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Asada takes world title; Kim gets silver at World Figure Skating Championships

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Congratulations on the gold, Mao-chan! That was a flawless free skate. Congrats also the Daisuke for his gold. I believe this is the first time for Japan to have both men and women on top. After a gold-less Olympics, this is definitely great news.

Felt bad for Mirai when she started fumbling early on in the FS, and didn't recover. This is a learning experience for her, and I have no doubt she'll bounce back. Can't wait to see her, Mao and Yuna again in competition soon.

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Niceeeee!! Now there are some justice, but the judges have to be changed, they gave her a bad score even if she did better than in Olympics. And Kim got a nice score even after falling... something is wrong there!

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Great rivalry here! Also glad it's these two since they're such eye-candy.

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wow,japan world champions in men AND women..this is going to absolutely ruin the breakfast(lunch and dinner)of a few regular posters...

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Whats with this gold medal haul when the pressure is off for men and women ? I am surprised Kim even competed,cuz Mao would have been fired up,but Kim most certainly was not.But a nice consolation gold for the girl.

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Kalinin, didn't you know? Kim gets points even when she falls on her butt, because she does it gracefully.

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Seriously, though. A really lackluster effort by Kim. It is unbelieveable that she got a higher score in the free program considering she made two obvious mistakes compared with one minor mistake by Asada. Just look at their faces after the performance and you will know that the judging is a bit off.

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Kim's program is technically and stylishly more difficult than Mao's and worth many more points if she skates at the same level as Mao, so Kim had room for error and she needed it. She looked tired in both programs and probably was due to her media events and travel since winning the gold a month ago.

Great job Mao! It took you all year to overcome that wretched Russian coach and the dark programs she saddled you with, but you finally won gold.

And great job Miki, pulling up from 11th to 4th with what was probably your best skate of the season. The improved Miki continues to shine.

Finally, Mirai. Poor kid got hit overnight with the sort of pressure Mao, Kim and Ando are constantly under (mostly from the Asian media) and learned how difficult it can be. She had a 2006-Miki meltdown. But she'll recover.

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Wow... a smile with teeth. It takes gold and gold only to get a big smile from her. Nice job KID.

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Congrats to the winners and thanks to all the competitors who did not get any medals, but without who there would not have been any event!

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No more tears

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I am glad Asada beat her Korean rival. Adada is a much nicer skater I think, she is humble.

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Good for Asada. She definitely deserved it in the end. Can't see why so many Japanese are still complaining about the scores, though -- despite a couple of jumps Kim's programme is overall harder and worth more points. Asada's programme is not as difficult.

Not quite as exciting as the Olympics, but still good fun.

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This must be a first for Japan, winning both the womens and mens titles. I am not a particular fan of Mao Asada mostly due to her usually dour personality. However, the picture here is pretty good - she is smiling and the flag behind her looks great. Congrats to her!

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@bicultural LOL hahhaha that's true xD But I'm realy happy for Asada, just not sure if she'll be able to win another championship with these same judges and specialy if Kim doesn't fall again =/

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Can't see why so many Japanese are still complaining about the scores, though

smithinjapan: Actually, it's not only Japanese who are complaining about Kim Yu Na's scores, but also Italians, Finns, Americans (read several negative comments on Yahoo Sport's news about this), and Russians. True, Kim Yu Na and Mao Asada does have difficult routines, but so does others. I guess their gripe is that although Kim Yu Na gets deducted for her falls, she never gets downgraded or penalized for obviously a triple jump that she planned to do, but ends up making it a single or double, thus making her scores high. In any case, Kim Yu Na and Mao Asada are above and beyond everyone else. It's exciting to see a battle between these two great skaters. Congrats to all!

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@haoushokuhaki Point on. Skate fans all over have been complaining about what seems to be partial scoring. Even in the Olympics when Yuna clearly won, her lead shouldn't have been THAT great. For those who didn't see both girls' skates last Saturday, someone did a side-by-side video. You be the judge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_Vxk5qfOA

Anyhow, congrats to Mao-chan on her gold! I hope she gets a new trainer/coach soon.

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haoushokuhaki

Talk about exaggeration. I looked into the Yahoo sport's articles you mentioned and could only find 1 criticism per 100 comments. And most of the criticisms probably came from bitter Japanese users. Good for Mao for winning the gold, but she still has a long way to go before she can hope to match the success of Yuna.

