Ross Miner Out Of Olympic Team (OFFICIAL)

SO unfair! Razzano “love letter” to rippon on instagram

douglasrazzanoWhile it may be 11/10 here in North America, it is 11/11 in Osaka... We’ve been friends since we were obnoxious teenagers running around at Nationals and I have watched you grow from the lowest lows of your life into the beautiful human being you are today. I feel so lucky to have you as a friend, a best friend. Good luck in the free today and happy 28th birthday, @adaripp! Love you so much ❤️
 
And then they told Ross "fcuk you, you're 2nd alternate and not going anywhere except 4CCs, have fun".

That's the problem, really. The blatant disrespect and the way they handled this situation. That Ross was not worthy and they'd send who they wanted to send no matter what. I can't imagine how sh*tty this feels for Ross. And anyone else, who could potentially kill it at Nationals yet know if they have no 'body of work' they're fcuked. Why bother.

Even making him first alternate I could kinda understand. However, this, no. It makes me furious for him.

As my dad has said, "It's why people don't watch skating. They know it's all rigged. I don't watch anymore and you know how much I love it." My dad's the T&D uber who is the one who started me skating as a little girl.
 
barbk said:
And I hope they ignore them.

They had criteria. They applied the criteria. They did their job.

Note that -- if the list is accurate - at least 2 athlete representatives voted to send Adam over Ross. Possibly all three athlete reps did. 11-1 was not an especially contentious vote.
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Athletes train and compete and they know the telltale signs as to who can or will compete well. But that will not keep the masses from trusting their judgement. Because the public is always suspicious.
 
Interesting to note:

Kevin Rosenstein was on the judging panel for the ladies competition

Peggy Graham was on the judging panel for the ladies and pairs competition

Kathaleen Cutone was on the judging panel for the ice dance competition

Wendy Enzmann was the technical controller for the pairs competition
 
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Even if the criteria have weights that will not keep the angry fans from mad if it means making a silver medalist a second alternate at best. Because the bulk of the argument is about the athletes feelings.

Having said that skating is not a popular sport. Other than the 50 or 100 people who follow this closely and passionately and are mad about this, there doesn't seem an outrage in the media. While you can always fine tune the criteria to improve it, I will say I have no plans to email Rachael flatt to question her vote. Lord knows she's knows this stuff better than I do. It is kinda like the public emailing an isu judge and question their marks. But I am sure someone here will, because the whole thing is about the public thinking they have a right to know and influence the process.

I dunno...are you a federation member? I think USFS needs to be accountable to the athletes, the O committee and the their members. It is the media and the public who think they have right to know(that way reporters have stories and the public naturally are curious and think they are entitled to an opinion)
 
jlai said:
Even if the criteria have weights that will not keep the angry fans from mad if it means making a silver medalist a second alternate at best. Because the bulk of the argument is about the athletes feelings.

Having said that skating is not a popular sport. Other than the 50 or 100 people who follow this closely and passionately and are mad about this, there doesn't seem an outrage in the media. While you can always fine tune the criteria to improve it, I will say I have no plans to email Rachael flatt to question her vote. Lord knows she's knows this stuff better than I do. It is kinda like the public emailing an isu judge and question their marks.
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But obviously if members of the selection committee are shown to have been writing “love letters” to rippon they should have recused themselves entirely!! I want to know how razzano voted! Did he vote for his best friend brother or whatever!!
 
Here's USFSA's page about the International Committee - although it was apparently only 12 here, there are 35 members total, with 9 of them determining teams.
In this case everyone seems very qualified - many are ISU judges and some are Olympics judges. We also have Team Leaders - those that help keep the skaters organized on international competitions - and all I could find info on are former skaters of varying competitive levels. All disciplines and sections are represented.
I do wish that more athletes on the committee had gone to the Olympics/Worlds

For reference of who the committee members are as far as skating goes:

Robert G. Rosenbluth, Chair
-Judge at Sochi Olympics; ISU Judge
-Section: Midwest (?)
-Former Collegiate Skater
-Judged Senior Men's & Pair's events
Laurie S. Johnson, Chairs of Singles Discipline Group
-National Judge; ISU Technical Controller
-Section: Pacific Coast
-USFSA Team Leader (Singles - don't think she's the only one)
-Senior Men's technical controller
Samuel Auxier, USFSA President
-Judge of Men's event at Sochi Olympics; ISU Singles/Pairs Judge
-Section: Midwest
-Former skater & gold test medalist
-Did not judge at Nationals this year
Tammie K. Campbell
-ISU Pair's Judge (including at Pyeongchang Olympics); alternate judge in Sochi
-Section: Midwest
-Former competitor
-Did not judge Senior level at Nationals this year
Kathleen K. Cutone
-ISU Dance Judge (And actual judge for her day job)
-Section: Eastern
-Former National US Ladies competitor ('90s); USFSA Team Leader for Dance
-Judged Senior Dance
Wendy L. Enzmann (Twitter)
-ISU Singles/Pairs/Synchro Judge (Working up the ranks in Dance as well); National Technical Specialist
-Section: Eastern (?)
-National Singles/Pairs skater; International Singles skater; USFSA Team Leader for Synchro
-Senior Pair's Technical Controller
Peggy Graham
-ISU Singles/Pairs Judge
-Section: Midwest
-No info as far as skating history
-Judged Senior Pairs
Kevin M. Rosenstein
-ISU Singles/Pairs Judge; National Technical Controller; does education of judges for USFSA
-Section: Pacific Coast
-Former National pairs competitor
-Judged Senior Ladies
Pilar M. Bosley (Athlete Member)
-Former Junior International Ice Dancer; Retired 2008
Rachael E. Flatt (Athlete Member)
-Former Olympic Ladies Skater; Retired 2014
-Currently coaching part time in San Jose, CA
Douglas P. Razzano (Athlete Member)
-Former International Senior Men's Skater; Retired 2015
-Currently coaching and doing choreography out of Scottsdale, AZ (including Daniel Kulenkamp)
Benjamin Reisman Miller (Coaching Member)
-Former International Senior Men's Skater; Retired 2005
-Currently coaching in St. Paul MN; Had lower level competitors at Nationals this year & coached Slovakian National Ladies Champion
 
