RUSSIA: FIGURE SKATING - Russia ready for World Figure Skating Championships after last-minute move from Japan

Record ID: 722447

  • Title: RUSSIA: FIGURE SKATING - Russia ready for World Figure Skating Championships after last-minute move from Japan
  • Date: 23rd April 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 22, 2011) (REUTERS) WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS VENUE - 'MEGASPORT' ARENA BANNER WITH LOGO OF CHAMPIONSHIPS AND RED SQUARE VIEW RUSSIAN, MOSCOW , INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION (ISU) AND CHAMPIONSHIP FLAGS ON MAST ISU AND CHAMPIONSHIP FLAGS ON MAST
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA522XFMBIL14JW577V79ZQDX81
  • Story Text: Moscow is preparing to host the World Figure Skating Championships which will run from April 24 to May 1 at Moscow's Megasport Arena, the city's premier ice sports venue.
    After the International Skating Union announced on March 24 that Moscow would replace earthquake and tsunami-hit Japan as host of 2011 Championships, it meant that Russia needed to undertake unprecedented preparations to provide all the necessary facilities for tens of thousands of fans, media and service workers, skaters and coaches by the end of April.
    The Russian Figure Skating Federation's bid beat out the applications of national skating federations of Austria, Canada, Croatia, Finland and the United States.
    The ISU championship organisers chose the Megasport Arena in Moscow as the main venue, relying on promises by the Russian government to help with eased visa regulations, and announced its choice in March.
    Questions still remain if Russia has really managed to organize an event that normally takes, experts say, about two years, in just one month.
    Russian coach Tatyana Tarasova, who has trained top athletes in many countries, including Japan and the U.S., said she was proud that the ISU had chosen Russia as host country.
    "You can't miss or postpone a championship. We extended a hand of help and were chosen above other countries and I think we deserved to be given this preference," Tarasova said.
    Although the upcoming event will have a bitter aftertaste of the tragedy that meant the Championships had to move from Japan to Russia, Tarasova is sure it was the right decision not to cancel an event which many had long been preparing for.
    "We appreciate the tragedy the Japanese have gone through. A lot of countries would be afraid to go there and they themselves have other matters to attend to instead of hosting such championships. I know it first hand as I have a lot of friends there who are trying to rebuild their country, who are real patriots. They don't want to leave, they are there coping with their pain. But you can't cancel a championship because everyone is getting ready for it - sportsmen, coaches, the whole world," Tarasova told Reuters.
    The Japanese team will represent one of the world's strongest figure skating schools which Tarasova said had learnt much from the ex-Soviet and Russian figure skating coaches and athletes.
    In the women's tournament the Olympic figure skating champion from South Korea, Kim-Yu Na will be up against her great rival, Japan's Mao Asada, while in the men's event Daisuke Takahashi of Japan is the defending champion.
    Tatyana Tarasova has no doubts the competition will be tough and that the Japanese athletes will put on a strong performance despite the tragedy at home.
    "The Japanese are the people who would go hand by hand with great determination against all the odds. They work really hard in any field, let it be science, arts or sport," Tarasova said.
    Up to 70,000 fans are expected to buy tickets to watch the championships, 530 journalists will cover the event and 3,000 athletes, coaches, referees and other officials will participate. All of these people need accomodation and transport, which Moscow says it is now ready to provide.
    The Russian national team hopes to perform well, men's single contender Artur Gachinsky among them, although the team has no current world champions and not all of the team has experience of this level of competition. Russia's pre-eminent Russian skater Yevgeny Plyushchenko, who won three world champion titles and one Olympic gold, currently skates professionally and wasn't able to reinstate his amateur status.
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