ISU Makes Threat To Member Nations Re. Skaters That Pulled Out of GP

[Miriam Boo]

In comparison to last season, these GP events are poorly covered in the U.S. I watched almost every event last season. This season the events are broadcast late in the evening on ESPN in the U.S. It's not so much the lack of big names but the poor coverage that irks me. Thankfully, one of my friends gets NHK in the U.S. & taped the entire NHK Trophy for me. It was great. Although the broadcast was in Japanese, NHK covered the event much better than in the U.S. I also loved the camera angles which put you right down on the ice with the skaters. For the first time I could see the height of the jumps and the closeups on the skaters' blades. If this is an example of how NHK covers skating events, they're doing a much better job than the American broadcasters. Also NHK showed the short programs which have been deleted this season from American coverage. If the ISU wants the top names in skating back in the GP they better start paying the skaters better money. Paying the skaters peanuts so the ISU can make more money with its broadcast contracts is nothing short of exploitation.

 

[Mathman]

Miriam, about the money, sadly I think it's the other way around. Because the television contracts were reduced (from $20 million to $5 million, IIRC), the ISU had to reduce the prizes.

You know what I wish? I wish they would show the Junior Grand Prix in the same format on ESPN. That would be great.

Mathman

 

[anya_angie]

Wasn't there a quote from the memo that although injured and the skater have provided a note from their personal physician, the designated ISU doctor would still have to approve the doctor's note and injury. What if the ISU doctor is in cohorts with Speedy? Sasha has a doctor's note but I wonder if she was also seen by the ISU doctor?

Haha I see paralells to me all over this issue.

When I went to get Social Security, I had to meet with an eye doc of the government's choosing. I was 14 years old, and they send me and my mom about two hours away, to some old bald guy, and he couldn't even find the light switch with the lights on! Yet he tells me that I can see perfectly? Sheesh just because I don't see total darkness doesn't mean that I don't have trouble seeing.

Talk about a quack!

The issue with Zhenya is not his skating, so much as transportation. All of the venues in the Art On Ice tour are in Eastern Europe, am I right? The flight time is much shorter, if there are any flights at all. I'm sure there are some, but they might still travel by train as well.

Scooter...

Burning oneself out can happen to anyone. It all comes down to how much physical and emotional stress they are under. Skaters have more pressure on them than anyone outside the sport can understand. I just write fictional skaters, and even I can not know from experience what they go through. I still believe Tim is a victim of burnout.

Just because they do "only a few" competitions a year, does not mean they are under any less stress than the other skaters who do more, or the "Average Joe" if you will who works 40 hours a week or more. All jobs are stressful, depending on the person's ability to handle such stress determines who will be unfortunate enough to burn out.

Zhenya trains 21-23 hours in a 6-day week, sometimes 19 I think. The same is true for the summer months. I think any skater will agree that that is tiring enough without adding competitions into it all. Then the stress is heightened because of the mental pressure.

I can see the loss of revenue for the GP series. I was upset when MK withdrew from SA, but for God's sake I place health above all else in skaters, which is something I suggest "Speedy" do for once.

Speedy always seems to be playing to the wrong crowd: namely, the general public who couldn't tell a lip from a mohawk.

Anyway, needless to say I am back. Till Friday anyway. My dad has Starz, so I'm going to be taping movies for a while LOL. Great to see everyone!

 

[2ndmark]

The GP seems be getting a bit of a bad rap. The series gives skaters (both well
known and those under the radar) the chance for exposure and competition experience. Oh yeah, and some cash if they medal. If you assume a succesful skater competes in 2 or 3 GPs and the final, Nat's, 4 Con'ts, Worlds and 3 other contests (the "cheesefest" label rankles), we're talking somewhere around 10 competitions a season. If a world class athlete can't handle that modest load, they need a regime change.

