- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
I dunno, once you get to certain age the judges seem to want to dump you... Maybe they (judges, Japan Fed.) decided Dai was on his way out and it's time to start propping up Hanyu. The plan did end with an OGM.
EDIT: No point politicking for Dai and Mao in 2012 and Sochi. Dai got second overall, which he deserved (imo) even if the marks were too low. Mao would've been out of a medal either way so it's not worth bothering with.
Dai's problem were that his jumps were failing him. Artistically I think he wasn't as good in the past two seasons, but that could be because he was focusing on his technical side. Kostner's one of the few examples where she managed to maintain her artistry and up her technical game this season. Mao revised her technique and improved her artistry greatly and then the technical side (sort of) caught up again. Certain skaters aren't necessarily dumped at a certain age - if anything I find the opposite where skaters of a certain age or being "in the game" for a while, get favours from the judges even when they make errors (I mean, look at Kostner's FS PCS at Worlds).