Anonymous wrote:
Except she didn't place in top three. The Chinese state media mysteriously blocked out the women's qualifiers while broadcasting the men's nationals. Weird. Then announced she was on the team like people wouldn't notice. Guess meritocracy is dead on China's doorstep.

LOL so your theory is that China's figure skating federation sent her because they wanted to lose?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for Zhu or Beverly or whatever she wants to call herself. She didn't just abandon the country she grew up in (the US) but she also gave up her citizenship. She's stuck over there after publicly failing which even more than the U.S. is extremely nationalistic about their Olympians and representation. Sucks for her.

Now you're being silly.

1. Zhu didn't switch to representing China to win a medal, everyone and their aunt knows she is not competitive for medal spots. But, and it's a big but, she got to go to the Olympics and probably a few other competitions, which would have never happened had she stayed with the American team. Probably has ample ice time, good coaches, nice choreographers, and her parents don't need to remortgage their house to pay for it. She probably wouldn't have made it out of sectionals here! Do you know what it costs to keep a child in elite skating? $50K a year, easily.

2. She can retrieve her US passport whenever she feels like it. If she relinquished her citizenship in 2018, that means she was 16 and her decisions mean diddly. She can walk into any US embassy, show her birth certificate, and get her passport back.

1. Wait...you're saying she wasn't good enough for the American team but the Chinese team was so bad that they took her? China has plenty of amazingly qualified and competitive athletes. Where are you getting this from?

2. Complete fallacy. She did not put her papers in a file cabinet somewhere and picked up new ones for a temporary period. She renounced her citizenship officially which means she is no longer an American citizen. Just like Eileen Gu. Has no rights to embassy protection (except as a refugee) and needs a visa like every other foreigner if she was to return. https://olympics.com/en/news/zhu-yi-california-born-chinese-figure-skater-beijing-2022

1. Yes! Of course! That's exactly what I'm saying! Why do you think athletes switch countries, for the pleasure of their heart? Why did Kristin Fraser, a Palo Alto girl, represent Azerbaijan? Because there was no chance for her, zero, to ever be competitive for a Worlds or Olympics berth in the US. Azerbaijan has no ice dancers to speak of, alors, enter Ms. Fraser. Collect Azeri passport, go straight to the Olympics. Wake up! Alyona Savchenko, a decorated pairs skater for Germany, who couldn't find a good enough partner in the Ukraine but Germany found some bodies? Switcheroo.

Now to Miss Zhu. China may have plenty of qualified athletes but their ladies field is thin. In Zhu's calculus, if she place in top three at Chinese nationals, that's good! That's a real shot at international competitions, at the real thing. In the US? Nah. The field is too deep. Where am I getting this from? Only from watching figure skating over the last twenty years and seeing the same story over and over again. This is how I know you're only a casual viewer of figure skating - you seem so surprised by this all.

Tell me, did you feel just as enraged about America speed-walking Tanith Belbin's application for the US citizenship so that she can represent the US at the Olympics?

Except she didn't place in top three. The Chinese state media mysteriously blocked out the women's qualifiers while broadcasting the men's nationals. Weird. Then announced she was on the team like people wouldn't notice. Guess meritocracy is dead on China's doorstep.

Wherever she placed in the Chinese nationals, I assure you it would have been better than her American Nationals results. Do you get that she wouldn't be even in top ten here?

I think she wouldn't have been on either team - Chinese or American and by showing up where she clearly was unqualified to be - she ruined another Chinese skater's chances, lost her own future of development (personally and academically) in the U.S., and dropped her citizenship which families pay millions to get.

She doesn't even speak fluent Mandarin. I can't imagine leaving my entire country and childhood behind only to fail so publicly. That's on her parents and her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that her Insta has her American name.

Sounds like it was a family decision, though. Her dad took a position there after being a professor at UCLA.

If that's the case I guarantee there are going to be some broken families soon enough. I think I've heard of three Olympic athletes of Chinese descent who gave up U.S. citizenship and rights to compete in 2022 Games.

Nevermind that the games were severely downsized (along with sponsorship opportunities) because of a pandemic no one could have predicted back in 2018, they also gave up something that will serve them for a lifetime, especially when their own parents fled China for a better education, opportunities, and life. They were the golden children pre-Olympics but if they lose (and I think Gu so far is safe) - they've lost so much more than they realized with a monumental decision they made at 18. Old enough to drive and go to war and lose your citizenship but a decision like that - I wouldn't forgive my parents for coercing or influencing in any way.

