Shibutani Return for Olympic Season

[MacMadame]

Ballet is super hard. It is not a sport.

It's not a sport because you don't compete. If it's athletic and you compete, it's a sport.

Hope they skate an exhibition to “Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay.

Now you've gone too far!

Does it need to be a sport to be included in the Olympics? I’m not sure if the following are sports, but are included… powerwalking, javelin throwing, skeet, rifle, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline….

They are all sports. They are athletic and have a competition aspect.

The current leaders are winning because they're following the rules to maximize their points. If the programs aren't fresh or innovative, that's because of the rules, not because of the skaters. If the Shibs want to win they will have to do boring programs like everyone else.

ChoBat have done interesting programs and won. It is possible to be interesting and maximize points.

I have been watching skating since the 60s and the interesting and memorable programs are few and far between. The rest are just nice to watch but largely forgettable.

I'm sure Bock would like to rest since individual OGM is their top priority. So maybe that's another reason why Shibs is coming back. It seems likely that Team USA would need to do a split for Ice Dance and Men (since those are the first 2 events in the schedule).

They have to make the Olympic team first. Then they have to be ranked above the other team so they get the choice. We have CarPom and GrePar who both made Top 10 at Worlds this season. They could easily be the 2nd team in the TE.

 

[On My Own]

People do indeed compete in ballet and other dance forms. They can be sport, or they cannot be. Dancesport is literally a thing. Remember the breakdancing in Paris '24?

Pretty sure the 'competitions ruin dance', 'commercialization ruins dance', 'extreme athleticism and flexibility ruins dance' debates and comments exist, too.

 

[skategal]

It's not a sport because you don't compete. If it's athletic and you compete, it's a sport.


Now you've gone too far!


They are all sports. They are athletic and have a competition aspect.


ChoBat have done interesting programs and won. It is possible to be interesting and maximize points.

I have been watching skating since the 60s and the interesting and memorable programs are few and far between. The rest are just nice to watch but largely forgettable.

They have to make the Olympic team first. Then they have to be ranked above the other team so they get the choice. We have CarPom and GrePar who both made Top 10 at Worlds this season. They could easily be the 2nd team in the TE.

There are many ballet competitions.
This one is in Miami in June.

World Ballet Competition

Over $4 million dollars awarded in scholarships, cash prizes, contract offers, and apparel! The World Ballet Competition (WBC) is the premier international ballet competition that is ruled by fairness and innovation. WBC Alumni are now enjoying professional careers as principal dancers with American

www.worldballetcompetition.com

 

[kwanfan1818]

The majority of ballet competitions are for scholarships. Even the ones that feature young professionals, like Varna, which often have junior divisions for pre-pro students, are meant to further a performance career, like most music competitions. Varna is also a cultural vestige of the Cold War.

 

[Jarrett]

I wonder if Shibs could compete in Team Event as the USA #2.

Ice Dance is the first event for the 2026 Olympics. Bock may not want to do 4 events in 6 days. Here's the schedule:

Fri 2/6: Team Event RD
Sat 2/7: Team Event FD
Mon 2/9: Indiv RD
Wed 2/11: Indiv FD

I'm sure Bock would like to rest since individual OGM is their top priority. So maybe that's another reason why Shibs is coming back. It seems likely that Team USA would need to do a split for Ice Dance and Men (since those are the first 2 events in the schedule).

Highly doubtful they will ever split with Shibs. lol

 

[On My Own]

The majority of ballet competitions are for scholarships. Even the ones that feature young professionals, like Varna, which often have junior divisions for pre-pro students, are meant to further a performance career, like most music competitions. Varna is also a cultural vestige of the Cold War.

Ballet doesn't have a standardized judging system like a sport, and the focus is more on artistry, and so the judging is very subjective. But, clearly, it's athletic, and people compete in ballet competitions.

Another thing that should never be a sport, IMO, let alone Olympic level sport. Breakdancing and most other dance* is another one - the thread on here was making me cringe when some were proposing that the dancers did a compulsory round.

*Most other, because I couldn't care less whether or not people compete over the codified westernized nonsense that is international ballroom, that has little connection to the root social dances, especially the latin half.

 

[MacMadame]

The majority of ballet competitions are for scholarships. Even the ones that feature young professionals, like Varna, which often have junior divisions for pre-pro students, are meant to further a performance career, like most music competitions. Varna is also a cultural vestige of the Cold War.

And even if those are competitions, that doesn't make dancing Swan Lake a sport.

These sound like the piano competitions we hear about more than skating in a competition or playing baseball.

