- Joined
- Apr 11, 2014
I do think she made an impact on the sport. Because of Mao the women have the option to do a 3A in the SP...that wasn't an option pre-Mao.
No, not many will follow in Mao's path but it's not b/c they don't want to...it's b/c they can't. It's a testament to how incredibly difficult that element is that only a handful of women in history have managed to do it.
Mao is extraordinary because of that. A 3-3 is a very difficult element but many women are capable of doing it which doesn't make it as impressive as performing an element no one else can. The bar Mao set with the 3A is impossible for most to reach but that doesn't lessen her impact/contribution to the sport.
Mao pushed the boundaries of what a woman can do in this sport from a technical standpoint. That is her contribution and the impact she's had...and it's a pretty big one.
THIS
Many of us also forget, aside from triple axel, Mao also did 3-3 combination jumps in her career till 2008: triple flip-triple toe loop and triple flip-triple loop. And I will never forget that she really push FS to technical (since her junior years to first two seasons during Vancouver quad) and together with artistic boundaries (starting this year, with insane 8 triple layout plus level 4 in all non-jump elements)