Skaters around the globe

[Lutzgirl]

I was just thinking before i wrote this about different skaters in different parts of the world.........


If you think about it we no aboutskaters from Canada And the USA and Uk but what about skaters frorm australia or India or places like that?

I dont think this is a very good post because most people here are from those Regions andare probably not very familiar with a post of this kind!

But please i hope to hear your Input on this ......
I would love to hear your input about differnt skating cultures around the Globe!


Thankz Lutz girl:D :D :D :D :D :D

[blurrysarah]

Well I'm from Australia, and I know we have a few other Aussies on this board...I'm not really sure what you are asking about though.
The only thing I can tell you is that skating here isn't exactly the most publicised sport. That's saved for footy and tennis. :roll:

[CanAmSk8ter]

Part of why we don't hear about skaters from certain countries is that there aren't any to speak of. Remember that rinks are extremely expensive to build, run, and maintain, and therefore expensive for people to use as well. A country like India, where a lot of the people are very poor, wouldn't have much use for a rink because so few people would be able to afford to use it. Also, in countries with very warm climates, it's even more expensive than usual to maintain a rink because it has to be insulated better against the heat and the compressors would be used to the point that they would break more often- and I don't think compressors usually last more than ten years or so anyway.

ISI operates in a couple of countries not usually associated with skating- Malaysia, Thailand, and Oman are the three I can think of. But because those countries aren't members of the ISU (I'm not sure why they aren't, but they aren't) they can't send skaters to events run by the ISU, like Four Continents, Grand Prix, and Worlds.

[kia]

Skating is an expensive sport and it is bigger in the countries where there is money. The USSR use to subsidise their skaters and they once had a huge base. They still have good skaters but the base is dwindling. The US is where the money is now, is where the skaters are-even the Russian skaters. A lot of the good skaters representing various countries now train in the US which helps the standard of the US skaters but not of their home countries. In the less wealthy countries there is not the money for advertising. The ISU makes it too expensive to televise the top skating competitions and without advertising and a high profile it is hard to develop a sport. Good skaters from the relatively poorer countries do not get the same high profile as those of the wealthier countries and they are thus not advertisements for the sport.. Skaters from countries like Malaysia Yeoman and Tailand cannot skate in the ISU competitions even if they want to because their associations don't comply with ISU rules and pay homage to the ISU. I believe Singapore has applied to join the ISU but do not know the state of their application.

[ChristianeDK]

I'd like to help but I'm not really sure what the question is???

[Mrs Redboots]

I think she wants to know what countries are represented on this board. I know there are skaters from many English-speaking countries (wasn't there someone from South Africa?), and of course Christiane puts us all to shame with her knowledge of English!

I have met skaters from so many different countries now, at the Mountain Cup and elsewhere. Let's see, in no particular order:

The UK (specifically England, Scotland and Northern Ireland; I don't think I know any skaters from Wales, but I could be wrong).
The USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
France
Denmark
Germany
Belgium
Spain
Switzerland
Estonia
Egypt
Greece
Ecuador

I have not mentioned Ireland, as there are no longer any ice rinks in that country, which is seriously sad.

[tidesong]

The Skating association in Singapore managed to first get approval with the local authority, which is the singapore sports council. I think there are a few more things to satisfy but for one we definitely do not have a proper sized ice rink...

But there are skaters here, thats for sure :)

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by tidesong
But there are skaters here, thats for sure :) Indeed there are, and how I managed to leave it off the list of countries I know skaters from, I don't know!

[dani]

Wasn't there a skater from Vietnam at the last Mountain Cup? I am thinking that is someone that my donation to Bill's group brought over, right? And we had someone here for a while from Mexico, right? (Susanno or something like that, right?)

Hugs!
Danielle

[Mrs Redboots]

Yes, that's right, there was someone from Vietnam. I don't remember the skater from Mexico, but I think you're right, all the same.