Olympics 2020 - All African-born US distance team: what would your reaction be?

I find it so ironic. When I was growing up in the late 1950s and early 60s people used to say that blacks can't run distance. They can sprint and jump. All sorts of excuses were given. Many had to do with work ethic and attitude. Then came the marathon in the Rome Olympics in 1960. By the end of the decade the Kenyans joined the Ethiopians. Any person who has met all the qualifications is welcome on our Olympic team. Best of luck to all.

draftdogers wrote:

Real Real Bad wrote:

What' honestly incredibly bad embarrassing to think is that the US Army has paid a ton of Africans to join the army and train with us/ they get citizenship and a handsome salary to win us medals and they are legit African.

Are you embarrassed to think that foreign-born folk would fight for and give their lives for this country when people born on this soil use their wealth, power and influence to get out of serving in the military?

Give their lives for this country?

How many WCAP guys have been exactly killed while fighting against radical Islam? When was the last time Chelimo had to cancel a meet because he was deployed to a foreign country?

MountainRunnerrr wrote:

Salazar didn't come to america To be a pro runner, same for Meb . People need To stop comparing them with Chelimo, Khannouchi and all the WCAP guys who became american citizens for a better sponsorship.

That is a solid point, but all immigrants come to the US for a better life. That is why they come here. This is where opportunity lies. Why should we open that up for anyone who wants to run a restaurant or some other business but deny athletes?

I someone wants to come here through legal means and wants to become an American citizen, then I am all for it. The nicest people I know are ones who came here as immigrants and then later became American citizens. It's like when you are born, you don't get to pick your family, but when you marry someone, you get to pick that person. Immigrants CHOOSE America to come to. We should be flattered by that and pleased by that, not disgusted. There are a lot of other great countries they could have chosen to go to.

"All African-born US distance team: what would your reaction be?"

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If they are US citizens, then I'll root for them of course! Doesn't matter where they were born (because who has control of that right?). I'm sure virtually every 'murican here would cheer on someone like Grant Fisher (born in Canada but US citizen) if he was in the Olympics representing the US. No one would even think twice about how "oh he isn't American born what a shame." But with East Africans it seems like some people here seem to have preconceived notions... without even knowing anything about the athlete or what they had to do to get where they are at.

As long as they have completed the naturalization process described in the constitution and are legal American citizens, I would have no problems with African born runners competing on the us Olympic team.

Bu i draw the line at allowing those cheating dutch on our winter Olympic tesm. They have an unnatural genetic advantage after centuries of skating on those frozen canals.

An angry German wrote:

The original poster needs to get over himself. America is a melting pot of nations. You need to go see folks get sworn in as American citizens. You will not find a group of people who love America more.

If we had,( gasp at the tragedy) an all African born team those guys would be so proud to run for America and i would be proud of them.

My Family came to America in 1852 and I am no more American than naturalized citizens. People come to America because they know that if they anything is possible anyone can get ahead. Running is such a small part of it. Go spend some time in a emerging nation and maybe it will click when you come back.

Yet you still identify as German-American.

Should immigration be limited to extent of emigration? I believe other nations do this.

Lovetheconstitution wrote:

As long as they have completed the naturalization process described in the constitution and are legal American citizens, I would have no problems with African born runners competing on the us Olympic team.

Bu i draw the line at allowing those cheating dutch on our winter Olympic tesm. They have an unnatural genetic advantage after centuries of skating on those frozen canals.

Should IAAF have its own stringent standards/residency formula than just citizenship?

You are so wrong on this, Flag. Many immigrants come to US for a DIFFERENT life.

As opposed to what? All Native American?

I'm fine with the best runners making the team, whoever they happen to be.

as a non-patriot, i don't really care. running isn't even a team sport. it doesn't matter what country you represent.

rojo wrote:

US of us wrote:

But I get your point --this is also a land of racism and fear of immigrants, even though damn near everyone in the country has an immigrant background. So, it's probably your nightmare becoming reality. Sweet dreams.

Yes, there is racism here but why do people harp on it? If this country was so awful, then why in the hell did Barack Obama's father decide to come here in 1954 when we were way more racist?

You do realize in Kenya in the last 10 years they have tribal warfare with up to 1,500 butchered and 180k to 600k displaced. I would say hating on someone for their tribe is not different than race. It's the same damn thing. So what you are complaining about exists basically all over the world - even basically all black countries.

Straight from Breitbart.

Jerry Maguire wrote:

rojo wrote:

Yes, there is racism here but why do people harp on it? If this country was so awful, then why in the hell did Barack Obama's father decide to come here in 1954 when we were way more racist?

You do realize in Kenya in the last 10 years they have tribal warfare with up to 1,500 butchered and 180k to 600k displaced. I would say hating on someone for their tribe is not different than race. It's the same damn thing. So what you are complaining about exists basically all over the world - even basically all black countries.

Straight from Breitbart.

Yap...remember this is a co-founder of this website. He's not even bothering to hide it anymore.

Sad.

It's boringly inevitable in the 5k and 10k if you only count the men. I would be surprised if it happened that quickly in 1500, steeplechase and marathon, and surprised if it happened in any of the women's events.

I was disheartened by the 5000 team for Rio so the same as that.

Frank Longer wrote:

As more African born U.S. distance runners begin to dominate the U.S. running scene, what would your reaction be if every event from the 1500 - Marathon was fielded by all African born runners in the 2020 Summer Olympics?

Editor's note: We changed the title from "All African US distance" team to "All African born."

Maybe Americans wrote:

Maybe Americans could start running for Qatar and Bahrain.

US should "export" basketball players, swimmers and sprinter to Kenya and Kenya can supply to the US a full squad from 800m to the marathon whenever the US needs them. We are even willing to let you have Emmanuel Korir as well as his cousin Michael Saruni. You can't stop globalization, lets goods and services travel the globe according to capitalistic and market demands.

Only Native Americans, like Elizabeth Warren, should be allowed to compete for the U.S.A..

Real Real Bad wrote:

What' honestly incredibly bad embarrassing to think is that the US Army has paid a ton of Africans to join the army and train with us/ they get citizenship and a handsome salary to win us medals and they are legit African.

What constitutes a ton of Africans?

Where is your family from? It's embarrassing that we have citizens who can't understand why people immigrate here and choose to bash those immigrants for wanting to represent our country. If those guys were white none of this would be the case. Also almost all of the aren't guys correct me if I am wrong at least ran in college here and have been in the us for around 4-6 years already anyways.

jar wrote:

I’m curious to know if these Kenyan born “people” would be in the US Army if they weren’t A) competative runners, and/or B) were second or third tier runners.

Yes, many of the would. I know many University of Alaska Anchorage runners went into the US Army and didn't pursue running as a profession. They were hobby joggers/runners like the rest of us after college.