First off, let me clarify that when I referred to "paying dues", I was talking about on the WORLDS level, which I admittedly did not state in my original post.
"Conspiracy theory" (not my wording) may be a bit extreme, but one can call it what they like. A look at Worlds dance placings in the last 20 years would strongly indicate that couples from Russia/USSR would certainly seem to get noticed and spend less time making international progress than couples from, for example, Finland, Lithuania, Hungary, and several other nations. Are ALL Russian couples automatically THAT much better than couples from elsewhere? ALL of them? Doubtful. Rahkamo & Kokko, the Finns, were actually once told by an ISU official, "Sorry, you come from the wrong country" following a 20th-place showing at the 1988 Worlds that was considered by many knowledgable people to be MANY places below where they should have been.
In regards to my referring to Tatiana Navka as an "established presence", which seemed to be disupted -- Prior to her current teaming with Kostamorov, Navka had made 5 Worlds and 2 Olympic appearances. Hardly an unknown. I would consider that, to a point, to be fairly established. Also, this current partnership has gone from 12th in 2001 [Sidebar: I was at the 2001 Worlds and could not figure out for the life of me why they were placed that high] to a probable 1st (no worse than 2nd) in 4 seasons. (5 if you count their first partnership). They are at least even, ranking wise, with Denkova/Staviyisky (8 years together), and ahead of Grushina/Goncharov (at least 11 years together), Winkler/Lohse (together at least 14 seasons), Deloebel/Schoenfelder (at least 9) and Chait/Sakhnovsky (also at least 9). In a sport supposedly based on the principle of "Wait your turn", it seems some have to wait longer than others. Perhaps for Navka it's a long wait, but not for Navka/Kostamorov as a unit. Usova/Zhulin, Klimova/Ponomarenko, and Gritshuk/Platov didn't have to wait long to get into the top 5, either; they were all pretty much in it at their 1st Worlds. So the supposed "wait your turn" rule (and this is not a rule I made up, people have been saying it for decades) would not seem to apply to Russians.
Regarding Belbin/Agosto: Yes, every now and then a non-Russian couple rises quickly. Bourne & Kraatz did, too. I never said it DOESN'T happen. Nor do I feel, nor did I say, that everyone has to spend 10 years outside the top 5 before they get into it. It is a bit odd, in general, however, that Worlds standings have shown many cases where established couples (by this I mean couples with 3, 4, 5 or more Worlds appearances) keep getting mired in the same basic slot while Russian couples either debut ahead of them or vault ahead of them if they were behind them the previous year. Again -- are ALL Russian couples ALWAYS that much better? Again -- doubtful. And it seems like every time there's a season coming up where the Russians might not get on the podium, as if by magic, there's another one! Everyone else, it seems, can just wait even longer.
I'm not saying that the Russian dance couples are untalented and/or always overrated. Bestemianova/Bukin, Usova/Zhulin, Krylova/Ovsiannakov were all terrific. Even Lobacheva/Averbukh, who I admittedly was never a fan of, were outstanding in Salt Lake City. (I am omitting Gritshuk/Platov because IMO that just opens a whole new can of worms. Please let's not do that.
) What I AM saying is, basically, I feel a couple seems to get better attention and more respect if they're from Russia. It's pretty hard to doubt that.
