Ladies SP

[ilunga1965]

I don't think it's so much about practicing. The difference here is that Kim has sounder jumping technique than Asada has...And that sound jumping technique is paying dividends after puberty










I agree. I read an article about Yuna's jumping. She learned it from a few Korean coaches here in Korea, but mainly learned by watching video tapes of other top-level skaters, like Kwan's. There's no special rink for figure skaters or appropriate coaching programs here, so she had to practice it with her mother at night .
When young Yuna tried to cheat when jumping(like using wrong edges or underrotating), she had to run around the rink so many times as a punishment because her mother was so strict about that.

I think that now it becomes almost a half-automatic physical reaction after long practice before puberty.

Ignore my grammatical mistakes, plz.

 

[evangeline]

ok, lets ressume:

TAT's achievements:

Mao's 3A is inconsistent again, Mao can't do 3-3's anymore, Mao's 2L in combinations gets downgraded, Mao's 3L gets downgraded, 3Lz is not existent anymore, Mao's 3F gets downgraded.... But hey: she can do a 3T now...

so, i suggest:

SP
3T-2T
2Lz ( but with the right edge)
2A

FS
3T-2T
2F-1L-1L
2Lz
2 or 3L
2A
2A
2A-tano2L

I hope you're kidding, because there's no way Mao's going to make the Olympic podium (or even make it out of Japanese nationals, really) with a jump layout like that.

 

[demarinis5]

I hope you're kidding, because there's no way Mao's going to make the Olympic podium (or even make it out of Japanese nationals, really) with a jump layout like that.

Maybe the poster was being facetious. I hope so.

 

[ilunga1965]

ok, lets ressume:

TAT's achievements:

Mao's 3A is inconsistent again, Mao can't do 3-3's anymore, Mao's 2L in combinations gets downgraded, Mao's 3L gets downgraded, 3Lz is not existent anymore, Mao's 3F gets downgraded.... But hey: she can do a 3T now...

so, i suggest:

SP
3T-2T
2Lz ( but with the right edge)
2A

FS
3T-2T
2F-1L-1L
2Lz
2 or 3L
2A
2A
2A-tano2L

Yeah...but, before all of that, she should think about why she skates...for herself or for anything else... The Japanese media and some fans shoud also stop putting too much pressure on her. She's still very young and talented, so she'll overcome this situation well, in the end.

 

[figurejennah]

yu na kim's team must be giggling underneath their breaths to see all these girls falling apart in front of her

OMG why do you drag yuna into this??? I don't understand why some Mao's fans always try to make yuna look so bad!!! I love Mao, but I feel so bad to see these kinds of fans. Are you also one of those people who posted horrible videos on youtube? Mao did well, considering all these stress she has to deal with. We will see how she does tomorrow!!!

 

[ayayukiituka]

it's one way for herself to retire once,and she'll come back if she thinks "i really want to win"

 

[bekalc]

Originally Posted by adamlondon
yu na kim's team must be giggling underneath their breaths to see all these girls falling apart in front of her

Yeah Ando didn't look too bad for a new short program, and Rochette looked AMAZING in Japan. I doubt they are counting their issues and they probably are expecting Asada to sort out her issues.

 

[Wicked]

I saw Tonya Harding throw her life away, now I'm seeing Mao do it in glorious fashion, both hard-headed (if I'm to believe what I read) & stubborn.

What a shame, a total waste, just like Tonya, just like Tonya.

Lol, but Nadine's still a fan of both, till the bitter end.

All my favs came in fourth at the Olympics because of these very qualites:

Steve Prefontaine
Tonya Harding


Deja vue, deja vue *sigh*

Awww, give Mao at least till the end of this competition before banishing her to Hardingville!

 

[SXTN]

of course i was kidding....

 

[Kwanford Wife]

what series of surprises to wake up to!



Take heart, Mao. The season is FAR from over!!

I couldn't agree more... we've seen meltdowns before and those skaters turn it around quickly and go on to great seasons... we've also seen TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION - in October - and TOTAL WORLD DISASTER - in February. Its almost a part of the Olympic tradition.

