Was Mirai Nagasu screwed over by the USFS?

[drivingmissdaisy]

What annoys me is that part of the argument for not taking her-- "Mirai was 7th last year at Nationals"-- skips over the fact that she was pretty underscored.

For me, the one thing about the whole situation that bothers me (but only a little) is that Polina was overscored, particularly PCS in the long program. The result was close enough that if Mirai had any edge in PCS she would have won silver. If these same skates were performed in Sochi, Mirai's PCS would be ahead of Polina's. At Nationals, Polina's PCS was on par with Ashley, who usually get beaten on PCS by only a handful of skaters internationally.

 

[chuckm]

What annoys me is that part of the argument for not taking her-- "Mirai was 7th last year at Nationals"-- skips over the fact that she was pretty underscored.

Underscored? She landed only two rotated triples.
Here was Mirai's FS at 2013 Nationals (it placed 11th):
3z, 2a+3t<, 3f< (fall), fwL4, spL2, 3f<+2t+2t<, 3lo+2t, 2a, 3lo<<, spL4, chsq 2.70, lspL4
109.36 49.80 60.56 7.68 7.39 7.57 7.75 7.46
Mirai was 3rd in the SP with 64.39, so her total score was 64.39+109.36=173.75 and she was 7th.

Fact is the DETAILS of Mirai's 7th place finish would have been available to the committee so they could decide for themselves if she was 'underscored'.
I think she was scored pretty high for a FS with 4 URs a DG and a fall.

 

[chuckm]

For me, the one thing about the whole situation that bothers me (but only a little) is that Polina was overscored, particularly PCS in the long program. The result was close enough that if Mirai had any edge in PCS she would have won silver. If these same skates were performed in Sochi, Mirai's PCS would be ahead of Polina's. At Nationals, Polina's PCS was on par with Ashley, who usually get beaten on PCS by only a handful of skaters internationally.

That's when Ashley skates WELL. Ashley was deer-in-the-headlights right from the getgo in the FS. She was skating with sore feet in tight boots early in the last group skating order, and she was very shaky. She botched the first combo (no 3/3) and you could see the confidence drain right out of her. Her footwork sequence was tentative, her lutz was shaky, then she fell on the loop. After that all of her elements were weak. Where she'd normally get PCS scores all the the 8s, her Nationals PCS scores for the FS were in the mid to upper 7s.

Polina skated very well, with great confidence, yet her scores really weren't any higher than Ashley's.

Polina and Ashley did get scores higher than Mirai, but that is because both had far better choreo than Mirai and Mirai was far more invested in concentrating on landing jumps than on interpreting and performing the program.

 

[LiamForeman]

Her name is MIRAI, not Marai.

I see this misspelling frequently. I can't tell at times if those who do that are Japanese, and wonder if the Nagasu's played around with her name from traditional to something different? Like naming your daughter Gennifer instead of Jennifer?

 

[cornell08]

Underscored? She landed only two rotated triples.
Here was Mirai's FS at 2013 Nationals (it placed 11th):
3z, 2a+3t<, 3f< (fall), fwL4, spL2, 3f<+2t+2t<, 3lo+2t, 2a, 3lo<<, spL4, chsq 2.70, lspL4
109.36 49.80 60.56 7.68 7.39 7.57 7.75 7.46
Mirai was 3rd in the SP with 64.39, so her total score was 64.39+109.36=173.75 and she was 7th.

Fact is the DETAILS of Mirai's 7th place finish would have been available to the committee so they could decide for themselves if she was 'underscored'.
I think she was scored pretty high for a FS with 4 URs a DG and a fall.

Underscored relative to Ashley's overscoring. Its all relative.

 

[Amei]

I see this misspelling frequently. I can't tell at times if those who do that are Japanese, and wonder if the Nagasu's played around with her name from traditional to something different? Like naming your daughter Gennifer instead of Jennifer?

And pronunciations; my fave skater Julia Lipnitskaia - I've seen some (media) spell it Yulia and pronounce it like it reads- and some say Julia, and pronounce the J.

