- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
But if the Grand Prix became a determinant for going to Worlds, especially if it became the primary or sole determinant (with federations not allowed to send national champions to Worlds if they hadn't already participated in the GP), I would darn well hope that the ISU would expand the Grand Prix to make it even grander and allow more participants.
I was writing more from the point of view of, what are the options of the USFSA within the current ISU rules.
As I understand the current ISU rules, there aren't any. A country can send the national federation president's cat if they want to, unless the cat fails the drug test or something.
But the USFSA could, if they wished, unilaterally decide to take grand Prix results into account in some way, like some other federations do.
I do not advocate this. For one thing, it opens too many Pandora's boxes. (Trivia question -- what was the last thing that came out of Pandora's box? Answer: hope. ) For another, whatever might be gained in terms of extra interest in the US in the Grand Prix, would be lost in the diminished importance of Nationals.
But I do think that Joe makes a solid point. The way it is now, the US world team is determined solely on the basis of a competition which pits a skater against other Americans. It wouldn't be a bad thing if a way could be found also to take into account how that skater fared against international competition.