North Korean pair team of Ryom/Kim qualify for the Olympics in South Korea (NYT articles)

You know, this is BS. If the IOC can just give additional spots in pairs away, then they should give the US a 2nd spot. They are already, with the additional "home team" quota spot going to South Korea and another additional "wild card" spot going to North Korea, up to 22 teams. They'll need an additional ice make for those teams, so why not give the US the 2nd team that we got screwed out of due to the way the spots were allocated in the first place? You can't tell me there won't be room in the athletes village for them.
 
Assuming a few Pairs don't pull out and move KOR off the alternates list: the 21st spot goes to KOR as a host spot, because there are enough Additional Athlete Quota spots left, and the 22nd for Ryom/Kim spot would be an IOC wildcard spot.

I think they're terrific, and I hope they get to skate.
 
Vagabond said:
The U.S. should be, and is, better than a beggar at the back door. North Korea should be, and is not.
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Look, if this was any other country but NoKo and the Olympics were taking place in any other country but SoKo, the IOC wouldn't be offering up a wild card spot to NoKo. It is galling to me that they are being given a spot that they gave up after earning it fair and square at Nebelhorn while the US is continually screwed out of a 2nd spot that, if not for the limited entries the IOC imposes on the sports federations in the first place, we would have because we did actually earn a 2nd spot for Worlds. It isn't as if enough countries turned down their pairs spots the US would be given that spot, instead it would go unfilled. I'm disgusted at the levels to which the IOC will bend over to ensure North Korean participation at the Olympics and it is rank hypocrisy to give them a wild card spot and make every other country follow their artificial quotas. If I was the USFSA and the USOC, I would be preparing a CAS case right now.
 
Karen-W said:
If I was the USFSA and the USOC, I would be preparing a CAS case right now.
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World political and military leaders believe that if the North Koreans send a delegation, the risk of the North Korean government using a nuclear weapon (or other aggressive military tactics) on South Korea during the Olympics is significantly diffused. If the North Korean pair team appears, every other athlete at the Olympics is much safer. The minute-to-minute paranoia and security if North Korea does not appear can't be overstated.

U.S. Figure Skating and the USOC are not preparing a CAS case. Maybe a fruit basket or flowers, but not a CAS case.
 
5Ali3 said:
World political and military leaders believe that if the North Koreans send a delegation, the risk of the North Korean government using a nuclear weapon (or other aggressive military tactics) on South Korea during the Olympics is significantly diffused. If the North Korean pair team appears, every other athlete at the Olympics is much safer. The minute-to-minute paranoia and security if North Korea does not appear can't be overstated.

U.S. Figure Skating and the USOC are not preparing a CAS case. Maybe a fruit basket or flowers, but not a CAS case.
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Oh, I fully understand the geo-politics behind this decision. Just like I fully understand that North Korea is backing down from some of their rhetoric because the US and South Korea agreed, earlier this week, to hold off on their planned joint military exercises until after the Winter Olympics. That decision probably contributes far more to the safety of the athletes than North Korea having a pairs team competing (after all, nothing would prevent Kim Jong Eun from doing something after the pairs competition is finished and his athletes are back home - because the likelihood of them being allowed to remain in Pyeongchang for the duration of the Olympics is slim to none). This is some rank BS on so many levels, giving North Korea a spot they gave up. But, hey, let's just disregard the qualification rules because... well, because it's North Korea and the world has been, collectively, bargaining with them for the last 20+ years, to no good end.
 
I hope they get to go for the sake of the skaters, I feel so sorry for them. They worked hard, trained abroad, earned the spot at Nebelhorn. Then they were screwed by authorities, nothing they could do but watch themselves be reduced to pieces in a political game they have no influence in. I get what you're saying, and I agree it's unfair to other countries and other pairs, but in this special case for me justice for the skaters weighs heavier.
 
SmallFairy said:
I hope they get to go for the sake of the skaters, I feel so sorry for them. They worked hard, trained abroad, earned the spot at Nebelhorn. Then they were screwed by authorities, nothing they could do but watch themselves be reduced to pieces in a political game they have no influence in. I get what you're saying, and I agree it's unfair to other countries and other pairs, but in this special case for me justice for the skaters weighs heavier.
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This!

The skaters are the ones caught in the middle of this political mess. These are really sweet kids who have worked hard and of politics their federation gave up their spot.

