NO安全策 [No safety strategy]

Mao Asada finally arrived in Vancouver last Saturday!  And she looked so excited!!

Yesterday she had her first official practice. So nice to see Mama Tarasova there again!

Mao looked so happy and relaxed!

And I LOVE her pants!

***

Well, I had hoped to finish my series on Mao’s journey before the ladies’ competition, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to make it, so I’m going to post this now.  It consists of my final thoughts before the competition.

******

There was once a young girl with a beaming smile and sparkling eyes, and all she knew was that she loved to skate and that her dream was to go to the Olympics and win the gold medal. Her name was Mao Asada.

All her life, she had been chasing after her older sister, Mai, and her older sisters at the rink—Miki Ando and Yukari Nakano. “One day I’ll be better than them,” she told herself; “one day I’ll be the best skater in the world!”

At age 14, she set off on the junior circuit, easily surpassing the competition. But back then, there was no pressure; it was only fun.

For the shy girl who placed a distant second, however, it was a major blow to her pride. “Why did she have to be born at the same time as me?” she lamented. “How can I ever beat her?”

The next year, she watched jealously as Mao Asada charmed the judges, the audiences and the world on the senior circuit and defeated the World champion to win gold at the Grand Prix Final. (Rumor has it that she even wished Mao Asada would fall.) But jealousy also gave her strong motivation. “One day, I’ll beat Mao,” the girl thought. Her name was Yu-Na Kim.

***

Over the next few seasons, the joyful girl began to fade away.  The girl who knew no fear and no pressure now suddenly found herself at the top, and she started to worry about winning.  Sometimes she’d be weak-hearted, and sometimes she’d be unbelievably strong. But all through this period, one theme guided her: “challenge.”

What does it mean to be the best skater in the world if you’re not the best skater you can possibly be?

So the little girl who vowed to master the triple axel now tried to push the technical barriers in every aspect of her programs—the most complex step sequences, the most difficult spiral positions, the most body-contorting spins. But her path was risky—sometimes it led to stunning success, and sometimes to devastating defeat.

The little boat that once coasted across a calm sea dared to test itself in treacherous waters, and it encountered increasingly tumultuous waves, each swell larger than the last.

The other girl took the opposite path; she chose “safety.” Every year, she chose to do basically the same programs, but every year she’d do them better; she perfected them. She emphasized her strengths and downplayed her weaknesses, and she learned how to play to the judges. Slowly she gained confidence and emerged from her shell. And slowly and steadily, she climbed to the top.

***

Now that once painfully shy girl is the reigning world champion and the heavy favorite for the Olympic gold medal. Her fans call her “Queen Yu-Na,” and her behavior has been queen-like indeed. A year ago, she complained that other skaters were obstructing her during warm-up; this year she told her fans to tone down their cheers. And when she heard that Mao Asada didn’t make the 2009 Grand Prix Final, she couldn’t suppress a smirk.

At the Olympics, she has set herself apart from the other competitors; she has eschewed the athlete village for a hotel room where she can have easy access to her staff, and she has refused to do any interviews until after the short program.

She will undoubtedly stand on the ice as if she is the ruler of the rink, but I wonder: behind that self-assured, regal façade, how much is left of that shy girl who once bitterly thought, “How can I ever beat Mao?”

***

On the other side, there is a girl with a beaming smile and sparkling eyes savoring every moment of the Olympics as she aims for a gold medal.

Once she was a little girl who knew nothing of fear; now she is a young woman who knows there is nothing to fear. Because in this season, Mao Asada fell into her deepest slump yet; she hit a wave she could not weather, and plunged into a sea of self-doubt and despair.

But she was not alone. All her life, she had been loved and supported by her coaches, family and friends, and with their help, she was able to find that girl who loved to skate, the one who vowed to be the best skater in the world.

And as fire tempers the strongest sword, her suffering has forged a steely soul.

So I think she will face her biggest challenge without fear. Buoyed by love—love from her supporters and love for skating—she will conquer that monumental wave, and soar above the others to take the gold medal.

***

GO MAO!!!  頑張れ、真央ちゃん！！！

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 18

Part 18: 2008-09 season—“With a fighting spirit” [攻める気持ちで]

After the NHK Trophy, Mao Asada said in her interviews that she had rediscovered her fighting spirit.  At TEB, they had decided to leave out the second triple axel, but since she had been practicing with two triple axels all along, deciding to take the conservative route made her feel slightly weak-hearted.  At the NHK Trophy, however, Mao was aggressive; she went for it, and she nearly succeeded.  She vowed to carry that fighting spirit, that 攻める気持ち [semeru kimochi] with her to her next competition—the Grand Prix Final.  It would be held in “enemy territory”—Goyang, Korea.

At this point, I had only been following Mao very closely for about 8 months, but it seemed like the hype surrounding this competition was unprecedented.  Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim face off in Yu-Na’s home country!  In the Japanese media, there was practically no mention of the other 4 competitors; all eyes were focused on the ‘battle’ between the two 18-year olds. 

Popular opinion said that the Grand Prix Final was Yu-Na’s to lose—she was the two-time reigning Grand Prix Final champ, she had put up the highest scores so far that season, and she was competing in her home country, where she would have the roaring support of the crowd.

But after seeing Mao win NHK Trophy the way that she did, I had a good feeling that she might just snatch that GPF title from Yu-Na’s hands.

***

Well, Mao Asada’s story is ever exciting and ever unpredictable, and in this case she caused me a bit of nervousness when she had a bit of a mishap on her way to the Korea.  Mao always likes to arrive right before a competition, but this time, her plane was delayed due to bad weather and she arrived in Korea a few hours late.  So late, in fact, that she missed the first half of morning practice!  But in typical Mao fashion, she didn’t let this little incident faze her. 

In the short program, Mao skated 4th.  Before she took the ice, she looked so nervous.  Oh no! I thought.  She looks so nervous, this is bad!

My heart was racing as she set up for her problematic combo—but she landed it!  Then it was time for the triple lutz—beautiful!  Phew!  Now I could relax and enjoy the program.  And how beautiful it had become after that disastrous first performance in Paris!

2008 Grand Prix Final SP
“Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy

(She received the highest score for a spiral in the SP!)