I don't think skater's are being asked to compete too much. With the general malaise surrounding skating in general, they should be grateful for the opportunity. Just imagine the grousing if the GP series was dropped altogether? I see the points of the TV executives, the skaters and even the ISU.
And I am not to saying that an injured skater should be forced to compete, but everyone needs to figure out how to make this work before TV coverage dwindles back to th dark ages when only Nats and Worlds were telecast. As disappointed as I am with the reduced coverage of the GP, I'm grateful that it is be aired at all.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

We seem to be talking about 3 top skaters who pulled out of the GPs yet they will skate in other competitions around the same time. I guess Shizuka is part of that group, too. We could call them the Big Four. Are they really the cause of the decline in figure skating interest? I don't think so.

What their absence in the GPs does, imo, is it gives lesser highly touted skaters a chance to show off their stuff. Can you picture Angela, Cythia or Johnny Weir with gold medals had the Big Four been around? One of them did show up for NHK and took the gold away from Miki.

I hope they continue to avoid the GPs next year so I can watch other skaters win gold or get on the podium for the first time. It was a delight to see Susanna Poykio receive her bronze medal at SC, not to mention Angela and Cynthia. Who'da thunk it? This makes skating more interesting than watching the usual suspects go at it again. Their big one is in Moscow.

Joe

 

[Miriam Boo]

No, Arakawa isn't included in that group, because she withdrew from her non-scoring event. Shizuka's pulling her weight in the GP series as far as the ISU's concerned. She'll compete at Cup of Russia...that's 2 GP events. Michael Weiss withdrew from Cup of China. I believe that was his non-scoring event as well. Sasha has medical problems, so she's not included either. I'm pretty sure that the ISU is referring to the headliners Kwan & Plushenko.

 

[Fossi]

Don't forget that last season Irina didn't do the GP series, and was still allowed to go to Worlds. I din't think she even did Russian Nationals. I know Irina was injured, and God bless her little soul, but what kind of a statement did this make to the skaters?
We can not blame just the skaters in this big mess.

 

[Mathman]

This thread has gone on so long I had to look back at the original letter from the ISU to refresh my memory as to exactly what the ISU's point is.

"All ISU Members know well that the ISU has concluded contracts with a number of TV companies for the coverage of the Grand Prix Series and Final. The ISU feels responsible to present top skaters at these Events. Not fulfilling this might result in reduction of the fees received by the ISU from current partners and in the future since it jeopardizes the credibility of the ISU and worsens the ISU position in negotiating future contracts.

:boohoo:

 

[Miriam Boo]

I don't know why people are talking about Arakawa on this thread. She's very active in the GP series. No, she's not the target of this threat. Some of you may hope that she's included, but that's just wishful thinking on your part. There are others who pulled out of their non-scoring events this season ie. Michael Weiss.

 

[LegalGirl82]

"Improper conduct by a skater includes refusal, for other than medical or other justifiable reason, to participate in the ISU events in accordance with commitments established by the ISU and members concerned."

Unless Speedy has a written, clear definition of a "justifiable reason", I would think he'd have a hard time trying to enforce any penalties on these skaters. "Justifiable" gives a lot of leeway. IMO a case could be made for each of them that their reasons are justifiable, especially since, as so many posters pointed out, the Grand Prix is invitational in nature, and not mandatory.

I kind of like the idea of going back to the days when Skate America, etc. were stand alone events. The two to three events, plus the final, with all the travel in such a short time, combined with the technical demands placed on the skaters today, seems a little excessive. Not to mention the years when they were slammed with having to compete two long programs inside of what was it, 24 hours?

Does anyone know what the television ratings for the Grand Prix Final have been in the past? I wonder how much impact adding or deleting the Final would have on the television contracts.

I really think Speedy needs to get some better marketing people at the ISU. They should be fighting for better treatment from the television stations; i.e., televising events in a more timely manner and in a more complete form (short programs, please!).

"...since it jeopardizes the credibility of the ISU..." I wonder if Speedy actually was able to write this with a straight face. Skaters withdrawing, etc. from invitational events jeopardizes the credibility of the ISU, but judging scandals, secret judging and banned judges returning to the ranks don't jeopardize the credibility? Oh, the irony of it all...

