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Ando learns her lessons hard way
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2009, Saturday
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AN argument with her coach was the last thing Miki Ando needed.
Hours before the free skate at last March's world figure skating championships in Los Angeles, she was in the midst of a volatile discussion with Nikolai Morozov.
Ando had won in 2007 in her first season under Morozov's guidance. But between that championship and Los Angeles, Ando did not win another significant event.
"In the free program, I did not do a triple-triple," Ando said, referring to the combination jump that is becoming commonplace in women's skating. "In the morning skate practice I did it, but he said not to do the triple-triple (in the competition) because he knows it's difficult to get and they are going to downgrade it for sure if I miss.
"And I was just worried what the Japanese people would say. I did not feel comfortable with this. I was worried because I am Japanese."
Ando believes the jumps are so ingrained in the culture of the sport in her nation that to not attempt them shows weakness. It is something she's needed to overcome because, as Morozov explains, "there's a time to do certain things and a time not to."
Morozov, who helped Shizuka Arakawa win the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Games for Japan's first Olympic figure skating victory, has stressed to Ando the importance of being natural on the ice. It took Arakawa years to overcome that fear of letting down her country, and here was Ando experiencing the same feelings in LA.
Getting so mad
"I go to Nikolai and I say, 'I am worried if I don't do the triple-triple what the people will say," Ando recalled. "And he is getting so mad."
Angry enough that Morozov asked Ando if she no longer trusted the way he was training her. Then he told her if she had such doubts, he would not attend the free skate and their coach-skater partnership would be over.
"You have to understand that figure skating is not only jumps, it is how you are skating and feeling and how you want to show people how you are," he told Ando.
"Then I finally understand what in figure skating the audience wants," Ando said. "Because in Japan, they kind of like jumping, and if I did a quad or a triple-triple, they will say, 'She is going to win, she is going to get a medal.' It is that culture because we don't have any history in Japan in figure skating.
"So I just finally understand before the worlds long program what he means. I went to Nikolai and said: 'I will trust you, I will not do the triple-triple.'
"So I kind of had my self-confidence and I trusted Nikolai and I was very much enjoying my competition and I got the bronze medal. I felt like it was one package in the competition for the first time in my life."
The 22-year-old Ando has done a sensational job building off that bronze performance behind South Korea's Kim Yu-na and Canada's Joannie Rochette. She won the Cup of Russia and NHK Trophy and was second to Kim at the Grand Prix series final in Tokyo to wrap up one of Japan's three Olympic berths. Once known primarily for -- yes -- her jumps, including the first and only quad completed by a woman in competition (2002 Junior Grand Prix final), she now is among the most fluid and engaging skaters around.
Hours before the free skate at last March's world figure skating championships in Los Angeles, she was in the midst of a volatile discussion with Nikolai Morozov.
Ando had won in 2007 in her first season under Morozov's guidance. But between that championship and Los Angeles, Ando did not win another significant event.
"In the free program, I did not do a triple-triple," Ando said, referring to the combination jump that is becoming commonplace in women's skating. "In the morning skate practice I did it, but he said not to do the triple-triple (in the competition) because he knows it's difficult to get and they are going to downgrade it for sure if I miss.
"And I was just worried what the Japanese people would say. I did not feel comfortable with this. I was worried because I am Japanese."
Ando believes the jumps are so ingrained in the culture of the sport in her nation that to not attempt them shows weakness. It is something she's needed to overcome because, as Morozov explains, "there's a time to do certain things and a time not to."
Morozov, who helped Shizuka Arakawa win the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Games for Japan's first Olympic figure skating victory, has stressed to Ando the importance of being natural on the ice. It took Arakawa years to overcome that fear of letting down her country, and here was Ando experiencing the same feelings in LA.
Getting so mad
"I go to Nikolai and I say, 'I am worried if I don't do the triple-triple what the people will say," Ando recalled. "And he is getting so mad."
Angry enough that Morozov asked Ando if she no longer trusted the way he was training her. Then he told her if she had such doubts, he would not attend the free skate and their coach-skater partnership would be over.
"You have to understand that figure skating is not only jumps, it is how you are skating and feeling and how you want to show people how you are," he told Ando.
"Then I finally understand what in figure skating the audience wants," Ando said. "Because in Japan, they kind of like jumping, and if I did a quad or a triple-triple, they will say, 'She is going to win, she is going to get a medal.' It is that culture because we don't have any history in Japan in figure skating.
"So I just finally understand before the worlds long program what he means. I went to Nikolai and said: 'I will trust you, I will not do the triple-triple.'
"So I kind of had my self-confidence and I trusted Nikolai and I was very much enjoying my competition and I got the bronze medal. I felt like it was one package in the competition for the first time in my life."
The 22-year-old Ando has done a sensational job building off that bronze performance behind South Korea's Kim Yu-na and Canada's Joannie Rochette. She won the Cup of Russia and NHK Trophy and was second to Kim at the Grand Prix series final in Tokyo to wrap up one of Japan's three Olympic berths. Once known primarily for -- yes -- her jumps, including the first and only quad completed by a woman in competition (2002 Junior Grand Prix final), she now is among the most fluid and engaging skaters around.
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