Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen are released by Denmark to represent Canada

[paskatefan]

This is not true, by the way. That never happened.

https://en.natmus.dk/museums-and-pa...945/faq/king-christian-and-the-star-of-david/

Even if it wasn't true, thank goodness the Danes protected & rescued the vast majority of their Jewish population! BTW, I do have & have read the book that was referenced in the link.

Back to the skating part of this topic. I really admire this team, and have high hopes for them as part of Team Canada.

 

[marbri]

Is that also true for Icelanders who go to Denmark for university or jobs and marry Danish citizens? Or is there a special relationship between the countries?

Citizens of Nordic countries can move between the countries to study, work or live without restriction. No visas, residence permits or work permits are required. There would be no need for any of them to switch acquire citizenship of another.

Canada seems to have always been lacking in terms of depth. It has produced some outstanding figure skaters/superstars, but never had the same depth of field you see in Russia.

I think population has a lot to do with that: Numbers roughly rounded but fairly represented. Canada is of course a big skating nation and it's very popular here but there isn't the population pool to draw from that there are in the other big nations. I'd flip it and say that despite the small population pool to draw from they are remarkably strong considering. But they aren't going to have that conveyor belt to pluck off of that others will.

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Slovakia, Ireland: 5 million
Sweden; Hungary, Belarus, Austria, Israel, Switzerland: 8-10 million
Belgium: 11 million
Australia: 23 million
Canada: 36 million
Ukraine: 44 million
Spain: 48 million
South Korea: 51 million
Italy: 62 million
United Kingdom: 64 million
France: 68 million
Germany: 80 million
Japan: 126 million
Russia: 145 million
USA: 324 million

 

[Deleted member 40371]

Citizens of Nordic countries can move between the countries to study, work or live without restriction. No visas, residence permits or work permits are required. There would be no need for any of them to switch acquire citizenship of another.



I think population has a lot to do with that: Numbers roughly rounded but fairly represented. Canada is of course a big skating nation and it's very popular here but there isn't the population pool to draw from that there are in the other big nations. I'd flip it and say that despite the small population pool to draw from they are remarkably strong considering. But they aren't going to have that conveyor belt to pluck off of that others will.

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Slovakia, Ireland: 5 million
Sweden; Hungary, Belarus, Austria, Israel, Switzerland: 8-10 million
Belgium: 11 million
Australia: 23 million
Canada: 36 million
Ukraine: 44 million
Spain: 48 million
South Korea: 51 million
Italy: 62 million
United Kingdom: 64 million
France: 68 million
Germany: 80 million
Japan: 126 million
Russia: 145 million
USA: 324 million

However, Japan, Russia and USA are equally good at summer sports as well. Canada is not in the same level as these countries in summer sports. Also, the number of sports in summer calendar is far higher as well.

 

[barbarafan]

Canada seems to have always been lacking in terms of depth. It has produced some outstanding figure skaters/superstars, but never had the same depth of field you see in Russia.

Canada is a very expensive place to figureskate. The majority of families cannot afford to send their kids to figureskating.There are no programs in place to identify talent young and help them monetarily . You already have to be good enough to hold your own at an international competition before you see a cent. Unless something changes within Skate Canada there will always be skimpy fields. I believe Quebec is better about encouraging kids but I do not have any details so I won't go into that.

 

[Colonel Green]

However, Japan, Russia and USA are equally good at summer sports as well. Canada is not in the same level as these countries in summer sports.

What’s the “however”? Canada’s smaller population relative to the other countries mentioned holds true in summer sports as well (particularly compared to the US, which has large parts of the country where snow is mostly unknown year-round).

 

[Carina]

"Citizens of Nordic countries can move between the countries to study, work or live without restriction. No visas, residence permits or work permits are required. There would be no need for any of them to switch acquire citizenship of another."

True, but if the person/persons for some reason wants to represent the country they living in at the Olympics they have to switch.

