What is the best strategy for amazing Asada to challenge incredible Kim at the Games? | Page 8 | Golden Skate

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

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Didn't Kim also list Mao as a motivation early in her career? Someone that pushed her to do better. I also read before she wasn't happy being the underdog and hampered by injuries early on. I think it was mutual early in their careers. But in recent years, especially after 2010. I feel neither are that focused on each other. It's fanwars and media more than anything.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
I am sure she expected competition but I think she thought her competition would be skaters much older than her, and eventually skaters much younger. I dont think she ever imagined someday she would be the 2nd best skater born in 1990, and that for a period of time even a clean skate could not control her own destiny vs another skater born in 1990 anymore. I could be wrong, but I sensed increasing tension between them in 2006-2007 and actually more than there was in later years when Kim was in fact more dominant over Mao, but they seemed more friendly and compassionate towards the other. So I think both are over that stage, but initially it was hard for Mao especialy to accept.
In 2007, Kim and Asada appeared on a Japanese show together, and after 2007 Worlds (I think) Asada actually offered to show Kim around Tokyo. I think it was the 2008-09 season when relations might have chilled; that was the season where the practice obstruction claims started.
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
I am sure she expected competition but I think she thought her competition would be skaters much older than her, and eventually skaters much younger. I dont think she ever imagined someday she would be the 2nd best skater born in 1990, and that for a period of time even a clean skate could not control her own destiny vs another skater born in 1990 anymore. I could be wrong, but I sensed increasing tension between them in 2006-2007 and actually more than there was in later years when Kim was in fact more dominant over Mao, but they seemed more friendly and compassionate towards the other. So I think both are over that stage, but initially it was hard for Mao especialy to accept.

It is kind of similar to how I sense Zhang felt about Nagasu`s (a skater born within about a month of her, similar to Mao and Yu Na) emergence when both were junior, when at the time Zhang was supposed to be the next sensation of the sport. I remember Nagasu beating her at the Junior Nationals being a HUGE story in the skating World, and Zhang`s reactions when she beat a clean Nagasu back to win the World Juniors later that year.

I think as the Olympics grew nearer and with all of the Olympic pressure it was going to be difficult for either girl to be best friends with their biggest rival.

But once again, I'm telling you I read at least one interview of Asada when she was younger, when she specifically said surely Kim would turn out better than her older competitors, and be her biggest challenger. I think it was back in the 2006 Olympic season.
Kim was impressive as a junior. Even back then she had these amazing jumps.

Kim shot up to the top of the sport extremely quickly. I mean she won the grand prix senior final her first year as a Senior.
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
Mao has two struggles as a skater #1 losing her mom and losing her jumps. @Ven. Read some of your idols interviews, she is classy, humble and compassionate as her fan your comments are neither
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
I think as the Olympics grew nearer and with all of the Olympic pressure it was going to be difficult for either girl to be best friends with their biggest rival.

But once again, I'm telling you I read at least one interview of Asada when she was younger, when she specifically said surely Kim would turn out better than her older competitors, and be her biggest challenger. I think it was back in the 2006 Olympic season.
Kim was impressive as a junior. Even back then she had these amazing jumps.

Kim shot up to the top of the sport extremely quickly. I mean she won the grand prix senior final her first year as a Senior.

Well, she was already going 1-2 with Mao in the junior ranks before the 2006-2007 season. They both shot up pretty quickly--Mao even more so, since she won the 2005 GPF against the Olympic favorites!
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Um...I feel most competitors are just friendly. It's pretty hard to be friends when you speak different languages and live in different countries, and just see each other at competitions. Skaters on same team can become good friends. The Japanese skaters seem like friends. They cheer for each other and hang out during off season. On the other hand, Michelle was probably not great friends with either Tara or Sasha.

I don't feel there was much tension in 2007 to be honest. Mao was probably more bothered by the edge issues than anything else. And her 2007 free skate wasn't perfect by COP standards. She had minor deductions that added up while Kim's only mistake was a fall. For Mao, I feel personally, it's not really a single rival but the system that she has been trying to overcome for most of her career. I feel the system kinda makes skaters focus on perfecting their own scoring potential than focusing on their rivals because it's not 6.0 when everything is relative to what others put out. Now, it's more about strategy, how many points you can get, etc..
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
Interesting. So what do you think created the changed relationship between them. The Olympics nearing.

It is always funny to look at how the media potrays some of the relationships between key rivals. Slutskaya and Kwan were always potrayed as great friends, but Kwan in an interview last year didnt even mention Irina as someone she kept in touch with now that her post skating life is over. She even mentioned Sasha who often took pot shots at Kwan while they competed. I dont think Michelle and Irina were really as friendly as potrayed. Irina wasnt at Michelle`s very large wedding either.

