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Congratulations, Mao, on your 3rd World Championship title! You now have the most WC titles of any skater since Michelle Kwan. 
Mao Asada
- Thread starter tulosai
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Congratulations,Mao for this great accomplishment
And if someone found the video from her LP today,please share it here...
Congratulations Mao on the greatest comeback in figure skating history!!! From a 55 SP at Sochi to the monumental Sochi LP, world record Sp, grace under pressure Worlds LP, your third World Championship and personal best overall score by more than 9 points!!! You are my heroine!! I thought she said she was only 50 / 50 on retirement. I really don't think she will retire. She probably wants to break her tie with Slutskaya for the most Grand Prix Final Championship titles at 4, challenge Kwan's 5 world titles and the Japanese Skating Federation will surely put a lot of pressure on her to continue. She has a monk-like dedication to the sport and this is arguably her best season: World record SP, Stunning Sochi LP, grace under pressure World LP, Grand Prix and World Championship, overall best score, highest PCS and technical score, and best skating speed in the Worlds LP, hence best PCS. This is the best she has ever been. She really shouldn't quit. Besides, who else can stand up to the Russian revolution?
Here is a link for her Worlds LP. To be honest, it still brings me to tears. There is only the one step out to distract from perfection. The tech panel was just vicious today on all skaters but particularly Asian skaters, though I think the podium placements are correct. I might even have placed the Russian Anna at third. I really like her and Yulia too, but not nearly as much as monumental and majestic Mao.
Here is a quick link, though it is not in HD: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mao+asada+2014+world+championships+freeskate&sm=12
First lady to win 3 world titles under current rules! Well done Mao!
Not exactly the performance she was looking for, if this was indeed her last competition... 3 UR calls (surprised that 3A was called UR?!)... an edge violation... silly mistake on the 2A and missed combination... but still a beautiful, beautiful performance.
I'm so happy for her. omedetou!!!
Not exactly the performance she was looking for, if this was indeed her last competition... 3 UR calls (surprised that 3A was called UR?!)... an edge violation... silly mistake on the 2A and missed combination... but still a beautiful, beautiful performance.
I'm so happy for her. omedetou!!!
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2011
This season, Mao landed 4 beautifully clean triple Axels in competition: at the 2013 GPF, at the Sochi Olympics, and twice here at Worlds. She only landed two triple Axels in the previous 3 seasons. Goes to show that hard work and dedication to improving oneself can pay off.
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- Jun 27, 2012
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I'm almost as happy for Mao as for her kind fans on Goldenskate who always found encouraging words and supported her through the hard times! She deserved this title more than anyone and I still hate the tech panel who thought it was funny to almost ruin it for her for some weird reason.
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- Nov 8, 2013
I am so happy and thankful for Mao's performance. It's amazing/unbelievable/wonderful/astounding/etc. that all her hard work revising her technique came together at just the right season! 
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2014
Congrats to Mao!
An amazing performance in the SP and a deserving gold. I hope that's shut up the ex PM.
An amazing performance in the SP and a deserving gold. I hope that's shut up the ex PM.
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
In my opinion, Mao’s last three performances have been the best or among the best she has ever done- all in a row!! What a brilliant achievement, and what a wonderful gift she has left for all her fans. So passionate, pure and gutsy all in the clutch!!! I’m so glad I have HD copies of all three. And unlike Sochi, she now has a gold medal to show for it- only the third woman in the last 50 years, along with Michellle Kwan and Katarina Witt, to win more than two World Championships.
I did notice that she was particularly nervous before she started the World’s Free-skate, like she said in an interview. But, she also said that the support of the Japanese crowd helped her to relax, so that she was able to skate the performance that fulfilled her expectations. I think initially it got her psyched up so she skated faster than in Sochi, which helped the PCS score and her spinning speed. Also, she covered her step out on the 2A so quickly and fluidly that it didn’t break the flow of her grace under pressure performance, while the other two top contenders, Kostner and Lipnitskaya, either self-destructed or fell. This 2014 World’s performance reminded me of another one of my favorite performances: Mao’s Czardas performance at 2007 Worlds, which was also in Japan. She also had a minor bobble on a jump during an exuberant and technically difficult program with a lot of speed that gave her a world record score and just missed giving her a come from behind victory .
