The Olympic Season: Miki Ando Is Back
It's time to dig into the Olympic season and what better way to do it then talk about Miki Ando's unexpected (and somewhat shocking) announcement that she plans to compete at Sochi despite giving birth this very April?
The Japanese skater, who has two World gold medals and three National ones, announced on Monday, July 15 that she is the proud single mother of a baby girl, news which immediately got categorized as scandalous because apparently having children without a wedding band on your finger is something we have never heard of before. I would like to quickly get the news of her giving birth out of the picture by saying "Congratulations!" and stating that Miss Ando (like any other woman out there) should have the right to do whatever she wants with her private life without being attacked by the media because of something that stopped being Breaking News hundreds of years ago.On the same show, she also said she plans to storm into Sochi, which is the real big news here despite it being ignored when compared to the shocking revelation.
What does her return on ice mean? On a personal level, she is probably more determined to win a medal than ever before, as her last Olympic placement (fifth place) must have been frustrating. Professionally, last time we saw her (2010-2011 season) she was on top of the game - Gold at the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships, Cup of Russia and Cup of China, not to mention the National Championships. Her physical condition would have posed a question mark if she hadn't returned on ice one month after giving birth (talk about determination!). Let's not forget that she is the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition. Once we put all those together, it's obvious she has a pretty good chance of going home with her first Olympic medal.
She hasn't yet revealed her program choices, but looking at her career, one can get a hint of what style they'll fit into. Miss Ando has mixed soundtracks with classical music (the 2010-2011 choices were Ennio Morricone's The Mission for the short program and Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 for the long program), so we'll probably see something in the likes of that. It's also worth mentioning that since Nikolai Morozov is no longer her coach, he is also no longer her choreographer. Don't be too quick to mourn though as Stephane Lambiel is the headliner of that category and is turning out to be quite brilliant at it (not that we ever doubted it). Costume-wise, you just know she is not going to choose Sochi as the first time she makes a bad decision.
Her rivals are first (and foremost) the current Olympic champion Yuna Kim, who we all know is at her best ever, then Mao Asada, who already has an Olympic silver medal and is looking for an upgrade. There are a lot other skaters who dream about the Olympic podium, Carolina Kostner leading the group in chances of fulfilling the dream. Costner is a favourite of the judges (fully deserving it), but as gracious as she is, she has rarely been able to beat the Asian skaters on a technical level.
With so many questions surrounding her Olympic season and with her potential for greatness, the media should be focusing on her comeback and mentioning (on a positive note) that she gave birth to a little baby girl, not the other way around.
The Japanese skater, who has two World gold medals and three National ones, announced on Monday, July 15 that she is the proud single mother of a baby girl, news which immediately got categorized as scandalous because apparently having children without a wedding band on your finger is something we have never heard of before. I would like to quickly get the news of her giving birth out of the picture by saying "Congratulations!" and stating that Miss Ando (like any other woman out there) should have the right to do whatever she wants with her private life without being attacked by the media because of something that stopped being Breaking News hundreds of years ago.On the same show, she also said she plans to storm into Sochi, which is the real big news here despite it being ignored when compared to the shocking revelation.What does her return on ice mean? On a personal level, she is probably more determined to win a medal than ever before, as her last Olympic placement (fifth place) must have been frustrating. Professionally, last time we saw her (2010-2011 season) she was on top of the game - Gold at the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships, Cup of Russia and Cup of China, not to mention the National Championships. Her physical condition would have posed a question mark if she hadn't returned on ice one month after giving birth (talk about determination!). Let's not forget that she is the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition. Once we put all those together, it's obvious she has a pretty good chance of going home with her first Olympic medal.
She hasn't yet revealed her program choices, but looking at her career, one can get a hint of what style they'll fit into. Miss Ando has mixed soundtracks with classical music (the 2010-2011 choices were Ennio Morricone's The Mission for the short program and Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 for the long program), so we'll probably see something in the likes of that. It's also worth mentioning that since Nikolai Morozov is no longer her coach, he is also no longer her choreographer. Don't be too quick to mourn though as Stephane Lambiel is the headliner of that category and is turning out to be quite brilliant at it (not that we ever doubted it). Costume-wise, you just know she is not going to choose Sochi as the first time she makes a bad decision.
Her rivals are first (and foremost) the current Olympic champion Yuna Kim, who we all know is at her best ever, then Mao Asada, who already has an Olympic silver medal and is looking for an upgrade. There are a lot other skaters who dream about the Olympic podium, Carolina Kostner leading the group in chances of fulfilling the dream. Costner is a favourite of the judges (fully deserving it), but as gracious as she is, she has rarely been able to beat the Asian skaters on a technical level.
With so many questions surrounding her Olympic season and with her potential for greatness, the media should be focusing on her comeback and mentioning (on a positive note) that she gave birth to a little baby girl, not the other way around.
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