Mirai Nagasu (L) finished third at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this weekend. She will not be participating in this year’s Winter Olympic Games. Former two-time champion Ashley Wagner ® finished fourth. She will be going on to the Games. Traditionally, the top three finishers in an Olympic year comprise the U.S. squad. So what happened? Well:
In a sport governed by the subjectivity of judging, reputation matters. Wagner’s experience could also prove pivotal to American medal hopes in a new team skating event in Sochi. “If you look at Ashley Wagner’s record and performance, she’s got the top credentials of any of our female athletes,”said Pat St. Peter, the president of U.S. Figure Skating. Wagner has also been heavily promoted by the skating association and NBC, which will broadcast the Sochi Games. With Lindsey Vonn out of the skiing competition with an injury, an absent Wagner would have left the United States — and the network — without another visible star and medal hopeful. Wagner, who lives in Aliso Viejo, Calif., also was one of the few athletes who had spoken publicly against antigay legislation passed in Russia ahead of the Olympics.Hmmm …
It’s also important to note that Nagasu was in Boston without a coach, meaning she had no advocate to fight on her behalf after this supremely unfair decision and she’s going through the appeals process mostly by herself.
Nagasu deserves to be on the team as much as Jason Brown (who also skated a flawless program for the men, but ALSO lacks intl. experience plus, doesn’t have a quad) deserves it.“what happened?” lol as if we don’t fucking know what happened
there was a blonde white girl, that’s what happened
why is this even in question
figure skating is the most racist goddamn sport in America and the governing bodies will go out of their way for anybody they can push as the Great White Hope
whites will use their flat asses as a zamboni and they’ll still give them 50-11 chances and bend themselves into pretzels making excuses for them
POC can be flawless and they will find excuses to bench them, they sure dont want another Kristi Yamaguchi situation where the face of US excellence in the sport aint white
the establishment of this sport is garbage, always was and always will be
^ BOOM. there it is.
USFSA is also trying to claim that “oh god she has no coach she was so inconsistent”
but like fucking bullshit inconsistent how? She fucking beasted that shit. SHE DIDN’T FALL. OTHER THAN GOLD, THE REST OF THE TEAM FUCKING FELL.
this shit has never been pulled unless there’s been a fucking injury and the PERSON CHOSEN DIDN’T GET A CHANCE TO COMPETE.
What’s hilarious is people acting surprised. THIS IS SO COMMON IN EVERY PRETENTIOUS SPORT AND ART FIELD THERE IS.
Sports that are heavy with racism include but are not limited to: gymnastics—see how they tried Gabby Douglas? In the 90s for the US gymnastics team they were giving Dominique Dawes hell just for daring to be young, gifted, and Black but brought home gold every single time; figure skating (Yamaguchi was the face of U.S. figure skating for YEARS and they could not stand it at all as well as another East Asian girl in the same class—I think her name was Michelle Kwon I’m not sure), and ballroom dance and ballet.
Figure skating and dancesport/ballet have the same racist structure in that they want a white, blonde figurehead to represent their brand and team. Misty Copeland even spoke about the racism she faced coming into ballet at what was considered a “late” age to start becoming a pro-ballerina and turning into one of the most beautiful and highly sought solo artists in the field.
If you look deeper into other fields, the performing arts community is the same way, especially when it comes to professional orchestra. That community caters to a very specific clientele (old, white money) and you can imagine the type of hell Yo-Yo Ma gets for being one of the greatest cellists of our generation, when they really want the face of classical string music to be aged and white.
POC have always had to work three times as hard to get even a little recognition in these fields.
The reason white folks lose their minds is because unlike taking creative license in dramatizations and white-washing characters, they can’t hide their whitewashing as well because the evidence is clear that they’re being racist fucks.
Reblogging again for the commentary
