2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics - Figure Skating Qualification

[Jammers]

Sincerely asking - Was there ever a question that they could be denied?

I'm sorry but they shouldn't have been allowed to compete in Milan in the first place. The ISU yet again being halfassed with their decisions.

 

[skateblessing]

Sincerely asking - Was there ever a question that they could be denied?

IIRC when they first announced who were allowed to compete and try get a spot under the neutral status - there was something about that they still had to stay neutral and their neutral status would be checked again before Olympics. With other words, there was no guarantee for the neutral athletes to stay neutral all though they passed the "test" the first time. If anyone would have stepped wrong since last time (April?) they would simply lose their neutral status. And since the Olympic quotas for the AIN was given to the athletes, that would also have ment no one would replace them if they lost the status, all though they had reserves to begin with. Now, the athletes themselves know about this and have probably been very careful not to do anything that could change their neutral status. However - I´m not sure they are still being monitored now or if they guaranteed to compete under the neutral status? I mean if they aren´t doing more background checks, it´s unlikely to find something at this stage.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

IIRC when they first announced who were allowed to compete and try get a spot under the neutral status - there was something about that they still had to stay neutral and their neutral status would be checked again before Olympics. With other words, there was no guarantee for the neutral athletes to stay neutral all though they passed the "test" the first time. If anyone would have stepped wrong since last time (April?) they would simply lose their neutral status. And since the Olympic quotas for the AIN was given to the athletes, that would also have ment no one would replace them if they lost the status, all though they had reserves to begin with. Now, the athletes themselves know about this and have probably been very careful not to do anything that could change their neutral status. However - I´m not sure they are still being monitored now or if they guaranteed to compete under the neutral status? I mean if they aren´t doing more background checks, it´s unlikely to find something at this stage.

Âlso wondering about substances. Who`s doing the testing? Someone from ISU going there regularly?

 

[Kiki5375]

WADA does the testing. Olympics is not about politics or other countries should be banned, too. The Russian ban is about doping so test them as much as possible but as long as they are clean, let them take part.

 

[tony]

WADA does the testing. Olympics is not about politics or other countries should be banned, too. The Russian ban is about doping so test them as much as possible but as long as they are clean, let them take part.

It's not just about doping. This has to keep being told every time threads like this start up. The main reason why all of Russia and Belarus are out of competition is because of the invasion of Ukraine during the Olympic Truce period. So yes... politics.

Up until 2022, Russian athletes may have had to compete under some blanket term like "Olympic Athlete from Russia", but they still were able to send much more complete teams across all sports in both the Summer and Winter Games.

 

[Kiki5375]

And this is what I see unfair. What about Israel, North Korea and so many other countries? Why do they only ban Russia then? there is war in so many countries. And these kids spent all their life on the ice. They are not responsible for politics. The skaters are banned but tennis players are allowed to continue their sport. Why? I am not Russian and I don't support the Russian politics but I am sad for the kids that have nothing to do with it. They worked all their life for their skating career and now they lose it all because of politics they cannot change.

 

[Debbie S]

And this is what I see unfair. What about Israel, North Korea and so many other countries? Why do they only ban Russia then? there is war in so many countries. And these kids spent all their life on the ice. They are not responsible for politics. The skaters are banned but tennis players are allowed to continue their sport. Why? I am not Russian and I don't support the Russian politics but I am sad for the kids that have nothing to do with it. They worked all their life for their skating career and now they lose it all because of politics they cannot change.

How about taking the political commentary to PI?

 

[sus2850]

And this is what I see unfair. What about Israel, North Korea and so many other countries? Why do they only ban Russia then? there is war in so many countries. And these kids spent all their life on the ice. They are not responsible for politics. The skaters are banned but tennis players are allowed to continue their sport. Why? I am not Russian and I don't support the Russian politics but I am sad for the kids that have nothing to do with it. They worked all their life for their skating career and now they lose it all because of politics they cannot change.

Just a short answer because I think it is relevant: figure skating in Russia is state funded (meaning: no fees for coaches/ice etc unlike basically every other country except China) and tennis players from Russia are not state funded (also chess players are not for example)

 

[her grace]

Because those other countries didn’t start wars in the Olympic truce period. According to the IOC, you’re not allowed to use the Olympics’s bump up of increased nationalism and goodwill to generate support for starting a war.

