ISU threatens Rochette with loss of eligibility | Page 2 | Golden Skate

ISU threatens Rochette with loss of eligibility

fairly4

Medalist
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
i thought i read in a figure skating magazine ( i think IFS that came out in January issue) that any eligible skater that skated on the show _Thin Ice would be a pro-why they rules and competition didn't meet eligilbe standards for competition in otherwords 6 men, 6 women, 6 pairs, 6 dance teams.
they have what a total of 6 or 8 skaters competing.
if they allow joannie to skate in the show they would have to allow all the pro skaters older and younger to be eligible to skate.
this is After the ISU closed the door on Pro skaters competing.
 

yunasashafan

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
i thought i read in a figure skating magazine ( i think IFS that came out in January issue) that any eligible skater that skated on the show _Thin Ice would be a pro-why they rules and competition didn't meet eligilbe standards for competition in otherwords 6 men, 6 women, 6 pairs, 6 dance teams.
they have what a total of 6 or 8 skaters competing.
if they allow joannie to skate in the show they would have to allow all the pro skaters older and younger to be eligible to skate.
this is After the ISU closed the door on Pro skaters competing.

Joannie is not competing in the show! She was doing an exhibition!!
 

Dodhiyel

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
IIRC, the rule used to be that a skater lost eligibility if they competed in an unsanctioned competition. Joannie is not competing, only skating an exhibition. The ISU is behaving tyranically, which is nothing new. When there was an attempt to form a rival global figure skating organization, the one to which Joe refers in this thread, it was quashed by the ISU threatening to ban any ISU member who became a member of the new group, from all ISU events. That would have meant career suicide for the skaters, so the effort to form a new group fell apart. Basically, the ISU is apparently a completely self-serving organization devoid of any moral compass. But that's not news.

ETA: Searched the Net to find the exact title of the new organization that sank beneath the waves. The Net seemed mostly scrubbed, but I found one article that gives the title (WSF = World Skating Federation) and a lot of information, except I think it leaves out the ISU threats that were available online at the time. It was not only skaters that were to be banned, as I recall, it was judges, etc. After that, people back-pedaled like crazy to save their jobs. The federations fell into line, and it got very quiet. I always wondered why no one sued the ISU for Restraint of Trade.
 
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janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
IIRC, the rule used to be that a skater lost eligibility if they competed in an unsanctioned competition. Joannie is not competing, only skating an exhibition. The ISU is behaving tyranically, which is nothing new. When there was an attempt to form a rival global figure skating organization, the one to which Joe refers in this thread, it was quashed by the ISU threatening to ban any ISU member who became a member of the new group, from all ISU events. That would have meant career suicide for the skaters, so the effort to form a new group fell apart. Basically, the ISU is apparently a completely self-serving organization devoid of any moral compass. But that's not news.

Perhaps Speedy is hoping for a payoff from ABC - but knowing that ABC is from the same corporation as ESPN I doubt if they would fall for his "negociating style."

Sure, ABC could easily send Speedy/ISU some money to smooth this over - but why should they?

Maybe it is all a misunderstanding and Joannie will be allowed to skate an exhibition without losing her eligibilty. Whether Joannie chooses to continue competing or not should be her decision and not determined by a pathetic attempt by ISU to maintain such dictatorial control over skaters.

My gosh, the stupidity and greed of Speedy/ISU is astonishing and mind boggling!
Thinking back to their attempt to try and force Yuna to compete at 4CC a month before the Olympics just demonstrates ISU's total disdain for the skaters.

I wish Plushy, Lambiel, Johnny, etc would join forces and start a new Pro circuit just so ISU would not have a monopoly and so much power over what skaters can do.

It seems to have escaped ISU that having a strong and viable Pro circuit used to be good for skating. It kept skating in the public eye and probably helped increase the public's interest in ISU events and figure skating in general.

I hope no matter what that Joannie skates her exhibition and then takes her time deciding about her future. If she decides to continue competing I can't wait to see Speedy and ISU try and stop her. Joannie may be Canada's "daughter" but I believe she has earned the respect of skating fans across around the world.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
perhaps speedy is hoping for a payoff from abc - but knowing that abc is from the same corporation as espn i doubt if they would fall for his "negociating style."

sure, abc could easily send speedy/isu some money to smooth this over - but why should they?

Maybe it is all a misunderstanding and joannie will be allowed to skate an exhibition without losing her eligibilty. Whether joannie chooses to continue competing or not should be her decision and not determined by a pathetic attempt by isu to maintain such dictatorial control over skaters.

