Nobunari Oda News

From 25th and 26th August:

http://news.goo.ne.jp/article/yomiuri/sports/20090824-567-OYT1T00820.html

Figure skater Nobunari Oda who aims to compete at Olympics in Vancouver skated in an open practice session today at Kansai University Ice Arena in Osaka.

In his short program "Dance of Death" and free skate "Chaplin Medley" he performed jumps such as triple axel and complex, centered spins. "I'm very excited about the upcoming season", said Oda with a satisfied expression.

In September Oda will go to his coach Morozov to participate in a training camp. From there he will head to France to participate in TEB, the even that will start the new Grand Prix season.

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http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090824/oth0908242203016-n1.htm

Figure skater Nobunari Oda skated in an open practice session today (24th August) at Kansai University Ice Arena in Osaka. He executed perfect 3-3-3 combination starting with a triple axel (3,5 revolutions) and skated with great appeal. He works on improving his muscular strength and challenge high-level combinations consisting of 3 jumps: "My jumps became light. I aim to put a 4-3-3 combination in my free skate".

In his SP practice to Maksim's arrangement of "Dance of Death" his jumps were perfect. He aims to achieve complete consistency of jumps in his free skate ("Chaplin Medley"). He will participate in a training camp in America before heading to France to participate in TEB.

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/new...jp/sports/winter/news/20090824-OHT1T00278.htm
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/winter/news/20090824-OHT1T00278.htm

Those articles don't give any new info, so I'm putting the links here just for the photos.

Nobu landing a jump
Nobu during the press conference

In this article:
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090825/spm0908250503000-n1.htm
they say that Nobu plans to increase his body muscle mass by 40 percent and decrease his body fat percentage to 4%. All in order to achieve the "ultimate dream" - achieve a super body to land super jumps. Nobu says that he has confidence that he'll be able to land it in the GP series. He works on improving his muscle strength 3 hours a day. Currently his body fat level is 6%, Nobu plans to lower it to 4% by the time the season starts.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/olympic/news/2009/08/25/07.html
"Nobunari Chaplin"
Nobunari Oda (...) revealed his free program music, a medley of songs used by the king of comedy, Charlie Chaplin. The choreography includes pantomime and scenes from Chaplin movies. "The movies are really fun, but Charlie Chaplin went through many sufferings in his life. He lost his mother to illness. I want not only to show the comical part we know from the movies, but also to portray Charlie Chaplin as a human being."

Practice clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCWzonTP8QI
not much of the actual program can be seen, but parts of the music can be heard. Great 3A-3T-3L in the second part of the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aziRToFRWOI
Clips from the practice session, short interview with Nobu & TV guys being funny:
Nobu: "This is a comical program... but that's not all there is to it. I want this program to radiate with a gentle, warm feeling."

Guy I: In his free program he plans to do for the first time a 4-3-3 combination...
Guy II: Hooooooo...!
Guy I: And to accomplish that he's working out. His body fat percentage is currently 6%.
Guy II: Eeh?!
Guy I: By October (the start of the season) he plans to lower it to 4%, he said.
Guy II: I have 25%.
Guy I: I'm about the same. How about learning from him?
Guy II: That's impossible.

Figure skater Nobunari Oda skated in an open practice session today (24th August) at Kansai University Ice Arena in Osaka. He executed perfect 3-3-3 combination starting with a triple axel (3,5 revolutions) and skated with great appeal. He works on improving his muscular strength and challenge high-level combinations consisting of 3 jumps: "My jumps became light. I aim to put a 4-3-3 combination in my free skate".

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WOW

If he really manages to do thathen he'll be a solid contender for an Olympic medal.

I like Nobu's new haircut

NatachaHatawa said:

WOW

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Nobu's been doing 4-3-3s in practices/warm-ups since NHK. I think that if Nobu gets a hold of his nerves and lands 4T clean, tacking on 3T-3L will not be a trouble for him. Competition nerves seem to be Nobu's biggest foe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY_D9YN_quU <- 4-3-3 at Worlds practice before LP

hurrah said:

I like Nobu's new haircut

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Me too. I hope he'll stay away from the hair gel through the entire season.

More news:

On 30th August Nobu went to America to continue practicing and polishing his programs under his coach's guidance.

http://www.47news.jp/CN/200908/CN2009083001000393.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/spor/200908/31/spor223567.html
http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2009/08/30/p2_0002290731.shtml <-- cute photo
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2009/08/31/0002292006.shtml

Articles summary:

- Nobu's keyword for the Olympic season is expression,
- he wants to have more expressive/artistic programs and score higher than last season,
- he worked on his physical strength for a month and feels confident about his jumps. Now he plans to concentrate on upping the level of his spins and steps,
- his LP is not a finished product yet, but after watching Chaplin movies Nobu feels that he can transfer the images from the movies onto the ice,
- he'll stay in America until TEB.

While staying in USA he'll perform in the 8th annual "Stars, Stripes, and Skates ICEtravaganza", which honors the memory of Sept. 11, and benefits The Heritage Foundation of 9/11. The show will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Danbury Ice Arena in Danbury, CT.

I look forward to seeing him interpret Chaplin. I think this is a good fit for him.

Wow. what else can I say? This guy has some of the most natural talent for jumping I have seen. Similar to Mao in that way. Those combos were insane and he does it all with the best flow and edge quality. I would love for him to land some of those perfect quads at the olympics, that one he did in the freeskate in LA might just be the best quad I ever saw. When he does anything clean the execution scores must be through the roof.

Wicked said:

I look forward to seeing him interpret Chaplin. I think this is a good fit for him.

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I agree, can be interesting. I liked Nobunari's comical gala skate this summer.

Thanks for the links, Okami! :agree:

Nobu is going to join two shows this autumn.

Stars, Stripes and Skaters on September 27th in the US and Carnival on Ice on October 3rd in Japan. 2 weeks after the show in Japan, he'll be at EBT. Must be a busy autumn.

I think we can expect to see his new SP.