Russian figure skating news & updates in 2022

[Hedwig]

Uh, no. Germany and Japan were still banned by the 1948 Olympics: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/07/23/japan-olympics-history/

Three years after the war was ended and both countries had had full political makeovers. By that standard, Russia won’t even be back by Milan 2026.

This is key, IMO. At least for me.
I won't be able to watch any Russian skating unless this happens. And I don't see that in the near future, sadly.

 

[On My Own]

But at the same time, I am not pretending that some wars are ok because they are “approved” by the western countries, whereas other wars are wrong.

No one "approved" Lebanon/Israel/Palestine etc or Pakistan/India or Azerbaijan/Armenia.

 

[On My Own]

Also:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1574447409005985792

 

[hanca]

No one "approved" Lebanon/Israel/Palestine etc or Pakistan/India or Azerbaijan/Armenia.

Yet we can’t see those countries being banned from sport competitions for the deaths they caused… if banning a country from sports competitions is considered so effective, shouldn’t all those countries be banned too to put pressure on them to end the conflict?

 

[antmanb]

Tutberidze has Shcherbakova, Trusova and Kostornaya all injured. Valieva doesn’t have quads or 3A. She has couple of young girls with lesser profile, but the ability to do a quad doesn’t have the shock and awe factor it used to.

[snip]

Kostornaya’s ability to produce drama actually might end up being an asset to Tutberidze now.

Kostornaya is no longer with Tutberidze, she moved to Buyanova before her last surgery and will, if she heals up, resume training with Buyanova.

 

[barbarafan]

The programme is not even that good. She could have sent the same message with a better one. I think she is being used by the regime for propaganda purposes. Whether she likes it and agrees with it is a different matter. It does remind me of the way Nadia was been used by the communists.

Nadia?

 

[Irina89]

Nadia?

Nadia Comaneci and Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator. She was also forced to do certain things for the political regime and was not given the option to decline.

 

[Cachoo]

Also:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1574447409005985792

Yeah I watch that and I see her saying “I’m the victim.” Then they pan to Eteri and I see her saying “I’m the reason.” Except of course that is never stated. At least she will always have a Russian audience.

 

[barbarafan]

Nadia Comaneci and Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator. She was also forced to do certain things for the political regime and was not given the option to decline.

thanks....yes that was horrible

 

[Frau Muller]

Katarina Witt in the DDR, too. She & other celebrated athletes had to attend rallies presided by head of state Honecker.

 

[starrynight]

War or no war, that program has displayed quite clearly that the mindset of Russian skating is that doping is no big deal at all.

And it seems it’s an attitude that well predated the Ukraine situation.

 

[On My Own]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1574790102739550211

 

[cholla]

It's just one of those things that's got me confused on this thread. There's a difference between
(...) Like, it's a program.

Yes it is. Where did I mention something else? Where did I mention the war? Where did I say she was the only one responsible for this farce? OTH I know skaters whose career has been destroyed for way less than this (real) doping affair. So I have many reasons to be angry at the blatant BS that this FP is. And when do skaters from other countries get their non-doped Olympic medals? I have friends in Russia, I've been in Russia many times, I know how things work here, and I know how anti-Putin Russians are treated and how many of them feel, even if I'm safely writing from my comfortable situation in the West. But there was nothing about the war in my post.

 

[allezfred]

Really? They welcomed Germany including East Germany and Japan and the US after dropping the H bomb and killing thousands of civilians. They currently haven't banned Azerbaijan for attacking Armenia. Or Syria. No country was banned after Munich. Isreal wasn't banned. Lebanon. Egypt after the 6 day war. And on and on and on.

Err, Germany and Japan were excluded from the 1948 Olympics. They didn’t return to the Olympics until 1952 seven years after the end of WW2.

The US dropped the atomic bombs at a time when people didn’t see the effects until months and years later. Different time.

Syria is a civil war.

Munich was an attack by a terrorist group not a country. Not sure why Israel would be banned for it?

The Six Day War as its name suggests was over in six days. Might be the reason why Lebanon and Egypt weren’t banned.

On the other hand, South Africa was banned from the Olympics for thirty years for apartheid. Serbia (or what was left of Yugoslavia) was banned from the 1994 Olympics because of its role in the war Bosnia at the time. There are precedents to what is happening to Russia.

Sorry to say this, but it seems to me that you are more upset about not being able to see starved and broken Russian 15 year olds skate than anything else.

 

[On My Own]

Yes it is. Where did I mention something else? Where did I mention the war? Where did I say she was the only one responsible for this farce? OTH I know skaters whose career has been destroyed for way less than this (real) doping affair. So I have many reasons to be angry at the blatant BS that this FP is. And when do skaters from other countries get their non-doped Olympic medals? I have friends in Russia, I've been in Russia many times, I know how things work here, and I know how anti-Putin Russians are treated and how many of them feel, even if I'm safely writing from my comfortable situation in the West. But there was nothing about the war in my post.

