Olympics competitors

[Dakine 26]

Just wondered what the requirements are for people to play for a certain country.

I've seen where LOTS of participants have lived and trained in the US for years and play for their country of birth.

Are they dual citizens? Here on visas? Or what.

Doesn't seem fair for them to benefit from living and training in the US for years and then playing for another country.

[Peikko 1,575]

If they pay the trainer the going rate, it's more than fair.

[Jenn! 918]

I think they come here to train on those visas for people with special talents, but retain their citizenship abroad.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Many countries pay for foreign athletes to come an help them win medals. The Olympics rules and regulations have gone in favor of corporate sponsorship and the almighty dollar.

[Jenn! 918]

Many countries pay for foreign athletes to come an help them win medals. The Olympics rules and regulations have gone in favor of corporate sponsorship and the almighty dollar.

Really? Don't you have to be a citizen to compete though?

I saw a story last night about a Russian gymnast from the 92 olympics whose son had leukemia and so she got sponsored to train in Germany and get medical care for her son. Now she's competing for Germany. I assumed that she had obtained German citizenship.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Many countries pay for foreign athletes to come an help them win medals. The Olympics rules and regulations have gone in favor of corporate sponsorship and the almighty dollar.

Really? Don't you have to be a citizen to compete though?

I saw a story last night about a Russian gymnast from the 92 olympics whose son had leukemia and so she got sponsored to train in Germany and get medical care for her son. Now she's competing for Germany. I assumed that she had obtained German citizenship.

One of the commentators mentioned it when I was watching the Olympics...said that Canada is known for recruiting foreign athletes to their country. I'm not sure if they're given citizenship or not though.

Foreign-born athletes take Olympic stage for US

NEW YORK (AP)—As the U.S. struggles with immigration policy, Americans will get a chance next month to see their melting-pot nation through the prism of foreign-born athletes competing in USA uniforms at the Beijing Olympics.

There are at least 33 of them, compared to 27 at the 2004 Summer Games, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which didn’t track the statistic before then. They include four Chinese-born table tennis players, a kayaker from Britain, Russian-born world champion gymnast Nastia Liukin and seven members of the track-and-field team.

For those seeking symbolism, it’s hard to top the men’s 1,500-meter squad— Kenya native Bernard Lagat; Lopez Lomong, one of the “lost boys” of Sudan’s civil war who spent a decade in a refugee camp; and Leo Manzano, a Mexican laborer’s son who moved to the U.S. when he was 4 but didn’t gain citizenship until 2004.

“It’s a magical time,” said U.S. men’s track coach, Bubba Thornton. “I’m glad that these young men found their way here. It may just remind us all of where we came from, and how hard the struggle may have been, and how big the dream was to be here.”

Within their sport, the three 1,500-meter runners have been warmly embraced, as have other immigrants among the 596 U.S. Olympic athletes.

“I don’t think of any of our foreign-born athletes as foreign,” said Jill Geer, USA Track & Field’s communications director. “In USATF, no one considers them anything but American, and I’m not saying that just because it’s the right thing to say.”

Beyond the realm of sports, the rancorous national debate over immigration has focused on foreigners here illegally and whether they should be offered some sort of pathway to citizenship.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors stricter immigration enforcement, said foreign-born Olympians merit public support—but should be viewed as exceptions in a system fraught with flaws and unfairness.

“Not everybody coming into the U.S. is an Olympic athlete or a Nobel prize winner,” Mehlman said. “Maybe this ought to be a wake-up call that we ought to design am immigration policy that seeks out exceptional people. Now, most of it is based on extended families. … you don’t have a policy designed to bring in people who fit the needs of this country.”

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said the achievements of naturalized citizens like Lagat and Lomong should be celebrated, but not used as an argument for a more lenient immigration policy.

Gheen passed along a joke circulating on the Internet that alludes to illegal Mexico-to-U.S. border-crossing—over fences, deserts and the Rio Grande. The gist of it: Mexico will do poorly in the Olympics “because all their best runners, jumpers and swimmers are in the United States.”

“The American public is starting to sour on all immigration in reaction to rampant illegal immigration,” Gheen said. “The danger is if people say, ‘Look at these immigrants who are in the Olympics—therefore you should provide a path to citizenship for all the illegal immigrants in the country.”’

