Mao Asada: Olympic Thread | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Mao Asada: Olympic Thread

YunaBliss

On the Ice
Joined
May 11, 2010
Mao at her best would crush Adelina.

But Mao had no chance against the Russian skaters here. The Olympics was a big party thrown by the Russians where the non-Russian skaters were invited as guests, not competitors, and they had sacrificial feasts out of Mao and Yuna while giving the Team Gold to Julia and Individual Gold to Adelina. No wonder people are infuriated.
 

ahy

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Can i say that even mao skated in the last group, adelina will still result in first... Carolina, mao and yuna are the best out there imo though...
 

whatif

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Can i say that even mao skated in the last group, adelina will still result in first... Carolina, mao and yuna are the best out there imo though...

If she was in the last group, she would not have skated that well.
 

andyjo24

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Yeah. Mao might have skated well because all the pressure was off of her. She had no chance for even the bronze medal. If she had done well in the short, she might have botched up the free. But who knows? But either way, Mao did not have a chance for the gold medal due to the inflation the Russians received.

I'm just so glad that Mao showed everything she has to the full potential. She is truly one of the greats in ladies figure skating. It is a travesty that Yulia with big mistakes and Adelina got higher PCS scores than her. I hope she gets her revenge in Worlds next month.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Mao got robbed in PCS and TES. She should've scored way better than that. This is just gross injustice that Yulia's PCS was higher than Mao's.
 

skateluver

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Mao was wonderful. The best performance of the night was hers, both techincally and artistically. Her free should have ranked no 1 and she should have been 4th overall. Yuna, Carolina and Adelina were all wonderful as well, however I agree with most people here that the Russian girls were overscored. Adelina should have been 2nd or 3rd and Julia 7th. Ashley skated better than Julia. I hope Mao will win one more World Championships. I also hope that this will be the end of anonymous judging.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
In Sochi, Mao went all GPF 2007 on us. My prediction (no more of this wishy-washy hope stuff) is that she gains confidence from this to skate two perfect performances at Worlds and she will get showered in farewell gifts on her way to a World Record!! :yay:
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Mao was wonderful, the true winner of the night.

History will look back on Sochi Olympics ladies free skate and will shake its head at ISU, Skating Federations, and their pawn judges that they deprived themselves of celebrating a historical moment in skating history when a lady skater accomplished an 8-triple program for the first time, with wonderful skating and artistry to boot.

How stupid ISU, Skating Feds and pawn judges are to refuse the gift that Mao is.

Beautiful, lovely Mao, the most complete skater ever.
 

TheCzar

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
The only thing that I'm taking away with me from the Sochi Games is Mao Asada's performance. She got lowballed in PCS and that back end triple toe looked okay to me. The 3F-3L was never going to get ratified but even then it looked fine. Close, but fine. I was livid that they kept Mao in the 8s for PCS. WHO DOES THAT TO A WORLD CHAMPION? I'm sorry, but Mao and Kim were fine tuning their components way before Adelina, Yulia and Gracie put on their junior skates. In any case, Mao skated and got her pride back, and the pride of the Japanese nation who had supported her over the years. Even international fans. In the end, that clean, superhuman skate was worth more than any controversial medal.

Champions aren't defined by medals. It's a great reward, but not always that worth it.

(on a different note: I do think that she wouldn't have skated that freely had a medal been at stake. The pressure was too much.)
 

Nater

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
The only thing that I'm taking away with me from the Sochi Games is Mao Asada's performance. She got lowballed in PCS and that back end triple toe looked okay to me. The 3F-3L was never going to get ratified but even then it looked fine. Close, but fine. I was livid that they kept Mao in the 8s for PCS. WHO DOES THAT TO A WORLD CHAMPION? I'm sorry, but Mao and Kim were fine tuning their components way before Adelina, Yulia and Gracie put on their junior skates. In any case, Mao skated and got her pride back, and the pride of the Japanese nation who had supported her over the years. Even international fans. In the end, that clean, superhuman skate was worth more than any controversial medal.

Champions aren't defined by medals. It's a great reward, but not always that worth it.

(on a different note: I do think that she wouldn't have skated that freely had a medal been at stake. The pressure was too much.)