The same with the two Brians, where Brian Boitano admitted many years later they werent really friends at all, just friendly competitors, and complained about Orser`s dismissive views towards him (which I noticed in Orser`s book too) and the politics for Orser to win the Olympics in Canada he felt against him. They probably werent as close as potrayed either, but went along with the storyline for the medias sake. The Asada vs Kim rivalry is largely potrayed in a negative way by the media, but is probably not entirely true.

The media need it a story for this quad and ran with it. I don't even think they think about each other that much. But one thing I heard about both girls is how nice they are. Also, unfortunately the ubers on the Internet have made the situation worst, by their incendiary comments. Furthermore, the story became more juicy when you considered the animosity between their countries.
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Mao has two struggles as a skater #1 losing her mom and losing her jumps. @Ven. Read some of your idols interviews, she is classy, humble and compassionate as her fan your comments are neither

What did I say that was not classy or compassionate? I said it seems like she didn't find peace with her career. Whether because of her mom (someone else brought this up, not me) or because she lost in Vancouver or because aliens abducted her and made her skate backwards every night for 5 years, who knows. Feel free to agree or disagree, but what on earth is insulting about saying she might not have found peace on the ice in these years?
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Well, she was already going 1-2 with Mao in the junior ranks before the 2006-2007 season. They both shot up pretty quickly--Mao even more so, since she won the 2005 GPF against the Olympic favorites!

I think Kim would have done well that season too, although she didn't have the eye popping triple axel to really show it off like Asada.

Still I think it was clear Kim and Asada were going to dominate, most people predicted it.
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
What did I say that was not classy or compassionate? I said it seems like she didn't find peace with her career. Whether because of her mom (someone else brought this up, not me) or because she lost in Vancouver or because aliens abducted her and made her skate backwards every night for 5 years, who knows. Feel free to agree or disagree, but what on earth is insulting about saying she might not have found peace on the ice in these years?

Who are you to say Asada is or is not at peace with her career? Do you know her personally? I haven't seen anything or heard anything from Asada that makes me think Asada's not well adjusted. She seems like she's in a good place.

If she's focused on the triple axels its because its her biggest weapon.
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Who are you to say Asada is or is not at peace with her career? Do you know her personally? I haven't seen anything or heard anything from Asada that makes me think Asada's not well adjusted. She seems like she's in a good place.

If she's focused on the triple axels its because its her biggest weapon.

I said many times in the thread, I'll say it just one last time, in my opinion, that's the impression I feel. It is my personal opinion. I am free to say it just as much as anyone else is free to say "dont say bad things bout mao-chan!!!!!"

(even though I said nothing bad about her, I didn't say she isn't well-adjusted, as you implied, I only said I think she never had peace and happiness on the ice in later years)
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
What did I say that was not classy or compassionate? I said it seems like she didn't find peace with her career. Whether because of her mom (someone else brought this up, not me) or because she lost in Vancouver or because aliens abducted her and made her skate backwards every night for 5 years, who knows. Feel free to agree or disagree, but what on earth is insulting about saying she might not have found peace on the ice in these years?

How would you know that. What about Mao shows she is not in peace? Does she do drugs? Alcohol? Mental institution? Which one. Or the simple fact that after winning silver in Vancouver and winning her second World title, she was humble enough to start from zero. Knowing her how hard it would have been and competing even though, she knew her results would not up to her standards. Attending nationals and worlds after losing her mother. And why would a two time world champion, 6th time national winner, winner of every GP event not be at peace with her career.
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
I said many times in the thread, I'll say it just one last time, in my opinion, that's the impression I feel. It is my personal opinion. I am free to say it just as much as anyone else is free to say "dont say bad things bout mao-chan!!!!!"

(even though I said nothing bad about her, I didn't say she isn't well-adjusted, as you implied, I only said I think she never had peace and happiness on the ice in later years)

The thing about you is that you throw any comment about Asada and say is JMO, but if some says something about Kim Yuna even though is their opinion you call them out. I agree you are entitle to your opinion. So why was it so hard for you to accept some people are more move by Akiko than Kim Yuna.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
She needs to skate clean, no under rotate her 3A and show some feeling with the music!
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
How would you know that. What about Mao shows she is not in peace? Does she do drugs? Alcohol? Mental institution? Which one. Or the simple fact that after winning silver in Vancouver and winning her second World title, she was humble enough to start from zero. Knowing her how hard it would have been and competing even though, she knew her results would not up to her standards. Attending nationals and worlds after losing her mother. And why would a two time world champion, 6th time national winner, winner of every GP event not be at peace with her career.

