Yatagarasu

I think it's too tight with time, considering today it's Dec 10th, and he's not back on ice. He'd have to be there in about 20 days, so Jan 1st to get the practices in. I am sure they'll know how to handle it. If nothing else, there's the TCC simulation that he might do.

Nope, that's the problem. It's 4CC or nothing and yes, it is too close. For Yuzuru, definitely too close. We're talking Jan 22-27 here and considering how he is, that is too close unless they drop the Team Event for him. He'd have just about enough time then but on the other hand, he himself may not want that, even if JSF is all right with it, which is another question.

No use borrowing trouble. Just trust it's how they say it is, and it is really good he's taking care of his health much more than ever before. He would have skated right through this in the earlier years, but not now. So it's already better than we could have hoped for! Cross everything, knock on everything and it's going to be ok.

Well. I'm glad he's taking care of his health, and being really careful. Knock on wood, everything is going to be just fine come February. Really the only issue here if he skips Nats is the lack of competitions. This leaves 4CC as the only option, provided JSF lets him skip the team event as they have no chances of medaling there anyway. If not, then his only other try would be the short in the Team. But fingers crossed that he's recovering well, knock on wood a million times and hopefully it's all going to work out for the best.

Oh Adam it's true though, there were quite a few comments and questions!

Queen Sui sure is something! This GPF was good for them in a way. Just the right timing to warn them about the threats, in practice. Lets see if they can respond.

The Men's SP is on the 22nd, if knock on wood, everything's going according to plan so almost there

But true! Hopefully he'll be ready for the Nats, or at least, in good shape.

Also, in case of Japan, I do believe it is one of the criteria that decides who gets to go to Worlds/Olympics. First spot goes to the National champion, but the other one, or two, have these additional considerations.

Yuzuru Hanyu x Ice Jewels Special Interview (Vol. 7) Something to read in the meantime, thanks to our @gladi!

Don't worry about it, USA will go. This is just a bit of ... *waves hand around* ... Watching the GPF today, but guh, who's going to go! Close, so close. Shibs are so cute!

Bless Ksenia, she has had enough!

Why ... would ... you ... go ... to .... 4CC???? Chinese Fed. The reasoning, I understand, not. Anyway. Reading about Boyang makes me really depressed but good that he can skip the Nats and hopefully, knock on wood, recover fully, in time for the Olys. I mean realistically, he and Hanee have the two spots anyway, so who cares but on the other hand, at least someone else gets the title now, so should be fun for all the other skaters. There are other skaters ... right? Joking, joking.

Yes, and I am sure that was a concession to Russia, by the IOC. They know everything you've just said, and more of course, about the current situation, and they sure played it well. Also at the end of the Games, if Russia complies with it all, they'll have the right to raise the Russian flag at the closing ceremony, another major move towards settling matters. Of course, if everything sorts itself out as it appears that it now will, one thing is for sure - the Russian athletes, especially the skaters, are going to have so much pressure to perform and grab those medals. I think Zhenya will carry the brunt of it, and not just from the Russian but all media as with her appearance yesterday she's truly become the face of Russian winter sports, and all of them will to an extent. It's not going to be easy at all. I worry, Alina is still a child. Not an easy situation, any way we look at it. I really wish them all the best.

What you see as the truth, someone else won't and in general, people vary a lot on their acceptance of what is serious and reliable, trustworthy media, or organizations, or other individuals. Others read and watch things too, and their conclusions can be opposites to yours, even if you've read and seen the very same things. So I think we should probably leave it be as the chance of agreement is zero, these are difficult topics and not much can really be gained by professing truths in situations like these. Everyone's had their say and we've done all right here, I'm happy to say! Whatever happened, we ended up with that IOC ruling yesterday, and today, we seem to have positive movement, so knock on wood, and we will have the best possible solution for the clean athletes in these circumstances and that's the one thing I am sure we can all agree on ultimately.

I just saw that so was coming over. I'd call that a definite green light, and though I think we should wait for the 12th to be on the safe side, I'd say this means it is probably a go. The IOC left enough of a door open for him and he took it I would say. Good

In some good news, Putin remained mum but Peskov did not. x so I'd take that as extremely, cautiously, optimistic. Back to crossing everything.

Looking at it all, from a bit of distance from the heat of the moment, I'd actually say that there's a chance they might go. There is a way to spin this in a positive light and the IOC opened this door with certain parts of that ruling. Putin and Bach are pretty friendly, so it may very well be that they all hashed out in advance what is acceptable and how to proceed. If Putin addresses this today in any way, it should give us a hint where they might go and postponing it for the 12th is potentially not a bad thing as it allows for tempers to cool off a bit and settle. The ending bit, where it sort of lays out the option of raising the actual Russian flag is also a giant incentive, so we'll see. Cross everything, hope for the best.

To answer some of this for you here - yes, they inherit Russia's slots. As per the ruling we had today so it remains as it was. The Team event will also go on, though they would be Team OAR now. In re to an alternate list - I don't know, I am not sure it's all that likely right now, the concession with the name of Russia and all but anyway, in case they do not go, yes, the team event slot would go to Australia, that is next in line. I am not sure about the individual events, considering that the qualifications are per ISU rules and the placements were what they were at both the Worlds in Helsinki and Nebelhorn, but maybe they'd also go by the same idea of who's next in line, goes.

We're already talking about this in Team Russia so you can join us there, not to split the discussion into two parts!

UKAD has been doing all the testing for the Russians for a good while now, so yes, they're completely covered there. Eteri even spoke relatively recently about this, Zhenya gets tested at every competition, plus all those outside random tests. If I remember well they knocked on her door at 5:30 am recently. But that's just how it goes and it's actually a good thing now, considering all of this should cover her, and all the other Russian skaters, for the requirements that they need to fulfill in order to appear. The only person who was potentially in trouble before today was Bobrova but she's covered by that meldonium amnesty as well, looking at the terms laid out now.

There's a long-ish interview with TAT, and she thinks the athletes should go (she's super angry with the state and how they handled things). Raises some valid concerns about how they will feel, be received but also thanks the IOC for this chance to even go, as she IMO rightly points out, that they, the athletes, have this one life. I hope they listen to her.

It was like that during the Athletics Worlds, when we had the same situation and 'neutral' participants. When it comes to athletes, if they tried to sing their own anthem in case they had won, then there was a fine. I am not sure what the penalty would be for attempting to wear something in Russian colors, another fine or something worse. I remember the rules were pretty strict, the Russian officials made jokes about what might be ok or not.

Actually, yes they are. You can even get kicked out from the venue if they even catch you trying to get a flag in.

I'd ignore that tweet. Anyway, this is far more interesting, in the Schmid Report: Source So if I were Putin, I'd take it and let my athletes compete.