IOC's banning of Russia from 2018 Olympics

[andromache]

With no Putin-proposed boycott, I 100000% expect to see all our favorite skaters competing at the Olympics! Yay!

No one is going to give up the chance to win the Team OGM, ladies OGM, and potentially even the pairs OGM for the second straight Olympic games.

I hope this has all happened early enough so as not to have too much mental impact on the athletes during the actual Olympics.

 

[yoloaxel]

‘We will not block’ Russian Olympians from competing in Pyeongchang after IOC ruling, Putin says

https://www.thestar.com/sports/amat...s-from-competing-at-pyeongchang-olympics.html

 

[kiches]

competing all under olympics flag isnt a bad future idea, you rid of unnecessary nationalism and make a unifier athlete (the media can always mention where he/she is from).

I would second this notion. I've never been a fan of intense nationalism in sports and have never been particularly patriotic, but I would think in the spirit of the Olympics and coming together from all parts of the world for sports it makes more sense for the Olympics to do away with national anthems and flags altogether for all athletes, and perhaps keep those in only for the Opening Ceremony before the competitions begin to represent where people have come from. Then everyone can be labeled "an Olympic Athlete from X". If we wanted to take it a step further you can even have a universal Olympic sportswear for all athletes without any flags on them. As for figuring how to run team event for figure skating, I would probably actually do away with it altogether.

 

[moriel]

So Putin spoke out. He talked about the sport issue at some other random public meet

- the decision was motivated by politics
- the TUEs issue: "the competitors of russian athletes come and bring tons of papers, one has this disease, and the other has another, they are all sick. Maybe they should compete at Paraolympics? But no, they all compete, take forbidden medicine, they have clear advantage in competition. But for some reason nobody pays attention to this".
- "collective responsability" is not a thing in most legal systems in the world.
- the most important: "I repeat it once more: Russia will not block anything and will not create obstacles for the athletes who will want to compete"

 

[moriel]

I would second this notion. I've never been a fan of intense nationalism in sports and have never been particularly patriotic, but I would think in the spirit of the Olympics and coming together from all parts of the world for sports it makes more sense for the Olympics to do away with national anthems and flags altogether for all athletes, and perhaps keep those in only for the Opening Ceremony before the competitions begin to represent where people have come from. Then everyone can be labeled "an Olympic Athlete from X". If we wanted to take it a step further you can even have a universal Olympic sportswear for all athletes without any flags on them. As for figuring how to run team event for figure skating, I would probably actually do away with it altogether.

I agree this would be fair and nice. Also remove lots of the unnecessary politics from games.
As for the team events, such as the FS team event, it could be done by continent or something like that, why not?

 

[LRK]

I agree this would be fair and nice. Also remove lots of the unnecessary politics from games.
As for the team events, such as the FS team event, it could be done by continent or something like that, why not?

Or random draws.

Note: This is not a serious suggestion for the Olympics, as I'm sure it will never happen. However, it would be fun to have some other "Team Competition" where skaters were put together randomly, not based on either country or continent. It would be so fun to see what random constellations one might end up with.

 

[beachmouse]

I agree this would be fair and nice. Also remove lots of the unnecessary politics from games.
As for the team events, such as the FS team event, it could be done by continent or something like that, why not?

You know what could be a lot of fun- take the top X number of athletes in each discipline that declare themselves willing, have, say, 8 leaders in the sport be declared team captains and then hold an athlete draft to let each of them build a team. Given the interest player drafts generate in the North American team sports, you would generate a ton of buzz for the event even before anyone takes to the ice. Who does team Plushy pick first? Does Yuna Kim take a pairs or dance tam with her third round selection? Tune in and see...

 

[anyanka]

Here's how I think it'll pan out. Russia won't take the full slate of entries, but have just enough to compete in the team event. I'll assume they will have 2 pairs, 1 man, 1 dance team and 2 ladies. The entries would be:

- T/M and S/K
- Kolyada
- B/S
- Medvedeva and Zagitova

They may relinquish their extra spots, so that's a slot less for all disciplines. Instead of the maximum 10 entries, they can make do with 6. That may be the way to get the skaters into the team event and allowing only the top contenders per discipline to go. This way, we can see if "Candyman" makes the podium, if Kolyada is a spoiler in the men's discipline, and both Zhenya and Alina to compete in ladies, possibly going 1-2 as a lot of us have predicted for weeks now.

