Michael Paul Smith wrote:
This whole thing is ludicrous. It's bad enough our sport can't drum up any more popularity than billiards and ping pon - sorry, table tennis. Garbage like this is why. She's no more American than menu item #23 I just ordered at a Chinese restaurant, yet she could be an American Olympian. Sounds racist but if some of these athletes were American enough that the average ESPN XIII watcher (because running doesn't make plain old ESPN like it used to, remember 'Running & Racing' with Mary Liquori??) could pronounce their name, maybe more than 9 people would follow our sport. I just watched the Dubai Marathon start to finish. I have loved this sport for 30+ years, and even I was bored, not to mention every time I would mention one of the elite's names, my wife would say 'God bless you.' Remember Alene Amere? Makes me think back to him. The FBI wouldn't have been able to get his background straight.
I agree with everything except Dubai being boring. This year certainly wasn't. I was just thinking the situation would be different if athletes like Demissie announce their intention to become Amerians in advance. Like if we'd known she was seeking US citiizenship and taken an active role in the US running community, even through letsrun or social media, things would be different, people wouldn't be so disagreeable. Like everyone is fine with someone like Sam Chelanga who pretty much told everyone he wanted to be an American well in advance.