Ladies LP, 11/26/11 at 5AM EST

[Figga]

Are Mao's skating skills so great that people will overlook the flubbed jumps? Wouldn't any other skater get raked over the coals for winning with a similar program?

Of course, I'm sort of playing the devil's advocate here. I do think her skating skills are that good and I realize people do love a good comeback story.

 

[Spun Silver]

I would say rather is Mao's skating so important that people will overlook the obvious eating disorder? The woman needs medical and psychological help. No doubt I'm breaking some rule but how can it be wrong to plead for a skater's health? She is a shadow of her old self, both technically and weight-wise.

This was a depressing event, between wraith-like Mao, embarrassingly out-of-shape Rachael, and jump problems as far as the eye can see. Alena is a charming young woman (it was cute to see her and Morozov burst out laughing when they met as she exited the ice), but I can't believe she's one of the top ladies in the world right now. The Russians seem to be trying desperately to figure out how to package her. While her SP wore out its welcome (for me) by the second viewing, it's more suited to her happy, outgoing personality than the effort to glamorize her in the FS. Sotnikova was a bit of a letdown too -- not so much because of the jump issues as her posture and arms. Her back seems rather stiff (and her costume seemed to encase her in metal). IMO Agnes needs a makeover. She's a big, strong girl but that doesn't mean she has to look hard or get pigeonholed as a jazz/Broadway type. Let her get a softer look and skate to a Brahms rhapsody (for example). I know, that and a set of solid jumps will buy her a token to Worlds.

Sofia ... snooze. Christina.... I sure hope she can get past this rocky transition to seniors because she's a beautiful skater and this Libertango FS could be exciting. Haruka was the most fun to watch today but it's not like she was dazzling - she even fell off an edge in a spin.

 

[genki]

I would say rather is Mao's skating so important that people will overlook the obvious eating disorder? The woman needs medical and psychological help. No doubt I'm breaking some rule but how can it be wrong to plead for a skater's health? She is a shadow of her old self, both technically and weight-wise.

I am glad that Mao won, but I agree with your concern for Mao.

what I heard is that Mao lost weight after that catastrophic earth quake ,since she could not eat due to trauma that she felt.
And then she as well as her coach decided to maintain her weight at this level. Mao herself said," It is so easy for me to move."

I do not know. Yes, Mao has beautiful soft/ light skating, but to me after she lost weight, it sometimes looks frail and fragile, rather than "light and soft"
I miss her old Mao with power of skating as well as lightness.

 

[brightphoton]

Anyone have a link for Rachel and Christina Gao?

RiservaIsuGP on Youtube has them all.

 

[Kitt]

I share the concern about Mao's health, I wish she would put just a little more weight on....

I love her skating though, and she looked so happy, especially in that last spiral, which is heavenly. Great way to end the program.

 

[seniorita]

I ve seen Mao has lost weight since last year but I wouldnt call her anorexic figure, she was on the very slim side even before, she and Yuna in Vancouver were really thin, I think.
I probably got mesmerized by her winning cause when i saw her Lp after I knew the results i didnt see any big mistakes, I thought she just doubled a jump and stepped out of another? Or maybe not. I ve seen worse of her. But the program just flew by, I didnt realise when it ended.
Somehow I started liking Alena because against all predictions she has been fighting it since Makarova won the nationals and with the hype of the newbies she doesnt rest.But I still hate this long program and mostly the facial expressions of being serious and in pain. Last year Lp was way better and interesting.

Ah Adelina, people say she flatered etc but she won two bronzes in Gp on her first year and this is really something, concidering some ladies skate many more years and dont medal at all. And she gets already level 4 in non jump elements! Her pcs for a not clean program I think there were very good. But she is a yougn girl and the Lp is kind of Tarasova heavy. I think Mao's Lp n comparisson is much better choreographically and the music is too early for Adelina to skate.
I dont believe I got bored with Kira's Lp but first time I did. I enjoyed Haruka more! Didnt see the rest.

 

[lavender]

RiservaIsuGP on Youtube has them all.

Thank you so much.

 

[lavender]

Poor Christina. I hope that this is just a transitional year for her. She has a nice program.

Rachel also has a nice program and I never like her long programs. I do kind of feel for her because I don't think it's easy for her to keep in shape. She's not the fastest or most limbered but she looks like she's even more slow and less flexible. It doesn't look easy for her to get that leg up in the air and she's lost air on her jumps.

