Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 It's a bit like how the oiled-up Tongan flagbearer (and several other no-hopers) got themselves into the cross-country skiing. Different set of criteria from sport to sport, but the principle is similar: turn up to enough qualification events and don't fuck up too badly and eventually you'll accumulate enough points to qualify (assuming you're from a country with no better/more willing/richer participants). Here's a few posts from a Finnish nerdfriend from another forum, from a few weeks ago when people were still trying to get the points they needed: _____________ The qualification rules for cross-country skiing and alpine skiing have a few loopholes. In both sports, qualification is based on FIS points. In FIS points, lower is better. If you win a World Cup race, your FIS score for that race is 0.00. Otherwise, your score depends on the quality of the competitors, the status of the race and your time difference to the winner. In cross-country skiing, qualification is based on the average of your best five races during the qualification period. If you have fewer than 300 FIS points and your nation has no other eligible skiers of your gender, you qualify. The catch? As long as the race is run under FIS rules and meets a certain set of conditions, the winner of *any* race will get fewer than 300 points. You can gather up a bunch of mates none of who are anywhere near Olympic level, run a few very close races, and voilà, everyone qualifies to the Olympics. And this was exactly what was done. There were four very... interesting roller ski races held in Bogotá six weeks ago. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31551 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31553 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31555 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31557 Everyone involved except Madrazo and Taufatofua qualified. And here's an example of how two of them fared in another race. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=28879 For context, none of the Finns in this race are likely to be in the Olympic team. The winner might be but probably won't. _____________ The Tongan qualified today. Weird race, too. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30423 Sanctions 3110005 FERNANDEZ Yonathan Jesus CHI Written reprimand, ICR 205.1 Competitiors mustalso follow the FIS rules regulations. 3540004 MADRAZO German MEX Disqualification, 343.7 Help from pacemakers or pushing is not allowed ??? _____________ There was another race today, and Madrazo, too got the FIS points he needed to qualify. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30425 Comparing times between different races over the same distance is often meaningless because terrain and weather conditions make a big difference in the sport. Still, a winning time of 54 minutes is woefully slow compared to the world level. In the World Championships last year the winning time was 36:44.0 and the slowest time, by a Mongolian skier, was 50:06.4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIS_Nordic_World_Ski_Championships_2017_–_Men's_15_kilometre_classical#Final It's also slow compared to what Dagur himself is capable of. Just under 43 minutes in Norway in November (148th place). http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30200 Either the blizzard affected the race badly or the Icelanders were hired to ski at a leisurely pace to game the FIS points. _____________ Fast-forward to the Olympics, and... _____________ Remember the weird roller ski races in Bogotá I wrote about earlier? Five of the seven participants in those races were the slowest five finishers today. www.fis-ski.com/cross-country/events-and-places/event=41093/race=29764/ _____________ With apologies for the mass paste (and the formatting - the quote function is not my friend today), but it's fascinating just how game-able the rules are if you've got the determination, the funding and the right passport. Roller ski ffs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30611 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I now know more about qualifying for cross country skiing than I ever dreamed possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I suppose it's no different to when they let that American Samoan shotputter run the 100 metres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30611 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 At least he actually ran. The real equivalent would have been if he'd sauntered the 100m to ensure he didn't trip over his laces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I fucking love the idea of a load of Colombians on roller skates racing for a place at the Winter Olympics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I can see why they're in a bit of a bind over it - they need to be seen to include as many countries as possible for what's supposed to be a world event, and winter sports are expensive and naturally geographically constrained to certain regions. But at the same time they can't have people turning up and not even being able to ski/skate/whatever, whereas everyone (even a burly shotputter) can run to some extent. Hence you get the fudge of "you have to prove your worth in multiple points-scoring events beforehand but they don't necessarily have to be good ones. Or actually on snow". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 5 minutes ago, ewerk said: At least he actually ran. The real equivalent would have been if he'd sauntered the 100m to ensure he didn't trip over his laces. Aye, I don’t mind mediocre athletes competing so long as they aren’t stopping more qualified ones doing so but she’s only ‘competing’ in the loosest sense of the word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44881 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 McButterfeet has hit the deck again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 FFS, how inevitable was that btw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44881 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Aye. Got back on her feet and still got disqualified anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30611 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Isn't that two Olympics in a row where she's crashed out/been disqualified from all three events? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Just now, ewerk said: Isn't that two Olympics in a row where she's crashed out/been disqualified from all three events? I think so, aye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 44881 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Her nickname is Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1245 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Is she a real athlete and not just another one of these ones just turning up for a laugh. From what I've seen of her I reckon I could do better. I've only skated once but managed to stay off me arse. Maybe she needs some of those shoes the curlers wear? They never seem to fall over on the ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 They look like the ones my Grandad had to compensate for having one leg shorter than the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4748 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 3 hours ago, ewerk said: Isn't that two Olympics in a row where she's crashed out/been disqualified from all three events? Which means the woman you were slagging off earlier for getting into the skiiing and just getting down the slope has done considerably better than her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I suppose that's true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30611 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I was thinking that if she'd just kept out of the way at least she'd have finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Carr's Gloves 3894 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Isn’t she like number 1 in the world at this as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooner 243 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 7 hours ago, Gemmill said: McButterfeet has hit the deck again. Who are you guys talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15529 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Elise Christie. She fell in the 500m, she fell in the 1,500m and got injured, then she fell in the 1,000m and looked like she might be injured again but there was a restart and she qualified but then she got disqualified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooner 243 Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Gotcha, short track is tough, so much can go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1245 Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Lets not spoil the fun of taking the piss out of her though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 35083 Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 16 minutes ago, David Kelly said: Lets not spoil the fun of taking the piss out of her though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now