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

[Hedwig]

I like very much your idea of a post a day. I can do that on FB, twitter, and insta with a total following of about 1000 followers. It's not much, and most of them are into travel or photography, not FS. But with every tweet and every insta comment I can tag people who would matter, or who would help spread the word.

I hope I understand how this works correctly. For instance: I could post a link to the blog @Karen-W created on twitter and tag Ashley Wagner and it would show up on her twitter feed, or draw her attention to it?

I know I could post one of the graphics from the blog (or a photo of a skater) on insta and tag a whole bunch of people though I'd probably only tag at most 2 or 3 at a time so it doesn't look like spam.

BTW in case you haven't looked - the blog has a whole new look!

Keep Skating Safe, Free and Fair!

keepskatingsafeandfree.blogspot.com

Yes it should. Be she will probably be tagged by hundreds of people per day- it will probably get by her.
But best bet is to tag on the picture itself, I think. And if you do stories too to tag her there as well. (Taking her just as an example of course)

 

[Alilou]

Since most of us don't have a lot of followers, I think the direct approach is good - to send your messages directly to whoever we think might be important.
but if you can make tweets on insta etc that would also be good - something to share.

I think best would be to keep it simple but to put out a post a day with a picture - maybe a skating picture of healthy and non-doped skaters? - with basically the same texts everyday and just small changes until there are more ideas.

I think we have to be very careful with using pictures of skaters, because whoever it is should be the one to decide whether or not they want to be associated with this campaign.

Best use photos where the skaters can't be identified - and we can use both figure and speed skaters.

 

[Alilou]

Anyone know if Dave Lease would be likely to support and share this?

I left a comment today asking FS Gossips if they would

 

[BittyBug]

Anyone know if Dave Lease would be likely to support and share this?

He seems pretty invested in the cause and specifically asked Oksana Baiul at the end of his interview with her what people could do, including asking whether there were any petitions people could sign, so I think he seems like a good target.

ETA: In that same interview, Baiul mentioned that both Tai Babilonia and Brian Boitano were very supportive of Ukraine, so you could hit them up, too. Tai is pretty active on Twitter.

 

[Alilou]

He seems pretty invested in the cause and specifically asked Oksana Baiul at the end of his interview with her what people could do, including asking whether there were any petitions people could sign, so I think he seems like a good target.

ETA: In that same interview, Baiul mentioned that both Tai Babilonia and Brian Boitano were very supportive of Ukraine, so you could hit them up, too. Tai is pretty active on Twitter.

Thanks. I'll leave him a comment with a link to the blog. Also I do know of a petition - I'll share it here and with DL

This is the petition: https://www.change.org/p/ban-russian-athletes-from-international-tournaments-boycottrussiansport

 

[Karen-W]

Thanks. I'll leave him a comment with a link to the blog. Also I do know of a petition - I'll share it here and with DL

This is the petition: https://www.change.org/p/ban-russian-athletes-from-international-tournaments-boycottrussiansport

We can certainly add the petition link on the blig also!

 

[Alilou]

We can certainly add the petition link on the blig also!

Yes, great idea. I'm trying to find out something about the people who started it.

 

[Sylvia]

Oksana Baiul addressed Thomas Bach via her Instagram 3 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrEW7EasXGW/

DW's article:

Ukraine's first Olympic winner urges Bach to ban Russians – DW – 04/19/2023

Independent Ukraine's first Olympic champion has appealed directly to IOC President Thomas Bach to ban Russian athletes from competing. Talking to DW, figure skater Oksana Baiul-Farina explained her decision.

www.dw.com

 

[Sylvia]

TV Rain Newsroom (April 6, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5XcAEuGSE4
"Hajo Seppelt, sports reporter for Germany's public broadcaster ARD and expert on doping in sports, explains why he believes International Olympic Committee's recent recommendation that Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under a neutral flag is not the best solution, and claims that banning those athletes altogether would send a stronger signal to the Kremlin. He also breaks down the close historical association between the IOC and the Russian government that may prevent them taking a more decisive stand on their issue."

 

[On My Own]

It's why one of the favorite things was schnitzel with noodles.

 

[Hedwig]

TV Rain Newsroom (April 6, 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5XcAEuGSE4
"Hajo Seppelt, sports reporter for Germany's public broadcaster ARD and expert on doping in sports, explains why he believes International Olympic Committee's recent recommendation that Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under a neutral flag is not the best solution, and claims that banning those athletes altogether would send a stronger signal to the Kremlin. He also breaks down the close historical association between the IOC and the Russian government that may prevent them taking a more decisive stand on their issue."

Discussions about the return of Russian athletes: Russia and doping - the lingering problem

In the heated discussions about the reintegration of Russian athletes into world sport, the war takes centre stage. Doping issues hardly play a role - although huge mistrust remains.

www.sportschau.de

 

[Alilou]

Discussions about the return of Russian athletes: Russia and doping - the lingering problem

In the heated discussions about the reintegration of Russian athletes into world sport, the war takes centre stage. Doping issues hardly play a role - although huge mistrust remains.

www.sportschau.de

This paragraph gives me a little hope:

"I have to say the confidence in the independence of the Russian anti-doping system remains very low," says WADA President Witold Banka. Four months after the formal end of the ban, WADA has still not declared the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA compliant. The lack of this official status alone could prevent the unrestricted participation of Russian athletes in major sporting events. And this is completely separate to the sanctions that have been imposed (and are currently being softened again) because of the war of aggression.

