Russian Skaters Allowed to Compete as Neutrals (AIN) to Qualify for 2026 Winter Olympics

[caseyedwards]

Thanks. So, are you going to play with Alysa's scores to add in a 3A like we know she's been attempting in practices? Because I don't think Adelia even with a 4F beats Alysa with a 3A.

Sure! I can add every upgrade being discussed by all

 

[caseyedwards]

Thanks. So, are you going to play with Alysa's scores to add in a 3A like we know she's been attempting in practices? Because I don't think Adelia even with a 4F beats Alysa with a 3A.

If Alysa did 3A in sp and Adelia did her usual tech with 7.25 pcs it’s like 80 Alysa 74 Adelia just in the short program!

 

[caseyedwards]

If Alisa Liu added 3A in LP and did the 3s where 2a is her score would jump from 148 to 155 and if Adelia added a quad flip in place of a triple loop and got 7.5 pcs she would have 153! Liu beat Petrosian by 2 points!

 

[caseyedwards]

I don't doubt her resolve at all. She's a fighter. But saying you're gonna do great on the biggest stage without having had the previous experience is a goal to frighten anybody.

She’s totally banned from talking to media and being talked to! That could help. She can stay in a lane of focus. Unless she’s a real social butterfly and needs to talk to people then she’s in a torture situation.

 

[farahfan]

Why would any pairs teams show up at Asian Open? It's not a Challenger and both NagaMori and GamKor train in North America. I'd bet on them showing up for either John Nicks PCI or Kinoshita Group Cup as those are the two Challengers with a pairs competition before the OQE.

I'm just going off the last time Asian Trophy had pairs, which was also the Olympic year, 2021. China sent their top pairs, so maybe they'll repeat.
GamKor had so few competitions last year that they might want to hit the ground running and get all the chances they can get. Also Asian Trophy is in the Philippines so added boost.
Could also see NagaMori wanting to test drive their new programs a full month before John Nicks.
But the flight is tremendously long from the East coast....we'll see.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Is Russia allowed to resubmit a new set of pairs and dance for approval?

 

[caseyedwards]

Is Russia allowed to resubmit a new set of pairs and dance for approval?

The door is shut it is over there is no more

 

[rfisher]

Is Russia allowed to resubmit a new set of pairs and dance for approval?

Who knows? The rules are vague and the press release said they could change so who knows?

 

[caseyedwards]

Who knows? The rules are vague and the press release said they could change so who knows?

It seems that means anyone given eligibility is probably going to lose it! I’m just laughing about the millions of Koreans and Canadians and Japanese and Americans spamming [email protected] demanding Russians lose their eligibility! Screenshots and articles and videos every second!

 

[Karen-W]

I'm just going off the last time Asian Trophy had pairs, which was also the Olympic year, 2021. China sent their top pairs, so maybe they'll repeat.
GamKor had so few competitions last year that they might want to hit the ground running and get all the chances they can get. Also Asian Trophy is in the Philippines so added boost.
Could also see NagaMori wanting to test drive their new programs a full month before John Nicks.
But the flight is tremendously long from the East coast....we'll see.

Be quicker/easier to fly to LA for Glacier Falls which should have a pretty decent domestic US field - IIRC, last year the USFS used it as the unofficial JGP qualifying comp.

Is Russia allowed to resubmit a new set of pairs and dance for approval?

Who knows? The rules are vague and the press release said they could change so who knows?

No. The decisions are final and there are no additional teams/skaters who can be submitted for review. It was a one-shot deal with the AIN nominees they submitted in February.

 

[Ananas Astra]

What a shitshow.

 

[olympic]

All sorts of feelings right now.

I don't think Russia should be allowed to compete, but I understand that some Russian athletes / coaches are 'innocent' sportsmen in this situation (others are not - I don't ever want to see Zhulin at an international competition), and the IOC split-the-baby solution is an approach to try and appeal to all sides, yet it's still clumsy and a little ridiculous. Additionally, the other issue is doping in Camp Eteri which doesn't seem to be addressed.