She began representing China at 2018. We don't know when she relinquished her citizenship but if it happened in 2018, then she would have been 16 and decisions made at that age are easily reversible. All you have to do is say you were coerced or didn't understand what you were doing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for Zhu or Beverly or whatever she wants to call herself. She didn't just abandon the country she grew up in (the US) but she also gave up her citizenship. She's stuck over there after publicly failing which even more than the U.S. is extremely nationalistic about their Olympians and representation. Sucks for her.

Now you're being silly.

1. Zhu didn't switch to representing China to win a medal, everyone and their aunt knows she is not competitive for medal spots. But, and it's a big but, she got to go to the Olympics and probably a few other competitions, which would have never happened had she stayed with the American team. Probably has ample ice time, good coaches, nice choreographers, and her parents don't need to remortgage their house to pay for it. She probably wouldn't have made it out of sectionals here! Do you know what it costs to keep a child in elite skating? $50K a year, easily.

2. She can retrieve her US passport whenever she feels like it. If she relinquished her citizenship in 2018, that means she was 16 and her decisions mean diddly. She can walk into any US embassy, show her birth certificate, and get her passport back.

1. Wait...you're saying she wasn't good enough for the American team but the Chinese team was so bad that they took her? China has plenty of amazingly qualified and competitive athletes. Where are you getting this from?

2. Complete fallacy. She did not put her papers in a file cabinet somewhere and picked up new ones for a temporary period. She renounced her citizenship officially which means she is no longer an American citizen. Just like Eileen Gu. Has no rights to embassy protection (except as a refugee) and needs a visa like every other foreigner if she was to return. https://olympics.com/en/news/zhu-yi-california-born-chinese-figure-skater-beijing-2022

1. Yes! Of course! That's exactly what I'm saying! Why do you think athletes switch countries, for the pleasure of their heart? Why did Kristin Fraser, a Palo Alto girl, represent Azerbaijan? Because there was no chance for her, zero, to ever be competitive for a Worlds or Olympics berth in the US. Azerbaijan has no ice dancers to speak of, alors, enter Ms. Fraser. Collect Azeri passport, go straight to the Olympics. Wake up! Alyona Savchenko, a decorated pairs skater for Germany, who couldn't find a good enough partner in the Ukraine but Germany found some bodies? Switcheroo.

Now to Miss Zhu. China may have plenty of qualified athletes but their ladies field is thin. In Zhu's calculus, if she place in top three at Chinese nationals, that's good! That's a real shot at international competitions, at the real thing. In the US? Nah. The field is too deep. Where am I getting this from? Only from watching figure skating over the last twenty years and seeing the same story over and over again. This is how I know you're only a casual viewer of figure skating - you seem so surprised by this all.

Tell me, did you feel just as enraged about America speed-walking Tanith Belbin's application for the US citizenship so that she can represent the US at the Olympics?

Except she didn't place in top three. The Chinese state media mysteriously blocked out the women's qualifiers while broadcasting the men's nationals. Weird. Then announced she was on the team like people wouldn't notice. Guess meritocracy is dead on China's doorstep.

Wherever she placed in the Chinese nationals, I assure you it would have been better than her American Nationals results. Do you get that she wouldn't be even in top ten here?

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Ilia should be competing at the Olympics — it is so sketchy how they ignore the results of nationals to pick whom ever they want.. And he is a local kid (FCPS student)!

How apropos to this discussion - Ilia, the son of Tatiana Malinina who represented Uzbekistan while living in Dale City. That small but proud country that had no female figure skaters, making it super easy for Ms. Malinina to become a ten-time Uzbek national champion and therefore be guaranteed a trip to the Worlds and Olympics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for Zhu or Beverly or whatever she wants to call herself. She didn't just abandon the country she grew up in (the US) but she also gave up her citizenship. She's stuck over there after publicly failing which even more than the U.S. is extremely nationalistic about their Olympians and representation. Sucks for her.

Now you're being silly.

1. Zhu didn't switch to representing China to win a medal, everyone and their aunt knows she is not competitive for medal spots. But, and it's a big but, she got to go to the Olympics and probably a few other competitions, which would have never happened had she stayed with the American team. Probably has ample ice time, good coaches, nice choreographers, and her parents don't need to remortgage their house to pay for it. She probably wouldn't have made it out of sectionals here! Do you know what it costs to keep a child in elite skating? $50K a year, easily.

2. She can retrieve her US passport whenever she feels like it. If she relinquished her citizenship in 2018, that means she was 16 and her decisions mean diddly. She can walk into any US embassy, show her birth certificate, and get her passport back.

