Controversies surrounding U.S. Olympic team selections highlight flawed process

With the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games drawing nearer, National Olympic Committees, and their constituent national sports federations, are now in the time period in which they must define their athletes and entries for the Olympic Games. The challenging and controversial nature of these selection processes were on full display as the United States worked to define its entries for luge, speed skating, and figure skating over the weekend.

In luge, a controversial selection was made in the doubles event, which saw a lower-ranked pair in the World Cup standings selected over a higher-ranked pair. Chris Mazdzer and Jasyon Terdiman are currently the best-ranked American pair in the World Cup standings. Their gap to the second-best-ranked American pair, Dana Kellogg and Duncan Segger, currently stands at 87 points, a significant margin. Neither of those pairs were selected to represent the United States at the Olympic Games however.

Instead, USA Luge selected the third-ranked doubles sled, Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander. The pair was selected by USA Luge according to the criteria set forth by the organization. They were selected despite having a lower World Cup ranking and despite them only managing to beat the top ranked sled, Mazdzer and Terdiman, once this season.

That victory came at the first World Cup event of the season held at the new Olympic track in Yanqing. It should be pointed out, however, that Kellogg and Segger were actually the best-ranked American pair during that World Cup, finishing over a second ahead of DiGregorio and Hollander. Terdiman and Mazdzer also anchored the U.S. relay team to a second place finish at that same World Cup, beating out twelve other nations.

However, despite the better results of other pairs at key events, DiGergorio and Hollander were ultimately the pair selected by USA Luge due to their performance at the last World Cup counting towards Olympic qualification. Yet, they were once again beaten by Kellogg and Segger at that event. DiGregorio and Hollander were ultimately selected because of a quirk in USA Luge’s selection criteria.

None of the American doubles sleds had met USA Luge’s top selection criteria. Thus, selection hinged on a single race during what was effectively the qualification round for the last World Cup event counting towards Olympic selection. Mazdzer and Terdiman failed to finish the race, a first for their season, and thus lost the selection battle. DiGregorio and Hollander happened to be the fastest team during that one race, and thus earned the right to represent the United States in Beijing.

Chris Mazdzer reacted to the selection on Instagram, posting, “what pains me deep down is that the results from the season show that Jayson and I were the best doubles team to represent the U.S. I promise that I gave 100%, I know that Jayson did too. I need to state that I am not trying to diminish anything the other doubles team did this season as they were also working incredibly hard.”

He added, “what mattered was this one run. I felt ready. But in sports sometimes things don’t go your way…”

The selection of DiGregorio and Hollander by USA Luge certainly raises questions about the Olympic selection process, questions echoed by selection controversies in speed skating and figure skating.

Erin Jackson, ranked first on the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Special Olympic Qualification Classification and winner of four of the eight World Cup 500m races held this season, was initially left off the U.S. Olympic team after stumbling during her heat of the 500m event at the 2022 U.S. Speed Skating Trials.

Brittany Bowe and Kimi Goetz, who placed ahead of Jackson at the Trials, were originally awarded spots in the 500m for the Olympics. However, after qualifying for other events, Bowe decided to relinquish her spot in the 500m in favor of Jackson.

Commenting on the situation, Bowe stated, “there’s no doubt in my mind that Erin has earned her spot over the first four World Cups. She is going into these Olympics as the number one 500-meter woman and she should start that race and have a chance to not just bring home a medal, but a gold one.”

Reacting to the news that she would indeed be going to the Olympics, Jackson commented, “this is just a big relief and it feels awesome to be able to do this with Britt. I’ve grown up with Britt, looking up to her since I was 10-years-old. She’s a phenomenal athlete and everyone sees that and now I’m just excited for the world to see what an amazing person she is.”

While Bowe’s action is admirable and worthy of commendation, it does lead to an ethical question about the selection process. Should the best-ranked skater in the world be denied Olympic selection because of a mistake in one race? Beyond this question is the fact that the United States only had two spots in that event in part due to the efforts of Jackson.

Nonetheless, an agreeable solution was found, guaranteeing that all of the best American speed skaters will be heading to Beijing.

U.S. Figure Skating, on the other hand, was faced with a controversy opposite to that of U.S. Speed Skating.

Ilia Malinin produced a surprising second place finish at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. However, he was denied an Olympic berth, with U.S. Figure Skating opting to send Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, and Jason Brown instead.

While Chen had won the competition, Zhou and Brown had finished behind Malinin in third and fourth respectively. It should be noted that the U.S. Figure Skating Championships aren’t the only event U.S. Figure Skating takes into account when naming the team, but the event is generally considered an important step in Olympic selection.

It was generally accepted, and very much expected, that Vincent Zhou would be selected for the U.S. Olympic team, but the selection of Brown over Malinin wasn’t without controversy. Brown and Malinin were closely matched on the criteria laid out by U.S. Figure Skating.

Brown was ultimately given the nod over Malinin, despite Malinin’s spectacular performance at an important qualification event, which also served as the only head-to-head competition between the two.

The controversial selections highlight a larger issue with subjective Olympic team selection process conducted by national federations and National Olympic Committees. It questions if athletes are able to earn their spot at the Olympics through athletic performance, or if they are affected by decisions made outside the athletic sphere, even if those decisions are informed by athletic performance.

It’s important to note that national federations and National Olympic Committees are well within their rights, in most sports, to determine which athletes are selected for Olympic participation. They can use their own criteria, so long as the athlete selected meets the eligibility requirements laid out by the international sports federation in the qualification system for the Olympics.

In regards to luge, speed skating, and figure skating, all three sports allow National Olympic Committees to have the final say in which athletes are selected for participation at the Olympic Games. Any sort of internal qualification criteria, or even subjective decisions on selection, are allowed under the qualification document.

This can lead to odd situations where the athletes who qualified for a country for an event or sport, are passed over in favor of other athletes who are in the favor of those making the selection, who would have failed to qualify for the Olympics on their own, or who are ranked lower than the athletes who originally earned the spot.

The ambiguous nature of these qualification systems can lead to decisions that can negatively affect athletes who rightfully earned their spot at the Olympic Games through athletic achievement, and can lead to choices which leave some of the best athletes in the world on the outside looking in.

There is an alternative to this method of Olympic qualification though; awarding quota spots directly to athletes. The qualification document drawn up by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) and approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dictates that “the quota place is allocated to the athlete(s) by name.”

This means that the right to compete at the Olympic Games is guaranteed to the athlete who qualified for a country for the Olympics. It helps guarantee the best athletes in the world are represented at the Olympics, while eliminating the subjective nature of national selections.

Currently, the selection of athletes for all sports at the Olympic Winter Games is left up to National Olympic Committees, and in many cases, national federations. It may be worth considering a switch to the athlete-centric approach for Olympic qualification in future cycles.

Whether or not an athlete-centric approach to Olympic qualification will be taken remains to be seen. It is clear, however, that the temperature of international winter sports is heating up as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games draw closer and athlete selections, subjective or not, take place before the Games.