Possible alternative nationalities in singles skating | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Possible alternative nationalities in singles skating

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
I know it's rather old fashioned of me to say this, but perhaps these people consider themselves to be American... or Russian... or whatever...

And they want to represent THEIR country internationally.
 

IndieBoi

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
How does changing nationality impact funding support and/or sponsorship potential? If significant, it may dissuade some from leaving a well-off country/nationality.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Is Pogorilaya a Russian last name? It sounds sort of exotic, and despite her blonde hair I was noticing Anna does have a darker skin complexion compared to most of her Russian teammates. I wonder if her father is Armenian...Pogosyan is a common Armenian surname and sounds rather similar.
 

Brenda

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 25, 2004
what's the case for Elizaveta Tursynbaeva's funding/training? She's Kazakh and I've read on here and other places that she does plan to represent Kazakhstan on the JGP/internationally next season. This season she's competed at Russian junior nationals and at the domestic Russia Cup events. Will her funding/training change next season?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ That must be the most closely guarded secret since President Obama was born in Timbuktu. :) She fooled Wikipedia, the ISU, and Ice Network.

Link?
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
what's the case for Elizaveta Tursynbaeva's funding/training? She's Kazakh and I've read on here and other places that she does plan to represent Kazakhstan on the JGP/internationally next season. This season she's competed at Russian junior nationals and at the domestic Russia Cup events. Will her funding/training change next season?

Tursynbaeva was born in Russia but probably when she competed in JGP for Kazakhstan, she will still train in Russia but the fees will be paid by the Kazakh Fed.

also others who could consider switching countries

Samantha Cesario - Italy once Kostner retires
Ashley Cain - Australia
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
^ That must be the most closely guarded secret since President Obama was born in Timbuktu.

What?! Obama's from Timbuktu?! I thought he was from Moneygall, Co. Offaly!!! ;) :laugh:


Is Pogorilaya a Russian last name? It sounds sort of exotic, and despite her blonde hair I was noticing Anna does have a darker skin complexion compared to most of her Russian teammates. I wonder if her father is Armenian...Pogosyan is a common Armenian surname and sounds rather similar.

I've often though myself that Anna doesn't really look like a typical Russian. And yes, her skin colour does suggest something more Middle Eastern.

However, I just did a search for the surname Pogorilaya on both Google (an advanced search for results without the word "Anna" in them), and on vKontakte. And most of the results coming up are of people from the Ukraine, or at least living in Russia, but near the Ukrainian border.


And then of course there's Misha Ge. I had to look him up because he's a walking, talking United Nations: part Russian, part Chinese, part Korean, lived all over the place including the U.S. This is a guy who should consider skating for Korea, not Russia

Ge skates for Uzbekistan, not for Russia.

I think Olympia is referring to the fact that Misha Ge was born in Russia rather than mistakingly saying that he skates for Russia. (She wouldn't make that sort of silly mistake! ;) :biggrin: )

But, of the options available to him, I think Misha has definitely gone down the right route with skating for Uzbekistan!

I have to say, I loved the way Olympia described Misha as " a walking, talking United Nations"!

When I read the phrase, I instantly thought of Nicole Scherzinger. Imagine if she was a figure skater rather than a singer. Who would she represent?

  1. the USA (via her Mum being half-Hawaiian);
  2. Russia (via her Mum being half-Russian);
  3. the Philippines (via her Dad being of Filipino descent);
  4. Germany (via her step-Dad being of German descent)


Ashley Wagner, on the other hand was born in Germany.

The difference with Ashley is that she was born on an American military base in Germany.

Now, I admit that I know nothing about this sort of thing, but I have a feeling that US military bases are classed as American territory, and as such are run under American law rather than local law. Therefore, any babies born on the base are still classed as being American.

On the other hand, with a surname like Wagner, she is bound to have German blood in her anyway! But, I am not sure if it is recent enough in itself to entitle her to German nationality.


Samantha Cesario - Italy once Kostner retires

Now I would love to see that switch! Cesario should have been competing as a senior for years now, but there just aren't enough slots in the American team for her. But, Italy would definitely be a good option! After seeing her at Junior Worlds, Cesario is definitely good enough to get into that team!

But, as Carolina was my first skating crush, I don't want to see her retire any time soon!!! :cry:

CaroLiza_fan
 

glam

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
For example, do any of the skaters from St. Pertersburg by any chance have an Estonian or Finnish grandparent? I don’t know too much about the demographic make-up of St. Petersburg, but due to the location of the city, I would expect it to have quite sizable communities from Finland or the Baltic States.

LOL, there is no sizable Finnish communities in St.Petersburg, if any community at all. Finnish people seldom go to Russia even for a vacation. Although it is physically close, in every other aspect it's very far away.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
"Pogo" is a common first part of many Armenian surnames, but yes Pogorelay (which I assume Pogorilaya is derived from) is primarily Ukranian it would appear. Ukraine is located farther south compared to Russia so that could explain her darker complexion, but I'm still not convinced she doesn't have Armenian roots (a close friend of mine is part Armenian, and she has a sister that looks very similar to Anna - blonde with blue eyes but darker eyebrows and skin, very pretty!). But I am not sure. So far she seems to be doing okay representing Russia though, but perhaps in the future she could skate for Ukraine or Armenia!

