KISS and CRY
On March 1st, the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games was held after two weeks of competition.
It is not too much to say that women's figure skating attracts the most attention among all.
Kim Yu Na (South Korea) won the the gold medal and Mao Asada became the silver medalist.
'Kiss and cry' is a place where figure skaters and coaches are waiting for the scores after the performance. Happiness and sadness are crossover there.
I got a catch in the throat when Mao could barely speak and wiped her eyes in a TV interview.
I saw her feelings of frustration and despair in her face and at the same time I was moved by her intensity of will.
4 years ago … Mao could not participate in the Torino Olympics because of the age limit.
It seemed to me that Mao was in her prime when she was 15 years old.
Actually I was a witness who saw Mao became a champion in The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final at National Yoyogi Stadium on December 17, 2005, that was 2 months before Torino Olympics.
12 years ago … World Figure Skating Championships was held at Target Center in Minneapolis, USA one month after 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. That was my first experience to see ‘LIVE’ figure skating. Guess what happened to me? I waved 2 bunches of flowers by the rink when Irina Slutskaya (Russia) finished her performance and then as soon as Irina saw me, Irina rushed into me and kissed me twice. That was the happiest moment of my life. I was about to cry from the happiness.
4 years from now … I would like to see Mao with a big smile at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.