I have been following this thread and others since last night. Now that I have finally calmed down (and caught up on sleep) after all the excitement, here are my two cents:
I thought both Mao and Yuna did an amazing job. It was so refreshing to see the old Mao back! God have I have missed that Mao smile! And Yuna, what can I say? I though she was amazing as always, although a bit reserved. But who can blame her? After all the pressure and expectations, she delivered. I was so happy for her, but I expected an immediate outcry after her scores came up, and boy, did that happen.
IMHO the main problem with the "Yuna was overscored" croud (which I think intersects a lot with the "Plushy should have won" club) is that they are basing their assessment on what they think the scores "should" have been based on: Mao should have gotten more credit for the 3A, Plushy should have won because he had a quad, Mao's spins and spirals should have gotten more GOEs because they're prettier... etc. The main issue these arguments fail to acknowledge is that the scores are based on what the COP says the base values of the jumps and the criteria for + GOEs are. These are not always in agreement with what the fans think they should be, especially when those fan perceptions are heavily based on the 6.0 system. If you look at the COP requirements for high GOEs in spins and spirals you'll find that Yuna satisfies those requirements and is therefore rewarded accordingly. For example, for spirals, edge control and speed have more effect on GOEs than the beauty of the position. For spins, it's all about the centering, speed, change of edge/foot and number of different positions. Yuna is as good as Mao (if not better in some areas like speed, edging, positions held longer) as Mao. Assuming both Mao and Yuna and their coaches could read and count, it was their responsability to build up their programs to maximize points. Team Yuna did an excellent job in that regard, Team Mao did not (I seriously question TT's ability to add simple numbers).
Now that doesn't mean that the COP cannot be adjusted to reflect higher values for pretty positions, triple axels and quads, but this is not going to happen now, during the Qlympics. Changes can be made for following seasons and there are ways to go about suggesting and discussing those changes. For this season, the rules have been set. Play by them or you lose.
Where Yuna accumulates more points than Mao is in the quality of her jumps: She enters her jumps at high speed and has nice flow and positions out of them (check out that checked position out of the triple flip of you're wondering why she got more GOEs on that jump), her combo jumps are equal in height and cover almost 25 feet!! While Mao started her combo with a great 3A, her 2T barely lifted above the ice and almost screeched to a halt. Yuna's combo had 0.5 points extra in base value and she gained around 2.5 points over Mao in jump GOEs (1.5 for the combo and 1 for the flip, approximately). I think that was very fair. Add that to the 1.5 gain in PCs, which is due to Yuna's superior expression, speed, choreography and interpretation, and there you have it: 5 points.
In reality, I thought both were overscored by 1 or 2 points, but this has been happening across disciplines.
Sorry for the long post.. just had to get it off my chest. Congrats to Mao and Yuna for an outstanding job last night, although, for me, the night belonged to Joannie.
