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

[Mafke]

Olympics are corrupt and therefore the world championships are perfectly okay

I never said (or would) say that. The goal should be to make WC the pre-eminent event for any sport. Building everything around a once-every-four-year event is daft and counter-productive.

The absence of Russian athletes and our favorites getting medals doesn't change much of that corruption?

The absence of russian athletes is entirely, 100%, due to the russian government. Not my concern. And given the nature of the russian state.... anyone sent would either be a genocide-supporting toadie, a moral non-entity, or a tortured soul.
I'm not interested in watching any of them compete. You can thank the russian government for that.

 

[Bigbird]

But the Russians don't need international sport? Hasn't there government absolved them from all wrongdoing and paid them even more handsomely in shows and local competitions? They don't need any of this. The Ukrainians do. So if the victims of this war are uncomfortable with standing shoulder to shoulder with the aggressors, why are they being punished? The politics of this madness is one thing, but would you force a rape victim to work with the perpetrator of the crime?

Let them go play with themselves.

 

[Mafke]

Let them go play with themselves.

Precisely!

 

[gkelly]

I never said (or would) say that. The goal should be to make WC the pre-eminent event for any sport. Building everything around a once-every-four-year event is daft and counter-productive.

In terms of the development of each sport itself and its record books, I completely agree.

But from a marketing point of view, Olympics can be productive for sports that most people wouldn't even know exist if not for the focus on the big worldwide multisport event -- because they otherwise wouldn't watch sports at all, or especially before the advent of multiple livestreams, because they tune in to watch a sport they already like and get introduced to others shown in the same broadcast.

 

[Mafke]

get introduced to others shown in the same broadcast

Does that even happen anymore? How do people watch olympics... those that do, I've passed on over 99% of the last several....

I'm a university instructor and none of my students really watch television (on tv).

 

[On My Own]

I do not see how the WCs aren't the pre-eminent event of every year apart from the Olympic year? Nor do I see how it's counter-productive to build disciplines around a 4-year event, when the disciplines in question DON'T get all that much coverage for the overwhelming majority of the Olympic cycle... (I also don't see how this was the point you were originally making, but moving on)

Football (soccer), basketball, cricket, field hockey, those are the ones that come to mind that have achieved international commercial success. Ice Hockey, of the winter sports. I don't see how we can expect the rest of the sports to follow suit.

I don't think Olympics are a bad thing. It provides great visibility to multiple sports and athletes that otherwise don't get it. IOC is questionable, but that means more to me that it needs to be held accountable more often.

 

[taz'smum]

Does that even happen anymore? How do people watch olympics... those that do, I've passed on over 99% of the last several....

I'm a university instructor and none of my students really watch television (on tv).

I don't even own a TV, nor do most of my friends!

 

[Trillian]

Does that even happen anymore? How do people watch olympics... those that do, I've passed on over 99% of the last several....

I'm a university instructor and none of my students really watch television (on tv).

My older son once commented about a football game and I asked him how he’d watched it because I knew he hadn’t been using the TV. His reply? “On Twitter.”

I’m not going to say younger people never sit in front of a TV and watch an entire sporting event anymore, but anyone whose job is bringing new audiences to sports in 2023 definitely needs to understand that TV is not the primary way they’re going to do that. In that sense, the broadcast model of the Olympics is super outdated. That said, a lot of Olympic sports, including figure skating, are well-suited for circulating short videos online, which probably is the best way to reach younger audiences. So I don’t think the Olympics as an event necessarily has to be obsolete. But anyone hoping to make money or increase exposure for specific sports and athletes needs to be making decisions based on contemporary media consumption, not whatever worked 20+ years ago - and we don’t always see that happening.

 

[Dobre]

The Olympic viewership is still of significant importance to TV stations. Prior to the last Olympics, NBC was completely unavailable on TV here because local cable was refusing to pay what the network wanted. This dispute went on for months. I mean, this is NBC. One of the major 3 networks. And cable was not paying for them? But NBC had the Olympic contract, and they knew it. Well, you guessed it. A day into the Olympics, the cable network had apparently gotten an earful & the channel was back on the air. Today's Olympic coverage is different than in the past. There is still the multi-sport prime time coverage, which does expose viewers to sports most people don't watch during the other three years. Then there are multiple other channels showing many more hours of Olympic sporting events that would not have been fully shown in the past. Full basketball, water polo, & hockey games. Full figure skating events, when we used to only get maybe 8 or 9 competitors in a discipline. Plus, there is a whole bunch online. You can watch nothing but one sport all week long if you want. But you still have to have a cable subscription in order to watch those online Olympic offerings. The Olympics is still important to the overall health of the TV station and the cable outlets that cover NBC--which should be all of them.

Hence, as I said above, one's time might not be wasted letting the station know if you are not going to watch their coverage because of Bach's decision. Because we all know the IOC does care what NBC thinks.

 

[MacMadame]

Does that even happen anymore? How do people watch olympics... those that do, I've passed on over 99% of the last several....

It definitely happens. We've seen people report on FSU how they or people they know who got introduced to a new sport that they are now obsessed with.

Though it's not clear if that obsession lasts past the actually Olympics but the was true before.

 

[Alilou]

It definitely happens. We've seen people report on FSU how they or people they know who got introduced to a new sport that they are now obsessed with.

Though it's not clear if that obsession lasts past the actually Olympics but the was try before.

IIRC @misskarne discovered skating at the 2010 Olys. Yes @misskarne?

 

[Mafke]

discovered skating at the 2010 Olys

yeah, the olympics (if people insist on keeping them around) should be about drawing in new fans.... But Skate America 2023 should not be about "the road to (whatever place bribed the selection committee most) in 2026!"