Shanetta Folle, Mao and Tatiana Tarasova in the kiss ‘n’ cry

Mao scored 65.38, slightly higher than what she scored at the NHK Trophy. 

The 5th skater, Joannie Rochette, who looked so strong in her GP events, faltered here and was 4th with one skater left.

And that skater was Yu-Na Kim.  As she opened up with her triple-flip/triple-toe loop combo and hit it clean, I thought, well, I guess she’s on tonight.  But then on the next jump, the triple lutz, she popped it!  Shocking!  But great for Mao, I thought.  Mao went clean! She should lead after the short!

Regardless of Yu-Na’s mistake, the crowd went wild.  Absolutely bonkers.

And when the score came out, 65.94, the crowd roared, and I thought, “What the hell?!  How did she make a glaring mistake and still end up ahead of Mao?  Oh wait, I forgot, this is in KOREA!  Duh! What was I thinking?  Did I really think it would be a FAIR competition in Korea?  Of course not.”

I looked at the protocols, and I saw what had happened.  Mao’s triple loop in her combo had gotten downgraded again.

You see, in the 2008-09 season, ISU decided to judge rotations more strictly, and as a result Mao kept receiving downgrades for her combo.  She wasn’t the only one; Miki Ando, who typically did the triple-lutz/triple-loop combo, also started getting downgrades.  I thought this was upsetting not just because I wanted my favorite skaters to get credit for their jumps, but because I love the loop combos with their quick pop-pop timing, and I hate that the strict judging system has rendered them all but extinct.

At any rate, with one popped jump from Yu-Na and one downgraded combo from Mao, they ended up about even.

It would all come down to the free program.

***

I debated about staying up late and watching the competition live, since it would be held in the afternoon Korea time, which would translate to about 2:00a.m. here.  But I decided to go to sleep.  As I later realized, I really should have stayed up, because I ended up not being able to sleep; I just tossed and turned and felt nervous about the competition.

That afternoon, I set myself in front of my computer and prepared to watch.  Mao Asada skated would be skating second-to-last, right before Yu-Na.

2008 Grand Prix Final LP
“Waltz” from “Masquerade Suite” by Aram Khachaturian

See also this video for the British Eurosport commentary.
See this video for a widescreen version with no commentary.

Mao opened up with her first triple axel, and this time she was able to tack on the double toe loop.  Then, the second axel—she landed it! Huge!  She did it!  The rest should be fine now!

And it was, until the triple flip-triple loop combo—Mao uncharacteristically fell on the flip.  Oh no!  I thought, there goes her shot at the gold!   I thought she might pop the salchow, her weakness, but she landed it, and she skated the rest of her program cleanly.

Big hug from Tarasova

I was happy that Mao landed her triple axels and I thought they were clean, but I couldn’t quite celebrate yet because I knew she left the door open for Yu-Na Kim with that one fall.

Still, I couldn’t help but be charmed by Mao and TAT blowing kisses at the crowd.

***

Yu-Na Kim started her program in typical Yu-Na fashion—flawlessly.  She reeled off her triple flip/triple toe combo, her triple lutz, and a big three jump combo.  With every clean jump, my spirits started to wane.

But then, just as she had in the short program, she popped her second lutz.  Still, that’s not as bad as Mao’s fall I thought.  And then, on the next jump, the triple salchow, it happened—she fell.  Oh my god!! Mao might win!!  That’s two mistakes to Mao’s one!!

At the end of her program, Yu-Na looked like she knew she wasn’t going to win.  But the crowd went insane anyway.

I still remember, I thought it was so funny when Yu-Na’s scores came out.  Initially a big cheer and then a hush when they realized they weren’t high good enough.

Mao Asada had done it!  She successfully landed two triple axels in her long program, becoming the first woman to ever do so, and she won the Grand Prix Final!  And all in her rival’s home country!

She must have been so happy, and rightfully so.  I was elated.  As I headed to my birthday dinner that evening, I felt like I had already received the best present of all!

***

Two weeks later, Mao Asada went on to win her third straight Japan National Championships.  It wasn’t a particularly great competition for her; she had some errors in both the short and long programs, but it was enough to win.

Mao and Tarasova in the kiss ‘n’ cry after the FS

Mao with the Japan Nationals trophy

And so the year 2008 came to a brilliant end.  She had won every major competition, she had successfully landed a clean lutz, a salchow, and two triple axels, and she had won the Grand Prix Final in enemy territory.  What more could you ask for? 

***

Addendum
1)  The 2008 Grand Prix Final was perhaps the last time I remember seeing Mao and Yu-Na look really friendly together.  The whole atmosphere was great, with all the skaters seeming to have a fun time preparing for the gala.

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 17

Part 17: 2008-09 season—“The me that is so strong that you can’t believe it” [信じられないぐらい強い自分]

Mao had two weeks before her next competition, the NHK Trophy in Japan.  Instead of going home to Nagoya to train, which had been the original plan, Mao headed to Russia for an “emergency” training session.

Then the media started to reveal what had happened.  Mao wasn’t quite used to Tarasova’s method yet.  While Mao preferred to spend about 7-8 hours on the ice everyday, jumping, jumping, jumping until she was satisfied, Tarasova preferred short, very focused sessions (2-hour sessions, twice a day).  Mao hadn’t yet gotten comfortable with cutting her on-ice practice time in half.  In addition, she was still going through a “getting to know you” period with Tarasova.  The failure at TEB taught Mao that she really had to communicate better with Tarasova and make sure that Tarasova understood what she was thinking and feeling.

Once I found that out, I felt relieved.  There were clear reasons for Mao’s poor performance at TEB.  There were tangible problems that Mao could fix.  I started to look forward to NHK Trophy.  Mao will surely rebound there, I thought.  I even thought, I think Mao’s going to win the Grand Prix Final.  Everyone’s calling Yu-Na the favorite, which means Mao can go out there with no pressure and beat Yu-Na in her own country!

***

At the NHK Trophy, Mao showed that “unbelievably strong” self.  In the short program, she landed the triple-flip/triple-loop combo (though the loop was judged underrotated), and she landed the triple lutz cleanly from the outside edge!

