- Joined
- Sep 24, 2025
Just realized that I left out Metelkina from the table, even though she fits the criteria I set...Better late than never
status to skaters who represent countries who are sure to give citizenship, but decided that I'll wait for a formal announcement, like in the case of Julia Sauter
Side rant:
There are countries where going to the Olympic as a foreign-born athlete is not a problem. We all know that the Hungarian entries of the list above will easily get citizenship when they need it. Spain and Israel are also generous in forgiving normal imigration criteria in case of athletes. And for Sauter, the Romanian goverment made special exemption for the citizenship.
Other countries are stricter, they want language competence, like in Germany and as we see in case of Latvia. Alison Reed went through the ringer to finally get citizenship. Australia requires residence status, which I am sure does not help their pairs team's training.
I can understand rumblings from or about native born skaters who feel like they get left behind in opportunities. Especially if they have the tech mins or feel they would be able to qualify with better support. But at some point, I wish we would be more gracious to the adopted athletes.
As I am more familiar with the HU shennanigans, so let me refer to these: all of the adopted athletes are always quantified as 'other' by the casual Hungarian viewer. The biggest sticking point is the language, of course. Even Szemko, who speaks Hungarian pretty good, is not immune to this. Hunfed introduced a national ranking system to alleviate this perception of promoting non-natives in the last few years.
Sporting achievements are, as you can imagine, looked upon favourably, just like in the case of every ex-communist country. Indeed, for the size of the country, HU has a good number of Olympic Glory, mostly in Summer sports. Because of this, results are the most important on the whole for the NOC, hence the incentive to adopt athletes. And even the loose language requirements are understandable, as Hungarian is not easy to learn(to demonstrate, I never heard Balรกzs Nagy's name pronounced correctly by English commentators- not just referring to Chris, don't worry
- and even I could think of a word to say as an example to give a comparrison: Nagy, the sound gy is like____). Yet in discussions of athletes adopted by HU, their foreign origin is always hinted at. I will say not everyone means this in a negative fashion, but in the subtext there is always a mention of it, as if this wasn't evident from their name or ethnicity. I know the athletes themselves are probably proud of their origin, as they have every right to be, just wish we were more understanding on the whole. In figure skating their results help other athletes, whether by qualifying other spots for ISU championships, or getting recognition and funding, which the small Hunfed(who had to drop out of hosting Euros in 2024) needs.
This rant was most probably brought to you by the fact that I myself have been differentiated, even though I am a native Hungarian speaker, just was not born in the country, nor do I live there.
Side note: I debated if I should awardCriteria:
Last update: 11 Nov
- represents a qualified NOC and has a good chance of being sent should the Admin Gods allow
- has/achives TES min
- has a realistic chance of getting citizenship
- hasn't yet competed in the Olympics representing their current adopted country
- working on it (if not otherwise stated, this is assumed) -
likely;
not likely
- unlock for next time!
Adopted country Athlete Discipline Citizenship Status AUS Jason CHAN Ice Dance AUS Anastasia GOLUBEVA Pairs CAN Deanna STELLATO-DUDEK Pairs ESP Asaf KAZIMOV Ice Dance ESP Tim DIECK Ice Dance FRA Laurence FOURNIER BEAUDRY Ice Dance FIN Yuka ORIHARA Ice Dance GEO Anastasiia METELKINA Pairs GER Nikita VOLODIN Pairs HUN Maria PAVLOVA Pairs HUN Alexei SVIATCHENKO Pairs LAT Fedir KULISH Men LTU Allison REED Ice Dane NED Daria DANILOVA Pairs POL Ioulia CHTCHETININA Pairs ROU Julia SAUTER Women USA Alisa EFIMOVA Pairs USA Christina CARREIRA Ice Dance USA Daniil PARKMAN Pairs Alternates CZE Anna VALESI Pairs CYP Stefania YAKOVLEVA Woman HUN Mariia IGNATEVA Ice Dance HUN Danijil Leonyidovics SZEMKO Ice Dance SWE Milla Ruud REITAN Ice Dance
status to skaters who represent countries who are sure to give citizenship, but decided that I'll wait for a formal announcement, like in the case of Julia SauterSide rant:
There are countries where going to the Olympic as a foreign-born athlete is not a problem. We all know that the Hungarian entries of the list above will easily get citizenship when they need it. Spain and Israel are also generous in forgiving normal imigration criteria in case of athletes. And for Sauter, the Romanian goverment made special exemption for the citizenship.
Other countries are stricter, they want language competence, like in Germany and as we see in case of Latvia. Alison Reed went through the ringer to finally get citizenship. Australia requires residence status, which I am sure does not help their pairs team's training.
I can understand rumblings from or about native born skaters who feel like they get left behind in opportunities. Especially if they have the tech mins or feel they would be able to qualify with better support. But at some point, I wish we would be more gracious to the adopted athletes.
As I am more familiar with the HU shennanigans, so let me refer to these: all of the adopted athletes are always quantified as 'other' by the casual Hungarian viewer. The biggest sticking point is the language, of course. Even Szemko, who speaks Hungarian pretty good, is not immune to this. Hunfed introduced a national ranking system to alleviate this perception of promoting non-natives in the last few years.
Sporting achievements are, as you can imagine, looked upon favourably, just like in the case of every ex-communist country. Indeed, for the size of the country, HU has a good number of Olympic Glory, mostly in Summer sports. Because of this, results are the most important on the whole for the NOC, hence the incentive to adopt athletes. And even the loose language requirements are understandable, as Hungarian is not easy to learn(to demonstrate, I never heard Balรกzs Nagy's name pronounced correctly by English commentators- not just referring to Chris, don't worry
- and even I could think of a word to say as an example to give a comparrison: Nagy, the sound gy is like____). Yet in discussions of athletes adopted by HU, their foreign origin is always hinted at. I will say not everyone means this in a negative fashion, but in the subtext there is always a mention of it, as if this wasn't evident from their name or ethnicity. I know the athletes themselves are probably proud of their origin, as they have every right to be, just wish we were more understanding on the whole. In figure skating their results help other athletes, whether by qualifying other spots for ISU championships, or getting recognition and funding, which the small Hunfed(who had to drop out of hosting Euros in 2024) needs.This rant was most probably brought to you by the fact that I myself have been differentiated, even though I am a native Hungarian speaker, just was not born in the country, nor do I live there.
Ice is slippery, so at the end you I included the first 4 alternates as well
that Switzerland have a required score. That always makes my blood boil. The athletes have met the IOC's requirements (which are too tight anyway!), so why place additional obstacles in front of your own sports stars to try to prevent them having their moment in the limelight?!
that Livia may have injuries. I wish her all the best.
