FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Bigalke said 04/26, 10:31 AM
A major sports website has had an ongoing saga with one of its writers. A recent convert to cycling, she has been attempting to find a country to represent at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Because the American national team is loaded with world-class talent, this writer has had to go elsewhere to find a nation to accept her on their cycling team...

My question is this: When the nation of your citizenship denies you entry to its Olympic squad, is it fair to solicit other national athletic federations in an attempt to earn ANY way to the Olympics? Should a seeming non-citizen -- one who has never been to the solicited nation prior to such solicitation -- take the slot of someone else who IS a citizen?

I say that this is patently unfair and is WRONG. The Olympics reward those athletes who have reached the pinnacle in their home nation by giving them an opportunity to compete against other world-class athletes. If a person is not gifted enough to earn a spot through the standard channels, then perhaps that Olympic dream should be left as just that -- A DREAM...

Do you disagree? Would you take the spot of someone from Botswana or Liechtenstein to fulfill a dream? Then THROWDOWN...

Bigalke said 04/26, 11:07 AM
Athletes from the United States are losing spots & opportunities, certainly, but that can be pinned as much on the introduction of professional athletes as to the sheer numbers. Athletes should not be punished, of course -- but they already ARE being punished for maintaining their amateur status while the Olympics hoards professionals in many fields.

The problem is not one of dual-citizenship, nor is it one of willingness on the part of the surrogate nation in question. It is true that places like St. Kitts & Nevis don't have many prospective athletes, & that this specific columnist in question is required to amass UCI points in other races prior to the Olympics. What we saw with this instance, though, is someone essentially doing this NOT out of some long-standing Olympic dream, but for the "worldwide leader in sports" to get a story...

This isn't a matter of having any affinity for the host nation. Kathryn Bertine, the writer in question, sent email solicitations to nearly 100 different nations. When athletes go beyond their means just to participate in the Olympics, it cheapens the experience for everyone... whether a winner or not, these cherry-picking athletes are WRONG...

Bigalke said 04/27, 12:58 PM
Okay, Stowe... you want to play that way...

So you think it is perfectly okay for the conglomerate that is ESPN to have an uninhibited path to affecting the outcome of sports. When media outlets get to mess around and attempt to get their writers into the Olympics at any cost, it DOES cheapen the concept down to its core...

By condoning such actions, you are effectively saying that the media gets to actively interfere and affect the outcome (in whatever small way) those athletic events which it covers. It doesn't matter if the sport is cycling, where individuals earn points at races throughout the year toward determining the number of athletes a nation can send... or if it is something like soccer, or gymnastics, or 10-meter platform diving.

St. Kitts & Nevis has a total GDP of $339 million; ESPN, part of the Disney conglomerate, has annual revenues over $9 billion. Bertine has advantages not offered to ANY ACTUAL RESIDENT of St. Kitts OR Nevis. ESPN has financed Bertine's way into races to attempt qualifying; it has paid for her to seek top-dollar training at Carmeichel Training Systems -- all advantages which she would NEVER have as a citizen of her cherry-picked nation...