Mao Asada | Page 133 | Golden Skate

Mao Asada

I've just watched Mao's LP with increasing dismay, as did all who love her skating, I am sure. Even at first glance she appeared very unwell--complexion off-color, stressed features, dark circles around her eyes, the generally unpolished look of someone who is ill. She seemed to desperately gather some strength as the program went on. I hope she is all right.
 
I'm sure she'll be ok. This is not the first time she went through this, unfortunately, but she always managed to stand back up. I only hope she'll be in better shape for nationals. Now, I just want her to take some rest. Even if Nationals is less than 2 weeks away.
Even if her goal was not to win, I wonder if she put too much pressure on herself... sometimes, it's something you can't possibly control about yourself. But let's trust her. It was a bad day for sure, but those don't last. :yes:
 
JustRozy said:
I've just watched Mao's LP with increasing dismay, as did all who love her skating, I am sure. Even at first glance she appeared very unwell--complexion off-color, stressed features, dark circles around her eyes, the generally unpolished look of someone who is ill. She seemed to desperately gather some strength as the program went on. I hope she is all right.
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I agree. She looked a lot like she did in the NHK trophy LP. She was also breathing heavily and perspiring a lot at the end. She did a good job battling through to the end, and there was still great beauty in the performance, but she seemed to be tired and weak. I still love her skating the most. I know Mao will bounce back. She just needs time to recover and get healthy. Remember Coach Sato said they were only half expectations coming into this competition and that Mao was overcoming fatigue and the inconvenient things that result from it and that Mao said she needed more solid runthroughs to get her confidence up. As soon as Mao gets well, she can increase the quality and consistency of her run throughs.
 
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It's hard to keep saying "next time" every time Mao underperforms, but this is definitely not the worst obstacle she's had to overcome. Just thinking back at the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 season, I know Mao won't give up and will keep striving for better performances. Every time I have doubts about the success of her comeback, I keep thinking of her JO Free skate and COC SP. When she finally puts those two performances together, she will be unstoppable! We know that she can do it. We just have to wait for it to finally happen
 
Let's look at the positives: how good was that lutz takeoff? The replay (unambiguous and unforgiving camera angle) says everything. Major breakthrough for Mao to pull it off in competition. :clap:

This season she has landed more ratified 3As at this point in the season than ever before (not to mentioned getting some of the highest GOEs, which are a testament to how good the quality has become). She has a triple lutz now. She even got her 3F-3L ratified once. With more time, she may or may not be able to pull it all together into one epic performance, but we shouldn't let disappointing competitive results overshadow these achievements :)
 
Mao's skating is gorgeous! All of us who were in the arena should feel honoured to have seen such an amazing lady in front of us. A floating ballerina, a graceful butterfly. No lady competing now can SKATE like Mao.
 
Yes. Since it's the first season after she took a year off, like some of you guys, I don’t expect too much from her and I realized it’s already a big achievement for her to got the participation of GP final this year and I could see that she is actually advancing step by step such as her 3A and this time the 3lz!

I hope she will be able to bounce back quickly and prepare for nationals. I really want to see Mao’s big smile :) in Kiss&Cry.

Anyways, Congratulations for all the medalists at the GPF :clapper:
 
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Although she sid not perform well in this competition, I have a hunch that this will lead to good things for Mao eventually. I dont know but Im still feel positive about this. The same feeling that I had when I learned Mao placed 16th in Sochi SP. I did not feel down but I know something good will happen. And looked what she did, Mao performed the greatest FS that I've seen in my whole life. I want to share this positive vibes to Mao.
 
Aww, I don't like to see Mao looking so down. :sad4:

But she did a clean lutz!!! :yahoo: That is a major breakthrough!!!

She said in her post-interview that her 心技体 (emotion-technique-body) parts are not working with each other in coordination and she needs to be able to put them back together. She's right. But then, maybe re-working a jump, which is like changing a right-handed person to becoming a left-handed person, necessarily causes that kind of utter confusion in a person. It's so brave of Mao to put herself through something like that.

I'm sure whole of Japan would be okay with Mao just letting this season be the one where she becomes soul mates with her new lutz, though, maybe Mao wouldn't be totally happy with that.

Soooo happy the lutz was ratified!!!
 