I hope they get to skate! The North Korea team competed alongside the South Korean team at Asian Open in Feb 2017. They had photos taken together and got to know each other a little.

Let’s hope that the politicians can put aside their egos long enough for these skaters, who earns their spot, fair and square, to be able to compete.

As for the US not having a second spot, that only comes down to two things, firstly, nobody but the Knierims skated well enough at Worlds and secondly, the ISU keeping Pair fields so small. The ISU needs to raise the number of pairs that can be included.
 
5Ali3 said:
World political and military leaders believe that if the North Koreans send a delegation, the risk of the North Korean government using a nuclear weapon (or other aggressive military tactics) on South Korea during the Olympics is significantly diffused. If the North Korean pair team appears, every other athlete at the Olympics is much safer. The minute-to-minute paranoia and security if North Korea does not appear can't be overstated.

U.S. Figure Skating and the USOC are not preparing a CAS case. Maybe a fruit basket or flowers, but not a CAS case.
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Which is way more important in the real world than a mediocre 2nd US pair team.
 
A breakthrough in bilateral North-South talks means North Korea will send a "large" delegation to the Games. While the North Korean pair isn't specifically cited as being able to participate, their chances are looking increasingly good.

NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/world/asia/north-korea-south-olympics-border-talks.html
Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...et-to-begin-in-push-for-peace-during-olympics
NBC - https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/w...nda-north-south-korea-hold-rare-talks-n835681
CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/09/asia/north-korea-talks-intl/index.html
 
insideedgeua said:
This!

The skaters are the ones caught in the middle of this political mess. These are really sweet kids who have worked hard and of politics their federation gave up their spot.

I hope they get to skate! The North Korea team competed alongside the South Korean team at Asian Open in Feb 2017. They had photos taken together and got to know each other a little.

Let’s hope that the politicians can put aside their egos long enough for these skaters, who earns their spot, fair and square, to be able to compete.

As for the US not having a second spot, that only comes down to two things, firstly, nobody but the Knierims skated well enough at Worlds and secondly, the ISU keeping Pair fields so small. The ISU needs to raise the number of pairs that can be included.
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So....may Ryom/Kim be the pair on Team Korea in the Team Event? That would help the team. This, in addition to Ryom/Kim participating in the traditional Pairs event.
 
I had no idea they were coached by Marcotte this summer.

I wonder if that affected their political views or their views about their country. It seems North Korea thrives on keeping its citizens out of the loop and ignorant to actual history and politics so that they can't question the practices of their regime. I've heard in the past that the athletes are followed around by North Korean officials so that they can't get their hands on information from the outside world, but that's been for short events or Olympics. One wonders if that works well for 8 weeks working with a foreign coach... It would be interesting to hear about that, but I doubt we will.
 
Willin said:
I had no idea they were coached by Marcotte this summer.
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Earlier in this thread there are article/video links with quotes by Bruno Marcotte: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...south-korea-nyt-articles.101937/#post-5201723

Alex Kam's photo after the 2 Korean pairs competed at the Quebec Summer Championships in Pierrefonds last August (L to R: Ju Sik Kim, Kyueun Kim-Alex's partner, Tae Ok Ryom, Alex Kam): https://www.instagram.com/p/BXs2lEFBOE6/?hl=en&taken-by=alex_kambam
 
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Karen-W said:
You know, this is BS. If the IOC can just give additional spots in pairs away, then they should give the US a 2nd spot. They are already, with the additional "home team" quota spot going to South Korea and another additional "wild card" spot going to North Korea, up to 22 teams. They'll need an additional ice make for those teams, so why not give the US the 2nd team that we got screwed out of due to the way the spots were allocated in the first place? You can't tell me there won't be room in the athletes village for them.
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I'm not sure whether to :rolleyes:, :blah:, or :rofl:.
 
Karen-W said:
You know, this is BS. If the IOC can just give additional spots in pairs away, then they should give the US a 2nd spot. They are already, with the additional "home team" quota spot going to South Korea and another additional "wild card" spot going to North Korea, up to 22 teams. They'll need an additional ice make for those teams, so why not give the US the 2nd team that we got screwed out of due to the way the spots were allocated in the first place? You can't tell me there won't be room in the athletes village for them.
Click to expand...

You realize North Korea earned one of the qualifying spots at Nebelhorn and this team also finished in the top 16 at Worlds last season, right? (Way ahead of Denney/Frazier, btw). There was some question whether they were going to be able to compete because of North Korea itself, and that's obviously understandable. They are getting a spot back that they already had qualified-- not just the IOC handing something out for the sake of world peace.

