- Joined
- Mar 18, 2013
Well, of course, I agree that Shizuka and Maria are not on the same level... However, saying that "Shizuka was the Maria of Japan" isn't commenting on the level of talent. For me, its commenting on the arc of their careers and the fact that the federation was already pushing Mao, just like Slutskaya was always being looked to ahead of Maria.
I'm taking away nothing from Shizuka's Olympic Win. She totally deserved that Oly title. It just wasn't as exciting, nor as technically demanding as Tara's, Sarah's, or Yu-Na's. She played it safe, and sure, that's really all she had to do... but it just didn't sit right with me. It wasn't even that she had bad first jumps in the combination, she wasn't even going after the triple-triple combos, which given that you've only seen Sasha's splatfest right before, and you don't know what Slutskaya is gonna do, seems like she wasn't grabbing the Gold. She was gonna play it safe, and let Slutskaya determine the champion, however she skated.
Also, I agree that Mao overemphasized the 3A. However, I don't even think a Mao with 3Ax2 and 3/3 could have beaten Yu-Na in that Olympics, that's how high Yu-Na was riding. (I don't know how I could have forgotten about Janet Lynn and Ito. I always forget about Ito... god that lady had springs for legs.)
I'm taking away nothing from Shizuka's Olympic Win. She totally deserved that Oly title. It just wasn't as exciting, nor as technically demanding as Tara's, Sarah's, or Yu-Na's. She played it safe, and sure, that's really all she had to do... but it just didn't sit right with me. It wasn't even that she had bad first jumps in the combination, she wasn't even going after the triple-triple combos, which given that you've only seen Sasha's splatfest right before, and you don't know what Slutskaya is gonna do, seems like she wasn't grabbing the Gold. She was gonna play it safe, and let Slutskaya determine the champion, however she skated.
Also, I agree that Mao overemphasized the 3A. However, I don't even think a Mao with 3Ax2 and 3/3 could have beaten Yu-Na in that Olympics, that's how high Yu-Na was riding. (I don't know how I could have forgotten about Janet Lynn and Ito. I always forget about Ito... god that lady had springs for legs.)