That said, on a purely skating level -

In the women's competition, I've adjusted to the vibe of the US v. JPN duel that happened in March, with its serious infusion of emotion and excitement. Now, The idea of an Eteri-trained skater possibly upending all that is a little bit of downer for me, and I don't mean any offense to Petrossian. Is Gorbacheva also part of Camp Eteri?

The men's competition is going to be quite complete if Gummenik qualifies. He is the one skater that would be missing from a typical final group at Worlds these past 2 years, maybe medalling in March.

 

[Karen-W]

In the women's competition, I've adjusted to the vibe of the US v. JPN duel that happened in March, with its serious infusion of emotion and excitement. Now, The idea of an Eteri-trained skater possibly upending all that is a little bit of downer for me, and I don't mean any offense to Petrossian. Is Gorbacheva also part of Camp Eteri?

Nope. She's the one who ran away from her coach back in August 2023, whom she's been living with since she was 12 or 13. Here's the start of the discussion in the Russian news thread from back then - https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/russian-figure-skating-news-in-2023.110316/post-6462513

 

[caseyedwards]

All sorts of feelings right now.

I don't think Russia should be allowed to compete, but I understand that some Russian athletes / coaches are 'innocent' sportsmen in this situation (others are not - I don't ever want to see Zhulin at an international competition), and the IOC split-the-baby solution is an approach to try and appeal to all sides, yet it's still clumsy and a little ridiculous. Additionally, the other issue is doping in Camp Eteri which doesn't seem to be addressed.

That said, on a purely skating level -

In the women's competition, I've adjusted to the vibe of the US v. JPN duel that happened in March, with its serious infusion of emotion and excitement. Now, The idea of an Eteri-trained skater possibly upending all that is a little bit of downer for me, and I don't mean any offense to Petrossian. Is Gorbacheva also part of Camp Eteri?

The men's competition is going to be quite complete if Gummenik qualifies. He is the one skater that would be missing from a typical final group at Worlds these past 2 years, maybe medalling in March.

The isu wants to hear complaints about allowing an eteri skater. They want people to email [email protected] to ban Adelia for being trained by eteri. The isu is being really aggressive in advertising its ban Russians email addres

 

[SakuraHere]

Skating scores is a great site because you can add carrots and negative goe. I added carrots to Petrosians 3A and 4t and 4t combo and added negative goe and I till got a score that would put her in top 5! You can do it right now. Add carrots to all the jumps. Base value is still amazing! I even added e to her flips too. Now she can’t pop or be << but she can easily do 3A< and 4t< and 4t< +2t.

I also reduced her pcs to a very bad horrible 8

Still top 5 and can win free skate if she didn’t ur all ultra c

Dropping 3A for 2a If scared would be great


If she does have a quad flip ur she wins easy

They will find some traits of something with some new testing method.
I mean it makes no sense to ban pairs but allow Eteri girl to compete. Unless she is the next scapegoat in a new doping scandal. Cunning Eteri might withdraw her due to injury.

 

[Ka3sha]

You keep forgetting that the ban and the neutral status have nothing to do with the doping and/or coaching abuse.

Technically, Valieva stopped competing and training internally as soon as the latest CAS verdict was announced, so no issues here. Also, Valieva's ban ends this December, meaning that even if she were still a part of the team Tutberidze, there would be no active doping cases in their group by the time of the 2026 Olympics. Officially, there are no issues with Tutberidze; she is still allowed at ISU events, as we very well see, she hasn't been banned, etc.
I personally have always thought that ISU/WADA/CAS should have dug in that direction back in 2022, but it's a separate issue.
Also, we still didn't get the approved coaches' names - I am pretty sure Daineko (who coaches Gumennik) is going to be fine, but we will see if Rus Fed has even submitted Eteri's name as her primary coach

 

[kwanfan1818]

The ISU ban wasn't tied to doping, but the AIN qualification process was partially tied to it, and there is a special "Focused" anti-doping program, subjecting the nominated and substitute athletes to more tests managed entirely outside Russia and Belarus by non-Russian and non-Belarusian test people and labs. From Communication 2680 (emphasis mine)

