Citizenship status of skaters aiming for the Olympics

For the Georgian pairs, I remembered that Luka Berulava definitely has citizenship, since he competed at the Youth Olympics.
 
Jackie Wong just did an IG Live with Barquero/Zandron - last question was about Marco's citizenship. He said that the Spanish fed is working with the Ministry of Sports and the government to expedite his citizenship and he is hopeful that he will have his Spanish passport in time for the Olympics.
 
He and Laura had an interview with Masha earlier in which he said mostly the same (not in so much detail, only that it seemed to be okay). I think we shouldn't worry, just look forward to them being in Beijing!
 
Gris said:
Reportedly, Allison Reed's citizenship application has been denied again and the last chance she has seems to be asking for a special approval by the President.

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After their experience with Isabella Tobias, who turned her Lithuanian passport back in when she decided to skate for Israel, I'm not at all surprised, especially given the lengths Tobias went through, including learning the language and speaking it for her citizenship interview.
 
kwanfan1818 said:
After their experience with Isabella Tobias, who turned her Lithuanian passport back in when she decided to skate for Israel, I'm not at all surprised, especially given the lengths Tobias went through, including learning the language and speaking it for her citizenship interview.
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I have to think it would have helped her cause if she and Saulius had been able to hold onto their RD lead at the recent Golden Spin comp. It would have been a major, recent international win, surely proof of her extraordinary merit.

That botched lift in the FD was really costly, such a shame. I have always enjoyed Allison’s skating, and was looking forward to seeing her at the Olympics!
 
Tobias didn't get her citizenship through the regular channels of extraordinary ability: she got it through Presidential intervention. Tobias/Stagniunas were bronze medalists at a GP and were twice Top 10 at Euros, while Reed/Ambrulevicius have been neither.
 
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Gris said:
Reportedly, Allison Reed's citizenship application has been denied again and the last chance she has seems to be asking for a special approval by the President.
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This sucks for Reed, but at least she's been to the Olympics before, and in the same games as her siblings - though she was just 15 at the time, and the Georgian delegation was affected by the death of one of their members.

The bigger issue is that this approach really limits Lithuanian skaters: they can find someone who's also a citizen/can qualify (challenging), try to get their partner citizenship (not likely), represent their partner's country, or forego the Olympics entirely. It's such a shame.
 
Lithuania allows dual citizenship under unusual/special circumstances only, as do a number of other countries. Another set of countries, like Germany, only allows obtaining another citizenship to certain groups of countries (IIRC, EU countries and Switzerland, plus any by treaty), and anyone else needs to renounce their citizenship to get German citizenship. Estonia also restricts dual citizenship, but they offered an Estonian passport to American Caitlin Mallory that would expire after a number of years -- IIRC, 5, long enough to fulfill the IOC's requirements -- but she declined. Someone here posted that it was because by giving up her American passport, it would have interfered with her college studies. (Made her ineligible for instate tuition?) Japan officially requires that people who've held multiple citizenships choose either Japanese citizenship or the other(s) at age 22.

There are many countries that are challenging for skaters who want to compete for these countries, especially when one partner is a citizen. Though it is clear when the partnerships are formed that there will be no chance for citizenship in at least one of the countries. Sorensen was lucky that Denmark was willing to release him. He was also well on his way to qualifying for Canadian Permanent Residency and citizenship, so he didn't need a legislative push, like Weaver, Iliuchenkina, and Gilles.
 
I wish the IOC allowed a team to compete in pairs and dance if one partner was a citizen rather than requiring both. I feel bad that talented skaters from small feds are stuck as @MsZem stated above.
 
Well, it seems like a very long shot. That said, we'll have to wait & see what happens after Europeans. Reed & Ambrulevicius could certainly outplace Tobias & Stagnianus's results from the Olympics. T&S finished 17th. R&A were 15th last year, and even with P&C coming back & Muramoto & Reed potentially in the mix, they would still be favorites to finish top 17, plus anything below the top 10 is a battle zone for a lot of teams right now.
 
I agree that the IOC should allow mixed-citizenship teams to compete, but I doubt they'd ever consider it, because it would mean extending it to other duos -- synchronized duos, mixed curling, two-person bobsled -- and probably teams as well, like four-person bobsled, relays, etc.

ETA: Tobias' citizenship meant that the President was willing to grant an exception, essentially overriding the legislature, and IIRC, her reasoning was to allow the Lithuanian member of a team that had shown results, not potential, to compete. Tobias was only along for it to support the Lithuanian citizen. I don't know why the President would stick their neck out to offer Allison Reed citizenship, when she has a pattern of getting multiple passports in order to compete, which Tobias hadn't at the time, and, at least as far as I've read, hasn't made an attempt to learn the language or become part of a Lithuanian expat community.
 
MsZem said:
This sucks for Reed, but at least she's been to the Olympics before, and in the same games as her siblings - though she was just 15 at the time, and the Georgian delegation was affected by the death of one of their members.

The bigger issue is that this approach really limits Lithuanian skaters: they can find someone who's also a citizen/can qualify (challenging), try to get their partner citizenship (not likely), represent their partner's country, or forego the Olympics entirely. It's such a shame.
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Didn't the Lithuanian president get super pissed when Isabella Tobias renounced her presidentially-granted Lithuanian citizenship to get Israeli citizenship like 6 months after she was naturalized? I'm sure they're not too fond of country hoppers especially after that incident.
 
rhapsody said:
Didn't the Lithuanian president get super pissed when Isabella Tobias renounced her presidentially-granted Lithuanian citizenship to get Israeli citizenship like 6 months after she was naturalized? I'm sure they're not too fond of country hoppers especially after that incident.
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Yes. And to compete with a guy who had no chance for gaining Israeli citizenship.
 
kwanfan1818 said:
I agree that the IOC should allow mixed-citizenship teams to compete, but I doubt they'd ever consider it, because it would mean extending it to other duos -- synchronized duos, mixed curling, two-person bobsled -- and probably teams as well, like four-person bobsled, relays, etc.
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I have no issue with them doing that though. :D

I think requiring citizenship is old-fashioned. It should just be permanent residency. (Like the US green card)
 
Permanent Residency doesn't solve the issue, though, because the requirements usually require actual residency of more than half of the year, and, only in rare occasions, are they waived, like it's possible to retain PR status in Canada, if your Canadian spouse lives overseas, or if you're working for a Canadian company from outside Canada.
 
Spikefan said:
I wish the IOC allowed a team to compete in pairs and dance if one partner was a citizen rather than requiring both. I feel bad that talented skaters from small feds are stuck as @MsZem stated above.
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That could open a can of worms. Why limit it to figure skating, and not to other Olympic team sports like e.g. Volleyball, symchronuzed swimming, or in winter Synchronused anything?
 
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