2008 NHK Trophy SP (age 17)
“Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy

Tatiana Tarasova, Mao and Shanetta Folle in the kiss ‘n’ cry

In the free program, Mao landed the opening triple axel beautifully, but she didn’t do the combo as originally planned.  That meant she’d have to tack on a double toe loop at the end of her next axel attempt.  “Would she do it? Yes!  She did it!!  She landed two triple axels in the long program!!  A world first!!”, I thought.

Mao then completed jump after jump, including the triple salchow.  Her only “mistake” was making the triple-flip/triple-loop combo into a lone triple-flip.  She poured all her energy into the final, exhausting step sequence—“Do it full out even if it kills you,” Tarasova had said—and she capped off her program with a hilarious near-fall on her ending pose.  (That’s Mao Asada for you, always full of surprises!)

2008 NHK Trophy FS
"Waltz" from "Masquerade Suite" by Aram Khatchaturian
See it with British Eurosport commentary here.

In one competition, it seemed that Mao had accomplished all her jump goals—a clean lutz, a triple salchow, and two triple axels.  But the last proved elusive—her second triple axel was judged underrotated.

I didn’t care.  Mao had skated two clean (to the untrained eye) programs.  It had been the first time she had done that since the 2005 Grand Prix Final.  I was ecstatic. Even though Mao hadn’t gotten credit for her second triple axel, I was sure that that she’d be extra motivated to do it next time.

Tatiana Tarasova, Mao and Shanetta Folle in the kiss ‘n’ cry

(You can just feel the love and joy, can’t you?)

I was so thrilled by Mao’s win that I made my first earnest attempt to write about the Mao/Yu-Na rivalry, and why you should care about Mao Asada.

***

At the time, I thought it was only natural that Mao would come back strong after stumbling at the Trophee Eric Bompard (TEB).  In reality, however, it seems that the “emergency” practice session in Russia did not go very well. 

According to Mao Asada, Brilliant Eighteen, the latest book on Mao by Naoko Utsunomiya, Tarasova got really mad.  She couldn’t understand why Mao couldn’t jump at TEB.  She got so mad that she once threw a water bottle at Mao; it didn't reach her, but it got the staff wet.  Her anger was so powerful that Mao was shocked and couldn't speak. (1)

Poor Mao might have been stunned and hurt at the time, but I think that this outburst was simply a manifestation of Tarasova’s strong love and belief in Mao.  Tarasova’s staff said that no one had ever made TAT that mad before.  She might have been worrying a bit about her own reputation as a coach, but I think the real reason why she was so mad was because she cares about Mao so much; she truly believes that Mao is the best, and she truly loves her.

Addenda
1)  Mao and Nobunari Oda, winner of the men’s competition, on an NHK TV program the day after the competition.

Mao looks so cute in her kimono!

2) Read about Tarasova’s reaction to Mao’s NHK performance in the 8th post on this page (my translation of the first few pages of 浅田真央、18歳 [Mao Asada, Brilliant Eighteen]).  There are more mini-translations from the book in the rest of the thread.

Endnotes
1) See pg 48 in Mao Asada, Brilliant Eighteen.

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 16

Part 16: 2008-09 season—“The me that is sometimes weak-hearted” [時々心が弱くなる自分]

The 2008-09 season started with Yu-Na Kim putting on a stunning short program performance at the 2008 Skate America.  She too had undergone an image change, piling on the eyeliner and playing the Asian dominatrix.  Her music was Saint- Saëns’ “Danse Macabre,” which I thought suited her perfectly.  And she simply killed it.  She also slaughtered the competition at Skate America, and two weeks later, at the Cup of China.

Everyone kept raving about her performances, calling her the definite favorite for the Grand Prix Final, and even for the 2010 Olympics.

I was livid.  How could they say that before Mao had a chance to skate?!  I was dying for Mao come out and show everyone why she is so much better than Yu-Na Kim.  Because although I could see that Yu-Na Kim skated very well, and I could understand why people would rave about ‘Danse Macabre,’ I personally was not very impressed.  In fact, I thought she could have done more with the music in the step sequence, but I guess not everyone is as skilled with steps as Mao.

Moreover, while others raved about Yu-Na’s menacing expressions, I found them over-the-top and totally insincere.  While watching her, I felt like someone had told her, “now look menacing here, make a sexy face there, and smile here.”  She was carrying out the instructions perfectly, but it just looked so rehearsed and fake to me.  After having watched a summer season of top-class international ballet stars, this kind of amateurish mugging for the audience did not qualify as “expression” to me.

***

Around this time, Mao appeared in a commercial for Asience shampoo. 

Asience CM (Fall 2008)

Asience Wallpaper

Wow, I thought; she’s really starting to mature from that adorable little girl into a beautiful young lady.

In the commercial, Mao says, “The me that is sometimes weak-hearted...the me that is so strong that you can’t believe it...Both are me, and that is why I can shine.”

At the time, I had no idea that these words would characterize Mao’s 2008-09 season so perfectly.

***

In mid-November, Mao arrived in Paris for the fourth Grand Prix event of the season, the Trophee Eric Bompard, an event she had won twice before.  From all that I had heard, Mao was in great condition, and she greeted the reporters in Paris with her typical Mao smile.  I couldn’t wait to see Mao’s new programs and new costumes. 

Now that the Grand Prix events were no longer being aired on TV in the US, I was forced to watch them online at IceNetwork.com.  This meant that I got to see the whole competition, including the nerve-wracking warm-up sessions, and all without the annoying American commentary. 

For the short program, Mao wore a lovely lavender dress with crescent ornaments.  I had secretly hoped for a white dress to starkly contrast Yu-Na’s black ‘Danse Macabre’ costume—you know, Moonlight versus Hell Fire or something—but the dress was pretty enough. 

What surprised me was how tall and thin Mao looked.  She had always been slender, but now her lovely long limbs seemed even more extended—she looked more like a ballet dancer than skater to me.

I was hoping for Mao to go out and remind everyone that “I am the world champion,” but that is not what happened.  Just like she had done at the 2007 Worlds and at the 2007 Trophee Eric Bompard, Mao popped the triple loop in her combo jump.  She then went on the double the triple lutz, and she got an edge warning (“!”).  So much for all the progress she had supposedly made over the summer.

