Article: Miki Ando says "heart and mind" not in unison anymore

[Bennett]

Miki: Tired?

At her interview after NHK, Miki said that she was questioning herself during the off season on why she was doing competitions. It is not that she wanted to quite, but that she felt that her body and mind were not in unison (according to the coverage at ice network).

I feel that she seems to have had mental fatigue for years. I recall her much more shiny when she was younger. And she is still 19 years old. This young lady has had so much to go through. I feel for her.
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Note: I initially had a link to a news article on Miki Ando that I found at the ice network. But the link was removed by the administrator because of the forum guideline that bans the link to commercial sites. Accordingly, I edited the text that had had a direct quote from the article.

 

[Hsuhs]

I admire the comfort with which they say who should be doing what.

Keep in mind that this is the reigning world champion we are talking about.

Yeah, we know who Miki is.

 

[Bennett]

I admire the comfort with which they say who should be doing what.


Yeah, we know who Miki is.

Yeah, Miki sometimes seems to lack confidence. Humility is a great quality. But it doesn't look like becoming a world champ has helped her boost confidence very much. I wonder if she cares about winning that much. Otherwise, it's hard to find the reason to stay in competitions where everyone is supposed to strive to win.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Miki and all skaters owe nothing to their fans. That's number 1! No.2 is any decision she makes is hers based on how she feels about continuing.

One can hope she remains in competitive skating but only Miki can make that decision. Maybe personal notes to her via a web site would make her feel good and recapture some spirit in skating.

Joe

 

[georgia]

Miki and all skaters owe nothing to their fans

That's so true. I wish more fans can realise that.
The skaters, most of the time want and try their best. The only thing we can give them back, is respect.
Some skaters are better than others, and some skaters are more liked than others. But they all deserve respect.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Yeah, Miki sometimes seems to lack confidence. Humility is a great quality. But it doesn't look like becoming a world champ has helped her boost confidence very much. I wonder if she cares about winning that much. Otherwise, it's hard to find the reason to stay in competitions where everyone is supposed to strive to win.

Yeah, this will probably be her last season. I remeber when she was young she looked much happier and more lively. Esp now that she has the world title... she feels like she already did it....an olympic gold in Vancover seems doubtful... and that would mean getting through 3 more years.

I hope that she moves on to things that make her happy in life.

But what makes me feel really blue is that I see the same thing happening to Mao. all these sweet happy girls are being broken by the crazy Japanese media and expectations.

 

[feraina]

But what makes me feel really blue is that I see the same thing happening to Mao. all these sweet happy girls are being broken by the crazy Japanese media and expectations.

Yeah, I worry about the same thing! I hope Mao can manage to avoid most of it by living and training in the U.S.

 

[ks777]

When Miki was younger, she always wanted to get married. She always told the interviewers that she wanted to retire from skating around 18 and get married and have kids. I hope she won't retire just yet. I think she needs a change. She needs a boyfriend who is supportive and be there for her while she trains in the US so she doesn't feel lonely. Also having a boyfriend will probably help her mentalilty. Even if she didn't skate her best, at least he will be there for her and she can probably relax a bit and enjoy skating more. That's just what I think. She lost her father pretty young and she's been longing to start her own family so having a boyfriend or husband will probably help her.

 

[dizzydi7]

Miki article

So her "heart and mind are not in unison anymore". Now there's an excuse I haven't heard yet.

Truthfully, Miki has spent most of her career with her "heart and mind not in unison". She had a very lucky world championship last year. That's how I saw it then and that's how I see it now.

If she truly feels that way, perhaps it's time to exit. With the talent available among the Japanese ladies, she won't be missed.

Dizzy

 

[Mathman]

Well, of course she will be missed. What a thing to say!

 

[Wrlmy]

Miki is one of only two japanese ladies to win both junior world and senior word. She is the only lady to land a quad in competition. She landed seven clean triples to win worlds. She is determined enough to correct her lip problem. Her style is not pleasing to everyone, but no one can take her many, many accomplishments away from Miki. She has gone through hard time, with death of her father and grandmother. I don't understand why some people are so harsh to her when so many people are creating excuses that don't even exist for mediocre skaters.

 

[oleada]

So her "heart and mind are not in unison anymore". Now there's an excuse I haven't heard yet.

Truthfully, Miki has spent most of her career with her "heart and mind not in unison". She had a very lucky world championship last year. That's how I saw it then and that's how I see it now.

If she truly feels that way, perhaps it's time to exit. With the talent available among the Japanese ladies, she won't be missed.

Lucky? She skated flawlessly at those worlds, the only one out of the top women to do so. Two world records were set and it's an incredible accomplishment that she was able to beat them. She's a two time Japanese champion, two time Junior Grand Prix final champion, World champion, Junior World Champion and she's made the Grand Prix final three times. Those accomplishments go way beyond lucky.

Miki has had many highs and lows in her career. But one thing that's always been constant is that she's incredibly determined. She had a horrible 05-06 season and came back incredibly strongly to win Skate America. She dislocated her shoulder during Japanese nationals and went on to land more jumps and win the silver medal. She's having a bad time right now, with injuries and lack of motivation, but if anyone can come back from it, she can. She's done it before.

