ISU Where Will Worlds BE (formerly) JAPAN QUAKE FOR WORLDS

[NMURA]

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/winter/news/20110316-OHT1T00004.htm
The JSF executive board member Junko Hiramatsu said on March 15th, relocation to other places in Japan is difficult. The main problem is the nuclear plant safety. Unless its safety is assured, they can't do anything (even looking for alternative venues). No other country has made relocation offers.

I'm pretty sure South Korea won't host it. The only motivation for them to do is to show their ability to host the Olympics winter games and it surely fails financially. Considering the cases of past 4CC experiences, they can't fill the 2000 capacity venue even with handout tickets. They need a BIG arena to appeal their intention. Kim's appearance can help somewhat, but ONLY for ladies. And I doubt she would accept that because she's extremely fragile under the home pressure. Of course, the "Olympic" venues, hotels, sponsors, volunteers must be secured in a short notice.

 

[demarinis5]

http://english.gazzetta.it/More_spo...-for-the-world-championship-80502610822.shtml

Latest info. from Cinquanta regarding Worlds.

 

[kiz_4Ever]

it was said (in the other forum) that Korea just can't host it, because they need to ask to the IOC for every international sport event that they plan (because of 2018 Olympics) and it's likely that they wouldn't allow them to host work so close to the draft of 2018 Olympics (it could be seen as privileging them against the others candidates).

Europe seems the best candidate now, but financially it's more complicated than US or China I think...

EDIT: Anyway, the last article in Italian "Gazzetta dello Sport" sounds more like no worlds at all for this year.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Yeah it would be weird to have Worlds a week or two before Skate Canada, we would probably see the same programs two seasons in a row. I understand needing to respect Japan, but I would hope the JSF isn't trying to prevent the ISU from moving the competition elsewhere. Even late April/early May would be better than no Worlds at all.

 

[janetfan]

Just came across an update about professional soccer in Japan.


"Japan soccer cancellations extended to early April"

"There’s no telling when we can restart the league again,” Kashima Antlers President Shigeru Ibata was quoted as saying after the meeting. “The situation is getting worse by the day. Most of the people of the committee agree that the first week of April is already out of the question.”


http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-earthquake-soccersuspension

 

[colleen o'neill]

Speedy's reasoning seems very flawed to me (as it does , now and then ) in that it seems least respectful of the athletes. And if it's not primarily about the athletes , what's the point ? It would ask the skaters to try to peak in October, then peak again the following March... after producing 2 new programs. Unless they cancel the GP , they would have to have the new programs ready to go at the usual time..:disapp: . I suppose they could keep the same programs ( same SD, etc.), but that won't help to keep public interest. Junior skaters would have a completely different schedule ( so far as training goes ) since they have had their World's , so they would have a difficult time fitting in to joint competitions ... This just raises a whole different nightmare , it seems to me.

More and more, a complete cancellation looks like the only choice , unless something could be pulled together on short notice .. but they seem to have ruled that out.

 

[bigsisjiejie]

The entire East Asia, including China, should be off the table. Some skating federations seem to think they can pull off hosting an emergency event given about 4 weeks of time. For safety reasons, I think the entire West Coast of North America should also be off limit because there are talks of nuclear clouds hitting the west coast.

I wouldn't dismiss the rest of East Asia so quickly, at least not on physical/radiation issues (government support and financial is another story). To put distance in perspective, Tokyo-Beijing is same distance as New York City to Dallas, or for European relativity: Paris, France to Athens, Greece. Not that close--a normal flight is every bit of 3.5 hours long. Seoul is roughly halfway between the two. This is the time of year--for the next couple of months at least--where winds are fairly strong and coming from the west/northwest (out of the Gobi). March-May, China often sends sandstorms eastward to Korea, Japan and beyond. Wind doesn't come from the east (from Japan). I don't know what Korea's pattern is. Major release of radiation would be more likely to head over the Pacific to the US/Canada West Coast. There is of course the issue of flights, but US/Canada flights can take northerly and polar routes (and usually do) that avoid Japan, and Europeans can come direct.

I'd be interested in hearing more about European options, but I'm guessing more issues with money/expenses/sponsorship and broadcasting rights would make it a lot harder to put together quickly.

ETA: I'm with Colleen, I also don't understand Speedy's reasoning. October??!?!??

 

[Violet Bliss]

I guess what happens in the next few days will help clarify the nuclear uncertainties. If the danger can be contained or restricted, the Asian nations may be considered since they are the ones able to put things together fast wihout too many financial and logistic complications. Maybe China can manage to stage it in a Western city further away from Japan.

Even Vancouver could be a good choice, especially if Canada wouldn't lose the 2013 Worlds. The facilities are there and lots of ready enthusiastic fans.

 

[einna]

Let me make something clear. I didn't write that post not knowing that Japan is a country with not as much natural resources, but I was being "sarcastic" about this whole thing because Japan is the one that built all those nuclear plants which led to this disastrous situation.

Throughout its history, Japan suffered from frequent earthquakes. Wasn't it only foreseeable that there might be some serious earthquakes and they needed to be extra cautious when building nuclear plants?!? I find it ironic because you had mentioned that Japan needed nuclear technology to rebuild itself from the destruction from WWII. However, God forbid if these plants explode, I don't even know what's gonna happen to Japan and the rest of the world.

