- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
this is disgusting to say the least.... mirai has international experience in the olympics vs edmunds. it's all about politics!
U.S. 2014 Olympic Team announcement (A) Press conferences & (B) Google+ Hangout
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- May 4, 2013
could I ask for a favor?
Would anyone who saw the Press Conference be so kind and give us a little play-by-play of what happened?
That would be nice! Thanks!
Were there eager cameramen hunting Mirai Nagasu down like they did with Kozuka and Oda at the JN?
hwell:
Would anyone who saw the Press Conference be so kind and give us a little play-by-play of what happened?
That would be nice! Thanks!
Were there eager cameramen hunting Mirai Nagasu down like they did with Kozuka and Oda at the JN?
hwell:I am devastated for Mirai.
The USFSA gave criteria lists for their selection, the GP being the top criteria. Mirai medalled on the GP this year yet they choose Polina, who has skated one standout comp and never competed as a senior internationally. Seems like they followed their criterria to choose the pairs team (by omitting c/d) but didn't for the ladies.
One of the journalists asked the president of the USFA who broke the news to Mirai and she said she didnt know. Yeah right. What a cop out. She's head of the whole organisation.
The USFSA gave criteria lists for their selection, the GP being the top criteria. Mirai medalled on the GP this year yet they choose Polina, who has skated one standout comp and never competed as a senior internationally. Seems like they followed their criterria to choose the pairs team (by omitting c/d) but didn't for the ladies.
One of the journalists asked the president of the USFA who broke the news to Mirai and she said she didnt know. Yeah right. What a cop out. She's head of the whole organisation.
- Joined
- May 4, 2013
strike that, there are vids online!
https://www.youtube.com/user/diodio0013plus/videos
(sorry, I tried to "strike that" sooner, but the site was frozen...)
https://www.youtube.com/user/diodio0013plus/videos
(sorry, I tried to "strike that" sooner, but the site was frozen...)
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2010
could I ask for a favor?
Would anyone who saw the Press Conference be so kind and give us a little play-by-play of what happened?
That would be nice! Thanks!
Were there eager cameramen hunting Mirai Nagasu down like they did with Kozuka and Oda at the JN?
First they explained how they'd bring everyone up. Pairs/Dance/Ladies would be read in alphabetical order by the USFS president, everyone would stand in front of the stage for a picture and then each team/skater would give statements in order by discipline.
The president read off all the names: Castelli/Shnapir, Zhang/Bartholomay, Chock/Bates, Davis/White, Shibutani/Shibutani, Edmunds, Gold, and Wagner. They let the press have a few moments to take pictures and then brought the pairs teams to the stage.
Marissa and Simon both gave a short statement, including Simon saying something in Russian (then translating for the poor press people). Nate talked about how happy he and Felicia were because she was tearing up in happiness. He had to pass her the tissues.
The dance teams were brought up next. Charlie talked about how lucky they were to be a part of the team. Madison Chock gave the statement for her and Evan (who nodded in agreement). Alex Shibutani talked about how they'd been working for 10 years towards this goal.
The ladies were up next. Gracie was glad to be representing the US. As was Polina. (I don't remember exactly what they said). Ashley looked like she'd been crying and was trying to maintain her composure. She was thankful they looked past a bad skate.
The USFS president then answered some questions about the team and the process (like did the team even factor in, and someone asked if she was the one to give Ashley the news).
The skaters were then going to be in the press area and the Mixed Zone for another hour and a half or so for questions but the streaming for that is not available.
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- Apr 5, 2013
Twitter:
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- May 4, 2013
Thanks a lot!
Sorry again for not telling you I found the vids sooner, but I tried posting over and over again, picturing how you'd be typing that down...
I hope there will be some interview soon - I'd like the Federation or Ashley to say sth about how sorry they are for Mirai or sth...
Won't change a thing, but I'd just feel better...
These statements the ladies gave just sounded too "move on, there's no controversy here!" to me...
But Edmunds' eligibility was never a question. Phil Hersh is a journalist covering figure skating, therefore he should know the rules. And the rules state that the minimum scores have to be obtained at an international ISU-sanctioned competition in the current or the previous season. Scores for Junior Worlds can be earned at Junior events only but scores for Europeans/Four Continents/Olympics can be earned at any level. Edmunds competed at two JGP events and JGPF and she has easily made the minimums.
Nothing like a 72 page document to 'explain' something that could be explained in two sentences. Just like with the Japanese Federation, it's deliberately muddled to allow USFS to do whatever they want and that's not fair to the skaters. This has been extremely poorly handled with no transparency.
China - out of all federations - had a much more transparent and fairer system (75% of highest international score + 25% of highest national score = Olympic team IIRC). Now you can agree or disagree with the Chinese system. You can point out its strong and weak points. But at least, it was clear, it was transparent and it was based on competition scores only.