1. Wait...you're saying she wasn't good enough for the American team but the Chinese team was so bad that they took her? China has plenty of amazingly qualified and competitive athletes. Where are you getting this from?

2. Complete fallacy. She did not put her papers in a file cabinet somewhere and picked up new ones for a temporary period. She renounced her citizenship officially which means she is no longer an American citizen. Just like Eileen Gu. Has no rights to embassy protection (except as a refugee) and needs a visa like every other foreigner if she was to return. https://olympics.com/en/news/zhu-yi-california-born-chinese-figure-skater-beijing-2022

1. Yes! Of course! That's exactly what I'm saying! Why do you think athletes switch countries, for the pleasure of their heart? Why did Kristin Fraser, a Palo Alto girl, represent Azerbaijan? Because there was no chance for her, zero, to ever be competitive for a Worlds or Olympics berth in the US. Azerbaijan has no ice dancers to speak of, alors, enter Ms. Fraser. Collect Azeri passport, go straight to the Olympics. Wake up! Alyona Savchenko, a decorated pairs skater for Germany, who couldn't find a good enough partner in the Ukraine but Germany found some bodies? Switcheroo.

Now to Miss Zhu. China may have plenty of qualified athletes but their ladies field is thin. In Zhu's calculus, if she place in top three at Chinese nationals, that's good! That's a real shot at international competitions, at the real thing. In the US? Nah. The field is too deep. Where am I getting this from? Only from watching figure skating over the last twenty years and seeing the same story over and over again. This is how I know you're only a casual viewer of figure skating - you seem so surprised by this all.

Tell me, did you feel just as enraged about America speed-walking Tanith Belbin's application for the US citizenship so that she can represent the US at the Olympics?

Except she didn't place in top three. The Chinese state media mysteriously blocked out the women's qualifiers while broadcasting the men's nationals. Weird. Then announced she was on the team like people wouldn't notice. Guess meritocracy is dead on China's doorstep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for Zhu or Beverly or whatever she wants to call herself. She didn't just abandon the country she grew up in (the US) but she also gave up her citizenship. She's stuck over there after publicly failing which even more than the U.S. is extremely nationalistic about their Olympians and representation. Sucks for her.

Now you're being silly.

1. Zhu didn't switch to representing China to win a medal, everyone and their aunt knows she is not competitive for medal spots. But, and it's a big but, she got to go to the Olympics and probably a few other competitions, which would have never happened had she stayed with the American team. Probably has ample ice time, good coaches, nice choreographers, and her parents don't need to remortgage their house to pay for it. She probably wouldn't have made it out of sectionals here! Do you know what it costs to keep a child in elite skating? $50K a year, easily.

2. She can retrieve her US passport whenever she feels like it. If she relinquished her citizenship in 2018, that means she was 16 and her decisions mean diddly. She can walk into any US embassy, show her birth certificate, and get her passport back.

1. Wait...you're saying she wasn't good enough for the American team but the Chinese team was so bad that they took her? China has plenty of amazingly qualified and competitive athletes. Where are you getting this from?

2. Complete fallacy. She did not put her papers in a file cabinet somewhere and picked up new ones for a temporary period. She renounced her citizenship officially which means she is no longer an American citizen. Just like Eileen Gu. Has no rights to embassy protection (except as a refugee) and needs a visa like every other foreigner if she was to return. https://olympics.com/en/news/zhu-yi-california-born-chinese-figure-skater-beijing-2022

1. Yes! Of course! That's exactly what I'm saying! Why do you think athletes switch countries, for the pleasure of their heart? Why did Kristin Fraser, a Palo Alto girl, represent Azerbaijan? Because there was no chance for her, zero, to ever be competitive for a Worlds or Olympics berth in the US. Azerbaijan has no ice dancers to speak of, alors, enter Ms. Fraser. Collect Azeri passport, go straight to the Olympics. Wake up! Alyona Savchenko, a decorated pairs skater for Germany, who couldn't find a good enough partner in the Ukraine but Germany found some bodies? Switcheroo.

Now to Miss Zhu. China may have plenty of qualified athletes but their ladies field is thin. In Zhu's calculus, if she place in top three at Chinese nationals, that's good! That's a real shot at international competitions, at the real thing. In the US? Nah. The field is too deep. Where am I getting this from? Only from watching figure skating over the last twenty years and seeing the same story over and over again. This is how I know you're only a casual viewer of figure skating - you seem so surprised by this all.

Tell me, did you feel just as enraged about America speed-walking Tanith Belbin's application for the US citizenship so that she can represent the US at the Olympics?

