Will Mao make the Oly team?

[Nadia01]

Well,thank you for letting me know this.

You're welcome.

I should've clarified that even though I've read it elsewhere (maybe another skating forum; I can't remember for sure), I do not know exactly how this conclusion was made. I don't know if it was an article or something Rafael and/or Mao's mom said / implied or what.

So I don't think we'll never know for sure 100%, but I also feel that given what Morosov said about how interfering Japanese moms can be and based on my observations and experience, maybe there's some truth to the situation.

ETA: As far as I know, Tat was reluctant to coach Mao b/c Mao couldn't move to Russia to train full-time. I believe Tat advised Mao to get a coach in Japan so she can stay in the country and have a full-time coach.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I've read elsewhere that Mao's mom was homesick and didn't get along with Rafael very well b/c Rafael wanted Mao to practice jumps, but Mao's mom thought it was unnecessary to work on Mao's technique.



Given such situation, I highly doubt Mao's mom's going to be okay with Mao moving to Russia alone to train with Tat.

Unnecessay. hmmm. And that is why Mao had to stop doing her lutz. I thought that it was Mao's sister who wanted to return home...i had thought that the two girls were living in Lake Arrowhead alone.

 

[Bennett]

I feel very sad for Mao too. She used to be so bubbly and smiling all the time on TV. Now you rarely see her smile. She looks absolutely miserable at times. I think she was almost in tears after Rostelecom Cup LP. (Some @#$% reporters went after her for an interview / comment, and she barely said anything...)

Adorable interview with her sis. Lovely and sweet.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showpost.php?p=432111&postcount=1

 

[Bennett]

Unnecessay. hmmm. And that is why Mao had to stop doing her lutz. .

Isn't Rafael himself who insisted that judges were unfair to change the rule suddenly?

I think that it was in a way a decent assessment at that time for Mao's mom to want her to develop artistically. She was not hit by DGs at that time, either.

 

[Nadia01]

Unnecessay. hmmm. And that is why Mao had to stop doing her lutz. I thought that it was Mao's sister who wanted to return home...i had thought that the two girls were living in Lake Arrowhead alone.

I heard from a Japanese friend that Mai wanted to pursue modeling / tarento career or something like that in Japan. (I don't think Mai speaks English well enough to do it in the States.)

I've not seen Mai skate in a while, but I've seen her commercials during GPF 2009.

I wish I can remember where I read that Mao's mom was homesick so I can re-verify the info with someone who may know more about the situation than me.

 

[Bennett]

I heard from a Japanese friend that Mai wanted to pursue modeling / tarento career or something like that in Japan. (I don't think Mai speaks English well enough to do it in the States.)

I've not seen Mai skate in a while, but I've seen her commercials during GPF 2009.

I wonder. Mai once quitted modeling. She used to be affiliated with a top agency, but announced her retirement to focus on skating. This means that she once threw away the best opportunity available. It was before going to the US. Then I wonder if she would really want to resume it again. She does appear CMs, but mostly as the "sister of Mao". They are so cute together and kind of inseparable.

But she is obviously a very beautiful young lady so that it would be no surprise if many people want to see her smiles. Yet, I wonder if she wanted to focus so much on modeling over skating.

Besides, unless you are the very top skater and with the top coach, you might make too much sacrifice of your personal life for being abroad (unless you truly enjoy the foreign life). She would have to miss school life, meeting Japanese boys, shopping malls, dogs, for example. It's not that Japan has no coach for her, either; so..... These are just my speculations.

In any case, Mao speaks extremely little about those important decisions. So perhaps we would never know.

 

[Nadia01]

I wonder. Mai once quitted modeling. She used to be affiliated with a top agency, but announced her retirement to focus on skating. This means that she once threw away the best opportunity available. It was before going to the US. Then I wonder if she would really want to resume it again. She does appear CMs, but mostly as the "sister of Mao". They are so cute together and kind of inseparable.

But she is obviously a very beautiful young lady so that it would be no surprise if many people want to see her smiles. Yet, I wonder if she wanted to focus so much on modeling over skating.

Besides, unless you are the very top skater and with the top coach, you might make too much sacrifice of your personal life for being abroad (unless you truly enjoy the foreign life). She would have to miss school life, meeting Japanese boys, shopping malls, dogs, for example. It's not that Japan has no coach for her, either; so..... These are just my speculations.

In any case, Mao speaks extremely little about those important decisions. So perhaps we would never know.

Mai also does commercials on her own without Mao. So I don't think her career depends solely on Mao's presence although I'm sure it helps.

As for her decision to quit modeling -- well...she probably thought she could make her fame like Arakawa by winning something big. But obviously she's never going to eclipse her more talented sister (Mai hasn't won anythig sr level IIRC), and I think that Mai's not talented enough to win anything major ever. So it was one of the reasons why Mai might have decided to not pursue skating so seriously anymore.

