Patrick,
I agree 100% with you. As long as you speak of World Cups, World Championships,
or the like. Why does speedskating even have national quotas is beyond me. If
you are a man that could take 6th place in the world, but the top 5 are from the
same country right now you have no chance of participating. Meanwhile, good old
me, is skating around in a world cup. AGREED! It is an individual sport and as
such it should be treated and I would say that nobody should even wear national
uniforms. Let them use their sponsor's (that will increase the income of the
sport and make it more profitable.

Now, as for the Olympic Games, that is different. Those are not Championships
(even if the ISU cancels the SD Championship on Olympic years) it is an Olympic
event. Right now, the Argentinian contingency. An effort that is a far cry
from Eddie The Eagle, or Eric Kraan (if you want to bunch me with Eddie, I'll
wear that distinction with pride), is out of the Olympics. I find this
ridiculous and unfair. Now, I do admit that I am from the camp that if you are
the best your country has to offer in a particular sport, and the country is
willing to send you, then the Olympic Games should be the venue that those
people that some would say are "amateurs", part-timers, or not to the highest
level, should take part. Not because it will grow the sport, or make it look
important, or even because of the health of the sport, but because they belong
to the community of nations and through the sport they are taking a message to
the world and back home that "we" belong in this planet. So if a Kenyan,
Argentinian, Mexican, or a person from anywhere in this planet decides to strap
a pair of skates, skis, a bike, or running shoes and try his/her hardest and
his/her country want to celebrate his/her participation in the Olympic Games.
LET THEM BE. If you want Elite level competition, with only skaters that can do
sub 36 secs on the 500 and sub 13:30 on the 10k, then make that the World
Championships, World Cups, etc, this is a celebration of peace and brotherhood.

From Salt Lake City, where I will take my slow ass to the fastest ice on earth
today, and celebrate my humanity with the pain and hard effort it takes to do a
few slow laps around the track.

Eric Kraan.






--- In Speed_skating@yahoogroups.com, Patrick Seltsam <pseltsam@...> wrote:
>
> 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.)
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>