Ayu wishes good luck to Mao Asada in Vancouver with an autographed CD!
 

Someone from Ayu's staff was apparently there to present her with the signed You were.../BALLAD, which was signed "Mao-chan, ganbatte in Vancouver!"... so sweet! Also, apparently a lot of news articles that mentioned Mao also mentioned Ayu in them, haha. (see article at bottom of post) And it's a bit random, but Mao was at Ayu's 10th anniversary concert two years ago, and visited Ayu in her dressing room during a-nation '05! Cool beans.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2iixv95.jpg
Mao reportedly listening to Ayu's You were... / BALLAD on her iPod before going up to skate. **she did not hear Yu Na Kim's score apparently because of this**

Translation from Misa-chan:
The news of figureskater Asada Mao (19) winning the silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics has excited even the entertainment world. Singer Hamasaki Ayumi (31), who knew Mao to be a big fan of hers, sent an autographed CD to her just before the games, with the words of appreciation "Thank you for your courage and passion".

The presence of her love for ayu helped Mao to achieve the silver medal.

According to insiders, Mao received an autographed copy of ayu's new "You were.../BALLAD" CD just before the games from an ayu staff. On it was the message "Mao-chan, good luck for Vancouver". Mao was said to have treated the CD as a good-luck charm.

Hearing the excited crowd's thundering after Kim Yuna's performance, Mao listened to the tunes ayu gave her just before her own performance to calm herself down.

ayu, who was watching the games on TV, showed her appreciation with the words "With no end in sight, just like a lasting forever, these 4 years have passed by like a dream in just the blink of an eye". She also added "Mao-chan, who has accomplished such big things in the past, what is she thinking of right now?"

The 2 share a strong bond. They met in August in 2005, at the a-nation event in Nagoya. Ever since visiting ayu backstage then, Mao has attended more of ayu's lives countless times. When ayu lost the ability to hear in her left ear in January of 2008, Mao's personal words of encouragement were leaked and managed to reach ayu herself, "I wish for her to stand strong, and continue singing".

During the same year, on 9th April, 10th anniversary live performance, 12,000 audience members sang "Who..." as a surprise for ayu, moving her to tears. Mao was in the audience as well.

This time, ayu's support has helped Mao win her silver medal. ayu, who is looking forward to meeting up with Mao after her return, says "I really really look forward to the day when she comes back to Japan, with a brilliant smile on her face". She also added, "I thank Mao for her deep passion and courage to not give up!!"

Sources:
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/entertainme...0701000-n1.htm (Article in post)
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/art...702000131.html
http://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/articl...02744199.shtml
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/entertain...m?from=related

Random article that summarizes the article here:

aww that's sweet if it's true~ i wonder which song she's listening to...

oo very interesting. that's so nice and thoughtful of her.

That's nice of her. :)

If it's true, that's so absolutely sweet of Ayu! :D I hope we can get some kind of confirmation on it~

I love your footnotes about how "trout" and "sweetfish" equal Ayu. hahaha Google Translator is so funny.

Aw, I hope it's true, that's so sweet and totally something Ayu would do! :)

thats so nice...
that footnote sweet fish reminds me to her fish lip..

Ayu is so nice. :)

wow...that's cool and touching!

I watched the metal event...Mao didn't look happy after getting the silver. She did well though...too bad she made a little mistake.

hope it's true ^^
it's really nice to hear news like this :yes

awww she's so nice ^^
LOL at the trout and sweetfish XD

that's the nice thing Ayu'd do ^ ^ i hope it's true

I remember seeing her in the same Weider CM as Ayu!

Yeah, I already knew Mao was a Ayu fan through wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Asada
(Go to # 5 Public life and endorsements)

I was watching it live last night, her performance was really moving, all 3As Mao jumped were very marvelous!! ok, she did win silver medal and that's GREAT~~ CONGRATS YUNA AND MAO!! Good luck for next World Championship!! by the way, I don't think Rochette deserved bronze though, Mirai was much better than her.

oh maybe Ayu also was watching final by tv and supporting her~~
Can you imagine that? xDD

I wonder if Ayu will comment on it? She was really into the summer games in 2008 with Usain Bolt, but maybe she's too busy to watch...

That's really nice for Ayu to do that.

I actually wanted Mao to win but YuNa was just to much. Overall they all deserve their medals.

Oh God, I hope not. The Olympic posts from then were the most boring blog posts Ayu has ever made. :no

I wonder if Mao will choose some Ayu song for the gala tomorrow,
would be so COOL ^__^

That's so weird, I was just thinking Ayu should do something like this in the shower five minutes ago 0.o lol