 

[Pink Cats]

Thanks. I'll leave him a comment with a link to the blog. Also I do know of a petition - I'll share it here and with DL

This is the petition: https://www.change.org/p/ban-russian-athletes-from-international-tournaments-boycottrussiansport

Signed and donated

 

[barbk]

I followed the twitter handle.

 

[Alilou]

Today I sent the following email to Yul Jae Kim, President of the ISU, and Tron Espeli, VP for Speed Skating, and will send the same email to each member of the ISU council.

Because the emails are going to the public NGB email address I am sending each email separately so in each case I can make the subject line:

Attention Mr/Ms <name of council member>: re skaters from Russia and Belarus

The names of the council members and the email addresses of their respective NGB's are public and are listed here:

ISU Council Contacts

Many of the ISU Council members have social media accounts. Please keep in mind that they are, for the most part, private citizens. If you...

keepskatingsafeandfree.blogspot.com

Although this list includes links to their SM I think it's probably best to contact them in a more formal way. Some of their SM is obviously personal FB, insta, etc, so emailing their NGB may be a best way to begin to get their attention.

Please feel free to simply copy/paste my email. I don't think it matters. What matters is the number of people voicing their concerns even it all comes with the same wording. Or of course you may want to make changes or write your own.

Anyway here's the email I sent:

Dear Mr Kim/Mr Espeli/Ms Samaranch/etc (Whether they are male or female is pretty obvious. The Japanese member is a man)

I am contacting you with my concerns about re-admitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to ISU competitions.

The original reason for the ban was Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, a sovereign nation. This situation has not changed, therefore these athletes should still be banned.

Russia continues to violate the concept of fair play through its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, thus sabotaging another member nation's ability to compete in the sport, and endangering the lives of this nation’s athletes.

Who determines whether an athlete from Russia or Belarus meets the IOC definition of an Individual Neutral Athlete? What does neutral mean - that the athlete is neither for nor against the war? All Russian athletes are state-funded and cannot, therefore, be neutral.

As you can see I have grave concerns about this situation. It seems clear-cut to me that nothing has changed, and that to speak of "neutral" athletes makes a mockery of all that Ukraine has endured.

Finally, given the aggressive behaviour of some fans from the Russian diaspora at recent sporting events, can you guarantee the security and safety of Ukrainian, and Ukrainian-born skaters who represent other countries, or of the many other skaters who have expressed vocal, sustained support for the Ukrainian cause? Will these skaters be safe at ISU events if Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely
Your name here

ETA to change the form of address at the beginning of the email.

 

[Alilou]

And just to make it really easy for you here is the list of email addresses. Hope this is okay @SHARPIE. It's all publicly available information. The email addresses are for the relevant NGBs

[email protected] Jae Youl Kim Korea

[email protected] Tron Espeli Norway

[email protected] Benoit Lavoie Canada

[email protected] Sergio Anesi Italy

[email protected] Gyorgy Elek Hungary

[email protected] Albert Hazelhoff Netherlands

[email protected] Tatsuro Matsumura Japan

[email protected] Eric Radford Canada

[email protected] Susanna Rakhamo Finland

[email protected] Patricia St. Peter United States

[email protected] Maria Teresa Samaranch Spain

[email protected] Suwanna Silpa-Archa Thailand

[email protected] Stoytcho Stoytchev Bulgaria

Attentive people will notice that the member for Russia is not included

 

[Pink Cats]

I will work on the emails when my eyes do not feel like they are going to pop out of my head from the congestion I have from a cold.

 

[Alilou]

I will work on the emails when my eyes do not feel like they are going to pop out of my head from the congestion I have from a cold.

Sorry about your cold That's never fun. And thank you! I just finished sending all of mine. May we be a tsunami of objection to lifting the ban.

 

[skatingguy]

It's been discussed here as well.

To get otheres started I`m willing to post what I wrote but don`t know how. Reluctant to just post here and trigger a storm of criticism.

 

[Finnice]

What I know, Rahkamo is very much againt the Russian and Belorussian athletes returning to competition until the war is over. As is FFSA and Finnish OC.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

I posted to ignore the thread I started today. Sorry to all for the confusion.

Here are addresses for letter writers:

Mr. Samuel Auxier, President
US Figure Skating
20 First Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80906



Mr. Gene SYKES, President
US Olympic Committee
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs CO 80909

 

[Sylvia]

I usually just complain but for this I wrote, printed and mailed letters to USFS & USOC. Here are the addresses if others want to do this.

Good to hear!

FYI, Tracy Marek is the new CEO of U.S. Figure Skating (which is a paid position; USFS President is a volunteer position) and Patricia St. Peter (a former USFS President) is the current USA figure skating representative who was re-elected to the ISU Council last summer.

