page_title: Mao Asada
section_title: Public life and endorsements
hierarchical_section_title: Mao Asada / Public life and endorsements
caption_attribution_description: English: 2011 Cup of Russia, free skating.
context_page_description: Mao Asada is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion, a three-time Four Continents champion, and a four-time Grand Prix Final champion. She is the first female figure skater who has landed three triple Axel jumps in one competition, which she achieved at the 2010 Winter Olympics. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she became the first woman to successfully land eight triple jumps in the free skate, although two jumps were called as under-rotated.
  Asada is also the 2005 World Junior champion, the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time Japanese national champion.
  She is the former world record holder for the ladies' short program score, which she set at the 2014 World Championships and held until the record was broken by Evgenia Medvedeva in 2016. A former prodigy, Asada is the fifth woman and the first junior girl to land the triple Axel, accomplishing this feat at the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final. She won her first Grand Prix Final at the age of 15. Considered by many to be the best figure skater in the world at that time, Asada was 87 days too young to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
context_section_description: Asada is very popular in Japan and is credited with increasing the popularity of figure skating in Japan. She began to draw attention while still on the junior circuit and is a household name in Japan, known by the affectionate nickname "Mao-chan". During the 2014 Winter Olympics, Asada became the most discussed and mentioned athlete of the Olympics on the social networking website Twitter, ahead of Yuna Kim, ice hockey player T. J. Oshie, and snowboarder Shaun White.
  Asada headlines her own exhibition show called "The Ice", which began from the summer of 2008, with her sister Mai Asada. Her skating music was compiled on two albums by EMI Music Japan: Mai & Mao Asada Skating Music and Mai & Mao Asada Skating Music 2008–09. The Asada sisters have also been named as goodwill ambassadors to Canada, and have traveled to Canada to serve in that role.
  
  In 2011, Asada launched her own kimono brand named MaoMao. In January 2012, Asada cancelled the release of a book on her skating career; she stated, "The way the book was advertised was different from what I had in mind."
  Asada has appeared in many variety television shows as well as in commercials. She and her dog Aero, named after Aero chocolates, have been featured in chocolate commercials in Japan. Asada's sponsors include Coca-Cola, Itoham Foods, Kao, Lotte, Nestlé, Oji Paper Company, Olympus Corporation, Omron, Sato Pharmaceutical, United Airlines, and Weider. Other sponsors include Weider In Jelly, Nippon Life Insurance Company, and Weavajapan. On 25 December 2013, Japan Airlines unveiled a new Boeing 777-300 (JA8942) with a special Mao Asada livery to promote Japan's participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
  During the 2010 Winter Olympics, a popular Vancouver Japanese street food vendor, Japadog, named a hot dog after Asada called the Mao Dog. Similarly, a local sushi store created a sushi roll and named it the Mao Roll after Asada. After Asada's silver medal win, Japanese dollmaker Kyugetsu created a Mao Asada hina doll in celebration of her efforts. In December 2013, chrysanthemum farmers in the Ryukyu Islands named a new crop of chrysanthemums "Mao Orange" after the colour of Asada's short program dress from the 2012–13 season.
  On 8 April 2014, Asada's exhibition named "Smile" opened at Takashimaya department store in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district. This drew more than 10,000 visitors on its first day, outperforming every other event opening at the establishment for the past 10 years. In just nine days, it hit more than 100,000 visitors, the shortest period to reach the milestone in Takashimaya's history. The exhibition includes a collection of 30 costumes that were worn by Asada and a display of medals she has won over the years, among them the silver she scooped up at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
  On 5 July 2014, Asada made her debut as a reporter for the long-running travel program "Sekai Fushigi Hakken!" by TBS. For this documentary, she traveled to Austria, Slovakia and Hungary for eight days to find the origin of figure skating. In March 2015, Asada made her debut as DJ host for her weekly radio show program "Mao Asada's Nippon Smile". This program was sponsored by Sumitomo Life Insurance Ltd. Co. and aired in TBS radio from March 2015 to June 2015.
  She is also a big fan of Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki, and was seen congratulating her on her 10th Anniversary.
caption: Coach Nobuo Sato (left) and Mao Asada (right) at the 2011 Cup of Russia
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