TEB is Cancelled

[purplecat]

My thoughts... first and foremost my thoughts are with the people of France - it makes my heart ache.

As to the GP.... Is it unfair to the skaters? Of course it is, as is all unforeseen circumstances (injuries, illness, equipment failure, travel problems etc.) - it is a part of life. So what should be done in the matter of points to qualify for the GPF? I see two options.... everyone gets 0 points or everyone gets the points from their SP standing. I think even those who performed poorly in the SP would rather get some points than none at all. But it is up to the ISU to decide.

Most of all I am so thankful that the skaters and everyone involved at TEB are safe - I hope everyone will get home safely... that is what truly matters.

 

[apgold]

What happened in Paris impacts the entire world - it could've happened anywhere (as a New Yorker who lived thru 9/11, I know this). I have to wonder if this happened in Paris (or another city) next weekend or the following, would CoR or NHK been canceled, too? I would hope so.

As a skating fan, of course I am disappointed that we were robbed a chance to see Patrick or Liza fight back in the FS, or see Gracie put together 2 clean skates, or Shoma win his first GP title. But there are bigger things in life than a skating competition.

 

[louisa05]

I can understand that emotions are raw at this time in France, but to begin to cancel events and daily life just gives these terrorists more fire. To capitulate like this to them is to say these terrorists have won and achieved their goal: to spread fear and interrupt laymen's lives. Another point: to cancel an event like figure skating gives an impression that the sport is insignificant. I'm sure that other events were cancelled, just proving my first point. Sure many will tell me about showing respect for the losses and so forth, but crimes like this happen every day in all parts of the world.
I have to go back to 2011 here in Norway when Anders Breivik went beserk in Oslo and with Utøya island students. He now sits in a rather pampered cell with access to a computer and a chance to further his education. He has recently complained about his isolation and other conditions during his imprisonment. In some ways he still won.. and many communtities have struggled with the idea with memorial statues that stand forgotten.
Think about this folks, a cinema shooting spree in Colorado, another shooting in a shopping center in Kenya and a hostage situation in the Phillippines.. Crime is everywhere and the folks responsible have a myriad of 'passionate' causes and reasons behind these attacks. Skating, walking in the park and daily life should never take a back seat to these thugs. Life is for living and not to be spent in fear. Marching and protesting is a way to battle these fears but to allow daily life as we know it continue is even better.
Back to FS, I think the ISU willl make a decision concerning these SP results and allow these talented and hard working skaters CONTINUE their achievements!

Sometimes sports are incredibly insignificant.

When you have lost a loved one, did you take time out from making final arrangements to go to a football game? If your parent was dying at hospice and you had tickets to a skating event, would you pack up and go watch skating instead of staying there? I'm guessing not.

I love sports. Many sports besides skating. But there are times when sports just don't matter. No one in France who lost a loved one last night gives a damn about TEB or figure skating in general right now. I'm guessing very few people in all of France do. It is pretty insignificant compared to what happened yesterday. And that's okay. It doesn't mean being a skating fan is bad. It just means that there are times we need to have perspective. A lot of people here do not seem to have any today.

 

[gravy]

I can understand that emotions are raw at this time in France, but to begin to cancel events and daily life just gives these terrorists more fire. To capitulate like this to them is to say these terrorists have won and achieved their goal: to spread fear and interrupt laymen's lives. Another point: to cancel an event like figure skating gives an impression that the sport is insignificant. I'm sure that other events were cancelled, just proving my first point. Sure many will tell me about showing respect for the losses and so forth, but crimes like this happen every day in all parts of the world.
I have to go back to 2011 here in Norway when Anders Breivik went beserk in Oslo and with Utøya island students. He now sits in a rather pampered cell with access to a computer and a chance to further his education. He has recently complained about his isolation and other conditions during his imprisonment. In some ways he still won.. and many communtities have struggled with the idea with memorial statues that stand forgotten.
Think about this folks, a cinema shooting spree in Colorado, another shooting in a shopping center in Kenya and a hostage situation in the Phillippines.. Crime is everywhere and the folks responsible have a myriad of 'passionate' causes and reasons behind these attacks. Skating, walking in the park and daily life should never take a back seat to these thugs. Life is for living and not to be spent in fear. Marching and protesting is a way to battle these fears but to allow daily life as we know it continue is even better.
Back to FS, I think the ISU willl make a decision concerning these SP results and allow these talented and hard working skaters CONTINUE their achievements!

Fellow Norwegian here.