 

[skateboy]

I'm sure Bock would like to rest since individual OGM is their top priority.

Bock? Why not Chates?

 

[On My Own]

These sound like the piano competitions we hear about more than...baseball.

Wow, that sounds like the opinion on a certain winter sport according to quite a giant chunk of audience that tunes in every four years.

I wonder which one.

 

[nyrak]

Any chance the Shibutanis will skate for Japan?

 

[Rukia]

Any chance the Shibutanis will skate for Japan?

they are us citizens and their comeback was announced by USFS, so I'd say no

 

[Jammers]

Any chance the Shibutanis will skate for Japan?

Do we really believe at their age they are willing to give up citizenship for maybe one more year of competing?

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Bock? Why not Chates?

For some reason I am reminded of that fabulous 90s team, Eve Chalom and Matthew Gates.

 

[Bigbird]

I am so here to cheer them on. Do your thing, Shibsibs. She was down and out because of her cancer diagnosis, so if they want to come back, more power to them. Bring it!!

 

[carriecmu0503]

Any chance the Shibutanis will skate for Japan?

Japan only allows dual citizenship up until age 21. Clearly, the Shibutanis chose US citizenship. Therefore, they are NOT Japanese citizens and canNOT skate for Japan in the Olympics!

 

[livetoskate]

Japan only allows dual citizenship up until age 21. Clearly, the Shibutanis chose US citizenship. Therefore, they are NOT Japanese citizens and canNOT skate for Japan in the Olympics!

Also, both the Shib Sibs were born in the USA. They are Americans.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Michelle Kwan I’m waiting for your announcement!!!

Oh didn't you know. Michelle is going to skate pairs with her daughter. That is why she posted the video on Insta.

 

[VGThuy]

Oh didn't you know. Michelle is going to skate pairs with her daughter. That is why she posted the video on Insta.

They’ll have a rivalry with Tara and her daughter. The return of the Kwan-Lipinski wars!

 

[carriecmu0503]

Also, both the Shib Sibs were born in the USA. They are Americans.

They were born as dual citizens of Japan and the US. When each of them turned 21, they had to decide which citizenship to retain. This is the same situation Cathy and Chris Reid were in. Those two chose Japanese citizenship and had to relinquish their American citizenship to represent Japan at the Olympics. Obviously, the Shibutanis chose to relinquish their Japanese citizenship and keep their American citizenship.

 

[VGThuy]

They were born as dual citizens of Japan and the US. When each of them turned 21, they had to decide which citizenship to retain. This is the same situation Cathy and Chris Reid were in. Those two chose Japanese citizenship and had to relinquish their American citizenship to represent Japan at the Olympics. Obviously, the Shibutanis chose to relinquish their Japanese citizenship and keep their American citizenship.

Do we know if their parents submitted a Birth Registration indicating an intention to reserve Japanese nationality within 3 months of each of their births as required by newborns to at least one Japanese parent who also acquired non-Japanese citizenship at birth (in this case Maia and Alex obtained American citizenship at birth)?

 

[Private Citizen]

They were born as dual citizens of Japan and the US. When each of them turned 21, they had to decide which citizenship to retain. This is the same situation Cathy and Chris Reid were in. Those two chose Japanese citizenship and had to relinquish their American citizenship to represent Japan at the Olympics.

I'm skeptical that the Reeds actually renounced their US citizenship, and I cannot locate them in the published records of people who have renounced their US citizenship.

Given that Chris (and I believe Cathy?) continued living in the US, they would have had to retain citizenship or be on some sort of visa.

AFAIK Japan only required them to make a declaration, not to provide evidence that they have renounced their other citizenship.

Obviously, the Shibutanis chose to relinquish their Japanese citizenship and keep their American citizenship.

They're obviously US citizens. But unless they've stated that they've relinquished their Japanese citizenship, I wouldn't assume that they haven't kept their Japanese citizenship by making the declaration. This would most likely be fraud, but there are some approved exceptions.

There are lots of loopholes with dual citizenship. Country A can strip you of your Country A nationality, but they cannot strip you of your Country B nationality. Only Country B can do that. So Country A may require you to renounce Country B, and Country B may say "cool, don't care, not going to recognize it." I strongly suspect that was the case with the Reeds and that they kept dual citizenship despite Japan's rule.

If the Shibs, as public figures, did keep their Japanese nationality, Japan would be within its rights to strip their Japanese citizenship, given that they competed at the Olympics for the US past the age at which they would have had to make the declaration. But it would also be within its right to turn a blind eye to it.

