Mao Asada

Mao Asada (born September 25, 1990) is a former figure skater from Japan. She is a former World Figure Skating Champion (2008) and is ranked no. 3 by ISU. She won the Japanese national championships in 2007 and 2008 after winning two silver medals in a row. She is the 2005 World Junior Champion. She won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her older sister Mai Asada is also a high-level skater.

Mao Asada
Mao Asada at the 2014 World Championships.
Personal information
Native name	浅田 真央
Country represented	Japan
Born	(1990-09-25) 25 September 1990 Meitō-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Residence	Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Coach	Nobuo Satō Kumiko Sato Reiko Kobayashi
Former coach	Hiroshi Nagakubo Tatiana Tarasova Rafael Arutyunyan Nadezda Kanaeva Machiko Yamada Mihoko Higuchi Yuko Monna
Choreographer	Lori Nichol
Former choreographer	Tatiana Tarasova Shanetta Folle Lea Ann Miller Machiko Yamada Mihoko Higuchi
Skating club	Chukyo University
Training locations	Toyota, Shin-Yokohama
Began skating	1995
Retired	10 April 2017
World standing	25 (2016–17) 10 (2015–16) 2 (2014–15) 1 (2013–14) 3 (2012–13) 8 (2011–12) 7 (2010–11) 3 (2009–10) 3 (2008–09) 1 (2007–08) 1 (2006–07) 8 (2005–06) 33 (2004–05)
Season's bests	29 (2016–17) 9 (2015–16) 4 (2013–14) 2 (2012–13) 3 (2011–12) 2 (2010–11) 2 (2009–10) 2 (2008–09)
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	216.69 2014 World Championships
Short program	78.66 2014 World Championships
Free skate	142.71 2014 Winter Olympics
Medal record Ladies' Singles Figure Skating Representing Japan Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 3 1 1 Four Continents Championships 3 2 1 Grand Prix Final 4 2 0 World Junior Championships 1 1 0 Junior Grand Prix Final 1 0 0 Total 12 7 2 Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Singles World Championships 2008 Gothenburg Singles 2010 Turin Singles 2014 Saitama Singles 2007 Tokyo Singles 2013 London Singles Four Continents Championships 2008 Goyang Singles 2010 Jeonju Singles 2013 Osaka Singles 2011 Taipei Singles 2012 Colorado Springs Singles 2009 Vancouver Singles Grand Prix Final 2005–06 Tokyo Singles 2008–09 Goyang Singles 2012–13 Sochi Singles 2013–14 Fukuoka Singles 2006–07 St. Petersburg Singles 2007–08 Turin Singles World Junior Championships 2005 Kitchener Singles 2006 Ljubljana Singles Junior Grand Prix Final 2004–05 Helsinki Singles

Early life

Asada is from Nagoya. She was very skilled from a young age. She landed her first triple axel in competition while still at the junior level. She is one of five female figure skaters who have ever landed that jump in international competition.

Career

Asada won everything on the Junior level in the 2004-2005 season. The next season was the Olympic season. Asada would be too young to compete at the 2006 Olympics. But the Japanese skating federation thought there was not a good reason to keep her at the Junior level when she had already won everything. Asada was old enough for the Grand Prix, but not for senior level ISU championships. Asada went into the Grand Prix without any of the pressure that was on the other skaters who were old enough to go the Olympics and were trying to qualify for spots on their country's Olympic team. Able to compete without pressure, Asada won the Grand Prix Final in December 2005.

Following her win, the Japanese skating federation petitioned the International Olympic Committee to make an exception to the age rule for Asada, claiming that depriving her of a chance to compete at the 2006 Olympics would be denying a medal contender a chance to compete. However, this petition, even if it had worked, would have been too late. Other skaters had been effected by the age rule. The South Korean skating federation, for example, held Kim Yu-Na back in juniors for the 2005-2006 season, even though she could have competed successfully on the Grand Prix, because she also was not old enough for the Olympics, and because of it did not earn a spot to the Olympics at the Olympic Qualifying Competition in the fall of 2005. Asada had been a force in Japanese skating for many years, so the federation could have petitioned for an exception years earlier. There had previously been a loophole in eligibility rules regarding the World Championships and medaling at the World Junior Championships, but that loophole had been closed years earlier, and it had never applied to the Olympics.

Instead, Asada went to the World Junior Championships again, where she lost to Kim Yu-Na.

In 2006-2007, Asada's first season being old enough for senior Worlds, she won the silver medal at the World Championships behind fellow Japanese skater Miki Ando.

Flexibility

Mao Asada is known for her amazing flexibility. She is known for her one-handed Biellmann spin and her cross-grab Biellmann spiral, in which she uses the hand opposite her leg to hold up her leg in the position. She is consistent with the triple axel.

Other websites

• Brilliance On Ice Archived 2008-03-25 at the Wayback Machine - Official Site
• International skating union biography Archived 2008-06-07 at the Wayback Machine