My gosh, the stupidity and greed of speedy/isu is astonishing and mind boggling!
Thinking back to their attempt to try and force yuna to compete at 4cc a month before the olympics just demonstrates isu's total disdain for the skaters.

I wish plushy, lambiel, johnny, etc would join forces and start a new pro circuit just so isu would not have a monopoly and so much power over what skaters can do.

It seems to have escaped isu that having a strong and viable pro circuit used to be good for skating. It kept skating in the public eye and probably helped increase the public's interest in isu events and figure skating in general.

I hope no matter what that joannie skates her exhibition and then takes her time deciding about her future. If she decides to continue competing i can't wait to see speedy and isu try and stop her. Joannie may be canada's "daughter" but i believe she has earned the respect of skating fans across the world.

ita!
 

Dodhiyel

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
.... Joannie may be Canada's "daughter" but I believe she has earned the respect of skating fans across around the world.

Amen to that.

I have found more information about the ISU vs. WSF on the Net, although not under the name of the WSF itself ;). For those who are historically interested, here are some URLs, not listed in the order of importance, but quite interesting.

http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-164742-181960-87292-0-file,00.pdf

http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/articles/lakernik-letter.shtml

http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/archive/features/skyisfalling.htm

www.skatefair.org/documents/pfenning_lakernik.pdf

http://isuskating.lg1x1.simplecdn.n...11040,4844-176080-193298-107413-0-file,00.pdf
 

colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
:disapp:The ISU is so totally crass , not to mention despotic , irrational, etc.,etc.

Like others, I had assumed that since Joannie wasn't actually competing, she would be OK. As I said on another thread , I was always doubtful that she would be in any condition to compete at World's, but an exhibition skate is a far less taxing matter, and it's not as if it conflicted with Worlds..

They seem to be completely tone deaf to the things they say and do that make their own sport appear in a bad light. They don't enforce their own rules within their own competitions ( # of competitors, inappropriate costumes, music..and on , and on ) but want to have control over what a skater does outside of competition altogether. It's all too bizarre. I can understand them not wanting eligible skaters to compete in outside competitions ..but an exhibition skate?
 

Wicked

Final Flight
Joined
May 26, 2009
I thought the rule was that a skater could not retain eligibility if s/he skated in a non ISU sanctioned show. Not competed, but skated. And I thought that shows were sanctioned because they gave the ISU a piece of the pie.
 

hrmsk8ngnutt

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
The ISU is being so utterly ridiculous in this case. They think they can go around being a big bully. But in the case of Yu-Na not competing at Four Continents, exactly what have they done to punish her or the Korean figure skating associattion? I don't think they've done anything. And in the case of Joannie, she has just officially announced her withdrawal from Worlds - which I am not surprised at. Even though a few weeks ago she said she had to get ready I really did not think under the circumstances she would. And if she is just skating an exhibition, what is the harm? Yes, I know there are rules - but in this extraoridinary case there should be an exception (just MOHO).
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Yes, I know there are rules

Yeah, just like there are rules about how many teams a federation can send to jr worlds. Fat lot of good that did.

The issue here is money, plain and simple. Shows that make payoffs to the ISU can have eligible skaters, ones that don't can't.
 

fairly4

Medalist
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
it seems that the article stated that because the show Thin Ice didn't follow the rules for Isu--it would Invite Only Pro Skaters to the show
 

colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
:) yeah, it definitely looks like "rules" = money in this case.

Joannie seems to have gotten caught between the greed of the ISU and the greed of ABC.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
IIRC, the rule used to be that a skater lost eligibility if they competed in an unsanctioned competition. Joannie is not competing, only skating an exhibition. The ISU is behaving tyranically, which is nothing new. When there was an attempt to form a rival global figure skating organization, the one to which Joe refers in this thread, it was quashed by the ISU threatening to ban any ISU member who became a member of the new group, from all ISU events. That would have meant career suicide for the skaters, so the effort to form a new group fell apart. Basically, the ISU is apparently a completely self-serving organization devoid of any moral compass. But that's not news.

ETA: Searched the Net to find the exact title of the new organization that sank beneath the waves. The Net seemed mostly scrubbed, but I found one article that gives the title (WSF = World Skating Federation) and a lot of information, except I think it leaves out the ISU threats that were available online at the time. It was not only skaters that were to be banned, as I recall, it was judges, etc. After that, people back-pedaled like crazy to save their jobs. The federations fell into line, and it got very quiet. I always wondered why no one sued the ISU for Restraint of Trade.
Thanks Dodhiyel for getting name WSF when I was saying WSO. Just couldn't remember. It was an exciting time in DC 2003 when the strike took place outside the arena while the fans inside were booing Cinquanta, and that toe tapping judge. It was a hoot.