And ITA about Cesario and Italy. Also wonder about Yasmin and Armin skating for Iran. Have there ever been any Iranian skaters before? That would be cool, and they are both so quality, but not likely to go too far in the US.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Also wonder about Yasmin and Armin skating for Iran. Have there ever been any Iranian skaters before? That would be cool, and they are both so quality, but not likely to go too far in the US.

Iran is not a member of the ISU. I don't know that they have any ice rinks.

In the 1970s I had a skating friend (in the US) whose father was from Iran and she used to joke about representing Iran. That was in the days of the Shah, before Islamic Revolution, so culturally it would have been more plausible then than now.

I just did a search for "figure skating Iran" and came up with a few links about inline (roller) figure skating including videos and also a couple of sites that mentioned or focused on Yasmin Siraj.

If inline figure skating is an option, then conceivably figure skating on ice could also be possible if the ice were available and the formation of a skating federation. But I don't expect that to happen within the careers of current senior-level competitors.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Iran is not a member of the ISU. I don't know that they have any ice rinks.

In the 1970s I had a skating friend (in the US) whose father was from Iran and she used to joke about representing Iran. That was in the days of the Shah, before Islamic Revolution, so culturally it would have been more plausible then than now.

I just did a search for "figure skating Iran" and came up with a few links about inline (roller) figure skating including videos and also a couple of sites that mentioned or focused on Yasmin Siraj.

If inline figure skating is an option, then conceivably figure skating on ice could also be possible if the ice were available and the formation of a skating federation. But I don't expect that to happen within the careers of current senior-level competitors.

I wasn't born until 1985, but from what I have heard, Iran was one of the most liberal countries in the Middle East before the Revolution. So, I wouldn't be surprised if they had been considering a figure skating programme. They might even have built a rink.

But since the Revolution, figure skating would be a definite no-no! Especially for the females! :no:

Incidentally, I just repeated your search to find the roller videos. And I have to say, I was actually very impressed with what I saw! ;)

Also wonder about Yasmin and Armin skating for Iran. Have there ever been any Iranian skaters before? That would be cool, and they are both so quality, but not likely to go too far in the US.

I hadn't come across Yasmin before you mentioned her, and although I'd seen Armin at GP's, I couldn't remember anything about him. So, I just looked them both up.

Armin's Wikipedia article didn't really talk much about his family background, except to tell us what his name means in Persian. So, according to Wikipedia, it would seem that Iran is his only other option.

Yasmin's Wikipedia article, confirmed that her Mum is Iranian. However, it also told us that her Dad is from Saudi Arabia.

Now, Saudi Arabia is a totally different matter. Although they like to think that they're strict, Saudi Arabia is more liberal than most other Muslim countries in the Middle East.

And a quick search on Google tells us that they have at least one rink (in Jeddah)!!! :biggrin:

So, Saudi Arabia would be a much better option for Yasmin. And hey, let's face it, there is no shortage of oil money to fund a figure skating programme for the country. ;) :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia_at_the_Olympics

Saudi Arabia needs a woman to represent it at the Winter Olympics, if it ever wants to field a team (which it hasn't, as yet) (see above what they had to go through at the last summer Olympics)

The issue of women's participation





Wojdan Shaherkani, first female competitor from Saudi Arabia to compete at any Olympics in any event, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in Judo
By Saudi Arabian law, women were, until recently, not permitted to compete in the Olympic Games.[1] However, following the International Olympic Committee pressuring the Saudi Olympic Committee to send female athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics, in June 2012 the Saudi Embassy in London announced this had been agreed.[2][3]

There were calls for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Olympics until it permitted women to compete—notably from Anita DeFrantz, chair of the International Olympic Committee's Women and Sports Commission, in 2010.[4] In 2008, Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the International Olympic Committee charter. Stating that gender discrimination should be no more acceptable than racial discrimination, he noted: "For the last 15 years, many international nongovernmental organizations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. [...] While [its] efforts did result in increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion."[5]

Dalma Rushdi Malhas competed at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal in equestrian (see Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics).

Saudi Arabia agreed on July 12, 2012, to send two women to compete in the 2012 Olympic games in London, England. The two female athletes are Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in judo and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.[6] Prior to June 2012, Saudi Arabia had banned female athletes from competing at the Olympics.[7] Every country competing at the London Games will include female athletes for the first time in Olympic history.[8]

Perhaps she can compete for Bahrain, which has an indoor ski slope and may want to compete at the next winter olympics?
 

MalloryArcher

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
LOL, there is no sizable Finnish communities in St.Petersburg, if any community at all. Finnish people seldom go to Russia even for a vacation. Although it is physically close, in every other aspect it's very far away.

This is actually the topic of my PHD thesis, so perhaps I can shed some light on it!

St Petersburg actually did have a sizable Finnish-speaking community for most of its history. They were known as the Ingrian Finns (Inkerisuomalaiset). Look them up on wikipedia! Most (about 65,000) left Russia after 1990 when the Finnish government announced they could receive Finnish residency permits. However, that law was reversed in 2010, so it wouldn't be much good to any skaters with Finnish ancestry left in Russia now.

It is kind of true that Finns don't travel much to St Petersburg, even though it's so close. The complicated visa process (and high cost of visas) puts a barrier up, so it's not like you can just hop across to Russia from Helsinki like you can to Sweden or Estonia. It's a shame though, St Petersburg is very beautiful :love:

Anyway, can anyone tell me, what are Polina K's and Anna Ovcharova's connections to Estonia and Switzerland? I'm very curious!
 
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