- Joined
- Feb 24, 2012
Yes you could get some interesting results like an Italian man who skates on the team and gets a team bronze whereas a skater like Takhashi, Hanyu, Asada, Suzuki or Kozuka get nothing in singles or team.
That may be true. But what are you trying to imply here and with your previous comment that national federations should not select athletes who refuse to participate in the Team event? That TV audience is the most important issue and that selection of athletes by their national federations should make TV ratings a selection criteria?
How do you reconcile this with your previous frequent pronouncements about USA Nationals, that the strict order of finish (mathmatically) should be the only determinant of Olympic/Worlds berths? What happens if USA Nationals finishers (pick any discipline) #1 and #2 decline to participate in the Team event? If you were the USFSA would you bounce them off the team in favor of #3 and #4? Send four burly men to their homes to make them an offer they can't refuse? You can't have it all ways...
IMO, compelling athletes to participate against their will in what is a poor format-constructed event that smacks of cheesefestism, is not a good idea.
^ A billion people watched the opening ceremonies of the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, as the athletes entered the stadium carrying their county's flag. This is more than watched any of the athletic contests.
... And why would Plushenko not be able to carry a flag the day after he skates a SP? That makes even less sense.
...I hate to think that even more of the Sochi skaters will face the tough choice between conserving their energy vs. living out what surely has been part of their Olympic dream. In Sochi, the opening ceremony will be on Fri Feb 7.
On Sat Feb 8, the team skating events are:
- SD
- Ladies SP
- Pairs FS
On Sun Feb 9, the team skating events are:
- Men's FS
- Ladies FS
- FD
Why do any of the sports events start before the opening ceremony? That makes no sense.
Okay, that's fair. I was assuming he'd just have to hold the flag while walking from the entrance gate to wherever Russia is assigned in the arena. Apparently chairs and trading the flag off between different people are impossible concepts?
I think that skaters should go to Sochi prepared to skate for their country. Not to lay up in bed for two weeks saying, "Oh, I need rest," and waiting for the maid to come in and fluff the pillows.
Business before pleasure.
...Wouldn't it be cool -- and good for the sport of figure skating -- for some of its best and brightest young women and men (who hopefully by then would look somewhat familiar) to be seen proudly representing their countries in the opening ceremony?
It would bring tears to my eyes to see Chan, et al., smiling and waving as they march with their teammates from all sports. :yes:
golden411;800500...Wouldn't it be cool -- and good for the sport of figure skating -- for some of its best and brightest young women and men (who hopefully by then would look somewhat familiar) to be seen proudly representing their countries in the opening ceremony? It would bring tears to my eyes to see Chan said:et al[/I]., smiling and waving as they march with their teamates from all sports. :yes:
There were pictures in which you could see V/M with Zoueva (Shpilband walked in with D/W and Team USA). Non-Canadian skaters who were easy to spot: Cheltzie Lee was near the front of the Australian team, with a jacket at least 4 sizes too big; Belgian flagbearer Kevin van der Perren; Stefan Lindemann in the front row for Germany; Allison Reed and Otar Japaridze with the Georgian team (that got a standing ovation); Stacy Kemp and David King from GB; even as part of a pretty good sized French team, you can see Isabel Delobel, Olivier Schoenfelder and Florent Amodio (the latter jumping up and down next to Schoenfelder); there's also Hungarian skaters Nora Hoffman, Maxim Zavozin and Julia Sebestyen (who was chosen to be the flagbearer in her fourth Olympics); Israeli flagbearer Alexandra Zaretski and brother Roman; Swiss flagbearer Stephane Lambiel (who even did a little spin ); and Turkey's Tugba Karademir got some closeups.With all this talk of Olympic opening ceremonies, I decided to re-watch the Vancouver opening ceremonies (which I have on the CTV blueray dvd set). There must have been a camera on the track, since you can see team Canada march by. At one point, Joannie made an effort to cross up close directly in front of the camera. She was smiling, waving into the camera with both hands, and happy. It was sad to think how all that was about to change.
Didn"t recognize any other skaters that may have been marching.
But I think I read on IN that NBC or whichever US network is showing it wanted the ladies event last.