By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
Super Class on Ice and Ice All-Stars each announced its performers for their upcoming shows on Aug. 1 and 2, and Aug. 14 to 16, respectively.
However, controversy is brewing over whether three skaters, Jeffrey Buttle and Joannie Rochette of Canada, and American Evan Lysacek will be performing at both shows.
The Super Class show, now in its eighth year, is hosted by Hyundai Card while Samsung Electronics is hosting its first ever Ice All-Stars show. While both are claiming that the three will skate at their shows, a representative from IMG, the agency that represents the trio, said they will only be at the Hyundai Card show.
``We never heard about that. The three players will perform at the Super Class only,'' IMG Korea figure skating representative Jung Joon-seok told The Korea Times, Tuesday.
But IB Sports, which is organizing the Ice All-Stars show, said it contacted the three skaters directly and they all agreed to perform.
Korean figure skating superstar Kim Yu-na will also perform at the Ice All-Stars show. Super Class organizers had contacted IB Sports, which also represents Kim, but she will only skate at the one show.
``We had negotiations with IB Sports about inviting Kim Yu-na, but they failed. So that we decided to call the three skaters to guarantee the show's quality,'' a Hyundai Card representative said. ``We made a deal with IMG, the agency of the three skaters. There is no problem with us.''
An official who is involved in the Super Class criticized the arrogance of IB Sports.
``I think IB Sports thought that we could not do the ice show without Kim Yu-na. We want to show that the event can be successful without Kim Yu-na.''
Buttle and Lysacek are former world men's champions while Rochette won silver at last year's ISU World Championships.
IB Sports said that having the same skaters perform at both shows was not what they had envisioned.
``We were embarrassed to hear the names of the performers of the other show,'' IB Sports said. ``It is hard to cast skaters who already have performed in the previous event.''
``We will not ask for the exclusive right for the skaters. The purpose of the Super Class on Ice is to give the promising players a lesson from world star players,'' a Hyundai Card representative said.
The complicated situation appears to illustrate the competitive behind-the-scenes squabbles between sports agencies. Kim, who has become a skating superstar in Korea, signed a contract with IMG Korea in May 2006 that ran until 2010 but made the move to IB Sports in 2007. United States-based IMG filed a lawsuit against the IB Sports for 2 billion won ($1.6 million), but failed to win the case.