I think the judges deflating her tech score from 76 to 65 in the 2014 World’s LP was at least half unjustified because even Pluschenko tweeted Mao complimenting her on her third World title and two clean triple axels, and he’s Russian!!! I have looked at that jump on my HD copy a few times and honestly still cannot find any UR. I think the tech judges may have wanted to give Lipnitskaya an outside chance to catch her, since she was skating next. Lipnitskaya lost tech points too, but only 4 compared to Mao’s 11!! Even so, Lipnitskaya’s 2nd place free-skate was still more than 5 points behind Mao’s because Mao finally got a well-deserved, high PCS score (her first 10's ever in skating skills with no judges from Japan!!). Yet, some journalists like Jack Gallagher in the Japan Times are reporting that she struggled and merely had a "satisfactory" performance in the long with flaws like the UR on the axel, and other URs which may be questionable. Yet, Hatchet job Gallagher never mentions that she increased her lead by almost 8 points over her nearest competitor after this allegedly flawed free-skate, even after all these downgrades .
It would be nice if journalists and PM's from her own country would stick up for her when she makes mistakes and place her greatest performances within the context of questionable / corrupt judging or the inferior performances of her fellow competitors, instead of begrudging and belittling her achievements, especially in the wake of what happened at Sochi. But, Mao has such a fighter instinct that she seems to thrive on this kind of martyrdom because her performances have been top-notch lately. I just wish she would wage battle with her skating blades for a couple of more years, as the best female warrior in the sport, combining finesse and elegance with fierce determination.
I did notice that she was particularly nervous before she started the World’s Free-skate, like she said in an interview. But, she also said that the support of the Japanese crowd helped her to relax, so that she was able to skate the performance that fulfilled her expectations. I think initially it got her psyched up so she skated faster than in Sochi, which helped the PCS score and her spinning speed. Also, she covered her step out on the 2A so quickly and fluidly that it didn’t break the flow of her grace under pressure performance, while the other two top contenders, Kostner and Lipnitskaya, either self-destructed or fell. This 2014 World’s performance reminded me of another one of my favorite performances: Mao’s Czardas performance at 2007 Worlds, which was also in Japan. She also had a minor bobble on a jump during an exuberant and technically difficult program with a lot of speed that gave her a world record score and just missed giving her a come from behind victory .
I think the judges deflating her tech score from 76 to 65 in the 2014 World’s LP was at least half unjustified because even Pluschenko tweeted Mao complimenting her on her third World title and two clean triple axels, and he’s Russian!!! I have looked at that jump on my HD copy a few times and honestly still cannot find any UR. I think the tech judges may have wanted to give Lipnitskaya an outside chance to catch her, since she was skating next. Lipnitskaya lost tech points too, but only 4 compared to Mao’s 11!! Even so, Lipnitskaya’s 2nd place free-skate was still more than 5 points behind Mao’s because Mao finally got a well-deserved, high PCS score (her first 10's ever in skating skills with no judges from Japan!!). Yet, some journalists like Jack Gallagher in the Japan Times are reporting that she struggled and merely had a "satisfactory" performance in the long with flaws like the UR on the axel, and other URs which may be questionable. Yet, Hatchet job Gallagher never mentions that she increased her lead by almost 8 points over her nearest competitor after this allegedly flawed free-skate, even after all these downgrades .
It would be nice if journalists and PM's from her own country would stick up for her when she makes mistakes and place her greatest performances within the context of questionable / corrupt judging or the inferior performances of her fellow competitors, instead of begrudging and belittling her achievements, especially in the wake of what happened at Sochi. But, Mao has such a fighter instinct that she seems to thrive on this kind of martyrdom because her performances have been top-notch lately. I just wish she would wage battle with her skating blades for a couple of more years, as the best female warrior in the sport, combining finesse and elegance with fierce determination.
