Wow, Mao! | Golden Skate

Wow, Mao!

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Congratulations to Mao Assada for her 3rd World Champion title. I am so happy that she is ending her amateur career with a win at the 2014 Worlds. How fitting it would be in her home country as well. Well done Mao and all the best to her in her future.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Congratulations to Mao Assada for her 3rd World Champion title. I am so happy that she is ending her amateur career with a win at the 2014 Worlds. How fitting it would be in her home country as well. Well done Mao and all the best to her in her future.

What a clever thread title. I never noticed before that Mao's name rhymes with wow. I echo your praise of marvelous Mao.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Count me in. I was so pleased to see her skate well. Her 3A is awesome and her artistry is wonderful! And mostly it was sooo nice to see her smile at the end of her program. I think she really enjoyed her skate and the homage from the crowd.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
I don't know about others but I was always a fan of the nickname "Mighty Mao." In gymnastics, there is Mighty Mo (Huilan), who had immense talent and was doing tricks ahead of her time. Mao Asada definitely fits that description.
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
What now, greatest Mao?
Will you still
show them How?
Missing you and Miki ....wow.....
"Wishing you were somehow here again
Wishing you were somehow near
Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed
Somehow you would be here...."
Apologies to ALW
 

anyanka

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
I have a feeling Mao will continue and win atleast 5 world titles and the 2018 OGM. She is amazing.

That would be a treat. :)
Mao not having won OGM for me is like Michelle Kwan not winning OGM: heartbreaking.
But Mao could take some time off, maybe a year, and then come back and take the world titles, leading to OGM in 2018.
Hope she can remain healthy. I want nothing but the best and happiness for her.
 

gotoschool

Medalist
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Magnificent Mao- combining the tenderness and elegance of beautiful wave-like ballet with a stunning array of triple jumps, passionate emotion, lovely, limber spins and mesmerizing step sequences- the only skater I will truly miss- what will you do now that the season is through? If I had to guess, I suspect she will either continue skating this year after skipping the Grand Prix season or retire. I think the judges have always been so stingy with her scores compared to Kim and now the Russians that if she takes time off she will have to re-establish her PCS again and freshen up her jumps. Besides, who knows how inflated the Russians will be by then, or how much Asian Skaters like Murakami and her will be held down as they were at Sochi and Worlds?

But as current number 1, they won't gut her scores as much if she skates this upcoming season. It would be too obvious and she has earned top PCS status. But, even at Worlds, she lost so many tech points (-11) for such a wonderful free-skate because of ur calls on her triple axel and the triple loop combo that were totally erroneous in my book. The scoring system is just so bogus and it has to be hurting sense of perfectionism inside. Seems to me she should have won by 20 points at worlds if everything had been scored fairly with fewer tech deductions. Then, she would have easily set a new world record in the World Championships by breaking 220, handily beating Kim's record at the 2013 World Championships of 218. But again, the judges held her down for Lip to potentially leapfrog her with inflation like she did in the wake of her masterpiece Sochi LP. Honestly, what more does she have to do to get the scores she deserves, especially in the LP where most of the points are?

Yet, Mao functions well under the martyr status because it feeds her fighter instinct as an underdog with something to prove, leading to timeless but underscored performances, despite her superior artistry, emotional resonance, mesmerizing agility, peerless flexibility, acrobatic triple axels, and her transcendent dance moves. Her gold medal performances at 2010 Worlds was the flawless, sultry darkness of an agile angel battling off an inflated Kim with falls, her other-worldly Sochi LP was stiffed with a fifth place PCS finish for what many considered to by an all-time great world record setting performance, and her gold at 2014 Worlds almost fell into jeopardy after the tech crew finished hacking away at her astronomical tech score. Who knows who would have "won" if Lipnitskaya hadn't fallen?

I suspect Majestic Mao will stay on to fight it out another couple of seasons, and somehow still win even if she has to make-up a 10 point handicap on the Russians.
 
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