My point is that it would have been a more even fight. Just because there was one outcome at one competition, it doesn't mean that it's going to be the same outcome every time...
If I could change anything, I'd have Mao Asada not pop the toe loop in Vancouver, so she'd win the OGM. She also deserved to win the SP there IMO.
This is, of course, no offense to Yuna who wholeheartedly deserved her OGM the way things happened.
Also I think Stolbova/Klimov should've edged Volosozhar/Trankov in the 2014 free skate but that wouldn't have affected the medals so who cares.
Sochi with 2013 Worlds podium for the ladies
I would say the same only if the rest of her career continued the way it did. 2003-2004 were amazing. If not, I'd wish that instead of getting re-injured she'd have steadily gotten stronger going into the competition and won Torino.Oh gosh, Michelle. 2002. Always.
If Mao hadn't popped the 3T (+hadn't got an UR on her flip) it doesn't mean she would have won the OGM, or that she would have been near to Yuna's score. No offence, just saying
If Mao hadn't popped the 3T (+hadn't got an UR on her flip) it doesn't mean she would have won the OGM, or that she would have been near to Yuna's score. No offence, just saying
One of the things mentioned by Jackie and Phil Hersh during their discussion of Mao's career on Ice Talk was that they felt she was really held back by two things in 2010: her LP music (too heavy, not suited for Mao's soft style) and that the first part of the program spent too much time setting up the 3As.
I definitely agree on the music, at least. Mao's programs in 2010 were just not stunners, IMO, and while they might be the faves of some fans, discussions I've seen of Mao's greatest programs usually focus on other ones. OTOH, Yuna's 2010 programs are generally agreed to be iconic. (I'm not the biggest Gershwin LP fan tbh - I just prefer more drama or more subtlety, but that program was perfect for the Olympics, whereas my preferred Yuna programs like SITC are just too subtle and understated for major Olympic appeal).
Mao had OGM-level LPs most years, but not in 2010.
Michelle skating her Nationals performances in Nagano and winning the OGM.
Mao skating her Worlds SP in Sochi and getting the score she deserved for her LP, and winning the OGM.
One Olympic moment to change. Without a doubt repeating Sasha Cohen's Nationals free skate at the Olympics. It wasn't perfect but it would have been enough that day.
2002 or 2006?
Well for me a girl who lands 3 clean 3A's including one in combination deserves an OGM even though Yuna was AMAZING too. I have always felt like Mao was an under appreciated skater who was shadowed by Yuna. Because she was the more technical of the two, the judges pitted Yuna as the more artistic, and so Mao's PCS suffered IMO.
Well for me a girl who lands 3 clean 3A's including one in combination deserves an OGM even though Yuna was AMAZING too. I have always felt like Mao was an under appreciated skater who was shadowed by Yuna. Because she was the more technical of the two, the judges pitted Yuna as the more artistic, and so Mao's PCS suffered IMO.