The test of wills between Mira Leung and her coach, Joanne McLeod, hasn’t declared a winner yet
The author of this article didn't hold back. He called it like it is.
"While citing a lack of energy for her poor skate Saturday, Leung rejected the suggestion that perhaps she should have arrived in Tokyo sooner than Tuesday night for a competition that began Friday. She elected, on her own, to remain in Canada while the rest of the team left to get acclimated to the time zones and the environment. She didn’t have any practices on the main competition rink — her teammate, Joannie Rochette, who finished 10th, only had one — but Leung said that wasn’t a factor.
"No, because I skated a clean [short] program," she said Saturday, still refusing to acknowledge that she under-rotated a double Axel. The judges said otherwise, and so did instant replay.
But Leung is hard-headed, which is an asset when competing, but not in self-evaluation. Skating officials have long felt that she "cheats" — doesn’t fully rotate — a number of her triple jumps, and at the international level, she gets nailed for it.
"I did want her to come earlier, particulary the two days the practices were in the main venue," said McLeod, her coach from Burnaby 8-Rinks, who "fired" Leung after last season but reconciled in the fall.
"She’s well-conditioned, and she skated through her programs in practices, so she shouldn’t have been dead-tired in the middle."
The article goes on to say that she had pain in her left heel but her coach didn't know about it until the short program. Seems that there's a definite lack of communication and a definite lack of respect on both sides.
I stated this in another post, but I will restate it here. I think you'll see Mira leave Joanne Mcleod again. She definitley needs an attitude adjustment. She needs to take a lesson from Jennifer Robinson. When she finished in the bottom of the pack, she didn't blame the judges and she didn't blame her coaches. She realized what she needed to do to improve and she worked her *ss off to do it. She recognized the value in self-reflection. Mira's problem is that she thinks she's better than she is. She's got a lot of work to do - stronger jumps, better stroking technique (no "bobbing"), and a new stylist who will get rid of those bangs! The question is, will she listen to anyone? Perhaps she should go and work with Doug Leigh, who helped Jen Robinson improve so much - or maybe she should go and train in the States where the standard of skating is much higher than where she has been training. Brian Orser seems to have done great things with Yu-Na, although I wouldn't wish Mira on Brian!
The author of this article didn't hold back. He called it like it is.
"While citing a lack of energy for her poor skate Saturday, Leung rejected the suggestion that perhaps she should have arrived in Tokyo sooner than Tuesday night for a competition that began Friday. She elected, on her own, to remain in Canada while the rest of the team left to get acclimated to the time zones and the environment. She didn’t have any practices on the main competition rink — her teammate, Joannie Rochette, who finished 10th, only had one — but Leung said that wasn’t a factor.
"No, because I skated a clean [short] program," she said Saturday, still refusing to acknowledge that she under-rotated a double Axel. The judges said otherwise, and so did instant replay.
But Leung is hard-headed, which is an asset when competing, but not in self-evaluation. Skating officials have long felt that she "cheats" — doesn’t fully rotate — a number of her triple jumps, and at the international level, she gets nailed for it.
"I did want her to come earlier, particulary the two days the practices were in the main venue," said McLeod, her coach from Burnaby 8-Rinks, who "fired" Leung after last season but reconciled in the fall.
"She’s well-conditioned, and she skated through her programs in practices, so she shouldn’t have been dead-tired in the middle."
The article goes on to say that she had pain in her left heel but her coach didn't know about it until the short program. Seems that there's a definite lack of communication and a definite lack of respect on both sides.
I stated this in another post, but I will restate it here. I think you'll see Mira leave Joanne Mcleod again. She definitley needs an attitude adjustment. She needs to take a lesson from Jennifer Robinson. When she finished in the bottom of the pack, she didn't blame the judges and she didn't blame her coaches. She realized what she needed to do to improve and she worked her *ss off to do it. She recognized the value in self-reflection. Mira's problem is that she thinks she's better than she is. She's got a lot of work to do - stronger jumps, better stroking technique (no "bobbing"), and a new stylist who will get rid of those bangs! The question is, will she listen to anyone? Perhaps she should go and work with Doug Leigh, who helped Jen Robinson improve so much - or maybe she should go and train in the States where the standard of skating is much higher than where she has been training. Brian Orser seems to have done great things with Yu-Na, although I wouldn't wish Mira on Brian!
