@icewhite and anyone else who are put-out and complaining about Baram/ Tioumentsev, I would ask you to stop and think about what exactly you are so upset about in connection with this team. Furthermore, please understand that I'm dealing in facts and stating how I feel about those facts. I'm not making 'arguments' for you to accept or reject. Let's deal with realities, please. I'm not here to engage in arguments or back-and-forth regarding opinions on this adjusted ruling. I think it's important to separate out what people are actually upset about though. If you are worried about specific issues and concerns going on in the sport, I think the first step is to write letters to the ISU, and to your federation, or put together a petition for any concerns you have. Alternatively, you can get involved with local skating clubs in your area. That's where making a difference can occur. No one solves anything by sounding off on a skating forum or insinuating that there are problems with specific partnerships when the problems you are thinking of are actually being created in your own mind. In addition, what "principle" are you referencing?
To act as if somehow because Daniel is 21 that he has significantly changed physically in a way that advantages him over other juniors, is ridiculous. In juniors, there will always be skaters of different shapes and sizes who may be the same age. That's because young people mature physically and mentally at different rates that have no bearing on their ages. Why wasn't there outcry about Hektor Giotopoulous when he skated at Jr. Worlds? He is certainly physically taller than Daniel. And they are the same age. Daniel is only a few months older than Hektor. Golubeva/Giotopoulous were still eligible to skate juniors despite having the skillset and size of some senior teams. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have been allowed to skate juniors or that their size advantaged them over other teams.
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@el henry noted, SafeSport has nothing to do with the topic of this thread. The stated reasoning behind the sudden decision to again change the age limit for international competitions, bears chiefly on issues surrounding the women's discipline and the recent Olympic doping scandal. It's not a new thing for the ISU to react to an Olympic scandal by suddenly enacting rules changes that many people in the fs community had been asking to be addressed for years. The changes were suddenly enacted in part for p.r. purposes, so they could point and say they were doing something about the problem. In fact, they created more problems and will as usual spend years readdressing and reenacting additional rules to correct ill effects. Ultimately, enacting rules, especially in regard to age limits will not solve the actual problems facing young women in the sport of figure skating who have been exploited or psychologically or emotionally abused. The sport itself was part of the problem when they engaged in overscoring young skaters on PCS simply because they landed multiple revolution jumps. Nothing has been done to investigate the coaches or training camp where abuses have been suspected. Slaps on the wrist were meted out to the federation in question, rather than addressing serious doping allegations head-on.
In regard to age gaps in pairs or ice dance, I would point out that skating partners can be the same ages and experience problems that need to be addressed. Adults skate with children everyday in rinks around the world as teachers and as ice dance partners to help girls pass tests who don't currently have competitive partners. There are adult competitors who train and interact with young children competitors everyday at rinks around the world. So yes, there should be awareness training regarding a bevy of concerning issues in this sport that run the gamut. There should be behavioral guidelines at rinks. There should be interactive workshops and counseling programs.
For skaters of all ages, there should be monitoring and oversight and intervention when necessary. Coaches should also be included in awareness training, along with proper vetting before they are employed at rinks. Parents should be involved in appropriate ways. Skaters traveling to comps should always have chaperones and assistance available for any number of concerns that could arise. For the most part, I believe that responsible veteran skaters often play a role in guiding and helping their younger teammates. What the sport doesn't need though, is skating fans on forums endlessly pearl-clutching and obsessing over age gaps between specific teams when problems of the nature fans are worried about, do not exist in those partnerships.
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Despite the masks, at the end of this sequence, a huge smile is visible in Ellie's eyes. 🌪 
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