The individuals named in the post are on the Singles Discipline Group. The full membership of the international committee, which is composed of a Dance, Paris, Singles, and International Committee Management Subcommittee can be found on page 15-16 of the provided link. In past years, the previous chair of the International Committee was an ex-officio member of the committee. I do not know whether that is still the case or not. If I learn more from the source that provided me the directory, I will share accordingly. Same goes for if I learn with more certainty who cast the lone dissenting vote....
 
@caseyedwards It's entirely possible to be good friends with someone *and* think they are less qualified than someone else for an opportunity.

Personally I hope the mystery recuser was one of the people involved with the senior men's event. That to me seems a conflict of interest, to be involved in determining the outcome of an event and then to be involved in making another decision based on that outcome.
 
AnonymousSource said:
The individuals named in the post are on the Singles Discipline Group. The full membership of the international committee, which is composed of a Dance, Paris, Singles, and International Committee Management Subcommittee can be found on page 15-16 of the provided link. In past years, the previous chair of the International Committee was an ex-officio member of the committee. I do not know whether that is still the case or not. If I learn more from the source that provided me the directory, I will share accordingly. Same goes for if I learn with more certainty who cast the lone dissenting vote....
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Why? What purpose do you hope to accomplish? Nothing noble for sure. You seem to be sh!t-stirring. Or are you trying to instigate an online posse to pursue/harrass the committee members?

This selection for 2018 is a done deal. If you want to see change implemented in the selection system/criteria for future years, fine. But this isn't the way to go about it.
 
For me the abstention is interesting... so If the abstention was due to conflict of interest because he/she was associated with a certain skater up for selection, then did this person not t know before that tge said skater was competing at the nationals, or did s/he just have a sudden revelation. Even if s/he didn’t vote in the selection, but s/he had plenty of opportunity to get their view acrosss and influence the decision. So, they still influenced the decision.

I sincerely hope it is not Adam Rippon’s mom as suggested by someone earlier, since that is so unfair in so many ways.
 
I don't think they're trying to stir up anything as much as sharing information. I was actually more assured by the decision seeing it was made by such experienced judges and skaters. I honestly thought some of the committee would be some of the USFSA people who were hired for their business acumen, not their skating history.
 
Domshabfan said:
For me the abstention is interesting... so If the abstention was due to conflict of interest because he/she was associated with a certain skater up for selection, then did this person not t know before that tge said skater was competing at the nationals, or did s/he just have a sudden revelation. Even if s/he didn’t vote in the selection, but s/he had plenty of opportunity to get their view acrosss and influence the decision. So, they still influenced the decision.
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I'm sure they all knew who was competing at Nationals. What they didn't know before Nationals was what the results would be and what subset of the competitors the committee would have to decide among.

If in fact one committee member recused themselves from the men's Olympic team decision, or all the men's assignments for the rest of this season, that doesn't mean they would have to resign from the committee.

Wasn't the decision made that night, shortly after the event concluded? Not much time for someone to "have plenty of opportunity to get their view across and influence the decision" if they recused themselves from that decision.

Willin said:
I honestly thought some of the committee would be some of the USFSA people who were hired for their business acumen, not their skating history.
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USFS, like many nonprofit organizations, is governed by volunteer officials with expertise in the content of the organization's mission and hires staff with expertise in the operational areas.

So the President of the organization, for example, is usually a long-time judge or accountant or other skating official, with a background in skating themselves, whereas the Executive Director is a paid employee hired for business and leadership expertise.

The members of various committees that make decisions relevant to their committee mission are all USFS members who volunteer their time -- usually also officials and either skaters or skating parents themselves, often but not always from the elite levels. The Headquarters staff are paid employees hired for their ability to do the operational tasks of running the organizational side of the association.

(I say this as someone who has spent most of my professional life working in the publications departments of associations whose missions are outside my expertise -- but I do have the expertise in publication production.)
 
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Errrm....I'm ticked off as much as anyone that Ross is left off team, but I hesitate at digging around and revealing/"doxing" the person who cast the dissenting vote here on the public boards, if that info isn't published somewhere else.

I've only seen bad things come from things like this. Let's be careful.
 
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gkelly said:
I'm sure they all knew who was competing at Nationals. What they didn't know before Nationals was what the results would be and what subset of the competitors the committee would have to decide among.

If in fact one committee member recused themselves from the men's Olympic team decision, or all the men's assignments for the rest of this season, that doesn't mean they would have to resign from the committee.

Wasn't the decision made that night, shortly after the event concluded? Not much time for someone to "have plenty of opportunity to get their view across and influence the decision" if they recused themselves from that decision.
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Unless s/he didn’t take part at any meeting where the discussion of Olympic men’s team was discussed your point is valid. At the moment, they are trying to deflect negative press than do the right thing. S/he would have had other opportunities provided they BOW ...

I am really sorry for Miner, as I said before I am not too invested in him to lose any sleep over this. I now hope Rippon is not subbed in to the LP to get a team medal, and then it turns out mom was part of the commitee ...
 
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