My question is, if we get a spot for the Olympics, who do we send?
It's pretty clear that the most important thing in Moscow is to get a spot for the Olympics, so what happens if we actually get it? Do we send the lady who earned the spot, or do we send another? Since Liu and Fang don't have a realistic chance at medaling, and will most likely retire after 2006, then why send them to the biggest competition? Xu is dubbed our hope for the future, then why not send her to the Olympics? Sure, she might bomb and finish last, but an Olympic experience is worth many many training sessions. But this way, it'll be very unfair for Fang/Liu (the one earning the Olympic berth), because she earned it in the first place. We don't want to be like the Swiss government not sending Lucinda Ruh to Nagano after she earned the spot in 97, do we? But if we send Xu, some are afraid she won't make it out of qualifying and then we'll be left with nothing at Torino.
4CC might very well be a good "second Nationals" to choose who to send. The Japanese ladies are selecting their 3rd member there too, except for them, it's because there are too many girls, and for us it's the lack of talent. :( If I had to choose between Fang and Liu, I'd go with Fang simply because of her experience. Neither of the girls have shown consistency, much less consistence to perform under PRESSURE, who knows what Liu might do at the biggest competition of her life to date? At least Fang has been there before and the judges at least know her. Nobody cares that Liu won Nationals (Chinese Nationals simply doesn't carry any weight in the judges' minds, most people don't even know that the competition actually took place) or that her highest finish in the GPs was 8th over Fang's 9th.
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