Re: Yu-Na news
I don't think you are objective either. You are comparing the best scenario of Mao to the not best scenario of YuNa.
It's not even the best-case scenario for Mao. I didn't account for the possiblity of her doing a 3Sal. The layout I listed for Yu-Na is a absolutely the best-case scenario for her without a 3Loop, though. I even gave Yu-Na the benefit of the doubt with doing a 3Flip-2Loop combination, when she probably would just attempt 3Flip-2Toe.
If I were YuNa, I would bring 4T instead of 2A in lp. It may not be fully rotated but wouldn't be downgraded. YuNa's 4T is more probable than Mao's 3-3, IMO.
Since when has Yu-Na ever practiced a 4T and shown she is a capable of consistently and cleanly landing even an underrotated 4T? LOL, all of these arguments are so inane. Keep them coming, though!
You are certainly VERY optimistic about Mao's ability. Seriously the layout you wrote down is probably a dream layout for Mao. I don't find it objective either.
Mao has done that level of jumping before. Look at the jump layout she successfully completed twice during the 2007-2008 season:
3Axel
3Flip-3Toe
3Lutz
--------
3Salchow / 3Loop (it was a Salchow earlier in the year, a Loop later on)
3Flip-3Loop
2Axel-2Loop-2Loop
2Axel
Even if Mao isn't perfect, let's not forget that Yu-Na almost never skates a perfect LP either. Her Long Programs can no longer have 3 Double Axels, she needs to put in the 3Loop or another 3Flip, so her consistency will likely suffer.
Miki Ando might even be a threat to Yu-Na considering her 3Loop combinations and Quad Salchow will now be worth a good amount of points even if they get downgraded. I suspect Miki will go back to the jump layout she was attempting (and successfully completing, aside from minor underrotation) at the start of the 2008-2009 season and stopped trying because she got hammered by downgrades:
3Toe-3Loop
4Sal
3Flip
--------
3Lutz-2Loop
3Lutz
3Loop
2Axel-2Loop-2Loop
If the first 3Loop and the 4Sal both get downgraded, the base vale for her jumps is still
48.78...4 points higher than Yu-Na's base value. Yu-Na can make up a LOT of ground in other areas against Miki Ando, but that puts considerable pressure on her to skate perfect. In the past Yu-Na could fall and still defeat Miki Ando, but that won't be the case anymore (unless Miki makes mistakes aside from just underrotating the first couple big jumping passes in her program).
And, no, I am not Japanese or getting paid by JFS (I should be, though, hah)! I'm just providing an objective view of the competition Yu-Na will likely face in the coming season. Mao Asada and Miki Ando are going to be especially driven to succeed this year with Worlds taking place in Japan. Does Yu-Na have the motivation to go out there and skate perfectly again like she did at the Olympics? We saw what happened at 2010 Worlds.
I personally
hope Yu-Na keeps competing all the way up through 2014 Olympics, but my prediction is that it won't happen. Now you can go back to talking about Yu-Na news (or we can debate more, that's fun too).
You are the only one I've ever heard bitching about this--and I don't even know what it is exactly about. Given that YuNa is a top-5 skater in the world and there is no one from her country that remotely has a chance to touch her; given that she lives and trains on the other side of the world...YuNa attending her Nationals would be the most administratively pointless thing. So what exactly is the issue that's got your panties in a twist?
It happens around 2 or 3 years later?
Hope her jumps get better even little by little.
