Skaters Without Borders

2010-02-17 (수) 12:00:00

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By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

TALLINN, Estonia - She is a 20-year-old from Richmond, Virginia. He is 24 and from Whitby, Ontario. Together, they compete for Greece as a professional pairs figure skating team.

The globalization of skating, as exemplified by Jessica Crenshaw and her skating partner, Chad Tsagris, whose father is Greek, was on full display at the European championships here in late January.

Countries of origin and nationality were once determining factors, but rules changes and increased movement of talent across borders make for ever more exotic mixes on and off the medal stand. Of the 16 pairs who made it to the championship’s free program, six were composed of skaters who started their careers competing for different countries. Of the 26 teams in original dance, nine were in the same situation.

There were Frenchmen skating for Italy; Ukrainians skating for Bulgaria and Germany; and a Canadian-born Briton skating for France.

There was also Yuko Kavaguti, a former singles skater from Japan whose surname was Kawaguchi before it was modified after she took Russian nationality .

International Skating Union rules require only one member of a pairs or ice dance team to have a passport from the country they represent. In order to increase the competitive pool and allow skaters to find partners more easily , citizenship rules were eased in 2006. Skaters who switch allegiances after representing another country must now sit out just one calendar year, instead of two, before representing their new nation in I.S.U. championships. The one-year rule only applies if their former nation releases them.

“They had to do it to save the sport,” said the British pairs skater David King, who skates with his compatriot Stacey Kemp. “Look, not many teams were coming. There were only 11 or 12 in Europeans a few years ago. So they had to mix it up a bit. This year we had 21 teams in Europeans, so it’s fantastic. It’s pushing the sport. It’s so easy to travel these days. It makes no sense to have teams from just one country.”

Ms. Kavaguti left Japan in 1999 to train with the renowned Russian pairs coach Tamara Moskvina in New Jersey. She represented the United States for a period with an American partner before moving to Russia with Moskvina in 2003. She ultimately renounced her Japanese citizenship so she could compete with Aleksandr Smirnov at the highest level, including the Olympics.

“It’s strange to need a visa to go back to your own country,” said Ms. Kavaguti .

But after her decade-long quest, Ms. Kavaguti received her first major reward at the European championship. She and Mr. Smirnov upset Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, who had won the last three European titles and the last two world titles.

Many of the skaters who have switched nations could not find partners in their own countries.

Caitlin Mallory, a 22-year-old studying neuroscience at the University of Michigan, could not find an American partner, so she is competing for Estonia with Kristjan Rand. “It’s wonderful to have the support of a country behind you,” Ms. Mallory said, “but day in and day out, you are training just the two of you together.”

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