Two of China's 2018 figure skating events will be moved: JGP #4 now in Vancouver; Grand Prix to Finland (confirmed)

VIETgrlTerifa said:
But how much of that goes to the Chinese skating federation and would last all four years for events outside of the Olympics. I'm seriously asking.
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Figure skating get a lot of funding. If you follow Chinese skating, you'll notice CSA has just sent many skaters to train overseas long term in 2022 cycle. All cost is covered. There is strong backing for FS to grab a few medals including Gold at 2022 Olympics. Money really is not an issue.
 
forthewin said:
Figure skating get a lot of funding. If you follow Chinese skating, you'll notice CSA has just sent many skaters to train overseas long term in 2022 cycle. All cost is covered. There is strong backing for FS to grab a few medals including Gold at 2022 Olympics. Money really is not an issue.
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However is there is a lot of work to do on the venues where both GP and Olympics are held it might be too tight timewise if only started after gp season done.
 
Location: Richmond Minoru Arena. No announcement I`ve seen, but the BC Section's (www.skatinginbc.com) calendar of events was updated today, and now lists the JGP with this location. The arena is about a 10 minute walk from the Richmond Brighouse Skytrain Station (end of the Canada Line, for those who don`t know Vancouver - the same line as the airport, but half the trains go to the airport and half to Brighouse) - walking through or past a major mall. There are also several major hotels close by, if anyone wants to come to Vancouver for the JGP.

https://www.richmond.ca/event-hosting/indoor-sport/minarenashosting.htm
" Located in the heart of Richmond, Minoru Arena has two NHL size rinks available for rent. The facility has ice in the winter and dry floors from April to August.
Facility amenities include eight dressing rooms, a meeting room, the Time Out Café, skate and helmet rentals. Minoru Arenas is wheelchair accessible and can seat up to1,400 spectators. "

That's probably a good choice - two arenas, so one available for practice, and a reasonable amount of spectator seating for a JGP anywhere but Japan. Plus very easy for hotel and transit access. I went to Sectionals there with Rosaleen a couple of times. Looking forward to it!
 
forthewin said:
The DQ standards are totally conflicting. The same things are called for China while not for others. South Korea have benefited most of the times and only called when the fault is too much. And guess what? The winners are always westerners when South Korean are DQed. BTW I think the judges are all westerners at the Olympics.
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I still feel for the Canadian women's relay team and St.Gelais DQ... so they were not the only ones "targeted " 😳 When you want to be the victim...
 
Well, if it can't be in the converted Olympic long-track speed skating venue, that's the next best choice.

And, Richmond! Incredible Chinese food to be had!
 
@kalamalka Thanks for the info! I was not able to find the event listed on BC Sections calendar. I checked it just now and using the link I did not see anything for Sept. Before I misinform friends I just want to be sure that it will be in Richmond. Thanks!
 
For anyone planning to come in for it, according to a combination of the arena site and Google maps, there are four airport hotels within a 10-15-minute walk of Minoru Arenas: Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, and Executive Hotels. There's also the River Rock Resort and Casino, which is a three-minute walk from the Bridgeport SkyTrain station, a three-stop ride on the Richmond Brighouse branch of the Canada Line, and the same ten-minute walk to the arena that a time staying in Vancouver will have.

Did I mention the food in Richmond?
 
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re food: the Minoru arena is within the Richmond map area of the NYT article on `the best Asian food in North America` that beebee linked in the GPF thread, and several of the restaurants in that article are quite close by. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/travel/richmond-bc-asian-chinese-food-restaurants.html

Completely coincidentally, I will be staying at the Sheraton in that area in a couple of nights, before making an international trip. If I don`t get in too late, I`ll take a walk around the neighbourhood and over to the arena for orientation and to refresh my memory.
 
The ISU today published their decision about the 2 Chinese judges from the Olympic Games who were being investigated.

