2005 World Team

In Blades on Ice, they did an in depth feature on Jane Bugaeva and she still has Russian citizenship and she said that she has no intention of giving up her citizenship. Jane Bugaeva does not have American citizenship. I was wondering if perhaps she intends on skating for Russia. The Russian ladies aren't very deep and are getting up there in years. It would be easy for her to make the Russian team after the 2006 Olympics (when presumably Irina and perhaps Vika and Elena retire).

I wonder why Angela Nikodinov doesn't skate for Bulgaria. She would be a shoe in to go to worlds every year and perhaps the lack of pressure to make the team might help her nerves out.

On the Easterns Broadcast, Bugavera said that if it ever came to it: she would represent the US in the Olympics, because she was trained here.
For Worlds & the Grand Prix citizenship doesn't matter.
Of course Jane would first have to get in the top 3 of US nats
But, I must say-from what I saw of her, I was very impressed.

Galler-Rabinowitz and Mitchell have withdrawn from US Nationals

Ladies:
Kwan
Cohen
Kirk

Men:
Weir
Weiss
Goebel

Pairs:
Inoue/Baldwin
?
?

Ice Dancers:
Belbin/Agosto
Gregory/Petukhov
?

diamond

Ladies: Kwan, Cohen, and whomever, as everyone else has said. I think either Kimmie or Jane will do it. (I love Mok, but she isn't healthy yet)

Men: Weir, Goebel, Jahnke. This is contingent on Johnny and Tim getting over their current afflictions.

Pairs: I&B - since they made the GPF, I think they are a lock for top 2. Their throws, which were so inconsistent last year, were all landed for positive GOE so far in GP, too. They are trying the 3lutzes in both the short and long and will probably mess them up. However, they are doing a 2A2T combination rather than a 3t sequence, and they do it very nicely. It's been scoring well in their GP. Their SBS spins are top notch now. Could finish as high as 7th this year at Worlds.

Don and Hunt have had really great SP's, but have completely fallen apart in the LP's. Also, although you are allowed 14 elements in the LP, they are only doing 13 (essentially, the junior program) and quite easy lifts. They have run out of steam at the end.

O&L have been struggling, but have been better in the GP in some ways that D&H, particularly in the LP. Since Nationals is using 6.0, and under 6.0, he who finishes ahead in the LP wins, my prediction is for O&L to be behind D&H in the short, but finish ahead of them in the long. Vise and Kole are way weaker than all of the 3 top pairs from last year.

Dance: It is mathematically possible for the US to get 3 teams for Olympics next year. G&P have been doing quite well in the GP! They have beaten several teams that were ahead of them in Dortmund (Faiella/Scali for example!). I believe G&P finished 4th in both their events.
If B&A make the bronze medal at Worlds, and G&P get 10th place, that would do the trick, and is very possible. I expect Matthews/Zavozin to win the bronze medal at Nationals. They just won the Jr. Grand Prix Final, so that should make TPTB look favorably upon them. I would like to see them add some difficulty to their LP though.

Citizenships

I understand that Jane's mother did not get along too well with the Russian federations. They basically told her that Jane should give up everything else but skating, and her mom said, "I don't think so".

As to Angela. There is a theory that it's not good to skate for small federations that don't have much ISU clout. Other Bulgarian skaters are Denkova & Stavijski and Dinev -- you can decide for yoursef if it has benefited them.

Small federations

Well, skating for a small federation might put the skater out of medal contention, but at least they get to skater. It's always a shame to leave skaters at home who are more deserving than skaters who get to go. Wouldn't it be nice to have wild card spots at the worlds?

I saw the televised Eastern Sectionals and while Jane is plenty of wow, I thought Emily Hughes was the more complete skater. Oh, and she didn't flutz like another skater with the same last name.

Linny

Cup of Russia (This is not a spoiler because I do not know who won and will not mention any specifics!)

I am fanatical about not learning who has won a competition prior to watching the telecast... even though sometimes that means waiting weeks! I just enjoy it more watching as though it were live.

Anyway, since we don't get to see it, I don't think it's a spoiler to learn how the skaters ranked in the SP prior to watching the telecast. The CoR SPs "may" add interesting insight into some of the skaters we have mentioned in this thread.

If you want to see just how the CoR SP went, check out these links:

Ladies short:
http://www.isufs.org/results/gprus04/SEG003.HTM

Pairs short:
http://www.isufs.org/results/gprus04/SEG005.HTM

Mens short:
http://www.isufs.org/results/gprus04/SEG001.HTM

I have no idea of the final outcome (will find that out when I watch on Monday), but some of you may be interested in these scores as a "teaser."

I'm not sure how D&S are hurt skating for Bulgaria (not a fan here). They might have won a World Championship but at least they medal. I think that Dinev is probably held back b/c he falls a lot (or at least more than the top guys). I'll freely admit that I'm not an Angela fan but perhaps she makes it more difficult for herself by not competing for Bulgaria. It puts that much more pressure on her to do well at the limited events she gets. However speaking for myself, I think that if I was in a competitive position, even though I can skate for another country as neither of my parents are citizens, I don't think I would because while I am not overly patriotic, I would feel like a hypocrite standing under another country's flag (or representing another country). I'm American through and through.