For another high-profile example, Eileen Gu (the snowboarder) competed for China at the Olympics. China doesn't allow dual citizenship either, but there's no record of Gu renouncing her US citizenship.

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

Sport/not a sport discussions kind of bug me because what's often considered a sport is cultural and often gendered. Let's face it sports that women tend to pursue (and watch) tend to be the subjects of "not a sport" evaluations. Anyway, part of sport is that if an athlete/team has the skills and training to compete at the highest levels, they're eligible to compete no matter how long they've been retired/away from competition due to injury or personal circumstances. So if Shibs beat other teams (including ones I'm a fan of) and win/place at competitions that's the way the sport rolls.

 

[Karen-W]

Regardless of whether the Shibs formally renounced their Japanese citizenship, it doesn't matter since they plan on representing the USA still and are now listed on the USFS' ISP.

 

[kwanette]

The Runthrough did an episode on the return of the Shibs..Just finished listening to it.

 

[4rkidz]

as a former dancer I would argue that Ballet is both indeed an art form and a sport. I would agree Ice Dance is the same as it requires the physicality and agility of an athlete. You can be an artist without having any of those qualities. A painter doesn't require athletic skill. Sport is not defined as competition either. I do agree though that there is still too much subjectivity in Ice Dance and perhaps more tweaking is necessary and accountability - as per Tony's comments with regards to his discussion with one of the panel members (which I bet I can guess).

 

[barbarafan]

As someone who is struggling a lot through cancer treatments right now, I would find it inspiring to see the Shibs on the ice again. Doesn't have to be the Olympics, or even a podium finish at smaller competitions. Just need hope that there will be some healthier days ahead, and I'll take that hope where I can find it.

Good for you. My cancer fight was so long ago the details are fuzzy but I am 73 now. I put my treatments on my todo list with everything else I had to squish in my day and moved on.

 

[jägerbomb]

Blah. No offense to their fans, but the top 5 in ice dance is already stale af -- a Shibutanis comeback only exacerbates the situation.

Please don't tell me they're skating to Coldplay again.

 

[VGThuy]

Blah. No offense to their fans, but the top 5 in ice dance is already stale af -- a Shibutanis comeback only exacerbates the situation.

Please don't tell me they're skating to Coldplay again.

At least it’ll only be for one season… unless they decide to stay till 2030… .

 

[Andrey aka Pushkin]

The fact that most people have zero idea of ice-dance rules doesn't mean everyone does. Even I am capable of predicting where each couple will end up watching live (for the most part...), let alone someone who studied the rules and skated himself. So factually it's far from being the most objective sport out there, but it's well defined enough; if people think the placements are given based on the color of the dress, it's these people's problem.

Regarding Shibutanis, my reaction is somewhere between and .I never found them to be overly exciting, but they had some excellent qualities as skaters and generally were pleasant to watch. Said that, if I am to predict how this return plays out, I'm inclined to predict it will be more of Isabelle Delobel kind of return rather than Virtue/Moir kind of return. The only couple I can think of that returned after such a long hiatus were Torvill&Dean, and with all the respect, Shibutanis are not T&D, and ice dance now is not ice dance in 1994. Given there are lots of quite exciting juniors, I'm not going to put too much money that Shibutanis will even make the US team. And I would be completely at ease wth that.

 

[VGThuy]

The fact that most people have zero idea of ice-dance rules doesn't mean everyone does. Even I am capable of predicting where each couple will end up watching live (for the most part...), let alone someone who studied the rules and skated himself. So factually it's far from being the most objective sport out there, but it's well defined enough; if people think the placements are given based on the color of the dress, it's these people's problem.

Regarding Shibutanis, my reaction is somewhere between and .I never found them to be overly exciting, but they had some excellent qualities as skaters and generally were pleasant to watch. Said that, if I am to predict how this return plays out, I'm inclined to predict it will be more of Isabelle Delobel kind of return rather than Virtue/Moir kind of return. The only couple I can think of that returned after such a long hiatus were Torvill&Dean, and with all the respect, Shibutanis are not T&D, and ice dance now is not ice dance in 1994. Given there are lots of quite exciting juniors, I'm not going to put too much money that Shibutanis will even make the US team. And I would be completely at ease wth that.

I’m totally an uber, but your take is what I expect too. Of course, my opinion can change once I see what shape they’re in and how their programs look. I will say that nothing at 2025 Worlds made me think anyone was doing anything out of the Shibs’ league, but then that was the from 2016-2018.