I was definitely disappointed.  I had really wanted her to nail her program on the first try the same way that Yu-Na had.  In addition, I was somewhat disappointed with the program.  I thought the music would be perfect for Mao, but I found the cuts in the music to be a bit jarring, and I wasn’t sure I liked having two spins back-to-back at the end.

But at this point, I wasn’t worried.  This was typical Mao behavior.  She always struggles in the short program.  I simply expected her to skate well in the free skate and win. 

***

The next day, Mao came out in an all-black, lacy (even potentially racy) costume with heavy eyeliner and bright red lipstick.  Whoa!  I thought.  This is DEFINITELY an image change!!  Oooh, let’s see what this grown-up, vampy Mao can do!

The music started—even today, whenever I hear that ominous waltz beat, my heart starts to beat a little faster—and then Mao set up for her triple axel.  This is the make or break moment, I thought.

And she landed it!  Oh my god, she landed it!  She’s on tonight! I thought.  Because in all my experience of watching Mao compete, I’d never seen her have a bad performance after landing the opening triple axel.

But, as they say, there’s a first time for everything, and from that point on, her performance fell apart.  The next jump, which I thought would be another triple axel, seemed to be changed into a loop at the last moment, and Mao doubled it.  She went on to pop her triple-flip/triple-loop combo again, and then she popped the triple salchow and fell.  It was a complete disaster.  Mao earned the lowest score of her senior career and finished second to Joannie Rochette of Canada.

I was absolutely devastated.  Not just because she lost, but because I had no idea what had happened.  I had never seen Mao put on two poor performances back-to-back like that.  I thought her training had been going so well.  If that were the case--if Mao were doing everything perfectly in practice, then her failure here implied serious mental problems.  And those, I knew, were very difficult to overcome.

Even more distressing was the fact that Mao herself looked shocked. And Tarasova was livid. All while they were sitting in the kiss 'n' cry, she seemed to be ranting.  Perhaps she isn't the right coach for Mao after all, I worried.

I was so distressed that I couldn’t contain it any longer; after having lurked on the Mao Asada Fan Forum for months, I finally broke my silence and shared my stunned disappointment with the other faithful fans.

But of course, with Mao being Mao, the story doesn't end here...

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 15

Part 15: 2008-09 season—Challenges and Evolution

During the off-season, Mao said something like, “Now I have to work hard because everyone will be chasing me.”  Tarasova said, “To stay at #1, you have to keep evolving.”

So just like in the 2006 off-season, Mao underwent a series of big changes and set several ambitious goals for herself.

First, as I mentioned in the previous post, Tatiana Tarasova became her coach.  However, their coaching relationship was rather unusual.  Mao wanted to train in Japan, using Nagoya as her home base.  However, Tarasova had to stay in Russia most of the time because she had to take care of ill family members.  As a result, Mao and Tarasova would only see each other maybe once a month at most—Mao would go to Russia for a week or two, and Tarasova would occasionally come to Japan. 

Given that most skaters train with their coaches on a daily basis, this was a highly unconventional arrangement.  But I thought it would work out fine, since at the 2008 Worlds, Mao had shown that she could basically train herself.  And moreover, seeing Mao and TAT together just made me smile.  They seemed so happy together.  That’s exactly the kind of coach Mao needs, I thought.  Not only someone who loves her and believes in her wholeheartedly, but someone whom she can love back.

Mao and Tatiana Tarasova at Chuukyou University in August 2008

Mao and Tarasova in Russia

(Mao is wearing a Russian team jacket that TAT gave her)

Mao and Tatiana Tarasova training
(At Chuukyou University, August 2008)


Tarasova made two requests upon becoming Mao’s coach—Mao would need to find a full-time Russian/Japanese translator, and she would need to work with an off-ice trainer to build strength.  Both requests were easily fulfilled.  In the latter case, Weider, one of Mao’s sponsors, supplied her with an expert trainer, Kouhei Makino, and a nutrition specialist, Kokoro Kawanami.  In return, they would make Mao’s training into a publicity project, taking videos of her training and posting it on a blog.

At first, Mao was a little skeptical of the new off-ice training regime. (1)  She was used to her own training exercises, and she worried that it would take a long time to get used to the new exercises.  In addition, trainer Makino had never worked with a figure skater before.  But as time went on, Mao began to feel stronger; she felt that her jump landings were more secure, that her stamina was greater, and that the pain/uncomfortable feeling in her lower back/hips had gone away.

***

Mao’s first challenge was her programs themselves.  For her short program, she and Lori Nichol selected an orchestral version of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.”  I thought it would be a perfect song for Mao, just like Chopin’s Nocturne was, but Mao and Lori thought it would be a challenging song that they could only try in this pre-Olympic year.  After all, it’s quiet, it has no story, and it doesn’t really build to a climax.  Mao would have to sell this program with the beauty of her skating alone. (2)

Mao and Lori Nichol practicing
(At Chuukyou University in Japan, September 2008)


For her long program, Mao chose Khachaturian’s dark “Masquerade Waltz” [“Waltz” from the Masquerade Suite.]  One of Mao’s goals for the season was an “image change,” and this heavy, ominous music was definitely unlike anything she had ever skated to before.  I really liked the song “Masquerade Waltz,” and I was excited to see what Mao would do with it, though part of me worried if Mao, the gentle angel on ice, could master such sinister-sounding music.

Mao’s next set of challenges involved her jumps.

First, now that the base value of the triple axel had been raised from 7.5 points to 8.2 points, Mao wanted to put TWO triple axels in her long program.  If she landed them successfully, it would be the first time a lady had ever performed that feat ever.

Second, Mao was determined to fix the take-off for her lutz so that she would stop receiving edge calls and deductions.  By August, Tarasova claimed that Mao could land 7 out of 10 lutzes correctly, which seemed like remarkable progress given the extreme difficulty of retraining a jump Mao had done incorrectly for years.  But Mao was a genius jumper, after all.

Third, Mao wanted to add the triple salchow back to her program.  It was one of the jumps that she did not particularly like and claimed she was not good at, so she had left it out of her programs since she became a senior.  However, there was talk that the ISU would institute a bonus if a skater performed all 5 triple jumps (toe loop, salchow, loop, flip, and lutz) successfully—and Mao did not want to miss out on that.

