ISU World Team Trophy, April 2012, Tokyo

[sky_fly20]

Yeah but in reality who would they replace Gachinski and Voronov with?

Plushenko is recovering from surgery.
Menshov, Grigoriev, and Dmitriev have been a mess this season. And Menshov is schedule for a Senior B that week.
I guess they could have sent Bariev, but he's just as inconsistent.
Gorshkov doesn't have a 3axel, and Kovalev doesn't have much senior experience either.

And that's your top 10 at nationals. Kovtun finished outside the top 10 but was 3rd at Junior nationals. Maybe they want him to get more experience???

thank you for reminding, watching those list in russian men's figure skaters other than Zhenya
they need new blood, in fairness, Kovtun did have a meltdown at senior nationals falling on his quads and 3A so that's why he wasn't in top 10

maybe they are investing in Kovtun now after regretting putting Dimitriev Jr. over Kovtun at Junior Worlds, lol

[SkateFiguring]

The basic idea, simple and clear, is for the federations to send their best skaters, however they are ranked in the world, not saving them for the individuals' events.

[Mathman]

The basic idea, simple and clear, is for the federations to send their best skaters, however they are ranked in the world, not saving them for the individuals' events.

This. The top two or three, though, may have the luxury of having a short program specialist. Like back in the day the USA could have sent Sasha for the short program and Michelle for the long.

[gmyers]

Now it is likely that both Russia mens entries will come in last and 2nd to last! That's like no points at all and Russia is not going to be anywhere near even third place!!

[DobrinFan]

I think the Italian #2 will come in last just looking at his scores from Euros. Zhan and Maxim can beat his scores with decent skates. However I don't think they will rank too high as they are inconsistent with their quads and triple axels, and I don't think their PCS are that strong either. Plus this will be Maxim 2nd time this season skating to a senior long program. So yeah, I think maybe 10th and 11th with the Italian 12th

They really had no one else to send besides perhaps Menshov and maybe Bariev.

[gmyers]

All the way back in October at Finlandia Bush beat Bacchini by 6 points. That's not very good to beat Bacchini by. Maybe Kovtun could do better but Bush was better than Kovtun when they competed together.

[chuckm]

Mervin said he will decide rather he will take Japan citizenship and give up his Canadian citizenship this summer after WTT, So they may barely have a pair team just in time for Sochi. I hope the JSF doesn't put to much pressure on him to do it though.

I understood that it takes YEARS to obtain Japanese citizenship because among other things (including a 5 years+ residency requirement) a candidate has to be able to speak and write Japanese fluently. That is not something that can be accomplished in less than two years. Mervin's ancestry is southeast Asian (Vietnam and Cambodia), not Japanese. And the team trains in Canada.

[Becki]

I understood that it takes YEARS to obtain Japanese citizenship because among other things (including a 5 years+ residency requirement) a candidate has to be able to speak and write Japanese fluently. That is not something that can be accomplished in less than two years. Mervin's ancestry is southeast Asian (Vietnam and Cambodia), not Japanese. And the team trains in Canada.

He doesn't even speak Japanese...let alone fluently. Unless the JFS has the authority to 'convince' the government to grant him special citizenship (which I doubt they do), then Mervin has almost no chance of obtaining Japanese citizenship.

[romanoff81]

they can switch federations and skate for Canada, Mervin is canadian and his partner has already been living in Canada for 5 years the coaching team is canadian as well.

[Becki]

they can switch federations and skate for Canada, Mervin is canadian and his partner has already been living in Canada for 5 years the coaching team is canadian as well.

I always wondered why they didn't do that in the first place. It's sort of too late now to switch federations if they are aiming for the Sochi Olympics 'cause they'll have to sit out for one season + Narumi would have to get Canadian citizenship by Jan 2014.

[DobrinFan]

I thought I read somewhere that they skate for Japan because Narumi didn't want to give up her Japanese citizenship. I heard it's really hard to get it back once you give it up.

[Becki]

I thought I read somewhere that they skate for Japan because Narumi didn't want to give up her Japanese citizenship. I heard it's really hard to get it back once you give it up.

But wouldn't that be the same for Mervin? It's really hard to acquire Japanese citizenship.

[DobrinFan]

But wouldn't that be the same for Mervin? It's really hard to acquire Japanese citizenship.

I don't think they were ever intending on him getting it because the logical choice would be to skate for Canada and for her to gain Canadian citizenship since it's really hard to get Japanese citizenship. But if she doesn't want to give up her Japanese citizenship then it's a moot point. He's not going to get Japanese citizenship, she's not going to get Canadian unless she wants it. So why not skate for Japan, they have no competition there. They get to go to all the major competitions minus the Olympics.

[gmyers]

Japan makes it so hard for outsiders to get citizenship- they were always hostile to outsiders

[DobrinFan]

Japan makes it so hard for outsiders to get citizenship- they were always hostile to outsiders

Yes, I heard about Koreans living there for generations and still not being able to get citizenship. Don't know if that relationship between the Japanese and Koreans is still hostile though. So I know it's going to be hard [impossible] for Mervin to get citizenship since he has no blood relation to Japan, he's not living there, and can't speak and read Japanese fluently.