Japanese Vid of Mao throwing a quad LOOP | Golden Skate

Japanese Vid of Mao throwing a quad LOOP

Crizzy

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
I'm glad she's pushing it technically, however I have my reservation about the loop jumps. I am hoping she'll push herself more in the artistry and choreography dept. Soogar, I agree. The quad loop was underrotated and rather small but she is such a fast spinner so she may just pull it off. Again I get nervous about loop jumps.
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Crizzy said:
The quad loop was underrotated and rather small but she is such a fast spinner so she may just pull it off. Again I get nervous about loop jumps.

I was actually kind of impressed by the "pop" she got in that loop. I'm not a Mao fan and I find her 3 axel to be underwhelming so I was surprised how she got that loop off the ice.

I personally feel that the Japanese fed/media know that these vids will be posted and discussed online in the offseason and it seems that they are hoping to "psyche" out their opponents. Shiz's vid shown 4 views of her Biellman (like I don't see enough Biellmans in Irina's program) and now they're showing Mao's 4 loop. Mao doesn't need a 4 loop to win anything but just the fact that she's willing to try it makes a statement.

I don't believe that this loop is hurting Mao's body now as she is still small and underdeveloped and she's falling easily out of the jump. However when she gets bigger, taking falls from that jump is going to take a huge toll on her body. Here's hoping Mao will stay small like Yamaguchi for her sake.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
soogar said:
I was actually kind of impressed by the "pop" she got in that loop. I'm not a Mao fan and I find her 3 axel to be underwhelming so I was surprised how she got that loop off the ice.

I personally feel that the Japanese fed/media know that these vids will be posted and discussed online in the offseason and it seems that they are hoping to "psyche" out their opponents. Shiz's vid shown 4 views of her Biellman (like I don't see enough Biellmans in Irina's program) and now they're showing Mao's 4 loop. Mao doesn't need a 4 loop to win anything but just the fact that she's willing to try it makes a statement.

I don't believe that this loop is hurting Mao's body now as she is still small and underdeveloped and she's falling easily out of the jump. However when she gets bigger, taking falls from that jump is going to take a huge toll on her body. Here's hoping Mao will stay small like Yamaguchi for her sake.

The size of the body won't keep Mao from hurting herself. Tara was tiny (and still is), yet practicing the 3L/3L destroyed her hip. It's the torsion caused by rapid rotation in the air that puts a strain on the hip flexors, not falling out of the jump.
 

CDMM1991

Medalist
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
What I find more encouraging for Mao than any jump, is the smile on her face. What always worried me about Yu-Na Kim was the fact that she was barely ever smiling, especially in practice. There was so much pressure on her for results, that she didn't enjoy skating, because she couldn't do anythign else. Seeing Mao playing with her dog, though I obviously couldn't understand what they were saying :) I saw the smile on her face, after she landed the loop, but at other times as well. She seems like she loves to skate, and that's all that really matters.
 

qlepf

Spectator
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
Yu-Na Kim..

Since I'm a Korean and I'm poor at English, I haven't posted so far, but I can't resist right now. Hope you don't misunderstand me.

It's not that Yu-Na doesn't like skating, it's just her personality.
I assume that she's simply shy to express her feelings in public.
The fact that she rarely smiles doesn't indicate she's not happy with skating.

Some people always smile while others rarely smile. It's just difference, isn't it?
Well, I don't know whether Yu-Na 'LOVES' skating or not, but I think some fans always consider her being forced to skate.

In adolescence, anyone can doubt if it's right to do what he/she is doing now.
Yu-Na is not an exception. I think she went through it well, and is working very hard.

You can see she's a normal, cheerful 15-years-old girl in her blog(not exactly but kind of blog) where she communicate with her close friends.

Though I don't know Yu-Na personally, I feel really sorry that fans all over the world have sort of negative view on her.

And it's really difficult to write this in English.. :scratch:
 
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Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Welcome to GS qlepf! Your English and your post were both great. :) :agree: :clap: Thank you for taking the time to give us your take on this. Even when doing something I love it is sometimes hard to smile while concentrating.

As Mathman says "post long and post often", LOL.