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that her Insta has her American name.

Sounds like it was a family decision, though. Her dad took a position there after being a professor at UCLA.

If that's the case I guarantee there are going to be some broken families soon enough. I think I've heard of three Olympic athletes of Chinese descent who gave up U.S. citizenship and rights to compete in 2022 Games.

Nevermind that the games were severely downsized (along with sponsorship opportunities) because of a pandemic no one could have predicted back in 2018, they also gave up something that will serve them for a lifetime, especially when their own parents fled China for a better education, opportunities, and life. They were the golden children pre-Olympics but if they lose (and I think Gu so far is safe) - they've lost so much more than they realized with a monumental decision they made at 18. Old enough to drive and go to war and lose your citizenship but a decision like that - I wouldn't forgive my parents for coercing or influencing in any way.

I agree about the flame - so lame

Yes, Ilia should be competing at the Olympics — it is so sketchy how they ignore the results of nationals to pick whom ever they want.. And he is a local kid (FCPS student)!

Interesting that her Insta has her American name.

Sounds like it was a family decision, though. Her dad took a position there after being a professor at UCLA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a couple performances that I thought didn’t go very well that J&T we’re praising.

I miss the days when actually skating to the music meant something.

Watch Jason Brown in the men’s short program in a couple of days, and you’ll see the music mean something - a lot!

I love watching him skate and his musicality is beautiful, but he doesn’t belong in these Olympics. He has no quads and will never be internationally competitive. Even if multiple other people fall, he has no chance to medal because his start value is so comparatively low. Disgraceful that they sent him in place of the silver medalist at nationals. Yes, I know they say it’s “body of work” and not solely ranking at nationals, but Ilia Malinin wiped the floor with JRB and he has multiple, consistent quads, which, like it or not, is what international men’s figure skating competition is about in 2022.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel sorry for Zhu or Beverly or whatever she wants to call herself. She didn't just abandon the country she grew up in (the US) but she also gave up her citizenship. She's stuck over there after publicly failing which even more than the U.S. is extremely nationalistic about their Olympians and representation. Sucks for her.

Now you're being silly.

1. Zhu didn't switch to representing China to win a medal, everyone and their aunt knows she is not competitive for medal spots. But, and it's a big but, she got to go to the Olympics and probably a few other competitions, which would have never happened had she stayed with the American team. Probably has ample ice time, good coaches, nice choreographers, and her parents don't need to remortgage their house to pay for it. She probably wouldn't have made it out of sectionals here! Do you know what it costs to keep a child in elite skating? $50K a year, easily.

2. She can retrieve her US passport whenever she feels like it. If she relinquished her citizenship in 2018, that means she was 16 and her decisions mean diddly. She can walk into any US embassy, show her birth certificate, and get her passport back.

1. Wait...you're saying she wasn't good enough for the American team but the Chinese team was so bad that they took her? China has plenty of amazingly qualified and competitive athletes. Where are you getting this from?

2. Complete fallacy. She did not put her papers in a file cabinet somewhere and picked up new ones for a temporary period. She renounced her citizenship officially which means she is no longer an American citizen. Just like Eileen Gu. Has no rights to embassy protection (except as a refugee) and needs a visa like every other foreigner if she was to return. https://olympics.com/en/news/zhu-yi-california-born-chinese-figure-skater-beijing-2022

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone care about the winter Olympics? They don't even send all of the coutnries in the world because of climate restrictions.

Hockey is the only sport that is interesting, yet countries can't even use their best players anymore. It is a boring amateur fest of hockey.

Winter olympics is ice skating, skiing and snowboarding, luge and bobsled, curling. Yes, people who are not you care about the winter olympics.

ZzZzZ

Lol, that’s how I feel about ice hockey!
-NP

Same.

Anonymous wrote:I know that just like Tokyo, the opening and closing ceremonies have to be more scaled back with very few performers than they normally would. But I miss it. The computer-based graphics and effects are very cool, but doesn't replace the power of having hundreds of performers do it. Hopefully we can get back to that in the next Olympics.

Also, what is with such pitiful Olympic torches lately? The torch used to be massive and high in the Olympic stadium. During coverage, they'd pan over to it. In the last few Olympics, they are either hidden, or very small, or both. Is it not green to have a big torch anymore?

+1. During the opening ceremonies, the commentaries made such a big deal about how China had promised they were positively revolutionizing the entire concept of the Olympic flame, and then it turned out to be a dinky little torch drawled by a giant snowflake. Weak sauce.