 

[Karen-W]

And this is what I see unfair. What about Israel, North Korea and so many other countries? Why do they only ban Russia then? there is war in so many countries. And these kids spent all their life on the ice. They are not responsible for politics. The skaters are banned but tennis players are allowed to continue their sport. Why? I am not Russian and I don't support the Russian politics but I am sad for the kids that have nothing to do with it. They worked all their life for their skating career and now they lose it all because of politics they cannot change.

Just a short answer because I think it is relevant: figure skating in Russia is state funded (meaning: no fees for coaches/ice etc unlike basically every other country except China) and tennis players from Russia are not state funded (also chess players are not for example)

No, the short answer is none of those countries invaded another country during the Olympic Truce period. This was the THIRD time in fifteen years that Russia had done so - 1) invasion of Georgia in August 2008, 2) invasion of Crimea in February 2014, 3) invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The world and the IOC had basically had it with Russia starting wars during the Olympic Truce period.

 

[Ice_dance_fan]

And this is what I see unfair. What about Israel, North Korea and so many other countries? Why do they only ban Russia then? there is war in so many countries. And these kids spent all their life on the ice. They are not responsible for politics. The skaters are banned but tennis players are allowed to continue their sport. Why? I am not Russian and I don't support the Russian politics but I am sad for the kids that have nothing to do with it. They worked all their life for their skating career and now they lose it all because of politics they cannot change.

Because Russia did that during Olympic piece

 

[sus2850]

No, the short answer is none of those countries invaded another country during the Olympic Truce period. This was the THIRD time in fifteen years that Russia had done so - 1) invasion of Georgia in August 2008, 2) invasion of Crimea in February 2014, 3) invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The world and the IOC had basically had it with Russia starting wars during the Olympic Truce period.

But the question was (at least the part to which I answered as I thought the reason of breaking the Olympic truce was obvious) why other sports people from Russia are not banned. And the reason is that state funded Russian athletes are banned and individual athletes that have no ties to Russia/funding are not banned (like tennis/chess). Or do you imply only winter sports are banned? That is not true either. For example in my other facourite sport which is sport climbing no Russians were considered for Paris 2024

 

[Karen-W]

But the question was why other sports people from Russia are not banned. And the reason is that state funded Russian athletes are banned and individual athletes that have no ties to Russia/funding are not banned (like tennis/chess). Or do you imply only winter sports are banned? That is not true either. For example in my other facourite sport which is sport climbing no Russians were considered for Paris 2024

The IOC loosened the ban restrictions in the run-up to the 2024 Olympics and left it up to individual sports federations as to whether or not they would allow Russians & Belarusians to attempt to qualify for AIN status. Some federations have maintained a total ban, others have allowed a very limited number of athletes to compete.

Wikipedia has a good summary of the AINs at both the 2024 Summer Olympics - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Neutral_Athletes_at_the_2024_Summer_Olympics

As well as the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics -

Individual Neutral Athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Jammers]

Deleted

 

[PRlady]

Note that this is not the thread to rehash who should or shouldn’t be banned for political reasons, that’s what PI is for.

 

[Karen-W]

@tony has revealed on The Skating Session's IG account the tech panels for the Olympics. As he notes on the posts, these have not been officially published or announced by the ISU, but as far as he is aware, the information is correct as of today. Tech panels call both the individual events and the team event for the disciplines.

Men - Leena Laskonen FIN, Clarence Ong AUS, Raoul LeBlanc CAN (called the 2025 Skate Canada Men & Women's competitions)
Women - Jeroen Prins NED, Claudia Unger GER, Zsofia Tokaji-Kulcsar HUN (called the 2025 Finlandia Trophy Men & Women's competitions)
Pairs - Susan Lynch AUS, Veronique Fleury FRA, Whitney Gaynor USA (called the 2025 Worlds Pairs competition)
Ice Dance - Marcin Kozubek POL, Ayako Higashino JPN, Tae-hwa Yang KOR (rumored to be the 2025 GPF Ice Dance panel)

 

[Andrea82]

Prins: judge Beijing 2022 (Pairs)
Lynch: judge Torino 2006 (Women), TC Vancouver 2010 (Pairs) and Pyeongchang 2018 (Women)
Higashino: TS Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022
Yang: TS Pyeongchang 2018

__________________

One of the Referees will be Saioa Sancho of Spain. It was mentioned in congratulating social media posts by Spanish Fed this summer.

Facebook

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[Lanie]

Saioa Sancho has been the ref at various events I've helped the ref in timing. She knows her stuff and to my eyes seems very fair.