Khalid Khannouchi: Legitimate Reason for not even attempting to compete for the U.S. in the WC Helsinki Marathon?

Folks, this is a no-brainer. One tests, one doesn't. Big name athletes consistently dodging major champs with 'injuries'?! Bollocks.

http://www.odhbikes.com/Blacklist.html

I admire your passion about the topic but you need to stop living in the past. It is no longer 1977 and the best a world class runner can hope for is a few thousand dollars of under the table cash. Money, for better or worse, has changed the sport profoundly. Now, an athlete can make a very good living without winning an Olympic medal. In fact, the depth of worldwide talent is so great and the marathon so unpredictable that it makes the odds of winning that medal pretty long indeed. (Who would have picked Baldini, Meb, and deLima to finish well ahead of the swift and mighty Paul Tergat?)

I’ll grant that the Olympics are still the pinnacle of the sport. The big money offered elsewhere has siphoned talent away and no longer makes the Olympics necessary to be financially and competitively successful. Most athletes do point towards The Games but if circumstances (injury, bad Trials run) prohibit a runner from making the team once every four years should they just pack it in?

I’ll use baseball for a comparison. The New York Yankees are historically the best team in the big leagues. If you sign with them you are likely to win a World Series title (the pinnacle of baseball) at some point during your career. Now, you are a good shortstop who has passed his 35th birthday. Because the Yankees are loaded with talent and have Derek Jeter on the left side, Steinbrenner only offers you $750,000 for one season to ride the bench. The cellar dwelling Kansas City Royals contact you because they need a starting shortstop and they offer a guaranteed $10 million / 5 year deal to play for them. What are you going to choose, the chance to get a ring or earn enough money to support your family for life?

So bringing this back to Khannouchi, you get an opportunity to run in Paris for a medal and THE CHANCE to score some bonus cash or a bigger deal from your sponsor or you can take the guaranteed six figures Carey Pinkowski is offering just to toe the line in Chicago. In my mind, it is a no-brainer. Considering KK’s age and recent health, the risk vs. reward proposition of running the WC race is dicey at best.

PROFESSIONAL athletes have very short competitive lifespans and are largely forced to grab the brass ring while they can. It isn’t about greed, it is about securing a financial future while you have the talent to do it and people are willing to pay for your performance. Love him or hate him, KK is just taking care of business and doing what’s right for him. He cannot count on fans to pay his electric bills and feed him in old age. The “immortality” of being Olympic or World Champion doesn’t indemnify one from life’s challenges after the running is over.

Nike would hardly consider sponsoring KK if he was representing Morocco (in fact, that is regardless of whether or not he was running in the World Championships, Olympics, etc). By being a US citizen he is able to "be" the elite US marathon runner that his sponsors were looking for

That is such bollocks it is barely worth a response.

Nike sponsors Abdelkader El Mouaziz, Jaouad Gharib and Hicham El Guerrouj (all very definitely Morrocan), to name a few, so I doubt Khalid would have been turned away.

New Balance sponsored him before he was a citizen and NB sponsors Kenyans, an Australian and a Romanian.

Think before you post.

You make ONE good point (well indirectly). This is that I didn't KNOW who KK's sponsor was. The argument doesn't change and I know people that have switched to run for the US in order to get more (or any) money. I also know British runners that couldn't get FINANCIAL sponsorship with Nike because Nike only sponsors 2 (or it may be three) people financially in any given country in any given event outside of the United States. Other than that the sponsorship is equipment only. FINALLY, I have many close Kenyan friends that would UNDOUBTEDLY be sponsored financially if they ran for the USA... but they don't.. and thus aren't. Perhaps this is not relevant because I don't know if NB functions in the same way.

Anyway, I wasn't saying that this was the only reason (or necessarily THE reason why he got his citizenship rather than staying on a Green Card).

With regards to why didn't he just stick to his permanent resident status... perhaps YOU should think before YOU speak. A permanent resident does not enjoy the same rights (ie. the right to vote) as a citizen. If he intends to spend the rest of his life here it would make a lot of sense (not just athletically) to become a US citizen. ALSO, being proud to be a citizen and appreciating what he has here does NOT oblige him to run for this country.

I may be wrong, but I doubt that you have done everything in your power to promote the best interest of this country throughout your life.

What a load of crap, name them. Besides which, Khalid ran 2:07:10 back in 1997, he would have been sponsored by somebody even if he had pissed on the Alamo (probably Fila). And the previous poster just got through saying how Khalid was all about the money. If Khalid is all about the money, he doesn't care about the vote, and if he cares about being an American then he's not all about the money. Simple logic, try to keep up. I see, petty insults. That's really pretty sad, you are getting beaten up in a logical argument whilst displaying your woeful ignorance of the subject (if you don't even know who sponsors Khalid, why are you making statements about his contract?), so you wrap yourself in the flag. Pathetic. Unfortunately for you, I'm an Englishman, so being a good little American citizen isn't really my concern.

I must admit THAT logic is WAY over my head. You said that the previous poster said KK is all about the money and therefore I must agree with that?

I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and assuming that you meant my previous POST said KK was all about the money? I didn't say that, but I do feel if he made THAT decision to become a US citizen based on economic reasons that WOULD be justified.

What exactly is your argument or point anyway??? I would not be surprised if you are actually agreeing with what I said all along. ie. KK PROBABLY (I never claimed to know the man) has a lot of family commitments back in Morocco, and I think it would be justifiable for him to earn as much money as possible to support his relatives back home.

I also never commented on his specific shoe deal or anything like that - I SPECULATED about reasons why he may have made the decisions that he made. I will be the first person to admit that I am probably the only person on this thread that doesn't know everything about everything.

It seems like you are arguing that there is NO reason (economic or otherwise) for KK to become a US citizen? So is your point just that he made a decision without thinking it through? I am really unclear what you are saying or where you are going with your argument.

With regards to KK being hyperthetically sponsored by Fila or another company. OF COURSE, he would have been... but the money would not have been the same. AGAIN, I DON'T think it is a bad thing even if he did make his decision in order to maximize his profit.

Finally, if you felt that I was insulting you then I do appologize for that. It wasn't my intention. My point was that if you or I are not living our entire lives to promote the coutnries that we live in... then why should KK have to?

Mate, I give up. I re-read your previous posts and you DO think KK is in this only for the money... yet you argue that he is not getting any more money by being an American?

I'm going to bow to your superior wisdom and call it a day.

It seems like you are arguing that there is NO reason (economic or otherwise) for KK to become a US citizen?

No, I'm saying the reasons given for the change don't add up. I don't care about the why of his citizenship status (although I disagree with the notion that he needed to change citizenship to obtain sponsorship).

I don't care if he wants to represent the USA as a marathon runner or not, I'm just trying to understand why he would say that he wants to if he doesn't. What is the advantage?

Khalid's ardently expressed desire to represent the USA had no bearing on whether or not he would get citizenship, so why, if he didn't intend to represent the country, would he say that he wants to? Where's the upside to repeatedly saying "I want to represent the USA" and then making minimal effort to actually do so?

It had minimal/no bearing on his contract with NB and didn't make him more attractive to other companies, so why change citizenship, if by changing he has to spend money? Surely the money he spent on an immigration lawyer, etc., could have gone towards those "family commitments"?

Well.. I guess we'll just have to agree that we don't know then. Rights and/or stability could be a factor (if we're "concluding" that money could not have been). The Green Card has to be renewed every 10 (?) years so he can save himself some hassle by being a citizen. He can also vote, and I'm sure that there must be other benefits as well.

Isn't his agent his wife or something?