Today, I would like to talk about Miki Ando who has just won her second world’s gold medal on April 30 2011.
This news made me and my husband so happy !
Since last Olympics ( Vancouver Olympics ), we hadn’t been following skating competitions like before, mainly because we are just not crazy for the COP system, and so we were only checking the results of each event.
Miki Ando’s victory was very impressive to me and I have been inspired by her strength this whole season.
She won everything except GPF, and had a very successful season.
She said
“ I fought for Japan and wanted to give power and strength to all the victims who suffer from nature disaster, who lost their families and many other things they had . “
According to her, her health condition was not really good though, she learned how to handle the competition under that condition.
She also had lost her father by car accident when she was a little girl, eight years old, so she knows how hurt it is to lose someone you love.
She said in one of her interviews that she hasn’t been caring for the placements, but instead focusing on how she performed and connecting with audience and that gave her more power to show her real ability.
Miki won her first Worlds Title in 2007, one year after her disappointing Torino Olympics .
Later, at the Vancouver Olympics, she skated great but sadly lost podium there.
This is the second time she came back strong after Olympics year.
Ray has been a huge fan of Miki since 2005 GPF when we first saw her skating.
It was our first time to see Miki Ando.
Even though we both love watching figure skating , we didn’t make a habit to watch skating competition, like checking all the schedules until that year 2005 GPF.
Somehow, when we turned on the TV, GPF was up then in 2005 , and I only knew a Russian skater, Irina Slutsukaya at that time and I was rooting for Irina in that event.
Since that event, ( GPF 2005), I realized there are some Japanese ladies skaters who are in the top level, and they were Mao Asada, Miki Ando, Fumie Suguri, Yukari Nakano, Shizuka Arakawa.
Mao Asada ( 15 years old at that time ) won that event (GPF) by doing two triple axel jumps in the free skate ( nutcracker ).
Even though I’m Japanese, I‘m not a “ go team Japan !” type of person “ or “ go team USA ! “ or for any other countries, but rather I root for whoever impressed me with their skating individually, and they become my favorites. ( same goes for gymnastics, and track & fields ).
And I liked Irina Slutsukaya’s skating which I found something unique and with original skating style.
And in Torino Olympics, I was also rooting for her.
But in that event, I was impressed with Sasha Cohen ’s SP performance more than Irina and that was my first time to see Sasha’s skating.
Shizuka Arawaka impressed me since her EX performance in Torino Olympics. She was much more expressive and was more relaxed skating in the EX.
For Miki Ando,
In GPF (2005) and Torino Olympics , she wasn’t showing her best skate at that time, but I did notice her artistic ability during Torino Olympics, from her sensitive fingertips movements and her expression, and also her spins, the way how she made her spins were very imaginative to me.
She had a broken toe during Torino Olympics, but she attempted quad anyway, in her free skate but unfortunately she failed to land it.
At that time, in the GPF (2005), she fell three times and also the placement of Japanese Nationals, but she was qualified for Olympics team and was bashed by so many skating fans, who felt she didn‘t have a great season, and wanted other skaters who were having a better season at that time, to compete at Torino.
I became her fan since 2006 - 2007 season after seeing her beautiful performance of Scheherazade at Campbell‘s team competition in 2006.
I noticed her movements and skating changed , became very beautiful with sensitivity, with full of passion , since she started working with Russian coach Nicholai Morozov.
My favorite of her programs are
2006- 2007 season’s both programs.
2008 - 2009 season’s SP, and world championship FP.
2009 - 2010 season’s SP. ( especially Japanese Nationals )
Personally, I’m not a fan of the new judging system ( COP ) which is making all skaters programs look more and more alike, all look like mathematical calculation programs, so I prefer her programs and her skating from the above list , more than this season’s programs.
I think COP greatly limits skaters, including Miki Ando and others, from showing all their talent and abilities. It makes all their programs look the same.
But it was so nice to read many of the positive comments about her performances and the programs especially many people loved her short program performance for the Worlds Championships this season.
Miki also re-opened her official website ( Japanese http://www.miki-ando.com/) . She had to close her official site after Torino Olympics because she had received so many hateful messages at that time.
Now so many people are supportive of her.
In some ways, it may be athlete’s destiny, that if athlete did good job, public will support and cheer for them, but on the other hands, public will show cold shoulder or bash hurtful messages if they didn’t do their expectation.
I’ve been following her twitter since last year, and have been having real good impression of her as a person.
For example, I was impressed her conversation with Akiko Suzuki in twitter,
It was right after 4CC competition, when Miki won it, Mao got silver and Akiko placed 7th.
Akiko congratulated Miki and told Miki that she needs to look up to Miki’s strength.
Then Miki replied to Akiko, that she is a fan of Akiko’s skating.