 

[Sylvia]

I think now is the time to let your own NOC hear how you feel and let the ISU hear how you feel and write polite emails explaining why you would not watch if Russians are let back in. Much easier than having to bring them to change a decision later on.

Suggestions as to the right contact for USFS? Tracy Marek's is the only email I see...but I doubt she is making those kinds of position decisions for USFS.

I think Tracy Marek is one of the right people to contact at USFS. Excerpt from a recent article on Marek that I posted in this GSD thread today: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-baker-as-usfs-ceo.109745/page-2#post-6420049

Russia is now front of mind again for Marek as she takes the reins of US Figure Skating. The sport faces a multitude of issues, including the ban on Russia from competing following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Even before the ban, Russian figure skating, the sport’s juggernaut, was under inquiry for alleged performance-enhancing drug use by its top skaters—such as Kamila Valieva, whose failed drug test loomed over the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing—and promoted by their coaches.
The investigation into Valieva has kept the US team from receiving their medal for the team competition at those Games, something US Figure Skating continues to pressure international governing bodies to resolve.

When in doubt, you can always mail a letter.

THIS. I'm a proponent of composing well thought out letters and/or emails rather than using Twitter/social media.
U.S. Figure Skating
20 First Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

Maybe if someone has a visible account on twitter, they can tweet it out and hope it gets traction? It's not a skating-specific thing either, so hopefully many will see, it might even get boosted by some of the skaters on twitter.

@clairecloutier, @SkateGuard @Sylvia IDK

 

[On My Own]

I think Tracy Marek is one of the right people to contact at USFS. Excerpt from a recent article on Marek that I posted in this GSD thread today: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-baker-as-usfs-ceo.109745/page-2#post-6420049


THIS. I'm a proponent of composing well thought out letters and/or emails rather than using Twitter/social media.

I mean you should tweet something like "let's email Tracy Marek" on a big account. How else will people not on FSU know this is happening?

 

[kwanfan1818]

Someone posted to my IG feed that April is National Letter Writing Month.

 

[Sylvia]

In case this wasn't posted earlier in this thread... from the List of Hearings published by CAS on March 28: https://www.tas-cas.org/en/general-information/news-detail/article/list-of-hearings-4.html
"02.05.23 [May 2, 2023]
CAS 2022/A/8733 Russian Skating Union, Figure Skating Federation of Russia, Semen Elistratov, Angelika Golikova, Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov v. International Skating Union (ISU)"

 

[kwanfan1818]

Aren't they the ones who are trying to get CAS to throw out the Russian ban?

 

[Sylvia]

Aren't they the ones who are trying to get CAS to throw out the Russian ban?

Yes.

From CAS' media release dated April 5, 2022: https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_05.04.22_Russian_appeals.pdf

CAS 2022/A/8733 Russian Skating Union, Figure Skating Federation of Russia, Semen Elistratov,
Angelika Golikova, Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov v. International Skating Union (ISU):
The Russian Skating Union, the Figure Skating Federation of Russian and four Russian speed/figure
skaters filed an appeal against the decision issued by the ISU Council on 1 March 2022 in which it was
announced that with immediate effect and until further notice, no skaters belonging to the ISU members
in Russia shall be invited or allowed to participate in international ice-skating competitions such as ISU
Championships and other ISU events. The appellant-parties seek the annulment of the ISU Council’s
decision. The Panel of arbitrators that will decide this matter is being constituted.

 

[On My Own]

Really? good grief.

At least I got it for Gordeeva/Grinkov, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze. And Panfilova/Rylov. The Russian Pairs at Beijing were a trainwreck and a snooze fest at the same time, which is their only accomplishment worth considering.

 

[caseyedwards]

Beijing no pyeongchang yes

 

[Kateri]

Whether the Russian skaters are good or bad at skating is absolutely irrelevant to whether they should be banned. And talking about it only gives ammunition to those Russians who think that other countries are only keeping them out through jealousy.

 

[caseyedwards]

Whether the Russian skaters are good or bad at skating is absolutely irrelevant to whether they should be banned. And talking about it only gives ammunition to those Russians who think that other countries are only keeping them out through jealousy.

They are. They banned 15 and 16 year olds. Ban the best pairs. They are angry

 

[On My Own]

Ban the best pairs.

Lol

 

[On My Own]

My counterpoint to not bringing up Russian pair skating's quality because it provides ammunition is then we should also not bring up the skating quality, training regimen, and scoring of Russian women in the war thread. (https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...ussia-and-belarus.109499/page-57#post-6417491) That also adds to the "the lying west hates us, oppressed Russia, jealousy" narrative. Well ignoring that this is FSU and IDK how many Russobots from the media are reading this thread.

My unserious point was that T/M are terrible people and also a trainwreck and a snoozefest at the same time. Well tbh both parts are extremely serious. No really. Why do Russian women suck, but the horror show LPs of T/M and M/G not suck? T/M were even WITH Eteri that season, both programs from Danny G! I don't even know what M/G believed they were doing.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Ban the best pairs

????
Alexa and Brandon have not been banned

 

[coppertop1]

????
Alexa and Brandon have not been banned

Neither have Miura/Kihara. This talk about Russia being the best is just another form of gaslighting.

 

[caseyedwards]

Get real

 

[On My Own]

The absence of Russian Pairs in figure skating is very real. As is the presence of Miura/Kihara.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Neither have Miura/Kihara. This talk about Russia being the best is just another form of gaslighting.

mine was a Tee-hee moment

 

[Vagabond]

Russia has Pairs?