#ban russia from the olympics

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ The caption in Latvian by the Russian official reads: WE DEMAND THAT THESE SPORTS BE INCLUDED AS WELL. By Latvian cartoonist Gatis Šļūka. 

As long as Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, which includes killing Ukrainian athletes, it should not be permitted to participate in the 2024 Olympics.

If Russia does not act like a normal country then it should not be treated like a normal country. Starting a war of aggression against a peaceful neighbor and following a policy of genocide are not normal.

[no-passaran]

[...] The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA, and other sports organisations are complicit as they allow a continuous participation of the occupying apartheid regime in their events. Following a swift response and an instant suspension of Russia, it is now difficult for them to justify turning a blind eye to the Israeli government’s actions.

We must however take heart from history and support the liberation of Palestine as generations before us brought apartheid to an end in South Africa. That struggle took on all possible dimensions, with one of the earliest being suspension of sporting ties – which aided in peacefully isolating the South African regime, demonstrated a global rejection of apartheid and changed domestic perspectives in the country.

This act must now be extended to Israel – not only due to its practice of settler-colonialism, military occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide, apartheid and illegal exploitation of natural resources on occupied territories – but also due to its brutal assault on cultural, academic and sporting life of the Palestinian society.

We thus urgently demand:

An immediate suspension of Israel from participation in all international sports until it fully complies with international law and sports regulations

For global and European sports governing bodies to immediately uphold their statutory obligations – especially their own rules on human rights and non-discrimination given Russian, South African and other precedents. This would include, inter alia, a ban on Israel competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, UEFA’s European Championship and FIFA’s World Cup.

For a deeper analysis on the rationale to suspend Israel from international sports, please review this paper (also available in Spanish) that will be sent to sports organisations.

[lettersfromthelevant]

So... the sports scene seems to be doing great, huh?

They suspended Russia, the country that initiated the invasion and killed civilians, while allowing Ukraine - the country invaded and attacked - to compete. However, Israel is also attacked and invaded with over a thousand of our civilians brutalized and we're the ones to get banned now? Okay. "Safety concerns" my ass.

The sports scene is becoming increasingly hostile to Jews and Israelis, which is nothing new. We've seen hostility such as this before, with the most notable occasion being Hitler's ban on Jews in the Olympics. The excuse for banning us this time around is "safety concerns." A transparently bullshit claim that can be seen through just by looking at these same organizations' reactions to Russia and Ukraine. As I mentioned earlier:

They suspended Russia, the country that initiated the invasion and killed civilians, while allowing Ukraine - the country invaded and attacked - to compete. However, Israel is also attacked and invaded with over a thousand of our civilians brutalized and we're the ones to get banned now? Okay. "Safety concerns" my ass.

The rock climbing ban is particularly egregious because it highlights a trend that has been present since the Munich Massacre in 1972. They claim our safety is paramount to them, but when our lives are actively endangered they do nothing to actually protect us. They erase us from public life because it's easier for Jews to just not exist than it is for gentiles to unlearn and prevent antisemitism. They are not interested in doing the work to ensure our inclusion and safety, as demonstrated by the appallingly awful German response to the Israeli Olympics team being taken hostage.

Israelis are intimately familiar with security concerns due to terrorism. What confounds me is the complete apathy and lack of interest in improvement that the rest of the world shows when our lives are threatened. The Munich Massacre marked a turning point in how Israel conducts counter terrorism and national security, but the rest of the world clearly didn't care enough to change. On the contrary, they seemed actively invested in preventing us from securing our safety. The U.S. actually warned the man who orchestrated the attack that Mossad agents were after him. Not-so-fun-fact, did you know that the CIA were best buddies with the PLO?

Clearly, gentile society has drawn an invisible line in the sand and if Jews cross it we are excluded and browbeaten. Things might not be as severe as they were during Hitler's tyranny, but the climate might be shifting in that direction again. This incident is not sports, but has the potential of crossing over: Iceland has threatened to pull out of Eurovision unless Israel is banned from competing. They aren't citing security concerns as their reasoning. Instead, they are fully stating that they are politically opposed to Israel fighting against Hamas and that it goes against Icelandic values.

Apparently, the innocent Israeli lives lost are not important enough for Iceland. I wonder how they would react if a terrorist organization invaded their country, mass raped and slaughtered 1,200+ people, and then kidnapped hundreds more. This is the standard Jews are held to. We are banned when we defend ourselves.

(source)

I don't really know how to end this post, other than by saying, this is why I will always be supportive of things like the Maccabiah Games. Institutions led by Jews, for Jews, provide us with places to go when we cross the invisible line. I meant to publish this around mid-January, when the news about the climbing team broke, but I got side-tracked by antisemitism in another industry because it is infesting everything now. I completely forgot the original conclusion I had for this. I don't want to fear-monger. I'm really tired of envisioning such a bleak future for my people, but I can't help noticing how quickly things are escalating and how easily all of our supposed allies are trying to restrict us from everything, take control over our government, and dictate the future of our people for us.