Finally, since the number of required spins in the long program was lowered from four to three, Tarasova used the approximately 15 extra seconds to create an extremely challenging and tiring 45-second long step sequence.  With two triple axels and an extra-long step sequence, Mao would basically be tackling a men’s level program.

Mao was scheduled to make her Grand Prix debut at the the 4th competition of the season, in mid-November, and I could not wait to see how 18-year old Mao had changed.

Endnotes
1) See post #6 on this page. 
2) See pg 149 in 浅田真央、17歳  [Mao Asada, Miracle Seventeen].

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 14

Part 14: 2007-08 season—Celebrate good times, come on!

After Worlds, I went skating crazy.  I started browsing the online forums, I read all the news on Mao, and I went on YouTube to watch all the performances, interviews, fluff pieces, etc that I had missed.  And there was a ton to watch.  Mao became even more of a star in Japan than before, and there were so many commercials and talk shows and interviews to see.

Here are some of my favorite clips that I found.

Mao almost setting off a fire alarm
(At the 2008 Japan Super Challenge ice show)


Mao on "BISTRO SMAP" (April 2008)

(For the rest of the show, please see the links on this page.)

Even more crazy (or foolish), I decided that I too wanted to learn how to skate.  That way I would be able to understand exactly that Mao was doing, and I would understand what exactly this whole ‘outside edge’/ ‘inside edge’ stuff was about.  Or so I thought. ^_^;;

***

About one month after Worlds, Mao participated in the annual Japan Open, in single skaters compete in teams of 4, and their aggregate score determines the winning team.  Mao Asada was last to skate, and when she did her free program this time, she nailed the opening triple axel.

2008 Japan Open
“Fantaisie-Impromptu” by Frederic Chopin


But what I thought was even more impressive was that she had replaced the triple lutz with a salchow.  She doubled the jump, but nonetheless the attempted it for the first time since she became a senior.  The reason for the switch?  As Jack Gallagher wrote in his article, Mao said that she wanted to fix her take-off for the lutz.  So in the meantime, while she was working on it, she removed it from her program. 

Barely a month had passed since she had won her World title, she had been extremely busy with all kinds of interviews and media appearances, and yet Mao Asada was already working hard to become an even better skater.  Now that is a true champion, I thought.

***

In June 2008, Mao announced that Tatiana Tarasova would be her new coach.  At that point in time, I didn’t know that Tarasova almost became her coach before Worlds, but it was no surprise to me that she picked TAT.  (More on this later.)

Very soon after that, we got to see Mao’s brand-new exhibition program, which was choreographed by Tarasova.

2008 Dreams on Ice
“Por Una Cabeza” by Carlos Gardel / “Payadora” by Julian Plaza

(Click on the YouTube link to watch in HD!)

Just like with her 2007-08 season short program, this program showed a new, mature side of Mao.  Lovely!

Then, in July, it was time for THE ICE.  Given Mao’s status as World champion, it became a huge production.  First, there was a sightseeing tour, where Mao and Mai took a number of North American skaters all around Nagoya.

Then, in the show, Mao and Mai performed their first proper pair number together.

2008 THE ICE (July 2008)
“Dreamgirls”


And as part of the finale, Mao Asada and Jeff Buttle, the 2008 World champs, would skate together to Disney’s “Enchanted.”  What happened was priceless.  You just have to watch it yourself.

2008 THE ICE
“True Love’s Kiss” from Disney’s “Enchanted”

Finally, Mao made another dream come true—that of Miku Okubo, an 8-year old girl with a prosthetic arm who dreamed of being a violinist.

As part of the 24-hour TV special, Mao skated to Miku playing “Over the rainbow.”

Mao Asada and Miku Okubo
"Over the Rainbow"

For the full TV special, please see here.

I felt like I had never seen Mao skate so expressively.  Mao has used this music for both a short program and an exhibition, and in many ways, I think it fits her perfectly.  

"Somewhere over the rainbow...skies are blue...and the dreams that you dared to dream, really do come true..."

Mao Asada makes me believe that dreams really do come true.

***

Addendum
1) Mao actually had one other exhibition program to “Sing, Sing, Sing,” choreographed by Lori Nichol.  But she never skated it after the season started.  Here it is at THE ICE.


2) Here's Mao on another silly talk show from April 2008.  Download/watch it here. (From JapanSkates).

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 13

Part 13: 2007-08 season—Another Miracle from Mao

As I mentioned in an earlier post, at this point of time, I had lost some interest in Mao, and skating in general, because I didn’t want to see gold slip through her fingers again.

So I might have known that Mao had won Nationals again and the Four Continents Championship, but I don’t recall watching the performances.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I forgot to tape 4CC altogether.  And I think I might have found out that Mao had parted ways with Artunian, but that probably just made me more worried about her prospects for World gold.

In addition, I had found another skater to root for—Mirai Nagasu.  She reminded me so much of Mao—she was cute and bubbly, she was very flexible, and she came out of nowhere and won the 2008 US National Championships, much like how Mao had won the 2005 Grand Prix Final.  I didn’t think she was as good as Mao was at 14, but still, she was someone I could cheer for and pin my hopes on if Mao continued to struggle.

So going into 2008 Worlds, I wasn’t very excited at all.  I didn’t follow the news at all, and I didn’t even bother to watch the competition (which I had taped) until a week after Worlds finished.

But when I finally watched the short program, Mao Asada showed me that all my doubts and despair had been unwarranted. 

2008 World Championships SP (age 17) (ESPN commentary)
“Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Nigel Hess

For an HD version, please click here.

Up until that point, I had never been that impressed by Mao’s short program, probably because I hadn’t seen her skate it cleanly, and I didn’t particularly care for her costume.  It wasn’t like “Nocturne,” which I adored from the very first time Mao skated it.

But here, in that elegant costume, Mao Asada was pure beauty in motion.  The combination of the heartbreakingly beautiful song and Mao’s effortless, lyrical skating was absolutely stunning.  Especially the step sequence—those twizzles where she throws her arm up in the air and pulls it down—wow!—and that arabesque attitude right on the beat—gorgeous!

Here I felt that she had really matured from an adorable jumping bean into a true ballerina on ice.  Peggy Fleming, one of the ESPN commentators, remarked, “She just takes my breath away.”  Even today, this remains one of the programs that I go back and watch over and over again.

