Mao Asada | Page 155 | Golden Skate

Mao Asada

A short documentary of Mao's sister, Mai, who went to Boston to cheer for Mao:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTUyNDExODg2OA==.html?refer=eco-h5-wbtb&tuid=UMzA0OTg0ODYzMg==

I can only provide some simple summary from the documentary. And in the end, the story about the necklace/pendant is explained:

-Mai says in the very beginning that this is the very 1st time she's ever been to a WC in which Mao participates
- Mai arrived in Boston after the SP finished. She was worried about the results and checked right away after getting off the flight. She got to know Mao's in 9th place and had a mistake with the 3A. But since other elements are fine, it seemed that Mao only felt regret about the 3A but couldn't help it in any other way.
- Mai went to sub-rink to check Mao's condition of the practice, In the past, the sisters had the agreement that Mai would not go to any of Mao's competitions. But the agreement was broken since Mao asked Mai to go to Japan National last Dec.
- After Mai arrived, Mai actually stayed together with Mao and shared the room with Mao after SP. So before the FP they were together and relaxed a little bit. They were able to watch men's FS together.
- At the post-competition interview, both were very happy about the results. Mai said when Mao nailed the 3A and 3-3, she said: YES! And when it came to about 3mins of the performance, Mai started to cry. As a former skater, Mai was aware that up until then all the jumping passes were accomplished and she knew everything should be fine for Mao afterwards.

Finally, about the pendants: according to Mai, both she and Mao received the pendants, from Mao's former Russian coach (Mai didn't name the coach), as gifts. They each got one with slightly different design (Mai got a silver one, and Mao golden), the purpose of the pendant is for protection and bless of good luck. Mao started to waring the pendant in practices since the beginning of the year, so she's quite used to have it now even in competitions.
 
Thank you so much cohkaix.

Finally, about the pendants: according to Mai, both she and Mao received the pendants, from Mao's former Russian coach (Mai didn't name the coach), as gifts. They each got one with slightly different design (Mai got a silver one, and Mao golden), the purpose of the pendant is for protection and bless of good luck. Mao started to waring the pendant in practices since the beginning of the year, so she's quite used to have it now even in competitions.

I am so curious which former Russian coach it was :hap85: :luv17:
 
This was not the outcome she was looking for, but she is soo hardworking and talented that i'm sure she will be fine, this is not her last worlds, and she will work and prepare well for the next season to be in better shape and slaayyy
 
Thank you so much cohkaix.



I am so curious which former Russian coach it was :hap85: :luv17:
It can only be Tarasova, or did I miss another Russian coach? Arutyunyan doesn't seem to be the type who presents former students with pendants and he coached both Mai and Mao, so I think it can really only be TAT. Really nice of her. I still hope for another TAT program for Mao, wonder if she'll ever be choreographing again.
 
I have a question:
Why does Mao underrotate so often? Ironically she is still one of the few ladies who has a consistent 3A, so she surely has the strength and power to jump cleanly. It doesn't seem to be a matter of missing height on her jumps as well. What is it then? Is it a bad habbit or a wrong position of her feet when she jumps?

It is really frustrating to see her TES drop 10 points after almost every free program.

The 2A-3T for example is a necessary combo for every Top-Skater and since the 2A is sooo easy for her, I don't understand why she always underrotates the 3T.
And don't get me wrong: Isn't it the task of a good coach to fix this? Since she left Arutunyan she started having trouble with her jumps.
 
I have a question:
Why does Mao underrotate so often? Ironically she is still one of the few ladies who has a consistent 3A, so she surely has the strength and power to jump cleanly. It doesn't seem to be a matter of missing height on her jumps as well. What is it then? Is it a bad habbit or a wrong position of her feet when she jumps?

It is really frustrating to see her TES drop 10 points after almost every free program.

The 2A-3T for example is a necessary combo for every Top-Skater and since the 2A is sooo easy for her, I don't understand why she always underrotates the 3T.
And don't get me wrong: Isn't it the task of a good coach to fix this? Since she left Arutunyan she started having trouble with her jumps.

It's due to various reasons. Nerves, fatigue, or sometimes just bad judging. Quite a few times I thought the 3F-3lo was pretty good, but judges don't seem to like loop combos. Her 2A-3T gets ratified 50% when landed. She sometimes double it though. The one she did in 2013 worlds was great and got good GOE.
 
I think posted my impression about this somewhere after seeing Mao live at NHK 2013.
At that time I thought the reason for her UR issues was similar to Mirai's and I would say it's mostly nerves combined with technique relying on timing rather than speed going into the jump.
Watching Mao in the warm-up, there were often moments when thought she was just checking her take off and wasn't actually going to jump but then she just went on and landed a perfect triple.
I remember her jumps being of good quality and not lacking in height or distance in comparison to her opponents.
Same goes for Mirai, I was quite surprised how good her jumps looked after all the criticism she was getting for them.
I didn't notice any serious UR problems in the jumps Mirai was attempting in the warm-up but during the actual performance it was very obvious they were short.

