Accusations of racism hurled toward U.S. Skating Committee over Olympic team selection

[RandySF]

Do officials at U.S. Figure Skating have a penchant for blondes over brunettes?

After a controversial decision to put Ashley Wagner (along with Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds) on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team instead of Mirai Nagasu, some skating fans think that more than hair color played a part. The decision was made a day after Wagner performed miserably and finished a distant fourth to Nagasu’s third at last week’s U.S. National Championships.

The selection was unprecedented. Only four previous times in history did the association pick a skater out of order for the Olympic team – and each time it was because of an injury that kept the chosen skaters from performing at the national championships. Wagner was not suffering from a malady of any kind (except maybe stage fright).

Given that the three female skaters chosen for the Olympic team all had hair of gold (with one even named as such), it didn’t take long for accusations of racism against Asian Americans to surface. First on Twitter, then in The Wall Street Journal.

“Wagner’s flowing blond hair, bellflower-blue eyes and sculpted features mark her as a sporting archetype,” thundered Jeff Yang in the Speakeasy blog. “She’s the embodiment of the ‘golden girl’ the media has extolled when they’ve waxed poetic about idealized ice queens of the past, from Norway’s Sonja Henie to East Germany’s Katarina Witt, a marketer’s dream who’s already signed up tent-pole sponsors like Nike, Pandora Jewelry and CoverGirl, which assessed her Teutonic beauty as being worthy of serving as one of their global ‘faces.’”..


In 1998, after Tara Lipinski edged Kwan for the Olympic gold in Nagano, MSNBC blasted an Internet alert that screeched “American Beats Out Kwan.” The network announcers on NBC also appeared to favor Lipinski in their commentary, never mind that the Southern California-born Kwan was every bit as “American” as the Philadelphia-bred Lipinski.



http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/mirai-nagasu-skating-controversy-did-race-play-a-part/

[FarPoint]

1. I support the decision....

Wagner's body of work was the determining factor. The Olympic Team is not determined by the last US National Competition win-order.Very often it does fall in that cycle.....From what I understand, Wagner's previous skating competitions in the 2013 season was the reason 3 female skaters were accepted for our Olympic Team verses 2 skaters.

[brush]

3. You don't find that UNPRECEDENTED decision odd?

C'mon, that's so blatant.

It might even be labeled a glaring example of "WHITE PRIVILEGE".

Yes, I went there.

IMO this is a perfect example of it. That skater didn't earn her Olympic berth she was given it over a skater with better scores who just happened to be of Asian descent.

She couldn't perform under the pressure. What's going to happen under the even brighter lights of the Olympics?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. horseshit...

she earned it over a period of time that extended beyond the single competition that has caused all the uproar.

sP

[brush]

9. If she can't perform under pressure . . .

Send someone who can and did.

[TexasTowelie]

26. Wagner can't perform under pressure,

but she has already won two national championships, took the bronze in the Grand Prix series and is ranked as the #5 skater in the world. Yet, you have determined that she can't perform under pressure?

[FarPoint]

6. Oh...I think Wagner will choke....

Not as bad as Tonya Harding...but she will choke.

[etherealtruth]

8. "...each time it was because of an injury..."

"Only four previous times in history did the association pick a skater out of order for the Olympic team – and each time it was because of an injury that kept the chosen skaters from performing at the national championships. "

Mirai Nagasu is amazing ... she did an amazing job (Ashley Wagner did not) ...

[FSogol]

2. Here's what gold medal winner, Scott Hamilton had to say about that:

“The national championships aren’t the Olympic trials,” Scott shared. “The selection process for the Olympic Games goes on for a couple of years before the Olympic Games, so the nationals are a part of that process, but it’s not the process. So when you look at Ashley Wagner and what she’s done over the last two years, winning nationals twice, placing high enough in the world championships to allow three participants to go, she’s already earned her spot on the Olympic team.”

He added, “I like to see somebody earn their spot on the team, but Ashley kind of did that. Mirai, I adore. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, was to give her our traditional ice cream last night with her eyes full of tears. She’s devastated, and my heart bleeds for her. I’m so sad for her, but the reason we have three women going to the Olympics is because of Ashley Wagner.”

[brush]

4. White privilege? nt

[okaawhatever]

13. Ha ha. That's laughable. You don't seem to be concerned enough with the topic to educate

yourself on the history of American figure skating or figure skating champions at the world level, or else you'd be aware that the majority of champions in recent times have been Asian. American women aren't even expected to medal this year. Gold and silver will likely go to either Mao Asado or Kim Yuna with an Italian woman favored for bronze. The two Asian women have been trading first and second for a couple of years now. What they do have this year for the first time is a team medal for skating which the US is favored to win. Placing Wagner on the team with her depth and experience will give America a better chance of winning the team gold even if none of the women are expected to medal individually.

Also, one of the reasons this decision is unprecedented is because they used to have figures as part of their score. Many claimed this was just a way for the judges to make sure the most favored, most experienced skater won. They have since removed those from the competition and changed the scoring system so there isn't anything like an apples to apples comparison. I also think they changed the rules for team selection.

Asian-American skaters have done very well for team USA. Michelle Kwan is probably the most popular and well loved skater in the last twenty years. Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold for us. We have a long history of wonderful Asian-American skaters in this country.

[brush]

14. I don't recall an Asian-American skater being . . .

being elevated over another skater for the team.

I must have missed that.