FWIW- they finished ahead of the Israelis, Czechs, Japanese, and South Korean teams at Nebelhorn who all also earned spots to the Olympics. They also beat US National pewter medalists Cain and LeDuc at said competition. At Worlds, they were ahead of Aleksandrovskaya/Windsor (AUS), Ziegler/Kiefer (AUT), and the second German team. They are more than deserving of an Olympic spot.
 
Alex Kam's instagram post is probably one of my all time favorite ones from a skater--loved it when I saw it back in August and love it even more now. Glad there is a chance that all four skaters will be on Olympic ice.
 
Tony Wheeler said:
You realize North Korea earned one of the qualifying spots at Nebelhorn and this team also finished in the top 16 at Worlds last season, right? (Way ahead of Denney/Frazier, btw). There was some question whether they were going to be able to compete because of North Korea itself, and that's obviously understandable. They are getting a spot back that they already had qualified-- not just the IOC handing something out for the sake of world peace.
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Yes, I realize they earned a spot at Nebelhorn, however they failed to notify the ISU that they would be utilizing their spot by the deadline, so the ISU gave their earned spot to Japan. Any spot that North Korea gets is thanks, now, to the IOC, indeed, giving them a "wild card" spot, which is in addition to the quota of 20 pairs teams plus the 1 host spot that the IOC & ISU have agreed upon for the Olympics. So, yes, this is some "world peace" thing by the IOC and nothing else.
 
Karen-W said:
Yes, I realize they earned a spot at Nebelhorn, however they failed to notify the ISU that they would be utilizing their spot by the deadline, so the ISU gave their earned spot to Japan. Any spot that North Korea gets is thanks, now, to the IOC, indeed, giving them a "wild card" spot, which is in addition to the quota of 20 pairs teams plus the 1 host spot that the IOC & ISU have agreed upon for the Olympics. So, yes, this is some "world peace" thing by the IOC and nothing else.
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But it wasn’t the skaters that didn’t make the deadline, it was their government and they were just pawns in the game.

I’m really happy that some form of common sense has prevailed and they will now be able to skate at the Olympics.
 
I'm so happy to hear about this positive progress for North Korean participation in the games, and especially for Ryom/Kim. I hope they are there, and put smiles on many faces as they did in Helsinki!
 
Karen-W said:
Yes, I realize they earned a spot at Nebelhorn, however they failed to notify the ISU that they would be utilizing their spot by the deadline, so the ISU gave their earned spot to Japan. Any spot that North Korea gets is thanks, now, to the IOC, indeed, giving them a "wild card" spot, which is in addition to the quota of 20 pairs teams plus the 1 host spot that the IOC & ISU have agreed upon for the Olympics. So, yes, this is some "world peace" thing by the IOC and nothing else.
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This is definitely worthy of a :rolleyes:.
 
Karen-W said:
Yes, I realize they earned a spot at Nebelhorn, however they failed to notify the ISU that they would be utilizing their spot by the deadline, so the ISU gave their earned spot to Japan. Any spot that North Korea gets is thanks, now, to the IOC, indeed, giving them a "wild card" spot, which is in addition to the quota of 20 pairs teams plus the 1 host spot that the IOC & ISU have agreed upon for the Olympics. So, yes, this is some "world peace" thing by the IOC and nothing else.
Click to expand...

I never thought I would ever see the words world peace used in such a pejorative manner.
 
Karen-W said:
Yes, I realize they earned a spot at Nebelhorn, however they failed to notify the ISU that they would be utilizing their spot by the deadline, so the ISU gave their earned spot to Japan. Any spot that North Korea gets is thanks, now, to the IOC, indeed, giving them a "wild card" spot, which is in addition to the quota of 20 pairs teams plus the 1 host spot that the IOC & ISU have agreed upon for the Olympics. So, yes, this is some "world peace" thing by the IOC and nothing else.
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I still don't get why the US pair should get a spot. The Nk earned their spot, it's not like they are being put in the game only because they are NK. They deserve and have earned their spot. This is no pity.
 
Not only is the N. Korean pair talented, their participation can do so much more beyond the actual Olympics, it would be a great moment for figure skating as well. In general it would do way more than having just another country’s 2nd pair go and finish 18th after the SP :shuffle:
 
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