The Focused Olympic Anti-Doping Program of the ISU will include Nominated Athletes in the
ISU Registered Testing Pool and make them subject to the respective obligations beginning
from February 1, 2025 or other date, at the latest February 28, 2025 onwards. The Focused
Olympic Anti-Doping Program of the ISU will be implemented in consultation with the IOC and
in accordance with WADA requirements by the ITA, and will include, at the ITA’s discretion and
where applicable, targeted testing, thorough investigations and close monitoring of their athlete
biological passport and their whereabouts prior to the competition. Sample-taking will be
executed by Doping Control Officials from outside of Russia/Belarus and the samples will be
analyzed by WADA-accredited laboratories outside of Russia/Belarus in accordance with the
testing process and procedures defined by WADA and the ITA. Nominated Athletes and their
Support Personnel must have not associated in any way with any person serving a period of
ineligibility for an Anti-Doping rule violation and they must have accepted to fully comply with
any request for information from the ITA, ISU, IOC, WADA, including any request to provide
further whereabouts information, or the contact details of all Support Personnel they associate
with.

When it was first published, there were questions here about whether this meant that anyone training with Valieva would be disqualified as a candidate under part I bolded.

 

[Ka3sha]

The ISU ban wasn't tied to doping, but the AIN qualification process was partially tied to it, and there is a special "Focused" anti-doping program, subjecting the nominated and substitute athletes to more tests managed entirely outside Russia and Belarus by non-Russian and non-Belarusian test people and labs. From Communication 2680 (emphasis mine)



When it was first published, there were questions here about whether this meant that anyone training with Valieva would be disqualified as a candidate under part I bolded.

Yes, I am aware of this.
Yet Valieva left team Tutberidze the moment her verdict was announced, so Petrosian has never trained on the same ice with her while Kamila was/is serving a period of ineligibility. I get that it's tricky, but I see the logic in here.
As for supporting personnel, I doubt they have submitted Tutberidze as the main coach (who will anyway go to Milano with Egadze)

 

[cholla]

Lol, the real question was not why the Russians were allowed, but rather why they were disqualified in the first place - and no one had a comprehensive answer other than "they are evil", which is a non starter for a meta-national organization such as IOC.
But apparently there is a legal answer to that

Russia was banned for the violation of the Olympic truce, and Belarus for its support. It has been clearly detailed in several IOC communications relayed by media. ( https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/i...events-currently-planned-in-russia-or-belarus) so I don't understand why people, not only you Andrey, still find it unclear. It actually started with a "recommendation" that was followed by most sports federations around the world. The IOC has no right nor power to ban a country simply because "they are evil". They can't ban a country because it invades another one. It has to be linked to sport and Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 20 2022, right within the Olympic Truce running from 1 week before the 1st day of the OG to 1 week after the end of the Paralympics as to ensure the athletes' freedom of traveling around the world.

 

[On My Own]

Russia was banned for the violation of the Olympic truce, and Belarus for its support. It has been clearly detailed in several IOC communications relayed by media.

There have been other violations that have taken place, and there was inaction.

(The "justification" of "just because it's not happened before doesn't mean it shouldn't have happened now" fails pretty much immediately in the case of Israel and its accomplice USA participating at Paris 2024: politics thread here.)

 

[cholla]

There have been other violations that have taken place, and there was inaction.

(The "justification" of "just because it's not happened before doesn't mean it shouldn't have happened now" fails pretty much immediately in the case of Israel and its accomplice USA participating at Paris 2024: politics thread here.)

Where does this all come from?! Where did I justified anything by "It didn't happened before blahblahblah" ?! I only mentionned the reason given by the IOC to ban Russia and Belarus, not my own opinion on the subject.

 

[On My Own]

Where does this all come from?! Where did I justified anything by "It didn't happened before blahblahblah" ?! I only mentionned the reason given by the IOC to ban Russia and Belarus, not my own opinion on the subject.