Life should not be spent in fear, I agree; but unlike our situation with Breivik, France still doesn't know if all perpetrators are accounted for. When Breivik was brought down on Utøya, we could all sigh in relief because we all knew it was over. Paris, and France really, doesn't have that "luxury".

Precautions are necessary at this point and we need to take them seriously. But it's flat out ridiculous to tell people to resume their daily lives as if nothing happened when the president has called these actions "an act of war" which certainly wasn't happening on 7/22 in Norway.

 

[cheerknithanson]

I don't think there's anything wrong with discussing the potential ramifications of TEB's cancellation and the GPF. In some ways, it is preferable to sitting around reading depressing news. It's more emotionally tolerable. Go away, Phil Hersh. People are still allowed to talk about their interests even during a tragedy. It's a coping mechanism.

But the outrage and complaints of "unfairness" in this thread are really too much, IMO. Whatever the ISU decides we'll have to live with it, and it's ultimately just a figure skating competition. It's not people dying in a terrorist attack, like, you know, is an actual issue. TEB and GPF are just figure skating competitions. And heck, they aren't even on the scale of the World Championships. No one's life or even their skating career is on the line. Denis Ten skates badly at every GP event and his career is still great, he's a multiple-time World medalist and Olympic medalist. Max, Liza, Patrick, and all the other GPF frontrunners whose chances may be hurt depending on what the ISU decides to do will still get to skate and compete in other events this season.

I also cannot believe that people are suggesting the GP series be canceled. Unless further global events make the GP events impossible, this suggestion is just ludicrous. It's tantamount to throwing a temper tantrum and saying "WELL THE TERRORISTS MADE IT UNFAIR FOR MYYYYY FAVORITES, SO NO ONE GETS TO COMPETE NOW."

Yes yes YES!!!! Spot on!

Like yes I do feel sad for France. It was a horrible act of terrorism that I wish never happened. Doesn't matter if a skating competition happened in France or not. I don't want acts of terrorism to ever happen. That being said. I'm one of few people not posting about the tragedy on Facebook or changing my profile pic, etc. because I don't want to post things like that unless I feel a connection to it or if it impacts me. Like 2 weeks ago, a chemistry lab fire happened at a high school in the county I live in and it affected me because it's close by and I know a number of people who went there and one that is a senior there (Knew them from my recreation competitive cheer team) and I was wondering if the person I knew was okay. Back to the point. I try to avoid posting sad things or talk about sad things like these as much as possible because I want to surround myself with the things I love. Like 7 months ago, when I lost a teammate, I tried to drown out my grief and fear by binging on YouTube and playing sudoku on my phone. Tried to focus on something else when it would manifest me.

And yes I agree. Whatever the ISU's decision is, we have to live with and move on. We had no control on what was going to happen. We have to deal with the decision like what teachers taught us: You get what you get, and you don't get upset.

I'm on the same boat as you about the GP series: It would be totally unfair to cancel the rest of the series. Especially since some skaters that haven't skated in a GP yet this season and they're going to in any of the next 2 events. And yes, while I really want Piper and Paul to make it to the GPF as well as Gracie and Shoma, I'll have to live with it. Just like when last season, some of my favorites didn't do so hot or had to withdraw.

 

[Violet Bliss]

I am disheartened by so many of the posts here.

Over at 130 people have died, and yet people are worried and angry about the Grand Prix Final results?

I love figure skating as much as the next person, but I think those crying "lack of fairness" need to consider perspective. The families of those whose lives were lost don't have the luxury of worrying about whether Patrick Chan "got a fair shake."

Are you demanding we all stop our lives and mourn? Have you stopped your life to mourn for the over 100,000 innocent lives lost in Iraq alone since the US invasion, plus the countless maimed, lives ruined, homes and livelihoods destroyed, deformed births and childhood cancers caused by deployment of "depleted" uranium, the historical treasures looted and trashed, and other tragedies and atrocities in that nation alone? What about the causes of all the refugees who are now an extreme burden and threats to the EU? There are tragic stories and life experiences including horrible deaths of loved ones from every one of the faces. Wars have been going on in non-Western countries with Western participation for decades. Your chosen media greatly expand the horror of terrorism while ignoring or diminishing the much greater horror and suffering in these regions.

Do you stop your life for thousands of lives lost every single day from all kinds of tragic causes in relatively peaceful societies you know well? You select which tragedy to be important and impactful to you, but do let others live their lives with or without open righteousness and mourning.

 

[leafygreens]

I think the idea is the skaters are NHK skate a SP and A FS and the scores are totaled and ranked against each other.