Classic case of blaming the victim..

I also think Japanese federation was being ridiculously selfish for not willing to cancel or relocate the event. Would you fly into a country where tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown are all happening at once? Other than world organizations and volunteers trying to aid Japanese people, everyone has to be extremely cautious for safety reasons. When people argued that the worlds should be still held in Japan, I thought it was inconsiderate of the safety of all the skaters.

This is not for the Japanese federation to decide. ISU needs to issue final decision on this.

 

[bekalc]

I also think Japanese federation was being ridiculously selfish for not willing to cancel or relocate the event. Would you fly into a country where tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown are all happening at once? Other than world organizations and volunteers trying to aid Japanese people, everyone has to be extremely cautious for safety reasons. When people argued that the worlds should be still held in Japan, I thought it was inconsiderate of the safety of all the skaters.

Who says its the Japanese federation stopping worlds from relocating. Seriously Japan is going through its worst crisis since World War II, and the Japanese fed may be out some serious money too, and you want to sit around criticizing the Japanese Fed. I'm sorry but no. Please no.

 

[Violet Bliss]

figurejennah, there are hardly anybody still advocating for Worlds to be held in Tokyo or elsewhere in Japan. Definitely not me, for I was the first one here to question even holding it in other Asian countries near Japan.

Not defending Japan's nuclear safety issue and I have expressed my feelings about the technology here and on the other thread, but earthquakes are not so much the problem here because Japan is well prepared for them. The current disasters including the nuclear problem are due mainly to unprecedental tsunami, much more unexpected but still should have been considered. I posted on the other Earthquake thread:

The problem with most of the energy technologies is the extreme competence in generation and extraction with extreme inadequacy in containment and control of damages and consequences. Such inbalance in knowledge plus the rackless haste to proceed almost guarantee catastrophic events such as nuclear meltdowns and deep sea oil spill and spew.

When not enough attention is paid to the "what ifs", we all have to deal with "what now".

It's a general problem not limited to Japan. As long as the unsatiable demands for energy exists and practical alternatives are not available, there will be problems still to happen. Japan really has fewer choices than many other nations. This is a natural disaster and Japan has never deliberately deployed radioactivities anywhere against humanity.

Now is the time to be concerned with damage control and prevention of actual massive radiation spills. My thoughts and prayers are with the people most in line of danger, especially those working on site for such prevention. I'm sure lots of reviews and judgements will follow.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Okay, Joesitz, thanks for your response. Here's mine.

The only reasons to cancel Worlds would be practical reasons. Let's make this a hypothetical situation. If this had happened in say Madagascar or Brazil, where huge amounts of life could be lost/affected, would we be talking about cancellation? Would it be disrespectful to continue? I don't think so. But those aren't figure skating countries, but that doesn't render the event any less devastating or tragic. What if it happened in Russia? A figure skating legend, of course. I'd argue that no, there wouldn't be as much serious discussion about cancelling the event.

In the aforementioned hypotheticals, there are no practical reasons to cancel the championships. Neither health nor safety is compromised. That's not the case in the world we see now. There are very real, truly legitimate, practical reasons for canceling Worlds. And if those reasons prevail, I have to say that I don't really mind. Nor do I think anyone truly does, regardless of our desires to see these athletes. For most of us - this is a hobby. Something we enjoy. It's not our lives. But for the skaters, coaches, choreographers... it is. The structure of virtually every day is informed by skating/training/etc. Because it is "just" figure skating (which is hardly essentially for the world to keep turning), it's very easy to lose sight of that.

.... and one more thing. It seems callous in such a terrible situation that "life goes on." I'm sure any one of us who's been through hard times, whether grief or frustration, has thought those three words despite not truly believing in them. And in these times, where the Middle East is a boiling cauldron of violence (and for what it's worth, the situation there hits me closer to home), where natural disasters seem to hit hard and unexpectedly (the Christchurch earthquake, the flooding of Queensland, this nightmare for Japan) those three words seem to be an affront to all the pain occuring. But they're still true. If life didn't go on, it would be impossible (and maybe even worthless) to overcome these moments.

My two cents.

 

[NMURA]

I also think Japanese federation was being ridiculously selfish for not willing to cancel or relocate the event. Would you fly into a country where tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear meltdown are all happening at once? Other than world organizations and volunteers trying to aid Japanese people, everyone has to be extremely cautious for safety reasons. When people argued that the worlds should be still held in Japan, I thought it was inconsiderate of the safety of all the skaters.

You are wrong. The ISU (president) is the one resisting relocation to other countries. The best option is to hold WC in Japan as soon as the situation settled. An October WC would not be a bad idea. They can "replace" with Japan Open using the 30000 capacity arena, if possible. The next better option is an outright cancellation. The ISU (and JSF to some extent) can cover the loss by insurances.The worst scenario is a relocation to other countries. It SURELY loses money. A scaled down, frugal event doesn't provide prestige and revenues to the ISU. If the host couldn't cover the loss, the ISU have to do that. It's better to receive the insurance money.

