ISU Cancels 2020 World Figure Skating Championships

Skate Talker

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Well that could put Montreal out of the question if the ISU wants a confirmed location. I don't think the premier of Quebec would be willing to commit to anything like that anytime soon.
 

Orm Irian

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No idea, but he definitely said it on his stream. I am just reporting what I've seen.

I'd say I like his optimism but at the moment it's not cheering, it's ridiculous bordering on dangerous. The likelihood of there being any 2020-21 season at all is decreasing by the day, as it should. Most countries won't even reopen their borders till September at the earliest.
 

screech

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Of all seasons, this would be the WORST possible one to have 2 worlds, since 2021 determines Olympics qualifying numbers.

The only skater I can really see being okay with it is Nam, who might do well enough in October to get Canada 2 mens spots for March, and better chances for Canada to have more spots for the Olympics. Takes a bit of pressure off him (not that pressure usually seems to bother him...)

If they do Worlds in October, I can see entries kind of resembling 4CC with some top names withdrawing to ensure they peak at the right time. On the bright side, that would give opportunities to other skaters.
 

Yuri

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I would love to see the ISU schedule Worlds in October, especially if they can arrange to hold it in Montreal. It could be a kick off to the 2020-21 Grand Prix Series, and 6-7 months from now the risks from the virus may be perceived as FAR lower than today.

PGA Golf has postponed (not cancelled) the Masters and PGA major championships until the fall, as has tennis with the French Open. Even the Kentucky Derby and Preakness are considering such moves for Triple Crown horse racing. At some point the world is going to return to a more normal status and, while the timing is less than ideal, many other sports are trying to reschedule their major championships for later in 2020.
 

Dobre

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Well, good luck to those golfers in developing new short & long programs before the fall;).

(Actually, I believe golf courses are still open here as one can practice with way more than 6 feet between people. I don't know if this is true across the state or just where I am locally. One thing we have lots of here is space).
 

Wyliefan

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Most of our golf courses are closed, but not all. My dad keeps managing to find open ones. If he couldn't golf, the sky would fall in. :lol:
 

overedge

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Sports organizations that are postponing events might still have to cancel those events if things aren't back to normal - whatever that is going to look like - by the time the rescheduled date rolls around.

And, you know, in the grand scheme of things, cancelling a sports event isn't even close to being as catastrophic as thousands of people being sick, people dying, and health care systems being overloaded. I know that sports events are important to athletes and to fans, that cancellations are hard for athletes who have trained for the events, and that those events create jobs for others (arena staff, hotel and restaurant staff, and so on). But personally I can't get too worked up about sports cancellations when much worse things are happening.
 

Yuri

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I checked with my buddy who coaches one of the ice dancing teams that qualified for Worlds and got confirmation that the ISU hasn't given up on holding 2020 Worlds in October. Obviously nothing definitive yet, but not officially canceled either.

Personally I believe sports and entertainment are essential to the human spirit, after all the ancient Greeks invented the Olympic Games and the Roman Empire held chariot races and gladiator battles in the Colliseum. I am getting a little bit sick of government officials classifying certain professions as non-essential, anything that provides a living with a roof over your head and food on the table is essential to me. Sports and entertainment are necessary to the human experience, so as a society we cannot suspend them for too long. I guess that I am just being optimistic but I am a firm believer that humans can overcome any obstacle, and this virus shall pass too.
 

aftershocks

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^^ I love your optimism, and I agree that sports, art, music and entertainment are essential to humanity. Still, it is too early to tell what is going to transpire across any number of events and industries.

Right now, the important thing is continuing to be individually and collectively responsible, in trying to stop the virus' spread, and in saving lives. Not enough is known at the present time to be able to say with certainty whether or not this virus will return on a regular basis. We are charting new territory altogether.

But yes, as fans of figure skating, let's remain positive and hopeful for all the athletes being able to get back to their normal training regimen and prepping for events.
 

Japanfan

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^^ I love your optimism, and I agree that sports, art, music and entertainment are essential to humanity. Still, it is too early to tell what is going to transpire across any number of events and industries.

Essential to humanity, but not necessarily to survival.

But when adverse circumstances prevent people from gathering in groups, sports, art, music and entertainment assume different forms. The sing-along on Italian balconies being one example.
 

Yuri

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Of course I meant to add arts and music to the list, both go back to the origins of humankind. I don't know, but we are a social animal and need outlets for joy and creativity. Life is simply too hard and serious without such diversions and to me, not worth living without them. I have learned the hard way that it is critical to live every day to the fullest, time is the most valuable commodity, and every day we are all one day closer to death no matter what we do. It would be a tragedy for all of us if all humans do is exist to eat and drink, and cannot fully experience and enjoy all there is in life.