 

[Becki]

I see this misspelling frequently. I can't tell at times if those who do that are Japanese, and wonder if the Nagasu's played around with her name from traditional to something different? Like naming your daughter Gennifer instead of Jennifer?

No, Mirai is the correct romanization of her name. Nagasu has stated her name means "future" in Japanese, and "Mirai" = Future.
When the general public pronounces Mirai, it sounds like "Ma-rai"; however, the Japanese pronunciation is more like "Mi-lai".

 

[aftertherain]

No, Mirai is the correct romanization of her name. Nagasu has stated her name means "future" in Japanese, and "Mirai" = Future.
When the general public pronounces Mirai, it sounds like "Ma-rai"; however, the Japanese pronunciation is more like "Mi-lai".

I guess that is a good explanation, but I've seen her name spelled like "Masriah" or something like it. :sarcasm:

 

[breathesgelatin]

Can someone give me a rundown of Mirai's coaching history? It seems to factor a lot into USFS's loss of trust in her - other than the obvious, her mixed results. I honestly haven't followed skating that closely this quad until the start of this GP season and I'm confused about what's happened.

Why did she leave Carroll? Was it financial reasons, conflict, some of both? Then what were her subsequent coaching situations?

 

[chloepoco]

Can someone give me a rundown of Mirai's coaching history? It seems to factor a lot into USFS's loss of trust in her - other than the obvious, her mixed results. I honestly haven't followed skating that closely this quad until the start of this GP season and I'm confused about what's happened.

Why did she leave Carroll? Was it financial reasons, conflict, some of both? Then what were her subsequent coaching situations?

I have no idea why she left Carroll, although I thought at the time I read something about the distance.

Also, wasn't her mother diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few years back? Again, I'm not sure if this is true, however, I can't help thinking about the Mao Asada situation when everyone was criticizing her--calling her spoiled because she moved back to Japan to train, or how she didn't have good eating habits because she had gotten so thin, etc--perhaps there are reasons we're unaware of, and quite frankly, is none of our business.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Here's the thing: I'm heartbroken for Mirai. Like take it to the streets and punch somebody in the throat heartbroken for Mirai. She was screwed over, plain and simple. And before anyone attempts to lecture me on rules of the USFSA, please recognize I've been an uber before uber was cool and I get the rules and how the selection is made.

However, she still got screwed. And what's worse, US skating will suffer for it in the long run.

Our sport is corrupt. We've been sheeple for years and our passive acceptance of the corruption that abounds in this sport is why it continues. Every Olympics is always something... each and every quad. Aren't you sick of it yet?

What other sport on the planet allows someone to choke at the qualifier (sorry, argue amongst yourselves if nationals is indeed a qualifier but you're crazy if you don't recognize that unspoken rule... even those with injuries get raked over the coals for "spot stealing") and still get a spot? Gymnastics, swimming, track & field, skiing, etc always have one superstar who has a bad performance and ends up watching the Games from home. And that's how it should be. Otherwise, its not a sport. Its a recreational activity and Ashley Wagner has been given the world's shiniest participation medal.

And leave endorsements out of it, because I had a bottle of Pantene with Natalie Coughlin's lovely face on it and she didn't make the cut for the 2012 games.

So, I'm disappointed for Mirai but when it comes to US Skating... I just can't. This sport has turned into a bad high school boyfriend and I'm done.

 

[breathesgelatin]

I have no idea why she left Carroll, although I thought at the time I read something the distance.

Also, wasn't her mother diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few years back? Again, I'm not sure if this is true, however, I can't help thinking about the Mao Asada situation when everyone was criticizing her--calling her spoiled because she moved back to Japan to train, or how she didn't have good eating habits because she had gotten so thin, etc--perhaps there are reasons we're unaware of, and quite frankly, is none of our business.

I don't feel I need to know the gory details or judge who is right, Frank or Mirai or whatever. But people keep saying things that imply there is major bad blood between Frank and Mirai and that is somehow influencing USFS or something. So I wondered if there was more public information about what happened.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

Her name is MIRAI, not Marai.