We really only have each other, and it's essential we maintain the strong bonds that allow for us to persist the antisemitism constantly thrown by a world that has never forgiven us for surviving.

[sergeifyodorov]

How does world juniors work and where would one watch?

This is my first season watching the nhl and I’m from nz so I suspect we wont be represented lol but I’m keen to learn more and watch some! Any recommendations on what ones to watch?

omg anon WELCOME and also ... a brief WORLD JUNIORS PRIMER for you all...

Puppy Bowl!

If you're from NZ I'm not sure you know about the Puppy Bowl -- a show run concurrent to the Super Bowl, but all the participants are puppies? It means absolutely nothing but it is adorable. The World Juniors are basically that, but also it is exactly as important as the Olympics what are you talking about. Their official name is the "IIHF U-20 World Championship," which is a pretty self-explanatory name -- it's a tournament for players 20 and under (I believe they have to be at least sixteen, but because young athletes mature physically a LOT in those four years, the vast majority are eighteen-nineteen-twenty). Tradition dictates it starts on Boxing Day, and it runs for about three weeks -- it starts with a round-robin, followed by a single-elimination tournament, a bronze-medal match, and a relegation match.

Players are selected by their national hockey administration -- for Canada, it's Hockey Canada, but all countries within the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) have their own. The intricacies of ~Sports Bureaucracy~ are really long and only a LITTLE relevant, but every country ices the best roster they can, which means players are often "loaned" from CHL teams, NCAA universities, European league teams, or, occasionally, the NHL. (Note: You can usually tell how good a World Junior team is by how many players have been drafted/signed by NHL teams: the Canadians, Swedes, and Americans are almost always entirely draftees or under-18s, while the other teams in the upper division might only have a handful, or even only one, drafted player.)(Second note: The quality of a team has less correlation than you might think to them winning a single-elimination tournament.)

Like I said earlier, it starts with a round-robin: there are ten teams in the main WJ (we'll get to this in a second), divided into two groups of five, who each play each other once. The worst-performing team of each group is sent to the relegation match post-tournament, and the eight other teams do a single-elimination match until one team wins gold.

Teams and Divisions

This year, the top ten teams are: Canada, the US, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Norway, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Latvia. Because of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is banned from participating in IIHF tournaments, but when it's not it's always in the top ten (likely instead of Norway, Switzerland, or Latvia.) UNLIKE the NHL, the IIHF has multiple "divisions" of teams, and at the end of the tournament the bottom two teams play a match to avoid relegation from the official ~IIHF World U20 Championship~ to Division I, which is right under it. There is also a Division II and a Division III -- and after some sleuthing, there IS a New Zealand team in Div III!!!!!

Canada and Broadcasting

Unfortunately, the WJC is basically only popular in Canada -- essentially a Boxing Day tradition to watch the babies play and cheer for our teams' prospects, or, usually, just Team Canada. In fact, Hockey Canada has bid to host it basically every other year until 2030. Because of this (or maybe a bit of a chicken-egg situation), the WJC is... kind of hard to find online if you're outside of Canada? I know for a fact it's broadcast on TSN (one of our sports networks) without any regional blackouts, but I don't think there's anything available in NZ that will be streaming it, especially because it's not one of the IIHF top ten countries. If you're not already doing so, you'll probably have to sail the high seas for your fix. (If you don't know where to do this, you can slide into my DMs and I can send you a link!)

Who to watch?

There's basically two routes for this: one, pick the team you think is going to win, or two, go look up what prospects your NHL team has that are playing at the WJC and watch them (Note: neither the Avs nor the Oilers have any WJC prospects this year!) The IIHF website has the game schedule listed, including time-zone adjusted start times -- they're all staggered, so if you have a lot of free time you might be able to watch more than one!

Personally, as both a Canadian and a Leafs fan -- both WJC-chosen Leafs prospects are Team Canada players, including their captain Fraser Minten -- I would recommend Team Canada (unashamed homer bias here.) They're usually one of the favourites to win, and they're almost entirely either drafted or not yet eligible, so you can see either your prospects or you can look at Celebrini and hope (if your team is bad) that he's coming to you one day. The Americans are generally considered Thee tournament favourites, if you prefer your teams highly touted.

To me, the WJC has twofold appeal: one, junior hockey is, for lack of a better term, messier than high-level hockey? Pucks are more likely to bounce in silly ways, rushes can get crazy, and you can get both a super high amount of shots and a super high amount of goals. Hormonal teenagers playing super high-stakes hockey for the first times in their lives and they can get really, really into it! The passion a kid has scoring a medal-winning goal in front of a sold-out crowd is absolutely unrivalled by all but the Cup Finals. (OMGGGGG THIS IS YOUR FIRST HOCKEY SEASON TOO... ok don't let me start talking about nhl playoffs because THIS is the puppy bowl that is the super bowl. but worse! i mean better but it's worse (for your cardiovascular health.))

