At What Age Can an Athlete Come to America and Be Considered Truly an American Runner?

TC wrote:

I am pretty sure Margaret Butler of Canada went to Great Britain after developing as an athlete in Canada because her parents were born there and Canada's funding system is total shit (paid less than welfare I think).

Don't you mean Kathy Butler? Born overseas, public school in Canada, post-secondary in the US and then on to GB.

Stupidity Check wrote:

People are only truely American if their great grandparents were born in the U.S. If they wern't then they should all be gathered up and placed in concentration camps and tortured to death.

Mr or Ms Stupidity Check,

I did not ask for opinions on what makes someone "truly American." You apparently do not understand the question, but thanks anyway.

Perhaps you should read the entire thread if you can't get the point straight away.

Yours truly (not truely),

God Bless America

otherness wrote:

those medals are for the athletes, and only incidentaly for the country.

I don't agree. While the medals do belong to the athletes and represent their talent and accomplishments, they more than "incidentally" belong to the country. A good Olympic team is really a national effort and athletes most certainly benefit from an environment where they can develop their talent from a young age. There are athletes that beat the odds and come from countries that do little or nothing for them, but this is the exception. At the very least, they are rewarding their culture and their people by representing them at one of the bighest level in athletics.

Maybe it's not either/or but on a continuum.

Extremely American: Billy Mills

Very American: Jim Ryun

Mostly American: Steve Prefontaine

Fairly American: Frank Shorter

Sort of American: Alberto Salazar

Less American: Meb Keflezighi

Technically American: Mark Plaatjes

Not Really American: Buddy Edelen

jsquire wrote:

Maybe it's not either/or but on a continuum.

Extremely American: Billy Mills

Very American: Jim Ryun

Mostly American: Steve Prefontaine

Fairly American: Frank Shorter

Sort of American: Alberto Salazar

Less American: Meb Keflezighi

Technically American: Mark Plaatjes

Not Really American: Buddy Edelen

That is funny!!

stupidity check, are you for real?

so true.. the olympics would be much better off if we could get rid of the 'country' allegiances and let the athletes compete as individuals.

how ridiculous is it to have jane / joe blows comparing medal counts when some countries are smaller than most states

trackhead wrote:

Hey -- Colleen D. has been running great since she gained her US Passport in 2000 and I don't hear anyone making a fuss over her.

She's white stupid!

AZTrackie wrote:

so true.. the olympics would be much better off if we could get rid of the 'country' allegiances and let the athletes compete as individuals.

how ridiculous is it to have jane / joe blows comparing medal counts when some countries are smaller than most states

The olympics wouldn't better off without country allegiances, it wouldn't be the olympics at all. It would just be a big professional track meet. Country allegiance and the olympics are essentially inseparable.

While I agree with you that comparing medal counts is silly, I don't think competing for a country is bad at all. Small countries take great pride in just winning a few medals. And people can be proud of their country and culture while respecting all others.

How do people from kenya and other countries who have "lost" great atheletes feel about it?

I think it's rediculous to say that the country you represent should mean nothing. The olympics were originally held in between war of city states in ancient greece. There will always be a sense of an athelete representing a country. That's just how people think.

We shouldn't rob another country that is usually in the news for being poor or having a horrible government lose a great moment every four years. That being said - people who want to be an american and can prove they can support themselves should be granted citizenship. But, we shouldn't push or recruit foreigners to be americans and pretend that we have a great U.S. distance running program.

God Bless America wrote:

AZTrackie wrote:

so true.. the olympics would be much better off if we could get rid of the 'country' allegiances and let the athletes compete as individuals.

how ridiculous is it to have jane / joe blows comparing medal counts when some countries are smaller than most states

The olympics wouldn't better off without country allegiances, it wouldn't be the olympics at all. It would just be a big professional track meet. Country allegiance and the olympics are essentially inseparable.

While I agree with you that comparing medal counts is silly, I don't think competing for a country is bad at all. Small countries take great pride in just winning a few medals. And people can be proud of their country and culture while respecting all others.

again... very well put. you're on your game today man.

When Donovan Bailey won, did you hear ANY Canadians complain that he wasn't really Canadian? He moved to Canada from Jamaica at about the same age that Meb moved to California. Has anyone complained that Kerron Clement isn't "really" American? Hell, no. Kerron is very welcome to compete on our team, as Ato Boldon would have been.

To me, this issue is really about the relatively low standard of performance of elite distance runners in the US, compared to the world standard. It isn't exactly Khannouchi's "fault" that native-born Americans are running 2:11-2:13 when elsewhere people are running 2:04-2:06.

God Bless America wrote:

Mr or Ms Stupidity Check,

I did not ask for opinions on what makes someone "truly American." You apparently do not understand the question, but thanks anyway.

Perhaps you should read the entire thread if you can't get the point straight away.

Yours truly (not truely),

God Bless America

Oh I am sorry we are just supposed to put up with your racist bullshit. Take it back to Nazi-land skinhead.

For the other poster, no I wasn't for real.

Speed Kills wrote:

When Donovan Bailey won, did you hear ANY Canadians complain that he wasn't really Canadian? He moved to Canada from Jamaica at about the same age that Meb moved to California. Has anyone complained that Kerron Clement isn't "really" American? Hell, no. Kerron is very welcome to compete on our team, as Ato Boldon would have been.

To me, this issue is really about the relatively low standard of performance of elite distance runners in the US, compared to the world standard. It isn't exactly Khannouchi's "fault" that native-born Americans are running 2:11-2:13 when elsewhere people are running 2:04-2:06.

Well, there is obviously no right answer to this question. It's subjective. My personal feeling is that if an athlete is established in the U.S. before he/she becomes elite and works to reach that elite level through a U.S. program, they are more of an American runner than not.

I do think the IOC should somehow, if possible, be a little stricter on when athletes are allowed to compete for their "new" countries. Maybe there should be a period (2 years?) where an athlete still must represent his/her country of origin even though they've established citizenship somewhere else.

It will really be a mockery if a country like Qatar goes 1,2,3 in the 10K, for example, at Beijing or some future Olympics with African imports. The Emir would essentially be buying the medals.

Stupidity Check wrote:

Oh I am sorry we are just supposed to put up with your racist bullshit. Take it back to Nazi-land skinhead.

For the other poster, no I wasn't for real.

You are dumber than dumb. This guy has actually raised an interesting point and if you bothered to read the thread you would see that.

It's really not that tough. If some is American they are American. Someone can't be MORE American. Lagat is not "less American" then some war hero. I don't know why people can't see this.