ISU Statement on Russia's war against Ukraine - Participation in international competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus

[Gris]

CHN could slide into a 2nd Dance spot (Wang/Liu were 12th in Beijing with 2 Russian teams ahead of them).

Not 100% certain, but I expect Chen / Sun to go to Worlds as Liu needs ankle hand surgery.

Edit: Sorry for the mistake, I confused my information yesterday. I stand corrected.

 

[MarieM]

At last. Glad they're doing that.

 

[Karen-W]

Not 100% certain, but I expect Chen / Sun to go to Worlds as Liu needs ankle surgery.

That would be a shame if Liu's ankle is in poor enough shape that he can't make it to Worlds. No way are Chen/Sun competitive for top 10 the way Wang/Liu are. It is a lot easier to keep 2 spots once you earn them than it is to get them in the first place (says someone who well remembers the dark, dark days of US ice dance when we only had 1 team every year).

 

[zoe111]

So happy to hear this!

 

[ballettmaus]

After she was so upset and basically blamed her coach for placing second, I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Trusova finds out. (I'm sure there's another country or two who'd love to have her skate for them).

 

[Bigbird]

Russia will simply play amongst themselves. Award each other platinum metals and such.

 

[Dobre]

How many Russian athletes will start competiting for Azerbaijan, Georgia, etc?

Do you imagine the Russian Fed would let new athletes go in this scenario?

 

[Karen-W]

Do you imagine the Russian Fed would let new athletes go in this scenario?

I don't think they would either, to be honest. They will hold their own All-Russia/Belarus competitions and tell themselves that no one in the world can hold a candle to them.

 

[aka_gerbil]

Do you imagine the Russian Fed would let new athletes go in this scenario?

I don’t think they’ll let anyone go. I do think we will see a lot of the top coaches flee for the west again like they did in the 90s.

I don’t think there will be a lot of money for skates, rinks, and training in Russia, much less competitions.

 

[Karen-W]

I don’t think they’ll let anyone go. I do think we will see a lot of the top coaches flee for the west again like they did in the 90s.

I don’t think there will be a lot of money for skates, rinks, and training in Russia, much less competitions.

Now THIS is quite possible. All of the money has been frozen and the big sponsors of the sports academies are scrambling to even stay afloat.

I think some of the coaches will certainly flee to the West but I expect some to remain in Russia or the satellite nations - wonder how good Eteri's Georgian is, hehehehe.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I think some of the coaches will certainly flee to the West but I expect some to remain in Russia or the satellite nations - wonder how good Eteri's Georgian is, hehehehe.

Eteri has US citizenship and her daughter is here. I think she’d come here, actually.

As an aside, I think this ends with Putin getting offed. After that happens, I think the west needs to make damned sure Russia (not the oligarchs, but the regular people) recovers too because otherwise we repeat how Germany was handled after WWI and that is never a setup that ends well.

 

[Dobre]

I'm not prepared to predict years ahead. The past two have felt like being stuck in a time-travel book. (Pandemic, fears of a Depression, a Civil Rights Movement, Invasion a la WWII, the Cold War). I hope somehow Ukraine and the World and Russia can move past this dictator and push the go button on my time travel machine to . . . how about a nice Appreciation of Figure Skating Era.

 

[Miezekatze]

I'm not prepared to predict years ahead.

For that reason I think the ISU statement is totally ok. How are they supposed to decide things for fall, when nobody knows how the sanctions and situation will have evolved until then.

 

[Karen-W]

Eteri has US citizenship and her daughter is here. I think she’d come here, actually.

She might come here but I'm not sure, after the way things went down at the Olympics with her team, that she'll be all that welcomed by the USFS unless she promises to clean up her act.

 

[skatingguy]

For that reason I think the ISU statement is totally ok. How are they supposed to decide things for fall, when nobody knows how the sanctions and situation will have evolved until then.

My guess is that a decision will be made about the Grand Prix after the World Championships, and the Junior World Championships. There will be time before the traditional Grand Prix announcement in June to find an alternative host.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

She might come here but I'm not sure, after the way things went down at the Olympics with her team, that she'll be all that welcomed by the USFS unless she promises to clean up her act.

Oh yes, do please let the Medusa-haired Georgian Gorgon come back to the US. Can you imagine the media scrutiny she'd be under here?

 

[aka_gerbil]

She might come here but I'm not sure, after the way things went down at the Olympics with her team, that she'll be all that welcomed by the USFS unless she promises to clean up her act.

Based on what I saw of people losing the plot with 6 and 7 year olds and competitive swimming when I had the roommate… I think there are a lot of parents here who would send their kid to Eteri if it meant they would win.

 

[Karen-W]

Now, here is the other question... If this isn't resolved by June, then it would mean no Russian or Belarusian officials or delegates at the ISU Congress, correct? Which would effectively eliminate Lakernik from running for ISU President...

 

[taz'smum]

A lot can change in a very short time as we have already seen, so I'd not predict anything at the moment.

The 2 oligarchs speaking out against the war was significant IMO.
If there was a revolution and Putin and his cronies removed, Russia might be viewed very differently by the world.

