Russian ladies Olympic team

[Mathman]

What I would like is a competition after Worlds, Between April to July. Top 12 seasons best, it can include juniors. That way if one country dominates so be it. This competition would not be used for senior ranking. And the skaters could use old or new programs.

Now all we need is for someone to put up a million dollar purse and we're off to the races.

 

[Scott512]

Yes, instead in their great wisdom they came up with the "q" call that 99% of the time is impossible to call accurately. They make changes for the sake of changes (without thinking them through), just to show that they are important rather than actually trying to move forwards as a sport.

Thats a no-go. I might be able to contact my PM, but my PM probably wouldn't be able to get through to the ISU.

ISU could do so much better but it's like they don't even want to.

 

[Scott512]

To tell the truth, it IS unbelievable.

I bet the ISU brain trust is constantly batting around ideas for an expanded Grand Prix and many other wish list items. Every once in a while they even try something out ecperimentally (or at least put it up for a vote in various committees and in the general ISU congress). There are many reasons -- starting with money -- why not every good idea sees the light of day.

One Golden Skate poster wrote extensively to Mr. Lakernik when Lakernik was chairman of the Technical Committee with extensive suggestions about revisions to the Code of Points. I don't think that the ISU actually adopted any of them, but they did acknowledge the merit of the proposals publicly, mentioning the letter-writer by name.

That is unbelievable. I guess they don't want to change anything for the better unless they come up with the idea for it and that's not going to happen because they never come up with good ideas.

Hopefully next season we will get a normal season of Grand Prix events and a Grand Prix final and then go from there but that may be a long shot if covid is still a big problem.

 

[el henry]

I never said the expanded grand Prix is exclusive qualification. An additional 20 or so spots can be available for countries who get 0 spots, achieved by minimum scores at select internationals.

I am sorry, I was not referring in particular to your posts, although reading back I can see how it might be confusing.

I have always advocated for an expanded GP to accommodate those who want to see "the best" as opposed to amending the format for Worlds. I just haven't put any thought into it beyond that

 

[Mathman]

To Kolyadafan. Maybe you could try to communicate your ideas to the ISU through your National Federation.

 

[FelineFairy]

Who's the skater doing the layback in the thumbnail that goes with the entry?

Yuna Kim, free skate at the 2010 Olympics

I also thought at first it was Yuna Kim in 2010. But please look at the colour of the boots. Here they are white. And this is Yuna Kim, the boots are covered by tights:

https://youtu.be/eoMkWIA2jVY

So it must be some other skater?

 

[samkrut@mail.ru]

If you read my entire post, you would see that I want 7 spots, not Evgenia taking someone else’s spot.

Otherwise, I agree that her 2018 Olympic silver was glorious, but she doesn’t see it that way. It was obvious that she accepted this as personal failure, betrayal from Eteri, etc. and is willing to fight for another chance. If you doubt this, check the interview with her close friend Bobkova, who thinks she is still not over the trauma of losing that competition.

Sorry for correction but I am sure that you meant Bobrova.

 

[Tonight's the Night]

I also thought at first it was Yuna Kim in 2010. But please look at the colour of the boots. Here they are white. And this is Yuna Kim, the boots are covered by tights:

https://youtu.be/eoMkWIA2jVY

So it must be some other skater?

I thought maybe Yuna from another performance of her free, but the dress looks different too.

This is clearly a concern of the greatest importance and totally not a departure from the thread! [Trying to be funny. I do love the challenge though.]

 

[lariko]

What I would like is a competition after Worlds, Between April to July. Top 12 seasons best, it can include juniors. That way if one country dominates so be it. This competition would not be used for senior ranking. And the skaters could use old or new programs.

That would be sweet, but I think the athletes have pretty busy off-season between the camps, training outside their groups, new programs, shows and recovery from the season...

 

[lariko]

This is clearly a concern of the greatest importance and totally not a departure from the thread! [Trying to be funny. I do love the challenge though.]

I did search Google for this image and it comes up in a variety of odd articles. It could be a stock image?

 

[lappo]

So true! (The tights-over-boots thing should have given it away). Actually, I was about to comment on the weak hands and free leg positions, but what do I know?

You know I love Yuna and you didn't...I appreciate!
Jokes aside, I do agree on the leg positions, but Yuna's hands were gorgeous so this should also have excluded her! I still cannot find the skater in the photo though!
Also, to stay IT, thanks to the many who replied to my original post, it has been fun and sometimes very instructive to hear your opinions!

 

[riddle]

Nice point and interesting website find. Who's the skater doing the layback in the thumbnail that goes with the entry?

I think that's Agnes Zawadzki during her free skate at the 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose.

​

 

[Tonight's the Night]

I think that's Agnes Zawadzki during her free skate at the 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose.

​

That looks like the dress! And the hands. Wow.

Since we have finally solved this puzzle we now possess the key to knowing which three Russian ladies will be sent to the Olympics in 2022.

 

[anonymoose_au]

That looks like the dress! And the hands. Wow.

Since we have finally solved this puzzle we now possess the key to knowing which three Russian ladies will be sent to the Olympics in 2022.

Perhaps doing the same layback in the same position will get you selected! Quick, send the photo to all your favourites

 

[Autumn Leaves]

Sorry for correction but I am sure that you meant Bobrova.

Indeed, I meant Bobrova! Thank you for the correction

 

[Mathman]

That looks like the dress! And the hands. Wow.

Now I see why I was confused between Kim and Zawadski. They were both skating to Gershwin!

By the way, they did both have lovely hand positions. In the originally posted picture the shot must have been taken during some sort of transition, before she got her hands properly raised.