After the short, Mao was in second place behind Carolina Kostner by 0.18 points.  The reason—Mao didn’t hold her spiral and her spin positions long enough, so she lost some levels (and some points).  Yu-Na Kim, who was still recovering from her injury, had fallen on her triple lutz and ended up in 5th place, while Miki Ando, the defending champion, was in 8th place.

***

So now I was pretty excited.  If she could only hold it together, then she had a good shot at gold!

In the preview for the free program, Peggy Fleming said "I love Mao Asada...She is on a plane of existence these days that is all by herself in the skating world, both technically, musically, artistically [sic].”  I couldn’t agree more.

2008 Worlds FS fluff on ESPN


Then the competition began.  Miki Ando, who was struggling with an injury, withdrew from the competition mid-program after falling on her opening jump passes.  Carolina Kostner, the leader after the short, put on a sloppy performance, but held onto the lead with three skaters left. 

Yu-Na Kim skated next, and she put on a nearly clean performance—her only mistake was a popped triple lutz.  She outscored Kostner, but given the ~5 point difference in the short, it was not enough to overtake her for the overall lead.

Then it was Mao Asada’s turn.  My heart was thudding in my chest.  “Oh no, she looks nervous,” I thought.  She set up for her triple axel, and--Oh my god!  She slipped before the take-off and nearly crashed into the boards!  Oh no!  I thought.  There goes her shot at the gold medal!

She looked a little shaken as she skated around the rink, but she set up for her triple-flip/triple-toe loop combination—and landed it beautifully!  Probably the best I’d ever seen her do.  Then, from that point on, she proceeded to reel off jump after jump in her typical lovely, effortless form.  By the time she finished her final spin, it was tough to believe that she had fallen spectacularly at the beginning.  Wow, simply, wow.

2008 World Championship FS
“Fantaisie-Impromptu” by Frederic Chopin
See ESPN version here.
See CBC version here.
See Japanese version here.
(I find it gratifying to hear all the commentators be as impressed as I was.)

I was biting my nails as I waited for the score.  Would it be enough?  And then it was!!  Mao Asada moved into first place!!  She did it!  Despite the horrific fall before the triple axel, she picked herself up and skated cleanly.  Because that was what she had learned to do this season: put a mistake on the triple axel behind her and keep on fighting.

That left one skater: Yukari Nakano of Japan, who was in 4th place after the short.  She also opened with a triple axel, but unlike Mao, she landed it.  And then, as she went through her program landing jump after jump, my heart began to sank.  Oh no! Not again!, I thought.  This is just like last year when Miki Ando skated cleanly after Mao and stole her title!!

While she waited for the scores, my heart was racing again.  Would she score high enough to overtake Mao?  In the end, the answer was no.  In fact, she didn’t even score high enough to land on the podium.

Mao Asada had done the unthinkable—she had fallen before her triple axel, but she picked herself up and skated away with her first World title.  And all of this without a coach.  THAT is Miracle Mao for you.

Sportswriters around the world echoed my amazement:
“Mao a shining example of why sports still matter,” Jack Gallagher wrote, while Simon Barnes of the UK called it “Mao Asada’s golden moment of pure courage.”

***

I was simply ecstatic.  In that moment, I went from simply a casual fan to an uber fan.  But it wasn’t really because of Mao’s long program performance, even though it was amazing. 

You see, I had watched plenty of amazing, emotional Mao comebacks before—at 2007 Worlds and the 2007 Grand Prix final, for example.  And honestly, I felt that falling before the triple axel paradoxically helped Mao.  Remember I had thought she looked so nervous at the beginning of the long program?  If instead she had launched the jump and then fallen on the landing, like at 2007 TEB, I bet that she would have skated in a cautious and uninspired fashion through the rest of the program.

But precisely because she fell in such an unexpected way, precisely because she received a huge shock, I think the pressure and nervousness immediately dissipated and she was able to skate brilliantly and expressively afterwards.

So what was it about Worlds that made me an uber fan?  I think it was simply the fact that she had won.  No matter what happened after that point, her name would go down in history books as a World champion.  She had finally made good on her potential.  And I felt validated as a fan.  I had picked her as a skater with tremendous potential when she was 15, I had tracked her career for over two years, and I had believed that she was the best in the World.  And now she was.  (Okay, sure, she hadn’t won an Olympics, but neither has Michelle Kwan.)

I was even more excited when I looked at the protocols.  Despite completely missing her opening jump, which knocked 7.5 points off of her base value, and getting an underrotation call on her triple-flip/triple-loop combo, she finished only 2 points behind Yu-Na Kim in the long program.  And more importantly, she had received higher PCS than Yu-Na.  It was like a complete inversion of the result of the 2007 Grand Prix Final.  To me, it seemed like the judges were saying, “Mao Asada IS better.”

The mixture of pride and joy nearly moved me to tears as I watched Mao Asada’s exhibition.

2008 World Championships Exhibition
“So Deep is the Night” based on Chopin’s “Tristesse”


As Dick Button had said, “She is a soufflé on ice.”  Simply delicious!

Addendum
1) See awesome pics from the 2008 Worlds banquet here.

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 12

Part 12: 2007-08 season—Crisis

In truth, the smooth sailing at Four Continents belied undercurrents of uncertainty.  Anyone watching the competition would have noticed that Mao Asada’s coach, Rafael Artunian, was not there.  Soon after that, they ended their coaching relationship permanently.

In Mao Asada, Miracle Seventeen, Mao’s mother tells their side of the story.  According to her, the original plan was for Mao to stay in Japan to practice after Nationals.  Rafael was supposed to join her in Japan, and together they would travel from Japan to Korea.  They had made a promise.  However, Rafael never came to Japan.  And he refused to go to Four Continents, saying, “I haven’t seen her practice for a while, so I cannot take responsibility.”