Two, that these guys are still so young, and that at least a few of them have long, illustrious, potentially-Hall-of-Fame NHL careers ahead of them. For a lot of young stars, the World Juniors is an important part of their Lore. Watching someone become something as an adult after you've seen him as a junior is... magical? World Junior hockey is diamond-in-the-rough hockey. There's no polish, but it's the rawness of the million-dollar stone that sells it.

[hacked-wtsdz]

When it was Russia vs Ukraine it was hundreds of sanctions against Russia, months of protests on the street, half of western companies closing in the country, Russia eventually being disconnected from SWIFT, planes no longer being allowed to fly into Europe/USA out of Russia, no more visa privileges, people fired from work and expelled from universities simply for being Russian, Ukrainians getting help with getting into universities, being accepted as refugees in many European countries, millions in financial and military aid sent to Ukraine, Zelenskyy making speeches on every political and non-political worldwide event, Russia being banned from the Olympics, Facebook and Instagram officially allowing hate speech against Russian soldiers, Ukraine being talked about by the western press non-stop.

When it is Israel killing Palestinian civilians, it is the banning of protests for Palestine, social media (aka regular people) being the biggest source of awareness, millions sent to Israel from the USA, misinformation spread by the biggest western journals, major western companies supporting Israel, “it’s not all Jews, antisemitism is still awful” and “if you talk badly about Israel now, you’re an antisemite”, Instagram and TikTok allowing videos of Israelis mocking the dying Palestinians to stay up, USA sending billions in military aid to Israel. BILLIONS IN MILITARY AID. Dehumanising articles about Palestinians. No place for the Palestinians to speak. And more and more and more.

It takes a glance at a history textbook to understand why, of course. It benefits the USA if Ukraine wins and if Palestine gets destroyed. As simple as that.

But to say that you are against the war in Ukraine and support Israel or ignore Palestine is hypocritical. You are either against violence or simply repeating the trendy slogans. Your support of peace might be genuine but if it doesn’t extend to Palestine then it is hollow.

But in general this situation shows how little western people care when tragedies happen “somewhere in the east”. As long as it’s not white people, European people, people who look like you and believe in what you believe and are not poor, not uneducated, not somewhere far away, you do not care.

But also this situation shows how eager people are to follow trends without researching the situation. Some research into the history of Russia and Ukraine will reveal the fact that this conflict is complex and is wider than just Ukraine and Russia. It will also reveal some pretty disheartening facts about the Ukrainian government. Some research into the history of Israel and Palestine will reveal the lies of the western media.

When it’s Palestinian HAMAS “starting the violence” (not true if you look at the big picture), then they are terrible terrorists all — even the children — and the Israeli bombing is justified.

When it’s the Ukrainian government bombing Donbass villages (on the border with Russia, inhabited by many Russians) for seven years, with enough children dead from it that they built an “alley of angels” for them, literally nothing is said about it.

This isn’t a justification for the war but another example of how differently people treat westerners and middle easterners.

The west, its media, its governments, its companies, care only for gain. They say that they care for people but only for certain people, only for regions in which it brings gain. And people buying into their propaganda is enraging to see. People supporting only European lives is enraging to see. People clearly not caring about Palestine because it is largely Muslim and Middle Eastern and poor is enraging to see.

Free Palestine.

[icedbatik]

I always breathe easier when Geno's back in the U.S. ...

From TH, September 5, 2023

The KHL is setting a scary precedent with the handling of Russian prospects who were drafted by NHL teams.

A timeline, to catch you up:

June 2015: Flyers draft goalie Ivan Fedotov in the seventh round. Fedotov develops into one of the top non-NHL goalies in the world.

2021-22 season: Fedotov signs for a year with the KHL club CSKA. CSKA is owned by a Russian state-run oil company.

February 2022: Fedotov says publicly in interview at Olympics that he intends on moving to the NHL

May 7, 2022:  Fedotov signs one-year deal with Flyers

Early June 2022: Fedotov arrested by Russian law enforcement for suspicion of evading military service and sent to remote military base in eastern part of the country

July 1, 2022: Fedotov becomes sick and rushed to hospital. His lawyer said that Fedotov had been given some kind of injections on the base, and that he and Fedotov's family weren't allowed to see him in the hospital. Fedotov is released from the hospital after a couple of days, but misses the entire 2022-23 season while at the military base. His contract with the Flyers slides a year to 2023-24.

July 8, 2023: Fedotov's KHL club CSKA signs him to a two-year extension, giving him two competing and active contracts.

Aug. 14, 2023: The IIHF completes its investigation of the competing contracts and rules in favor of the Flyers, saying that the CSKA contract is invalid. The IIHF gives CSKA a one-year ban on signing  players for international transfers. Fedotov is also suspended from international competitions for four months, which is irrelevant given that Russia isn't competing in national tournaments anytime soon. The IIHF suspended Russia from international play after the invasion of Ukraine. The IIHF suspension of Fedotov doesn't affect his ability to play in the NHL.

