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Post by osaycanusoc on Sept 10, 2013 9:32:25 GMT -8
Thank you for sharing the info. There is a lot to digest, will hold off on detailed comments until done reading. For now, only two comments: 1) Simon, you did a tough and righteous thing coming forward and admitting your mistake and taking your punishment like a man. I wish you would continue to skate but totally understand where you are at on this and how you got there; 2) From the little I've gleaned already, and, piggybacking on to mtnme's analysis - Truth, your blog should change the name to "whatthef**k.blogspot.com"! Cannot believe the behavior of coaches Chun and Jun. Disgraceful. Manipulative, selfish b*****ds with no regard for the well-being of their athletes beyond their own ability to use them for what they need.
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Post by mtnme on Sept 10, 2013 19:30:07 GMT -8
OK, I've worked my way through 4 of them. Oy! Reading it just makes my head hurt. And the (s)hits just keep on comin'... as in, 'whatever hits the fan will not be distributed evenly.' All of this just screams to be made into, at the very least, a made for TV movie. ABC?,NBC?,CBS?,HBO?... anyone?
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Post by mtnme on Sept 12, 2013 13:31:04 GMT -8
OK, I take my last statement back. It's not ripe for a made for TV movie, it's a soap opera. A very looooooong soap opera. *place face palm emotie here* I've not even slogged through a 3rd of the info on the blog, and each item I read makes my mouth drop even more. You'd think that would not be possible once one's jaw actually hits the floor, but apparently not. So many thoughts once again banging around my cranium like a ricocheting pachinco ball on steroids. I'd literally need to print each one out, red line issues like a grade school teacher red lines misspelled words, and then make an outline of all the key points and thoughts on it just to keep them all straight. In other words, I'd have several novellas posted here by the time I was done. Many of those thoughts pertain to 'after the fact' issues that have been resolved in one way or the other, but still. My indignant, 'not fair', 'not right', 'no way-no how' gene is working overtime here just reading it. I am currently on Hoch Cho's grievance with USS. I'm not even all the way through it. But here's my current jaw drop moment. So not only was USS paying Greenwald's plane fare to drag his sorry @ss to and from Canada, but he arranged for a buddy to be hired by USS as a supposed independent contractor who required an immigration attorney and VISA to even work here? Was USS paying to fly this guy's sorry @ss back and forth as a 'consultant' as well? But my bigger question is: with jobs in this country at a premium for people who actually are citizens, why are we hiring people from other countries to represent or consult on an American Olympic entity? I mean seriously. Are we to believe there are no American companies close by who could equally do the job? I know coaches flit around from country to country, but administration? Hiring non residents for these positions seems a bit like the slap in the face Ralph Lauren did when he had the American Olympic uniforms manufactured in China. Tres no-no. Am I the only one who sees an issue with this? Especially given that USS is always broke anyway and could hardly afford the extra outlay in cash for travel expenses when they can't usually even afford travel expenses for the skaters themselves to get to important international competitions? The offending parties are no more, as of the announcement earlier this week of a new head of USS. But geez, this still stinks on ice and smacks of some serious cronyism going on between those named parties. Back to reading. No doubt all of you reading along at home are having your own 'face palm' moments and/or staying tuned for some more 'face palm' moments here - (same bat time, same bat channel)... EDIT: Oh, and thank you to 'The Truth' for making all of this information available. It's obvious you spent a tremendous amount of time on this. Knowledge is power, and at least the info is out there for folks to draw their own conclusions on how all of this went down.
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Dec 10, 2013 23:30:26 GMT -8
Well, here's the short version of a verrrrry looooong story that got us from Then to Now, and it seems like a pretty accurate rendition of events. A bit harsh IMO, but as the Olympics approach, the past will be revisited ad nauseum - get ready for it. I do personally think our prospects (both Short & Long Track) in Sochi are very promising - and that 'the patient is no longer on life support'... The Wrong Kind of Ice CapadesFeuds, Mismanagement and Blown Races Dim U.S. Speed Skating's Prospects in SochiBy Matthew Futterman and Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal / Dec 11, 2013 online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304281004579220193646111598
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Post by Laura (Lori) on Jan 29, 2014 17:43:45 GMT -8
As predicted in my post directly above, there have been a lot of pre-Olympics articles coming out that rehash the controversy of the past few years. For the most part, I have ignored those articles as 'old news' - but I like this one because it includes some good insight about the climate of the organization now. It's from the Chicago Tribune that covered this story extensively from the very beginning... US Speedskating is getting its act togetherWinter Olympics will be huge test to see how much progress organization has made since it was revamped By Jared S. Hopkins, Tribune reporter / 10:34 p.m. CST, January 28, 2014 Gough said that once World Cup competition began in the fall, the skaters relaxed among themselves. A highlight of the season was when the men’s relay team ended the season ranked No. 1 in the world -- a first ever for the country. He recalled during a break in competition in Shanghai that the skaters watched some of the races together on television in the locker room.