About the incident, Mao said, “I didn’t receive any contact from him.  So when I heard [he wasn’t coming], I was shocked.  I thought, ‘Why won’t he come here for me?’  I felt that very strongly.  Because I had been waiting for Rafael to come.
“Around New Year’s, my hip hurt a little bit and my practices weren’t going well.  And then, I felt kind of worried about Four Continents or something; I can’t really say.
“The reason I went to America was because I couldn’t practice satisfactorily in Japan.  I was glad that I was able to practice a lot abroad, and my lifestyle was unique.  I thought it was a fulfilling two years.” (1)

But in May 2007, they had opened a new rink exclusively for figure skaters at Chuukyou University, near Mao’s hometown, thus eliminating her need to go abroad to get private ice time.   And now that her and her mother’s trust in Rafael had been shattered, they decided to end the coaching relationship.

The Aurora rink at Chuukyou University

But that left Mao with no coach and just over one month until Worlds.  Mao, never one to complain, said that not having a coach didn’t bother her.  She didn’t want to use the absence of a coach as an excuse.  But the unusual situation was certainly taking a mental toll on Mao, and the JSF scrambled to find a new coach for Mao.  They sent a frantic offer letter to Tatiana Tarasova, and amazingly, she agreed to accept.  She said, “I choreographed her program this season, and I also watched her practice over the summer.  If Mao says she absolutely wants me, then I will accept.  In return, I want her to come to Russia two weeks before the World Championships.  If that doesn’t happen, then I won’t be able to train her.” (2)

For a moment, it seemed like Mao’s problems had been solved.

But the day after she returned home from Korea, the real crisis arrived.  Mao was practicing her triple-flip/triple-loop combination, when she made an awkward movement with her left foot and heard a popping sound.

An MRI revealed that she had sprained her ankle.

***

For awhile, Mao was in shock.  It didn’t hurt much, but she couldn’t skate at all.  "What if it doesn’t heal in time for Worlds?!", she worried. 

For one week, all she could do was train in the gym.  In the second week, she was able to move on the ice with her ankle heavily taped.  In the third week, she tried some single jumps.  But she found that she had a hard time feeling the ice with her ankle taped.  On the other hand, if she removed the taping, her ankle wasn’t stable.

All during this time, Mao Asada trained by herself, with only a few JSF members supervising her.  She couldn’t go to Russia in this condition, so the coaching agreement with Tarasova was canceled.

Finally, in the week before Worlds, Mao was able to do triple jumps again.  Her ankle had healed just in time.  And Mao found that surprisingly, she was no longer nervous.  After having to deal with the injury, after feeling despair that she might not be able to compete, she was elated to find that she could skate again and felt a strong desire to go out and win Worlds.

She trained in Japan until the very last minute, and arrived in Göteborg, Sweden just two days before the start of the competition.  She was simply glad that she had made it.

When she arrived, the media asked her about her skating condition.  It wasn’t quite the truth, but she said that “it's the same as usual; it's good.” (3)

Press conference for 2008 Worlds

Just like with her broken finger before 2006 Nationals, Mao never said a word about her injury.  No one outside of the JSF had any idea that she had been unable to practice fully for three weeks.

But Mao Asada doesn’t like to lie and she doesn’t make excuses.  So she resolved to make her statement—“My condition is good”—into the truth.

Endnotes
1) See pgs 91-92 in 浅田真央、１７歳 [Mao Asada, Miracle Seventeen].
2) Ibid, pg 94.
3) Ibid, pg 104-105.

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 11

Part 11: 2007-08 season—Sunshine after the storm

After the 2007 Grand Prix Final, I may have had thoughts of doubt and despair, but Mao Asada had more important things to worry about—Aero’s new puppies!  Yes, during the Grand Prix Final, Mao’s beloved toy poodle, Aero, gave birth to three puppies.  (See pictures in Message from Mao No. 29 on this page.)  Mao and Mai kept two of them, and later named them Tiara (ティアラ) and Komachi (小町). 

When Mao returned to Japan for the 2007 Japan National Championships, she not only got to see Aero’s new puppies, but a lot of people in the skating world like Midori Ito that she hadn’t seen in months.

At Nationals, Mao finally overcame her mental block and skated her short program beautifully at the 2008 Japan National Championships.

2008 Japan National Championships SP
“Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Nigel Hess

(Please click on the YouTube link to watch in HD! I recommend it!)

The costume she wore—she actually borrowed it from Mai—remains my very favorite.

Although she popped the triple axel in the long program, she did enough to win her second straight National title.

Mao Asada with Japan National Championships trophy

(Looks heavy!)

I think the success in the short program marked a turning point in Mao’s season.  She had been so excited about her new short program—her chance to reveal a new side of Mao—and she had shed bitter tears when she couldn’t execute it perfectly.  But now, she had finally succeeded.  She had gained so much confidence in her program that she even performed it as her exhibition piece in the gala after Nationals, the annual “Medalists on Ice.”

2008 Medalists on Ice (with live orchestra)
“Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Nigel Hess

(Click on the YouTube link to watch in HD!)

***

Mao’s next stop was the Four Continents Championship in Goyang, Korea.  Surprisingly, Yu-Na Kim would not be there.  Yes, just like in the previous season, Yu-Na Kim suffered an injury right around the beginning of the year, and she would not be able to compete in her home country.

Given that Mao was entering “enemy territory,” she was surprised to receive such a warm welcome.  At this point in time, the Mao/Yu-Na rivalry was not so tense, and the Korean skating fans greeted Mao with their boisterous cheers. 

The new year also brought Mao new costumes: a long-sleeved silver costume with a lavender skirt and a V-neck cut for her short program, and a gorgeous rose pink dress for her long program. 

Mao’s new SP costume

In the short program, Mao stepped out of her triple lutz, and her triple loop in her combo was downgraded, but she held onto first place. 

Mao in the kiss ‘n’ cry after the SP

In the long program, Mao nailed her opening triple axel, racking up GOEs of +1.86 points; making that single jump worth 9.36 points, or nearly the same as the base value of a triple-flip/triple toe loop combo (9.5 points).  She skated the rest of her program cleanly, and though she received an underrotation call on the triple toe loop in her triple-flip/triple-toe loop combo and an edge call on her lutz, she managed to score 132.31, very close to her personal best.

Mao's new FS costume

2008 Four Continents Championship FS
"Fantasie-Impromptu" by Frederic Chopin


Mao finished the competition with nearly a 14-point lead over the second place finisher, Joannie Rochette of Canada.