I do hope, however, that Mao's issues are mental and not physical. Pressure can do wonders for an athlete after a series of missteps. But if she has a physical issue (ie - injury or another growth spurt) this might affect her chances in Vancouver to compete.

Granted, if she comes back strong tomorrow and wins the whole thing, this obsessive hand wringing will quickly change into "heart of a champion" and "TAT's a genius!!" rather quickly. That's also become apart of the Olympic tradition - fans and their fickle opinions!

 

[Kwanford Wife]

of course i was kidding....

obviously, tensions are high...

 

[figurejennah]

Yes but the difference here is that Yu-na is rock solid with her 3/3s, and Mao doesn't have anywhere near the same consistency with her 3axels. I think that Kim gets a raw deal when it comes to her technical merit a lot. People talk about how she doesn't take risks. And well I guess her layout isn't as "sexy" as 3axels. But seriously, the fact that Kim can hit 3/3s so consistently is frankly amazing, and probably scares the crap out of her competitors.

Well said. I never understood people who'd say that Yuna "does not take challenge." Huh? Perfecting a program seems to be freaking amazingly challenging to me. Realistically speaking, there is no other female skater right now who has such consistent 3-3 combo like yuna. Moreover, she fully rotates and her speed across the ice is amazing. That is a huge deal, and yes it must deadly threatening to her competitors.

Mao Mao... Sigh. I just watched her performance on youtube. What on earth is going on right now? First, she got 102 at Japan Open in her FS, (You cannot find this video anymore on youtube for some reason) and now she received 51 in sp???? She did get the highest PCS, which barely put her to the 6th position. I am speechless that she was the 2008 world champion. Something is completely off with her right now. I've watched her since she was young, and it is heart breaking to see her like this. Who knows, she might come back. At 2008 TEB, she messed up so horribly, but in the end she won the GPF.
If she does make it to the GPF, I wonder if Caprice will be a better choice for her. I don't even know what would be the best for her for now though. She will keep at least one of her 3A, but she won't put her lutz, and her 3-3 is almost always downgraded. She is left with 3Loop, 3toe and 2A. sigh. Also, all the commentators have been calling her Flip "Lutz," so I am afraid that her flip will also be downgraded.... waaaaa.... mao mao ....

 

[zandor]

Congrats to Julia S.!!

 

[Okami]

I don't think Mao's scores at WTT were a gift. Quite simply, she skated well at WTT - two clean programs with 3 triple axels (just one of them underrotatted) and high levels on everything. She skated with fire and a smile on her face.

She skated poorly here - doubling her 2A and forgetting to replace the second 2A with a triple of some sort. She looked worn-out and miserable.

In both cases, the scores reflected the performance.

I feel like avoiding the lutz and going all in for the 3As may also have been the reason for her split with Arutunian (he tried to fix her flutz) - just not the right choice, as we can clearly see right now.

Actually, it was exactly the other way around. Rafael didn't want to fix the Flutz, he thought the compulsory deduction for flutzing was unfair. Possibly he wanted to wait with fixing the wrong edge take-off until the off-season, but by that time Mao switched away from him.

Mao REALLY wanted to have a full set of clean triples, and I think that being overenthusiastic about it is what causing her problems. She simply started working on everything at the same time, and in result, most of her jumps/combinations became unstable, because the technique that Mao acquired is fairly fresh.
I think that part of the reason that Mao clings to her 3As is that it simply is one of the few triples that Mao feels comfortable with...

3Lz - fixed flutz, but in result - not a stable jump, often popped or doubled
3F - fixed "toe hammer" (lifting free leg too high, almost above the head), in result - slow approach into the jump, not much flow out, difficult to tack on a triple on the end.
3L - used to be Mao's most favourite jump - for some reason UR at TEB and in practice here at CoR. Fatigue?
3S - in the summer clips, looked perfect with changed technique (more height and take off a'la Miki), but not very stable in competitions.
3T - actually, probably Mao's most stable triple jump right now, though acquired fairly recently.

In the meantime she worked on 3F-3L, 3F-3T, 3A-3T, 3F-3L-2L, 3L-3L, 3L-3L-2L, 'Tano jumps, not to mention on basic skills, spins, spirals, etc.

