SynchroNice / Third Edition / 2018

the “exotic” Olympic sports and disciplines, it is a huge injustice that Synchronized Skating only started to be considered for inclusion recently and it is an even bigger injustice that we were passed over yet again. I believe that other sports had much stronger lobbyists and that it would be miraculous to get included after short track was included earlier. It would be delusional to expect that two new skating events would be includ- ed in 2018 and it would be very naïve to expect that, long term ISU president and member of the Internation- al Olympic Committee, Mr. Cinquanta would support any other discipline besides short track, considering he was a short track skater himself, no matter how compelling the arguments in favor of SYS might be. I myself, in a similar situation, would never vote against synchronized skating no matter how many convincing arguments the other side might have. So, who’s to blame? The arguments against synchronized skating were, ap- parently: 1. Our relatively short season and 2 our large teams which would significantly increase the overall number of athletes at the Games which is something that the IOC wants to avoid. Some speculated that, in case of a favorable decision for SYS, the Olympics would only include 8, maybe 10 teams in total, not more than 1 per country. Personally, I disagree with that and think that at least 12 teams need to participate and that this will give encouragement for many by giving them a chance to compete at the Olympics. Some arguments against the inclusion were that SYS was not repre- sented in enough countries worldwide and that the programs don’t contain enough “dangerous” elements. The neutral observers could say that these all are mere excuses to keep SYS away from the Winter Olympics as well as that some influential officials are jelaous of SYS and afraid that the discipline itself was more attractive to spectators and might take the audience away and outshine their individual athletes. So, what is the real state of affairs here? What have we been doing wrong, what more can we do to improve our situation? A few observations by a man who never skat- ed himself but created, developed and organized all one can within the Synchro Community. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Let’s start with the World Championships. The first ISU World SYS Championship was held in 2000 in Minneapolis and 21 teams from 16 countries compet- ed; at the most recent one held in Colorado Springs there were 24 teams from 19 countries. The least teams partic- ipated at the Worlds in Gothenburg 2005 and Boston 2013 – 20 teams from 15 countries. The most came to Budapest in 2016 – 26 teams from 21 countries. How many teams would be in Colorado Springs in 2017 had the teams from all countries that ever competed at SYS World Championships came? There would be 32 teams from 27 countries!!! Enough to hold an A and B finals with 16 teams in each one! As many as 8 countries ”went missing“, 3 amongst them were present at the penultimate Championships: South Africa (competed at the first ever Worlds in 2000! And last time in 2013), Estonia (competed in 2001), Iceland (2002 and 2003), Belgium (first time 2002, last 2016), Serbia (2008), New Zealand (2009 and 2010), Latvia (2012, 2015 and 2016) and Mexico (4 appearances from 2013 -2016). Did anyone ever seriously analyze why some teams just “go missing” whether years ago or recently? Did anyone ask how we could help them? Somehow, I doubt that. Everyone has their own concerns; there is rarely time to think about other people’s problems let alone to contemplate the strategic questions and the future of synchronized skating. Still, I think that it would be useful to know why some countries just fell off the synchro map (temporarily or permanently). Are the rea- sons financial, number of skaters, no access to coaches, constant rule changes or organizational and logistical issues? Or was it a combination of all of the above? Having 24 teams from 19 countries at the World Cham- pionships is not bad. But having 32 from 27 would mean a third of teams more and a 42% increase in countries! Only if everyone who ever participated at the Worlds were still here. That would be a very strong argument to include SYS at the Winter Olympics. Especially to counter those who compare SYS to some more obscure disciplines at the WOG and in some way even compar- ing us to skiing. I guess that not many people counted how many countries participated at the last Skiing World Cup – there were only 18 if I counted correctly! Less than all of your World Championships! ISU COMPETITIONS What is happening with the ISU competitions? This season 8 out of 10 ISU competitions (not counting the Worlds and Junior Worlds) are being held within a span of 2 months – from January 5 (Cup of Berlin) to March 4 (Budapest Cup). It’s like we are still competing outdoors with weather conditions being our main condition! My attempt to hold the 15th Zagreb Snow- flakes Trophy in December 9-10, in conjunction with the 50th Golden Spin of Zagreb figure skating competition and on our club’s 20th anniversary (December 10, 1997) – failed. Only 3 senior and 4 junior teams entered. I have put in tremendous effort to prolong the competition season by almost a month but there was no response from teams, clubs or Federations. Not many people un- derstood that this was an opportunity to help our sport and ourselves the right way. For many teams this date was too early (they were not prepared). Some had their National Championships close or on that date. Some teams cannot afford to travel to more than one competition a season, so they decided to go to a competition that they would be more prepared for. In my moments of disappointment, huge comfort I found in the support of the US Skating Federation (they entered 3 teams) and Irina Yakovleva, gifted coach of 2-times World Champion Team Paradise, who not only entered her team to our Trophy but also encouraged sponsors and sent them to our competition. We also received ma- jor help frommy dear friend Chris Buchanan, one of the leading men of the ISU and great expert, always positive and full of energy and optimism. However, all was in vain, I tried everything to reach my final conclusion – never again in December! Synchronized skating is gaining popularity and attracting young skaters worldwide but I think that it is finally time that the chaos is replaced by “controlled development”. By this I firstly mean the organization of ISU competitions where there is less and less order and quality and more and more improvisation and fun (BTW: I am not against fun!). The key question is - what is it that we want from an ISU competition? Is there any point in “tolerating” ISU competitions that have 50, 70 or even 100 teams where 60-70% of the teams are in non-ISU categories?! On one hand, I am for encouraging excellence and against all elitism (specifically to keep adding elements that only a small number of teams can perform), but I am also against the chaos created by non-ISU categories. What’s the explanation of whoever “invented” (probably with good reason) the Mixed Age category on the rule that, teams can have anywhere between 8-16 skaters and they compete in 2 separate categories: A Cat. 8 to SYNCHRO NICE 123