1998 US Pairs @ Olympics????

[cocanuts]

why didnt we get 3 pairs for the olympics since meno and sand and ina and dunjen were both in the top 5 at worlds in 97?

[Amy L]

I think the rules for qualifying teams was different back then.

[Artemis]

Yup, before the 98/99 season, it was medalists get to send 3 the next year, and top 10 for singles get to send 2 the next year (it may have been top 12 for dance/pairs but I'm not sure).

[Trillian]

Originally posted by Artemis
Yup, before the 98/99 season, it was medalists get to send 3 the next year, and top 10 for singles get to send 2 the next year (it may have been top 12 for dance/pairs but I'm not sure).

Actually, in pairs (and maybe dance?), the top five got to send three entries prior to the 1996-97 season. It was actually in the 1997 season that they first implemented the current system, but rather than counting just the top two entries, they counted all three entries a country sent to worlds. So despite the good showing by our top two pairs, the fifteenth place finish by Stiegler & Zimmerman made the total too great for the U.S. to send three pairs. That's also how Russia wound up with only two mens spots--even though the two Russian men who finished the event at worlds in '97 finished 3rd and 5th respectively, Urmanov's withdrawl meant that they only had two entries for the Olympics. That was one of the glitches they fixed after that season, and the current rules have been pretty much the same since the 1998-99 year.

[Spinner]

Originally posted by Trillian
That was one of the glitches they fixed after that season...

A fix brought on since Urmanov was in first after the SP but withdrew before the LP. Many people (myself included) felt the Russians deserved that 3rd berth because Urmanov's probable final placing would have been high enough to earn it.