Citizenship status of skaters aiming for the Olympics

[mjb52]

That's too bad, I really enjoy R/A - would love to see them at the Olympics.

 

[TAHbKA]

After 10 years, 5 countries and 5 partners I finally started liking Alison Reed's skating. Or she finally learned how to skate.

 

[mjb52]

Saulius is pretty good-looking, maybe it's motivational!

 

[Carolla5501]

I think Todd is campaigning. I think he’s hoping for political pressure andfigure skating doesn’t have the political capital to get somebody citizenship

 

[Vagabond]

I think Todd is campaigning. I think he’s hoping for political pressure andfigure skating doesn’t have the political capital to get somebody citizenship

 

[misskarne]

Interested to track the progress of Harley Windsor and his new partner.

It will be a race against time to get that team to a point where a case could be made for a special privilege for Australian citizenship.

I'm going to smack that straight down right now.

Unless that girl already has claim to Australian citizenship it's not happening in time for Beijing.

Katia, may she rest in peace, still needed more than 18 months and that was with a JGP medal and JWC title.

 

[greenapple]

Todd Eldredge was interviewed on TSL and it sounded like Paniot and his team are still hoping his citizenship might come through in time for Beijing to be a possibility.

Paniot has said in a number of interviews he expects to receive his citizenship in late 2021 but maybe there has been a delay in it being procesed due to the current health situation.

 

[Colonel Green]

Regarding Allison Reed (who people were discussing earlier), she is quite enthusiastic about qualifying a place for Lithuania at the Olympics, so it doesn’t seem to me that she doesn’t expect to be able to go.

 

[Dobre]

I would imagine that citizenship for Eaton will be as hard to come by as it was for Min's last partner, Gamelin, who competed in the last Olympics with her. ;-)

I would imagine it could be harder because Korea made special arrangements for hosting its own Olympics.

After that, I don't think if R/S were World medalists

That reaction at the end of their Worlds free dance sure looked like they thought they had earned an Olympic shot to me.

Regarding Allison Reed (who people were discussing earlier), she is quite enthusiastic about qualifying a place for Lithuania at the Olympics, so it doesn’t seem to me that she doesn’t expect to be able to go.

Ah, I see you beat me to it.

(I've known about the language requirement, but as my mom keeps saying, "Allison strikes me as a smart girl. Don't count her out.")

 

[kwanfan1818]

It's not simply the language requirement: it took an act of the legislature for Tobias to get citizenship because of other requirements, like residency. And after she had learned Lithuanian, they offered to conduct her interview in English, and she refused and did it in Lithuanian. She also spent a lot of time working with the elderly of Lithuanian descent living in the US to show a connection to the country.

The question is whether after their experience with Tobias, whether they'd ever give another foreign skater citizenship, especially one who had other passports based on skating alone.

 

[Rhumba d’Amour]

It's not simply the language requirement: it took an act of the legislature for Tobias to get citizenship because of other requirements, like residency. And after she had learned Lithuanian, they offered to conduct her interview in English, and she refused and did it in Lithuanian. She also spent a lot of time working with the elderly of Lithuanian descent living in the US to show a connection to the country.

The question is whether after their experience with Tobias, whether they'd ever give another foreign skater citizenship, especially one who had other passports based on skating alone.

I wonder if the fact that she can start the process as a current citizen of Georgia—as opposed to an American—might be a help to Reed in her quest.

 

[oubik]

Elizaveta Zhuk? Ioulia Chtchetinina?

Elizaveta's application has started once they have won the Oly place (officially by ISU Com).

 

[drfj]

Elizaveta's application has started once they have won the Oly place (officially by ISU Com).

Julia has the hungarian citizenship

 

[Sylvia]

Posted today by the LTeam_official account of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee: https://www.instagram.com/p/COkbzmvMyad/
Translated excerpt:

... Allison [Reed] will seek Lithuanian citizenship as an exception. [Saulius Ambrulevicius' quote:] "Regardless of what happens we will respect the decision. We will prepare and pursue our dreams further."

ETA:

Julia has the hungarian citizenship

I posted about Ioulia Chtchetinina in the OES news thread when she got Hungarian ciitizenship in October 2020: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGmCvW2pOmu/

 

[Sylvia]

Tweeted by Phil Hersh today: https://twitter.com/olyphil/status/1392491686186606594

The IOC confirmed today that it had approved @VanessaJamessk8 [Vanessa James] change of Olympic eligibility from France to Canada, waiving the usual three-year waiting period after approval of switch by the ISU

ETA from the James/Radford thread:

... according to the Olympic Charter she will need an exception by the IOC to compete for Canada, since she competed at a championship for another country (France) within three years of the Olympics. (By about a month.) I've read here that both the Canadian and French Olympic Committees have to agree as well.

 

[TAHbKA]

It's not simply the language requirement: it took an act of the legislature for Tobias to get citizenship because of other requirements, like residency. And after she had learned Lithuanian, they offered to conduct her interview in English, and she refused and did it in Lithuanian. She also spent a lot of time working with the elderly of Lithuanian descent living in the US to show a connection to the country.