It seemed to me that during the actual FS, supposedly due to being nervous, there was a slight hesitation before the take off that caused their blades left the ice just a milisecond later than they should have which messed up the ideal timing and reduced the air time necessary to complete the rotation.
The main difference was that somehow Mao was often still able to rotate the jump even when the timing was off while Mirai usually couldn't.

I am no jump scientist and many things could have changed since then but this how I felt about it at that time.
 
A short documentary of Mao's sister, Mai, who went to Boston to cheer for Mao:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTUyNDExODg2OA==.html?refer=eco-h5-wbtb&tuid=UMzA0OTg0ODYzMg==

I can only provide some simple summary from the documentary. And in the end, the story about the necklace/pendant is explained:

-Mai says in the very beginning that this is the very 1st time she's ever been to a WC in which Mao participates
- Mai arrived in Boston after the SP finished. She was worried about the results and checked right away after getting off the flight. She got to know Mao's in 9th place and had a mistake with the 3A. But since other elements are fine, it seemed that Mao only felt regret about the 3A but couldn't help it in any other way.
- Mai went to sub-rink to check Mao's condition of the practice, In the past, the sisters had the agreement that Mai would not go to any of Mao's competitions. But the agreement was broken since Mao asked Mai to go to Japan National last Dec.
- After Mai arrived, Mai actually stayed together with Mao and shared the room with Mao after SP. So before the FP they were together and relaxed a little bit. They were able to watch men's FS together.
- At the post-competition interview, both were very happy about the results. Mai said when Mao nailed the 3A and 3-3, she said: YES! And when it came to about 3mins of the performance, Mai started to cry. As a former skater, Mai was aware that up until then all the jumping passes were accomplished and she knew everything should be fine for Mao afterwards.

Finally, about the pendants: according to Mai, both she and Mao received the pendants, from Mao's former Russian coach (Mai didn't name the coach), as gifts. They each got one with slightly different design (Mai got a silver one, and Mao golden), the purpose of the pendant is for protection and bless of good luck. Mao started to waring the pendant in practices since the beginning of the year, so she's quite used to have it now even in competitions.


Awww, Tatiana is so sweet, I love her.
 
Mao's superb fluidity and the organic way in which she uses her body to skate is very clear when you watch her skating from a distance. She is supremely beautiful.

I truly believe that she has honed her craft to the extent that at this point in her career, she is the best ladies' skater ever.

I totally agree. My impression once again . Mao's Madame Butterfly was full of transcendent and heart rending beauty; every line, gesture, extension and movement meticulously crafted with consummate balletic grace as her blades carved a plaintive wake that painted a compelling portrait of melancholy and expectation, mounting to a stunning emotional climax as she surrendered to her fate with the spread eagle. The triple axel, triple flip and loop and the passionate triple flip double loop double loops with a tano were dazzling and unique, her lyrical flow crescendoed to match the tempo and mood of the music beautifully with no extraneous rocking, jerking or hunching of the shoulders to build speed.
 
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Mao was stunning in Boston. I only wish her SP had been more successful. She is class all the way. Had she skated 2 clean programs the podium would have had a different look. I sincerely hope she continues skating through 2018 because the sport (and the fans) would surely miss her. I've seen her on TV numerous times but seeing her in person at practice sessions and then in the competition was magical.
 
she was breathtaking in the FS. I cried. Mao is such a sublime artist. I am very happy for her that she was satisfied with her performance and also that the Madame Butterfly program got the final performance it deserved :luv17:

I really hope she continues because even if it wasn't reflected in the marks, there really is a world between Mao and everyone else in terms of skating, interpretation, line, choreography, class. It is beyond competition at this point.
 
Hi there. Long time no see :)

I had to leave the internet for a while, therefore I almost forget my English even more than before lol.
So I hope my English is understandable to you guys.
I haven’t read most of the posts here since when my last post, so sorry if I would do double post or so.
(I totally gave up reading the posts in Yuzuru’s fan thread since that moves so fast plus I am so slow at reading English. :hslap:)
 
Hi there. Long time no see :)

I had to leave the internet for a while, therefore I almost forget my English even more than before lol.
So I hope my English is understandable to you guys.
I haven’t read most of the posts here since when my last post, so sorry if I would do double post or so.
(I totally gave up reading the posts in Yuzuru’s fan thread since that moves so fast plus I am so slow at reading English. :hslap:)

Welcome back yhmafan, it's good to have you back. And your english is very understandable. :agree:
 
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