With all the different countries that his Dad represented during his career, I wonder just what citizenship Dmitre Razgulajevs has. Because, for me the obvious choice would have been for him and Molly to represent his ancestral homeland of Latvia. Like, I can't think of any Ice Dancers that are currently representing Latvia at either Junior or Senior level. And as Latvia's Singles skating programme has shown, the Fed does have the resources to get good coaches in. With the other options, there is more competition for the international slots, and less chances of getting them.
CaroLiza_fan
As for Smart and Díaz , I think they opted for the right country. Because although Spain only has one slot at the moment, both partnerships that came out of the Hurtado / Díaz split are good enough to earn Spain a second slot. And there is no other competition. So, I am sure that one of them having to miss out this season is only going to be a temporary thing.
And that is the crux of the whole problem - the lack of top coaches that are based in the British Isles. If we could attract some British coaches to come back home, or even attract some foreign coaches to come, it would make the world of difference.
I weirdly know more than average about immigration law but not necessarily in relation to sports.
Britain’s sporting institutions do not tend to approve of adopting foreign nationals as athletes for Olympics or World Championship events but it’s not totally unheard of, just look at Joe Konta. Some of our top competitive dancers are adoptees. The majority of foreign born athletes are like Graham Newberry and George Waddell, they have passports in their own right or are like Vanessa James who competed for Britain as she was a citizen of a British Overseas Territory.
The Home Office can give citizenship to anyone they like if they have a good reason to do so. The general rule is you need to have lived in the U.K. for six years (it used to be much longer) with nine months of every year being spent in the U.K. We allow dual citizenship. So we are much more lenient than countries like Japan who seem to have no problem with attracting foreign born skaters.
So any skater looking to represent Great Britain with a British partner would have to spend some of their time training here.
From the looks of her Instagram she coaches in New Jersey and is married to an American.
I miss the Kerr’s too. I wish they coached over here. But they spent so much time in USA training I understand why they stayed.
I don't think that's quite right as we recently had a few couples from America representing GB who only came over for the British Championships. I'm thinking of Gwen Sletten (whose Mother was Welsh) & Elliot Verburg, they trained in Maryland, and were British Junior Dance Champions, only stopping as she had medical issues.
There was also Leticia Marsh who skated with a Russian boy Anton Spiridonov in the JGPs for Britiain but trained in America, she went to school there too.
I think her husband is Canadian, and she now has Canadian citizenship. He was her partner on Battle of the Blades.
Aurelija Ipolito & Malcolm Jones represented Latvia at Senior level up to the end of last season, training at Lee Valley in London with Marika Humphreys-Baranova. Aurelija is now studying Bio-Chemistry at Oxford. But they weren't at the level of Molly & Dmitre.
When she teamed up with Adrian and I expressed disappointment they would skate for Spain, she told me on Twitter "it would be so much better". And I couldn't argue with that. I always assume skaters are supported more abroad. At that time only Penny & Nick would've been fully financially backed by UK Sport to take them up to PyeongChang. NISA had no money, they released her. I assumed the package offered by Spain was quite generous, and she spent a day in Barcelona getting her passport last season in time for Olympics (to no avail in the end).
The days when the No.1 US Ice Dancers came here to train at Richmond with Bobby Thompson are long gone (that was the 80s with Blumberg & Siebert, Richmond rink is no more).
The era which built Canadian icedance, with British coaches like the Lanes, Bernard Ford and countless others has long gone. Those coaches will never return.
But what about our young coaches, why are they abroad? John Kerr in Florida, Coomes & Buckland in US? It's a sad state of affairs that there is no opportunity for them here, and that is entirely the fault of our own Association.
Angelika Krylova returned to Russia to coach, even though her 2 children were born in America, and it was a big upheaval for them. Presumably because the Russian Fed assisted her in doing so.
You know, I am impressed that Marika is still coaching in the UK, and didn't move overseas when she and Vitaliy retired. Didn't realise that she was coaching in London - I thought she was still living in Wales.
Which has now started me wondering: are there any well known names coaching in Wales?
And on the subject of Welsh skaters, what about Lloyd Jones? The only thing I had heard since he retired was that furore when he was supposed to be on "Dancing On Ice". So, I looked him up ther now and he is now doing online coaching (what?!)
Would it not be better for the future of British skating if he were coaching in the real world rather than the virtual world...
OK, so I've been assuming there's some impediment to athletes getting citizenship in Britain. Like perhaps they need to be living in Britain in order to do so, and they can't because they want to train with the more high-profile & successful coaches in Canada? Or perhaps it takes more years to obtain citizenship in Britain than in many other countries? I wasn't aware of the pair team you are referencing, but I was definitely wondering why Lanaghan & Razgulajevs did not sign up to compete for Britain from the get go. (For that matter, Smart & Diaz might consider it). And they aren't the only ones. Alexander Petrov (the junior dancer, not the singles skater) was born in Britain so why would Efimova & Petrov spend three years trying to get on the JGP in the U.S. when they probably could have qualified right off the bat for Great Britain? Seems like there must be some type of obstacle for bi-national teams to choose to skate for Britain. For sure, there are some advantages to skating for a powerhouse like Canada or the U.S. if you are at the top. But we are talking about teams that are struggling to earn Challenger & JGP events. You would think Britain would be the obvious choice there.
You should contact them and ask that they cover WC! Worst they could say is no!
That sounds like the basis of a very good argument for reporting on it. So, I agree with DSQ that you should contact them.
Although, I don't think many newspapers could afford to actually send somebody to Japan to report on, well, anything. But, they could at least get somebody to follow it from home, like we will be doing. :agree:
Before I finish, I should add that when I was complaining about the lack of coverage that Jenna's exploits was getting in papers over here, I was only talking about the national papers. I suspect she may have been getting more coverage in her local papers, the Coleraine Times (also owned by Johnston Press, as was) or the Coleraine Chronicle (owned by a NI based media group). But, I don't actually know, because their distribution areas don't extend as far as where I live.
CaroLiza_fan
These are big losses for Britain, and if BIS is going to have any credibility as the new organization claims it will make improvements, then this flow of talent abroad must be stemmed ASAP.
I think people are understandably drawn to coaches who were super-successful themselves, but yeah, there are plenty of very important coaches who were nothing special as skaters (and plenty of successful athletes whose coaching careers have been undistinguished). It’s a different, though related, skill set.^
Your last point is very true. For every Orser and Lambiel there is an Eteri.
George at least is an example of the reverse of what we were talking about. While he had a British passport through his dad he switched from Canada to the UK. His brother who still represents Canada is second alternate.
Ally Pally is the most beautiful rink in the UK with the high arched windows. It has a seating area on one side, the Judges could sit on the other side, and would be a great location to host a JGP, with plenty to see and do in London. If only BIS wasn't obsessed with Sheffield. They're moving the Offices there soon too, and leaving Nottingham.