Qualified!

Rule 400 A. paragraph 4 and 400 B. paragraph 4

Apparently that is in some ISU Rulebook somewhere...it's the rule that gives the ISU the ability to finish filling the Olympic Rooster in Vancouver.

Basically, if your nation didn't have spots already allocated to the Olympics via the World Championships in Los Angeles, you'd better get your butt into gear in Germany at the Olympic Qualifier...known this season as Nebelhorn Trophy.

How does this work? At the Olympics, 30 men, 30 women, 20 pairs teams, and 24 dance teams will be competing. At Worlds in L.A. 24 men, 23 women, 16 pairs, and 19 dance teams were qualified with 3, 2, or 1 spots being handed out to individual nations based upon performance. The remaining spots were qualified at Nebelhorn based upon placement of unqualified nations. What does that mean? For instance in the men's competition, there were six remaining Olympic Berths available (since 24 were already awarded in L.A.). The top six guys whose nation didn't qualify a spot in L.A. received one in Germany. Make sense?

Who came out the winners? Amongst the women:
China, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Spain, Belarus, and Israel (Israel qualified a spot because Georgia, despite earning two berths *Go Gedevanishvili* is only sending one woman to Vancouver).

Men:
Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Korea, Romania, and Finland.

Pairs:
Switzerland, Estonia, Poland, and Italy.

Dance:
China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, and Georgia.

Now the fun part is seeing who from these nations (if it hasn't been determined yet) get to compete in Vancouver.

You can see the full report here and also glance at nations that pre-qualified spots in Vancouver.