I have no interest in living in a dystopian, Orwellian existence one day longer than necessary to beat this virus...

And yes, I am living in a USA state where our governor essentially ordered martial law over the weekend and we are basically living under house arrest except for grocery shopping or medical appointments for the indefinite future, with zero income to pay for any expenses for who knows how long. Simply not a sustainable existence, perhaps unconstitutional according to the Bill of Rights. Small business and entrepreneurship is falling through the cracks.

Plus I have friends similarly-situated as long as the ice rinks are shut down without income from coaching skating...
 
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mjb52

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Are there any articles about the potential long term mental health effects of this kind of sustained lockdown? I'm doing better now but a few days ago I really thought the stress might actually kill me. Part of the reason I was so concerned about these lockdowns is because I think a lot of the people making these decisions don't meaningfully understand how being locked down itself could impact people's health.
 

aftershocks

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^^ Specific virus-related conversations are taking place in the Worldwide Health Forum. I hope you will engage there. I have more I want to say too, but I'm going to take it there because this thread is for the skating related concerns that Yuri and others have brought up, even though there's a lot of overlap.
 

VGThuy

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I don't understand how canceling events as a way to deal with the rapid spreading of this virus until necessary all of a sudden means we live in a dystopian society. I don't think anybody thinks we should live in a concrete, utilitarian society devoid of sport, culture, and art. Even if 2020 Worlds is canceled permanently, it still doesn't mean we don't value these things. It's just a loss we have to deal with until the threat is contained and figure skating can resume.

If anything, maybe this whole thing will teach us the value of such things and realize we should have educational programs funded to have such things. I mean sport (the popular ones) is going no where as it's commercially viable and so much of a part of our national consciousness and I think Americans of all people don't have a problem emphasizing it and making it a part of our lives to the possible detriment of other things, so I'm not worried about that at all.
 

aftershocks

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Indeed, we all have lots of thoughts and lots of sadness, and increasing anxiety going forward about all manner of things, including what will happen for the skaters and the sport we love. We should have compassion for each others' feelings, which will vary.

There are so many skating videos we now have time to binge on. I have to catch up with some of the recent skating events I didn't have time to finish viewing. But still, I'm feeling anxious and a bit stir crazy, with a lot of things so much up in the air surrounding everything, not the least personal plans and concern for loved ones.

There are some people who are describing the current state of affairs as dystopian. Whatever we call it, there are going to be a variety of perceptions, emotions, and lived experiences:

 

Yuri

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Well maybe I am getting to be a bit over the top with dystopian, we certainly aren't there yet, but certain US states seem to be banning any pleasurable activity in life even if they tend to be isolated in nature with very small groups of even a solo activity (golfing, boating, hiking trails) almost as a punishment for not taking the virus situation seriously. Sorry, but sitting at home streaming Netflix or playing video games on the Internet cannot be the only recreation, and physicians generally measure "quality of life" as the goal rather than mere survival from day-to-day. My dad and a grandmother both passed away after long, horrible bouts with Parkinson's Disease, among other ailments, but had extremely full and vibrant lives beforehand as they were always extremely energetic and drank in a high quality of life.

I've been on almost a bucket list flurry of my own over the past nine months or so, attending my first US Figure Skating Championships and Broadway musicals (Phantom of the Opera, Wicked) in around 20 years, my first ever US Open Tennis Championships in NYC, an Art Garfunkel concert, and but for the virus, my first PGA Golf Tournament in around 40 years. Plus flying and driving all over the US to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and all of Florida, seeing sights like the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Skyline Drive in Virginia, and the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Not to mention a near Super Bowl run by my local NFL team for which I have season tickets with 70,000+ fans, and joining my parents' country club to take up playing golf seriously for the first time since my college years. All of a sudden ALL of this has been ground to a halt, at least temporarily, and some speculate this could go on 6 to 18 months and that we may never get back to mass attendance of sporting events, concerts, theater, and the like.

Obviously most of us are here because we love figure skating (duh!) which is such an awesome combination of a thrilling sport with incredible tension, based upon music interpretations which has led many to appreciate the arts and theater. It's like we just pulled the plug right at the climax of the 2019-20 figure skating season without any resolution, a very unsatisfying feeling (sort of like the final episode of The Sopranos, with everything going dark at a dramatic moment). And without attempting to drag the discussion into a PI-land-style debate, Worlds may have been postponed/cancelled for reasons that may not do any good in the long run for our collective health purposes (potentially just delaying all of our inevitable exposure, as flattening the curve isn't the same as preventing it, and perhaps postponing society's ability to build its usual natural immunity to such newer viruses).

