Which is why skaters with Ketu mentality need to be given the "Caroline Zhang Tariff". Get them out of the talent pool early.. Skaters like Nicole Bobek, Alyssa Czisny, Jeremy Abbott, Agnes Zawadzki.. nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. Stop sending them to important competitions. The only skater that should ever be allowed to get away with it is Sasha Cohen.
How about skaters are marked for what they actually execute on the ice?
Brown had better scores than Abbott this season and had USFS used sensible selection criteria, there would be no reason to select Abbott for the team event. I don't understand why you are attacking the skaters when it's the system that is at fault here.
And mental skills can be improved just like physical skills can if you work on it. So nobody should get removed out of the talent pool just because they aren't consistent at any current given point in time. Just take it on a season by season basis. It's always possible to turn things around.
I also don't understand why you are bringing Caroline Zhang into this. Zhang's skating has been absolutely appalling this season so it's not like she was given some kind of special tariff at Nationals. She didn't skate well so she didn't score well. It's not like there was some nefarious plan at play in order to keep her placement down.
Yes, but the same people that are mad about Abbott being picked probably would have been mad about Abbott not being picked. Its easy to look back and say "well, you should have done that". But the outrage over Abbott being picked happened *after* he bombed at the Olympics. There was no voice calling for him being left off the team after nationals.
It's not about Abbott or any other particular skater. It's about having selection criteria which are clear, transparent and sensible, rewarding consistency over skating well at one event.