I don't know that. I said it's my impression. If it's accurate, maybe she has incredibly high standards for herself. Maybe I'm wrong completely. Either way, it's my opinion.

There are all kinds of people in the world. There are some who only care about winning. There are some who even when they win, it's not enough, they need to win by even more. Then they need to win by so much they literally destroy their opponents and drive them out of the sport. You see what I'm doing, now I'm describing someone who has a monomania and an evil character, and there actually are athletes like that in the world.

I said NONE of those things about Mao, or anything like it, and I said nothing insulting about her or her character. We ALL deal with issues in our lives, whatever they are, and I simply said maybe she's not happy. Maybe she's a perfectionist and it's her personality that she will never be happy with herself. Maybe her mom was an important part of her skating life, and to lose her was very painful, and it changed the way she felt performing. Or maybe her mom wanted her to do the 3A and always complimented her on it, and that's why she persists with 3A all the time. This is all speculation and just examples of what she might be thinking, but who knows what Asada thinks but herself. Maybe she got bored with skating, or maybe she has chronic injury that affects her. Again, nobody will know but her.

But, what I can surmise, is that human beings are all psychological people, even you and me. In order to achieve the best results, people need to find peace. Even good people who are otherwise well adjusted might have one thing in their life that causes them distress, I can think of several in my own life. Again, none of these are insulting comments. They are simple acknowledgement that much more goes on in athletics than just technique and condition.

The thing about you is that you throw any comment about Asada and say is JMO, but if some says something about Kim Yuna even though is their opinion you call them out. I agree you are entitle to your opinion. So why was it so hard for you to accept some people are more move by Akiko than Kim Yuna.

I didn't say any such thing. I said that it was ridiculous for Suzuki to score almost the same as Yuna's WC last year. I didn't say anything about anyone liking her. I think the most I said was that the majority of people would prefer Yuna, as she routinely scores much higher, but I did not say everyone would prefer Yuna or must prefer her, if someone likes another skater more, whoever their favorite is, that's their choice.
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
I didn't say any such thing. I said that it was ridiculous for Suzuki to score almost the same as Yuna's WC last year.

Scores from National championships are always ridiculous.

I don't know why people are still so upset/surprised by that.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
I said it's personal opinion. There are no facts needed for opinions. Look at her on the podium in Vancouver. She won silver, she was not happy. That's the personality she has because she's very talented. That's not a knock on her, I kind of admire that determination. Nevertheless, it's important to find peace with oneself. I don't get the feeling like Mao ever found peace with her skating or her career. Maybe there are various reasons for it. That doesn't mean I said anything bad about her or talked about her dying mother. Some of you can be pretty extreme.

In my opinion, you're a Martian. Since it's just my opinion, no facts are needed in order for me to say that you're a Martian.

Insisting that you can say whatever you want w/o basing anything on reality or facts makes your posts tiresome and undermines everything you post. You can say whatever you want. But that doesn't mean you can be free of consequences (aka others calling you out). If you can't accept that, maybe you shouldn't post your "no facts needed" opinions.
 

Orc

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 25, 2013
There is no need to have a good strategy to beat Yuna. They are both on the same level. Mao has better artistry, but she unfortunately can't jump at all. How can this woman beat Julia when she can't even properly execute 2L? On the other hand, Yuna can jump, but she skates like a robot. It almost looks like she has no soul when she skates. Its kind of creepy... just my opinion though.
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
There is no need to have a good strategy to beat Yuna. They are both on the same level. Mao has better artistry, but she unfortunately can't jump at all. How can this woman beat Julia when she can't even properly execute 2L? On the other hand, Yuna can jump, but she skates like a robot. It almost looks like she has no soul when she skates. Its kind of creepy... just my opinion though.
Yes, Orc, you have named yourself well. And did you know that Julia's own coach thinks that Yuna skates like a goddess?

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?89116-Eteri-Tutberidze-interview-quot-Plushenko-can-be-a-good-bet-at-the-team-event-in-Sochi-quot

"I like many things about Yuna Kim. The way she jumps, starting the first jump in combination at the blue line and ending near the board. She has amazing transitions. She is very beautiful, with great, I would say, sense of posture. Knows exactly how to do this or that gesture, how to look. For me, she is undoubtedly number one now. No other athlete, in my opinion, is in the same league as an all-around champion."
 
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