Sept. 1, 2023: CSKA has its regular season opener ... and starts Fedotov. KHL president and former Penguin Alexei Morozov releases a statement essentially saying that because they disagree with the IIHF ruling, they're going to do what they want: “The KHL accepted this roster in accordance with our central database, therefore Fedotov can play. Neither the KHL nor the club agree with the IIHF’s decision, which infringes the constitutional rights of a Russian citizen to work. Russia’s prosecutor general spoke in defense of the player, and sent a message to the Russian Hockey Federation, the club and the league about the consequences of violating his right to work and insisting that Fedotov be allowed to take part in the championship.”

Fedotov allowed five goals in a loss in the opener.

That same day, the IIHF fined CSKA 5,000 Swiss Francs (roughly the equivalent $5,600 USD) for playing Fedotov, and says that if Fedotov continues to play, CSKA will be subject to further sanctions. 

Since then, CSKA has played two games. Fedotov has been dressed and listed as the backup for both. Those are still violations, even though he didn't start.

To sum things up: The KHL is going rogue and setting a dangerous precedent. This is the first time the league has totally disobeyed the IIHF, and it'll be interesting to see how the IIHF moves forward here.

The Penguins have three prospects in Russia: Goaltender Sergei Murashov, drafted in the fourth round in 2022 and the Russian junior league's top goaltender last season; forward Kirill Tankov, drafted in the seventh round in 2021 and playing in the Russian second league after missing all of last season with a broken neck; and forward Mikhail Ilyin, drafted in the fifth round this summer and starting the year in the KHL.

NHL signing rights don't expire for players drafted out of Russia because of the lack of a formal transfer agreement between the NHL and Russia. The Penguins hold onto their NHL rights indefinitely.

Russian teams playing dirty to try to keep their top players isn't new. Evgeni Malkin had to escape to get to Pittsburgh in 2006. His club Magnitogorsk convinced him to play one more year in Russia after he was drafted by the Penguins to show his loyalty to the city and country. He did that, but the next summer team officials followed him to his home and coerced him into signing a one-year deal. The team had his passport, so he couldn't leave on his own. Magnitogorsk had an August tournament in Finland to start the year, so Malkin had his passport, and he hid in Finland for a few days until he could get a U.S. visa and flight to Los Angeles.

With Russian teams and the national teams not playing in other countries now because of the bans due to the invasion of Ukraine, prospects like Fedotov don't have the same opportunity to escape while in another country.

As an aside, this whole situation shows why the hope some fans had to ban Russian players from the NHL because of the invasion of Ukraine is totally misguided. ... You have the league and its government-owned teams doing all they can to keep one guy sticking around at home, even sending him to a military base in Siberia for a year. Giving the KHL all their top players back would be a dream for Russia and the KHL.

[rvps2001]

Russia-Ukraine Daily Briefing

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Monday Briefing:

- France to provide new missiles, used armored vehicles to Ukraine - Prepare for Putin pivot to invade us, say Baltic states - Paris mayor says Russian, Belarusian athletes not welcome at Olympics - Russia withdraws most valuable ships from occupied Crimea - EU bans Turkish airline, its Egyptian partner over links with Russia - France eyes spent uranium plant to bypass Russia - Russia reinforces borders in 3 regions following volunteer raids - Russian Orthodox Church declares “holy war” against Ukraine - Ex-Austria security official held on suspicion of spying

📨 Daily newsletter: https://russia-ukraine-newsletter.beehiiv.com/

💬 Telegram: https://t.me/russiaukrainedaily Socials: https://linktr.ee/rvps2001

[tomkeirblyth]

Ban Israel from Eurovision.

Ban Israel from the Olympics

Ban them from anything celebratory or patriotic.

Treat them with the same outrage everyone treats Russia with.

[jennibeultimate]

This is still disappointing.

In a way I understand why they did it like that bc Valieva is the one with the doping not the rest of the team and tbh Canada getting Bronze with this performance is also not feeling right either BUT the way Russia treated the whole doping case as if they were the victims of a greater scheme and have never done anything wrong (just state sponsorer doping but that's apparently also not true 😑) and how the ROC team celebrated themselves as the rightful winners for two years despite the doping case is beyond me. What a disappointment.

Also awarding a banned country a medal? Will they wait with the award ceremony until Russia can compete again? When will that be when the war in Ukraine is over? That can take many years to come. Or they allow Russia back at comp soon? That's a no for me as well, then what are those sanctions for. Awarding them while still being banned? Invite them to an event they cannot take part creates an odd atmosphere for everyone else.

Every tension could be avoided if ISU just would have disqualified ROC completely. And the Russians will not accept getting Bronze anyway. Ofc they have to in a way bc there is nothing they can do about it, but they will still see themselves robbed.

I hoped for a disqualification because you win and lose as a team imo.

Anyway I am glad a decision has been made at least. And Kamila Valieva's ban is still a win for clean sport even if the adults atm face no consequences. I still take the small victories even though the system also needs to get blamed and broken.