BTW -- even if you're home most elite skaters don't go to school much anyway. Just no time. I used to know Michael Weiss's high school teacher, and he told me he rarely if ever saw Michael in class. As for dogs...you can just fly them over. I know quarantines, etc. can be troublesome, but it can be done. So it's a bit odd to say that Mao left America & Rafael to be with her dogs.

 

[Bennett]

Mai also does commercials on her own without Mao. So I don't think her career depends solely on Mao's presence although I'm sure it helps.

As for her decision to quit modeling -- well...she probably thought she could make her fame like Arakawa by winning something big. But obviously she's never going to eclipse her more talented sister (Mai hasn't won anythig sr level IIRC), and I think that Mai's not talented enough to win anything major ever. So it was one of the reasons why Mai might have decided to not pursue skating so seriously anymore.

BTW -- even if you're home most elite skaters don't go to school much anyway. Just no time. I used to know Michael Weiss's high school teacher, and he told me he rarely if ever saw Michael in class. As for dogs...you can just fly them over. I know quarantines, etc. can be troublesome, but it can be done. So it's a bit odd to say that Mao left America & Rafael to be with her dogs.

Mai may want to skate more seriously, but she got injured sometime in spring a couple of seasons ago. Then her GP appearance as a replacement was unfortunate for being sick or something. Then she kind of disappeared from the international scene. Yeah, I agree that Mao would have not much time other than skating. But I think Mai can afford it. Then I do not think that it is worth sacrificing as much as Mao does, given her less potential. At the same time, Mai's decision may have been made totally independently of Mao and vice versa. We never know. Just speculate.

The last sentence made me laugh. My recollection of the situation at that time was that she wanted to stay in Japan because Nationals and 4CC in Korea were so close and then Rafael walked away for not having seen her long.

 

[Nadia01]

Mai may want to skate more seriously, but she got injured sometime in spring a couple of seasons ago. Then her GP appearance as a replacement was unfortunate for being sick or something. Then she kind of disappeared from the international scene. Yeah, I agree that Mao would have not much time other than skating. But I think Mai can afford it. Then I do not think that it is worth sacrificing as much as Mao does, given her less potential. At the same time, Mai's decision may have been made totally independently of Mao and vice versa. We never know. Just speculate.

The last sentence made me laugh. My recollection of the situation at that time was that she wanted to stay in Japan because Nationals and 4CC in Korea were so close and then Rafael walked away for not having seen her long.

I think Mai does skating shows w/ Mao. (Only possible b/c her sister is Mao...)

I wonder though...since Mai & Mao are so tight, maybe Mao doesn't want to leave her sister in Japan to train full time...?

O...I thought Mao fired Rafael or something. (Or maybe it was the JSF.)

 

[Blades of Passion]

What an inspiration it will be when Mao wins Japanese Nationals.

 

[Bennett]

I think Mai does skating shows w/ Mao. (Only possible b/c her sister is Mao...)

I wonder though...since Mai & Mao are so tight, maybe Mao doesn't want to leave her sister in Japan to train full time...?

Don't know, but esp. in the Olympic season, I do feel that she could have gone to Russia more often and longer to train with her coach. Perhaps TAT not available very much anyway, as someone indicated? It does seem a very strange coaching situation for an OGM contender. It might be possible in other seasons, but this season... Sister and dogs can wait. One thing that seems clear is that Mao seems to have terrific self-discipline. She sounds very confident about practices that she had during the off season and it says a lot about her.

 

[janetfan]

Don't know, but esp. in the Olympic season, I do feel that she could have gone to Russia more often and longer to train with her coach. Perhaps TAT not available very much anyway, as someone indicated? It does seem a very strange coaching situation for an OGM contender. It might be possible in other seasons, but this season... Sister and dogs can wait. One thing that seems clear is that Mao seems to have terrific self-discipline. She sounds very confident about practices that she had during the off season and it says a lot about her.

I wonder if "good practices" - without the benefit of a coaches critical eyes - count the same as "self-proclaimed" good practices?

It makes me wonder if Mao and her mother don't like being told about problems with edges, ur's or other technical problems that can occur with jumps.

Perhaps the disappointing early season performances from Mao were just "bad luck" but after seeing her disastrous skate at Rostel Cup it looked to me like Mao is nowhere near capable of running her own training.

A coache's watchful eyes and experience about fixing problems should never be underestimated. There is also something to be said about a young skater deciding their own jump layouts.

I doubt if many top coaches would want Mao trying three 3A's when it is apparent she lacks the skill to land them with enough consistency in competitions.

Mao's decision to keep the three 3A's appears to be the decision of a stubborn or spoiled or even delusional skater. Or maybe she is just trying to live up to the expectations of her country's media, federation and fans.

I think initially many blamed Tat for Mao's problems and terrible performances this season. After learning more it became clear that Tat was not really responsible since she is not training Mao and does not have the final say about the jump layouts.

