Is Marissa saying somebody has got to be unpatriotic for this to work and it ain't going to be me?
I think at least partly an issue of which country was more likely to release quickly. However, it would have been easier for her to get Canadian citizenship and ultimately USFS would have had to release her. So either choice for them had/has its potential logistical problems. That being said, I have no problem with her insisting upon representing the US. Mervin spent most of his career skating for Japan. Marissa has been representing Team USA internationally for 5-6 years, has two US titles and won an Olympic medal as a part of team USA. It's easy to see how that would be very meaningful for her. That's not a knock at Mervin, I'm just not surprised he was more willing to concede the issue when he has little history representing canada.
MLet's hope it works. This should be really interesting--Mervin is much more expressive than Simon, but it will be a challenge, I would think, for her to get used to a new partner after so many years with Simon.
She admitted in the IN article that it was scary to skate with other people. And how could it not be for any pairs girl? A ton of trust is required in those lifts and twists. It's also going to be a major change dealing with a far less dramatic height difference. It might be good they get to sit out the fall and really get used to one another and work on gelling at a team.