Akiko Suzuki | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Akiko Suzuki

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Donot get so disappointed with yourself, Akiko.

We loved your performance yesterday!
We admire your guts not giving it up till the end, after popping that jump.
Do you know you got all level fours on spins and step sequences? Congratulations!

Here is my sincere hoping for you:
Leave your SP behind, and skate with your heart in the Free!
Then the result will come with you.

GOOO AKIKO!!!
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Congratulations to the 2012 World Bronze Medalist , Akiko Suzuki.
2012 Japanese silver medalist
2012 Grand Prix Final silver medalist
2011 NHK Trophy champion
2011 Skate Canada Silver medalist.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Congratulations to the 2012 World Bronze Medalist , Akiko Suzuki.
2012 Japanese silver medalist
2012 Grand Prix Final silver medalist
2011 NHK Trophy champion
2011 Skate Canada Silver medalist.

What a great year for Akiko! :) All she needs is a Japanese national title. (World silver + gold would be fun too, but I think she should have the the official Japan No. 1 title too.)
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I think Akiko may be the oldest medalist in FS history (at least recently!).


ETA: She's the third oldest and the oldest since Maria B. won bronze in 2000 when she was almost 28.
 
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Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Congratulations to Akiko! For her Worlds Bronze, for proving a Lady can get better with age in a sport of girls, and for perseverance in a nation of deep competitive talents until the skating world had no choice but to acknowledge her. Kudos!
 

Becki

Medalist
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
What a great year for Akiko! :) All she needs is a Japanese national title. (World silver + gold would be fun too, but I think she should have the the official Japan No. 1 title too.)

She's a real fighter - even if she does not have a national title, she is pretty awesome.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
I'm so happy about Akiko's medal and her second place finish in the free skate. It's not a surprise - lots of us have recognized her quality and her great programs this year - but it's one of the most gratifying medals of a sometimes frustrating Worlds. Couldn't have happened to a more delightful skater. I hope she's proud and elated. When her scores came up, she didn't react with joy -- hopefully she was just waiting on Makarova's scores.
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
She deserved higher scores, she brought her A game. Hit the triple lutz, double axel- triple toe etc. Had she landed all her 7 triples surely she would have won the silver medal or even the gold.
 

mikeko666

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
I hope she's proud and elated. When her scores came up, she didn't react with joy -- hopefully she was just waiting on Makarova's scores.

She didn't react with joy because because she missed the second 3Lz AGAIN, and was not satisfied with her performance. I don't think she and her coach thought Makarova could be a serious contender for the podium.

She hasn't said anything officially about if she's retiring will continue competing. But her coach sounds like he wants her to continue.
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
She should continue. Had she landed that triple lutz she would have been the major contender for gold here. She should give it a year or 2 or go all the way to Sochi! In Sochi she will surely be one of the top japanese. Usually the career of some skaters really soar high once they start getting the bronze and silver and their profile starts getting higher and higher. SHe is a star. A very humble, passionate and wonderful person. I love the Yu-Na-esque dress :)
 

Becki

Medalist
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
She should continue. Had she landed that triple lutz she would have been the major contender for gold here. She should give it a year or 2 or go all the way to Sochi! In Sochi she will surely be one of the top japanese. Usually the career of some skaters really soar high once they start getting the bronze and silver and their profile starts getting higher and higher. SHe is a star. A very humble, passionate and wonderful person. I love the Yu-Na-esque dress :)

That might give her the fire to continue. Wouldn't it be a wonderful story if she continued until the Sochi Olympics, gave the performance of her life there and placed on the podium. We all enjoy heart-felt stories, and this will definitely top it :) (not wishful thinking, it might happen!)
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HQ_sGqQs-c

Great copy of her FS!

She is really happy with her bronze medal, she deserved the silver for me though. Akiko and Ashley were both under marked in the PCS at Worlds. Ashley for me deserved 130 and Akiko 126 as well for the PCS.

More than the medal she was looking to deliver the skate of her life and is a tad bit sad that she was not able to skate clean.
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Her body in skating years is not like the other skaters.
She has only been competing in top form since 2009 (3-4 years in World level). 1st world championship medal in 2 attempts. Not bad!
 

yelyoh

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I love Akiko. I have not had an emotional investment in any female skater since Kwan (well no I did really like Rochette) but Akiko has really grabbed me the past few years. I really thought she deserved much higher PCS. I would a have given her 8s and given her the silver. Leonova in both the sp and the lp was way overmarked for the PCS. But that's FSing judging.
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
I agree, silver for Akiko, but I am just happy she made the podium, and I thouhght it was beteen her and ZWagner for bronze, and I guess it was, though Ashley could have been bronze. I don't get the scoring often. This may be her one world medal, and Ashley has next year. I just hope she has ntwo great programs next year like this yr (Ash) Congrats Akiko from your American fans!
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
I agree, silver for Akiko, but I am just happy she made the podium, and I thouhght it was beteen her and ZWagner for bronze, and I guess it was, though Ashley could have been bronze. I don't get the scoring often.
I still haven't seen, anywhere, any plausible explanation for Akiko's PCS scores (particularly PE, CH and I). Not even getting into whether she deserved the silver over Alena (ahh, the heck with it, I thought she did :), but that's not my primary point), how is it that possible that they got exactly the same scores (and I mean the exactly the same scores: 7.50, 7.25, 7.50) on these components in the Free Skate?

