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Should all Olympic competitors be required to be citizens of their team's country

	Yes
	No

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How do you feel about native-born U.S. Citizens competing in the Olympics as members of non-US teams?

Pro: Opportunity of a lifetime
Gives the athletes an incredible experience they would not otherwise have.
Wouldn't you, if you had the opportunity?

Con: Unfair
Other U.S. athletes cannot attend, despite being vastly more qualified than these other U.S. citizens who go as members of foreign teams.
Your skill and competition record is stellar, but you just missed the cut to make the U.S. team; but this other U.S. citizen whose skill and record is many levels below yours will be competing at the Olympics.

Example: A number of years ago, a neighbor's son was recruited for the Olympic baseball team by the country of his grandparent's birth. Both he and his parents are native-born U.S. citizens.

Why not? The Olympics are a one-world athletic festival. The more, the merrier. I would like to make it less of a nationalistic thing.

Often their Olympic home country is a small player that otherwise would not have a competitive chance. I think a nod to your heritage, even a generation removed, is kind of a nice thing. Seems like a pretty small subset, anyway. If it turns into purely athlete-for-hire, it will be another story.

My son could conceivably compete on the Honduran team because by their law any children with a Honduran GRANDMOTHER is a Honduran citizen.

Two presidents ago this was affirmed by the Honduran Supreme Court when a man running for president was born in Panama to a mother born in Guatemala whose mother was Honduran. He was eventually elected president.

So why not? Each country has it's own citizenship requirements. Life isn't always fair.

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You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands...
- For example, if they are wrapped around your throat she's probably slightly upset.

When asked, I tell people that my family name arrived on British shore with the Conquest of William in 1066!

National pride has always been one of my touchpaper subjects. Lines drawn on a map do not define me!
Unless I draw those lines myself then I am a citizen of the world. I am the only person who will put limits on me. Thanks very much!

Is it a known fact that these athletes "couldn't make the cut" for the US team? I'm just curious: I like my hyperbole to be founded on some sort of truth however small.

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"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

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$tevie
Is it a known fact that these athletes "couldn't make the cut" for the US team? I'm just curious: I like my hyperbole to be founded on some sort of truth however small.

Yes. For this issue, speaking ONLY of athletes who DID NOT make the U.S. cut.

Example (but not identifying specific individuals) - a U.S. athlete in an individual sport (not team sport) who is nationally ranked at 20th; good, but well below the top 4 who go to the Olympics.
This #20-rank U.S. citizen goes to the Olympics for another country, while U.S. athletes ranked #5, #6, #7 etc. stay home.

i really don't have an opinion. but i have a hard time believing athletes at this level would stay home if they had a choice....and some obviously do.

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>> The Olympics are a one-world athletic festival. <<

Funny thing, what are all those flags then? You wan to make it less "nationalistic"? you have a weird understanding of Olympics. It is like saying I want to see one team in the NBA.

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DeusxMac

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$tevie
Is it a known fact that these athletes "couldn't make the cut" for the US team? I'm just curious: I like my hyperbole to be founded on some sort of truth however small.

Yes. For this issue, speaking ONLY of athletes who DID NOT make the U.S. cut.

Example (but not identifying specific individuals) - a U.S. athlete in an individual sport (not team sport) who is nationally ranked at 20th; good, but well below the top 4 who go to the Olympics.
This #20-rank U.S. citizen goes to the Olympics for another country, while U.S. athletes ranked #5, #6, #7 etc. stay home.

Generally speaking, that is pretty much how that works! If you give it some thought, those #5,6 7 in the US probably wouldnt medal against the best in the world, and that #20 in the US would probably be #40 in the world, again, not much chance of medalling.(When did 'medal' become a verb?)

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)

"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"When did 'medal' become a verb?"
Dunno, but they just used it on NPR so it must be real!

verbing has been happening for a long time.

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Manlove
"When did 'medal' become a verb?"
Dunno, but they just used it on NPR so it must be real!

medal [medl]

verb ( medaled , medaling ; also chiefly Brit. medalled, medalling) [ intrans. ]
earn a medal, esp. in an athletic contest : Norwegian athletes medaled in 12 of the 14 events [as adj. ] the most medaled swimmer in Olympics history.

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[www.flickr.com] [picasaweb.google.com]

Opportunities for life-enriching experiences are best not left by the roadside.

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Unpaid Social Liaison

I'm training with a young lady who has dual citizenship in the US and Macedonia.

She knows that she has no shot of making the US Olympic team in 2016, but she should have an easy go of it representing Macedonia in Rio. Since she has dual citizenship, that shouldn't be a problem, but what would I say to Little Poochie, whose grandmother was born in County Galway, Ireland, if he has a shot of making the Olympics and a swimmer for the Republic of Ireland in 8 years?

snamh

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Kooper's Flute Thing cover

[www.freethegrapes.org]

norwegian wood reality TV

[www.youtube.com]

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mick e
Opportunities for life-enriching experiences are best not left by the roadside.

I agree.

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"Stop thinking about art works as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences." ~ Brian Eno

The funniest thing is when immigrants who have become US citizens and don't even live in their home country go back for a day and become part of their Olympic team.

I don't see the problem.

If a nation's Olympic team wants deems someone to be eligible, then they're eligible. Regardless of standing within the United States.

And if that person would not have made the US Olympic Team, so what? They were good enough to make their nations Olympic Team, represent their nation and compete. Maybe they'll even win.

Like someone else said: Life Isn't Fair.

And we send NBA Professional Basketball players as our Olympic Team...

You are redefining the notion of Olympics. Olympics was the arena where nations competed with their own athletes. If anyone can move to anywhere and compete on any team, then that is not Olympics. It is the X games or whatever.

Avenger,
The last time I checked (which really was "never", the IOC is its own entity and entitled to do whatever it pleases - including making up its own rules.

I'm reasonably sure that the US Olympic Team has members who were not born in the United States.

Participating in the Olympics under any flag is a life changing experience that shouldn't be determined by nationality.

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Mac-A-Matic


I'm reasonably sure that the US Olympic Team has members who were not born in the United States.

But are they not US citizens? Where they are born is not the issue.

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Avenger

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Mac-A-Matic


I'm reasonably sure that the US Olympic Team has members who were not born in the United States.

But are they not US citizens? Where they are born is not the issue.

I guess I really don't care the nationality, citizenship or ethnicity of whomever is on whichever Olympic team.

For me, it's a non-issue.