(btw the lack of interest by the JSF in their Olympic Team medal is also bothering me. USFS was alsways expressing their anger about the ongoing doping process for two years and how it affected them, JSF never even issued a statement about it. Team Japan deserves better from their fed)

[virtchandmoir]

Wickenheiser, Virtue among 42 former Canadian Olympians banned from entering Russia

333 total Canadians banned in response to sanctions imposed by federal government

April 12, 2023

Hayley Wickenheiser, Tessa Virtue and Clara Hughes are among dozens of former Canadian Olympians banned from entering Russia for signing a statement encouraging the removal of Russian athletes from next year's Paris Olympics amid the country's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was closing its borders to 333 Canadians, most of whom are politicians, in response to the Canadian government periodically imposing sanctions against Russia.

The list includes a group of 42 retired Canadian Olympians who signed a statement last month urging the Canadian Olympic Committee to reject the idea of allowing Russians to participate in the 2024 Games unless Russia withdraws from Ukraine.

The Canadian government was also among a group of 35 governments that released a statement in February saying that, without clarity on a workable neutrality model, "we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed back into competition."

The COC said in a statement last month that it supports the exclusion of athletes representing Russia and Belarus from international sport as long as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues.

The International Olympic Committee has not yet made a decision on whether or not Russian and Belarusian athletes will be banned from the Paris Games, saying last month the decision will be made at the appropriate time. The IOC did, however, recommend that individual athletes from both countries who do not have links to the military be allowed to return to competition under neutral status.

—CBC

[richkidcityfriends]

your opinion on 2022 winter Olympics

okay so im assuming this is only about figure skating and i mean oml there was so much going on. below the cut bc i think this is gonna be long.

okay so FIRST OF ALL the kamila valieva situation. where to begin. (as a note: none of this is a statement on her except in relation to the 2022 olys)

the positive test being from rusnats and only being found out in february is weird. idk if we ever found out exactly why that happened? but i can only assume it was meddling from the russian end.

i think the media response was cruel, and i think part of that was a lot of people were trying to talk about it without knowing the full situation, but the amount of vicious hate and blame kamila received was unjustified. she was fifteen years old and in an abusive situation, to what extent she knew about the doping is irrelevant in my mind, the blame falls on the adults in power (mainly her coaches). eteri tutberidze is notoriously controlling and abusive, and there is no way any of that was happening without her being responsible. she controls the amount of WATER her skaters can drink. skating at that level, especially in russia, your coach is practically your primary guardian; if eteri told her to dope then there was pretty much nothing she could do. only eteri girls were ever going to go to the olympics, if she switched coaches that would have ended her life's goal (and the way they train is so all-consuming that to not get to the olympics at all would have felt life shattering).

should she have been been allowed to skate? i dont think so. at least partially bc it essentially proves to coaches that you can "get away with" doping as long as the people you are drugging are children. obviously having an athlete who has taken performance enhancing drugs is unfair to everyone else, but that goes without saying. HOWEVER i do understand the worry that the test could have been wrong or she might not have known, either way it would have been unfair to her. (the "irreparable harm" quote is always taken out of context - they meant that if she skated and was found guilty they could strip her of the medal, but if she was banned and found innocent there was no fixing it). ultimately though i think letting her skate was the wrong decision (especially since the case STILL hasnt been settled).

i dont think eteri told her to throw the free to make sure the others got their medals, because she looked so traumatised afterwards and eteri reacted so badly (ive never understood this theory tbh)

that was the first scandal from the olys but oml it was definitely not the last. there was so much going on. olympics from hell. lets talk about the womens podium.

(but first a note on ultra c elements: do i think the sport is suffering because of the increased value placed on jumps? yes. do i think artistry is important? absolutely. do i think there is a conversation to be had about the morals of training young children (especially girls) to do dangerous jumps that cause permanent damage to their bodies? one hundred fucking percent. things need to change in this sport. however. i will make repeated references to whether or not someone is jumping ultra c when discussing the podium, because that is how its scored atm, and i do think that they aren’t irrelevant (it is a sport, athletic feats are also important) just please please know that i am also taking artistry into account its just harder to objectively phrase in a short paragraph and this is already long enough). okay caveat over. please no one attack me. lets go.

look i KNOW the most pressing question is do i think anna deserved gold HOWEVER. have you considered. did anna deserve to be sent to the olympics at all. and this makes me insane because like?? skating like she did at the olys?? yeah she probably deserved to be there!! so it kinda seems mean to talk about this but ALSO i feel like we definitely have to not forget it so. the russian olympic team was pretty much based off of the podium for rusnats, which that year was kamila, sasha, anna. but anna in third place was veryyy controversial bc like. she had no ultra c elements at all (and her tech is DODGY so without them it gets even harder to justify her high scores) but elizaveta had a triple axel (and better tech) so a LOT of people thought that she should have come third, but rusfed just wanted to send anna to the olys instead (which i pretty much agree with).

but okay whether you like it or not she DID make the olympic team so. womens olympic podium. a grenade of a question. everyone is allowed their own opinions on it im not saying anyone is wrong if they think differently!!!!! also im only going to talk about the top five bc this is already wayyy too long.

