Yay, so glad I was wrong.Well, she just got a silver medal! Congratulations Satoko!!!
Never posted here before.
Just think I can give you some idea about Satoko from all Japanese reports this week.
She's indeed a shy girl. She lived in Texas for three years since she was 4 due to her parents' work. She never spoke in kindergarten but just communicated with the others through body language. Her mom took her to get counseling but doctor didn't find anything unusual. It seemed like she wasn't willing to speak English in front of people back then. At her first figure skating performance, she stepped on the ice, skated to central part and started to cry. Her mom walked on the ice to console her but in vain so she didn't perform at the end. Such kid now can perform without nerves in front of crowd. Oh, and she spoke English in press conference this week without any problem.
Japanese press call her "demon of practice", "hard worker", "modest girl", "quiet (new) ace" coach Hamada said she practiced at least four times harder than the others. She won't stop training until the coach asked her to do so. (btw I think everyone knows Satoko is left-handed? if you're interested in it, go to the channel "Japan figure skating" on dailymotion to watch it. )
According to her coach, she's always modest and never show bad attitude to anyone even if she won Japanese title last year. Some reporters noticed the technical specialist is Shin Amano this time again so they asked some questions about 2013 JWC where she got 9 <. Satoko considered it as a humiliation. Her mom Yuko said she even had bad mood during school times back then. Then she started to read guideline book about jumping herself and hoped to improve her jumps little by little. With coach Hamada's and Satoko's hard work, I think it started to paid off. Regardless of height, her rotation on jumps this week were more clear and I see more distance on it. You can never compare her jumps to the others but just compare to herself. She is slowly and steadily improve them.
( I see most of people argue that she has no height on jumps. but hey, rotated them is more important, and I think judges are fair, she barely get good GOE on jumps. On the contrary, some skaters can jump high(does I need to point out who? I think not. ) but the lack of rotation is glaring AND you appreciate those more than Satoko's just because of height. see the point? I think everyone agrees Satoko's weak point is obviously height of jumps but you can't deny her marvelous skating skills, spins etc. just b/c the low jumps. I surely hope she can jump higher and I'm more sure she herself is working hard on it so let's wait and see. )
In January, she tore some ligament on right foot and could barely walk. She considered to withdraw from 4CC but then luckily she got the chance to see a doctor who helped Daisuke Takahashi went through knee problems during Sochi season. She still walked with pain before heading to Korea but she went through it and got silver. (this explains her unusual speed during 4CC)
Before NHK Trophy last year, her grandpa who always went to arena to support her passed away. That affected Satoko a lot but she said she just wanted to work even harder.
I hope this can help you picture Satoko a little bit better...
Thanks to fg0993 for a very illuminating post about Satoko -- in the Worlds FS thread.
http://goldenskate.com/forum/showth...ate-March-28&p=1137182&viewfull=1#post1137182 (#2512 on p. 168)
fg0993, I hope that you do not mind that I have copied a partial excerpt below -- for those who did not see your post in the other thread.
Congratulations to Satoko for her silver at Worlds and for an amazing season!
It seems like people have very polarizing opinions of Satoko's musicality. She's not an all-out, extrovert performer like Lena or a charismatic diva like Ashley and Liza. Her performance doesn't grant you instant gratification or put the crowd on a trance. Instead, she relied on her musical intelligence and used her head, arms and feet to evoke a particular mood. Her performance had, IMHO, a rare thematic logic that carried through. She was emotionally committed throughout the LP and it encompassed a lot more than clique facial expressions like an inappropriate big smile or touching the heart when the vocals go "my heart of breaking". I tried to watch her program muted (yeah, I'm obsessed ) and I can still see the clarity of movement that speaks to a deeper understanding of the music and the idea she's trying to convey to the audience.
Anw, congrats to Satoko. She has achieved far beyond what I bet on at the start of the season. Personally, I don't believe in curse and jinx but if they exist, I believe she can trump them with her hard work.
I fully agree. She's indeed a lovely skater and her PCS should be higher, but the TES lower. And her flip isn't a flip, it's more like a loop with a weird entry. But it looks like a flip in real time, so this is rather impressive on it's own. I hope she'll work on that.To be frank, I think Satoko is polarising as she is not the typical big tech and extroverted or feminine ice princess. She is a hard worker and tough competitor with strong competitive nerves. Jumps are her main issues being small, not much height and looking barely rotated - the 3F is to me the worst with obvious pre-rotation. It is easy to get too obsessed about the lack of height that we miss where she is really good. Her bladework and edges are great. She gets speed easily but because of her small build, it doesn't look like she gets much ice coverage on TV. Her innate musicality and performance is also not as obvious as she is more an introverted, understated performer rather than a big personality exuberance, so she does not generate the sort of excitement like say Lena Radio. But watch more closely, more often and you can see she is a way more complex skater that takes a while to realise how good she really is.
Just hope she continues to refine her jump technique and then she will be the complete package. Pity really as I do think she deserves higher PCS albeit lower TES due to the jump issues.
She's lovely, both on and off the ice. I hope the WTT event will help her coming more out of her shell. On the pics we have of the team, she looks like she's having a good time. I'm looking foward to seeing her at the event (wish I could watch live, but I guess I'll settle for livestream, like many of us).here are some interviews of her , courtesy of ohlovesosweet, apart from her skating i really love her personality and humbleness, she isnt afraid to talk about her flaws and things to work on, she is amazing i am hoping she will be less shy day by day