So I really do hope that the skaters, coaches, and fans get a 2020 World Championships this fall just as a sign that life is returning to "normal" again, even at a weird, less-than-ideal time that may coincide with the running of the Kentucky Derby, the beauty of the Masters golf tournament, or the red clay court of the French Open. And Broadway will be lit again, and stadiums/arenas will be full again for major league sports and live concerts. I think these events will lift our spirits and improve our mental health in these trying times.
 

Japanfan

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Well maybe I am getting to be a bit over the top with dystopian, we certainly aren't there yet, but certain US states seem to be banning any pleasurable activity in life even if they tend to be isolated in nature with very small groups of even a solo activity (golfing, boating, hiking trails) almost as a punishment for not taking the virus situation seriously. Sorry, but sitting at home streaming Netflix or playing video games on the Internet cannot be the only recreation, and physicians generally measure "quality of life" as the goal rather than mere survival from day-to-day.

A large city public park with a manufactured lake and a dog off-leash area is still open, SFAIK. Provincial parks with hiking trails are closed.

But people can still go for walks in their neighborhoods. Other pleasurable activities that don't allow social distancing can't go on right now for obvious reasons. But I'm sure that many people with boats are enjoying or using them, especially people in remote communities.

When there is a large-scale threat to human life, 'quality of life' ceases to be the goal and is replaced by 'keeping people alive'. That is the goal of social distancing - it's purpose is not punishment, but rather the opposite. Staying alive and enjoying life in future, or at least not getting sick with the beer burden or infecting other people.

Playing games or streaming videos may be the primary recreation for a lot of people, for some time. In that case I'd say just be grateful that you have them, and be grateful if you have a computer that allows you to connect with people. Many people in the world don't have the luxuries that we in the western developed world enjoy and take for granted. Many poor people don't even have the option of social distancing or watching videos or connecting with communities on the Internet.

In past times of crisis, people have endured far worse than being deprived of golfing and boating and hiking in public parks. How lucky you are to have the food and shelter you need - your basic needs are met, so you can lament the loss of needs higher up on Maslow's hierarchy.

Most of us here haven't lived through a crisis of this magnitude. We can still buy the foods we want at the grocery store. There was rationing of some foods like meat in WWII. In the coming weeks, I'm sorry to say we might see similar methods implemented.

And without attempting to drag the discussion into a PI-land-style debate, Worlds may have been postponed/cancelled for reasons that may not do any good in the long run for our collective health purposes (potentially just delaying all of our inevitable exposure, as flattening the curve isn't the same as preventing it, and perhaps postponing society's ability to build its usual natural immunity to such newer viruses).

:confused:

Worlds was postponed precisely for collective health purposes. If only one skater/coach/choreographer/team member had the virus, it could have spread exponentially. Or even just one person in the audience.

No, flattening the curve isn't the same as preventing it, but I don't want to get into how it might have been prevented - that's another conversation entirely.

When you say 'postponing society's ability to build its natural immunity', I don't know precisely what you mean. Are you saying we should just let people die?

And people are building up immunities already, or so I would think.


So I really do hope that the skaters, coaches, and fans get a 2020 World Championships this fall just as a sign that life is returning to "normal" again, even at a weird, less-than-ideal time that may coincide with the running of the Kentucky Derby, the beauty of the Masters golf tournament, or the red clay court of the French Open.

I don't care about a World's in October, although I'd enjoy it for a certainty. A sign that life is returning to normalcy again would be welcome.
 
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VGThuy

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Man, if you feel that strongly about it, then why don't you throw a party in a show of defiance?


 
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Dobre

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But I'm sure that many people with boats are enjoying or using them, especially people in remote communities.

People were a couple days ago here, but now the docks on state land have been closed. (I have an acquaintance whose job involves river rescue. She has been posting photos of fishing the last couple days, but yesterday she posted that the docks were closed. Someone else asked about docks on federal land & she did not know). Anyway, it's interesting. We have a lot of state parks in my state and--while there are a few tourist traps--on a typical weekend, visiting the vast majority of them should be a good activity. But with all of the other forms of entertainment closed, too many people flock to places that are normally less occupied. The beaches were first, and the locals in the towns were upset by the hazard of having too many people. The beach towns shut themselves down. And promptly after that the state parks were closed.
 

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