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@VGG77 Of course, that's an impartial view coming from a Korean like yourself.

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Ha ha, genjuro. Spot on.

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Of course, that's an impartial view coming from a Korean like yourself.

Mao was the favored one BY the judges in the beginning, wasn't it? 2008 World Championships anyone? Also the unfair downgradings of Kim's tripe-triple by some suspicious judges prior in most events prior to the Olympics. It seems that Kim overcame more obstacles.

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Talk about exaggeration. I looked into the Yahoo sport's articles you mentioned and could only find 1 criticism per 100 comments.

Uh,VG877, where in my comments did I say there were "a lot" of criticisms on Yahoo. I mentioned "several negative comments". Check your dictionary again and see what "several" means. Jeesh. My point is, that it is racial bias to say that ONLY Japanese people are doing the criticizing; which is absolutely not true. In addition, if you peruse Youtube, you will find a "war" going on between Japanese and Korean posters who are putting up various claims through video of Mao cheating and Kim Yu Na cheating, and how they perceive each is getting preferential treatment from the judges. Claims like these are going on BOTH sides, not just one, like you claim.

@VGG77 Of course, that's an impartial view coming from a Korean like yourself.

Good observation, genjuro. You're probably right about VG877. I'm sure he is adamantly claiming that Mao gets preferntial treatment from judges, and that Kim Yu Na should have won the World Championship.

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I don't understand figure skating judging standards at all, but I do know people are always complaining about it.

I remember in the summer olypmics, some girl in the vault won bronze when she landed on her knees. The 4th place girl had a clean landing but still lost. Strange...but as I said, I don't understand judging...

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I went to youtube to see some videos of the worlds and was amazed of the hatred japanese fans have for Yuna. There are so many ugly videos and comments against her.

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LoveUSA: I am also shocked at how the war between fans of Kim Yu Na and Mao Asada have escalated. The hatred towards each is mind-boggling to say the least. I guess when you have two such athletes at the pinnacle of where they are and with each having the whole weight of a nation on their shoulders, things like this happens. The ironic thing is that the two skaters themselves have an equal respect for each other and relishes the competition each other brings. They obviously don't share the hatred their country men and women share for each other.

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@LoveUSA

It goes both ways. Also, not all of those videos you saw were by Japanese. A common tactic of many of these Japan-bashing Koreans is to create accounts on Youtube with profiles having Japanese-sounding names or listing Japan as their location. Then they'd attack Korea or Yuna in an effort to villify the Japanese. Oldest trick in the book.

But haoushokuhaku is correct: Mao and Yuna have nothing but mutual respect for each other. I've even seen some photos of the two together off the ice. No bad blood whatsoever between the two.

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It`s only sport. Why so much friction? My local football team have a decades long rivally with a local team , but we have a healthy benter online and only a small amount of people carry such vitriol.

The fans should enjoy the sport and be pleased there is a rivally. A good contest is the best we can hope for. The way these girls train should be applauded. Any true fan of the sport would enjoy both girls efforts. Those that spout vile comments are just ultra nationalistic nobodies.

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It sounds like Yuna is most likely to retire..

She has already won the gold so why bother stressing herself for another 4 years of competition when she can make millions doing something else besides skating?

Yuna looked a bit unmotivated and a bit out of shape compared to Vancouver.

On one of the Korean papers, she mentioned how she wants to eat the food she missed and be with her friends who wouldn't mind seeing her gain weight. Sounds like retirement words to me.

If I were Yuna Kim, I would go for the big bucks, because if she stays skating, she won't make as much money since Brian Orser is not exactly cheap. Plus I'm pretty sure she wants to enjoy life now she has won the gold.

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Just in : a South Korean news article reads "The Japanese coaches cast a spell on Yuna" so that's why she fell.

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@bicultural

I hope you're joking. LOL

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Not to Yuna-bash, but how in the world did Yuna get a higher score on the free skate when she fell on her behind while Mao skated without falling? Mao jumped 2 triple axels on her free and you are saying that Yuna is that much more difficult elements than Mao?? Now something is wrong with the scoring system. If Yuna skated cleanly, then that is one thing, but you can't tell me that hers was that much more difficult than Mao?

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