i know on tiktok a while back the popular opinion was that wakaba should’ve been gold, which i don’t really agree with, however she absolutely should not have been fifth. no doubt in my mind she should have been at LEAST fourth, if not third. kamila should have been behind her i don’t care how many quads she was attempting, she fell like five times. she got through on reputation and the eteri bonus alone. kaori did skate cleanly, but with no triple c, and her tech isn’t great on some of her jumps, so wakaba (who fell on a jump, but had a triple axel, and generally better tech and artistry imo) could have come third and i would have been happy. anna i go back and forth on, because her artistry is alright, and technically she does jump quads, but her tech skills are SO questionable (her quad lutz is neither a quad nor a lutz). the tech bar for quads is lower than for triples, and i do kinda think that makes sense, but her quad tech is worse than most of the other quad jumping girls so it’s a fair comparison. i don’t think she deserved gold, but im never fully sure about silver either. honestly her, wakaba, and kaori can fight it out for second/third/fourth. in terms of actual skaters i like wakaba best, in terms of who performed best on the day i think you could make a compelling argument for any order.

that of course leaves sasha in first place. i know she fell on her triple axel in the short, but the only people who didn’t fall at all were anna (i’ll talk about her last) and kaori, and while triple c elements aren’t the only important thing, the skater who fell on one and landed five kind of has to be above the skater who attempted none at all, imo, so that puts kaori out of the running. wakaba fell once as well, and she definitely has the edge on artistry, but i don’t think sashas artistry was as bad as a lot of people say, especially in her short, so i don’t think thats quite enough to put wakaba ahead of sasha overall. sasha’s tech skills were so much higher than the rest of the skaters that i think it would be almost impossible to bridge that gap with artistry alone. lastly theres anna, who ofc actually won the ogm. two clean skates, slightly better artistry, much worse tech (i know sasha’s tech isn’t perfect either, but she’s definitely better – id say thanks to plushenko). annas tech should have been called, if not her edges then at least for prerotation. sasha fell on a triple axel and anna landed a double in the short, sasha landed five quads and anna landed two in the free. taking into account how poor her quad tech is, i don’t think that her artisty is enough to pass sasha.

however!!!! again i want to reiterate!!!!! everyone is allowed their own opinions on this!!! i do not give a damn if you think that anastasiia shabotova should have come first!!!! go you!!! to each their own <3

now for something that i do think you can wrong about. the reaction to sashas reaction to the scores was appalling. she was seventeen years old (a CHILD) in an extremely high stress situation and had been told by her (abusive, manipulative) coaches that if she landed all five quads she would win, and when this turned out to be untrue she got upset and had what was clearly a panic attack, asked not to be filmed and was ignored by every cameraman in the area, had to immediately go in front of millions of people while still being a mess, and was then attacked from all angles for being “ungrateful” and “showing bad sportsmanship.” show some empathy. (especially ppl who are still giving out about it now “on behalf of anna” when they seemed to be at least friendly again as soon as the very next day)

OKAY WE’RE ALMOST DONE i mostly only follow women’s so the rest of this is going to be brief

sui/han deserved ogm, my sister and i were rooting for miura/kihara to do well but we knew there was no chance for a medal. loving seeing them do so well rn.

nathan chen’s costume was ridiculous. last time i said my nathan chen take i got eaten alive on tiktok so im not gonna say much about him. he did deserve gold tho.

scoring felt harsh on yuzuru. wish he’d gotten another ogm but it wasn’t meant to be. im glad he got to attempt the quadruple axel at the olympics at least.

papadakis/cizeron ogm deserved.

oh MY god i forgot about the team event. pls someone save me. im so sorry i know no one wants this much. this isn’t even the worst i can do. i have talked at my friends for hours straight before about figure skating. i cant help it i have no control. we are going to ignore the team event okay. Just give them their medals. pls. i beg. they still don’t have their medals. i know it sucks for the rest of the russian team if they lose the gold bc kamila was stripped but you have to give the rest of them their medals.

anyway if you made it until the end here is a gold star ⭐ i don’t know how you did it.

[meilas]

Russia was banned from competing at international sporting events because of its war attack on Ukraine. However, Israel is still allowed to compete, despite the genocide it is committing against Palestine. Israel should be banned from all international events.

[originallandlockedmariner]

For three years running…

2020

Kobe. Pandemic. Lockdown. Koalas on fire. Harry and Meg retire. Toilet paper hoarding. Alcoholism. Impeach the f*cker. Parasite. Bonnie Henry. Tiger King. Working from home. Sourdough bread. Harvey Weinstein guilty. Zoom overdose. Dip your body in sanitizer. 6 feet. Quarantine. OK Boomer. Home schooling (everyone passes). Murder hornets. Dolly Parton. Don’t hug, kiss or see anybody, especially your family. Chris Evans’ junk. TikTok. Glory holes. Face masks. CERB. West Coast wildfires. Stay home. Small Businesses lose, big box stores win. F*ck Bozos. ‘Dreams’ and cranberry juice. Close yoga studios, but thumbs up to your local gym. Speak moistly to me. George Floyd. BLM. F*ck Trump. Phase 2, 3 and Summer. RBG. Baby Yoda. Biden wins. Bond and Black Panther die. No more lockdown. Back to school and work. Just kidding... giddy up round 2. Giuliani leaks shit from his head. Resurgence of chess. UFOs are real. Restrictions. Dave Grohl admits defeat. Monolith. “F*ck... forgot my mask in the car”. No Christmas shenanigans allowed. Bubbles. Alex Trebek. Use the term ‘dumpster fire’ one too many times. Jupiter and Saturn form 'Christmas Star'. Happy New Year Bitches!!!! 2021... you better not sh*t the bed!!