I posted a recent article about Marek here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-baker-as-usfs-ceo.109745/page-2#post-6420049

Excerpt relevant to this thread;

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.

 

[Alilou]

@SkateFanBerlin in the other (now closed) thread you said you were willing to post what you wrote to the USFS people. I think it would be a good idea if you did. I posted what I wrote to all the council members (see my post #2055)
Any help we can give each other in this matter is a good thing I think, so for those who don't know quite what to say what you wrote may be good inspiration for them.

Hoping to find time today/tomorrow to put up the addresses for the ISU members. If they get emails urging them to uphold the ban hopefully they'll let the council members know about it.

There is an online meeting of ISU members sometime in June - AFAIK the date has not been announced yet.

The ISU council meeting is June 9-11, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. They may make the decision to uphold the ban at this meeting, or defer the decision until their next meeting October 6-8, 2023 in Lausanne, Switzerland

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

I don`t know what the angle is of the thread; I just wrote what was on my mind.

To USFS

Mr. Samuel Auxier, President US Figure Skating 20 First Street Colorado Springs, CO 80906 USA 17 April 2023

Dear Mr. Auxier, I am writing regarding the possible inclusion of Russian/Belarusian “neutrals” in the upcoming ISU season. I am asking that US Figure Skating publicly denounce any move by the ISU to include these individuals. Here are the guidelines proposed by the organizers of Wimbledon for inclusion of “neutrals” and why they won`t work: Agreeing not to support the Russian and/or Belarusian states or their regimes and leaders – The athletes will sign separate, secret agreements with their government supporting the war. Afterall, they are employees of the state. Not receiving funding from Russian and/or Belarusian states, including sponsorship from companies operated or controlled by them. Government funds can easily be channeled through other entities such as sport shoe endorsements, public appearances, etc.. I`ve followed figure skating for 40+ years and there have been few times when the irregularities of Russia have not hung over competitions. The Valieva doping allegation has still not been resolved. Memory of the incident is fading and ultimately CAS will issue a wrist slap. The Russians know this and will bide their time. Fans have looked on with dismay at the judging, doping, and athlete abuse scandals in international sport. Inclusion of Russian athletes in the upcoming ISU season will further dimmish US fans interest in figure skating which is already on the decline. Respectfully,

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

To USOC

Mr. Gene SYKES, President US Olympic Committee 1 Olympic Plaza Colorado Springs CO 80909 USA 17 April 2023

Dear Mr. Sykes, I am writing regarding the inclusion of Russian/Belarusian “neutrals” in the upcoming Paris Olympics. I am encouraging the US Olympic Committee to 1) publicly denounce this policy put forth by the IOC 2) use its influence to encourage US sports organizations to speak against this policy to their international federations. Here are the guidelines proposed by the organizers of Wimbledon for inclusion and why they won`t work: Agreeing not to support the Russian and/or Belarusian states or their regimes and leaders – The athletes will sign separate, secret agreements with their government supporting the war. Afterall, they are employees of the state. Not receiving funding from Russian and/or Belarusian states, including sponsorship from companies operated or controlled by them. Government funds can easily be channeled through other entities such as sport shoe endorsements. Looking at the history I have concluded that Russian participation will undermine fair play at the games. The blood sample swapping scheme in Sochi is the worst example. For me this invalidated the entire results. Thomas Bach should have been immediately terminated. Fans have looked on with dismay at the judging, doping, and athlete abuse scandals in Olympic sport. Inclusion of Russian athletes in Paris will further weaken the Olympic movement. Respectfully,

 

[Alilou]

Thanks @SkateFanBerlin. Our focus has been particularly on the ban due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and we'll continue with that focus, however you make some valid points, and I personally don't care if the ban is upheld because of Russian egregious and ongoing doping, or because of the war. Whatever gets us there.

 

[thvu]

With Russia murdering civilians in their sleep, I don't want to hear another word about how this is unfair to their athletes.

 

[caseyedwards]

With Russia murdering civilians in their sleep, I don't want to hear another word about how this is unfair to their athletes.

What do the skaters or athletes have to do with decisions of government

Very silly to blame trusova and aliev

 

[BittyBug]

What do the skaters or athletes have to do with decisions of government

Very silly to blame trusova and aliev

Because the training of Russian athletes is funded by the Russian government, who kills Ukrainian citizens in their sleep

Because the travel to competition for Russian athletes is funded by the Russian government, who kills Ukrainian citizens in their sleep

Because the officials and coaches of Russian athletes are funded by the Russian government, who kills Ukrainian citizens in their sleep

Because when Russian athletes return home after competitions - even when competing as allegedly neutral athletes as they did in the past few Olympics - they are paraded around for glory to Mother Russia and given gifts by the Russian government, who kills Ukrainian citizens in their sleep

I could continue, but you will still continue parroting your RT talking points so I will not waste more of my time.

 

[caseyedwards]

RT propaganda to say Aliev and Trusova have nothing to do with the war? And state is not government? Ioc used to accept state is not government.