Mao lands her jumps on a relatively flat foot (this is often why she doesn't have much speed coming out of her jumps) and backloads (delays) her rotations so you often need slow motion to check her jumps unless they are very obvious URs. The Triple Axel was short as well, but the judges gave her that one. The slow motion made that pretty obvious.
 

vegarin

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 19, 2013
Mao lands her jumps on a relatively flat foot (this is often why she doesn't have much speed coming out of her jumps) and backloads (delays) her rotations so you often need slow motion to check her jumps unless they are very obvious URs. The Triple Axel was short as well, but the judges gave her that one. The slow motion made that pretty obvious.

Oh god, you're really going to talk about UR? Do you want us to talk about flutz and URs that have gone unnoticed at this Olympics? Really?

I kinda love that you're really trying to tear down every great lady skaters, whether it be Mao or Caro or Yuna. At this rate, you're really going to successfully unite Mao and Yuna fans completely in shared displeasure. That would be some feat.

In the end, that clean, superhuman skate was worth more than any controversial medal.

I agree. And Mao's program here will be watched again and again in amazement throughout skating history. That would be a fact.
 

hurrah

Medalist
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Mao lands her jumps on a relatively flat foot (this is often why she doesn't have much speed coming out of her jumps) and backloads (delays) her rotations so you often need slow motion to check her jumps unless they are very obvious URs. The Triple Axel was short as well, but the judges gave her that one. The slow motion made that pretty obvious.

hi-definition digital television and recorders are household items in this day and age. in japan alone, millions of households not only watched the free skate program but recorded it (mao skated three in the morning and viewing percentage was 15%. the rest of japan saw it recorded). i guarantee you millions re-watched every single one of mao's jumps in super slo-mo. and not just mao's jumps. they look at other skater's jumps, too.
 

starrynight

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
The only thing that I'm taking away with me from the Sochi Games is Mao Asada's performance. She got lowballed in PCS and that back end triple toe looked okay to me. The 3F-3L was never going to get ratified but even then it looked fine. Close, but fine. I was livid that they kept Mao in the 8s for PCS. WHO DOES THAT TO A WORLD CHAMPION? I'm sorry, but Mao and Kim were fine tuning their components way before Adelina, Yulia and Gracie put on their junior skates. In any case, Mao skated and got her pride back, and the pride of the Japanese nation who had supported her over the years. Even international fans. In the end, that clean, superhuman skate was worth more than any controversial medal.

Champions aren't defined by medals. It's a great reward, but not always that worth it.

(on a different note: I do think that she wouldn't have skated that freely had a medal been at stake. The pressure was too much.)


The real Olympic moment that I will never forget was made by Mao's FS. I watch her ending over and over and cry again and again.
 

BounceAround

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
I don't think Nater is trying to be a hater :). I agree that Mao delays her rotation, but there was a time when delayed rotation was considered beautiful. Lu Chen had similar technique, and it follows from a tradition of wonderful delayed jumps in both singles and pairs. I also agree that it can sometimes lead to underrotations, and thus is less desired in this system. Mao did land the triple axel a little short, but I managed to stop the video right when she landed :)biggrin: :biggrin:), and it was definitely within a quarter turn. If you watch the mark on the ice during the replay, you'll see it as well. I also agree with vegarin that the scrutiny applied to Mao's jumps was not consistent with what the rest of the girls got.

Thank you again, Mao, for that special performance!

Nater, can you explain what you mean by landing on a "flat foot"? What is the desired technique? I'm curious and ashamed because I skated for many years, and I clearly don't know how to land jumps...
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
I am stunned beyond words when I think about Mao's free skate, to able to land all 8 triple, 4 of them in combination, and they include all kind of triples, as well as level 4 on all spins and steps all done within 4 minutes....That was GlORIOUS skate and historic achievement that will not be repeated for many years if not decades to come, and what a better place to make history then at the Olympics again!
 

ks777

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
Nater, can you explain what you mean by landing on a "flat foot"? What is the desired technique? I'm curious and ashamed because I skated for many years, and I clearly don't know how to land jumps...

I think he means that you are supposed to land on back outside edge when landing. If you land on the flat edge"(on both inside and outside edge) you don't get good flowing landing. I think Mao improved on that when he went to Sato.
 
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