Very sweet, and respecting each other.
Miki looks friendly to all the skaters, and she is close friends with Shizuka Arakawa, Yukari Nakano, Akiko Suzuki, Mao Asada, Mai Asada, Nana Takeda, Nobunari Oda, Daisuke Takahashi, Takahiko Kozuka, Mura, etc… she also looks friendly to skaters who are from other countries as well.
I think she is brave & social to be in the Stars of ice show tour last year as the only one Japanese in that tour and in one of the photos, she was with big smile and looked communicating with other skaters well.
In twitter, she was tweeting to many foreign skaters.
My impression was Adam Rippon, Florent Amodio, Johnny Weir, Jeremy Abbott, all sound very friendly to Miki.
I also loved what Miki said in one of Russian interviews.
http://winter.sport-express.ru/figureskating/reviews/13556/
( Thank you to Елена ВАЙЦЕХОВСКАЯ for sharing the interview ! )
Q : Is it true that you were contemplating on taking a year off? Are you planning a retirement from the amateur field?
Miki: Not anymore. After Vancouver I did think of taking a year off, but I've had a second thought. Nikolai convinced me that such move wouldn't be wise and that not competing at the then-scheduled Tokyo Worlds wouldn't be respectful to the Japanese fans.
Q: Why did you think of taking a year off in the first place then?
Miki: Actually, I was tired. My life felt like it was all skating and it wasn't refreshing anymore. I thought a break would give me time to relax and provide new motivation.
Q: This is your 2nd World title. How does it compare to 2007?
Miki: This one was more challenging. In 2007, I got injured right before the competition, preventing me from practicing for 2 weeks. So the win was totally unexpected. This season, however, I knew I had a good chance of going on the podium. This motivated me to practice. Mentally, though, such hard practices required a tremendous amount of effort .
Q: You've won everything except the Final in GP Series since last autumn. Were you really just going for a medal, or specifically Gold, at Worlds?
Miki: I have to say I don't like thinking too much about medals. It's only whether you can skate your program well that's important.
Quality that is. As long as I can show what I can do at competitions, the judges placement isn't such a big deal.
The scores aren't that important. The inner satisfaction from having shown your best quality, probably with another context in life contributing, is sometimes much better than winning a medal.
Q: I sensed awkwardness, something not right, when observing you on the Moscow rink. On the surface you appeared strong and passionate, but you didn't look very happy.
Miki: I think skaters usually don't appear happy or don't smile that much in competitions. We're very nervous and concentrating on our performance. I, too, wouldn't smile.
This is completely personal, but I'm going through a very tough time now. I was crying every day in Moscow this past week. Some of this might have shown in my performances, which I didn’t want to show that part, of course.
Q: Has winning the competition changed any of that at all? in other words, are you going to continue to cry?
Miki: I really hope not.
Q: You won with a free program which wasn't your best. Why do you think?
Miki: I was so tired. Of everything. Of practicing and my personal issues. But I pulled off the best I could, considering. I'm happy that I didn't make a big mistake, which is vital in a competition like Worlds.
Q: Were you surprised that Kim Yuna made mistakes?
Miki: At the risk of sounding odd, I don't pay attention to how others skate. That's including Kim Yuna. That's irrelevant to my skating. I feel it's not right to judge how others skate.
Figure skating inevitably attracts the kind of 'who did worse than whom" and vice versa, but skaters at the World Championship level all have got something that's superior to others.
Just as people, countries, languages and traditions vary, we skaters all have got something different.
Q: You've been training with Morozov in Moscow for quite some time now. You must find living in a foreign country tough.
Miki: It is. I like Russia, but I can't speak the language. It's such a challenge to be always surrounded by those who speak a language you don't understand.
I've had a similar experience before, when I trained in the USA with Nikolai. At the beginning I couldn't speak a word of English. The first thing Nikolai got me to do was study English.
It was much later did I realize how right he was about this. Because the more I learned the language, the more friends I made, the more new things I learned, and the more culture I became able to explore.
Now I'm working on Russian. I'm trying to speak Russian and listen carefully to what people are saying.
Q: How long have you been working under Morozov?
Miki: 5 years.
Q: So you remember the times when Takahashi, and later Oda, trained in the same team. It must have been a relief to have someone you could speak Japanese to.
Miki: I know this is very strange, but we talk to each other in English for the most part. I speak English with Takahiko.
Q: Why?
Miki: I don't know really, but it has become that way somehow. The only time I speak Japanese is when I have competitions, shows or stuff to do whilst being in Japan.
Q: Going back to where we were, are you still planning on having a break?
Miki: What I can say with confidence is that I intend to keep skating until Sochi. A break until then, if taken at all, would be one that's not so long, and I'd come back. After Sochi I'll think about what I'll do with my life. I could teach children, work in another field, or skate as a pro.