 

[Violet Bliss]

^^The JSF's position was taken on March 11, before any problem at the nuclear plants was revealed.

 

[bekalc]

You are wrong. The ISU (president) is the one resisting relocation to other countries. The best option is to hold WC in Japan as soon as the situation settled. An October WC would not be a bad idea. They can "replace" with Japan Open using the 30000 capacity arena, if possible. The next better option is an outright cancellation. The ISU (and JSF to some extent) can cover the loss by insurances.The worst scenario is a relocation to other countries. It SURELY loses money. A scaled down, frugal event doesn't provide prestige and revenues to the ISU. If the host couldn't cover the loss, the ISU have to do that. It's better to receive the insurance money.

If worlds is not held in Japan in the scheduled dates, why couldn't the ISU/Japan just collect the money but schedule elsewhere, it would be a different competition.

 

[heyang]

The best option is to hold WC in Japan as soon as the situation settled. An October WC would not be a bad idea. They can "replace" with Japan Open using the 30000 capacity arena, if possible. The next better option is an outright cancellation. The ISU (and JSF to some extent) can cover the loss by insurances.The worst scenario is a relocation to other countries. It SURELY loses money.

I definitely don't agree with an October Championships. That's normally the start of the season. The skaters need to end their seasons, get some down time and begin working on new programs.

IMHO, if World's can't take place within the next 6 weeks, they should be cancelled.

Since it's a post Olympic year, it was generally a fresh start season. If this was a pre-Olympic year where the # of spots was going to be determined and the skaters want to go into the Oly season as the WC, I could see not cancelling World's. As it's a post Olympic year, there's not as much to lose for these skaters.

 

[NMURA]

Because there's no country who can guarantee financial success. WC is not just an competition, but it's the flagship money-making event of the ISU. They can't afford to lessen its value. It's just better to receive the insurance money and avoid further losses. If the WC was postponed to October, they can expect profits.

ETA
I think figure skating is a sport of little changes in its nature. The governing body needs constant rule changes to make it more "exciting". An unusual situation like October WC would be an interesting "change" factor to the sport. The condition is same for all athletes. They have to adjust if they want good results.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Worlds in October is ridiculous. The competitive season for figure skating or any sport culminates in the World Championship, not beginning with it.

 

[feraina]

Pardon me, but I disagree. How is Japan a victim in this situation?

! How can anyone not think of Japan as a victim? Accumulating catastrophes are happening to the Japanese, and that makes them victims in my book -- unless you think they deserve everything coming at them?!

"Andreev said a fire which released radiation on Tuesday involving spent fuel rods stored close to reactors at Fukushima looked like an example of putting profit before safety:

"The Japanese were very greedy and they used every square inch of the space. But when you have a dense placing of spent fuel in the basin you have a high possibility of fire if the water is removed from the basin," Andreev said."[/url]

What this so-called expert said strikes me as unnecessarily negative, haughty, and insensitive; not to mention willfully ignorant/deceitful. How can he say that "the Japanese were very greedy because they used every square inch of the space?" The Japanese plants are designed by GE, an American company. Do American plants have fuel rods placed further apart from each other? If so, does that make "the Americans very greedy"? Are how do you infer the rods being placed too close together (and so far, I have not seen any suggestion of that being the cause for the fires from people who actually know about the Fukushima plant) that the Japanese as a people are "greedy"? The Japanese government today just altered the legal safety limits for radioactivity level for nuclear plant workers, so that the workers can get closer to the damaged reactors to try to assess and fix them. I'd imagine that they also have regulations regarding the disposal and storage of spent fuel rods. Maybe the regulations are not stringent enough? And by the way, if the water has boiled off those storage pools, even if the rods weren't too close together, they might have caught fire.

He calls IAEA, which reports to the UN, a "fake organization." He also says:
"The Chernobyl experience was not studied properly because who has money for studying? Only industry."
Maybe that's true in Russia where this guy is from, but in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, a lot of the nuclear scientific research is funded by the government, not the nuclear industry.

Nuclear radiation problem was raised pretty soon after the earthquake as well.

As someone else already pointed out, not before that quoted JSF communication was put out.

 

[Serious Business]

Because there's no country who can guarantee financial success. WC is not just an competition, but it's the flagship money-making event of the ISU. They can't afford to lessen its value. It's just better to receive the insurance money and avoid further losses. If the WC was postponed to October, they can expect profits.

You may have hit on the real reason why Speedy seems so resistant to relocating Worlds even though there are multiple reports that other countries are volunteering to step in: money. It never made sense to me that handing Worlds from a troubled area to another place shows a lack of respect (the word Speedy kept using) to the original host nation. Japan isn't turning down help from other countries. Rescue workers from all over the world are pouring in. South Korea will give its stockpile of boric acid to Japan at the latter's behest. If a country can't do something and don't have the resources and/or logistics for it now due to a horrible disaster, having another country do it is just another way of helping. I think you are right that Cinquanta is mainly worried about how the ISU will get its funding for the next season if they can't bank on a lucrative championship in the country where the sport is most popular when he should be giving more consideration to all the athletes.