I think Mao should just give up on some things (like 3F-3L, 3S, 3A-2T) and instead concentrate on those jumps that she could reasonably master until Olympics (solo 3A, 3L-3L looked fab in practice, much better than 3F-3L, 3Lz looked great when done on fresh legs).

Maybe something like:
3L-3L
3F/3Lz
2A

and

3A
2A-3T
3Lz
3L-3L
3F-2L-2L
3F
2A

would have worked much better. However, to master that jump layout Mao would probably have to miss the GPF and instead find a jump doctor (Lee Barkell, maybe?) and work, work, work.

Exactly. In her press statement, she implied that she was just going to dive in the deep end with this program, and I applaud her for tackling it so head-on. With less than a point separating her and the top 2 (and given Julia and Alyssa’s tendencies to bomb the FS), I think Miki will be fine.

I agree. Miki did fine today, considering how new her program is (and the fact that in the early practices she kept popping jumps and was very frustrated because she couldn't get her timings on jumps right).

 

[Basics]

Mao's Overestimated Score in WTT was Definitely false alarm for her team.

I totally agree with you. why keep trying uncontrolled 3A in sp? I know she's trying to beat yuna, but she first needs to think about making the podium. The better sp layout would be 3F-2T, 3Lo, 2A.

 

[museksk8r]

I totally agree with you. why keeping trying uncontrolled 3A in sp? I know she's trying to beat yuna, but she first needs to think about making the podium. The better sp layout would be 3F-2T, 3Lo, 2A.

I think Mao can have success with 3flip+3toe combination.

 

[cima]

It's definitely not a great idea to do 3 3As considering her inconsistency.
And because Mao often get downgraded on her 3-3 combination, it's better
not to do 3-3 either. I would rather recommend her to do this:

SP
3Lo-2Lo
3F
2A

FS
3A+2T (or a solo 3A if she fails to put 2T after 3A)
3Lo-2Lo
3F-2T-2Lo
3F (or 3F+2T if she fails to put 2T after 3A)
3Lo
3S (or 3T if she feels uncomfortable with her 3S)
2A


If Mao can skate two clean programs with these layouts,
she can get a total score close to 190 or even higher considering
Johannie has got over 190 with her 3-2 and 3-3 sequences...

 

[Basics]

PPL here should know that the problem with Mao right now isn't all about her 3A. I think she's losing her toe jumps. Her flip&toe loop look shaky at times and she can't do a lutz. So she is not gonna get good GOE compare to Yuna and Joannie. I think she really needs to improve her toe jumps quality first, before thinking about doing 3A's. Otherwise, it will be tough for her to even make the Olympic podium.

 

[figurejennah]

OMG!!! at the end of Ladies SP, the Russian woman announcer(I don’t know her name!) surely confirmed that Mao cried awfully going out. And more, Tatiana had not come back to give her a scheduled interview.

See the kiss and cry zone video clip on youtube. It is horrible. TAT keeps speaking to her in Russian (which Mao probably can't even understand) and Mao isn't even looking at TAT as though she is sucking in tears......... Seeing her face at 1:20 made me so sad. I haven't seen her face like this before at KCZ...

arg....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhAhd-fyCb8

 

[*Sniper*]

It's strange now, how some fans view 3/3s as not a risk considering it's difficult for some ladies to execute a great 3/3. It seems like yesterday that 3/3s were considered to be a risk.

I don't think it's so much about practicing. The difference here is that Kim has sounder jumping technique than Asada has...And that sound jumping technique is paying dividends after puberty.

In my view, some fans are right to view the 3/3 as not enough of a risk for Yuna BECAUSE SHE IS SO SOLID.
Goodness, she is earning +2 GOEs on them, for crying out loud.

No other current ladies can be expected to land them fully rotated every time, let alone earn bonus points for them.

While 3/3 itself is a risk/challenge for female skaters, taking risks also means stepping out of your own comfort zone, and I think she is demonstrating on the ice that one 3/3 combo, for her, is not exactly that any more.

So if anything, I think it's a compliment to her technical prowess.
(Whether those people have meant it or not is a whole another discussion, of course.)