Americans Skating for Other Countries

[STL_Blues_fan]

Marina Annasina never had any problems with the judges after she switched countries. Two Olympic medals is impressive in my book!

Sergei Sakhnovsky switched countries too and did/does fairly well. Certainly better than L&C, and R&S.

Matthew Zavozin didn't get "penalized" either when he and Morgan won the junior gold.

Navka used to represent Belarus, didn't she?

So Tanith is hardly an exception to the "rule". Don't see any "rules" here. Just seems to be that L&C were rightly placed in the top 12 at Worlds. Not everything has to be a "national bias". Just b/c they were the 5 time National champions does not mean that they are automatically a medal contender at Worlds. There are plenty of multiple national champions out there and some never even crack the top 15.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

It is true that Tanith has not been tainted by this trend of punishing skaters who swap countries. However, she is not from an eastern-bloc nation, as the others were.

And we thought that the Cold War was over! It seems to be alive and well in the world of figure skating.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Why did they often favor one skater over another?
You'd have to ask the judges and officials who were around at the time.

Maybe the judges at that time (1970s) considered Dorothy Hamill to be the classic, "America's Sweetheart on Ice", and she was the one they decided would be the standard bearer for US figure skating. Perhaps Diane realized that the fates were against her and she did not want to compete at Worlds and/or the Olympics unless she could do so as National Champion. She probably won the national title of the Netherlands in a walk during those years.

Has anybody read an interview and/or article about this situation?

 

[tripleflutz]

I think Yvonne Gomez is an American who skated for another country back about 15 years ago. She does TV work for the Disson Broadcasts now.

 

[JOHIO2]

I think Yvonne Gomez is an American who skated for another country back about 15 years ago. She does TV work for the Disson Broadcasts now.

I think she competed for Spain.

 

[backspin]

Christian Wilson is a senior dancer who competed for Germany & now he's looking for another German partner.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I think Yvonne Gomez is an American who skated for another country back about 15 years ago. She does TV work for the Disson Broadcasts now.

Yvonne Gomez trained with Brian Boitano in the San Francisco area. She competed for Spain. Frankly, it was a good decision for her to switch countries, if she wanted so much to compete in the Olympics, as there was no way she would have qualified for the US Olympic team, not against the likes of Thomas, Trenary, and Kadavy. I remember watching the women's long program, and Yvonne, as one of the lower-ranked skaters, competed early in the competition. Peggy Fleming, commentating, said (to paraphrase), "I think this is a wonderful piece of music. Unfortunately, technically, Yvonne can't keep up with it". Indeed, she made several mistakes, and clearly was not in the same class as the US women.

 

[JonnyCoop]

I remember Yvonne as being very graceful and elegant, one of those skaters I classify under "great on the ice, erratic in the air" (rather like Silvia Fontana or Lucinda Ruh). By the way, at the 85 Nationals (which I believe were her last US ones), she placed 5th in the long program behind Tiffany Chin, Debi Thomas, Caryn Kadavy, and Kathryn Adams (who wasn't bad either), charging from 13th after the short to finish 8th.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I remember Yvonne as being very graceful and elegant, one of those skaters I classify under "great on the ice, erratic in the air" (rather like Silvia Fontana or Lucinda Ruh). By the way, at the 85 Nationals (which I believe were her last US ones), she placed 5th in the long program behind Tiffany Chin, Debi Thomas, Caryn Kadavy, and Kathryn Adams (who wasn't bad either), charging from 13th after the short to finish 8th.

Yvonne may have been one of those skaters who were wonderful in practice but then wilted under the pressure of competition. That certainly appeared to be the case with her long program at Calgary.

 

[Ptichka]

Marina Annasina never had any problems with the judges after she switched countries. Two Olympic medals is impressive in my book!

Sergei Sakhnovsky switched countries too and did/does fairly well. Certainly better than L&C, and R&S.

Matthew Zavozin didn't get "penalized" either when he and Morgan won the junior gold.

Navka used to represent Belarus, didn't she?

So Tanith is hardly an exception to the "rule". Don't see any "rules" here. Just seems to be that L&C were rightly placed in the top 12 at Worlds. Not everything has to be a "national bias". Just b/c they were the 5 time National champions does not mean that they are automatically a medal contender at Worlds. There are plenty of multiple national champions out there and some never even crack the top 15.

ITA