2021

“We love you, you’re very special”. Failed coup attempt at the Capital. Twitter, FB and IG ban Donny. Hammerin’ Hank goes to the Field of Dreams. Bozo no longer richest man but still a twat. Leachman, Tyson, and Holbrook pass. The economy is worse than expected. Kim and Kanye split. Brood X cicadas. Dre has an aneurysm and nearly has his home broken into. Bridgerton. MyPillow CEO is a douche. Covid restrictions extended indefinitely. Captain Von Trapp dies. Proud Boys officially a Terrorist Organization. Richard Ramirez. Cancer takes Screech. Travel bans. Impeachment trial (again?… oh and this was barely February? WTF??!!) Suez Canal blockage. Myanmar protest. Kong dukes it out with Godzilla, while Raya watches. Olympics. Friends compare elective surgeries. F9. Canada Women’s Soccer Gold. Free Britney. Multiverses. Residential Schools in Canada unearth children’s bodies. Kate is Mare of Easttown. Cuomo resigns. Disney and Dwayne cruise together. Wildfires. Delta variants. Musk passes Bezos. Candyman x 5. Capt. Kirk goes to space. F*ck Kyle Rittenhouse. Astros didn’t win. Squid Game. Goodbye Bond. Dune is redone. Angelina is Eternal. Astroworld deaths. Meta. Omicron. Three Spidermen. Tornados in December? World Juniors cancelled. Pills against Covid. School opening delayed. And Betty White dies. 2022… my expectations are ridiculously low…

2022

Wow… eight billion people. Queen Elizabeth II passes away after ruling the Commonwealth before dirt was invented. The monkeypox. Russia plays the role of global asshole. Wordle. Mother Nature rocks Afghanistan. Hover bike. Styles spits on Pine. Olivia Newton John, Kristie Alley, and Coolio leave us. Pele was traded to team Heaven. FTX implodes. Madonna and the 3-D model of her vagina. Pig gives his heart to a human. Beijing can brag that it is the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Uvalde. $3 trillion Apple. Keith Raniere gets 120 years. The Whisky War ends with Canada and Denmark going halfsies. Mar-a-Lago. Nick Cannon brood hits a dozen. Shinzo Abe is assassinated. Inflation goes through the roof (if you can actually afford to put a roof over your head). Volodymyr Zelensky. European heat wave. Bennifer. Salman Rushdie is stabbed on stage, Dave Chappelle tackled, and Chris Rock is only slapped. Thích Nhất Hạnh. Heidi Klum goes full slug. Cuba knocked out by Ian. Liz Truss and 4.1 Scaramuccis. Taylor Swift breaks Ticketmaster. Human shitstain Elon Musk ignores helping mankind and buys Twitter instead. Riri becomes a mommy. NASA launches Artemis 1. Trump still a whiny little bitch. Music lost Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie, and Meat Loaf. Democracy died at least three times. Pete Davidson continues to date hottest women on the planet. Microplastics in our blood. Alex Jones is a cunt. So is DeSantis. Argentina wins the World Cup. Meghan and Harry. Eddie Munson rips Metallica in the Upside Down. tWitch. Roe vs Wade is overturned by the micro dick energy of the Supreme Court. CODA. James Corden shows he is a "tiny Cretin of a man". Amber (and the shit on the bed) Heard (round the world). Sebastian Bear-McClard proves he’s one of the fucking dumbest men alive. Latin America's ‘pink tide’. Anti-Semitic rants by Ye. Bob Saget. A verified blue checkmark. Godmother of punk Vivienne dies. And, Tom Cruise feels the need for speed yet again. 2023… whatcha got for us?!? Nothing shocks me anymore.

[strawberryblondebutch]

I'm probably not gonna finish it today, but here's a little looky-look at the next chapter. Only the background bits, so don't worry about spoilers.

On September 28, 2013, Windsor College met Wallace University at home for a women’s hockey game. The student newspapers referred to the game as a clash of titans. Jill Roberts and Kirby Reed, two frontrunners for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, were set to meet for the first time that season. USA Hockey made no secret that they were practically drooling over the idea that these two players might play together, maybe even on the same line, in Russia. Every Sidney Crosby needed an Evgeni Malkin. Every Alexander Ovechkin needed a Nicklas Backstrom. Jill Roberts needed Kirby Reed.