I am a big fan of Mao's skating and hope she skates well at Natls and also in Vancouver. But to say she has not been a major disappointment this season would be false. Her whole coaching situation seems strange and even bizarre in an Olympic season.

But I don't ever count Mao out because she has incredible talent. She could finish at the top of the podium in Vancouver or maybe not make the top 10.

What a puzzle she has become.

 

[Nadia01]

Mao's decision to keep the three 3A's appears to be the decision of a stubborn or spoiled or even delusional skater. Or maybe she is just trying to live up to the expectations of her country's media, federation and fans.

In her recent TV interview, Mao said she won't give up 3As b/c only a few female skaters can land it.

But I couldn't help but think...she's not landing them consistently either...so I don't see how betting everything on 3A is a good thing for her.

 

[Bennett]

After TEB, TAT's reaction was like "Why couldn't you land what you landed in practices?" Mao herself also says that her entry to the jump was different at comps due to nerves and that her other jumps also looked labored. She also says that there is nothing (in her program) that she cannot do. So she seems to have decent success rates in practices. She now wants to have 100% success rates in practices so that she can land them 100% at comps.

But it is after all, 3A. Only a few male skaters have a consistent 3A. It can't be as consistent as other triple jumps.

According to what I read from her interview, it seemed initially TAT's idea to put two 3As given Mao's love for this jump. Last season, it was okay. But three 3As this season seems like climbing Mt Fuji and this is when people started to question.

So yeah, I agree, usually people try to change and modify as the season develops. But Mao is acting like a pure, determined young heart who pursues her ideals no matter what and TAT is not in a position to argue against her. They only had one meeting for one hour after the CoR (which would have still been an emotional moment) and decided what to do.

Now mao seems to be calm with her decision, according to the interview with Mai I cited above. But.....

 

[schiele]

In her recent TV interview, Mao said she won't give up 3As b/c only a few female skaters can land it.

I totally adore Mao precisely because of this mentality.. I know with most likelihood it will not pay off but still.. And she will be remembered for it, whether she bombs or not.

 

[janetfan]

I totally adore Mao precisely because of this mentality.. I know with most likelihood it will not pay off but still.. And she will be remembered for it, whether she bombs or not.

You are right. Mao is already being remembered for sitting home at the GPF held in her own country.

I don't want to remember her for failing because I admire her skating too much.

Of course Mao could always retire and skate in shows where results don't matter. Maybe without any pressure she could land multiple 3A's in exhibitions.

Somehow it wouldn't feel the same to me.

 

[schiele]

You are right. Mao is already being remembered for sitting home at the GPF held in her own country.

I don't want to remember her for failing because I admire her skating too much.

Of course Mao could always retire and skate in shows where results don't matter. Maybe without any pressure she could land multiple 3A's in exhibitions.

Somehow it wouldn't feel the same to me.

Hmmm, as I recall you yourself said GPs don't matter much?
What I meant was as the woman to land 2 3As in the same programme or to land 3A in the SP.. Yes, I wish she could be more competitive right now but maybe she will suprise us?

 

[Bennett]

I think Mai does skating shows w/ Mao. (Only possible b/c her sister is Mao...)

Yeah, they are lovely together. But Mai is, boy, so beautiful. No doubt about it. So I think that she is good as a show skater. A lot of people love her maturity and elegance on the ice (makes me think that perhaps Alissa also will be a great show skater; she can do just a couple of secure jumps).

 

[janetfan]

Hmmm, as I recall you yourself said GPs don't matter much?
What I meant was as the woman to land 2 3As in the same programme or to land 3A in the SP.. Yes, I wish she could be more competitive right now but maybe she will suprise us?

You are right, GP's don't matter much to me but I am sure it was not easy on Mao missing the GPF since it was held in Japan.

Sasha missing SA this season was noticed by die hard skating fans. It did not create a stir with the American public. I don't think the same could be said about Mao missing the GPF in Japan.

It will be interesting to see how she does at Natls.
As far as her 3A's go, she needs so much preparation time that the first half of her LP is not very interesting to me. Sort of like the way Plushy has front loaded his LP with big jumps and little else.

I like the second half of her LP much better where we see more of Mao's beautiful skating skills.

 

[Nadia01]

Hmmm, as I recall you yourself said GPs don't matter much?
What I meant was as the woman to land 2 3As in the same programme or to land 3A in the SP.. Yes, I wish she could be more competitive right now but maybe she will suprise us?

Actually GPF mattered a lot to JP skaters this year b/c the top finisher got a spot on the Oly team.

So if Mao could've gone & placed higher than Miki & Akiko, she would've locked her spot on the team.

I don't want to remember her for failure.

Miki tried her 4S in Torino, but nobody remembers that. Everyone remembers Sasha's SP, Irina v. Sasha & Arakawa's winning performance (LP) which gave Japan its 1st OGM in ladies' figure skating. That's the kind of stuff that makes history, not hanging onto a jump that's not really working for you anymore.

I adore Mao, and I hope she can come back strong with or without 3As.