“Europe will suffer more from the new qualification.” What is important to know about the suspension of the Russians and the ISU Congress

The director of the Hungarian Figure Skating Federation, Gurgen Vardanyan, in an interview with , spoke about his impressions of the Congress of the International Skating Union (ISU) in Thailand, his own position on the issue of withdrawal Russian skaters, and also why the new age limit will hit Europe harder than Russia.

How do you like the congress?

“Basically, it went well. There were elections, important decisions were made. Some things I was okay with, some things I wasn’t.

— I heard that many delegates believed in the ideas of the new President of the ISU. But now there are doubts about his candidacy.

“I think it’s too early to talk about it. The term is too short. We have to wait at least 100 days to see which direction the ISU will take. Although this period will not be enough. He wants to change a lot of things. It will take time, it is only after a few months that we will understand how he wants to reorganize the ISU.

What exactly do you expect from him?

— I would like the UIS to be more flexible in terms of decision-making, marketing and communication. I wish things were a little different. But so far it is quite difficult to talk about all this, because the union’s work scheme is not transparent enough. Anyway, for me.

I expect all the work that is done at the ISU to be a little clearer and more visible. Many, many things need to be changed, because in a number of problems the system does not work. It is very difficult to find the same competition results on the ISU website. Everything needs to be improved and improved a bit.

How respectful and apolitical did that feel to you? Because our federation noted that there was a lot of politics in the congress.

“You know, the situation was like this… To be honest, I expected it to be a lot worse. It seems to me that the Russian delegation was treated normally. Of course, the elections to the technical commissions did not go as the Russian side would have liked. And it’s a shame that this happened.

Behind the scenes, many people regretted that Yulia Andreeva was not admitted to the technical committee for single and pair skating, Uliana Chirkova was not admitted to the committee for synchronized skating. Many things were said there… But the vote was secret, so everyone chose as they wanted. We have to make those decisions and keep working to develop the sport.

– You say that everyone voted as they wanted. But I spoke to some representatives of European federations about it, and one of them said that he was asked not to vote for Andreeva for political reasons.

– Everything is possible. Nobody gave us instructions personally, we made our own decisions. I haven’t heard of it, but I guess it’s possible. I can’t speak for other countries.

– With regard to the vote for the age limit – if I understood correctly, another proposal was made before him to raise it to 16 years.

— Yes, we participated in this proposal, but we were not the initiators. But here too, there was a secret ballot, and everyone voted one way or another… Well, as best they could (laughs). I think in terms of the results of the competition, there will be no drastic changes in the age limit. The easiest way to adapt to the new rules is where there are a lot of athletes. And where there are few, it is much more difficult. It will be very difficult for us – in Europe – but what can we do?

Why was this proposal even made?

– This is a compromise proposal – so that this is not the case, and not this. But, you see, they didn’t support it. I believe, because those who were initially going to vote for the qualification did not want to withdraw from their position.

– A strange story also happened with the main vote: at first it was announced that 16 delegates opposed it, then only 11 were indicated in the document.

– It was, yes. On the other hand, this 11, this 16 are still not enough. Since 100 delegates were in favour, it doesn’t matter anymore. There was also a very big difference in the votes in the presidential elections, so we have to live with that and work for the good of figure skating.

– You say “it’s going to be hard for us”. Do you think it will be more difficult for Europe to adapt to the new qualification than for Russia?

– My opinion is yes. It will be difficult for us and our athletes to rebuild. Because it is very difficult to motivate athletes for a long time so that they stay at least until they are 17 years old. It is a difficult process. I think we will survive all of this, of course, but not without difficulties.

In Asia, Russia, America, Canada, it is easier to motivate skaters. In Europe it’s more difficult, because we have a lot less people involved in figure skating. Therefore, I think that Europe with the new qualification will face great difficulties.

But it seems to me that if all of this hits our sport very hard and over time we are faced with an exodus of athletes and a decline in the quality of competition, the ISU should quickly draw conclusions and try to change Something. They have special bodies that should control this – technical committees, councils. They also want to make sure figure skating doesn’t lose out on entertainment.

– Another important issue at the congress – the extension of Russia’s withdrawal – has generally been adopted with great flippancy.

– Very relaxed, it’s true. I think the point is that Congress didn’t really want to discuss this issue. There will be a more detailed solution in the near future. I don’t know if it will be short term or longer term. Will wait. And congress, in my opinion, just wasn’t ready to make decisions about it.

– How does the suspension of our skaters affect the world figure? All things considered, will it be difficult to bring together a full hall without the Russians in Budapest at the European Championships?

– Very difficult. And not only in Hungary – in any country. Many people went to see Russian athletes and bought tickets. It seems to me that it will be difficult for everyone without the Russian skaters.

But I believe that by then (for the European Championships in Budapest), everything will be back to normal. Russian athletes who love their work, only devote themselves to it and do not get involved in any politics, should take part in international tournaments – this is my personal opinion.