4 CC 2021 in Sydney are cancelled...

[victorskid]

Typos rock.

Apparently there is a story of a couple wanting to visit 'Sidney', and the travel agent sent them to Canada by mistake.

But they did go to a Sydney - it was just the one on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia rather than the one is Australia.

 

[Erin]

Typos rock.

Apparently there is a story of a couple wanting to visit 'Sidney', and the travel agent sent them to Canada by mistake.

I’ve also heard that same story where the tourists ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

To tie this back to skating, one of my favourite stories about Gregorz Filipowski is that he was intending to move, along with his coach from Poland to Rochester, New York. But he ended up in Rochester, Minnesota instead and decided to stay.

 

[skategal]

Alexi Yagudin tells a story of trying to get to Skate Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and the travel agent had him booked for St. John’s, Antigua.

But they managed to figure it out in time.

I’m guessing there aren’t many figure skating competitions in Antigua. Lol...

 

[gotoschool]

I guess a competition including former multiple world champions, Olympic champions and former and currently number 1 ranked skaters like Shizuka Arakawa, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim, Miki Ando, Kimmie Meissner, Satoko Miyahara and Rika Kihira isn't good enough for some who have a Big bias against it and want to C it as a "B" competition. Really disappointed to hear about its cancellation. I was really looking forward to it because a number of my favorite skaters have won or medaled there including Mao Asada, Rika Kihira, Young You and Mai Mihara and I was hoping to watch Haein Lee skate there for the first time too this season.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I guess a competition including former multiple world champions, Olympic champions and former and currently number 1 ranked skaters like Shizuka Arakawa, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim, Miki Ando, Kimmie Meissner, Satoko Miyahara and Rika Kihira isn't good enough for some who have a Big bias against it and want to C it as a "B" competition. Really disappointed to hear about its cancellation. I was anticipating it because a number of my favorite skaters have won or medaled there including Mao Asada, Rika Kihira, Young You and Mai Mihara.

Four Continents in 2020 was a fabulous event.

The competition was very strong across all four disciplines, and the top ten ladies in particular really brought it.

 

[overedge]

Alexei Yagudin tells a story of trying to get to Skate Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and the travel agent had him booked for St. John’s, Antigua.

But they managed to figure it out in time.

I’m guessing there aren’t many figure skating competitions in Antigua. Lol...

Or he could have been sent to Saint John, New Brunswick. Apparently that one happens all the time too.

 

[greenapple]

Or he could have been sent to Saint John, New Brunswick. Apparently that one happens all the time too.

That in fact happened to a number of people who were headed to Skate Canada in Newfoundland. Some did not pay attention to where they booked and did not realize they were in the wrong place until they arrived in New Brunswick.

 

[anonymoose_au]

But does Four Continents have warm-up music from obscure Eurovision entries? I think you’ll find the answer is no.

As someone else mentioned, this could well happen when 2023 rolls around - we Aussies love Eurovision and even participate in it now. We've done pretty well too...who knows one year we might win it!

Typos rock.

Apparently there is a story of a couple wanting to visit 'Sidney', and the travel agent sent them to Canada by mistake.

Ha ha ha ha! I blame Juan Antonio Samaranch who famously announced in 1993 for the 2000 Olympics

"And the winner is - SIDNEY!"

 

[MsZem]

It's NOT a B-rated comp, or have you forgotten the incredible skating we've seen there in the last few years, definitely better than anything we saw at Euros.

I guess a competition including former multiple world champions, Olympic champions and former and currently number 1 ranked skaters like Shizuka Arakawa, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim, Miki Ando, Kimmie Meissner, Satoko Miyahara and Rika Kihira isn't good enough for some who have a Big bias against it and want to C it as a "B" competition. Really disappointed to hear about its cancellation. I was really looking forward to it because a number of my favorite skaters have won or medaled there including Mao Asada, Rika Kihira, Young You and Mai Mihara and I was hoping to watch Haein Lee skate there for the first time too this season.

The skaters and federations are the ones who treat it as a b-comp in some years - skipping 4CC in Olympic seasons, or not going when it's somewhere inconvenient. It's pretty unusual for someone to skip Euros for such reasons (though admittedly Savchenko/Massot sat out 2018 to prepare for the Olympics).

4CC is also a newer event - Euros is so old that it actually predates Worlds, so there's a richer tradition. And, as allezfred noted, there's the Eurovision music.