The question is whether after their experience with Tobias, whether they'd ever give another foreign skater citizenship, especially one who had other passports based on skating alone.

Other passport. Reed only had the Georgian passport

 

[kwanfan1818]

Other passport. Reed only had the Georgian passport

Oh, I thought she had an Israeli passport, too.

There's a different President of Lithuania now.

 

[lexeoe]

do we have an update on sorensen's citizenship status?

 

[Colonel Green]

do we have an update on sorensen's citizenship status?

It was delayed into this year (YKW and all), but I don't believe there's any issue with it.

 

[Sylvia]

Jessica Pfund & Joshua Santillan (ETA: he) will not be eligible for the 2022 Olympics but they are looking forward to representing Switzerland this season: https://joshica.net/blog/uncategorized/dont-call-it-a-comeback/

... our goals are to compete at both the European Championships and World Championships this season, and we are confident that if we train well that we will get there! We know this is a really exciting season for a lot of skaters considering that Beijing is just around the corner, but for us it’s exciting as well because we have our first real opportunity to compete at the World Championships and debut our very own programs where we tell our own story.

 

[Eislauffan]

Jessica Pfund & Joshua Santillan will not be eligible for the 2022 Olympics but they are looking forward to representing Switzerland this season: https://joshica.net/blog/uncategorized/dont-call-it-a-comeback/

I cannot open that link for some reason, nor that website in general. Is it just me or did it disappear? I checked the Swiss Federation website, but they did not announce they have a new pairs team. Which doesn't mean anything, though, as they don't have recent news on their website for figure skating anyway.

 

[seabm7]

I cannot open that link for some reason, nor that website in general. Is it just me or did it disappear? I checked the Swiss Federation website, but they did not announce they have a new pairs team. Which doesn't mean anything, though, as they don't have recent news on their website for figure skating anyway.

Hmm, I can open and read the blog entry in South Korea. They say

Well, Cranberry Cup will be our first international competition representing Switzerland

.

Shall I send you the blog entry by DM?

 

[skategal]

Nik Sorenson just posted on Instagram stories that he is a Canadian citizen now.

 

[Andrea82]

Marco Zandron needs Spanish citizenship now. Expected to get it with an accelerated process given the reactions tonight.

 

[Panja]

Marco Zandron needs Spanish citizenship now. Expected to get it with a accelerated process given the reactions tonight.

I certainly hope so. Laura and Marco skated so well this evening. It would be a real pity if Spain made a problem about Marco's citizenship. I truly hope to see a Spanish pair at the OG! And such a good one too.

 

[MsZem]

Given that both Olivia Smart and Kirill Khaliavin obtained citizenship pretty quickly before the 2018 Olympics, I'm guessing Marco Zandron shouldn't have too much difficulty doing the same now - unless the rules have changed since 2017?

 

[Andrea82]

Now that we have all the spots allocated, what are the main contenders for an Olympic spot with potential citizenship issues?

Ioulia Chtchetinina: already got Hungarian citizenship
Elizaveta Zhuk: not yet (?), expected to get it in time based on previous track records.
Marco Zandron: not yet, but expected to get it based on previous cases.

Nik Sorensen: obtained Canadian citizenship
Simon Proulx-Senecal: has he already Armenian citizenship? Regardless, they act as it is not an issue.
Alison Reed: Possibly the most problematic case

Do all members of Pair/Dance teams representing Georgia already have Georgian citizenship?

I suppose Hailey Kops has Israeli citizenship or she meets all requirements to get it, otherwise Krasnopolski wouldn't have picked her in an Olympic year.

Anybody else?

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Simon Proulx-Senecal: has he already Armenian citizenship? Regardless, they act as it is not an issue.

He's skated for Armenia since 2015, and they attended Nebelhorn Trophy in 2017 (presumably to try and earn an Olympic spot then too), so I would guess he probably has? Also, given the amount of press that's surrounded them and their Olympic hopes, I guess it would have been mentioned if he didn't have citizenship.

 

[Colonel Green]

Do all members of Pair/Dance teams representing Georgia already have Georgian citizenship?

Given how easy it was for Allison Reed to get Georgian citizenship in 2010, if they don't I imagine they will soon.

 

[RoseRed]

Now that we have all the spots allocated, what are the main contenders for an Olympic spot with potential citizenship issues?

Ioulia Chtchetinina: already got Hungarian citizenship
Elizaveta Zhuk: not yet, but expected to get it in time based on previous track records.
Marco Zandron: not yet, but expected to get it based on previous cases.

Nik Sorensen: obtained Canadian citizenship
Simon Proulx-Senecal: has he already Armenian citizenship? Regardless, they act as it is not an issue.
Alison Reed: Possibly the most problematic case

Do all members of Pair/Dance teams representing Georgia already have Georgian citizenship?

I suppose Hailey Kops has Israeli citizenship or she meets all requirements to get it, otherwise Krasnopolski wouldn't have picked her in an Olympic year.

Anybody else?

Gubanova already has Georgian citizenship according to the Georgian fed, so I expect they do as well (or will get it in plenty of time at the very least).