2008 Four Continents Championship podium: Joannie Rochette (silver), Mao Asada (gold), Miki Ando (bronze)

But her time in Korea was not over yet.  At the exhibition gala, Mao delivered a stirring performance of her exhibition number, “So Deep is the Night,” based on Frederic Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major, “Tristesse.”

2008 Four Continents Championship Exhibition
“So Deep is the Night,” based on Chopin’s “Tristesse”

(Click on the YouTube link to watch in HD!)

This number remains one of my favorite.  Effortlessly elegant, heartbreakingly beautiful, simply sublime.  I could not help but feel moved.

Mao was also interviewed for Korean TV, charming the reporter with her bright smile and even giving Korean fans a chance to hear her sing.

Mao Asada on Korean TV

And of course, there was tons of yummy Korean food to be eaten! 

With her short program problems seemingly behind her and the triple axel in great shape, Mao looked ready to conquer the world.  No one would have guessed that crisis was about to befall her…

Mao Asada’s journey and my evolution as a Mao fan: Part 10

Part 10: 2007-08 season—Some disillusionment and despair (from me)

In December 2007, Mao Asada headed to Torino, home of the 2006 Olympics, for her third straight Grand Prix Final.  And it started off disastrously.  The triple-triple combo that had been a stumbling block for her—she nearly fell on it.  Then, during the approach for her triple lutz, she slid and lost her timing, so she omitted the jump altogether.  Only two jump passes completed and one with a near-fall.  It was no surprise that she found herself in last place (6th) after the short program.

2007 Grand Prix Final SP (age 17) (ESPN commentary)
“Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra” by Nigel Hess

(For a higher-quality widescreen version, please click here.)

Mao ended up a little more than 5.5 points behind the leader, Yu-Na Kim, and just under 3 points behind 2nd place, Caroline Zhang of the US. 

Well, you can guess what happened the next day.  No stranger to "coming from behind," Mao Asada pulled out all the stops and skated her heart out in the free program the next day.

2007 Grand Prix Final FS (ESPN commentary)
“Fantasie-Impromptu” by Frederic Chopin

(For a higher-quality widescreen version, see here.)

Not only did she land the triple axel, but she also successfully landed two triple-triple combinations: the triple-flip/triple-loop, her usual combo, and the triple-flip/triple-toe loop combo.  And the way that she ends the program with a double axel before the final note--who else can do that?!  

Mao received 132.55 points for her free skate, very near her record score from the 2007 World Championships.  And just like at 2007 Worlds, she burst into tears at the end—tears of relief, tears of satisfaction, tears that said, “I did it!”  

Once again, Mao "met the moment," as Tracy Wilson said.  Wow.  And the tears--that was just part of why I love Mao: because she wears her heart on her sleeve.  You can't help but go through the emotional highs and lows with her.  And oh, how it warmed my heart to see Rafael Artunian hugging and carrying the crying/smiling Mao off the rink!

I was not the only one who was excited.  Tatiana Tarasova was there watching as a commentator for Russian TV, and she exclaimed, “She has given her all!.. has given her all... Has proved to herself that she can!..”  (Read the full translation of her commentary here.  Thanks to summervie from the Mao Asada fan forum!)

Rafael Artunian, Tatiana Tarasova, and Mao Asada at 2007 GPF

As the rest of the field posted scores well below Mao’s, I began to think, Mao might actually have a chance to win this!  How amazing would that be?  To go from last to first?

The leader after the short program, Yu-Na Kim, was the final skater to take the ice.  She fell on her second jump, a triple loop, but skated the rest of her program cleanly.  Her score?  132.21, a mere 0.34 points behind a completely clean Mao Asada.  She easily clinched her second straight Grand Prix Final gold.

2007 Grand Prix Final podium: Mao Asada (silver), Yu-Na Kim (gold), Carolina Kostner (bronze)

I was stunned.  “How can that be?”, I thought.  So I looked at the protocols.  Although Mao Asada had gotten full credit for all her jumps (nothing was marked underrotated), she lost quite a few points through negative GOEs on her jumping passes, especially on the edge-called triple lutz.  In contrast, Yu-Na Kim received positive GOEs across all of her elements (except the triple loop that she fell on).  In addition, Yu-Na received higher PCS than Mao.

And then, I thought, “If that’s how they’re going to judge it—if Mao Asada can skate her heart out and land all her jumps, while Yu-Na Kim falls, and their scores end up practically the same—if that's how it's going to be, then I don’t think I want to watch skating anymore.”

***

Even I, the ardent Mao fan, had to admit that Yu-Na Kim was a very good skater.  Even I could concede that Yu-Na Kim had a polish to her programs that Mao Asada was lacking.  Every element was done cleanly; she didn’t make edge errors nor underrotate.  She sold every jump, every spin, every spiral, maintaining the performance aspect throughout her whole program.  And although her facial expressions seemed very affected, very artificial, to me, at least she made an effort.  Mao, on the other hand, seemed like she sometimes forgot about performing.  Sometimes it seemed like she was only concentrating on the jump she had to do next.  Moreover, there was the issue of mental toughness—Yu-Na Kim seemed to handle the pressure very well, whereas Mao couldn’t get her head together for the short program.

But that didn’t mean that I liked Yu-Na Kim.  No, not at all.  I could objectively see that she was good, but I did not think she was better than Mao.  On a more subjective level, I simply did not enjoy watching Yu-Na’s skating.  This might be in part due to my pro-Mao bias, but recently I think it has something to do with my ballet background as well.  Every spiral of Yu-Na's that lacked flexibility, every less-than-graceful line made me wish I were watching Mao.  I felt the same way about many of the other less flexible and less graceful ladies, but I did not care as much because they were not even close to rivaling Mao.

***

So at this point in this time, I felt disillusioned.  I looked at the scores and thought, “gee, maybe Mao Asada can’t do it.  She can't seem to get her head together for the short program, and the judges seem to like Yu-Na. She’s probably going to win Worlds at this rate.” 

And this is when my interest in skating waned.  Because I remembered how painful it was to watch Mao Asada come so close to gold at the 2007 Worlds and end up with silver, and I did not want to see that again.  

Because like Tarasova, I believed that Mao was the "real star," the "marvelous girl" who "would achieve everything."

2007 Grand Prix Final banquet
Daisuke Takahashi, Mao Asada, Yukari Nakano