Q: Should you make Sochi, it will be your third Olympics. What have the past two been for you? Have they become memorable experience for you?
Miki: I haven't got much to say about Torino. Being 19, I didn't really grasp what was going on around me.
I simply tried to absorb as much as possible. I felt a great sense of fulfillment and pride to be an Olympian. Vancouver on the other hand was different.
I treated it just like other competitions, in that my focus was to do my best. I have to say it didn't feel all that different from other competitions. The result was 5th place.
Q: With you on the ice and Morozov jumping with that intense look on the rink side, I sometimes don't know which one of you to watch. Do you have room in your head to pay attention to the coach by the board at all during the programs? Can you hear him?
Miki: I can say this. It's that I have to know Nikolai is there. If he can't be there for whatever reason, I probably wouldn't be able to skate at all. I try not to look at him when I'm performing, but I know he's there. He's got such stunning energy.
I can feel that, and I gain more strength and confidence.
One more thing. I trust him completely, as a coach and as a person. It's also comforting to hear him say he trust me 100% when I skate.
Q: Do you take an issue out of the relationship between Japanese Skating Federation (JSF) and Morozov, that could be improved I shall say?
Miki: No. It's not my business.
Q: But I heard that JSF attempted to convince you to change coaches?
Miki: Yes. They said Nikolai isn't a suitable coach nor a choreographer and continuing with him would be a big mistake. It came out of blue.
Q: When was that?
Miki: 2009, just a bit before LA Worlds. Honestly I didn't know what was going on, as there had been no interest in me from JSF for 2 years up to that point. That's including when I won Tokyo Worlds in 2007 and withdrew from the free skate in Goteborg in 2009.
They didn't show any interest. No one came to see me nor did they ask if I needed support. So I have to say I was kind of astonished to see their sudden interest in me in such manner right before LA Worlds.
Q: Many skaters say Morozov is a rather "unique" coach.
Miki: I think you can say that.
Q:How do you interpret "unique" in this context? Of the things he's taught you, what do you think is the most important?
Miki: Nikolai has provided me with a lot of love. For me to love skating, battle, and to understand why I need to skate. It's really hard to explain in words.
It's similar to the feeling in me when I started skating. The rink was where my friends came to visit me When my dad died when I was 8, there was a lot on my mother’s plate.
Then he has taught me, through skating, the feeling of happiness. Being beside Nikolai makes me feel happy again.
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Really great, thought provoking interview from Miki.
Especially this part.
“ Q: Were you surprised that Kim Yuna made mistakes?
Miki: At the risk of sounding odd, I don't pay attention to how others skate. That's including Kim Yuna. That's irrelevant to my skating. I feel it's not right to judge how others skate.
Figure skating inevitably attracts the kind of 'who did worse than whom" and vice versa, but skaters at the World Championship level all have got something that's superior to others. Just as people, countries, languages and traditions vary, we skaters all have got something different. “
It’s so true, and I found she is a beautiful person inside and out.
I need to look up to her for what she said about the view of skating, people and many other things.
It’s easy to compare skaters or people , who is better and judging based on our own view. Nothing wrong with that, but she sounds more high spiritual frequency level.
This kind of beautiful mind must be attracting great fortune to her.
" Q: You've won everything except the Final in GP Series since last autumn. Were you really just going for a medal, or specifically Gold, at Worlds?
Miki: I have to say I don't like thinking too much about medals. It's only whether you can skate your program well that's important. Quality that is. As long as I can show what I can do at competitions, the judges placement isn't such a big deal.
The scores aren't that important. The inner satisfaction from having shown your best quality, probably with another context in life contributing, is sometimes much better than winning a medal. "
I believe this kind of mind-setting made her great success whole season.
Personally, I was not satisfied with her placement at Vancouver Olympics and also some of the results of her past season’s placements and scores.
But Miki looked ( and sounded ) always happy for performances no matter the placement. She was not complaining about her placements.
It’s beautiful.
Even though we know about figure skating is a judged sport and results of the scores are out of control , but the most important key to be successful seems to be to mainly pay attention for their own skating and not worrying too much about other’s skating.
Once we feel like unfair judge, it’s easy to get negativities and start blaming judges.
2006 Olympics Champion Shizuka Arakawa was also saying similar things about the mindset. Too much thinking about medal or placements gives her pressure and nervous so she tried not to think about it.
I’ve read that some people consider being humble = no confidence . Not so.
But I really think it may be coming from cultural difference.
Personally I feel people who have true confidence are humble. They don’t need to boast or announce their confidence to others, because they feel it in their heart.
Miki Ando, I really love her as a person and admire her strength.
I believe her victory made many of Japanese people’s spirits up.
Congratulations, Miki-chan !