And anyway, the success of Katia and Harley will probably inspire future skaters in Australia!
I can see both sides of the argument.
I totally agree that it is unfair to have qualification for the Olympics being based on just two competitions - one Major Championship, and one Senior B. As schizoanalyst says, your form can change from one day to the next. So, if you happen to have an off-day on the day of the qualifying competition, well, that's it over.
And what makes this even unfairer is that you are not necessarily qualifying a spot for yourself - you are qualifying a spot for your country. So, even if you have a good showing in the qualifying, it doesn't necessarily mean you will go to the main event.
No, at the very least, qualifying should be based on what has happened in the whole of the current season (i.e. the ISU Season's World Rankings). Even better would be basing it on the whole of the previous 12 months, or even the whole of the past 2 seasons (i.e. the ISU World Standings).
But, the whole way the Olympics is set up is wrong anyway. It should be the same rules as for the other Majors, specifically Worlds. Where this is the underlying principle:
As long as the skater meets the Minimum TES, every country automatically has one slot.
That's great. I have no problem with that. And I have no problem with the way additional slots are earned either (although, I would add a clause stating that the reigning champion is automatically qualified in addition to their country's quota).
For me, the problem is the way the Minimum TES is being set. Yes, as the top skaters push the scores higher and higher, you need to raise the qualifying requirement to keep the competition relatively fair. And it is working well in Singles skating. But, it is really stifling things in Pairs and Dance. Particularly Pairs.
Put simply, the Minimum TES is being set too high in Pairs and Dance. And, as a result, the number of entries to the ISU competitions is getting smaller and smaller. And, with the Olympics also having the citizenship requirement, it is getting critical.
For many people, the Olympics is the only time they will see figure skating. And, many children get inspired by what they see at the Olympics. But, most TV broadcasters simply can't fit everything in. So, they only show what appears to be popular. And if they see a competition with only a small number of entries, they are more likely to drop it than a competition with a lot of entries (even though they are likely to not even show the whole competition). So, if the children don't see the Pairs competition, they will not get inspired to take up Pairs skating. And so a vicious circle develops.
I know that there is a set number of slots at the Olympics, and that the number of slots is smaller for Pairs. But, that is because so few are meeting the requirements! If the requirements were lower and more partnerships were meeting them, I would expect the number of slots would be increased (or, at least, I would hope they were!)
Yes, having more people meeting the requirements would make competitions longer. And at the Olympics, time is at a premium. But, in figure skating, longer competitions could easily be accomodated because there is only one competition each day. It would just be the practice sessions held on the Main Rink that would need to be re-arranged. And if needs-be, these could be accomodated by getting rid of the Olympic Team Event and spreading the rest of the figure skating out a bit more...
Those are my thoughts. The thoughts of somebody who prefers Worlds to the Olympics.
CaroLiza_fan