Randy Capps, a demographer with the nonpartisan Urban Institute who studies immigrant families, sees the U.S. as keeping pace with global competition in its acceptance of foreign-born athletes.

“Would you rather have them competing for someone else? Would you rather the U.S. be more competitive or less competitive?” he asked. “You wouldn’t want an immigration policy that would exclude people who could potentially be the best at what they do.”

Many other countries welcome foreign-born athletes to their own teams. Canada, with a relatively open immigration policy, expects to have more than 50 on its team in Beijing.

Generally, foreign countries don’t complain when their citizens relocate to compete for the U.S. However, some Kenyan officials were displeased when they learned that Lagat—who attended Washington State University but won two Olympic medals for Kenya—had quietly gained U.S. citizenship in 2004 prior to the Athens Games.

Among fans, attitudes toward foreign-born athletes are complex. For example, one participant in an online discussion among track buffs on Run-Down.com bemoaned a 1500-meter competition with no U.S.-born runners, yet admitted to hoping the Stars and Stripes would be raised after the final.

Indeed, the U.S. has scored relatively few major triumphs internationally in distance running in recent years—fueling a perception that the U.S. lacks its own world-class talent and that foreign-born runners are the best hope for Olympic medals in distance events.

Yet Jill Geer said native-born runners in the past two years have started to alter that outlook. The Olympic marathon trials were a particularly big confidence boost: in a field that included several African-born stars, all three qualifiers were American-born.

In any case, she said, U.S. track officials were happy to welcome world-class athletes immigrating from abroad, but did not actively recruit them.

“Obviously you’ve had people fleeing difficult circumstances and/or political persecution,” Geer said. “These aren’t people trying to find an easy way into the Olympic Games. These are families seeking a better life for themselves.”

The family of Eritrean-born distance runner Meb Keflezighi is a prime example. While Meb—the son of a political refugee—won a silver medal for the United States at the 2004 Olympics, his 10 siblings have thus far amassed six undergraduate college degrees, an MBA, a medical degree and a law degree.

Leo Manzano’s story is similarly striking. His father, Jesus Manzano, slipped across the U.S. border from Mexico numerous times as a young man, seeking jobs to support his family. He was granted legal residency in the U.S. in 1987.

The father initially scoffed at Leo’s interest in running, but relented. The son won nine Texas state high school championships, earned a scholarship at the University of Texas, and has won five NCCA titles.

“He represents everything that you’re taught growing up in this great country,” said Bubba Thornton, his coach at Texas and on the Olympic team. “You show up every day, you work hard, your treat people like you want to be treated and if you do all those things, good things can come to you.”

Manzano himself says he’s honored by his Olympic berth and eager to have a chance to show his gratitude to America. If there are fans out there who’d prefer to see a native-born American in his place, he hasn’t noticed.

“I haven’t felt any negative energy—it’s all been very positive,” he said. “In my home town, the people have been awesome. They’ve taken me to heart.”

He also embraces the message conveyed by having Lagat and Lomong as his teammates.

“It shows how diverse our country is. It’s a melting pot,” Manzano said. “I’m really excited and I’m sure those guys want to give back as much I do.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug...p&type=lgns

[Jenn! 918]

42 Nationality of Competitors*

1 Any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of

the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor.

2 All disputes relating to the determination of the country which

a competitor may represent in the Olympic Games shall be

resolved by the IOC Executive Board.

Bye-law to Rule 42

1 A competitor who is a national of two or more countries at the

same time may represent either one of them, as he may elect.

However, after having represented one country in the Olympic

Games, in continental or regional games or in world or regional

championships recognised by the relevant IF, he may not

represent another country unless he meets the conditions set forth

in paragraph 2 below that apply to persons who have changed

their nationality or acquired a new nationality.

2 A competitor who has represented one country in the Olympic

Games, in continental or regional games or in world or regional

championships recognised by the relevant IF, and who has

changed his nationality or acquired a new nationality, may

participate in the Olympic Games to represent his new country

provided that at least three years have passed since the competitor

last represented his former country. This period may be reduced

or even cancelled, with the agreement of the NOCs and IF

concerned, by the IOC Executive Board, which takes into account

the circumstances of each case.