Then the skaters from TEB skate only a FS and the scores are added to the SP scores from TEB then they are ranked against the other skaters from TEB. Two sets of medals are then giving out to the two separate lists. Think of it like the same judges judging a novice and then junior event.

As I mentioned before, I think it's a good idea to *offer* skaters NHK or COR, but not make it mandatory. That way, anyone who did well in SP could keep those results (it would be really unfair to force the top skaters to skate the SP again, somewhere else.) TEB results for SP only would weigh towards GPF rankings as a full competition.

It would also be fair for lower SP skaters like Tuk to get a do-over of the whole competition, since they didn't have the chance for FP. But, they should have to skate the full NHK or COR to get the second chance. Both SP and LP. That way, the results of TEB will be respected and the SP there will count for something.

Then take extra skaters for GPF, but only if one of those skaters was a competitor at TEB and their rankings were on the cusp of making it/not making it.

Offering TEB skaters a second GP probably wouldn't increase the skaters by much, because probably the only ones who would want to do it are if they were seriously in the mix for GPF or thought they could medal at NHK COR.

 

[wokulski]

Sometimes sports are incredibly insignificant.

When you have lost a loved one, did you take time out from making final arrangements to go to a football game? If your parent was dying at hospice and you had tickets to a skating event, would you pack up and go watch skating instead of staying there? I'm guessing not.

I love sports. Many sports besides skating. But there are times when sports just don't matter. No one in France who lost a loved one last night gives a damn about TEB or figure skating in general right now. I'm guessing very few people in all of France do. It is pretty insignificant compared to what happened yesterday. And that's okay. It doesn't mean being a skating fan is bad. It just means that there are times we need to have perspective. A lot of people here do not seem to have any today.

Most people in France DIDNT even know that theres a competition like TEB ,so dont be ridiculous.Most of the french dont watch it , I bet , and dont give a damn about FS on the next day.For them it could take place.I think no one in Bordeaux lost relatives in Paris,so dont overact

 

[tulosai]

Italian Eurosport commentator, Massimiliano Ambesi, proposes another solution to the GP standings issue: https://twitter.com/max_ambesi/status/665565300134420480

This is actually a good idea IMO. For those who don't want to click, the proposal is to make qualification for 6 or maybe 8 people and just base it on best total score, forgetting about placements/ adding up placements at events.

 

[gravy]

Are you demanding we all stop our lives and mourn? Have you stopped your life to mourn for the over 100,000 innocent lives lost in Iraq alone since the US invasion, plus the countless maimed, lives ruined, homes and livelihoods destroyed, deformed births and childhood cancers caused by deployment of "depleted" uranium, the historical treasures looted and trashed, and other tragedies and atrocities in that nation alone? What about the causes of all the refugees who are now an extreme burden and threats to the EU? There are tragic stories and life experiences including horrible deaths of loved ones from every one of the faces. Wars have been going on in non-Western countries with Western participation for decades. Your chosen media greatly expand the horror of terrorism while ignoring or diminishing the much greater horror and suffering in these regions.

Do you stop your life for thousands of lives lost every single day from all kinds of tragic causes in relatively peaceful societies you know well? You select which tragedy to be important and impactful to you, but do let others live their lives with or without open righteousness and mourning.

Have there been posters on a previous 30 page thread who are whining about a terrorist attack ruining the Grand Prix Final entries in the past?

I think that is what Kenyie is complaining about. Everything in the post was about how this unfortunate incident made it unfair for figure skaters. Figure skaters, figure skaters, figure skaters. It's all about how life sucks for them.

 

[CoyoteChris]

So proposals thus far presented in this thread
1. Postpone TEB FS for during the previous planned exhibition on Sunday
2. Move TEB FS to another country this weekend
3. Postpone TEB FS for after NHK trophy
4. Have results of SP become final results
5. Add skater's seasons best (or personal best) FS score to TEB SP score for final results
6. Have TEB skaters compete at COR or NHK
7. change format of GPF and invite all skaters that participated in GP
8. cancel GP series

Are there anymore suggestions? My guess is #3, #4, and maybe #6 are the most feasible. My preference is #3, I know it will be a near logistical nightmare and expensive to organize, host, and travel to the event, however at least the skaters still have a chance to complete the full competition.

