Mao Asada:
Mao Asada (浅田 真央, Asada Mao?, born September 25, 1990) is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2008 World Figure Skating Champion and Four Continents champion, the 2005/2006 season Grand Prix champion and the 2007 & 2008 Japanese national champion. Asada is currently ranked first in the world.[1]
[edit] Personal life
Mao Asada was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. She attended Nagoya International School until the middle of 1st grade. After transferring, she graduated from Takabari Elementary School and Takabaridai Junior High.[2][3] She is a student of Chukyo High School.[4][5] She was named after Mao Daichi.
Her sister, Mai Asada, is also an elite figure skater.
[edit] Career
[edit] Novice & Junior career
Mao Asada originally started out studying ballet, but later switched to skating in 1995 when her sister, Mai Asada also switched from ballet to figure skating.
She won the Japanese novice national championships in the 2002–2003 season and earned an invitation to compete at the Junior national championships, where she placed 4th. She advanced to the senior championships and placed 7th. The following season, she repeated those placements at the Novice and Junior national championships and placed 8th at the senior level. That season, Asada competed internationally for the first time and won the Mladost Trophy.
In the 2004–2005 season, Asada was internationally Junior age eligible. She competed on the ISU Junior Grand Prix, the Junior complement to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. She won both her events. She won the Junior Grand Prix Final with an overall score 35.08 points ahead of the silver medalist, future rival Kim Yu-Na. She won Junior national championships and qualified herself to the team for the 2005 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The silver medalist that year was Mai Asada, Mao Asada's older sister, who had placed ahead of Mao Asada in the two previous years.
Mao Asada's win gave her an invitation to senior national championships, where she won the silver medal. Asada was not sent to the 2005 World Championships because she was not old enough. At the Junior World Championships, she won the event with a 20.31 lead over the silver medalist, who was once again, Kim Yu-Na.
[edit] Senior career
Having won everything on the Junior level, the choice was made for Asada to move to the senior level for the 2005–2006 season and compete on the Grand Prix. This choice was made knowing that Asada would not be allowed to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics if she qualified for it, because there are two different age standards, one for the Grand Prix and the other for the Olympics and Worlds.
Asada competed on the Grand Prix for the first time in November 2005. She won the silver medal at her first event, the 2005 Cup of China, where she placed exactly 3 points ahead of 2006 Olympic Champion Shizuka Arakawa. Asada won her second event, the 2005 Trophée Eric Bompard, which she won with a 7.30 point margin of victory over silver medalist Sasha Cohen, who would later go on to win the silver medal at the 2006 Olympics. This win in Paris and silver medal from China qualified Asada for the 2005–2006 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. She won the event with a 8.14 margin of victory over silver medalist Irina Slutskaya, who would go on to win the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics.
At the 2005–2006 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Asada won the silver medal behind Fumie Suguri. At that competition, Asada became the first lady to land two triple axels during a free skate program.[6] She was not sent to the Olympics because she was not old enough. She was sent to the 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where she was the reigning champion competing against Junior Grand Prix Final Champion Kim Yu-Na. Asada placed second at the competition, placing 24.19 points behind Kim, and 18.21 points ahead of bronze medalist Christine Zukowski. At this competition, Asada became the first lady to land a triple axel in the short program at an ISU championship[7]
Asada performs her signature move
During these first two years on the international scene, Asada became known for her signature move, the cross-grab Biellmann position.
Asada entered the 2006–2007 Grand Prix season with rival Kim Yu-Na also competing on the circuit. At her first event, the 2006 Skate America, Asada won the bronze medal behind Miki Ando and Kimmie Meissner. Asada had won the short program, but was fourth in the long program. She was 21.36 points out of first place. Asada won her second event, the 2006 NHK Trophy by a margin of victory of 20.21 points ahead of Fumie Suguri. At the NHK Trophy, Asada set a new world record for highest combined score under the ISU Judging System.[8] Asada went into the Grand Prix Final as the reigning and defending champion. She placed second to Kim Yu-Na by a margin of 11.68 points. Asada had won the short program, but like at Skate America, placed fourth in the long program.
Asada won the 2006–2007 Japan Figure Skating Championships by 26.11 points ahead of Ando and Yukari Nakano. At the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships, Asada was fifth in the short program, but won the free skate. Asada set a new world record for the highest free skate score, a record which stood for eight months. She won the silver medal behind Ando and ahead of Kim.
In 2007–2008 season, she competed for the first time at the 2007 Skate Canada International. She won the event ahead of Nakano, after being third in the short program and first in the long program. Asada won her second gold medal of the Grand Prix season and her second Trophée Eric Bompard gold at the 2007 Trophée Eric Bompard. She advanced to the 2007–2008 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. In the short program, Asada did not do the jump out of footwork required element and earned a score of 59.04 in that segment of the competition, placing last in that part of the competition. She won the free skate and won the silver medal overall behind Kim Yu-Na, who repeated as champion. Even with the large mistake in the short program, Asada was only 5.24 out of first place overall, and was 12.66 points ahead of bronze medalist Carolina Kostner.
As in the previous year, Asada won the 2007–2008 Japan Figure Skating Championships, with a very small lead ahead of silver medalist and reigning World Champion Miki Ando. The team of Asada, Ando, and Nakano was declared for the World Championships and the team of Asada, Ando, and Suguri was for the Four Continents Championships. This was Asada's first time competing at the Four Continents Championships. Asada won both segments of the 2008 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships to finish 13.71 points ahead of silver medalist Joannie Rochette. Having left her coach before Four Continents Championships, Asada competed there and at the World Championships without a coach. An official from the Japan Skating Federation accompanied her as needed.
On March 20, 2008, at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships, Asada placed 2nd both in the short program and free skate to place first overall and win the title of World Champion.[9] She was second in the short program behind Carolina Kostner. In the long program, she fell at the beginning of her performance on her triple axel jump. Her total score was less than one point ahead of Kostner's. Kim Yu-Na, who won the free skate ahead of Asada, won the bronze medal. Miki Ando withdrew from the competition in the middle of her free skate program with injury. The placements of Asada and Nakano qualified Japan three entries for the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships.
Asada has been assigned to the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard, where she will defend her title, and the 2008 NHK Trophy.
Asada at the 2005 World Junior Championships
[edit] Jumping technique
Asada landed her first triple axel jump was 12, and she became the first lady to perform a triple-triple-triple (a triple flip, triple loop, triple toe loop) combination in national competition.[10] At the age of 14, Asada landed a triple axel at the junior Grand Prix finals in December 2004 at Helsinki, Finland, becoming the first junior girl to do one in an international event. She has since been known for her triple axel jumps.[11]
Asada practices quadruple loops and toe loops, but has yet to land one cleanly.[6]
Beginning in the 2007–2008 season, judging on jumping takeoff technique was made stricter, and Asada began to get penalized for edge errors on her lutz jump, colloquially called a "flutz."[12], as well as for under-rotating her jumps.
Asada has had problems with the triple toe loop jump and has not performed a triple salchow jump in her senior career and junior career. She has stated that although the Salchow was the first triple jump she had ever landed and that she does not have a problem landing it cleanly, she is not comfortable using the jump in competition because it is one of her least favorite jumps.[6]
She added the triple toe loop to her free program as the second jump of her first triple-triple combination during the 2004–2005 season[13] and to the double axel - triple toe in the 2006–2007 season. Normally, she uses a loop jump as her second jump in a combination.
[edit] Coaching changes
Asada originally trained in Japan, but left for the U.S. in August 2006 to train with Rafael Arutunian in Lake Arrowhead, California. There she was able to escape the overcrowding of Japanese rinks and the pressure of the Japanese media.
Before 2008 Four Continents Championships, she split with Arutunian[14] and returned to Japan to practice on the new Aurora Rink at Chukyo University, where she does not have any problems getting ice time. She went to Worlds without a coach.[15]
Asada trained in Russia in the summer of 2007 under Tatiana Tarasova. She returned to Russia the following summer, after which Asada formally decided to be coached by Tarasova.
Asada performs her step sequence at the 2008 World Championships. This program was choreographed for her by Tatiana Tarasova, who began coaching her in the 2008 summer.
[edit] Public life and endorsements
Asada owns a miniature poodle named Aero, who is named after the chocolate confection made by Nestlé. Asada and Aero have been featured in chocolate commercials in Japan, and she has also used her dog in exhibition programs. In 2008, Asada got two new puppies named Tiara and Komachi.[6]
She is very popular in Japan and has appeared in variety shows as well as commercials for Oji Paper Company, Olympus Corporation, Itoham Foods, Nestlé, and Omron. Asada headlined her own exhibition show, called "The Ice," in the summer of 2008, with her sister Mai.
The Asada sisters have also been named as goodwill ambassadors between Japan and Canada and has traveled to Canada to serve in that role.[6]
[edit] Programs
[edit] Competitive highlights
[edit] Post-2006
[edit] Pre-2006
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Asada, Mao |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
浅田 真央 (Japanese), あさだ まお (Hiragana) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Figure Skater |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
September 25, 1990 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan |
| DATE OF DEATH |
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| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
|
