The strangeness of a skater who performs a triple axel flawlessly being beaten by a skater who does three triples
March 26, 2021
On the 24th, I rubbed my sleepy eyes as I cheered on Rika Kihira at the World Championships held in Stockholm.
The broadcast was on Kansai Television, with Shizuka Arakawa as commentator.
Her program was the most difficult (hardest) of all the competitors.
She landed a beautiful triple axel at the beginning of her performance.
The height, width, and speed of the jump were all perfect.
She also beautifully landed a one-handed rotation, which symbolizes the program's difficulty.
I may lose out to the so-called "chasing ladies," but I have no shame in my figure skating watching history.
As I have already mentioned, I have ideas about why figure skating is so fantastic and captivates audiences.
Rika Kihira is the most outstanding figure skater in history.
It is no exaggeration to say that she is unparalleled.
Compared to Midori Ito, who had the highest athletic ability in history, Kihira's athletic ability is not inferior.
The beauty of her well-balanced figure, an element that makes up the beauty of figure skating, is not inferior to that of her Russian rivals.
The program that Rika Kihira performs is the most difficult of all the competitors because the choreographer has tried to make the most of her exceptional athletic ability and strength of the body.
In other words, she is trying to achieve the highest level of the sport of figure skating.
Her greatest rival is Shcherbakova.
She has won the Russian Championships three years in a row.
In addition to her graceful appearance (suppleness), she jumps multiple quadruple jumps in the free program.
She does not jump the triple axel.
The rules state that women cannot jump in the short program quadruple jumps.
Until last spring, Kihira had not yet completed a quadruple jump, but at the end of last year, at the All-Japan Championships, she performed a quadruple jump that was so perfect that it could be called the best quadruple jump in history.
With this, she caught up with Shcherbakova. I was convinced that she had overtaken her.
Kihira must have been confident, too.
If Kihira doesn't make any mistakes in her jumps at this competition, she will be in first place after the short program.
She will win if she performs without making any mistakes in the free program.
However, Kihira was unable to take first place in the short program.
I immediately thought this was the same situation as when Mao Asada lost to Kim Yuna.
Strangely, a female jumper who can beautifully perform a triple axel, which in some ways is more complex than a quadruple jump, can lose to a skater who can perform a triple x triple jump.
When Ms. Jota was known as the Empress, I sat next to her at the bar of the Hotel Okura.
Not only did she not attempt to send Mao Asada to the Turin Olympics, but I was also furious when she told the two men what to do as a showperson.
I think I was the only person there who shouted at people so loudly.
Now I feel bad about shouting so loudly.
Shizuka Arakawa never doubted Kihira's failure to take first place.
It was the same as with Mao Asada and Kim Yuna.
She praised her opponent and pointed out the small mistakes made by her own country's skater (I checked on YouTube last night, and there were no mistakes in the triple axel that she pointed out on the 24th).
I tried to find the composition of the competition judges to clarify this strangeness, but I couldn't find anything.
At the moment, I can only speculate, but in addition to Russia, China, and South Korea, there were also judges from Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan, and perhaps no Japanese judges at all.
The top three most beautiful jumps shown on YouTube (FNN Online) prove this.
Kihira came third (ignoring the triple axel), and the Korean skater came second, with Shcherbakova coming first.
The people with power in women's figure skating are the same kind of people as showmen.
As a fellow prefect, I am ashamed to say that there is a strong feeling that one of them is Shizuka Arakawa.
The only people who wouldn't be genuinely happy for Rika Kihira to win the championship, and even more so for her to win a gold medal at the Olympics, would be her and people who aren't authentic Japanese.
Kihira must have been shocked that she didn't come first, even though she performed such a brilliant triple axel and a complex program with almost no mistakes.
The only thing I dislike about women's figure skating is the lack of transparency in the judging.
This is probably due to the showman-like nature of the powerful people who dominate the world of figure skating.
With the gods ' blessing, I sincerely hope that tonight, Kihira will prove she is the most excellent female figure skater in history, a world treasure who rivals Yuzuru Hanyu.
