Should Yebin and AP skate for Korea?

[hiliairyh]

They are very talented skaters, I think they can easily be national champions if they are skating for another country. Should they try to follow Soldatova's approach?

Yes

No

[Arsenette]

I'm very iffy on this subject because you really do have to take the culture into account. Many do not adapt to changing countries and often feel alienated by their own federation skaters. Also.. depends why the parents left a certain country.. revisiting that could be interesting to say the least. Personally I say no for these specific skaters and specific country. Julia was at least changing from one "Russian" country to another. The BASIC idea was the same.. would have been totally different if she skated for say Canada or US.

[Pupiczech]

I know, from listening to Dick and Peggy and Terry talk that Ann Patrice, although born in Korea, was adopted and came to the US at a very early age. Does one retain the citizenship in this case?

Besides, I believe both of these girls have the potential to go far on the US team. Already Ann Patrice is a force in the US and given time Ye Bin will be also.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by Pupiczech
I know, from listening to Dick and Peggy and Terry talk that Ann Patrice, although born in Korea, was adopted and came to the US at a very early age. Does one retain the citizenship in this case?

Possibly--it probably depends on whether her adoptive mother, who was also born in Korea, is still a Korean citizen. I assume her father is a U.S. citizen, so she may have dual citizenship or she may simply be a U.S. citizen. Either way, I think she's better off sticking with competing for the U.S. because she's already one of our top skaters.

As for Ye Bin, as soon as the commentators mentioned that her family came over in 1992 (?), I wondered if she was a U.S. citizen yet. Given that she isn't, I selfishly wouldn't mind seeing her skate for Korea--it would give her a lot more international exposure and we may even get to see more of her on TV than we do now. There's so much talent in the U.S. that even with her great skating quality, her inconsistency makes it questionable as to how far she'll actually go. Meanwhile, I'd guess that skating for Korea she'd have a lot more opportunities internationally. However, there are a lot of other reasons for a skater to choose which country to represent, and if she feels better about representing the U.S., that's fine too.

Incidentally, it's worth noting that if any current international competitor (from any country) does decide to switch countries in hopes of getting to the 2006 Olympics, they need to make the decision pretty much immediately. Even if citizenship isn't an issue, no one who competes for one country internationally in 2003-04 will be eligible to represent a different country in the 2006 Olympics. Just food for thought.

[cocanuts]

I definetly think so. to many people just getting the chance to compete in olympics and worlds is their goal and i feel bad for many US girls who will never get that chance but deserve it. AP could easily be top 10 in the world and most likely higher. i think they should and angela should go for Bulgaria, like sydney vogel for germany, but hopefully more successful

[irene2020]

[quote]I assume her father is a U.S. citizen, so she may have dual citizenship or she may simply be a U.S. citizen.[quote]

I think US only allows one citizenship even though other countries allow more. She has to choose at 18 or 21? If she skates for another country, I think this means US will not recognize her american citizenship anymore.

[Lise]

If she were to skate for Canada, she would be able to keep dual citizenship, even have 3 citiznships if she wishes..

[Artemis]

Originally posted by irene2020
I think US only allows one citizenship even though other countries allow more. She has to choose at 18 or 21? If she skates for another country, I think this means US will not recognize her american citizenship anymore. [/B]

I know many, many people who have dual citizenship, US + Canada or US + another country. So it's certainly possible for her to have dual citizenship.