ninalovesskating
Well-Known Member
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- 201
Good points. Especially 15-17. I feel like everything started going downhill after Ilinykh and Katsalapov split... Then Bobrova and Soloviev topped the disaster off with the doping scandal and the injury... Now they're stuck in this tangled web of mess...Not a victory. Reality at this moment in time. Your background and insight:
1. The Soviet Union divided into many countries.
2. Russia & the Ukraine became their own countries without high levels of state-funding in sports for many years.
3. Former Soviet dance coaches moved halfway across the world so that their athletes would have ice to train on.
4. Former Soviet athletes began to train in different parts of the world and with non-Russian partners in search of the opportunity to compete at the elite level.
5. Russian dance coaches & their pupils began coaching skaters that lived halfway across the world so that they would be able to feed themselves and share their passion with the athletes who lived there.
6. The U.S., Canada, Italy, etc. developed strong dance teams that could compete with the Russian athletes.
7. The world of ice dance is now much deeper and all of these teams must battle with each other.
8. The Grand Prix/Champions Series/Grand Prix Final were introduced, giving dance teams from around the world multiple opportunities to compete with one another, gain feedback from international judges, learn what was required in order to improve within the sport, and develop their own reputations around the world.
9. The scoring system was changed, allowing more movement across the discipline.
10. Compulsories were eliminated, encouraging more movement across the discipline, less politics, and greater reward for clean, technically demanding short & free programs.
11. Many different teams began to medal in competition, instead of the same three or four throughout a quadrennium.
12. The professional circuit died, encouraging more dance teams to stay in the eligible ranks even after winning medals and moving down in the rankings.
13. Due to more movement, the opportunity to climb up & back up in the rankings encouraged more dance teams to stay in the eligible ranks.
14. Four Continents was established, creating a major international event for dance teams from outside Europe to challenge one another and develop stronger international credentials.
15. Ilinykh & Katsalapov split.
16. Soloviev had a serious knee injury that cost him a year of training.
17. Bobrova was banned from Worlds during the Meldonium mess.
18. Russia developed a singles skating tradition, now attracting strong athletes and coaches.
19. We now have the deepest dance field in history. Never before have there been three World Champions, seven world medalists, eleven major international medalists in the dance field.