In the Short, Alena hugely outscored Akiko on the "artistic" components, and I suppose a crude argument could be made that Alena skated the cleaner program, with verve and energy. Akiko wasn't technically quite as clean, and I could see that her performance was just a little bit tentative and subdued compared to her usual effervescent self. At least there's an argument, however neolithic. (Then again, this applied to Carolina Kostner as well, but CaroK ended up in a virtual dead-heat with Alena on these three components...)

But even this crude rationale doesn't apply in the LP, inasmuch as Akiko outscored Alena in the technical elements, and it was Akiko who showed the energy and verve, while Alena skated with the methodical momentum of a freight train. Don't get me wrong, I admired and even liked Alena's performance. I've publicly rooted online for her this season, acknowledging both her grit as well as the fact that this LP was a refreshing change of pace for her. But this doesn't blind me to the fact that, at least as far as the artistic aspects are concerned, Akiko's performance in this here World Championships LP was on a completely different level from Alena's.

Are we to understand from this that the scoring of these components should be completely in line with technical scoring? Which is not only obviously absurd (if that were the case, there would be no need for separate component scoring in the first place), but the case of Carolina (see above) shows that it is, thankfully, not the way it's actually applied.

Is it just a bizarre one-off? Intellectually unsatisfying (not to mention a cop-out).

Is it reputation? But Akiko was one of the performance leaders this entire season, and many expected her to be a genuine contender in this Championships (which turned out to be accurate). I find it hard to believe that there wasn't enough time for Akiko to build genuine respect, particularly in those aspects where where her talents, for even the average viewer, are manifest.

Is it Federation support (that Akiko has never been the Japanese #1)? I've always hated this kind of argument. Not least because I don't understand the exact mechanics of how this would work. Also because it assumes that 1) judging is still corrupt, and 2) it requires that judges be automatons, who follow their directives no matter what is happening in front of their eyes and what they personally think. Absent any damning evidence, I will not level such accusations at other human beings.

Which brings me back to my original question: what is the logical way to understand Akiko's LP result? Someone put me out of my misery, because this question has been annoying me no end for the past couple of days.

(BTW, I thought Ashley's PCS in the LP was inexplicably low, too, although she was further behind so it would have required a much larger swing in PCS for bronze).
 

mikeko666

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
The comparison of PCS between Leonova, Suzuki and Asada in LP is perhaps one of the best testimonies for PCS being "reputation score". Suzuki had much better skating skills and choreography, and was much more musical and her program had more transitions than Leonova, but the protocol says otherwise. Even worse is that Asada, who botched almost all her jumps received higher PCS than Suzuki, who only missed a 3Lz.
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
The comparison of PCS between Leonova, Suzuki and Asada in LP is perhaps one of the best testimonies for PCS being "reputation score". Suzuki had much better skating skills and choreography, and was much more musical and her program had more transitions than Leonova, but the protocol says otherwise. Even worse is that Asada, who botched almost all her jumps received higher PCS than Suzuki, who only missed a 3Lz.
Hi mikeko, some thoughts:

-Agree with your comments on Akiko. :)

-Mao might have been a bit overscored, but, in principle, I don't mind the fact that her PCS was fairly high in proportion to her technical score. My own view is that the jump aspects should impact the artistic components of PCS only insofar as they have an effect on the arc, design, or emotive effectiveness of the program. If one under-rotates or two-foots or wrong-edges, etc., but this doesn't noticeably disrupt the flow or rhythm, and if (as nineteenth century novelists might say) this doesn't put the skater 'out of countenance' (like this :eek::, this :eek:, or this :scowl:), then the impact on those components should be far less than if one played human zamboni a number of times and was slow to get up. Conversely, if technical elements are undertaken to a rhythmic or melodic design, then they play double duty, and if they further the aesthetic effect, then this ought to be recognized. IMO, Mao's jumps errors didn't completely kill the program as performance art, so the artistic scores were, rightly, not completely negated.

-The difficulty I have in wrapping my head around the "reputation" explanation is that 1) I'm not quite sure why Alena would have built a hugely stronger reputation than Akiko, and 2) how is it then that new skaters can break in and develop reputations in the first place? And some very quickly (e.g. Yuna and Mao)?

You may be right ("I may be crazy..." :biggrin:), but I haven't given up my struggle for complete internal consistency.
 
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