I'm not sure why you think I directed the post solely at you when I said "It's just one of those things that's got me confused on this thread.". I only responded to you as a way to continue the conversation.

I will make sure not to do so again.

 

[cholla]

I'm not sure why you think I directed the post solely at you when I said "It's just one of those things that's got me confused on this thread.". I only responded to you as a way to continue the conversation.

I will make sure not to do so again.

Because you quoted me maybe

 

[On My Own]

Can't really argue with some lines of reasoning, no matter how hard I try.

 

[On My Own]

Yet we can’t see those countries being banned from sport competitions for the deaths they caused… if banning a country from sports competitions is considered so effective, shouldn’t all those countries be banned too to put pressure on them to end the conflict?

I don't really know what to say to this type of reasoning either. If your argument is all countries should be banned from sports, then I am for it. Let's invest more in things that matter than some moron jumping on the ice.

 

[hanca]

I don't really know what to say to this type of reasoning either. If your argument is all countries should be banned from sports, then I am for it. Let's invest more in things that matter than some moron jumping on the ice.

I am not arguing about ‘all countries’ to be banned, but those who are involved in any war or use any arms against other country. For example, as unpopular as it will be on this forum, I don’t this it is right to ignore what’s going on between Israel and Palestine. So why are those countries not banned?

 

[On My Own]

I am not arguing about ‘all countries’ to be banned, but those who are involved in any war or use any arms against other country. For example, as unpopular as it will be on this forum, I don’t this it is right to ignore what’s going on between Israel and Palestine. So why are those countries not banned?

But I don't have an answer for you beyond "the aggressor is unclear" unlike with Russia/Ukraine. It's not difficult to see for me, and I don't think it has anything to do with those conflicts being "West-approved".

However, if you argue for the ban involving all the cases you mentioned, it can very much swallow up a large chunk of the world. If you want to make that argument, make it, I don't really care either way. It's just sports.

 

[PRlady]

I am not arguing about ‘all countries’ to be banned, but those who are involved in any war or use any arms against other country. For example, as unpopular as it will be on this forum, I don’t this it is right to ignore what’s going on between Israel and Palestine. So why are those countries not banned?

People here know I worked on these issues for more than a decade and live in Israel part of the year now. I’m a left winger (far left by Israeli standards) who opposes the occupation, settlements and periodic bombing of Gaza.

That said, although Israel has the power and military, it has also been under threat since it was founded. Palestinians have never had good leadership to make peace even when it was possible from the Israeli side. The number of deaths every year, while deplorable, are fewer than the number in Ukraine every few days: https://www.statista.com/chart/16516/israeli-palestinian-casualties-by-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank/

There are no elite Palestinian skaters I’m aware of. The Israelis are mostly American and Russian/Ukrainian Jews. There may come a day when Israel is banned for apartheid-like behavior but it still is not an all-out war of aggression.

 

[BlueRidge]

How many times do we have to have this discussion? Russian athletes were banned as part of a world-wide effort to put immediate pressure on Russia when it invaded and waged war on Ukraine. That war continues, whether sanctions of all sorts including the ban on athletes in Olympic sports has had an impact will probably be argued for years. What is not arguable is that it was not part of a political policy that was about only allowing athletes from countries who aren't engaged in objectionable international (and perhaps domestic) behavior. It was circumstantial to a particular moment in time, so arguing that it is somehow wrong because other countries athletes haven't been banned is rather transparently Putin-apologism and nothing else.

 

[On My Own]

I don't think it's necessarily Putin-apologism. I think most of them genuinely just miss Russian sports and aren't thinking straight.

 

[TAHbKA]

Aliev and Ignatov were drafted.

 

[BlueRidge]

I don't think it's necessarily Putin-apologism. I think most of them genuinely just miss Russian sports and aren't thinking straight.

Perhaps, but then it is unconscious Putin-apologism.

I don't like the current situation at all. I wish Russia hadn't created a situation where its athletes would be prevented from competing in figure skating. But separating that from the reason for it doesn't make sense to me.

 

[euterpe]

There's one thing I don't miss about Russian skating: stick thin Russian girls with brittle bones.

 

[BlueRidge]

Admittedly I don't miss Russian "ladies" at the moment, even if I am still a fan of a couple of them. But we all have to be clear that the issues, with Russian women's skating including the doping incident at the Olympics, aren't the reason for their absence. I do think we need to separate these two things carefully.

 

[PRlady]

Aliev and Ignatov were drafted.

As in they are already being shipped to Ukraine??

 

[Vagabond]

As in they are already being shipped to Ukraine??

That is the whole point of the mobilization.

 

[PRlady]

That is the whole point of the mobilization.

I know, what I’m asking is have they just been notified or are they already gone. And why those two? There are several other Russian skaters old enough to go. Is it the CSKA club members?