Agnes Zawadzki was BORN IN POLAND!
And then of course there's Misha Ge. I had to look him up because he's a walking, talking United Nations: part Russian, part Chinese, part Korean, lived all over the place including the U.S. This is a guy who should consider skating for Korea, not Russia
what's the case for Elizaveta Tursynbaeva's funding/training? She's Kazakh and I've read on here and other places that she does plan to represent Kazakhstan on the JGP/internationally next season. This season she's competed at Russian junior nationals and at the domestic Russia Cup events. Will her funding/training change next season?
^ That must be the most closely guarded secret since President Obama was born in Timbuktu.
Is Pogorilaya a Russian last name? It sounds sort of exotic, and despite her blonde hair I was noticing Anna does have a darker skin complexion compared to most of her Russian teammates. I wonder if her father is Armenian...Pogosyan is a common Armenian surname and sounds rather similar.
And then of course there's Misha Ge. I had to look him up because he's a walking, talking United Nations: part Russian, part Chinese, part Korean, lived all over the place including the U.S. This is a guy who should consider skating for Korea, not Russia
Ge skates for Uzbekistan, not for Russia.
Ashley Wagner, on the other hand was born in Germany.
Samantha Cesario - Italy once Kostner retires
For example, do any of the skaters from St. Pertersburg by any chance have an Estonian or Finnish grandparent? I don’t know too much about the demographic make-up of St. Petersburg, but due to the location of the city, I would expect it to have quite sizable communities from Finland or the Baltic States.
It would be good for Australia, too.
Finnish people seldom go to Russia even for a vacation.
Also wonder about Yasmin and Armin skating for Iran. Have there ever been any Iranian skaters before? That would be cool, and they are both so quality, but not likely to go too far in the US.
Iran is not a member of the ISU. I don't know that they have any ice rinks.
In the 1970s I had a skating friend (in the US) whose father was from Iran and she used to joke about representing Iran. That was in the days of the Shah, before Islamic Revolution, so culturally it would have been more plausible then than now.
I just did a search for "figure skating Iran" and came up with a few links about inline (roller) figure skating including videos and also a couple of sites that mentioned or focused on Yasmin Siraj.
If inline figure skating is an option, then conceivably figure skating on ice could also be possible if the ice were available and the formation of a skating federation. But I don't expect that to happen within the careers of current senior-level competitors.
Also wonder about Yasmin and Armin skating for Iran. Have there ever been any Iranian skaters before? That would be cool, and they are both so quality, but not likely to go too far in the US.
The issue of women's participation
Wojdan Shaherkani, first female competitor from Saudi Arabia to compete at any Olympics in any event, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in Judo
By Saudi Arabian law, women were, until recently, not permitted to compete in the Olympic Games.[1] However, following the International Olympic Committee pressuring the Saudi Olympic Committee to send female athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics, in June 2012 the Saudi Embassy in London announced this had been agreed.[2][3]
There were calls for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Olympics until it permitted women to compete—notably from Anita DeFrantz, chair of the International Olympic Committee's Women and Sports Commission, in 2010.[4] In 2008, Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the International Olympic Committee charter. Stating that gender discrimination should be no more acceptable than racial discrimination, he noted: "For the last 15 years, many international nongovernmental organizations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. [...] While [its] efforts did result in increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion."[5]
Dalma Rushdi Malhas competed at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal in equestrian (see Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics).
Saudi Arabia agreed on July 12, 2012, to send two women to compete in the 2012 Olympic games in London, England. The two female athletes are Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in judo and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.[6] Prior to June 2012, Saudi Arabia had banned female athletes from competing at the Olympics.[7] Every country competing at the London Games will include female athletes for the first time in Olympic history.[8]
Agnes Zawadzki was BORN IN POLAND!
LOL, there is no sizable Finnish communities in St.Petersburg, if any community at all. Finnish people seldom go to Russia even for a vacation. Although it is physically close, in every other aspect it's very far away.