3 If an associated State, province or overseas department, a country

or colony acquires independence, if a country becomes

incorporated within another country by reason of a change of

border, if a country merges with another country, or if a new

NOC is recognised by the IOC, a competitor may continue to

represent the country to which he belongs or belonged. However,

he may, if he prefers, elect to represent his country or be entered

in the Olympic Games by his new NOC if one exists. This

particular choice may be made only once.

4 Furthermore, in all cases in which a competitor would be eligible

to participate in the Olympic Games, either by representing

another country than his or by having the choice as to the

country which such competitor intends to represent, the IOC

Executive Board may take all decisions of a general or individual

nature with regard to issues resulting from nationality,

citizenship, domicile or residence of any competitor, including the

duration of any waiting period.

http://www.canoeicf.com/site/canoeint/if/d...les%2041+42.pdf

Edited August 11, 2008 by Jenn!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think you have to be a citzen to compete - I remember they expedited some Canadian figure skater US citizenship a few years back so she could compete (I think it was the Salt Lake olympics) and it caused an uproar

[HAL 9000 96]

I think IOC rules mandate that competitors be citizens of the countries they compete for. How they obtain such citizenship varies from country to country.

As for training, you get what you pay for. There is nothing unfair about that unless you have a problem with having equal access to good training since the Olympics is not supposed to be about how much money you put on yourself for training purposes but how much you train and hence, how good an athlete you can be.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

As for training, you get what you pay for. There is nothing unfair about that unless you have a problem with having equal access to good training since the Olympics is not supposed to be about how much money you put on yourself for training purposes but how much you train and hence, how good an athlete you can be.

That's the troubling part for me. The rules used to be more stringent against sponsorship as well as not allowing professional athletes to compete. Countries that wanted their best athletes to train, paid for them to train, but now most of cost is paid for by corporate sponsors.

[HAL 9000 96]

As for training, you get what you pay for. There is nothing unfair about that unless you have a problem with having equal access to good training since the Olympics is not supposed to be about how much money you put on yourself for training purposes but how much you train and hence, how good an athlete you can be.

That's the troubling part for me. The rules used to be more stringent against sponsorship as well as not allowing professional athletes to compete. Countries that wanted their best athletes to train, paid for them to train, but now most of cost is paid for by corporate sponsors.

Hey Home Depot employes more American Olympians than any other company...

But seriously... I don't see much Olympic spirit in one nation whose athletes are pretty much bionic trainees while others are left to train the old fashioned way. {or worse... have governments that have to choose between social programs and athletic training... and choose athletics!}

[Peikko 1,575]

As sport is now an industry and not a hobby, what do you expect? One thing is for sure, far more people have access to facilities to participate in sports than used to be the case. I mean, you have to be rich to play sport full time, no? Well, not if you make your living playing the sport, not. So, one could well argue that we do have a much greater participation of the ave joes even if the down side is a willingness to cheat sometimes.

[Yiyi and Chris 0]

How interesting...

Yesterday I saw in NBC that this girl (Russian by birth) have a kid with Leukemia so she decided to move to Germany, she won some medals for Russia in the past but since 2006 she is a German citezen and now she is competing for Germany the country that she say saved her child from dying of leukemia.... It was a really nice story... SHE IS 33

[HAL 9000 96]

As sport is now an industry and not a hobby, what do you expect? One thing is for sure, far more people have access to facilities to participate in sports than used to be the case. I mean, you have to be rich to play sport full time, no? Well, not if you make your living playing the sport, not. So, one could well argue that we do have a much greater participation of the ave joes even if the down side is a willingness to cheat sometimes.

Yeah... that is also true. I am not surprised by the disproportionate level of athletic training between most nations and those whose investment structures permit all kinds of sport saturation- either legitimate or not.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

As for training, you get what you pay for. There is nothing unfair about that unless you have a problem with having equal access to good training since the Olympics is not supposed to be about how much money you put on yourself for training purposes but how much you train and hence, how good an athlete you can be.

That's the troubling part for me. The rules used to be more stringent against sponsorship as well as not allowing professional athletes to compete. Countries that wanted their best athletes to train, paid for them to train, but now most of cost is paid for by corporate sponsors.

Hey Home Depot employes more American Olympians than any other company...

But seriously... I don't see much Olympic spirit in one nation whose athletes are pretty much bionic trainees while others are left to train the old fashioned way. {or worse... have governments that have to choose between social programs and athletic training... and choose athletics!}

Yep.