It has been another emotionally fraught day in skatingland. It started out with another media advisory from the ISU in which it was clear that the world figure skating championships would not be going forward in the alotted time period.

On second reading, I realized that it was in fact postponed and not cancelled. The thing that caught my attention was the fact that the ISU Team Trophy, being held in Yokohama in mid-April, was also being postponed. Hmmmmmm. It started me thinking that if by some miracle the ISU is able to put Worlds into the Team Trophy time slot, then this might be a solution that could ‘check off all the boxes’. This idea is of course based on the notion that the nuclear concerns are dealt with and all parties concerned could be in Japan safely. From a logistical standpoint, the plans are already in place so it would be far easier to simply activate them. I know that many fans were thinking that worlds could simply be moved to another city. There are so many layers of planning that in my mind, the only possibilities would be to keep the event where it is or cancel it.

I turned to ISU 1st VP David Dore for his thoughts as he was the person under whom I worked at so many Skate Canada events, including the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver. In our conversation, he reminded me that aside from the logistical considerations like hotels and rinks there are all of the other underpinnings of a successful competition. Where would another country come up with the legion of volunteers required on short notice – it is these wonderful people who manage everything from transportation to security to accreditation to medical to social to rink dtuties like music and announcing and ice captains to the boutique, etc,…it literally takes a village to run a skating competition and a village plus all kinds of ‘visiting relatives’ to run a Worlds and I have worked at enough of them to be able to comment on this with authority.

In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if Japan could have enough time to sort something out so that, after an appropriate length of time, they could celebrate not only their amazing skaters but the enormous efforts that they have gone to staging a Japanese World Championships. It’s not just about money – although that has to be a consideration – it is also about pride and having the opportunity to finish what you started.

I think the clock is ticking, and let’s face it, there isn’t a lot of time to make this work. I am impressed that the ISU has left the door open by postponing and not cancelling the event; which is to the benefit of everyone including the skaters who have been working so hard all year. David Dore’s comments are the basis for my blog on CBC’s website today.

I am sure we will hear something soon – in the meantime – more good thoughts to to our friends in Japan in this challenging time..

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