Ashley did not have a meltdown at this Nationals. She had a boot problem. A week before Nationals, her old boots unexpectedly broke down completely and could not even be held together with tape. Ashley had no choice but to break in new boots. She had to practice and perform in stiff new boots with sore, blistered feet. In the practices, you could see she was in pain every time she tried a lutz or flip. Ashley tried to ignore the pain for the performances, but she wasn't her best. Considering her boot problems and her injured feet, she didn't do all that badly.

So now it was her boots? The girl choked. Its ok, it happens. Stick to arguing about her international successes and two time Nationals wins. The boot argument doesn't hold water. Skaters deal with boot issues all the time; it's part of the game. Shrug...

Also, I think under the circumstances, a typo can be overlooked since we've decided corruption can...

 

[burntBREAD]

Mirai left Frank with the reasoning that the 4-hour round trip back and forth to his rink was too exhausting. Frank noted that Mirai would show up already drained from sitting in the car for so long. Frank also tried looking for a nearby host family for Mirai, but her mother wouldn't allow it. Frank was rather supportive in his parting comments as well (and showed genuine concern for her well being in a recent TSL interview), so I think they're fine.

 

[breathesgelatin]

Mirai left Frank with the reasoning that the 4-hour round trip back and forth to his rink was too exhausting. Frank noted that Mirai would show up already drained from sitting in the car for so long. Frank also tried looking for a nearby host family for Mirai, but her mother wouldn't allow it. Frank was rather supportive in his parting comments as well (and showed genuine concern for her well being in a recent TSL interview), so I think they're fine.

That is nice to hear. From the way some are posting, you would think Frank Carroll sticks pins in Mirai Nagasu voodoo dolls every night.

 

[ice coverage]

And pronunciations; my fave skater Julia Lipnitskaia - I've seen some (media) spell it Yulia and pronounce it like it reads- and some say Julia, and pronounce the J.

Yulia is the authentic Russian pronunciation. Her name in Cyrillic is: Юлия.

 

[figure_skater_72]

Wagner did a bad skate. It happens often enough in figure skating. The USFS had a tough decision to make- choose the skater who proved herself by skating well at nationals, or the skater with a list of past glories. They chose the latter. This does not mean they were wrong to pick Ashley. If Wagner skates a clean, medal-winning performance at Sochi, everyone will suddenly think the USFS made the right choice, and will be happy again. If not, people will throw their hands in the air and wish Mirai was chosen. Mirai most likely worked just as hard as Ashley to get to the nationals, so it must be a blow for her to not go to Sochi. "But I must respect their decision," she says.

This also puts a lot of pressure on Ashley. She needs to skate well, or else Mirai fans will be very annoyed. In fact, Ashley has already been attacked over the internet on Twitter, causing her to fully abandon social media until the games are over. The USFS made the decision they made, unaware of what the future holds, and there is nothing we can do about it now.

 

[caseyl23]

This also puts a lot of pressure on Ashley. She needs to skate well, or else Mirai fans will be very annoyed. In fact, Ashley has already been attacked over the internet on Twitter, causing her to fully abandon social media until the games are over. The USFS made the decision they made, unaware of what the future holds, and there is nothing we can do about it now.

You're right about that – if she has a bad skate at the Olympics, she may not be able to go back on social media. Honestly, I feel sorry for Ashley – U.S. Figure Skating's bungling of this situation has put so much pressure on her. If she can overcome this and skate well, she deserves all the credit in the world.

 

[Eddie Lee]

....... Ashley was deer-in-the-headlights right from the getgo in the FS. She was skating with sore feet in tight boots early in the last group skating order, and she was very shaky.......

Exactly the point I made earlier..... A meltdown at nationals does not bode well for one with high hopes for Olympics results for whatever reasons given. She has an uphill challenge. Ashley is a beautiful skater with a delightful persona and I wish her well. I wish the same for Mirai, who perhaps has an even higher hill to climb in sorting out recent events.

 

[FlattFan]

And leave endorsements out of it, because I had a bottle of Pantene with Natalie Coughlin's lovely face on it and she didn't make the cut for the 2012 games.

She did win a medal at the 2012 game in the 4x100 relay.