Every year, new and young skating fans come about and are clueless as to what roles the Feds and the ISU are up to as long as they have their 'artistry'. It really is difficult to mobolize the fans. It's sad that the ISU is more interested in disciplining figure skaters than they are disciplining cheating judges.

Janetfan brought up the possible money angle which could be a factor in a payoff by ABC to allow the ISU and Joannie to have the competion and show go forward.

I wonder what the budgets are for the Feds and ISU? and the perks?

I would not have any qualms about 2 Figure Skating Orgs running different championships and have a grand contest at the end of season.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
IIRC, the rule used to be that a skater lost eligibility if they competed in an unsanctioned competition. Joannie is not competing, only skating an exhibition. The ISU is behaving tyranically, which is nothing new. When there was an attempt to form a rival global figure skating organization, the one to which Joe refers in this thread, it was quashed by the ISU threatening to ban any ISU member who became a member of the new group, from all ISU events. That would have meant career suicide for the skaters, so the effort to form a new group fell apart. Basically, the ISU is apparently a completely self-serving organization devoid of any moral compass. But that's not news.

ETA: Searched the Net to find the exact title of the new organization that sank beneath the waves. The Net seemed mostly scrubbed, but I found one article that gives the title (WSF = World Skating Federation) and a lot of information, except I think it leaves out the ISU threats that were available online at the time. It was not only skaters that were to be banned, as I recall, it was judges, etc. After that, people back-pedaled like crazy to save their jobs. The federations fell into line, and it got very quiet. I always wondered why no one sued the ISU for Restraint of Trade.

Unless I'm mistaken, sports organizations (like sports leagues, etc.) are exempt from antitrust.
 

sk8rdad

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Skate Canada not the ISU is responsible for providing a sanction to allow Joannie to skate in "Thin Ice". The event is not an ISU sanctioned event (not suprising as it is a TV show using primarily pro skaters). It is the TV shows responsibility to apply for the sanction not the skaters. The ISU representative clearly stated it was Skate Canada's decision (as per the ISU's rules), he also added that he did not personally know why Skate Canada had not provided a sanction. There is no indication of the ISU pressuring Skate Canada other than Mr. Hersh's conspiracy theory speculation.
 

Dodhiyel

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Thanks, Toni, Nadia, Joe, and sk8rdad for the additional information. :)

Sk8rdad, it looks like there was a "clerical error" by Skate Canada, then. I think that the ISU is already cognizant of how easy it is to make a "clerical error", as they themselves have stated that they made one recently regarding the number of skaters allowed in an event from a given country. They therefore have ample cause to forgive this other "clerical error", made by Skate Canada, is it not so?

If they made an exception in this case, by giving a sanction to the show now, then everyone could be happy. Joannie could do a memorial skate for her mother, without losing her eligibility, and the ISU could look less like a villain in a 19th century play, throwing out the widow and orphan into the storm. Unless, of course, the ISU *wants* to look that way. Maybe they do. We'll see.
 

sk8rdad

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Thanks, Toni, Nadia, Joe, and sk8rdad for the additional information. :)

Sk8rdad, it looks like there was a "clerical error" by Skate Canada, then. I think that the ISU is already cognizant of how easy it is to make a "clerical error", as they themselves have stated that they made one recently regarding the number of skaters allowed in an event from a given country. They therefore have ample cause to forgive this other "clerical error", made by Skate Canada, is it not so?

If they made an exception in this case, by giving a sanction to the show now, then everyone could be happy. Joannie could do a memorial skate for her mother, without losing her eligibility, and the ISU could look less like a villain in a 19th century play, throwing out the widow and orphan into the storm. Unless, of course, the ISU *wants* to look that way. Maybe they do. We'll see.

Quotes from William Thompson CEO of Skate Canada reported today that indeed the ISU has objected to Rochette performing on "Thin Ice". With a now legitimate source confirming this I will happily berate the ISU for poor behaviour in this particular case. There is a big difference between a skater being prepared to compete two full programs at a competition and skating an exhibition performance.

While I don't think the ISU needs to sanction the TV event they do need to lighten up on threatening their members. Skate Canada should be allowed to make the decision and the ISU should graciously accept Skate Canada's decision.
 

margiemo

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
The ISU has granted permission for Joannie to skate and Skate Canada has also given the green light.It was announced today.
 
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