Growing up, the Olympics were always about the Americans against the world in good-natured sporting events. It was the same, I'm sure, for people in other countries....Argentina against the world, Kenya against the world. You could openly be patriotic and nationalistic and pull for your athletes and not feel guilty about pulling against their athletes. However, watching the Olympics this year, I was struck by the number of ex-patriots who participate in the games. These are either Americans who compete under another country's flag, for money, against the US, or they are foreign nationals who live and train in the US but, then compete for their "home" country. Here's just a short list from this year....-David Blatt, who played basketball at Princeton, is the Russian head coach.
-J.R. Holden (Bucknell) is the Russian point guard
-Mebrahtom Keflezighi of Eritrea and Khalid Khannouchi of Morocco, now running for the United States.
-Chris Kaman play for Germany.(Chris was born and raised in Pittsburgh
-Becky Hammon, born and raised in South Dakota, accepted money to play in Russia's professional women's basketball league just so she would qualify for their Olympic team. They'll give her $250,000 to win Gold.
-Shawn Redhage of Lincoln, Neb., will play for the Australian men's basketball team.
-Demond Greene of Fort Hood, Texas, plays basketball for Germany,
-In 2004, ex-Mets manager Davey Johnson coached the Netherlands in the Olympics but, this year he'll be coaching the United States.
If an athlete moves to another country to live and work permanently, and becomes a citizen, then I have no problem with them competing for their adopted country in the Olympics. I do have a problem with Americans who have no intention of living, training, working, or becoming citizens of other countries, competing under their flag just so they can make it to the Olympics. Not to the same degree, but I also have a problem with foreign nationals who come to the US to take advantage of scholarships and other opportunities in order to live, train, and go to school, but then with barely a thank-you, go compete in the Olympics for the God-forsaken, third-world hell-hole they call home against the US. If this was a war, those Americans would be traitors, or at the very least, mercenaries. I know it's just sports, but Olympic competition is about serious patriotism and to fight for who ever offers you the most in return is craven opportunism at it's worst. I'll be pulling against any Americans who fight against the US under another flag.
Are these athletes traitors or just mercenary opportunists?
4 comments:
The Olympics are a complete joke, and if not for Michael Phelps' quest, I would not have watched them at all. I would have missed some things, but mostly I would have missed watching obscure and marginal sporting events payed by people pretending to be amatuer athletes.
I abhore the USOC and its misdirections about its status. It used to be that we sent our true amatuers to this event. Now, just to win a lousy gold medal, we show up with the NBA all star team, etc. How fun is it to watch Federer playing Davis. I can see that week in and week out if I choose to follow tha USTA circuit.
What happened to the thrill of having our college hockey guys upend "The Big Red Machine" in 1980? When did it become so important to the US to win rather than compete. I personallly don't care who the gold medal winners are in synchronized diving, but I do care that my governmaent is supporting countless athletes as they train for this and other unknown events. Apollo Ono has been living in Colorado Springs at the USOC housing facility rent free for years as he trains for yet another run at stardom within the Short track Speed Skating world. I wonder if we still supported him while he danced with the stars? Enough. Lets just quit participating in the Olympics. As soon as the US pulls out, so will the billions of dollars paid to the host country for TV rights. Then Birmingham can actually be in position to host, 'cause the only athletes participating will be the ones who can afford to continue their obscure sports in obscure countries. Bring back Wide World of Sports for those guys, and those of us who will nap thru it on a Saturday afternoon.
Joe: While blogging about Kobe, I saw your comments and felt compelled to write an agreement, at least in the big picture. I say " I can't get enough of ESPN 8 The Ocho"
I agree Joe. In fact I had this very conversation this morning. I would rather lose regularly with college kids to Russia, China, and other state-supported sports programs, than smear them year in and year out with pros. We'll never again experience the pure joy of beating the big bad Russians with our college hockey players. That's a shame.
I agree with your blog on this topic. I personally can't even imagine, assuming I was good enough in some sport to make the Olympics, competing for another country. What would be the point? Even if I won a medal for another country, there would be nothing to be proud about. Would you wrap the flag of the foreign country around your shoulders when you won? As far as Becky Hammon, she's a traitor, even if we aren't at war with Russia.
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