"It was a nice feeling," he said. "They're all good kids, they all want the same thing."Read it all: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/olympics/ct-olympics-speedskating-state-spt-0129-20140129,0,4098666.story?page=1 (as usual with many of our ChiTrib links, you'll have to copy and paste the link in its entirety - clicking on the blue part doesn't get you the whole link...)
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Post by gasp on Feb 9, 2014 22:30:43 GMT -8
I've been absent for awhile, by choice. But ST starts tomorrow and it is incumbent on everyone who visits this board on a regular basis or just drops in during WCs or the Olys to know this....the US Short Track athletes will be coming home to find their funding is being cut by 50% immediately. So obviously nothing has changed when it comes to funding.
USS is receiving money from somewhere to feed the admin, but it's time, once again, to ask Mike Plant et al WHY? Why do these athletes and their families have to pay the price to follow their dreams? One more time, it's time to dissolve USS until such time as a viable plan can be developed by BUSINESSMEN---not insiders---on how to make Short Track an Olympic event that is financially sound and able to provide ancillary support to its athletes. I wonder how many young men and women have looked into short track (I know of one in Lubbock) who had the talent but not the money to feed the dream.
Every time I see the US Snowboarders flying through the air with equipment that is emblazoned with BURTON or whatever on the bottom of the board, you know, they are getting that board for free because you can't buy that kind of advertising, period. When you have the talking heads acknowledging that the skiers are "provided" with state of the art equipment. Did you get that PROVIDED with--they ain't paying for it. Once again, you can't buy that kind of advertisement.
Then we have the Ice Skating group. They all train with the coach of their choice and know full well going in what it will cost. From the sound of things tonight, at least one member of each of the countries in the TEAM comp trains in the US with US coaches or European coaches who have moved to the US. So obviously, having a National Ice Skating program isn't necessary to win medals. They are run by a Federation that looks at the body of work of an athlete to select the US Team.
Why is ST still using an outdated model of feeling you "must be a part of the NRP" and do an Olympic Trials to make the ST Team? Talk about stifling an athletes ability to train in a way that is best for them, where they want and with whom they want. It's worked for Shani Davis and Good Grief...Gracie Gold switched coaches 9 months ago, and look how well she is doing.
There are still many ST athletes out there suffering from the brunt of the year-of-the-grievance. Who knows if they will ever get their bills paid? Who knows if they will remain in the sport for 2018? For that reason alone, I still say it's time to stop the good-old-boy system at USS and dissolve it. Then let USOC cull the best of the best from the business world, human resources and personnel types to begin a new USS Federation where athletes can train how they please, then come together in US sanctioned races to determine WC team members and follow that through with ranking them for the Olympic teams.
I am no expert on these matters, that's for sure. But sometimes when you are an interested party, with a bit of knowledge you can see a different path, than those stuck in the woods walking the same old trail, with the same old people, talking about the same old plan Olympiad after Olympiad.
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Post by sk8er on Feb 10, 2014 11:03:00 GMT -8
Valid point in every detail gasp. The bottom line for anything in this country is money. Old fashioned capitalism runs on money. Snowboarding makes money for sponsors. Traditionally skating has made money for sponsors. Who is to say that the skills of a linebacker are more valuable than those of a badminton player? In the U.S. the linebacker makes money for sponsors the badminton player does not. If a sport has the public eye and enough participants sponsors are willing to play for their advertising. Shorttrack is expensive and has a limited number of participants.
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Post by mtnme on Feb 11, 2014 1:16:00 GMT -8
You have many valid points gasp, but the most glaring one that jumped out at me was that the skaters funding once again is being slashed. Why that caught my eye is that the USOC said recently that their donations and funding has not decreased. So OK, USOC...if your funding isn't down, where is the money going? Obviously it isn't going to the skaters.
Sounds like the USOC has some 'splainin' to do...
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