When playing by the rules apparently doesn't apply to figure skating officials, a team gets shut out of a world meet
/Some may wonder why I have spent several days this week in reporting and writing this story about a junior team in a non-Olympic discipline of figure skating.
The answer: rules are rules, but international and national governing bodies in many Olympic sports have a tendency to stretch them, even as they spout commitment to Olympic ideals. (Yes, stretch is a euphemism). And these cases usually get little outside scrutiny.
That’s the background. Here’s the story:
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A suburban Chicago synchronized skating team has been deprived of a spot at the World Junior Championships because a U.S. Figure Skating selection committee apparently both did not follow its own rules and then gave an ex-post facto justification for the selection decision.
The rules in force leave little doubt that the Chicago Jazz should have been given a place at the 2017 World Junior Championships March 10-11 in Mississauga, Ont.
The Jazz, based in Glenview, Ill., has filed a grievance with the USFS under the governing body’s provisions for such complaints.
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