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Asada hits back at Tokyo 2020 chief Mori
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Japanese figure-skating heroine Mao Asada yesterday hit back at sneering by the boss of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic committee over her disastrous performance on the ice in Sochi.
The 23-year-old returned to Tokyo from the Winter Games empty handed, despite having gone into the singles competition as a frontrunner. Her short program was a flop as Asada, one of Japan’s most popular sporting figures, crashed to the ice on her initial jump and completely missed a compulsory part of the dance.
That drew accusations of her being an habitual choker from former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who now heads the body charged with organizing the 2020 summer Games. “That girl, she always falls over whenever it’s important,” Mori sniped on Thursday amid national disappointment. Asada yesterday brushed aside the 76-year-old’s scoffing.
“I’m human. I happen to fail,” Asada said. “I don’t care at all now, but I’m afraid that perhaps Mr. Mori is now slightly regretting making such remarks,” she said.
Although he is not unique among senior Japanese politicians for a jaw-dropping inability to judge the public mood, Mori has a track record of going the extra mile with his gaffes. Last week’s criticism of a young athlete almost universally held in deep affection among Japanese provoked derision from across the spectrum, from Facebook users to Major League Baseball standout Yu Darvish.
A near-flawless performance in the free program on the second night of competition was not enough to drag Asada into the medals, and she finished in sixth place. The event was won by Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova.
Asada made no secret of her sadness over her performance in Sochi, and said she was considering overturning a plan to retire from international tournaments at the end of this season.
“I’m full of regrets over failing to bring medals back to Japan,” Asada said, adding that her chance of continuing to perform next season is “50-50.”
She said she will make a final decision on her career after participating in next month’s world figure skating championships in Saitama, north of Tokyo, which will be her last event of the season.
“I want to put on my best performance there and then think about my future,” she said.
During his own visit to Sochi last week, Mori told a press conference he had never bothered to learn English fluently because it had been “the language of enemies” during World War II.
And his January appointment as head the Tokyo 2020 organizers elicited a slightly baffling prediction that he might be dead by the time the Games come to Japan. “I am going on 77 this year,” he told a seminar. “I am destined to live five or six more years if I am lucky.”
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