This is USFS' fault and not Edmund's. USFS did not select Edmunds for the JGP last season when she clearly deserved it based on her summer competition results. Edmunds then went on to prove USFS wrong by comfortably winning Junior Nationals. Had Edmunds made the JGP last season, she could have earned high enough scores to qualify for the GP.
I am sure that she would have loved to do some senior international competitions but USFS doesn't allow its skaters to freely enter them (which is ridiculous and stunts figure skating development but that's a different discussion entirely).
Finally, Edmunds has not only beaten Nagasu at Nationals.
Average total score this season at international competitions:
Polina Edmunds 166.23
Mirai Nagasu 160.53
Average SP TES score this season at international competitions:
Polina Edmunds 29.03
Mirai Nagasu 27.29
Average FS TES score this season at international competitions:
Polina Edmunds 62.38
Mirai Nagasu 49.86
Edmunds had higher scores at Nationals and higher average scores this season. It's as clear cut as it gets, IMO.
I watched the feed live and find it odd that proctor and gamble congratulated their "covergirls" going to sochi on twitter before that lady made the announcement, took it down and it came back 10 minutes later. I bet D&C wish they had a big sponsor that usfsa had to answer to.
How do you justify leaving D/C at home and taking Wagner? the hypocrisy in this sport is so thick it is a joke! Any wonder pairs skating is told failure in this country? Leave the pair that has had the most international success AND won the LP but justify taking the lady who tanked the LP (while the pair who makes major errors in the LP wins the Nat gold).
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I will be rooting for Ashley at Sochi.
But…I think this is a slippery slope that the USFSA is tiptoeing down. They have deliberately downgraded their own premier competitive event, U. S. Nationals. If the United States Figure Skating Association does not care all that much about the results, why should we?
But…I think this is a slippery slope that the USFSA is tiptoeing down. They have deliberately downgraded their own premier competitive event, U. S. Nationals. If the United States Figure Skating Association does not care all that much about the results, why should we?
Isn't it the other way round?Wagner was chosen over Nagasu because of better GP results.
But the same logic and the same rules did not apply to Denney/Coughlin who had better Grand Prix results than Zhang/Bartholomay.
Edmunds didn't have 'one standout comp.' She comfortably won two JGPs, was 4th at the JGPF, won Junior Nationals last season and had some very good summer comps.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2012
Congratulations to Zhang/Bartholomay!! :yay:
And I'm sad for Nagasu.
Again, you are totally missing the point and blaming the wrong entity.
USFS itself did not know the rules -- and its uncertainty was newsworthy.
Whether Hersh knew the rules was beside the point. He obviously had no power to choose the Olympic team. USFS had that power, and it was uncertain. Hersh was reporting on the absurdity of the ignorance of USFS.
When the USFS later determined that Edmunds was eligible, Hersh reported that additional newsworthy update on what was transpiring within USFS.
If you don't like Hersh for other reasons, you are entitled to your opinion.
But he was doing his job to report that a federation determining the fate of Olympic hopefuls was not even sure of the rules.
And I'm sad for Nagasu.
Again, you are totally missing the point and blaming the wrong entity.
USFS itself did not know the rules -- and its uncertainty was newsworthy.
Whether Hersh knew the rules was beside the point. He obviously had no power to choose the Olympic team. USFS had that power, and it was uncertain. Hersh was reporting on the absurdity of the ignorance of USFS.
When the USFS later determined that Edmunds was eligible, Hersh reported that additional newsworthy update on what was transpiring within USFS.
If you don't like Hersh for other reasons, you are entitled to your opinion.
But he was doing his job to report that a federation determining the fate of Olympic hopefuls was not even sure of the rules.
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
I'd've thought the other way around would've been ridiculous. At least it's conceivable that Wagner could win a bronze if a bunch of people start flopping on the ice at the Olympics. She was 5th last year at worlds and 3rd at the GPF recently.
D/C (and all the US pairs) have no chance. They'd need a lot of people forgetting how to skate to even make top 5.
If the person/team has no chance of getting a medal, they should just gone with the results. Ashley's chances of medaling are small, but they're more than 0. (I'd say Mirai's are almost as likely as Ashley's, but that's not the point I'm making: just that D/C shouldn't be bumped up when they 100% won't be medalling in Sochi.)
Not sure it would have helped them. Rochne and McLauglin had Coke as a major sponsors and were even on posters in Times Square yet they did not name them. C/D were in no where near the same position as Ashkey either, as Ashley won 4CC and got bronze medal at GPF. She also dominated the last quad in US. C/D have done nothing to earn a spot and there is no reason to think they would even medal at Olympics at all.
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2012
D/C has been injured and he is still injured. So it is predictable that he would again botch his singles.
Ashely on the other side, still has great potential to deliver what she has been delivering in the past few years.
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