Piel
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
chuckm said:
The size of the body won't keep Mao from hurting herself. Tara was tiny (and still is), yet practicing the 3L/3L destroyed her hip. It's the torsion caused by rapid rotation in the air that puts a strain on the hip flexors, not falling out of the jump.

Tara didn't get any height on her jump and relied strictly on rotation to complete the jump. As a result, there was a lot more force placed on her hip. Tara was the only top skater to be so consistent on these triples despite getting hardly any height. Most of the kids I see get a comfortable amount of height where they don't have to rotate as fast (or complete the jump as close to the ice) as Tara.
Mao is getting good height on that quad loop and I think that like most skaters, she's not going to destroy her hip doing that jump. Also Tara's injury occurred after puberty (even though she still remained small due to intense dieting, which causes its own problems) and it doesn't look like Mao is finished with puberty. The injuries don't start for most kids until after their bodies have changed and then they continue to push the jumps.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Hi qleft. Piel beat me to the punch :laugh: Your English is flawless. Thanks for the insight into this wonderful young skater.

Is Yu-na old enough to be eligible for the Olympics this year? Does Korea have any other skaters currently at this level?

Mathman :)
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Adding a welcome glepf!!

Glad you posted!! Your English is just fine, and I appreciate your international perspective on things.

I agree that skaters have different outward personalities that they bring to the rink. I suppose an "American" comparison might be Johnny Weir v. Evan Lysacek. Johnny is always more serious in his expression - I have a hard time imagining him putting on a big smile during a program. Evan on the other hand, can bring that sort of "smiley" personality onto the ice. I don't think those expressions have anything to do with their individual love of skating.

Great perspective!! And I love Yu-Na's debut programs for the season!! She is a very lovely and talented skater.

DG
 

waxel

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Please let me add a welcome to glepf and another compliment to your superb English. Please continue to let us hear from you. As a previous post mentioned, it does us good to hear an international perspective.
 

jeff goldblum

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
In fact, you seem to have better English than a lot of people on this board. So far, it looks like only one person has even spelled your user name right. ;)

Anyway, after several attempts, I was able to pause the video right when Mao is reaching the ice. I wish there was some way I could get a screen capture and post a link to it, but the jump is at least a half a turn cheated. I think it's very impressive that she's trying a quad, but if she can rotate a triple axel, it shouldn't be too surprising that she could rotate about three and one half rotations on a triple loop.
 

hongligl

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2004
add my welcome here to qlepf. I believe I had watched just a clip of the girl and she has really lovely style. She won the first junior competition this year. Good for her! I assume she is old enough for the olympic?
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
hongligl said:
add my welcome here to qlepf. I believe I had watched just a clip of the girl and she has really lovely style. She won the first junior competition this year. Good for her! I assume she is old enough for the olympic?

Unfortunately she is not which is why she's staying in juniors for this season. I really dislike these rule changes because I think it's too much to ask an athlete to wait four years for another Olympics. In terms of injury prevention, it's not as if people are never going to get injured just because they raised the age limits. The juniors are still doing triples.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Nice going glepf. Your english is better than mine.

I believe edge jumps cause strain on two parts of the body - loop it's the hip; salchow it's the groin - toepick jumps take the strain away from edge jumps.

The strains of these jumps come from intense takeoffs - usually cheating as much as possible; and incomplete landings - usually cheating by more than a quarter of a turn. And of course, no flow in or out. All this hip and groin problem occurs in over practicing these jumps.

But, if winning is everything then, ya gotta do em.

Joe
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Wellcome, qlepf. :clap: Your english is better than mine.
I totally agree with what you said. She might just not like smile a lot for the sake of smile.
I've watched last JWC from a tape. Yu-na actually has more natural presentation skill then Mao. Both of them are great at jumps, light with eaze. Heard she is younger than Mao? Since Mao is in senior GP this season but Yu-Na still has to stay in JGP?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
jeff goldblum said:
In fact, you seem to have better English than a lot of people on this board. So far, it looks like only one person has even spelled your user name right. ;)
Well, I got the Q right. Do I get partial credit?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
According to their biographies on the ISU site, both Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim just turned fifteen this month. Asada's birthday is September 25, 1990 and Kim's is September 5, 1990.

Happy birthday, young ladies! :birthday: :birthday:

Mathman
 
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