With no extra slots or alternates, the extra spot per discipline will go to the other countries which did not previously qualify for the games. That may mean the following countries qualify, as they were next in line from the Nebelhorn Trophy:

- Men: Philippines (yay Michael Christian Martinez!)
- Ladies: Armenia (Galustyan)
- Dance: Lithuania (Alison Reed is back again?)

The extra spot for the pairs may be vacant as there are 21 entries this year including the additional host country slot for South Korea. Without the third pair, that rounds out the field to exactly 20, the originally intended number of competitors.

This may also be consistent with Putin's statement that athletes may go on their own power. Figure skaters are stars in Russia, so it's not inconceivable that corporate sponsors would foot the bill for athletes to compete. It'll be extra stress from an administrative / logistical (not just psychological and emotional) perspective. That's my two cents in how this could shake out. And even with just the competitors I mentioned above for Russia / OAR, that team can still kick major butt and win the team event.

Thoughts?

 

[Eclair]

Apparently:

Exactly, Dvorkovich (Russian deputy FM) said that the uniform will be in Russian flag colors (red, blue, white)

OAR athletes "will compete with a uniform bearing the name of `Olympic athlete from Russia (OAR),'" which clearly will identify them as Russians, even if the spokesperson added the final design has not been finalized.
3 replies 7 retweets 8 likes

from Phil's twitter

so calm down people, there really is not much difference ...

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Here's how I think it'll pan out. Russia won't take the full slate of entries, but have just enough to compete in the team event. I'll assume they will have 2 pairs, 1 man, 1 dance team and 2 ladies. The entries would be:

- T/M and S/K
- Kolyada
- B/S
- Medvedeva and Zagitova

They may relinquish their extra spots, so that's a slot less for all disciplines. Instead of the maximum 10 entries, they can make do with 6. That may be the way to get the skaters into the team event and allowing only the top contenders per discipline to go. This way, we can see if "Candyman" makes the podium, if Kolyada is a spoiler in the men's discipline, and both Zhenya and Alina to compete in ladies, possibly going 1-2 as a lot of us have predicted for weeks now.

With no extra slots or alternates, the extra spot per discipline will go to the other countries which did not previously qualify for the games. That may mean the following countries qualify, as they were next in line from the Nebelhorn Trophy:

- Men: Philippines (yay Michael Christian Martinez!)
- Ladies: Armenia (Galustyan)
- Dance: Lithuania (Alison Reed is back again?)

The extra spot for the pairs may be vacant as there are 21 entries this year including the additional host country slot for South Korea. Without the third pair, that rounds out the field to exactly 20, the originally intended number of competitors.

This may also be consistent with Putin's statement that athletes may go on their own power. Figure skaters are stars in Russia, so it's not inconceivable that corporate sponsors would foot the bill for athletes to compete. It'll be extra stress from an administrative / logistical (not just psychological and emotional) perspective. That's my two cents in how this could shake out. And even with just the competitors I mentioned above for Russia / OAR, that team can still kick major butt and win the team event.

Thoughts?

Why would they give back some spots if they could now go? That makes absolutely no sense in my opinion.

 

[Yatagarasu]

Here's how I think it'll pan out. Russia won't take the full slate of entries, but have just enough to compete in the team event.

Why would they relinquish spots they have earned? I am not sure I quite get that? Of course they'll send three ladies, they won those spots fair and square, and they can easily send top 3 ladies because none of them have had issues with doping. Etc.

 

[gmyers]

Here's how I think it'll pan out. Russia won't take the full slate of entries, but have just enough to compete in the team event. I'll assume they will have 2 pairs, 1 man, 1 dance team and 2 ladies. The entries would be:

- T/M and S/K
- Kolyada
- B/S
- Medvedeva and Zagitova

They may relinquish their extra spots, so that's a slot less for all disciplines. Instead of the maximum 10 entries, they can make do with 6. That may be the way to get the skaters into the team event and allowing only the top contenders per discipline to go. This way, we can see if "Candyman" makes the podium, if Kolyada is a spoiler in the men's discipline, and both Zhenya and Alina to compete in ladies, possibly going 1-2 as a lot of us have predicted for weeks now.

With no extra slots or alternates, the extra spot per discipline will go to the other countries which did not previously qualify for the games. That may mean the following countries qualify, as they were next in line from the Nebelhorn Trophy:

- Men: Philippines (yay Michael Christian Martinez!)
- Ladies: Armenia (Galustyan)
- Dance: Lithuania (Alison Reed is back again?)

The extra spot for the pairs may be vacant as there are 21 entries this year including the additional host country slot for South Korea. Without the third pair, that rounds out the field to exactly 20, the originally intended number of competitors.

