Why? It IS in the rule:Originally Posted by drivingmissdaisy
"The team will be selected from those athletes who are ISU senior age eligible. Selection to the U.S. Four Continents Team will be based upon the results of the two most recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the most recent World Championship, the most recent Four Continents Championship and all other international events; however, the International Committee may consider extenuating circumstances."
Last edited by Bluebonnet; 02-13-2012 at 10:50 PM.
Caroline definitely, Agnes could make an argument for.
i understand why she would be upset and USFSA should have been honest with her about why they didn't choose her. but i hope she sees the positive that it will help her prepare more for worlds and continue to let that injury heal. i hope it works out to her advantage.
Was Czisny upset? I didn't get this feeling. Like someone has said, I don't think Czisny needs 4CC. I think USFSA made right decision to push younger ladies forward.
Last edited by Bluebonnet; 02-14-2012 at 12:38 AM.
She has every right to be upset because in the end you skate for yourself moreso than for your country and she lost out on another opportunity to possibly look good internationally before Worlds and a good chunk of prize money. However, after the fact the federation clearly made the right choice. Caroline's next season would've been in jeopardy had she not been able to set this SB and push up her world ranking.
4CC was not much deal in the past but recently it is since the federations send their best skaters, this year it was almost as a mini Worlds but I think year by year this changes depending on where the competition is held and if it is an Olympic year or not. In 2010 they didnt send their best skaters, they sent the one who wouldnt go to Olympics. Nevertheless Mao went because it was held in Korea, not much travelling. I think it is a difficult competition due to travel time for some competitors. In Euros it is rare that they would skip the event even if it is before Olympics but I think it is due to the event being old and established and the time travel is little.
Maybe Alissa wanted to go this time cause it was in USA. I didnt understand why she was there though, she was an alternative?
Someone asked about ISU Prize money, I think they havent published a new communication since then.
Whats with all the attack on Alissa? All she said was that she was surprised and wanted to go.... read the whole article
Well Alissa has certainly ticked all the boxes, and apparently extenuating circumstances means no memo or explanations are needed. So why bother write the rule to begin with? Weird. Might as well make it simple."The team will be selected from those athletes who are ISU senior age eligible. Selection to the U.S. Four Continents Team will be based upon the results of the two most recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the most recent World Championship, the most recent Four Continents Championship and all other international events; however, the International Committee may consider extenuating circumstances."
Rule: We will let you know.
Well part of the rule too is that the committee is to attempt to secure as many slots in future GPs, 4CCs and Worlds for US skaters as possible. Sending more skaters to more events helps up the rankings of the skaters that participate. If I understand it correctly they only use the results for 4CC/Euros or Worlds in determining rankings and ranking then determine GP invitations.
And even looking at the rule as quoted above, it just says assignments will be based on the last 2 years of competition, but it doesn't say how. You could look at Alissa's last 2 seasons and say 'well she peaked at GPF 2010 and has been steadily loosing ground ever since' and Caroline's and say 'hmmm....this girl is on an up swing'. Personally I'm glad there is discretion in team selection process. It will sometimes seem unfair, and some decisions will be wrong (re: Dornbush), but I prefer it to a straight forward ranking or point system for selection.
"Extenuate: To lessen the magnitude or seriousness of, especially by providing partial excuses."
In this case the USFSA lessoned the seriousness of their list of competitive results that would guide their decision. The "partial excuses" were what Ivy said -- they want to give other skaters more international exposure, etc. Such considerations are not mentioned in the section on selecting the team for Four Continents. It is rather taken from the International Committee's mission statement.
When the USFSA calls me for my input, I will advise them to change the part about "extenuating circumstances" (really, this is a legal term that means, "yes, I committed a crime but I have an excuse") -- change this to something like, "the committee will also consider other factors consistent with its mission statement."
This basically says what os168 recommends: "Don't call us, we'll call you." But it takes away the appearance of untruthfulness that is now lapping at the heels of the federation chiefs.
JMO.
"extenuating circumstances": I didn't skate at Nationals because I was sick/injured, but I have been dominant at every event for the last XXX years and deserve my spot at Worlds/4CC/Olympics. See: Michelle Kwan, Todd Eldredge, Nancy Kerrigan, Belbin and Agosto.
Agree!! Plus, it was in response to being asked the question, not something she volunteered or made a point of saying. Seriously, if she said something about being okay with not going/not needing or wanting to go, however well or nicely she put it, someone would probably find a way to construe that as Alissa not having fire in the belly or not wanting to compete or something else negative.
Exactly. The "crime" that these skaters committed was skipping nationals. The "excuse" (extenuating circumstance) was they were injured.
There is no notion of an "extenuating circumstance" at play here, in any ordinary sense of the term.
And Katy won her senior ISU debut with this competition. Something very few skaters manage to do.
Elizaveta just did, right?
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