TB Hansen; "Without national quotas, that would mean that the bulk of the
participants would come from a few countries, and that there would be no
participants from 'smaller' countries. Which would be very bad and strengthen
the usual argument, that speed skating is a small and insignificant sport."

Speed skating IS a small and insignificant sport in most countries. Why not
focus the sport on the countries where it actually thrives?

I am so tired of this argument that we need to create an illusion that the sport
is this great global phenomenon. Why must speed skating continually screw over
legitimate world class athletes in favour of inferior skaters, in the interest
of perpetuating the hoax that this is a wildly popular sport in countries that
it isn't?

I've said it before, and I'll say it now, and I'll say it next time this subject
gets covered; If you want to see a vibrant cornucopia of pretty national flags
and mixed culture, go to Disneyland and take a ride on "It's a Small World". If
you want to see good speed skating, lose the national quotas and let the best
skaters skate at the highest level.

If you want to develop the sport in new nations, you have to do it by actually
developing actual opportunities to do the sport in those nations. You have to
do it by selling the joy of participation, self-improvement and competition.
You have to do it by creating clubs, rinks and programs. Those tasks are hard,
and take time and effort - and aren't as sexy as World Cup, World Championship
and Olympic participation, but those are the things that really matter.


From: Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of T.B.Hansen
Sent: July-17-09 5:43 AM
To: Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Skate] Re: Olympic qualification times



Jeroen Heijmans:

> Well, yeah, but your remark was that "speed skating is hurting itself by
limiting its participation (...) to pursuit a dream of live TV coverage", which
is may be true for the other competitions, but since the ISU allows more
competitors into the Olympics than the WSD, that's a rather odd statement to
make, right?

It was a general comment on ISU politics, aimed at the comment to the post about
Olympic time limits; not at the post about the limits itself.

> However, qualifying times may not be the best way to pick a maximum number of
competitors. Why not, if the quotum for a distance is 40, pick the 40 fastest
skaters, rather than all skaters that have met some limit that will probably be
met by some 40 skaters?

Without national quotas, that would mean that the bulk of the participants would
come from a few countries, and that there would be no participants from
'smaller' countries. Which would be very bad and stregthen the usual argument,
that speed skating is a small and indignificant sport.

With national quotas, it might lead to the participation of a few skaters that
would not meat the strict criteria the ISU want to be met. Which is OK for me,
but bad in the eyes of the ISU.

Anyway, the idea of a ranking -- being it based on times or on World Cup
achievements --- deciding the participation of a one-time event, violates my
ideas of a one-time event.

I simply want such an event to allow the start of the athletes that's the best
at the moment of the event -- not those who peaked two or three months before to
meet the qaulification criteria.

-------------
T.B.Hansen

(whith a slight fever that might make his English a little strange.)



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