This may also be consistent with Putin's statement that athletes may go on their own power. Figure skaters are stars in Russia, so it's not inconceivable that corporate sponsors would foot the bill for athletes to compete. It'll be extra stress from an administrative / logistical (not just psychological and emotional) perspective. That's my two cents in how this could shake out. And even with just the competitors I mentioned above for Russia / OAR, that team can still kick major butt and win the team event.

Thoughts?

Did someone say Russia will be giving spots back?

Apparently:

from Phil's twitter

so calm down people, there really is not much difference ...

Ioc will ban this. It’s violating spirit of ban.

 

[anyanka]

Did someone say Russia will be giving spots back?

To be clear: nope, this is just conjecture on my part. They may or may not use them, so they may decide to send only what they need for the team event and to get the top ladies and pairs into their competitions, and the IOC / ISU can decide what to do with the rest. Who knows at this point.

 

[Yatagarasu]

To be clear: nope, this is just conjecture on my part. They may or may not use them, so they may decide to send only what they need for the team event and to get the top ladies and pairs into their competitions, and the IOC / ISU can decide what to do with the rest. Who knows at this point.

There is absolutely no reason why they would not send a full team. Why give up on potential medals? Skaters are clean, and continually tested. They'll send the full contingent.

 

[Anni234]

To be clear: nope, this is just conjecture on my part. They may or may not use them, so they may decide to send only what they need for the team event and to get the top ladies and pairs into their competitions, and the IOC / ISU can decide what to do with the rest. Who knows at this point.

I see your point behind it, but it seems super unlikely.

My two cents - all the figure skaters who qualify at Russian Nats will go.

 

[anyanka]

There is absolutely no reason why they would not send a full team. Why give up on potential medals? Skaters are clean, and continually tested. They'll send the full contingent.

Definitely a possibility, and even a likelihood. The question is whether or not some of those athletes will get the funding to go. If they can't pool together the funds to make up the shortfall, then those athletes who can't afford it may stay home.

Right now it's a question of money. Med, T/M, Zagi, S/K have no problems with $ given they're all stars there. I can't see why Kolyada or B/S would be left home either, since they are the #1 in each of their disciplines. My real question is on those extra entries. I think Sotskova or Radio or whoever is #3 lady wouldn't have much of an issue, but would the other entries per discipline also have the same resources? Of course I can't really pry too much into their finances or ask for a full financial audit by any means!

 

[anyanka]

I see your point behind it, but it seems super unlikely.

My two cents - all the figure skaters who qualify at Russian Nats will go.

Speaking of cents - right now it's what a 90s American rapper once said, "it's all about the Benjamins [money]".

I'd love to see the full contingent go!

 

[gmyers]

It can happen if Russia says Medvedeva zagitova and sotskova are team but ioc panel says zagitova doesn’t have enough tests to prove she’s clean. So zagitova has to be removed. Russia then says pogorilaya but it’s after a deadline and she can’t be cleared. But that still wouldn’t mean another country gets the spot. People are far too sure the panel will allow all Russian skaters. You don’t know if they might want 5 years of tests. So maybe only leonova will be eligible?

 

[anyanka]

It can happen if Russia says Medvedeva zagitova and sotskova are team but ioc panel says zagitova doesn’t have enough tests to prove she’s clean. So zagitova has to be removed. Russia then says pogorilaya but it’s after a deadline and she can’t be cleared. But that still wouldn’t mean another country gets the spot. People are far too sure the panel will allow all Russian skaters. You don’t know if they might want 5 years of tests. So maybe only leonova will be eligible?

There's so much we don't know at this point and so many rules and conditions!! Maybe Tuk and Radio get to go after all? You've made a good point that there may be a minimum test / clearance period that the IOC requires.

Remains to be seen!

 

[madison]

It can happen if Russia says Medvedeva zagitova and sotskova are team but ioc panel says zagitova doesn’t have enough tests to prove she’s clean. So zagitova has to be removed. Russia then says pogorilaya but it’s after a deadline and she can’t be cleared. But that still wouldn’t mean another country gets the spot. People are far too sure the panel will allow all Russian skaters. You don’t know if they might want 5 years of tests. So maybe only leonova will be eligible?

I don't think IOC will be absurd in this regard. Their interest is to have a good participation from Russian part too, after Russia got the punishment.
I read that the person in charge with the organization of Olympic Games in Korea also counts of Russian athletes' participation. There are financial aspects that one should take into consideration if the Russians are missing there.