Anyway, sad for the skaters and the Australian FSUers. I hope 2023 will be a fabulous competition to make up for all this

 

[Bunny Hop]

As someone else mentioned, this could well happen when 2023 rolls around - we Aussies love Eurovision and even participate in it now.

Not all of us love Eurovision. I've never seen the appeal, even if it did give the world Abba.

As for 4CC, it's been clear for some time it wasn't going ahead. There's no way our borders will be open by then, and even if restrictions were eased I'm guessing there would still be hotel quarantine - not helpful for sporting events. They've made the right call, and good that it's been made well in advance.

 

[Meoima]

Four Continents in 2020 was a fabulous event.

The competition was very strong across all four disciplines, and the top ten ladies in particular really brought it.

I was there at 4CC 2020. Aside from the cold weather, the competition was amazing despite the beginning of a difficult time. What a pity it might be a very long time until we see 4CC again.

 

[allezfred]

As someone else mentioned, this could well happen when 2023 rolls around - we Aussies love Eurovision and even participate in it now. We've done pretty well too...who knows one year we might win it!

Well, as I already mentioned, you will not be able to have obscure Eurovision entries for each participating country as we did at Euros this year.

Plus nobody likes countries that are smug about doing well in Eurovision. Trust me, been there, done that.

 

[Orm Irian]

Well, as I already mentioned, you will not be able to have obscure Eurovision entries for each participating country as we did at Euros this year.

Plus nobody likes countries that are smug about doing well in Eurovision. Trust me, been there, done that.

We've only done well once! Kate Miller-Heidke was our only entrant who was spacey enough to fit in. Prior to that we made the mistake of sending Serious Musicians and a Hobbit.

 

[skategal]

Or he could have been sent to Saint John, New Brunswick. Apparently that one happens all the time too.

My friend's father was a ticket and gate agent in St. John's airport for his whole career.

If he had a dollar for every time someone showed up looking for Saint John, NB he would be a very rich man.

One poor dude showed up twice in the same day. The first time, my friend's father sent him back to Halifax at no cost to connect to the correct flight to Saint John but nope....took the wrong one again....LOL...

 

[Lutzcy]

Gutted. Absolutely gutted. Knew it was coming but still gutted.


Only by people with no brains.


It's NOT a B-rated comp, or have you forgotten the incredible skating we've seen there in the last few years, definitely better than anything we saw at Euros.

So sorry. My best wishes for 2023! Thinking of you. Come back to USA soon, ok?

 

[allezfred]

We've only done well once! Kate Miller-Heidke was our only entrant who was spacey enough to fit in. Prior to that we made the mistake of sending Serious Musicians and a Hobbit.

Incorrect. Dami Im (second in 2016) and Guy Sebastian (fifth in 2015) did better. Serious musicians do well contrary to popular opinion.

 

[Colonel Green]

Or he could have been sent to Saint John, New Brunswick. Apparently that one happens all the time too.

Prince Edward Island was originally St. John's Island (Ile-Saint-Jean, when the French owned it), but after a few decades of British administration and constant confusion in things like mail delivery with all the other places in the Atlantic region with that name, the governor lobbied the Colonial Office to be allowed to change it. He wanted to call it "New Ireland" instead, but that had already been taken by an island in the South Pacific. The Colonial Office offered "New Guernsey" or "New Anglesey" instead, but he rejected both of those, and eventually they settled on its present name after George III's fourth son (who, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, would turn out to be the father of Queen Victoria).

 

[MsZem]

We've only done well once! Kate Miller-Heidke was our only entrant who was spacey enough to fit in. Prior to that we made the mistake of sending Serious Musicians and a Hobbit.

Incorrect. Dami Im (second in 2016) and Guy Sebastian (fifth in 2015) did better. Serious musicians do well contrary to popular opinion.

Indeed, the belief that Eurovision is necessarily campy betrays a misunderstanding of the event. What appeals to people really varies and a lot of it isn't remotely campy; Duncan Laurence certainly wasn't, and neither were most of last year's top ten.

Have any 4CC skaters used Eurovision music? I know Bychenko has, and obviously Plushenko, um, skated at Eurovision.

 

[Orm Irian]

Incorrect. Dami Im (second in 2016) and Guy Sebastian (fifth in 2015) did better. Serious musicians do well contrary to popular opinion.

They may have placed higher, but they didn't do better. The Hobbit in particular was way off-base for what Eurovision is all about.

 

[allezfred]

They may have placed higher, but they didn't do better. The Hobbit in particular was way off-base for what Eurovision is all about.

