Entry Lists/Predictions

[oleada]

I agree, bigisjiejie. I have no doubt that the Chinese federation knows exactly the date its skaters were born on. It's one thing to be confused about ages in a personal context, but this is a big, powerful, experienced federation with many high level athletes and I have no doubt they know the rules.

I'm willing to believe entering Kexin Zhang and maybe even the 3 pairs entries were errors on behalf of both the Chinese federation and the ISU, but submitting fake ages for figure skaters, as it is currently rumored, is blatant cheating and needs to be addressed and stopped.

[bigsisjiejie]

There's no information on the "reason". In fact, Reeds didn't compete at 4CC in past two seasons. Maybe they just don't want long trips to Asia. For the JSF and the Japanese Olympic Committee, Asian Winter Games is more important. Reeds could turn down 4CC assignment in return for going to Kazakhstan. The lack of domestic competitions is making a good excuse for them. I hope some new teams to pose challenges to them.

This plus what Dorispulaski said previously makes sense on why they skipped 4CC. I understand that lack of suitable high-level coaching in Japan is an issue, but I'd love to see the Japanese find a way to encourage ice dancing and build up a few international caliber teams first at junior and senior levels. Even if it meant sending them abroad for awhile, or funding a training facility in Japan and setting up some top foreign coaches. Language barriers can be dealt with. There's got to be some talent out there somewhere...

[colleen o'neill]

Why Japan has not gone more seriously into ice dance has been a mystery to me for some time..The problem in pairs ( difficulty in finding hefty enough men) I can sort of see, but ice dance ,one would think , should not be as problematic. They've had no reservations about sending other athletes abroad , so ... I don't get it.

[dorispulaski]

Witness the success of the Shibutanis. Surely there is a brother/sister team in Japan that can skate together?

At this point, the JSF has missed the opportunity to recruit the Shibs to skate for Japan, too. Their bad.

[CARA]

Let's hope the Reeds and the Shibs' success inspire young Japanese skaters.

For as far as I know, the Shibs are very popular in Japan.

[Sylvia]

I've been told that the ISU is aware of Kexin ZHANG's birthdate situation and are in touch with the Chinese federation about it.

Kexin Zhang's name was removed from the Four Continents roster yesterday (Feb. 9). Since China didn't list any ladies' alternates, she will not be replaced.

[SkateFiguring]

As an aside to the last comment from the quoted poster RE drug use: not in figure skating, but clearly, you haven't seen the Chinese lady weightlifters. Would give the mighty "ladies" of old East Germany a run for their money. That's for a different forum however....

There are enough of very high profile drug uses and proven Olympic cheats from finger pointing nations. I don't want to get into these or make this more political than it is already. Sometimes people forget they live in glass houses.

For interest, while Western Calendar has numbered years and named months, the Chinese calendar has named years and numbered months. The years' names are derived from ancient word sequences that modern and uneducated Chinese are unfamiliar with so these names are just to be memorized.

Also for interest, in the West, a birthday is supposed to mark the day someone has fully lived another year, to be added to his/her age. But it is really the day before the birth anniversay that marks such an event. A person does not turn 21 on his 21st birthday; he did it the day before. He is in his 22nd year on the 21st birthday. Anyway, I'm not accusing anybody of lying on their birthdays.

Japan and China seem to produce top skaters in different fields. While Japan dominates in Singles, China has been the strongest in Pairs and now seems to have some Dancers appearing near the top as well. It may have more to do with coaching. While the Chinese figure skating pioneer is World Champion Lu Chen, it's the determination of a pair skater without high personal achievements who caltivated the high level of pair skating in China.

OTOH, the Japanese have been riding the waves of their initial and current superstars in Singles. I seriously doubt finding hefty men for Pairs is a problem for Japan, even though the curent top Japanese Men are relatively small. It's up to the Japanese Federation to set its priorities. Different nations just have different emphasis. The Americans, e.g., are most interested in their Ladies.

It is interesting there are so many brother/sister teams in Dance which often involve romantic programs but no such pair teams, due, no doubt, to siblings usually having similar sizes, lacking the discrepency advantageous for pairs. However, sibling teams do have the advantages of more stable relationships, easier scheduling, and a more reliable size expectation when young.

The current top Japanese pair includes a Canadian, Tran, so something has to be resolved for the next Olympic. Japanese don't give up their citizenships easily, which says a lot about the ambition and detemination of Kavaguti, whom Japan lost to Russia.

[npa]

Witness the success of the Shibutanis. Surely there is a brother/sister team in Japan that can skate together?

At this point, the JSF has missed the opportunity to recruit the Shibs to skate for Japan, too. Their bad.

Why they need to skate for Japan? They will beat D-W next season and become number 1 team in USA

[blue_idealist]

Why they need to skate for Japan? They will beat D-W next season and become number 1 team in USA

I don't think so!

[npa]

I don't think so!

And how do you think?

[bsfan]

As a Chinese myself I don't see any reason that these skaters' parents could have messed their birthdays with western calendar. These skaters were born in late 80's and 90's. It's highly unlikely that their parents( born after 1950 I would assum) were still counting Lunar in 80's and 90's. Plus, if one was born in 1995, nobody would say she was born in Lunar 1995, rather they would say Lunar pig year. Lunar year is associated with animal signs, not western calender number. For example, when a child was born on Feb 2 2011(last day of Tiger year), she would be 2 years old on 2/3( first day of Rabbit year). We all know it means chinese age. Nobody considers the birthday as 2/2/2009. If grandma's generation would mess up the year, they won't mess up the animal sign. They always know the baby was born in Tiger year.

Furthermore, figure skating is expensive in china anyway. These skaters are not from humble families if not rich families. All in all, I don't believe these dates inconsistency is accidental.

[CARA]

I'm willing to believe entering Kexin Zhang and maybe even the 3 pairs entries were errors on behalf of both the Chinese federation and the ISU, but submitting fake ages for figure skaters, as it is currently rumored, is blatant cheating and needs to be addressed and stopped.

You know what they say, "once is a mistake, twice is a pattern, and the thrice is a trend."

[CARA]

Kexin Zhang's name was removed from the Four Continents roster yesterday (Feb. 9). Since China didn't list any ladies' alternates, she will not be replaced.

While I am happy that Kexin Zhang's situation is resolved, I feel dimsayed with the Chinese federation's dereliction of its duty - not listing any ladies' anlternates, thereby denying an additional promising Chinese skater of invaluable experience and international exposure.

Let's hope that the Chinese federation learned a proper lesson as we can continue to speak up against rule bleaches.

[blue_idealist]

And how do you think?

The Shibutanis are good and their scores may get closer to Davis and White's but they will not be in a position to beat them by next season. That's too fast. Also they may never beat Davis and White. Just because Davis and White hopped over Belbin and Agosto doesn't mean the next team's going to hop over them.

[NorthernDancers]

And let's not forget about Samuelson and Bates. I really hope to see them back next year, and they could absolutely take 2nd spot. Shibutani's are really good, but they donot yet have the depth and maturity to be the top team quite yet.