It was ninth.
EDIT
OMG, Tom reveals that two options on the table for Mirai were either Queen or Firebird. Mirai said that Max got to her preferred music first. I have a lot of feelings about this.
Please, please tell me that there is a Max one. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? (I daren't hope that someone got Josh to talk on camera.)
He mentioned "social media" several times. I wonder if he reads Golden Skate. Was he talking about us when he said, stop nit-picking these wonderful athletes who put in so many hours developing their program? I totally agree. :yes:
The athletes are wonderful and hard-working, but if you choose to be a public figure like an Olympic hopeful, you have to be able to handle a bit of criticism.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
This video served its purpose: made me see Tom Z. in an entirely different light.
Based on his blogs, I had thought he would be a self-promoter, but here, he seems thoughtful, concerned, and has me even feeling kindly to Vincent Zhou, who Tom says wants to develop the whole package. He doesn't like folks who criticize skaters for being just jumpers (who, me? ) but he also doesn't like folks who criticize skaters for not having jumps.
I think Ted Flett is doing a great job being folksy, but also getting info. And makes me think of Bill "Cowboy" Flett, a right winger for the Flyers in the 70s. Bravo for Canadians named Flett
Interviewer: We now know the music for her long program. It's Miss Saigon. Mirai shared that with us. We know last year's long program, the two of you didn't quite agree what the approach should be. Can you tell us about that experience? Did you give a thumbs up, thumbs down on Miss Saigon? Were there other options?
Tom Zakrajsek: Well, first of all, I don't know if I should say what the plan was going in, but there were two ... I thought there were two pieces on the table: Queen and Firebird. Haha, and it ended up being Miss Saigon. It ended up being nothing like what we had talked about prior. When she came back and she started showing glimpses of it, I asked her if I was going to be surprised, and she said no. When I heard Miss Saigon, I said to Tru, this is Miss Saigon, right? He said, yeah. I said, I thought she was doing Firebird. Did she get a new short? The way I work with many of the top choreographers, is that they are experts. I don't have to have a say in the music. Miss Saigon is iconic. It's a great piece of music. It's probably the best choice, and I totally trust Jeff.
Hmmm, and I thought Mirai was hands-off with the choreography/music. Tom was really hands-off with the choreography/music. He didn't even know what music Mirai chose. Jeff Buttle is running the ship. I wonder what his dibs logic was then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkmIIuIhDMA&t=16m54s
Maybe Jeff didn't want Mirai doing Firebird because Mirai already skated to it. He'd get compared to Bebe Liang's choreography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBhusabzV1k&t=1m44s
They probably didn't talk about Max's programs since Max probably has his own interview we are here is going to reveal them himself. It does make the guessing game were interesting.
They probably didn't talk about Max's programs since Max probably has his own interview we are here is going to reveal them himself. It does make the guessing game were interesting.