 

[Carolla5501]

The articles I read led me to conclude that she was told there was no way she was going to get citizenship, no matter what even if they had moved to Denmark to train. Given that she's married to a Danish citizen, I find that odd, myself. In the US, that would have given her automatic permanent residency and put her on the path to citizenship as long as she was willing to live here.

Granted, I may have misunderstood the articles as it wasn't spelled out that clearly.

Um.... trust me there is nothing automatic that happens when you marry a US citizen. I have 2 friends whose wives went through over a year of work to get “automatic permanent residency “

 

[Twilight1]

All this action in this thread and no link to video of their programs

 

[jersey1302]

So.... are they competing at Canadian Championships in January??

 

[kwanfan1818]

They're on the entry list for Challenges, the qualifying competition:
https://lamp.skatecanada.ca/results/2019challenge/2019CHALLSeniorDanceEL.pdf

Rhythm Dance is on Saturday, December 1, and the Free Dance is on Sunday, December 2.

 

[Japanfan]

Canada is a very expensive place to figureskate. The majority of families cannot afford to send their kids to figureskating.There are no programs in place to identify talent young and help them monetarily . You already have to be good enough to hold your own at an international competition before you see a cent. Unless something changes within Skate Canada there will always be skimpy fields. I believe Quebec is better about encouraging kids but I do not have any details so I won't go into that.

Isn't the US equally or even more expensive? Are the more programs in place to identify talent young and provide funding in the US?

I think population has a lot to do with that: Numbers roughly rounded but fairly represented. Canada is of course a big skating nation and it's very popular here but there isn't the population pool to draw from that there are in the other big nations. I'd flip it and say that despite the small population pool to draw from they are remarkably strong considering. But they aren't going to have that conveyor belt to pluck off of that others will.

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Slovakia, Ireland: 5 million
Sweden; Hungary, Belarus, Austria, Israel, Switzerland: 8-10 million
Belgium: 11 million
Australia: 23 million
Canada: 36 million
Ukraine: 44 million
Spain: 48 million
South Korea: 51 million
Italy: 62 million
United Kingdom: 64 million
France: 68 million
Germany: 80 million
Japan: 126 million
Russia: 145 million
USA: 324 million

You make a good point, Mabri, and I mostly agree.

But I still wonder if Skate Canada/skating communities could be doing more to identify, nurture and support young talent.

We are really lacking depth at the start of this quad. Sure, Gogolov is coming up, but he's a ways away from seniors and at this point, over-hyped IMO. Then there is a lot of buzz already about Lajoie/Lagha in ice dance. There must be other promising juniors/new seniors as well, but I don't follow skating well enough to know their names. It's be nice to add a few more names to the list of up-and-comers - maybe and hopefully that will happen at Nationals.

 

[RoseRed]

Isn't the US equally or even more expensive? Are the more programs in place to identify talent young and provide funding in the US?



You make a good point, Mabri, and I mostly agree.

But I still wonder if Skate Canada/skating communities could be doing more to identify, nurture and support young talent.

We are really lacking depth at the start of this quad. Sure, Gogolov is coming up, but he's a ways away from seniors and at this point, over-hyped IMO. Then there is a lot of buzz already about Lajoie/Lagha in ice dance. There must be other promising juniors/new seniors as well, but I don't follow skating well enough to know their names. It's be nice to add a few more names to the list of up-and-comers - maybe and hopefully that will happen at Nationals.

There's a lot of depth in ice dance right now, beyond just L/L.

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting IFS' article on them here from the Canadian dance thread:

Another article on Laurence and Nikolaj.

I thought the discussion of how hard it was on them to qualify an Olympic spot when they hadn’t thought that would happen was revealing. I guess it’s one thing to think the Olympics were never an option anyway, another to watch the possibility open up then slip away.

Reminder that they are competing this weekend in Edmonton:

They're on the entry list for Challenges, the qualifying competition:
https://lamp.skatecanada.ca/results/2019challenge/2019CHALLSeniorDanceEL.pdf

Rhythm Dance is on Saturday, December 1, and the Free Dance is on Sunday, December 2.