I also can't see Russia releasing any skaters at all now as that would be admitting there is no future for sports in Russia.
It would take an ISU rule change to allow skaters to change countries without permission from the Russian fed.
Given the Russian Fed were the biggest supporters of the permission from the old Fed being required, it is possible that the rules on this could be changed completely, though the ISU would still need to take measures to prevent country hopping at will.

 

[Deleted member 221]

I wonder if this will increase post-Olympics Worlds participation, with many more skaters suddenly in medal contention.

Imagine the deathmatches if Russia will be reduced to one entrant per discipline for '23 or whenever they end up competing again. Sadly, otherwise innocent skaters may quit through a combination of lack of funding / prize money, lost opportunities, etc.

OTOH, we may see some skaters contemplating retirement stick around if suddenly their country earns extra spots. Canada is likely to benefit in every discipline (except men, assuming Sadovsky competes), and the U.S. could as well in women and pairs.

Or maybe this causes the ISU to completely re-think how Worlds spots are determined, with more focus placed on in-season results / qualification through Grand Prixs, etc.

 

[Lilia A]

Or maybe this causes the ISU to completely re-think how Worlds spots are determined, with more focus placed on in-season results / qualification through Grand Prixs, etc.

I've always thought that this wouldn't be such a bad idea. Perhaps not GP since they're invitation only, but challengers perhaps? That would serve as an incentive to increase attendance.

 

[Frau Muller]

Sad but totally expected. ISU did the right thing.

It feels as if the skating and ballet worlds have been reset to pre-1956, before the USSR participated in intl figure skating events…before the first Moiseyev and Bolshoi tours to the UK and US.

I’m just grateful that my dear husband got out of Russia last week & is back in my arms. (Long story but it took four tries and US Consulate help at Sheremetievo-Moscow airport to finally get him out. Russia used fake COVID excuse to keep him from boarding planes to the US.) But when will he see his parents & sibling families again (beside WhatsApp calls)? When will we see our son, daughter in law and grandchild who is due to be born in mid-April…in Yalta, Crimea? They need to get the heck outa Dodge. All of them. Lives upended. Thanks a lot, Putin!
P.s. I’ve just copied this post to the snark thread in SekretSources, since most of this is personal. No need to respond, etc.

 

[Aussie Willy]

I don't know how the ISU could have allowed Russia to compete after all other sports have been taking action. The right decision has been made.

 

[nickp]

Worlds will be so interesting!

 

[BlueRidge]

This is no suprise. The ISU may not have wanted to do this but it had no choice.

I can't say I've seen more ridiculous posts than the ones yesterday suggesting the ISU would cancel Worlds rather than do this when the whole world is demanding it.

ETA: for those who think this took a long time for the ISU to come to, you need to get off the internet. This was a very quick decision after the whole sports world earlier in the day went there. Time can be really distorted when you are watching the news second by second.

 

[rfisher]

I understand the reasoning and action, but my heart breaks for the Russian junior and senior skaters, their families and coaches who had nothing whatsoever to do with the actions of their government. Some may well have family members in the military since it is mostly a conscripted army. Those who live in major cities are as fearful of a nuclear attack as the west because if missiles start firing, they are targets. I don't have polite words for posters gleefully cheering this action for selfish reasons that their favorite skaters might be medalists as a consequence. So, I'll just say nothing more.

 

[Firedancer]

Finally! They definitely made right decision but I agree with those that said this sounds very reluctant.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I agree. Nothing said about next season's events like the Russian GP.

But, thankfully, at least they did make this decision and did it within 24 hours of the IOC's recommendation instead of dragging it out further.


As someone else mentioned, it sounds like Sui/Han will be at Worlds, and we know PapCiz will be there, and it is sounding like Nathan intends on competing, so I would say Japan has a reasonable chance at gold in 1 discipline and a 25% chance at gold in a 2nd discipline which goes up to 90% if Nathan bows out.

Japan could come home with anywhere between 3-5 medals though. Same with the USA.

Also, this is going to open up the race for top 10 in every discipline and make it really interesting. USA should be in a good position to earn 3 spots in Pairs & Women, and KOR will also be well-positioned to get a 3rd spot in Women. Which countries will be able to earn a 2nd spot?

I wonder if that fact that Russia isn't allowed to compete in Montpellier, will reduce their potential World team in 2023 to one man, one woman, one pair team, and one dance team?

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

She might come here but I'm not sure, after the way things went down at the Olympics with her team, that she'll be all that welcomed by the USFS unless she promises to clean up her act.

Or conversely, create an abusive trail of disaster like USA's Peggy Liddick did when she was hired to oversee the Australian Gymnastics program.

 

[allezfred]

ETA: for those who think this took a long time for the ISU to come to, you need to get off the internet. This was a very quick decision after the whole sports world earlier in the day went there. Time can be really distorted when you are watching the news second by second.

This. The idea that serious decisions like this can and should be made in a split second shows how ignorant some people are of how consensus building in an international organisation like the ISU works. The war started Thursday and it is now Tuesday morning.