 

[4everchan]

Fine. Bring all countries together by expanding the entry list to 60 or more, have 2 or 3 qualifying skates to weed out the no hopers and cut it down to 24, and then have the Russians and Rika/Kaori/American duel it out in long program.

Now that would be a competition for the ages.

Paradoxically, having the best of the best battle it out makes your sport more popular internationally.

Having a Central European skater that is the champion of her country but won’t finish top 10 in SPB’s city championship won’t make the sport more popular internationally or nationally. This is shown by the fact that most of these national championships have 3 skaters in them.

Eddie the eagle didn’t cause a boom in ski jumping in the UK.

An alpine skier from Madagascar finishing 24 seconds behind Shiffrin in the slalom run 1 doesn’t help anyone.

Yes, a few no hopers do make the news, but 99% don’t and just waste everyone’s time.

a long time ago... Canada had NOBODY doing cross country skiing... which was quite weird considering the climate....and then... some pioneers came in and skied and went to the Olympics... on the women's side, some medals were won.. on the men's side.. if we go far away Pierre Harvey made the news... never won a medal but competed in both summer and winter games.. he did however win a stop of the world cup in cross country skiing... his son Alex Harvey went further... he has 5 medals (including two golds) from World championships... no Olympic medals... but it is suspected that he could have won a medal or two (finished a couple times 4th, behind some skiers suspected of doping). Harvey retired recently from competition winning a silver medal in a world cup race in Quebec city, near his hometown... hundreds of kids were watching him...and right now, 5 athletes from Quebec are in the national team... it is important to build a sport worldwide to have many countries participating, even if some of the best athletes in one sport stay home during olympics because of the quota... Curling at Olympics could be 8 teams from Canada and a couple from Sweden or Norway... but it has been refreshing and exciting to see new countries like Russia, South Korea and China develop teams when it became an official Olympic sport. The best way to destroy figure skating would be to remove hope in younger generations.... young kids and their parents enroll in sports following role models from their hood...and it takes time to build up teams... When it was the American golden age of skating in ladies, Russian girls were not everywhere, in most years, they had one good contender.... if the USA had been allowed to take more and more spots at Olympics, it would have destroyed the sport in Russia, perhaps in Canada as well, and would not have allowed the emergence of the sport in Asia with Lulu, Yuka and Yuna, later on.. It's all a question of balance and cycles. Right now, Eteri seems to have a good formula to produce a lot of young talent quickly... but another coach, somewhere, perhaps in Japan or in Korea, or even perhaps in Canada or the USA will come up with an athlete or even a team of athletes, that will be competitive more and more and the sport will just keep growing. Who talked about ladies skating in Korea just 15-20 years ago??? It took ONE athlete to have success to build it... just the same way as Sylvie Bernier with her 1984 gold medal in diving in Los Angeles created so many diving medals in Quebec/Canada in the next generations... and this was made possible because of quotas... that allow weaker countries to field spots every Olympics, having met a minimum level of course, and then, once in a while, those weaker countries manage to produce a star, because there are these spots, the funding, the infrastructure... when I see posts talking about "let's have more Russian ladies in skating or more Canadian curlers at the Olympics" it saddens me... because really, it shows a lack of understanding of what is needed for a sport to develop all around...and survive. If you think that having a German or a Swiss girl at the Olympics is silly, well, let me remind you that German produced a two time ladies Olympic Champion and Swizterland a world champion with a spin named after her. What kind of message would it send to the people of these countries if suddenly their spots were giving away because their current skaters have no chance of winning? Rinks would close... Talent is everywhere... it needs to be nurtured and be developed in the right conditions. There is more than one coach who can do that.

 

[Tonight's the Night]

Couple more things in the spirit of the last post.

Some of the big countries might be developing talent in sports that are not "native" to those countries in order to run up their medal count. This seems kind of cynical and mercenary, but it has probably led indirectly to more total engagement across the world with those sports -- including figure skating. Another reason to keep figure skating in the Olympics.

And why not think of some of the even lesser-known sports as being like lesser-spoken languages: we want to preserve them because they are part of the world's cultural heritage. The Olympics may be the main thing keeping them alive.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

By the way, the same thing applies to the various proposals to allow strong countries to have more than three places at worlds, etc. Far from, "why doesn't the ISU think of this idea?" -- they think about it all the time, considering pros and cons (just like e do )

The reason that this proposal is a non-starter is that any major rule changes must be voted on by the membership at the ISU congress. (The next one is scheduled for Phuket, Thailand (at the Hilton Phuket Hotel) at the beginning of June, 2021 -- unless it has to be held virtually. Proposals are submitted to the Congress either by individual members (i.e., national federations) or by the ISU Council, having received recommendations from the ISU Technical Commettee, etc. (Proposals submitted by individual federations rarely are able to rally enough support to pass, unless they are endorsed by the Counccil.)

A country like Russia may have the best skaters, and in addition have political clout within the ISU hierarchy, but it still has only one vote at the Congress (or sometimes two, if there is a separate Speed Skating Federation that is a member of the ISU as well. The Speed Skaters get to vote even on resolutions that affect only Figure Sksting, which can also lead to an impass.)

Anyway, the great majority of federations are not going to vote for a proposal that they view as giving an advantage to a few big-shot federations at the relative disadvantage of the little guys. (Democracy. )

Whilst I somewhat agree:
The biggest issue with small federations is they lack money from the sport. Without getting funding, they can't produce the top level athletes. Without skating having significant popularity, they can't get the funding. Therefore, it makes sense for the federations without much funding to vote for it.

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Who I dream will go to Olys 2022:
Sasha
Liza
Sofia

Who I think will go to Olys 2022:
Anna S.
Kamila
Sasha

Hopefully if the Olympics take place next year, I can come back here and see how my predictions turned out.