--Mr. Feng HUANG, who judged the pairs event in Pyeongchang, was suspended for 1 year (from the date of the decision)
https://www.isu.org/communications/17360-isu-communication-2173/file

--Ms. Weiguang CHEN, who judged the mens event in Pyeongchang, is suspended for 2 years (from date of decision), and is also prohibited from judging at the 2022 Beijing Olympics
https://www.isu.org/communications/17362-isu-communication-2174/file
 
forthewin said:
All the other sports organizations are dying to get a piece of China's market. NBA has done so. Now NHL are following. And these are the rich ones. For an organization in need of money, such as volleyball, they're basically begging to have events in China and they're getting them. I guess this wouldn't be the first time ISU pulling off something stupid.
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Hi, forthewein. I see that you have made several posts regarding the ISU including statistics and other various information. You seem to have a lot of knowledge or is it assumptions regarding the ISU, etc. Usually when someone here at FSU posts regarding these matters as if it were fact, they include links to articles, PDF files, and statistics to show proof mainly for the reason that what they're posting about is authentic.

In regards to the information you have posted about, do you have any links to such information so it can be verified?

Thanks. :)
 
This is most definitely a protest by China. The official statement holds no weight whatsoever - anyone who's been to China and seen the speed infrastructure projects are completed should know any venue remodeling work can be done in time if they wanted it so.

I haven't been following the news the last few weeks so not sure the order events unfolded, so its unclear to me whether the Chinese figure skating judges suspensions (sidebar: they probably deserved this, but they also look to be singled out and weren't the only ones to deserve it) were an additional consideration for China calling off events, or if that's ISU countering China's event cancellations ...

In any case, I suspect China's decision had a lot more to do with short track (the crown jewel of Chinese winter sports) than figure skating. I followed weibo a bit during the Olympics, and most people were in agreement with figure skating results (Hanyu gained a lot of layman fans haha). Different story for short track - national outrage! IMO both China and Canada were screwed over (singled out for DQs whenever there was slightly questionable contact - and the South Koreans got away with SO MUCH). The only individual event China won was the men 500m when the guy was just ahead the whole way (including every heat race - setting and then breaking his own world record), and afterwards the gold medalist literally said "I had to just give my all and be ahead to not give the judges any opportunities" - can't get more blunt than that!

Public opinion against the IOC and ISU is pretty toilette level there now, so China gets two birds with one stone with this move - (1) show the ISU it is not a pushover and (2) cater to its netizens' calls for a strong retaliatory response.

I feel bad for the Chinese skaters who'll have to now duke it out off home turf, but from the Chinese Fed's perspective, the positives of demonstrating its clout to the ISU and the good PR at home for doing so probably outweighs all that. At the end of the day, they'll have the big event on home soil in 2022, and I don't see China being overly focused on figure skating anyway for the home Olympics - there's at most just 2 or 3 medal chances. They'll be pouring more resources into speedskating and the snow sports.
 
Chinese skaters can't "duke it out off of home turf" if they don't get invited to the Grand Prix or if they have JGP host spots taken away. And that's what will happen.

Oh, and not paying the money to stage events -- particularly the JGP event, which the Chinese Federation had to ask for -- is going to make Overseas Chinese think long and hard about skating for China instead of representing their home countries at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

:violin:
 
Chinese skaters guaranteed GP spots:
  • Two each from Worlds: Yu/Zhang, Peng/Jin
  • One each from Top 24 SB: Jin, Sui/Han, Jin, Yan (coaching)

Eligible for a GP pick:
  • Gao/Xi (split), Zhang/Song (2017 CoC), Sui/Guo (JGP 17-18), Li (moved to Pairs),
Out of consideration/not qualified, but age-eligible:
  • He Zhang, Fang (newly age-eligible, JGP 17-18), Li, Lu, Zhou, Chen (JGP 17-18), Zhang, Song/Sun (4C's 2018, COC 2016), Chen/Zhao (2017 CoC), Ning/Wang (17-18 JGP), Wang/Zhao (2017 CoC), Gu/Zhao (17-18 JGP) -- all pretty far down the SB list
  • Li/Xie newly formed

Considering that at their height, the Chinese Fed has not always even filled in their host spots, either in the initial selection or to replace withdrawals, and has had, recently at max, competing at Sr. GP:
  • Four Pairs
  • Three Dance Teams, only one remotely competitive to be guaranteed any spots
  • Three Ladies
  • Three Men
and generally not in the same season, the skaters who will/could lose spots based on recent history are:
  1. Li/Xie as a new team
  2. The second and third Chinese Dance teams
  3. Maybe one other Chinese Man and Lady too far down the list to qualify except as a host spot.
  4. Second spots for Jin and Sui/Han, if the other hosts and the ISU are stoopid in that way.
 
