ISU bans Russia and Belarus from competitions

[CrazyKittenLady]

With Opera browser and the built-in vpn set to Asia 1tv can still be accessed on youtube.

 

[Jasira]

With Opera browser and the built-in vpn set to Asia 1tv can still be accessed on youtube.

Oh, thank you. I set my vpn to Malaysia and it works.

 

[Fanof]

Too bad I don’t watch tennis. Without mincing words, the figure skating worlds this year are going to suck. If people can’t even acknowledge that Russian skaters majorly contribute to the enjoyment, I don’t know what to say.

What makes the championship interesting is the competition between skaters. It will be even more interesting this year! Anyway the best non-Russian skater today is better than the best skater let's say ten or fifteen years ago, and championships ten or fifteen years ago were thrilling, weren't they? OK, there will be fewer quads... so what?

 

[lariko]

What makes the championship interesting is the competition between skaters. It will be even more interesting this year! Anyway the best non-Russian skater today is better than the best skater let's say ten or fifteen years ago, and championships ten or fifteen years ago were thrilling, weren't they? OK, there will be fewer quads... so what?

No, the competitions 10-15 years ago were really boring. I know people are nostalgic and everything, but it was slow and pretentious, with few risks and surprises. Might as well listen to Sinatra and watch 1950’s movies. Now it’s fast and energetic and fun. And there will be less competition now, because it’s just 2 countries instead of 3. And I love quads. They are what puts the skating at the boundary of physics and physical probability. They are irresistible. They are crazy. They are cool. They show what women actually are, not what we are told they should be. Spirals with a sweet smile, not so much.

 

[Matthew]

I feel for the athletes unable to compete for reasons beyond their control, truly. I will miss seeing Misha and Liza (in case they were selected), the pairs, Stepanova and Bukin and possibly Khudaiberdieva and Bazin in case Sinitsina and Katsalapov were planning to skip the event.

That said, this will be the most interesting and rewarding women's event in a while.

I would like to hear their opinion about their country's war against Ukraine, first.

 

[pearly]

No, the competitions 10-15 years ago were really boring. I know people are nostalgic and everything, but it was slow and pretentious, with few risks and surprises. Might as well listen to Sinatra and watch 1950’s movies. Now it’s fast and energetic and fun. And there will be less competition now, because it’s just 2 countries instead of 3. And I love quads. They are what puts the skating at the boundary of physics and physical probability. They are irresistible. They are crazy. They are cool. They show what women actually are, not what we are told they should be. Spirals with a sweet smile, not so much.

I remember watching a Hitchcock movie a few years ago and thinking... "wow - look at this - no explosions, CGI, cars flipping on the highway and flying off bridges; and yet the characters, plot, screenplay and directing are remarkable. I enjoy this much more than most modern films. I should watch this more when I want to watch a good quality film."

I feel the same watching female skaters without quads, but with good skating skills today. I'm 37 by the way.

 

[pearly]

I would like to hear their opinion about their country's war against Ukraine, first.

I don't think you're gonna because I'm not sure they want them and their families to end up in prison.

 

[AlexBreeze]

I'm not sure they want them and their families to end up in prison.

I don't want to discuss politics here, but it has nothing to do with reality, especially the part about families.

 

[yume]

No, the competitions 10-15 years ago were really boring. I know people are nostalgic and everything, but it was slow and pretentious, with few risks and surprises. Might as well listen to Sinatra and watch 1950’s movies. Now it’s fast and energetic and fun. And there will be less competition now, because it’s just 2 countries instead of 3. And I love quads. They are what puts the skating at the boundary of physics and physical probability. They are irresistible. They are crazy. They are cool. They show what women actually are, not what we are told they should be. Spirals with a sweet smile, not so much.

Hymne à l'amour of ladies' quads.

 

[surimi]

Hymne à l'amour of ladies' quads.

Some like it quad.

I have favorites in both camps, quad jumpers and non-quad jumpers, so no horse in this race for me.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Now can anyone tell me one ç%&* reason my youtube playlist from Channel1 is blocked? How is blocking media going to help?

Yes, I find that very questionable as well. And I noticed last week when I wanted to watch RCF on the 1tv homepage, that my vpn wouldn't connect to Russia anymore either. However, connecting to Asia and viewing on youtube still works for the moment at least.

 

[Skate88]

I can't wait to see a women's world competition dominated by skaters who can SKATE and not win by the gymnastic ability to rotate above the ice which is not skating. I can't wait to see an event NOT dominated by quads. People should watch it to see someone perhaps win on the strength of superb flawless deep edges (don't see them so often now - if you disagree look at video of skaters in the 1970s!! or check out Yuka Sato or Robin Cousins....), blindingly fast spins (haven't see many if any since the Swiss were showing everyone what this means), and complex extremely difficult foot work. And maybe we will someday even see an Ina Bauer held the full length of the ice instead of being just a token "show my flexibility" show off throw away move between quads or triples....ALSO thank god no corrupt Russian judges and officials!! (think back to 2003 worlds and which judge was the only one who gave the women's win to the Russian as opposed to Kwan, or the Russians as opposed to the Chinese pairs.....). I LOOK FORWARD to an event with no Russian officials at any of the disciplines......and hopefully zero drugs...

