iris123 21,070 Posted March 4, 2018 On 02/03/2018 at 2:30 PM, f-s-p said: Why is Finland in Manchester and USA in Germany? Actually I have a pretty good guess, but wanted to ask out loud anyway. All the Americans are based in the UK, right? Lunna is the only Finn. Just to humour you,as it seems nobody is really bothered,but why it this worth a remark? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 3 Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) On 03/03/2018 at 11:20 AM, someone said: There was one in the 2008 SWC, but the TV graphics could not cope with displaying the half point. So afterwards BSI decided they could not be awarded in their events,, even though they remained in the FIM rule books. I seriously doubt that. As someone who’s job is TV graphics it is entirely possible that the issue wasn’t thought of initially and so you’re probably right the system couldn’t cope but any half decent and contentment real time graphic provider would have a programmer on site who would have made a change during an ad break and half points would have been added. It’s a really simple change. Can someone confirm the eligibility criteria for riders/country? It’s being suggested Vaculík is eligible for Slovakia but doesn’t he have a Polish passport and ride in the Polish league as a Pole? Surely it’s passport and not license?! But then this is speedway! Edited March 4, 2018 by SCB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted March 4, 2018 42 minutes ago, iris123 said: Just to humour you,as it seems nobody is really bothered,but why it this worth a remark? Team USA is bothered. We’ll see what happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 21,070 Posted March 4, 2018 5 minutes ago, f-s-p said: Team USA is bothered. We’ll see what happens. Ok,i thought maybe you was suggesting Finland had a great chance if they rode in Germany?!? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) For team events its passport and for individuals its license. so Vaculik has a Polish passport and Polish FMN license. But he also has a Slovakian passport and his FIM license is Slovakian. So he’s Slovakian for the GP but Polish for Ekstraliga. And because of his dual passport he can ride for Poland or Slovakia in SoN. Not both. I hope... Edited March 4, 2018 by f-s-p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted March 4, 2018 Just now, iris123 said: Ok,i thought maybe you was suggesting Finland had a great chance if they rode in Germany?!? Yes they so have a greater chance!... of actually being there. All entries are provisional until March 8th. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 21,070 Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) 14 minutes ago, SCB said: Can someone confirm the eligibility criteria for riders/country? It’s being suggested Vaculík is eligible for Slovakia but doesn’t he have a Polish passport and ride in the Polish league as a Pole? Surely it’s passport and not license?! But then this is speedway! Actually I thought speedway was a bit crazy on some points,but it seems so far have been quite reasonable.It came to my attention during the winter Olympics that some other sports are pretty slack with their rules.The German Ice Dance pair that won gold have appeared in world chmpionships as Germany,but the guy(French) didn't have a german passport.He only just received one a short while before the Olympics as they have stricter rules than the world championships....... And in handball there is one guy who has played at international level for 4 different countries.Ok,you have to allow him 2 as his first country(Yugoslavia) doesn't exist any more Edited March 4, 2018 by iris123 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f-s-p 832 Posted March 4, 2018 Finnish born Timo Grönlund finished somewhere in the middle in Nordic skiing 15km in the omympics. He was skiing as a Bolivian. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 21,070 Posted March 4, 2018 And as I mentioned before there was a german woman representing South Korea,because she couldn't get into the German team Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2ndbendbeerhut 1,781 Posted March 4, 2018 Going back to the scoring.... Maybe it should have been like Cycle Speedway 4 3 2 1. But with 0 points for an exclusion or non finish. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 3 Posted March 4, 2018 4 hours ago, f-s-p said: For team events its passport and for individuals its license. so Vaculik has a Polish passport and Polish FMN license. But he also has a Slovakian passport and his FIM license is Slovakian. So he’s Slovakian for the GP but Polish for Ekstraliga. And because of his dual passport he can ride for Poland or Slovakia in SoN. Not both. I hope... Dual nationality, makes sense. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
norbold 7,161 Posted March 4, 2018 In the last Olympic Games, I think there were something like 20 players born in China playing table tennis, with only six of those actually representing China! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
erinil1 7 Posted March 4, 2018 36 minutes ago, norbold said: In the last Olympic Games, I think there were something like 20 players born in China playing table tennis, with only six of those actually representing China! And lets not forget those who are ethnic chinese (ethnic han I would assume) and played for other east asian countires like Taiwan, HongKong, Singapore, Malaysia etc. The most "extreme" case I would say is Li Ping who represented Qatar in Rio but who became a World Champion in Mixed Doubles during the 2009 World Championships in Yokohama, Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ping_(table_tennis) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,974 Posted March 5, 2018 11 hours ago, iris123 said: Actually I thought speedway was a bit crazy on some points,but it seems so far have been quite reasonable.It came to my attention during the winter Olympics that some other sports are pretty slack with their rules.The German Ice Dance pair that won gold have appeared in world chmpionships as Germany,but the guy(French) didn't have a german passport.He only just received one a short while before the Olympics as they have stricter rules than the world championships....... And in handball there is one guy who has played at international level for 4 different countries.Ok,you have to allow him 2 as his first country(Yugoslavia) doesn't exist any more The whole concept of national teams and national representation is breaking down in a world with ever greater mobility and desperation for sporting success (both on the part of competitors and countries). To some extent it's fair enough that competitors with parentage or genuine links to more than one country have the choice, but flags of convenience are making a farce of it all. We saw that in the Olympic skiing half-pipe where the 'Hungarian' competitor basically just skied down the course without doing a single trick, although at least the 'Tongan' cross-country skier made a decent effort and didn't even finish last. To be honest, I don't really see why competitors in individual sports need to be representing any country at all, nor those in made-up 'team' sports like the luge doubles or pairs skating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 21,070 Posted March 5, 2018 As I say,i am just glad this is one area speedway has kept pretty clear of It does seem in the modern era sportspeople think it their right to be in these major competitions and so if they fail to get into their national team,will just swap to some other country.Or you get countries who haven't got the talent and so as a quick fix instead of investing in building a talent pool just 'buy' someone elses.I watched a programme about Turkey and one of the dodgy Asian countries,maybe Kazakhstan that were offering good money to African athletes to compete for them.In typical style a lot of the carrots dangled before them never appeared.There was the Russian football team filling up with Brazilian players or the I think Qatar handball team full of ex-Yugoslav country players Just imagine if Italy started to offer big money to Polish or Danish speedway riders,or riders from the major countries started turning out for Finland because they didn't get picked for their country?As it is,i still don't see what this new system has done to improve the lot of the lesser countries.You can pretty well pick who isn't going to make it through to the final and with GB,Germany and Poland you have 3 countries who pretty much held a SWC meeting annually......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites