After a three-day absence from the thread, I will add more thoughts even if no one else is left to read them
...
... I do not see an equal argument under the criteria for both, which is probably why the selection committee took less than 40 minutes to make a decision. ...
... for some reason I thought the FS ended at 4 my time, 3 CST? But I could be wrong, so let's say 2:45 CST. And yes, the email to Jason was time stamped 4:15 according to the screen grab.
In my mind, I was giving the committee time to 1) go to the bathroom before they convene
and 2) actually write and send the emails, so that was my rough guess of 40 minutes. (3:15 to 3:50ish) But they certainly could have convened immediately and the emails were not lengthy and could have been pre-written. So maybe an hour?
But it was a guess.
FWIW: Jason was notified of his selection approx. fifteen minutes LATER than scheduled.
Which would go against the line of thinking that the committee's decision on men's Olympic team selection supposedly was particularly speedy/easy.
"Men’s Selection Meeting
Sunday, January 9 immediately following the men’s free skate competition
Nominated Olympic team members will be notified at approximately 4:00 p.m., and selected World/World Junior/Four Continents team members will be notified at approximately 4:45 p.m. The official announcement will take place on Sunday, January 9 at 5:45 p.m."
For other disciplines, the schedule called for athletes who were selected for Olympics, Worlds, Junior Worlds, Four Continents to be notified approx. 90 minutes after the start of the selection meetings on Friday and Saturday nights.
The schedules are here:
I only yesterday noticed the link above when I was going back to look for Junior Worlds criteria here:
www.usfigureskating.org
Rather than the one who doesn't even have World minimums because he bombed an SP at a low level senior comp so badly.
Got it.
The fact that Ilia (just barely) missed the Worlds SP minimum did not deter the selection committee from naming him to the World team. (He of course will need to meet the minimum in time.)
Jason already has both World minimums, but the committee decided that he would be first alternate to Worlds.
So ... it would seem strange to me if the yet-to-be-attained Worlds SP minimum for Ilia had been a deterrent in Olympic selection, especially given that Worlds minimums are not part of the Olympic criteria.
FWIW, the point of view of George Rossano, a USFS official who has been immersed in the sport for decades, regarding 2022 Olympic selection criteria:
"... U.S. Figure Skating currently (with the approval of USOPC) uses not only the results at Nationals but results from the past two seasons, with various weighting factors specified. On paper this makes the process look objective. Yet it is not.
First, not all skaters eligible for consideration have a lengthy enough competition record to check off all the boxes (stacking the deck against rising newcomers), so there is still a comparing of apples and oranges.
Second, despite the numerical weighting factors specified, no attempt is made to roll these up into a meaningful numerical ranking which would be truly objective. Further, while performance trends going into the Olympics are supposed to be relevant, there is also no numerical calculation of performance trending leading to an objective numerical ranking - and given how infrequently skaters compete it is questionable whether trending can be meaningful at all.
So while on paper it's about competition history, in reality, there are so many factors spanning such a long period of time, anyone can come up with any selection they want among the top 4-5 skaters and point to something in the criteria to justify any choice. ... "
Would not have made any difference in Olympic selection, but for future reference:
Ilia did not withdraw from
2021 Nats.
Jackie Wong has misremembered why Ilia did not compete there. (Obviously not a dire error from Jackie.)
I refreshed my memory only within the last couple of days that because of injury (
first reported by TSL -- I don't remember whether injury later was confirmed elsewhere), Ilia was unable to submit a video for last season's
virtual Championship Series.
Not participating in Championship Series meant that he did not qualify for 2021 Nats.
ETA:
A
pre-Nashville article (Jan 7) says:
"... He had hoped to compete in the senior men’s competition last year, but fractured his ankle after placing fifth at Skate America ..."
Also, re 2022 Nats: "To skate his potential, Malinin will need to overcome some lingering ankle problems that recently kept him from training for three weeks."
... I don't fault you for liking Jason's skating, because I like it, too. I think he's amazing. But "interesting" and "likeable" and "great ambassador" are not, in my opinion, reasons to consider anyone for athletic team selection. Those are subjective arguments, and similar irrelevant arguments could be made for Ilia: "young" and "fresh" and "a blast to watch." ...
... I read @DancingCactus’ post to say considerations such as watchable and ambassador are considerations in addition to those merit based considerations. They occur in every single sport and they will occur in skating. ...
... General likeability is a nonsense consideration. It's the Olympic Team, not the People's Choice Awards.
... 5. What a skater puts on the ice over the course of a year is what should be considered for selecting various teams. I saw the other considerations as "gravy" after the decision was made. Every single sport from professional teams to skating promotes the fluff, it does not make skating less of a sport to take advantage of it. ...
Regarding this type of "gravy" outside the criteria:
I think that Ilia's narrative offers a lot that potentially could have piqued the interest of every-four-years viewers. Bullet points that write themselves:
- At his first senior Nationals only a month ago, seventeen-year-old Ilia won the silver medal, receiving standing ovations for both his short program and his free skate. (Cue video.)
- Ilia placed twelve points higher than Vincent Zhou (sixth place at 2018 Olympics, 2019 World bronze medalist, etc.) and Jason Brown (2014 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, 2020 Four Continents silver medalist, etc.). (Cue scoreboard screenshot.)
- Born in Virginia, Ilia is coached by his parents, who both were Olympic figure skaters in singles for Uzbekistan. (Cue Olympic footage of Malinina and/or Skorniakov. Also of father-and-son's joy together in the Kiss and Cry when Ilia's FS and total scores were announced in Nashville.)
- Ilia is helping his younger sister learn to skate (per his USFS bio). (Cue video of brother helping sister -- if parents consent to usage.)
- In the weeks since 2022 Nats, Ilia has gained XX thousand (something like twenty fifteen thousand and counting, I think??) followers on Instagram, where he shares training videos including ambitious work-in-progress jump combinations. (Cue video.)
Plus Ilia has a terrific smile and a nice sense of humor.
Yes, Jason's narrative also has a lot to offer (with supporting video too). And yes, Jason is watchable and is a good ambassador -- but I do not think that he has a monopoly on those attributes (subjective attributes).
From the moment that Ilia was introduced for his group's SP warm-up, the crowd inside Bridgestone Arena showed tremendous enthusiasm for him.
... I was in the arena and people were going WILD for Ilia. ...
I was another first-hand observer of the same.
... This is also the second time I've heard that somewhere, someone said "He's working on them, they'll come". I am a die hard Jason fan and I have never said it. Furthermore, I have followed Jason pretty closely over the past eight years and *never* heard anyone on his team say that. ...
Never anyone on his team? Jason has not been with Kori since 2018, but here is an example from Apr 2017 of her over-optimism with respect to quads:
Kori is on Ice Talk this week with Nick McCarvel.
http://web.icenetwork.com/fans/icetalk
Kori shared that Jason is working with Rohene a new SP this week (no music was mentioned) and the plan is to have two quads in the SP.
And here is another example from Kori from Oct 2017:
" '... I would definitely look forward to one or two quads in this program. And for sure in the long by the end of the season.' "
Japan’s Shoma Uno claimed victory in Regina, Sask., at the 2017 Skate Canada International, reaffirming himself as an Olympic gold medal contender with a suite of quadruple jumps and musicality. […]
www.goldenskate.com
en.wikipedia.org