[Demo_Chris]

16. Well said. The idea that USA Skating doesn't like Asian Americans is silly. nt

[brush]

18. No one said that

Maybe you missed the point, which was why should the third place skater, who I believe is Asian American, be bumped for the, and I may as well say it, the blue-eyed blonde white American skater who apparently choked under pressure?

[Niceguy1]

21. as others have said

The completion wasnt for the choice.. performance over time is what is considered

[brush]

24. The bumping is unprecedented

It only happened before because of an injury to the placing skater.

There's something to be said for performing under pressure. If a skater can't do it in the Nationals, the Olympics are not going to easier.

[TexasTowelie]

27. More than likely, Wagner's scores will not count in the team competition.

For the team competition, the scores of one skater from each of the four disciplines will be counted (mens, ladies, pairs, ice dance).
http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49828&type=media

The USFSA will probably name Gracie Gold as the lady to include in the team score, particularly in lieu of recent events and that Gracie Gold's programs are more difficult from a technical aspect. However, since the competitors are named prior to the competition it means that the best Olympic score from a group of skaters in a specific discipline may not be credited towards the overall team score.

[JI7]

7. so is this some new rule or what ? couldn't Michelle Kwan have been allowed to compete in 2006

just based on being a good skater overall ?

[Egnever]

10. One battle does not win a war

I have a really tough time swallowing this. Kwan is a perfect example and not because of MSNBC's totally ignorant headline.

[RobinA]

11. Complete Nonsense

Considering that the "golden girl" of skating for well over a decade was a black-haired girl named Kwan, this is just silliness.

[JI7]

12. i read that Scott Hamilton supported Romney, and that Johnny Weir was in a similar situation as

but hamilton was not supportive of Weir. the below is from a comment to some article


<Scott Hamilton speaks with forked tongue–a few years ago he was explaining away the committee’s decision to DENY Johnny Weir’s request for a bye onto the Worlds team after Johnny skated Nationals with the flu and failed to qualify (same as Wagner, with Wagner not even able to claim the excuse of having been ill). Weir was WAY more decorated internationally than Ashley Wagner, and was a World medallist to boot (which Wagner is not). Scott’s reasoning was that if Weir hadn’t skated the event, and had instead withdrawn from Nationals due to his illness, the committee probably would have granted his request. Now he thinks it’s totally cool that Ashley was selected via committee without even making a request–the committee just GAVE her the slot–after skating the event and failing.

So basically Scotty shills for the committee, no matter which way or how inconsistently it rules.>

Read more: http://www.justjaredjr.com/2014/01/15/olympian-scott-hamilton-weighs-in-on-ashley-wagnermirai-nagasu-olympic-team-selection/#ixzz2qibLlTSJ

[Demo_Chris]

15. Yeah, except neither the networks nor US Figure Skating favored Lipinski...

As ANYONE who followed Skating at that time could attest. They openly disliked Lipinski, disrespected her continuously while gushing in rhapsody over Kwan's more mature look and supposed serenity. And yes, that was the word they used, and so much so that I still remember it to this day. Kwan could face plant and they would talk about her serenity as she went skidding across the ice.

Lipinski won on raw talent. Period. She was perhaps the best female US Skater ever. This was a girl who practiced by doing quads.

Kwan's big jump was a triple-double combo. Lipinski did that, plus several other triples, plus a triple loop-triple loop combo, and her final-- a triple- half-loop - triple combo -- launched while virtually stationary -- was borderline impossible and something that the male skater people keep posting here lately couldn't even begin to do, let alone Kwan. Her final performance was technically amazing. She literally blew Kwan completely off the ice.

And yet the US judge STILL placed Kwan in first. So any suggestion that USA Skating at that time favored blondes is a bit silly. Here's that performance by the way, well worth watching. It really was technically about as well done as it is possible to do it.

[KatyMan]

22. agree

Lipinski was too "athletic" as I recall; it seemed to be an era when there was a battle between artistry and athletics (Surya Bonalay had similar issues with judges and commentators at the time).

[Demo_Chris]

29. That is what I recall as well....

Ultimately, I think physical beauty plays a huge role in all of this. Viewers are tuning in to watch beautiful people doing extraordinary things, and that's what they want. More, it allows them to judge contests subjectively rather than objectively. Bonalay and Lipinski both fell into the athletic side of the equation.

And note, there is nothing wrong with this if you accept that Figure Skaters are entertainers as much as athletes.

[LittleBlue]

17. lol there are other women competing at this competition?

Yuna will roflstomp everyone else. No one will even remember the girls who wore silver and bronze that night.

[AngryAmish]

19. In the USA it is okay to discriminate against Asians.

For example college sdmissions.

No one cares.

[RandySF]

25. Really?

Take a walk around campus at UC, Berkeley.

[AngryAmish]

31. That is because it is against the law in CA to discriminate by race

In college admissions. Compare the asian% of the cali system to the Ivy League.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. Do facts matter?

This is what happened to Philadelphia's HS class of 2009

[mythology]

20. 2 unrelated events 15 years apart don't make a pattern

Without more evidence, I chalk this up to exactly what the Olympic committee says it is.

[tritsofme]

23. This is an Olympic event that I could not change the channel quick enough

Get off the ice and make way for hockey, speed skating, and curling!

[egduj]

30. I'm not sure it's racism, but there appears to be some kind of dirt here below the surface...

Maybe somebody owes somebody favors/money. Olympics and the people associated with them are rarely known for their impartiality.

And then again, I would not be surprise that, after the attention this is getting, some "injury" doesn't pop up to make things appear right again.