I wholeheartedly disagree with her about limiting the GPF to two athletes from each country. Being the 4th best in a strong country already precludes a skater from participating in Euros and Worlds. The GPF is completely merit-based and you have to show excellence in two events to get there.
Fun fact, even if we limited it to 2 skaters/country, we'd still get a Russian-American-Japanese final in ladies. We'd just get a 2/2/2 split instead. Doesn't seem to solve anything.
In my modest opinion, not more than two competitors of the same country should be allowed in the final, thus allowing more Members to participate. Any sport where only a couple of countries dominate loses the public’s interest.
I liked her summary of the various events. But I don't agree with limiting the spots to two per country. Don't we have enough of that at Europeans/Worlds? I understand drumming up excitement for various countries... but ultimately it's not fair for the skaters. And they're the ones training from dawn to dusk, paying the expenses, working on the programs, ect.
Also, letting the "Federation" pick who among their qualified entries to send... I mean, what if Russia had decided to send Yulia/Anna (due to better past seasons) in place of Liza (who qualified ahead of them)? It's not just robbing her of a spot--it's potentially robbing her of a title.
we want more quality not more quantity... if 6 Russian ladies are the best in the field... why we should limit them and watch a poorer show with someone else? :disapp:
A good part of what is interesting about the GPF is that it has the best regardless of country limits. No, limiting skaters is not going to do anything but lead to bitterness.
I would be ok with minimum number of countries, if it added skaters and no one got skipped over. But that could have its own issues.
Give it time, everything ebbs and flows. Who know show many skaters are coming up the pipeline and from where.
Another thing... if you limit Russia, who will benefit? Japan, China, Canada or USA. Not Czech Rep, Italy, Brasil, Germany, Mexico, Philippines, Australia, Spain and so on... Because figure skating has these powerhouses and the development in different countries depends on completely different strategies, not on putting some limits to developed countries. So I really don't understand why she said this...