UKC

Well that looks a pretty comprehensive summary of where we're at. All a bit of a mess but seems to have resulted from genuine misunderstanding rather than any real intent to pervert the process.  Though, has to be said, the original Japanese plan did seem to be taking the p!ss a bit and their continuing involvement in the selection events will win them few friends.

My head hurts.

Thanks for the really comprehensive report.  I don't envy the time it will have taken to write this all up in a sensible way.

Thanks for the detailed report. 

I hope IFSC and JMSCA will resolve this quickly so that athletes don't get jerked around and climbing doesn't get a black eye in the minds of future olympic committees. 

“And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if CLIMBING, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if CLIMBING, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

My head still hurts. Learning Japanese is easier!

According to Alexey's Instagram he was pretty pleased with the invitation the got for Toulouse.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4S9-rfIsz9/

This is the most meaningful and valuable post on UKC. 

Actually, the way I interpret it, there shouldn't be any confusion, but quite obviously I must be mistaken then as there is...

It says in the IFSC Qualification document: The qualification events are listed in hierarchical order of qualification.

1. World Championships

2. Olympic Qualifying Event

3. Continental Championship

4. Host country places

5. Tripartite Commission Invitation Places

The way I see it, this means the host country places only come into play in the event that no Japanese climbers have qualified. After all, it's only there to ensure host country representation, not to give them an (unfair) advantage.

Also, it means qualifying through the OQE (Toulouse) or continental championships can never trumf qualifying through the World Championship.

What am I missing??

There are only three qualification "EVENTS".

Host country places & Tripartite Commission Invitation Places are not events and are not listed in the events table.  Therefore it  COULD be considerred they are not part of the same hierarchical order.

Whilst I agree your interpretion IS how the IFSC intended to work, it is by no means clearly defined in the document.

We can only speculate why the IFSC DID NOT (edit) at least make a start at sorting this out back in June BEFORE the World Champs.

Anyway it looks like the athletes that were bumped off the bottom of the list have been re-added, so no-ones chances have been killed off. I hope the Janpanese involvement at Toulouse doesn't have too big an impact. That said, I can imagine a senario where two Japanese climbers keep someone out of the top 8 final and it's chance to move up from 7-8th into 1-6th and Olympic spot.

Further Edit: Can you just imagine the "fun" if Ondra touches a bolt in quals and finishes 9th with two Japanese in the final.