 

[miki88]

I understand the concerns about a skater's weight but I think it's better to refrain from making definite conclusions on things without having
legitimate evidence. There are people who are very thin without having a disorder. And yes, there are people who get thinner as they grow older.

 

[brightphoton]

If Mao doesn't wanna eat, then she doesn't wanna eat. Female skaters are always going to want to starve themselves, there's no stopping it.

 

[Jtsmith12]

Who said Mao is starving herself ? Mao is someone that loves food.

 

[Krislite]

This event doesn't change my suspicion that skaters other than Mao are favored to win the World title. She wasn't that overscored here--look at her total SP+LP! I agree some of the judges were generous, but not excessively so. Mao won by PCS, but she's not the most egregious example of that kind of win (and I'm not just referring to Patrick Chan). If Akiko wins Nationals, I think she will be favored over Mao.

 

[sorcerer]

she(Mao) and Yuna in Vancouver were really thin, I think.

I think Yuna was at the time in an ideal shape as a figure skater. Her silhouette gave beauty to everything she did.
Not so much Mao and to top that she was handicapped with really awful costumes that clearly didn't become her.

 

[sorcerer]

...This was a depressing event, between wraith-like Mao, embarrassingly out-of-shape Rachael, ...

Mao's SP costume emphasized her thinness. The reverse, Rachael.

 

[Mathman]

Mao is slender but to me she does not look unhealthy. When someone has an eating disorder you can see the bones in their backs, vertebrae and shoulder blades, etc. This is not the case with Asada.

 

[Spun Silver]

I really hope you're right, Math, but I'm looking at her legs and arms - the rest of her is pretty much swathed in illusion fabric and other costuming - and the overall loss of weight in one who was already extremely slim.

Many years ago I had a roommate who developed anorexia and it took me many months to realize what was going on. We had similar builds to begin with and I was envious because she was getting more and more elegant. She always had a good story for why she didn't want to eat, or why she was drinking vinegar. Later I visited her in her own country and realized she was subsisting on an apple and about 3 bites of yogurt or soup a day. I know, because I was so appalled that I refused to eat any more than she did, as a way of forcing her to eat. We kept that up for a week until I went home, and her brother told me it was the most she had eaten in months. Eventually she recovered, thank God, but I remember what that gradual melting-away process was like. It's very pretty at first.

 

[ILoveFigures]

There are no levels on the spiral in the LP. 1 means she did one spiral position (as opposed to 2, as I understand it).

Choreography spirals don't have levels. They have a fixed base value of 2.0 pts and are evaluated by GOE. A skater has two ways to get credit for it by either holding one spiral position for atleast 6 seconds or holding two spiral positions for atleast 3 seconds each. The 1 in ChSp1 indicates that one spiral position was held for atleast 6 seconds; a 2 in ChSp2 would indicate that two spiral positions were held.

wow indeed. she did get a level 1 on her final spiral sequence....I thought that was just for choreography???

ChSp1 = Approved
ChSp0 or ChSp = Not approved.

There is no such thing as ChSp2! The 1 in ChSp1 stands for approved element. You have meet the requirements (1 spiral for 6 sec or 2 spirals for 3 sec, on a clear edge throughout, with the free leg higher than the hip). Then the quality is evaluated in GOE.

 

[camion]

^ Whoops, sorry about the misinformation on the "ChSp2" that I created. I just assumed the 1 in ChSp1 was there to differentiate the one spiral from two because the skaters I have seen have only done one spiral and therefore I assumed that's what it signified. My bad. I'm sorry.

*I do think that Mao could benefit from consciously trying to bulk up, but I think that's more of her natural build when I think about how skinny her mom is. My aunt has a similar build- she was already a thin person, but she lost weight as she got older and she eats very heartily. It takes a good amount of effort from her to gain even 3 or 4 pounds by eating a lot of protein and going to the gym and lift weights. But she loses that weight right back if she can't get to the gym and only does cardio at home or eats regularly without taking the supplements. Call it good genes or bad- depending on your opinion, but some people do have a harder time gaining the weight and maintaing it than others.

 

[einna]

this is the first time in a really long time that mao skates with such joy and people are thinking that she's depressed and starving herself..
geez.. can't anybody give her a break? I'm in my late 20s and I have friends older than me that still struggles to go over 100lbs..

anyways, congrats mao!!

 

[Mathman]

I just saw the ladies competition on TV. All of the ladies except Mao need peppier music.

Mao is utterly in a class by herself in this field. Clean up the jumps (no need for a triple Axel) and I don't think anyone can beat her this year.