On September 23, 2021, Woodsboro Girls’ Hockey Club met at the Loomis–Macher IcePlex for what was supposed to be a simple scrimmage. Amber Freeman drove Tara Carpenter to the rink, as they always did, and they spoke about their college plans. Both had received a National Letter of Intent, indicating their commitments to play NCAA Division I ice hockey at Windsor College the following autumn. They had planned their lives together: they would share a dorm room, play on the same line, support one another as they always had. It was a friendship that had survived fifteen years. How lucky were they to do this together?

On June 22, 1996, the Philadelphia Flyers selected William Loomis from Windsor College in the first round, 15th overall, of the NHL Entry Draft. As he was led off the stage in his new burnt orange jersey, reporters swarmed him, all begging a penny for his thoughts. He stopped before one reporter, a local woman by the name of Gale Weathers, and told her, “I just hope my buddy gets taken. That would be cool, right? Two Woodsboro guys in the same draft class. I don’t want to have to play him, but if it comes to that…”

Billy Loomis received everything he asked for and more. Stuart Macher dropped to the third round, where the Flyers used the 64th overall pick to complete the set.

They always came in pairs. Queen and queenmaker. The Bash Brothers. Two snipers on the same watchtower.

It always ended in blood.

Kirby Reed’s ice hockey career ended with her limping off the ice, clutching a shoulder that was held together by padding and a prayer. Billy Loomis’s time came to an end in an executive suite with the commissioners of the National Hockey League and the International Ice Hockey Federation, men in suits who informed him, with cold eyes and cutting words, that he had received a lifetime ban from both organizations as a result of his reckless, dangerous play. Tara Carpenter took her final bow in an empty IcePlex, stretchered off the ice by a pair of emergency medical technicians as her best friend whimpered a blubbering apology through wracked sobs.

Lights go down. Curtain closes. The show plays on without them.

[freifraufischer]

Vasily Titov, president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation says they will try to enter athletes if they qualify for FIG events. But really wants the leotard rules changed.

Translation by DeepL:

IT IS NECESSARY TO TRY TO DECLARE RUSSIAN GYMNASTS FOR COMPETITIONS IF THEY MEET ALL THE CRITERIA FIG, SAID VASILY TITOV, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATION OF ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS OF RUSSIA (FSGR) It is necessary to try to declare Russian athletes for competitions if they meet all the specified admission criteria of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), says Vasily Titov, president of the Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF). The FIG on Friday presented the criteria for the admission of Russian athletes to international competitions in neutral status, approving the recommendations proposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The release noted that athletes must not have ties to the Russian army or security agencies, and must not support the NWO. Gymnasts need to apply to the FIG for neutral status in the prescribed form. The application must be submitted at least sixty days prior to the final registration deadline for the event for which eligibility is requested. - What to do. Is there an understanding? - I would like to recall the background of the issue. In May, the FIG executive committee made a decision on admission. And our athletes were admitted to international competitions in a neutral status. Then began an epic with the development of the conditions of neutrality. And only on Friday we received these conditions. They raise a huge number of questions and require study with lawyers, how feasible and acceptable they are. I am convinced that we must do this work. Second! I am convinced that if we realize that there are athletes who meet these criteria and can participate in the starts, we should definitely try to enter them in these international starts. - How long can it take to study the documents? - I don't think a long time. We take a pause of two weeks. We have all gymnastics disciplines are represented by our federation. I want to talk to my colleagues. - Will Viner be consulted, too? - Of course, yes. The artists have a difficult situation with leotards. The current conditions deprive the girls of the opportunity to perform in traditional leotards. There must be swimsuits of blue color. This, in my opinion, the theater of the absurd. We need to see if it can be repelled. I hope we will be able to convey our positions. - If nothing can be repelled, is there a plan of action? - We will try to convey that there are positions that need to be changed. If we succeed, good. If not, it raises the question of whether anyone can fulfill these conditions at all. This means that simply no one will go," Titov said on the air of the program "There is a topic" on Match TV. In February 2022, the FIG banned the use of Russian and Belarusian flags and anthems at international tournaments because of the situation in Ukraine, and in March of the same year deprived athletes from Russia and Belarus of the right to participate in international competitions. On July 19, the FIG executive committee decided to allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in tournaments in a neutral status from January 1, 2024.

[rvps2001]

Russia-Ukraine Daily Briefing

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Saturday Briefing:

- Russian missiles hit apartment block and security service building in Dnipro - Ukraine fires North Korean rockets to blast Russian positions - Africa to Putin: End the war! - Finland to stop receiving visa applications In St. Petersburg Consulate General - Greece to help restore Odesa landmarks damaged by Russian attacks - Lithuania and Poland ‘may close Belarus borders’ due to Wagner fighters - Russian and Belarusian players banned from a women’s tennis tournament in Prague - IOC invites Ukraine's Kharlan to Olympics after disqualification - French energy giant Total 'funding Russia's war machine' - Removing statues and renaming streets: Odesa cuts out Russia

💬 Keep up with me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rvps2001