If anyone is able to watch this program, please let us know what is said. Is Rika Hongo going to continue competing, and are some of the other girls going to college? Thanks!
The show was aired last night, featuring Wakaba, Satoko, Kaori, Marin, Mai Mihara, Rika Hongo, and Yuna Shiraiwa. It was a bit of a fluff piece and very respectful of the girls' privacy - it was mostly about their skating, very little about their private lives other than footage of Mai graduating from high school. To answer your questions, Rika Hongo plans to aim for Beijing, but nothing was mentioned about her career after graduating from university. No mention of university for Mai, but I assume she will be going - according to a fan site, she's going to Konan University
http://www.konan-u.ac.jp/english/ - but this info is not confirmed.
The programme was interesting in that it showed the process of struggling with failure to make the Olympics and slowly moving on while taking part in the Challenger series. There was lots of footage of Marin crying. Wakaba was equally disappointed, I think, but she was more stoic in the way she expressed herself. It sounds like all the girls want to aim for Beijing, although Satoko was a bit more cautious and said that she would like to if her body holds up. The reporter has been interviewing Satoko since her junior days and a rare photo of her aged 14 came up on screen. The programme focused on her long struggle with injury and URs, and reaffirmed what a fighter she is.
Satoko, Kaori, and Wakaba (and Marin towards the end) all talked about not giving up and fighting.
An interesting snipped about Rika H - she said that the quirky programmes this season were "designed to be a challenge" and that she would like to perform programmes that she really liked next season.
I didn't know that Kaori's EX was a tango too! Mai talked about her struggle with her tango SP and commented that it had been so hard she thought she could perform anything after what she had gone through. She stressed that she wanted to be a versatile, all-round performer while remaining true to herself. Good on her. Her coach said she felt Mai had really grown from the experience.
Wakaba keeps a notebook that serves as training notes and a diary. In addition to all the technical skating stuff, she said she scrawled "I did it!!!!" after winning silver at Worlds.
The programme was a bit unusual in that it covered athletes like Yuna Shiraiwa and Rika Hongo who don't normally get a lot of hype.
Sorry it's a bit rambling, but think I covered most of the important points (I took notes LOL).
arty:
