What an emotionally draining two weeks this has been! I don't know about you, but the Sochi Winter Games has taken me to all different emotional highs and lows- especially the last 48 hours. Let's just get to it okay? There's so much to talk about and I'm on an Asada-induced nirvana that I just want to plough through this crap. And believe me, there is a ton and a half of bullshit to get through, and this is going to be a LONG post.
Let's begin with, OBVIOUSLY, the ultimate Champion of the Games (yes, with a capital C)- Japan's Mao Asada. On Wednesday night, Mao Asada went into the short program as a major gold medal contender. However, the next two and a half minutes were to be the worst of her skating career. She fell on a downgraded triple axel, underrotated a triple flip, and nulled a planned triple loop combination. It was just *BAM*. Silence fell, not only in the Iceberg Palace, but also in the Ventura household. Four years after losing to Kim, Asada found herself in 16th place.
All of the sudden, all that hard work- all the pain of relearning her jumps, losing her mother, the success since Vancouver- it all came to nothing. She held it all in at the Kiss and Cry, and when the night finished, Asada lost any hope of ever medalling at Sochi.
Today however, was a different story.
Skating to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 2, Mao went into the free skate with no pressure, no tension, no nothing- and boy did it pay off. She landed EIGHT triples (and yes, ALL the triple jumps) including her signature triple axel and a triple flip-triple loop! She breezed through her programme with grace, maturity, and performed like the CHAMPION that she is. She got a couple of URs, but even so- she received a personal best of 142.71, and realised her dream of skating the perfect performance at the Olympics. The breakdown of emotion after her final element was just so moving, that nothing else mattered. We'll get to the scores in a minute, but for now- let's all pay our respects to the great Mao Asada, who performed with incredible grace under pressure and did her country proud, despite what any Japanese ex-PM thinks (shame on you Yoshiro Mori!.) There are moments in life when all the method, all the scores, the numbers, the politicking, the stakes, and all rationalisation go out the window- and this was one of those moments. Those four minutes will stand as a momentous event in the history of figure skating.
Moving forward....here are my thoughts on the rest of the competition (I know... had to sit through two more groups!)
THE GOOD
CAROLINA KOSTER (ITA) finally medalled at an Olympic Games! Third time really was the charm for this statuesque Italian. She broke her unlucky streak by skating two clean programs, and just exuded so much artistry and grace- she really should have won the Gold medal. In fact, I am baffled at how the judges stomached giving her an 8.71 in Transitions? Yes, she is technically inferior to the rest of the field but if there was one thing she could rely on, it was her second mark, which remained in the mid- to low-9s! What the hell? In any case, apart from Mao- Carolina was the only other skater who skated like a star tonight- full of personality, gumption and pure joy. If she was to retire today, her performance at Sochi was nothing short of a spectacular swan song.
