Joshua was named to the Team B envelope; therefore, he does get funding from U.S. Figure Skating. The Team B funding is the highest level of funding that he was eligible for given his results from last season.
The problem is that if Joshua wins the JGPF and the junior worlds, would he be eligible for the Team A envelope? Plus, even if he gets the Team A funding, that still doesn’t mean the USFS will cover all his expenses + invite him to stay in nice villa for free. So that would still be different than Han Yan’s situation. And if you look at Patrick who is already the world champion, he is wearing the most plain clothes and people complain he’s not a fashionista. Poor guy, he has to be frugal in order to pay for his expenses.
I don’t get mad when poor students get scholarship, and I don’t have problems with people getting sponsorships or donations to help funding. But I think it’s unfair to all other skaters if a rich student gets financial aid. What Han Yan gets is financial aid, not scholarship. The USFS and the JSF operate under the scholarship system, which is different than how the Chinese fed spends money on Han Yan. A rich student should pay for his/her own fees, no need for financial aid. Since Han Yan is competing at international competitions against non Chinese skaters, I think it is unfair to his competitors.
As tax payers, Chinese Fans are just unhappy about Federation's unwise decision for holding Yan in Junior events
I did not want to get into Chinese tax politics, but since you started it… you know Han Yan’s fans are only 0.001% of Chinese taxpayers. My relative from my maternal side is currently living in China with his family, and the company he works at has sponsored some sports events in China so they know how sports work there. He told me that local Chinese really hate “second-generation rich,” Chinese teenagers born into rich families who like to show off luxury goods bought by their wealthy parents, and some people even want them stoned.
You’re Chinese, so you know that many Chinese only make like $800 each month and they still need to pay taxes. If they know their money is wasted on a second-generation rich, I bet 90% or more of Chinese taxpayers would not want to pay taxes anymore. They would want to save their money so they can buy a mini apartment or send their children to better schools. Most Chinese never stay in a villa throughout their whole life.
If Yan likes to skate, then he should use money from his rich family, or he can get sponsorships or fan donations. No problem with all that, as the sponsors and donators would pay for his costs voluntarily. But now he’s using money of other taxpayers, who need financial aid more than himself. If the majority of taxpayers know this, then they will be more unhappy than those 0.001% taxpayers who are Yan’s fans. This whole thing is not only unfair to fellow Chinese taxpayers but also a form of corruption.
I hope skating will survive a CoP champion like Chan. Really, he is so lacking in charisma and the sport seems to be in a nose dive since he won the championship.
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The vasty majority of the N. American public disagrees....skating is more than blades on ice, and speed.
I also think skating is more than speed and good skaters need charisma and artistry. I’m also worried about figure skating’s future because if you look at the new junior world champion Han Yan, my goodness, the guy is rushed, emotionless, sloppy with his windmill arms, hunched back, and stiff torso. I used to think Patrick needed to work on artistry and audience connection, but after I saw Han Yan, Patrick looked like an artist and I would rather watch him with 3 falls than a clean Yan. If this Yan is the “future star” as bragged by his Chinese fans, then I’m worried about skating’s future.
And then Jason is just so unique and racks up points on everything so even with just a solid 3a and no quad, could still be a threat IMO. Josh is really beautiful and I feel his skating is pretty universally appealing (clean lines, pure jump technique, he's masculine and good looking in a clean cut way, and his skating has nice classical style). Brown is more edgy and Weir-ish but most people seem to like that!
This! I think Joshua and Jason are 2 talented skaters with different styles. Though still a little bit juniorish, they already have very good artistry for their age. Even if they lose to Han Yan next season, I like that they’re still working hard to be real figure skaters, the all-round skaters with in-betweens and emotions.
Ultimately, regardless of country, eligible skaters are competing in a rather paternalistic system, in which many decisions and opportunities are out of their control and disproportionate to their own achievements. I don't see why skaters being slighted and ignored under one federation makes it OK for another federation to do it to some other skater.
If this was what you said regarding Joshua and Yan, then I would not have a problem. If you look at ISU rules, they both are qualified to move up if their federations agree. But what you said was all like Yan should move up because he’s talented etc. and Joshua does not have to move up because he’s not as good. I got mad when I read your first post, I felt that you were biased.
I do think as it is currently done, PCScoring seriously undervalues artistry, performance ability and musicality. Perhaps, behind the scenes, judges will get some severe memos reeducating them in this regard.
I agree on this and artistry should be more important in future.
In which case, Chan may see his PCS drop back to Earth and Takahashi would get a serious boost (and deservedly so).
I feel you are biased again. You often blamed Patrick for his lack of artistry and audience connection, but you said Han Yan is so talented etc. In reality Yan is a lot worse than Patrick in the artistry category. If Chan may see his PCS drop back to Earth, then Yan may see his PCS drop back underground.
OMG! Did he land them? How'd they look? Are there vids?
Jason landed the 3a in the SP but it was probably URed. In the LP he tried the 3a again but fell. Because Southport Summer Classic is a very small competition, there are no videos available online now.
I don't understand why Lakeside try to connected the fact that Han Yan got financial support from Chinese fed, get free training and has luxury item with whether he should complete in Sr gran Prix or not.
I don't understand the logic here.
Even if he is richest men in the world, if he deserve to compete in Senior then he deserve it.
I understand you’re Chinese and English is your second language, so you may get confused by long posts. I don’t have a problem with that. However, I still wish you could read my posts more carefully so you would understand what I wrote and not twist my words. There are many ESL people on this forum, which made this such a nice multicultural forum. I only wish you could be more patient and read more carefully.
First of all, no need to underline the word “deserve.” I did not choose to use that word. Another Chinese fan iceflame used it. I just quoted her. And we were discussing why Han Yan deserved to train at Ice Castle for free + to stay in some nice villa for free and does that mean other skaters did not deserve to have all their expenses covered? We were not discussing whether Yan deserves to compete seniors, so no need to mix the two topics together.
Second of all, I’m not the one who started the discussion about how rich Yan’s family is. If you read my first post #55, I said the Chinese fed is spending big money on Yan without getting into Yan’s own family economy. Then Serious Business asked me “do you get mad when a poor student gets a scholarship?” I had to clarify and tell her that Yan is not a poor student. Why are you trying to mix my clarification with whether Yan deserves to compete seniors?
Third of all, what I said about whether Yan competes seniors is this: the officers of the Chinese fed are his big bosses, and Yan obeys their decisions. What’s wrong with that? If you look at Joshua, the USFS is not paying for all his expenses, but he still has to obey his fed’s decision.
