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Figure skaters kiss and make up
The standoff between ice dance stars Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz and the Canadian Figure Skating Association has ended, opening the door for the defending world championship bronze medallists to compete for Canada this season.
During the past few weeks the two sides have been locked in a disagreement over the athletes' agreement, the working contract national team skaters sign each year with the CFSA. The problem was about marketing rights, specifically the extent the CFSA can use the skaters' names and likeness in promotions.
Kevin Albrecht of IMG, the marketing agency representing the skaters, said the pair signed a "slightly revised" agreement, but played down reports that the standoff was turning nasty or may have resulted in Bourne and Kraatz kissing the national team goodbye.
"It was a very small deal made into a very big deal unfortunately," said Albrecht, adding that while the pair are happy the issue finally is resolved, it has been business as usual for weeks.
TRAINING HARD
"They've been training hard and organizing their programs," Albrecht said.
The CFSA issued a rambling and rather bizarre communique yesterday defending athlete/federation agreements, without indicating exactly what finally ended the deadlock yesterday.
"All CFSA national team athletes receive considerable financial support while retaining the right to their prize money, appearance fees, and the use of their image in approved non-Association competing contracts", the communique read.
The team's first taste of eligible or amateur competition likely will come at Skate Canada, Nov. 5-8, in Kamloops, B.C.
Bourne and Kraatz are expected to do well this year given the rule changes implemented by the International Skating Union which make it easier for ice-dance judges to score the event.
The Lake Placid-based team has been involved in a series of scoring controversies. Many felt that the international dance judges scored the athletically proficient pair much too low in comparison to their artsy Russian counterparts.
The situation came to a head at the 1998 world championships in Minneapolis when the packed house at the Target Center booed ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta when the dance medals were presented.