Russia requests two Olympic spots for Men regardless of Worlds outcome | Page 6 | Golden Skate

Russia requests two Olympic spots for Men regardless of Worlds outcome

bigsisjiejie

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
I imagine that they are envisioning something like the gymnastics team event in the Summer Olympics, where the team event is the qualifier for all around events and for apparatus finals. The team event is something they wanted specifically for Olympics, so I suspect that has something to do with it.

And it may be the IOC that is setting the Olympic schedule & calling the tune here.

I don't believe for a second that the IOC is behind a push for a team figure skating event, at least not as a whole although there might be a few members in there who were highly supportive. While the IOC members must vote on all proposals from the various sports for new events or new disciplines, the origin of the proposal and the push must come from the governing body for the sport. And in this case, that would be the ISU (Speedy in particular). Many of the voting members of the ISU are from countries that have little or no participation in the ISU or the sport of figure skating. They wouldn't necessarily care one way or another about having a FS Team event....though behind the scenes, there might be ways of persuading them to vote for or against.

I'm not excited about this new Team Competition at all. In fact, I'm dismayed by the way it's being set up in terms of timing and requirements for participation. I think it definitely puts a singles contender at risk. What happens if a skater has a fall/injury during their program during the Team competition and either has to withdraw, or skate injured in their singles competition? As seen by what happened to Wagner at the GPF a few days ago, it's possible. And nobody has yet answered a hypothetical question of mine: what happens if a country's federation decides they do not wish to field a team for the team competition even if eligible to do so? Will the ISU then disqualify all of that Federation's athletes from participating in the regular singles/pairs/dance competition? All it would take is any two of the major feds (= any that have strong players in at least 3 disciplines) to say "Hell no we won't do Team comp" and then the ISU has an interesting problem on its hands.
 
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ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Any country that qualifies for the team event that doesn't qualify a skater in the individual discipline is able to field one contender in the team event.
 

starryxskies

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
I wonder if any of the federations are having the same thoughts as us. They better get their complaints in that door fast. Collectively, they can definitely change this.
 

wallylutz

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Speedy himself sits on the IOC with Jacques Rogge, so yes, the ISU has been lobbying for a Team Event for a long time but that's also because Speedy is part of the IOC as well.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
What I was thinking is that Speedy had the desire for this event, but its structure was probably set by how the IOC agreed to have it done.

Yes, the team event in gymnastics is more than a qualifier, because team medals are given, but it indeed also is the process by which gymnasts are selected for the all around and the event finals.

That's why in gymnastics, the team comp has to go first.

I'm wondering if that skating event is first because a later twist will be that it has qualifier features, because the more smart way to set this up is to have the SP & LP combined scores pick which skaters are to appear in the team event.

But that's not what is being done.
 

starryxskies

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 2, 2012
I'm wondering if that skating event is first because a later twist will be that it has qualifier features, because the more smart way to set this up is to have the SP & LP combined scores pick which skaters are to appear in the team event.

But that's not what is being done.

Oh this is so much better. Send your idea to the ISU!!! (I'm serious)
Makes complete sense. And then give a ~week rest before continuing on with the team event. Figure skating is the second most popular event after hockey and the longer they can drag this out, the better. I always thought figure skating ends too soon anyway.
I can't shake my head enough about having the team event be completed within 3 days, and then giving only 1 day worth of rest before the singles/pairs events start. It just doesn't make sense at any angle.
 
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