I still like my idea. For TEB, make the sp program scores the final ranking and award the points. Then, accept the top 8 or 10 skaters in each disipline for the final....or any skater who medaled in any of the GPs this season ..I personally dont like the idea of letting skaters who did poorly in the short at TEB enter another GP, as this is unfair to the the skaters at THAT GP. There is no perfect solution here. I think the ISU will come up with something we can live with. We have to.

 

[Lys]

This is actually a good idea IMO. For those who don't want to click, the proposal is to make qualification for 6 or maybe 8 people and just base it on best total score, forgetting about placements/ adding up placements at events.

Here an Enligsh version of the same proposal: http://www.neveitalia.it/sport/figu...ng-only-the-best-result-for-the-qualification

 

[andromache]

This is actually a good idea IMO. For those who don't want to click, the proposal is to make qualification for 6 or maybe 8 people and just base it on best total score, forgetting about placements/ adding up placements at events.

I'm not sure how I feel about this idea. It might encourage some very inflated scores for certain skaters who would be at risk of not making it to GPF at upcoming events. Comparing scores across competitions is dicey.

 

[Pamigena]

This is actually a good idea IMO. For those who don't want to click, the proposal is to make qualification for 6 or maybe 8 people and just base it on best total score, forgetting about placements/ adding up placements at events.

But isn't there always a discussion about how you can't compare the actual scores from different events?

 

[gammarae]

Sounds like the decision was taken out of the skating authorities' hands which is probably as it should be. They are not in any position to know how safe it would be. The governmental authorities on the other hand have intelligence and the ability to monitor extremist 'chatter'.

I agree. Yes, I am not watching skating this morning as I had planned. But sometimes there are more important things. And the French authorities have a bigger priority right now.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Have there been posters on a previous 30 page thread who are whining about a terrorist attack ruining the Grand Prix Final entries in the past?

I think that is what Kenyie is complaining about. Everything in the post was about how this unfortunate incident made it unfair for figure skaters. Figure skaters, figure skaters, figure skaters. It's all about how life sucks for them.

There is another thread for discussing this tragedy. This thread is about the cancellation of TEB. I, for one, called this a trivial matter in my two posts before the response to Kenyie.

People turn to their addictions at time of stress, and try to resume normalcy after a disaster, which I believe is the best thing to do when one has no control over what happened.

Everybody chooses what matter most to them and their reactions to them, but has no place demanding others to make the same choices, or how they express their choices.

 

[CoyoteChris]

What happened in Paris impacts the entire world - it could've happened anywhere (as a New Yorker who lived thru 9/11, I know this). I have to wonder if this happened in Paris (or another city) next weekend or the following, would CoR or NHK been canceled, too? I would hope so.

As a skating fan, of course I am disappointed that we were robbed a chance to see Patrick or Liza fight back in the FS, or see Gracie put together 2 clean skates, or Shoma win his first GP title. But there are bigger things in life than a skating competition.

An interesting point to be sure. IF the Russain airliner was brought down by the same group that set off those terrible Beirut blasts and the Paris attacks, you can be sure attacks are on the upswing. And will continue. Sporting events in the US have announced increased security but attacks can and do occur anywhere.....I would not stop the events as a matter of course. In this case, I would stop the event out of respect for the dead, wounded, dieing, and their loved ones....France is after all under a state of emergency....but I would not stop all events all around the world.....

 

[ice coverage]

So proposals thus far presented in this thread
1. Postpone TEB FS for during the previous planned exhibition on Sunday ...

A rugby match scheduled for Sunday in Bordeaux already has been postponed by the French authorities.

So I assume that resuming TEB on Sunday would not have been permitted by the authorities.

The rugby match was part of the European Champions Cup series. So like TEB, it was not a standalone event, but part of a series.
I don't think the new date of the match has been determined yet.

https://www.facebook.com/bordeauxmaville/posts/899521263450969
https://www.facebook.com/ubbrugby/posts/1155723197790071​

 

[gotoschool]

This is actually a good idea IMO. For those who don't want to click, the proposal is to make qualification for 6 or maybe 8 people and just base it on best total score, forgetting about placements/ adding up placements at events.

I am not for this idea because the judging composition, the degree of strictness and even ice conditions are different in every competition.

 

[gravy]

There is another thread for discussing this tragedy. This thread is about the cancellation of TEB. I, for one, called this a trivial matter in my two posts before the response to Kenyie.

People turn to their addictions at time of stress, and try to resume normalcy after a disaster, which I believe is the best thing to do when one has no control over what happened.

Everybody chooses what matter most to them and their reactions to them, but has no place demanding others to make the same choices, or how they express their choices.

Prayin' 4 U and all of those who liked your post.