 

[Bennett]

Lucky? She skated flawlessly at those worlds, the only one out of the top women to do so. Two world records were set and it's an incredible accomplishment that she was able to beat them. She's a two time Japanese champion, two time Junior Grand Prix final champion, World champion, Junior World Champion and she's made the Grand Prix final three times. Those accomplishments go way beyond lucky.

Miki has had many highs and lows in her career. But one thing that's always been constant is that she's incredibly determined. She had a horrible 05-06 season and came back incredibly strongly to win Skate America. She dislocated her shoulder during Japanese nationals and went on to land more jumps and win the silver medal. She's having a bad time right now, with injuries and lack of motivation, but if anyone can come back from it, she can. She's done it before.

I agree. It was really really amazing to see what she accomplished last season after the terrible performance at Torin. I feel that she deserves acknowledgments about her mental strength.

Every job involves hardships to go through and I don't think that any of the top skaters can be happy about every element of what it takes to be the very top. So I don't think that all the happy little girls can remain as happy as they used to be when they didn't have all those things to take.

Having said that, however, I still feel sorry that Miki has been looking tired for a long time. I heartily hope that she can find ways to make herself happier.

 

[dizzydi7]

Miki article

I do acknowledge that some people like Miki Ando's skating, I just happen not to be one. The girl can jump, usually, but other than that I just don't like her style of skating. She is an arm flapper, telescopes her jumps, doesn't skate with any connection to the music or audience and never skates like she is enjoying it.

This is my opinion and I don't expect others, especially her fans to agree. I do however feel that Japan has many, many talented skaters among the ladies who are much more talented than Miki. My point was, if Miki doesn't have the heart for skating, why stay around.

Dizzy

 

[Hsuhs]

Miki is love

 

[Bennett]

This is my opinion and I don't expect others, especially her fans to agree. I do however feel that Japan has many, many talented skaters among the ladies who are much more talented than Miki. My point was, if Miki doesn't have the heart for skating, why stay around.

Dizzy

I don't think that the existence of other talented ladies needs to affect Miki's choice to stay around. It's her life.

Yet, I feel that people can have a bit complex feelings towards her because she has basically everything that the other skaters are striving for. Although I agree that her performance may not appeal to everyone as beautiful, I still think that Miki is a top skater close to Mao. She has the world-famous coach Morosov. She also has sponsorship from the world-famous company Toyota, whereas even Yukari doesn't have sponsors yet.

 

[ks777]

I do acknowledge that some people like Miki Ando's skating, I just happen not to be one. The girl can jump, usually, but other than that I just don't like her style of skating. She is an arm flapper, telescopes her jumps, doesn't skate with any connection to the music or audience and never skates like she is enjoying it.

This is my opinion and I don't expect others, especially her fans to agree. I do however feel that Japan has many, many talented skaters among the ladies who are much more talented than Miki. My point was, if Miki doesn't have the heart for skating, why stay around.

Dizzy

who are the japanese ladies that's more talented than Miki? Maybe Mao is more talented than Miki but I don't know any others.

 

[krenseby]

I do acknowledge that some people like Miki Ando's skating, I just happen not to be one. The girl can jump, usually, but other than that I just don't like her style of skating. She is an arm flapper, telescopes her jumps, doesn't skate with any connection to the music or audience and never skates like she is enjoying it.

This is my opinion and I don't expect others, especially her fans to agree. I do however feel that Japan has many, many talented skaters among the ladies who are much more talented than Miki. My point was, if Miki doesn't have the heart for skating, why stay around.

Dizzy

Yeah, ok, so you wouldn't miss her if she were to go cause she is boring. Point well taken.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

What bothered me about Miki while watching ESPN was the lack of motivation. When she fell, she didn't get up quicky (maybe hurting) as did Meier and Kostner who also had falls. Although she got good marks for her PCS, I don't think Miki skated with any elan in that competition. A good pep talk should get her back for Japanese Nationals and she should definitely do 4CC to wipe away this forgetable comp. She's a good skater and deserves another chance.

Joe

 

[Bennett]

When she fell, she didn't get up quicky (maybe hurting) as did Meier and Kostner who also had falls.

I noticed that, too. I felt that she might quit the performance before completing the program. She looked absent-minded. I honestly didn't think at all that this performance deserved the PCSs that judges somehow gave her.

I wondered if she could be upset, hurting, or depressed etc. I would never know the real reason. But it did look that something was going wrong, which made me worry. She did wonderfully well in official practices with very few falls. I never expected this kind of vulnerability.

I have realized how difficult it can be to win an event that is said to be an easy win. I can imagine that it takes really a lot of energy to go out there to be the center of spotlight with all the audience and cameras watching you. When you are not 100% prepared, you may feel like slipping away. Although she usually has a lot of charisma, it was totally lacking on that day.

But the good thing is that it was not the Nationals. I would think that she would be more focused and do better at Nationals. Competing against Mao and other younger skaters may help her be focused. I hope that she won't miss the ticket to the Worlds.