I have a simple question:
Would there be 10 pages tearing apart Liza's 3A if she was an American? Or Canadian? Or even Japanese?
You bet there wouldn't be. There are 10 pages of anger because she is Russian.
I don't think it's that at all. the 3A in the ladies' field has always been a fun topic because it provokes admiration, competition, jealousy, and cattiness. More so because the ladies who do it are too few and far between, and therefore, every time a new skater comes into the scene who can land one, OF COURSE the fans of the previous handful will go up in arms to see if the new skater will come up to the current standard or the legacy in general. Regardless of the nationality, it will always be a big deal. In any case, if there was anyone in the current crop, it was always going to be a Russian girl because do or die, the current field can jump. They can't skate all that well overall, but they can jump. The uproar over Asada's legacy will always be a topic because she has always been taken for granted for most of her career. You can't blame the fans for standing up for her, or wanting to assert the legitimacy of her achievements because people often forget- especially when Ito is invoked, or even Tonya. The latter two are special cases because they had next to no predecessor and they were trailblazers. Asada's axel was a refined follow-up, characteristic of her own generation of skaters, but because she had Ito, Harding, even Nakano and Meisner before her- one would say hers wasn't at all impactful. BUT, for sheer volume of successful landings in competitions (not just practices and warm-ups) and the fact that it was HER main jump for her entire career and a lot of firsts in the history of skating- I don't understand why people still deny her her due respect. There's always somebody who will knitpick, and that's fine, but if you're going to pick at one, pick at the whole lot.
Now, of course Liza's axel will cause a major stir (is already), because a.) she's the newbie who will try and take over the void b.) because it's the year she's finally gotten back to form c.) people WILL compare her success rate, the quality, everything to Asada (because she's the closest in the gap) then eventually to Ito and Harding. It's not because people are angry at her for being Russian. It's because she's even trying to land a 3A period. The horror!
There wouldn't be 10 pages of tearing had it been an American, or a Canadian, or a Japanese (a new one anyway), simply because nothing has materialised from these countries. Liza has a VIDEO.