Japan's Mao Asada overcame a disappointing start into the Olympic season by winning the 2010 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Jeonju, Korea, and is now headed to the Olympic Winter Games with refreshed confidence.
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Is this an AP article?
I think the GS articles about Mao are written quite fairly, detailing both positives and negatives of her performance at 4CC.
On the other hand, Hersh's newest article (http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/), I feel, was written with the purpose of bashing Mao. His bias in his writings come through too strongly.
Even if he wasn't bashing, I think Hersh is still too harsh. Whereas other reporters at least try to be objective, he doesn't even care that much. For skaters he favor, he will praise them even when they do not succeed (case in point, his articles on Sasha's comeback). His writing is just too subjective for a reporter. (He should be a blogger instead).
Even if he wasn't bashing, I think Hersh is still too harsh.
All of the articles posted here by gsk8 (owner and administrator of the Golden Skate site) are exclusive to Golden Skate. They are commissioned by GS and written by regular Golden Skate correspondents. This article is by GS contributor Tatiana Flade, with exclusive photograph by Anna Kondakova (specialising in European and international competitions.)
Another regular contributor is Elvin Walker (aka JR , based in the U.S). Rosaleen Kaye wrote many insightful articles for GS, notably about Canadian figure skating, and we hope to see her back one day after she recovers from a recent devastating health crisis.
Here are some recent Golden Skate articles.
http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/articles.shtml
Thanks for the article. Despite it's title it does not really sound all that positive for Mao mentioning she can't do this jump and has lost that jump. And still level 3's on her spirals at 4CC? Mao is capable of hitting beautiful Sasha-like positions and it feels like stronger coaching would be taking care of details like this.
The difference between a level 3 spiral sequence and a level 4 spiral sequence is 0.3 points. That's pretty insignificant, especially once the GOE are added in (bringing Mao's spiral sequence score well above the 3.4 base value for a level 4). Incidentally, the same SpSq was called as level 4 in the long program.
She also has not really "lost" her triple lutz. She was actually starting to take off from a clean outside edge in the past season, but she knew she had to think about it too much and decided that made it too risky.
True,these things may not sound positive when taken out of context, so here's the context: Even with the expensive mistakes in her short program, Mao's total score at 4CC was still the third highest ladies' score at any international competition this season! It may have been quite a bit lower than high scorer YuNa Kim's, but it was just two points below Miki Ando's, and would probably have beaten Miki's score if the PCS marks had been in the same range at their respective competitions. If Mao stays on this trajectory for the next few weeks, she could win Silver at the Olympics with nobody else messing up and she could win Gold if YuNa messes up (Don't forget, Rachael Flatt beat YuNa when YuNa messed up, and did it with a score that is 10 points lower than Mao's!).
Apparently, the AP people agree with you. http://theolympianblog.com/2010/02/2010-medal-projections-vancouver-games-individual-winners.html
Their prediction is 1. Kim 2. Mao. 3. Miki (Asian sweep ) I wouldn't mind that podium. Rochette may sneak in though.