OK, now that the Olympics are over I think I can accurately say that Tarasova did not help Mao's chances at all and may have actually hurt them. Why the hell was she focusing so much on the 3A to the detriment of Mao's other elements? The fact that Mao only ended up with 4 successful triple jumps in the LP is Tarasova's fault and her fault alone. Does she not understand simple arithmetic? You don't win by wowing the judges with a single trick; you do a series of tricks that cumulatively add up to a monster score. Her horrible costuming and music choices aside (cuz let's be honest, if Mao ended up winning the gold we'd all be praising Tarasova's genius in selecting a more "serious" piece with suitably "dark" costumes), her inability to work the CoP system was criminally negligent.
This has been discussed elsewhere (in the 'Stojko opposes the ladies result' thread). I asked about Tarasova there.
bethissoawesome posted (on page 14 of that thread) that:
"It was Mao who decided to go for the two 3A's... "Team Mao" wanted to take the 3A out of her programs once she became inconsistent with them, Mao refused. Even the idea of losing the 3A has made her cry in interviews... it's something very important to her in skating... she knows the rules and the risks, so at the end of the day, it should be her choice whether or not to do it."
bethissoawesome's post above is actually a reply to
bmelanie's original post:
"I have heard that it was at Mao's insistence that she put 2 3As in the LP - but it's hearsay, I can't speak for her. I did read that the music selection was Mao's; Tarasova gave her a couple of options for each program and Mao chose Masquerade and Bells - so we can't really blame TAT for that. As for training grounds, Mao wanted to train at Chukyo University where they provided her with a private rink for training, and of course any skater would want to stay in a familiar environment. eg. Yuna may train in Canada but she lives within the sizeable Korean community in Toronto.
Mao may not seem like it, but simply looking at the decisions she has made over the past few seasons - leaving Arutunian right before Worlds, putting 2 3As in her LP, refusing to change any content in her programs, recycling the Masquerade - I feel she's got a pretty stubborn streak. She sticks with a decision, for better or for worse, and I do respect her for that, even if I find it frustrating. There's a fine line between persistence and butthead stubborn, however, and I think she's been toeing it."
So I don't think we should lay all the blame on Tarasova's feet. Concerning the costume choices, though, I haven't read anything who is primarily responsible for that, so I have no idea if Tarasova suggested them to Mao.
Also, I can't remember the poster's name right now, but someone else on the Stojko thread said that apparently Tarasova had wanted Mao to get a technical coach, but Mao didn't agree (Please correct me if I'm wrong). If this is true, I at least would believe that Tarasova knows her own strengths and weaknesses. That is, I believe she knows that she is more of a choreographer, and would work better with someone who already knows his/her jumps (I think this was the case with Alexei Yagudin when he approached Tarasova after he left his old coach Mishin).
P.S. Sorry about the quote format. I'm still learning the mechanics of this site and am still figuring out how to place multiple quotes...
