Mirai Nagasu has arrived
The teenager would like to shock you with more than just what she can sometimes say
VANCOUVER — Three forces of nature blew into the area late last week.
Rain, snow and Mirai Nagasu.
The weather wiped out the entire first weekend of alpine skiing at Whistler, forcing postponements of the men's downhill and women's super combined.
Nagasu filled some of the entertainment gap with the mix of witticisms, wisdom, wacky observations about herself and her experiences and often self-critical honesty that already have made her a one-woman media show.
Saturday, at a press conference for the two U.S. entrants in women's figure skating, the 16-year-old Nagasu once again left her audience to marvel at her no-words-barred approach.
Anything that crosses her mind, she says, often in stream-of-consciousness ramblings.
The candor can get her in deep, as it did three weeks ago with her explanation for why she was so looking forward to the swag that would be hers for having made the Olympic team by finishing second at the U.S. Championships.
"I guess I can be stereotypical and say that Asians are very cheap," said Nagasu, a Japanese-American.
When the subject came up again Saturday in a question about what she had received, Nagasu noted an Asian-American friend who is "very Americanized" had scolded her about the comment.
"But I've already said what's been said," Nagasu continued, then explained how she regetted having arrived only Thursday because a lot of her sizes no longer were available in the clothing provided by the U.S. Olympic team.
And so it went, with Nagasu deadpanning that the change she has made in her free skate since nationals was to add a quadruple jump, then following it with a perfectly timed, "Just kidding."
It might take such a rare athletic feat — only one woman, Japan's Miki Ando, has landed a quad in competition — to contend with the overwhelming favorite, Kim Yuna of South Korea. Nagasu, as usual, had an interesting take on Kim's position.
"Being the heavy favorite is not always the good thing," Nagasu said. "It's the Olympics, so the whole world is watching.
"Hopefully, I will be able to just stand next to Yuna, and while she is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, I will just be holding it up with a finger."
Although Nagasu's chances for a medal here are minimal, especially with judges inclined to downgrade some of her jumps for incomplete rotations, she is on the way to becoming a star in two countries.
Panasonic, a Japanese company and global Olympic sponsor, signed her to an endorsement deal after nationals. That provided her with more swag — still and video cameras and a High Definition 3D home theater system — and enough money to allow her parents to close their 28-seat sushi restaurant in Arcadia, Calif., and travel to Vancouver for the women's competition next week.
The restaurant now serves a Mirai Olympic Roll, which, as she put it, includes "the whole ocean": salmon, tuna, yellowtail, shrimp tempura, marinated pollock roe, spicy smelt roe, eel sauce — and avocado.
A Japanese reporter asked Nagasu a question in Japanese about whether the restaurant also had a roll named for one of her rivals, 2008 world champion Mao Asada of Japan. Nagasu answered in Japanese, then translated.
"It's like, 'No way,' " Nagasu had told the reporter. "It's Mirai's parents' restaurant, so of course there is only going a Mirai roll."
Asked about her schooling, Nagasu distinguished herself from teammate Rachael Flatt, a high school senior who has applied for admission to the likes of Harvard, Yale and Stanford and is taking Advanced Placement French, English, Physics and B/C Calculus.
"I'm not like Rachael taking four APs," said Nagasu, a home schooled junior. "I don't really enjoy books like she does. I'm more an artsy craftsy person."
Nagasu will go back to Los Angeles Sunday because there is little practice ice available here for the women until the end of this week. She returns to Vancouver Friday.
Even though she will be spending relatively little time in the Olympic Village, Nagasu still is envious of U.S. ice dancer Tanith Belbin, who is sharing a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite with men's skater and fashionista Johnny Weir.
"I wish I could room with Johnny and get tips on makeup and styling," she said.
Nagasu already has a style all her own.
USA's figure skater Mirai Nagasu works on her routine during a practice session at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010.
