Country hopping in figure skating

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French-born and Canadian-raised ice dancing team Isabelle & Paul Duchesnay originally competed for Canada. They switched to skating for France in 1985 and won the silver medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics for France.

Country hopping is a phenomenon in the figure skating world. There are many different reasons why competitors switch countries, but it mostly comes down to maximizing the possibility of being able to compete at the World Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympic Games. If a skater cannot do that representing his or her home country, he or she will often go looking for another one. Because spots to Worlds and the Olympics are allotted by country, not by skater, a skater can hope to transfer to a new country and have a better chance of becoming national champion, being sent to Worlds, and qualifying for a spot in the Olympics.

1 Singles
2 Pairs and ice dancing
3 Famous or notable examples
4 ISU rules
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Singles

Historically, countries with deep fields will have more World-class skaters than slots to the World Figure Skating Championships.^{[citation needed]} Some skaters who are always left off the podium at their National Championships may start looking around for other countries to represent.

For skaters from the old Soviet Union, the fall of the USSR gave them many options. They could claim citizenship of a former soviet republic^{[citation needed]} and represent that, and it is normal to see skaters from the SSRs having formerly skated representing Russia.^{[citation needed]}

For skaters from the United States and Canada, it is more typical to see a skater look back to his or her family's country of origin.^[1]^[2] In previous years, this meant looking back towards Europe, but, more and more, skaters from the United States are looking south towards Puerto Rico and Mexico for countries to represent.^[2]^[3]

[edit] Pairs and ice dancing

It is different in pair skating and ice dancing. Whereas single skaters can move as they choose, pair and dance skaters are often constrained by their need to have someone with whom to skate. More and more, pair and ice dancing teams are becoming multi-national as pair skaters and ice dancers are no longer restricting their search for a partner to their own borders.

This, combined with the fall of the Soviet Union, has led to a phenomenon that many in skating circles refer to disparagingly as Rent-A-Russian. A male ice dancer from the former Soviet Union is paired up with a lady from a different country. In less successful couples, the male is often much more experienced than the female, and the differences in their skill levels often leads to tension and the dissolution of the partnership.^[4] In more successful couples, the two are more evenly matched, even though the Russian may still be acting as a ringer. The family of the lady will often pay all the bills for the man in an attempt to keep the man from moving on to a different partner.^[4] While not all rented Russian partnerships are successful, they have made their mark on skating. Beginning in 1993, there has been at least one multi-national couple on the ice-dancing podium every year at the United States Figure Skating Championships, and in all but two of those years, at least one of those couples was a Russian/American mix.

In pair skating, Japanese ladies have had success in switching countries. This has historically been mostly American/Japanese pairings, but Japanese women are now competing for Russia and Canada in pair skating at the highest levels.

Country hopping is not just restricted to one nationality or country. As skating becomes more of a global sport, more and more pairings are multinational, leading to citizenship problems. Because the International Olympic Committee requires citizenship in order to represent a country in the Olympics, pair and dance teams must weigh the risks of being able to compete at the Olympics against keeping their citizenship.

[edit] Famous or notable examples

Dianne de Leeuw, born and raised in the United States and having a Dutch mother, won the silver medal at the 1976 Olympics, the 1975 World Championships, and the 1976 European Championships, all representing the Netherlands.

Alexei Tikhonov, born and raised in the Soviet Union, won the bronze medal at the 1989 World Junior Figure Skating Championships with Irina Saifutdinova, representing the Soviet Union. He then competed for Japan with Yukiko Kawasaki. He paired up with Maria Petrova in 1998 and now competes for Russia.

Marina Anissina, born and raised in the Soviet Union, won the 1990 and 1992 World Junior Figure Skating Championships with Ilia Averbukh. When she teamed up with Gwendal Peizerat, representing France, she was the recipient of accelerated citizenship so she could represent France at the Olympic Games. She and Peizerat went on to win two Olympic medals, one of them gold.

Kyoko Ina, born in Japan but raised in the United States, competed for Japan for many years as a single skater, placing as high as fourth at the Japanese national championships. She switched to skating for the United States, and skated pairs starting in 1991. She competed at three Olympic Games for the United States.

Rena Inoue, born and raised in Japan, competed for Japan as a single and pairs skater at the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Games. She moved to the United States and teamed up with John Baldwin. Inoue received American citizenship in 2005 and she and Baldwin competed together for the United States at the 2006 Olympics.

In a rare case of a complete team switching countries, French-born and Canadian-raised ice dancing team Isabelle & Paul Duchesnay originally competed for Canada. They switched to skating for France in 1985 and won the silver medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics for France.

Several skaters representing Israel have previously competed for other countries. Michael Shmerkin, Roman Serov, and Sergei Sakhnovski represented the Soviet Union or Russia^[5]^[6]^[7], while Galit Chait, born in Israel, skated in the United States national championships^[8].

[edit] ISU rules

Due to the advantages of switching countries, the International Skating Union has set down rules requiring skaters to wait up to two years between representing countries and must meet residency requirements in order to represent his or her new country. The IOC's requirements are much stricter, requiring every person representing a country to hold citizenship from that country. Therefore, multinational pair and ice dancing teams may not able to qualify for Olympic Games due to citizenship problems. Such a team, however, could still represent that country at the World Figure Skating Championships, as ISU rules allow skaters to represent a country as residents, rather than citizens.

The skaters' previous home federations must also release the skater before he or she can compete for a different country as a resident in international competition.