kwanfan1818 said:
Out of consideration/not qualified, but age-eligible:
  • He Zhang, Fang (newly age-eligible, JGP 17-18), Li, Lu, Zhou, Chen (JGP 17-18), Zhang, Song/Sun (4C's 2018, COC 2016), Chen/Zhao (2017 CoC), Ning/Wang (17-18 JGP), Wang/Zhao (2017 CoC), Gu/Zhao (17-18 JGP) -- all pretty far down the SB list
  • Li/Xie newly formed
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According to a poster on GS citing an article about the Chinese dancers headed to Montreal, the dance teams of Chen & Zhao and Song & Sun no longer exist. And Chen & Sun are now a team. (As far as I can recall, Chen & Zhao did not skate after COC last fall so it is possible they had already split or one of them had suffered an injury last year).
 
Vagabond said:
:respec:

Have you calculated how many JGP spots China might be losing? I think it's potentially two entries in each of Men's, Ladies, and Ice Dancing but none in Pairs. :unsure:
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Since pairs spots are unlimited as a host, one could actually argue that they have lost an infinite number of spots in pairs rather than none.
 
It seems like petty vindictiveness from the Chinese Federation due to the judge controversy. I wonder if the ISU might sanction them in some way due to the Federation cancelling those events in their country as a way of 'getting back at' the ISU? I mean, imagine if every country that hosts a GP or other international skating events cancelled due to some of judge of theirs being sanctioned!
 
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Sasha'sSpins said:
It seems like petty vindictiveness from the Chinese Federation due to the judge controversy. I wonder if the ISU might sanction them in some way due to the Federation cancelling those events in their country as a way of 'getting back at' the ISU?
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This sort of thing is too big to be "petty vindictiveness." They're making a protest statement big enough that can't be ignored this time. And it's unlikely that it's due to the judge controversy but rather due to the speed skating controversy.Next time ISU will think twice before disqualifying Chinese athletes for basically nothing and for singling out their judges. (C'mon, the Chinese judges being the only ones suspened? That's dirty politicking at its worst.)
 
Madhatter said:
This sort of thing is too big to be "petty vindictiveness." They're making a protest statement big enough that can't be ignored this time. And it's unlikely that it's due to the judge controversy but rather due to the speed skating controversy.Next time ISU will think twice before disqualifying Chinese athletes for basically nothing and for singling out their judges. (C'mon, the Chinese judges being the only ones suspened? That's dirty politicking at its worst.)
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That's your opinion and I respect it. But it's not mine.
 
Erin said:
Since pairs spots are unlimited as a host, one could actually argue that they have lost an infinite number of spots in pairs rather than none.
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Well, they don’t have that many junior pairs, so it is not as if it was going to hurt them. I mean, losing spots for pairs they don’t even have, a really big deal. And last year if I recall, they were not filling up even junior spots in other categories, ladies and men, so it also won’t matter to them that they age going to lose spots.
 
Madhatter said:
This sort of thing is too big to be "petty vindictiveness." They're making a protest statement big enough that can't be ignored this time. And it's unlikely that it's due to the judge controversy but rather due to the speed skating controversy.Next time ISU will think twice before disqualifying Chinese athletes for basically nothing and for singling out their judges. (C'mon, the Chinese judges being the only ones suspened? That's dirty politicking at its worst.)
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And their statement is "I am taking my toys and going home" because the statement doesn't really harm anyone but themselves.

Why would this make the ISU think twice?

If this is protest it's incredibly ineffective as it only impacts China. There's NO impact on the ISU or anyone else
 
It will make the ISU think twice about ever holding any further competitions except for Olympic test events in China. That's what it will do. :yawn:

And here is a brief video explaining the Chinese Federation's dealings with the ISU, also known as "The Operation."

:watch:
 
Not that I agree, but perhaps China is protesting not because their judges are being sanctioned, but because ONLY their judges are being sanctioned.
 
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