New President of Russian Figure Skating Federation Selected Today, Plus a Surprise

[Dodhiyel]

Today there was a meeting in Russia, for the purpose of choosing a new president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, the FFKR in Russian. There were three candidates from whom to choose. One, Oksana Grishchuk ("Oxana (Pasha) Grishuk"), was disallowed as a candidate, leaving Aleksandr Gorshkov and Anton Sikharulidze in the running. Anton removed himself as a candidate, because he was not happy with a new regulation that had been introduced. Then Aleksandr Gorshkov was declared the new president of the FFKR, replacing Valentin Piseyev ("Piseev").

It turns out that the new regulation was one which created the post of Director-General of the federation, and that post is to be filled by none other than---Valentin Piseyev!

I acquired this information from sports.ru. Some interviewed seemed pleased about Gorshkov becoming president, but now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, on the question of what will be the real powers of the new "Director-General".

http://www.sports.ru/others/figure-s.../71061319.html

That says Gorshkov became the new President of the FFKR. He is chairman of the technical committee of the ISU on ice dance.

http://www.sports.ru/others/figure-s.../71061754.html

That says that Piseyev is selected to be Director-General of the FFKR. It also says that at the election conference the vote was 65 to 1.

[colleen o'neill]

Oh, goody. I knew this needed it's own thread. I'm not surprised Anton would have preferred to be more than a figurehead.
So.Let's see if I've got this, so far :
Piseev -Director general, or general manager, new position,same powers as before.
Gorshkov - president ( someone on FSU reported that he says he'll be responsible for readying the team for Sochi ..I think they meant G, not P )..But can he retain his ISU post at the same time?If not..I joked about Alla Shekhovtsova moving over to this position (on the SLC thread), but according to posters on FSU, some in Russia are thinking this may be a real possibility ( who else might be in the running )
Shekhovtsova - Piseev's wife and head of judging for ISU..can't find her actual title, but she's at least very prominent. If she moved to Gorshkov's post , who would be looking to fill her shoes, from among the anonymous ?

I'm getting a headache.

[cloudkicker09]

Okay I think I understand what happened.

I have never been a fan of Russian Figure Skating, and politking of the Federation has always made me upset.

BUT ever since the creation of Khokolova and Andreev, I have found a reason to not only support Russian Ice dancing, but the first Russian team I am going to support since Gordeeva and Grinkov. So my primary concern with all of this, is how this is going to affect K/A's skating and if they are all going to support them, or throw them under a truck.

[colleen o'neill]

Rela-a-ax , cloudkicker. Breathe... Gorshkov was one of those who approved the tapes of their tryout..

[Mathman]

Is there any speculation about why they decisded re-name Piseev's title and create a new figurehead-type position like this?

[Olympia]

My suspicion--and this is just from years of watching general politics and human nature, not from any knowledge of the skating federation--is that they resented being told by the Russian government that heads had to roll after Russia's poor results at Vancouver. I'm sure all the sports federations were told to clean house. But the skating federation might have decided that they want to make their own choices. So they nominally "fired" Piseev, but he got to take his powers with him. At least, that's one possibility.

[colleen o'neill]

In any political situation those with more power and influence hope to maintain it and those with less want more.

Just from reading here and there..some report Gorshov will be in charge of the Russian team and Piseev will oversee development, Shekhovtsova wants a position on the technical committee..who knows yet ?

[Fashionista]

My suspicion--and this is just from years of watching general politics and human nature, not from any knowledge of the skating federation--is that they resented being told by the Russian government that heads had to roll after Russia's poor results at Vancouver. I'm sure all the sports federations were told to clean house. But the skating federation might have decided that they want to make their own choices. So they nominally "fired" Piseev, but he got to take his powers with him. At least, that's one possibility.

True.

[Mafke]

Meet the new boss.... same as the old boss.

(someone had to say it)

[Joesitz]

What exactly is the FFKR and what is its Terms of Reference?

How does is affect the Office of the President of the RF?

Is it an Overseer of All Russian Sports?

[Mafke]

What exactly is the FFKR and what is its Terms of Reference?

Unless I'm mistaken (and I don't think I am) FFKR would be the Russian initials of the Russian Figure Skating Federation.

F - Federation (of)
F - Figure
K - Skating (of)
R - Russia

I have some ide of the roots but don't know enough Russian to put it together grammatically, I'll let one of the resident Russian speakers do that.

[KKonas]

Meet the new boss.... same as the old boss.

(someone had to say it)

Unfortunately - yes. Gorshkov has always followed Piseev's direction, now it's official. If the ISU keeps Gorshkov as head of ISU Ice Dance Tech Committee and Alla S. becomes a member of the Dance Tech Committee, and Lakernik remains head of singles and pairs, we might as well rename the ISU, the RSU.

[janetfan]

Unfortunately - yes. Gorshkov has always followed Piseev's direction, now it's official. If the ISU keeps Gorshkov as head of ISU Ice Dance Tech Committee and Alla S. becomes a member of the Dance Tech Committee, and Lakernik remains head of singles and pairs, we might as well rename the ISU, the RSU.

Is this the same one who was OK with the exquisitely innovative "bungee chord" assisted dancing shown by D/S in Vancouver

But it is nice that someone reported the results of the vote - what was it, 69-1 in favor of Pisseev?

It is nice to see how much things have changed in the new Russia. In the former Soviet era the vote would have been much different, more like 70-0.

I am reminded of the song, "When Everything Old Is New Again."

[Joesitz]

My questions are not quite answered, and thank you Mafke for taking a stab at one of the. I'll try again:

1, What is the FFKR; what is its Terms of Reference; and now let me know if has existed before this election?

2. Is the Director General in charge of the President of the Russian FS?

3. Does it involve other Sports?

[Ptichka]

Oh Yikes! What can I say - they learn from the top figures - Putin could no longer remain president without changing the constitution, so he became the prime minister, with a weak Medvedev for a president. I mean, I knew nothing would really change, and I knew Piseev wouldn't just disappear - but the cynicism of this is just appalling!

Then again, there was some talk that no serious candidate would even want the job now, because they'll be blamed for poor results in Sochi no matter how you look at it (even under the best of circumstances, Russia won't win as many medals there as it thinks it should). So perhaps any real changes will just have to wait until after that. Sigh...

Now, the question is this - can ISU block Shekhovtseva? I actually think Russian ice dancing can have a big future; if she's the head of ice dancing technical committee, no one will ever take the Russians' good results seriously.