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
Here is some information from posters on the ladies thread supporting the view that the tech judges cheated Mao out of points with more detail and patience than I have.
tokugawaice tokugawaice is offline
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Have watched Asada's program several times now and can't figure out the UR calls on her 3A and 3-3 combo...?? Who was the technical caller for this? What's the point of having video replay if you can't watch it and make an accurate call.. the 3A and 3-3 from her for this particular performance were some of the best ones ive seen from her! ridiculous..
Is this another example of reputational scoring, i.e. omg she's underrotated her jumps in the past therefore she must still be underrotating her jumps!
The 3A call was just wrong. I wouldn't go crazy over the 3-3 call yet as I haven't seen slow-motion and they credited her 3Loop anyway. To me, her 3-2-2 should not have gotten called. The first 2Lo was definitely fine (Youtube 0.25x doesn't lie) and the second 2Lo was close but I'd still say clean. CarneAsada
Continuing the discussion of Asada's calls Ziggy:
Most of the jumps that Asada got '<' on were replayed in slow-motion after her performance was over, whilst waiting for the results. YouTube has 0.25 slow-motion so you can turn that on, over the replay slow-motion and get a decent view of the blade on the landings. That's still far less accurate than watching the videos frame-by-frame so take it all with a grain of salt.
3axel
To me, it looks like the cheat was clearly under 1/4 and I wouldn't have called it.
3(f)lutz
It looks slightly over 1/4 to me and I would have called it '<.' It's only the front of the blade that seems to touch the ice, though, and it did look borderline so it's not very clear either way, by any means, and I can understand the lack of a '<' call there. Or maybe the panel never reviewed it because they thought it was ok or didn't have enough time to.
3flip/2loop/2loop
3flip is cheated but it seems a little less than 1/4. She entered it on a sharp curve so the point of take-off doesn't seem very clear. I agree with both of the 2loop calls as they are a bit over 1/4.
3flip/3loop
This wasn't shown on the replay so the best we've got is the live video. To me, it looks cheated a bit less than 1/4 so I wouldn't have called it '<' but the 0.25 slo-mo alone is far from accurate enough so that's just a wild guess.
tokugawaice tokugawaice is offline
On the Ice
Join Date
Feb 2014
Posts
38
Have watched Asada's program several times now and can't figure out the UR calls on her 3A and 3-3 combo...?? Who was the technical caller for this? What's the point of having video replay if you can't watch it and make an accurate call.. the 3A and 3-3 from her for this particular performance were some of the best ones ive seen from her! ridiculous..
Is this another example of reputational scoring, i.e. omg she's underrotated her jumps in the past therefore she must still be underrotating her jumps!
The 3A call was just wrong. I wouldn't go crazy over the 3-3 call yet as I haven't seen slow-motion and they credited her 3Loop anyway. To me, her 3-2-2 should not have gotten called. The first 2Lo was definitely fine (Youtube 0.25x doesn't lie) and the second 2Lo was close but I'd still say clean. CarneAsada
Continuing the discussion of Asada's calls Ziggy:
Most of the jumps that Asada got '<' on were replayed in slow-motion after her performance was over, whilst waiting for the results. YouTube has 0.25 slow-motion so you can turn that on, over the replay slow-motion and get a decent view of the blade on the landings. That's still far less accurate than watching the videos frame-by-frame so take it all with a grain of salt.
3axel
To me, it looks like the cheat was clearly under 1/4 and I wouldn't have called it.
3(f)lutz
It looks slightly over 1/4 to me and I would have called it '<.' It's only the front of the blade that seems to touch the ice, though, and it did look borderline so it's not very clear either way, by any means, and I can understand the lack of a '<' call there. Or maybe the panel never reviewed it because they thought it was ok or didn't have enough time to.
3flip/2loop/2loop
3flip is cheated but it seems a little less than 1/4. She entered it on a sharp curve so the point of take-off doesn't seem very clear. I agree with both of the 2loop calls as they are a bit over 1/4.
3flip/3loop
This wasn't shown on the replay so the best we've got is the live video. To me, it looks cheated a bit less than 1/4 so I wouldn't have called it '<' but the 0.25 slo-mo alone is far from accurate enough so that's just a wild guess.
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