Figure Skating - Eligibility - Other Eligibility Rules

Other Eligibility Rules

Skaters may represent a country of which they are not yet a citizen in most competitions, except the Olympics which require citizenship.

Each country may send one to a maximum of three entries per event, thus, even if a skater has a high season's best, he or she may not be sent to major events if their country has many good skaters in a discipline. Some skaters have tried to circumvent this by switching to another country. In response, the ISU introduced rules barring a skater from 24 months or more of international competition from the date of his or her last event for the previous country. The previous country may block the skater for longer if he or she has competed at a major event like the Olympics.

For pair skaters and ice dancers, this may be reduced to one year to reduce the difficulty of finding a new partner but only if the skater obtains a release from his or her previous skating federation. Even if a skater has dual citizenship, the previous federation may block him or her for 24 months or more from the date of his or her last ISU Championships (Worlds, Europeans, Four Continents, Junior Worlds) or 12 months if he competed in some other international competition.

Skaters may lose their Olympic eligibility if they perform in an unsanctioned show or competition.

Beginning in the 2010–11 season, skaters were required to meet minimum scores in order to compete at the World, European, or Four Continents Championships. In the 2011–12 season, different minimum scores were introduced to the Grand Prix series.