3-3 in her FP to have a shot if Kim is clean throughout. This is because at the Olympics, the judges will award GOEs like crazy and the person who benefits from this most is Kim.
Yes, but isn't that what she's already planning now?
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Yes, but isn't that what she's already planning now?
She's planning it, but each time this season she hasn't felt "on" enough to attempt the 3-3. At NHK her layout with 3A, no 3-3, but a 2A-3T is still very difficult but not what I would call "YOLO skate" tier.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
I don't think Yuna's doing a 3Lo. :p

True, but she never needed it to crush her competitors...and her record scores still stand (from Vancouver)...

What I'd like to see/know is if Sochi scores can beat her Vancouver scores
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
True, but she never needed it to crush her competitors...and her record scores still stand (from Vancouver)...

What I'd like to see/know is if Sochi scores can beat her Vancouver scores

I guess the question is... what if Mao is perfect? What would her scores be like?
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
I guess the question is... what if Mao is perfect? What would her scores be like?

It would be quite monstrous.

But it's very theoretical since Mao has not been able to go PERFECT -- as in no UR/DG, 2-ft landing or e call while executing all her planned jumps properly & Lvl 4 on spins & step. Basically it's like saying, "What would mathman get if he were to skate PERFECT w/ 7 triples in Sochi?"
 

Ambivalent

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
I would argue that it's quite different to that proposition because for all Mathman's formidable powers I don't think it is in his capabilities to skate a 7-8 triple free program in Sochi. Whereas Mao has the capacity/potential to do so, but whether this is likely has yet to be seen.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
I would argue that it's quite different to that proposition because for all Mathman's powers I don't think it is in his capabilities to skate a 7-8 triple free program in Sochi. Whereas Mao has the capacity/potential to do so, but whether this is likely has yet to be seen.

Mao had 2 quads as a senior skater to prove this. She hasn't. I'm not sure if fans are being overly hopeful.

Her main rival (Yuna) OTOH went clean back-to-back twice -- Olympics & Worlds. I don't think a lot of her fans expected her to go clean back-to-back in Vancouver. Sure she had the "capacity/potential" but that doesn't mean actually delivering everything when it matters the most.

A lot of her fans weren't sure if she could do it again...ever...and she did in London. So she sort of has a cred now.

I want everyone to skate well since they prepared their entire lives for their Olympic moment, but I also try to be zen about it. I don't expect clean / good performance from everyone.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
I guess the question is... what if Mao is perfect? What would her scores be like?
In another thread I tried addition to her NHK scores. With the 8 triple layout (add a clean 3A, clean 3-3, and 3S) she could score 150 (while the NHK tech panel was quite generous, we can assume a "perfect" Mao would score similarly in PCS and maybe 1 point more in GOE).

Substituting 3A-2T for the 3-3 and doing a solo Flip instead of Lutz would reduce her ideal BV by 1.3 points, but Asada flutzes anyway. The BV difference would be compensated through extra GOE.

Mao had 2 quads as a senior skater to prove this. She hasn't. I'm not sure if fans are being overly hopeful.
I fully expect Mao to attempt a program with all the difficulty and I also think she will fall short one way or another when it comes time for the Sochi LP. But we do have videos of her actually landing each of her jumping passes in isolation (unlike when she floated the idea of a 3A-3T). So for me, it's not about being hopeful. It's just fun to speculate about what would happen if she by some miracle did do a perfect FS. Addition is an easy enough task.
 
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