You didn't, others have.

Andrey's opinion is a past one, so I am just reviving the conversation from the previous thread on this topic. He's not confused about the rule, he's confused about its application (uneven), and for what precise reason they're now allowing Russian athletes back, since, in his own words, nothing's changed. It all seems arbitrary.

 

[cholla]

You didn't, others have.

Then don't quote me.

Andrey's opinion is a past one, so I am just reviving the conversation from the previous thread on this topic. He's not confused about the rule, he's confused about its application (uneven),

Andrey can talk by himself.

 

[On My Own]

Then don't quote me.

Nowhere in my original quote did I say you said that.

Andrey can talk by himself.

It's a forum, and for that matter, I remember that conversation. It's why I linked the thread.

It's difficult to go through the entire thing all over again, isn't it? Much of it is from an earlier part of this very thread, so I don't feel I'm saying anything out of turn by restating it on someone else's behalf.

 

[olympic]

BTW, I recall a few posters for months have been saying that Stepanova / Bukin's submission as neutral competitors by RUS would be DOA. What has he / she / they done? Just curious

 

[Karen-W]

BTW, I recall a few posters for months have been saying that Stepanova / Bukin's submission as neutral competitors by RUS would be DOA. What has he / she / they done? Just curious

Well, among other things...

1) appeared as guests of the government at Putin's address to the Federal Assembly last spring

2) for still undisclosed reasons related to the investigation into the Sochi doping scandal, Bukin was rejected as a competitor at the 2018 Olympics

3) their coach, Zhulin, has been a vocal supporter of the war

The RusFed was sincerely stupid in submitting them as their nominee because it was clear they would not pass even a cursory inspection of their public activities and social media presence.

 

[caseyedwards]

Russia was banned for the violation of the Olympic truce, and Belarus for its support. It has been clearly detailed in several IOC communications relayed by media. ( https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/i...events-currently-planned-in-russia-or-belarus) so I don't understand why people, not only you Andrey, still find it unclear. It actually started with a "recommendation" that was followed by most sports federations around the world. The IOC has no right nor power to ban a country simply because "they are evil". They can't ban a country because it invades another one. It has to be linked to sport and Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 20 2022, right within the Olympic Truce running from 1 week before the 1st day of the OG to 1 week after the end of the Paralympics as to ensure the athletes' freedom of traveling around the world.

Isu has banned Russia for invading Ukraine and that’s it. That’s why isu has banned Russia. IOC bans Russia for what it says is stealing property of Ukraine NOC and that’s it.

 

[caseyedwards]

Well, among other things...

1) appeared as guests of the government at Putin's address to the Federal Assembly last spring

2) for still undisclosed reasons related to the investigation into the Sochi doping scandal, Bukin was rejected as a competitor at the 2018 Olympics

3) their coach, Zhulin, has been a vocal supporter of the war

The RusFed was sincerely stupid in submitting them as their nominee because it was clear they would not pass even a cursory inspection of their public activities and social media presence.

But Russian federation was never going to punish Stepanova and bukin for going to a Putin speech. Just never going to happen. The whole thing where they are the backups to k/n and are rejected as backups was just never going to happen. Because it is Russian federation punishing stepaniva/bukin for going to a Putin speech.

 

[cholla]

(...)

The RusFed was sincerely stupid in submitting them as their nominee because it was clear they would not pass even a cursory inspection of their public activities and social media presence.

It could also be a massive feck you, we won't play by your rules because we don't a knowledge them as valid. Nothing is beyond the pride of the Mother Land As laughable as it seems, I could really picture something like that.

 

[caseyedwards]

It could also be a massive feck you, we won't play by your rules because we don't a knowledge them as valid. Nothing is beyond the pride of the Mother Land As laughable as it seems, I could really picture something like that.

It could be just not punishing stepanova and bukin! Just that simple. What did they ever do? Nothing bad to Russian fed so why punish them. Isu has decided to brutally punish them for things. Russia has not.