 

[Miriam Boo]

This thread has gone on so long I had to look back at the original letter from the ISU to refresh my memory as to exactly what the ISU's point is.

"All ISU Members know well that the ISU has concluded contracts with a number of TV companies for the coverage of the Grand Prix Series and Final. The ISU feels responsible to present top skaters at these Events. Not fulfilling this might result in reduction of the fees received by the ISU from current partners and in the future since it jeopardizes the credibility of the ISU and worsens the ISU position in negotiating future contracts.

:boohoo:

I believe the current scoring system jeopardizes the integrity of the ISU more than anything else. Home ice must be a major factor in the present scoring system. I think you receive 15 additional points in the TCS just for skating on home ice. Does anyone else out here believe that Phaneuf deserved such lofty presentation related scores in her 2 events? They probably gave her 5 additonal points for skating at SA because she's from North America. Sorry, but I'm not seeing what the judges are seeing in her skating. I see a skater that lacks maturity. Yes, she's talented but not that talented.

 

[mpal2]

Speaking of jeopardizing the credibility of the ISU...

http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-160824-178039-80283-0-file,00.pdf

Rule 368
Publications of comments
No official participating in an International Figure Skating event in any capacity
may make any negative comment to the public concerning such event.

Special thanks to Ziggy from FSU for posting this link and pointing this out.

No one is even allowed to have free speech anymore. Do we have to go on about the dictatorship that is the ISU?

 

[LegalGirl82]

mpal2, Stepford Skating, anyone?

 

[R.D.]

Just a quick Q: What was the name of the German GP event before China took over?

 

[Vash01]

It used to be Nations Cup, then it changed to Bofrost.

Vash

 

[Rgirl]

Just a quick Q: What was the name of the German GP event before China took over?

First it was Sparkassen Cup, then Bofrost Cup. At least I'm pretty sure that's what they were. There may have been another name in there.
Rgirl

EDITED TO ADD: Boy, Vash, talk about synchronicity . I think it was Nation's Cup first, then Sparkassen, then Bofrost -- but don't quote me.

 

[Ptichka]

I believe the current scoring system jeopardizes the integrity of the ISU more than anything else. Home ice must be a major factor in the present scoring system. I think you receive 15 additional points in the TCS just for skating on home ice.

It was no different under 6.0. 2004 Worlds - think Lindenmann got bronze over Lambiel because of the home crowd. What's much much much worse IMHO is Winkler & Lose getting bronze when they were clearly inferior not only to Grushina & Goncharov but also to Belbin & Agosto. So CoP makes no difference here.

 

[euterpe]

In fact, CoP may make it even easier to boost Skater A (skating at home) over Skater B. There's all those handy-dandy PCS categories to mark up for the home skater, and mark down for the competitors.

For example, if you look at Ando's PCS scores for Skate America and Cup of China, you will notice that they total a whopping 10 points lower than her PCS scores at NHK.

Now, I could understand why the scores were pretty low at SA because Miki had a rough skate, falling on two jumps. But she had clean skates at both NHK and CoC.

Although Slutskaya wasn't skating at home, the incredibly high scores SHE got at CoC were clearly based on reputation. According to posters who saw her performance, she skated very well, far better than she had last season, but not nearly as well as the inflated scores suggest. It well may be that Ando was marked down as part of the process of elevating Irina.

It may be a new scoring system, but the judges are still playing the same games they were before. Only now they can get away with it because their identities are protected.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Is this "skating at home" the same as what I call the "home town favorite"? I mean is it in the rules that a skater from a particular country skating in a GP which is hosted by that country will automatically get extra points, because mine just means the crowd will be more voiciferous.

Explain Johnny Weir and Takeshi Honda.

Joe

 

[Mathman]

Well, Johnny skated great and Takeshi didn't.

But seriously, I think in every form of entertainment, sports included, there is a certain pressure to send the crowd home happy. Non-USA skaters never win the the cheesefests, for instance -- who wants to tune in and see their favorite skater lose? (Except Plushenko, who is usually SO much better than everybody else that there is nothing anyone can do.)

Mathman