 

[TT_Fin]

I don't know if it wise to have any competitions in any sport in the situation world is now, but I have found ladies boring during last years and I still haven't watched ladies in Olympics. There is some days left to watch at national TV's website, I have not been interested. I don't mind about quads, though I don't resist then either. But overpower makes any sport boring. It is not competition any more. Despite that I am sad that athletes suffer from what somebody else is doing. I am more fan of all elements than just jumps. Also remember that ordinary audience is not so fanatic than people in this forum. They go and watch skating and don't care who wins or quads. They want to see clean skates, performances and joy on the ice - and I belong to that audience. The reason I am member of this forum is links to small competitions where are more skaters we don't see in the biggest competitions and also have somebody to talk with, because after my mother-in-law died nobody in my close circle is interested in FS. I watched Russian championships and a part of Euros in ladies, but after that I had empty feeling like I have seen this, it is enough. I doubt we will se Russian championships with English commenting for a while.

I know many people hate when I say this, but I have thought often that sport should be totally separated from politics. There is only one way to do it: separate sport totally from countries. Everybody could represent the club their come from. If an athlete gets his/her salary from goverment, I don't care if that system wasn't there anymore. Most athletes have to pay themselves or/and have sponsors anyway until they are successfull enough to earn money by sport, and also after that they have sponsors - easier to get them also.

I like choreo sequences most. It may sound weird because I am not biggest fan of ID people would like to think it is about jumps. It is not. But ID was ruined by new system, personality is lacking today and all do too much the same things. Edit I mean many people may think I am not fan of ID because there is no jumps, but it is not about it. I love pairs! Pairs do many different elements and even many do certain same elements, I have never found pairs boring.

These are my personal opinions and you are welcome to disagree.

 

[Ares]

you know, Federer and Djokovic were not at the Australian Open this year and it was a thrilling competition.

The Novaxx Djokovic deportation drama was also a thrilling one.

 

[bouncy]

Let's crown Kaori the 2022 World Champion

 

[gotoschool]

Let Mai Mihara the second highest scorer internationally for Japanese women and winner of the 4CC's compete at Worlds. It is a great and engregious injustice to totally defy international results with manipulated scores at Nationals to lock her out of both Worlds and the Olympics to appease the powerful coach Hamada so that she has a Japanese skater at both competitions. It is even worse since it is discrimination against those who suffer from and overcome chronic debilitating diseases like Mai has.

 

[yume]

Some like it quad.

I have favorites in both camps, quad jumpers and non-quad jumpers, so no horse in this race for me.

There have to be a little bit of everything to make a world.

 

[AlexBreeze]

I know many people hate when I say this, but I have thought often that sport should be totally separated from politics. There is only one way to do it: separate sport totally from countries. Everybody could represent the club their come from. If an athlete gets his/her salary from goverment, I don't care if that system wasn't there anymore. Most athletes have to pay themselves or/and have sponsors anyway until they are successfull enough to earn money by sport, and also after that they have sponsors - easier to get them also.

I totally support that. I used to watch cybersport and it's great because literally nobody cares about countries or politics. The problem is that sport (especially figure skating) is much more expensive than cybersport.

I like choreo sequences most.

And I agree with that. I also think there should be more of a difference in scores between the good ones and those that look like a transition.

 

[beachmouse]

As other users have already pointed out, Russia has always used sport to assert the power of the nation.

We could also start a conversation about what is truly “arrogant, distasteful and insulting” but this is not the right place and, honestly, it’s not even worthy.

I also follow professional cycling and I came across the term 'sport washing' in a discussion there today to describe the use of sport sponsorships and such to try to bring legitimacy to a country or company in the eyes of a greater audience. It's very common in cycling where the governments of Bahrian, Israel and the UAE have signed up to be sponsors of independent World Team squads in recent years and now the Russian-owned pro continental team Gazprom-RusVelo is seeing both sponsors flee from any association with that club and possibly its UCI license to race operate.

Then Arab countries can legitimately ban Israeli players then because of political considerations. It's amazing how much people let their own politics and support cloud their judgment.

Anyway I said I will not be watching this farce or the rest of the season. I want to see a proper competition next year with the Russians on it and I do hope they give them more than the 1 spot each discipline because some lucky country got to take their podium places in this joke of a competition.

For an Olympic/World Cup/World Championship/continental championship, the contracts for the event are typically written to specify that the host country must allow the entry of athletes from all recognized federations even if they do not recognize the country itself. In the gap between when the UAE started to take interest in hosting global sporting events and when they normalized relations with Israel, the attempts to pretend any Israeli athletes were not really there were often taken to absurd levels- you'd see the start list for a World Cup swim meet on your tv screen and it would blank out the name and country for the athlete in lane 7 who just happened to be competing under an Israeli passport level of silliness.

Should China had hosted the Olympics in 2022?

My government here, in Canada, tells me that I am committing a genocide. That I live on stolen land as a colonialist.

The IOC pretty much own-goaled itself over that one- they really wanted Oslo for 2022 but when word got out of what were seen as excessive and arrogant demands from the IOC on special treatment for IOC members, the Oslo bid lost the support of the Norwegian people and the only other bid remaining was Kazakhstan and they pretty much decided to go with the dictatorship they knew would get the venues done.

And hey, no country is perfect in human rights and international relations realms. (IMO, i's a sign of a healthy society when people are free to discuss just where their country is constantly screwing up) So flaws are allowed because, well no one gets it fully right except for maybe Luxembourg or something and a certain level of problems and bad behavior is part of the human condition because we are a messy and flawed species. But even within that recognition that no one's going to do the right thing all the time, there are lines that cannot be crossed without triggering a strong response and the world has kind of figured out one of those lines for the 21st century in the past two weeks.

What will happen with russian quotas for next Worlds?

I suspect that largely depends on Russia itself.

 

[doreen95]

Why does ioc punish athletes from Russia? Just because they live in a country where the country leader started a war?

It is their leader. Russian citizens voted for Putin.
Russia supposed to be a democracy with elected leaders. So it is entirely the responsibility of Russian citizens if the leader they voted for starts a war.