4 Continents...

[JonnyCoop]

Personally, one thing that could make the 4Cs more interesting (tho it is one of my favorite competitions due to the fact it gives some skaters their one shot at going ANYWHERE all year), is the ISU needs to do a little "redistricting". For example -- I do NOT consider Israel to be a European country, yet there they are in the Euros. I think throwing Chait/Sakhnovsky and Gudina/Beletski into the Dance mix would make things much more interesting than simply the annual Canadian champions vs. US champions matchup. I also personally would not consider Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Armenia to be a European nation either, I don't care if they used to be a part of a nation that was European. But I guess I personally zone things differently than the ISU....

 

[thisthingcalledlove]

Personally, one thing that could make the 4Cs more interesting (tho it is one of my favorite competitions due to the fact it gives some skaters their one shot at going ANYWHERE all year), is the ISU needs to do a little "redistricting". For example -- I do NOT consider Israel to be a European country, yet there they are in the Euros. I think throwing Chait/Sakhnovsky and Gudina/Beletski into the Dance mix would make things much more interesting than simply the annual Canadian champions vs. US champions matchup. I also personally would not consider Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Armenia to be a European nation either, I don't care if they used to be a part of a nation that was European. But I guess I personally zone things differently than the ISU....

ITA. I would also allow Russia in the 4CC, since MOST of Russia is in Asia...by allowing Russia in the 4CC if their big guns go, the competition will be a lot tougher...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

We know very little about figure skating during the Soviet days. Did they have a big competition between the Soviet Republics? Sort of like Georgia SSR, Ukraine SSR, Beloruse SSR, the USSR, and all those Siberian Republics SSR?

Joe

 

[Mathman]

The former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan did participate in Four Continents last year (Anastasia Gimazetdinova in ladies and Aganina and Knyazev in pairs).

MM

 

[JonnyCoop]

The former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan did participate in Four Continents last year (Anastasia Gimazetdinova in ladies and Aganina and Knyazev in pairs).

MM

Yes, and my girl Tatyana Malanina won it the first year. But I guess Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are so far east not even the ISU considering them European would be able to fly. But I still say Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are too far east as well.

Joe -- I think they may have had something along the line of "Republic Nationals" during the Soviet days; I have heard references to skaters being Lithuanian or Ukrainian "national champions" during the Soviet days. However, once the USSR Nationals rolled around, there was heavy favorites toward the "true Russian" skaters. (On that note, I've heard tell that the Soviets were really pushing Alexander Fadeev in Calgary over Viktor Petrenko because Fadeev was Russian and Petrenko was Ukrainian.)

 

[STL_Blues_fan]

If Armenia and Georgia are in Asia, what is Turkey doing trying to get into EU?

The Eurasia continent is split by the Ural Mountains. Anything north of Mediterranean Sea is considered Europe. Therefore, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan would be European countries. And Turkey, which has been lobbying to get into EU and sends skaters to Europeans.

Israel could go either way, and yes it would definitely spice up the 4CC.

Most of Russian population is concentrated West of Urals; furthermore, most figure skaters are from the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas. Siberia is part of Russia, so there were no Siberian SSRs (though there were (and probably still are) autonomous SSRs (ASSR).

I don't know about SSR "national's - but it makes sense as far as who would be sent to the USSR nationals.

Jonny, sadly, no surprise about Fadeev vs. Petrenko!


BTW, thanks to everybody for the early Europeans history.

Yana

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Yes, and my girl Tatyana Malanina won it the first year. But I guess Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are so far east not even the ISU considering them European would be able to fly. But I still say Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are too far east as well.

Joe -- I think they may have had something along the line of "Republic Nationals" during the Soviet days; I have heard references to skaters being Lithuanian or Ukrainian "national champions" during the Soviet days. However, once the USSR Nationals rolled around, there was heavy favorites toward the "true Russian" skaters. (On that note, I've heard tell that the Soviets were really pushing Alexander Fadeev in Calgary over Viktor Petrenko because Fadeev was Russian and Petrenko was Ukrainian.)

Jonny - I did see Malanina in DC Worlds as a coach. She is so cute and delightful as were her skating days. She was there as the coach for her husband who is quite good looking and skates faulty but with talent. I didn't see them in Dortmund.

As for PreProtopopov Worlds, I did see an old film of a skate-for-three. Two ladies were doing a very lovely 'sister' act and about halfway through, a male skater joined them. It was a beautifully choreographed program and very well skated. If I remember correctly, the music was Afternoon of a Faun or something else Debussy would write. The sister act did do Bielman spins so it is probably true that the Russians did it first.

At the end, the film just said it was a Soviet Film with no names of the skaters (in English anyway). I was curious to see if it was Tarassova and Moskvina. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Joe

 

[JonnyCoop]

Turkey at Euros

Yana --

Thanks for the info; I actually didn't know the Urals was supposed to be more or less the European border. I STILL SAY, HOWEVER, borderline or not, Israel should be in the 4Cs. And I didn't include Turkey in my list of questionables be-cause they do have that chunk right next to Greece, which as far as I'm concerned does make them European.

Joe--

If one of the ladies in that film was doing a Bielmann, there is a very good chance that that could be Moskvina. I've heard that she had one in the early 60s when she was still a singles skater. And I do remember now that you mentioned it that Tatyana and her husband Roman Skorniakov were coaching each other for quite some time. Roman is pretty good-looking; before I knew who he was I saw him sitting next to Tatyana at -- I think it was the GPF in 99 that she won -- and thinking, who's the cutie??