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Mao struggled a lot here, and I feel devastated for her. On the bright side, the lutz got ratified. Since she just came from a 1-year break, even qualifying for the GPF is truly impressive. She landed some of the best-ever 3As multiple times this season, and is looking much more prepared and ready than other comeback skaters (*cough*Adelina*cough*). That alone is an impressive achievement. Since Japanese Nationals is coming very soon, I hope she does her best to get onto that World Team. Also, is she planning to go to 4CC? She did go in 2013, but not the year after, so it does make me a bit curious. Either way, I will support Mao in whatever she is doing. :)
 
I had a feeling Mao wouldn't do her best here after reading the practice reports. Sorry to disappoint, but I've really been slacking off lately on the goat sacrifices. Oddly enough, I don't really care? I'm sure she'll skate a great Butterfly soon and there's no need to worry about her in the long term. Plus I didn't start loving Mao for her consistency, world record scores, or ability to win competitions. I'm glad to hear about the Lutz, though. She now has all the elements needed for her ultimate SP :biggrin:
 
CarneAsada said:
I had a feeling Mao wouldn't do her best here after reading the practice reports. Sorry to disappoint, but I've really been slacking off lately on the goat sacrifices. Oddly enough, I don't really care? I'm sure she'll skate a great Butterfly soon and there's no need to worry about her in the long term. Plus I didn't start loving Mao for her consistency, world record scores, or ability to win competitions. I'm glad to hear about the Lutz, though. She now has all the elements needed for her ultimate SP :biggrin:
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Surprisingly, I didn't feel disappointed for her as I usually do when she doesn't perform at her best. I felt relieved that it was over and that she can get the rest that her body needs. Mao is coming to competition after letting her body rest for 18 months for the first time ever. Not to mention, she's probably hasn't gotten over her illness she was plagued with during NHK. And she's 25 now, her body is going to take a little longer to get back to skating form. I don't know why, but I have a good feeling for Mao's future competitions. It may not happen this season, but Mao will give us her Sochi/Worlds magic in the near future.

And :hap10: for her clean 3Lz. This lady is as much of a fighter as she is elegant. We love you Mao, and thank you for creating Magic on Ice for us fans!!! :thank::ghug:
 
I think Mao just needs a vacation. Lol I'm shocked that she finished last but she's been through worse so it's not so bad. And her SP was still great even with the 1Lz.
 
I read in another thread that the problem about Mao FS is her loose sleeves? Actually I think so too cuz her sleeves look to wide open and its flailing too much that disturbs her while she jumps. I mean the costume is beautiful but probably it is better to trim it down a bit?
 
nolangoh said:
I read in another thread that the problem about Mao FS is her loose sleeves? Actually I think so too cuz her sleeves look to wide open and its flailing too much that disturbs her while she jumps. I mean the costume is beautiful but probably it is better to trim it down a bit?
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She had skated her FS clean with the same costume in Japan Open, so I'm not sure it's an issue. Though, of course, if it's trimmed down a bit, it will probably help a little bit.

On other news, Mao has withdrawn from the Gala, because of illness. She looked under the water ever since NHK, I hope it's nothing serious... hopefully, it's nothing to worry about and she withdrew to get more time to rest before Nationals, as prevention. :bed:
 
Mao has been through worse. This is not the end of the world. The issue is her health. I'm afraid that she overtrained. Hopefully it was just a cold. At this rate will she go to National? If she is not healthy I hope she will not push herself.
 
Plumededragon said:
She had skated her FS clean with the same costume in Japan Open, so I'm not sure it's an issue. Though, of course, if it's trimmed down a bit, it will probably help a little bit.

On other news, Mao has withdrawn from the Gala, because of illness. She looked under the water ever since NHK, I hope it's nothing serious... hopefully, it's nothing to worry about and she withdrew to get more time to rest before Nationals, as prevention. :bed:
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I hope Mao recovers quickly. She definitely looked ill and I am glad that Mao is finally considering her health by withdrawing from the gala and admitting her condition. I think she performed marvelously and above and beyond the call of duty given her weakened condition over such a long period from the NHK through the Grand Prix Final. It's incredible to me that she could do such a great triple axel and triple flip and loop in poor heath. She is a beautiful and courageous fighter inside and out and a true inspiration. Rest and get well soon, Mao.
 
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