Mao Asada is a figure skater from Japan. She was born on September 25, 1990.

She was the first woman to land a triple axel at an ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and the Junior World Championships. She was also the first to land three triple axels at the 2010 Olympics.

• 2010 Olympic silver medalist
• 2008 and 2010 World Champion, 2007 World silver medalist
• 2005 and 2008 Grand Prix Final Champion, 2006 and 2007 silver medalist
• 2008 and 2010 Four Continents Champion, 2009 and 2011 Four Continents Silver medalist
• 5-time winner on the Grand Prix
• 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Japanese National Champion
• 2005 Junior World champion, 2006 Silver medalist; 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final champion

Yu-Na and Mao were both born in the same month and year, September of 1990. They both began skating at an early age, and as they grew older both became their respective country's most talented skater. Both were too young to compete at the 2006 Olympics, so the 2010 Olympics became the ultimate goal for both.

They first started competing on the international level as 14-year-old juniors during the 2004-2005 season. As juniors one or the other went 1-2 at three competitions, and the same thing happened at many events as seniors. Typically they did not meet during the Grand Prix and usually met during Grand Prix Finals and Worlds. They have competed at the same competitions from 2004-2011.

On occasions when they met, such as when both were training in Canada and when Yu-Na was in Japan for 2007 Worlds, the two were friendly and always respectful. While Yu-Na and Mao have complimented and credited the other for pushing each other even as they emphasized that they focused on their own skating, the complicated history of South Korea and Japan added another dimension to this rivalry for their followers in each country.

But simply on skating merits alone, these two skaters, with unique strengths and talents, competing against each other year after year, produced at times surprising results in a rivalry filled with twists, turns, and highlights. While Mao won their first competition head-to-head, she never won more than two events in a row before Yu-Na starting winning. They traded victories back and forth, but the longest streak would be when Yu-Na would win four of their head-to-head competitions in a row in record-breaking fashion (2009 Four Continents, 2009 Worlds, 2009 Trophee Eric Bompard, and the 2010 Olympics), capping it off with a brilliant Olympic performances for the ages and claiming the Olympic gold.

The 2010 Olympics marked the highest point of the rivalry in terms of the grandest stage, greatest stakes and the most pressure and build-up leading up to it, much like the 2002 Olympics had been for Alexei Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko as well as for Irina Slutskaya and Michelle Kwan. In Vancouver, Yu-Na won the Olympic gold, Mao Asada won the Olympic silver, repeating again the 1-2 order of competitions from years past for the first time on Olympic ice, and making a place for themselves and their rivalry in figure skating history.

* Totals listed above count the number of times Yu-Na or Mao placed ahead of the other.
( ) Parentheses count only the results where the placement was 1st.

• Longest win streak by Mao Asada: 2 (2004 JGPF/2005 Junior Worlds; 2008 Worlds and 2008 GPF)
  
• Longest win streak by Yu-Na: 4 (2009 Four Continents, 2009 Worlds, 2009 TEB, 2010 Olympics); 2nd longest: 2 (2006 Junior Worlds & 2006 GPF)