The literal goal of Eurovision (like skating) is to get the most points so yes finishing second or fifth is doing better than finishing tenth.

 

[allezfred]

Have any 4CC skaters used Eurovision music?

Daisuke Takahashi skated an exhibition to “Nocturne”.

Daisuke Takahashi 高橋大輔 Grand Prix Final 2005 Exhibition "Nocturne"

Daisuke Takahashi's 2005 Grand Prix Final exhibition to the music "Nocturne by Secret Garden. He choreographed the program himself. He placed third in this e...

youtu.be

 

[Bellanca]

Only by people with no brains.

That is painting with a broad brush, considering some very talented skaters have chosen to skip 4CC in the past. I'm not sure that I would think them brainless. Strategic, maybe, but not empty-headed. I enjoy 4CC and always have. I also give huge props to the JSF for sending their powerhouse skaters over the years, and what is even more impressive, those skaters wanted to be there.

...former multiple world champions, Olympic champions and former and currently number 1 ranked skaters like Shizuka Arakawa, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim, Miki Ando, Kimmie Meissner, Satoko Miyahara and Rika Kihira

The skaters and federations are the ones who treat it as a b-comp in some years - skipping 4CC in Olympic seasons, or not going when it's somewhere inconvenient. It's pretty unusual for someone to skip Euros for such reasons (though admittedly Savchenko/Massot sat out 2018 to prepare for the Olympics).

4CC is also a newer event - Euros is so old that it actually predates Worlds, so there's a richer tradition. And, as allezfred noted, there's the Eurovision music.

Exactly.

 

[aka_gerbil]

For most of the skaters going to Euros, the trip is only a few hours at most. For 4CC, the trip is sometimes literally half the world away. With when it falls in the season, I can see why some skaters decide not to go and why we don’t see the same thing with Euros.

 

[MsZem]

For most of the skaters going to Euros, the trip is only a few hours at most. For 4CC, the trip is sometimes literally half the world away. With when it falls in the season, I can see why some skaters decide not to go and why we don’t see the same thing with Euros.

A lot of Euro skaters are in North America, or at least were before the CV - various dance teams in Montreal, the Israelis in New Jersey, some of the French team in Florida. Javi trained in Toronto. Brezina is based in California. None of these places is a quick hop over to Graz or Minsk or whatnot. I think it's the combination of timing, distance and prestige.

 

[kwanfan1818]

But they did go to a Sydney - it was just the one on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia rather than the one is Australia.

They wuzrobbed of the real Sidney, where the ferry sailed from Anacortes, WA to Vancouver Island, BC, pre-YKW:

BC Ferry: Washington - Anacortes - Victoria

Washington State Ferries operates only one international scheduled ferry service, between Anacortes in Washington State and Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island. The scenic ferry route winds through the San Juan Islands (Lopez and Orca Islands) amidst spectacular scenery. Route...

vancouverisland.com

 

[aka_gerbil]

A lot of Euro skaters are in North America, or at least were before the CV - various dance teams in Montreal, the Israelis in New Jersey, some of the French team in Florida. Javi trained in Toronto. Brezina is based in California. None of these places is a quick hop over to Graz or Minsk or whatnot. I think it's the combination of timing, distance and prestige.

But going to Europe, especially for the those on the East coast, is usually not the long haul flight that Asia can be.

I’d bet timing is the biggest factor though if you polled the athletes.

 

[allezfred]

But going to Europe, especially for the those on the East coast, is usually not the long haul flight that Asia can be.

I’d bet timing is the biggest factor though if you polled the athletes.

No, going to Europeans is a huge deal for European skaters. It wouldn’t matter when it was held.

 

[aka_gerbil]

No, going to Europeans is a huge deal for European skaters. It wouldn’t matter when it was held.

But if you’re polling skaters who choose not to attend 4CC on what their reasons for not going are, skaters who go to Euros wouldn’t be part of that poll.

 

[Dobre]

My definition of a "B" competition is something with even less prestige than a Challenger.

My definition of 4CCs is a major international.

When top athletes avoid going to a major international, it is often a sign that the competition at that event is so steep they don't want to run the risk of losing right before the World Championships. (Especially when that steep competition was just defeated at Japanese or U.S. Nationals). Many a Russian national champion used to skip Europeans.

 

[Vagabond]

I think that the people who regard 4CC's as a "B" level competition haven't been paying attention to the event since Katy Taylor retired. YMMV.