Fair or Foul? Sonia O'Sullivan slams the fact that two Kenyan born Turks go 1-2 at 2016 Euro Cross

She's not talking about Mo Farah for several reasons.

1) You do realize O'Sullivan is Irish/Australian - Not British. She was commenting on Irish tv after an Irish runner failed to get a medal due to the fact that two Kenyan-born runners finished ahead of her.

2) Mo Farah's success is the result of him having grown up largely in Britain. This is proved by the fact that he has an identical twin brother who is fat and never done a thing on the track in Somalia.

You wrote "we need to be letting people come to europe or over there to the US to get a better life if they feel they need." That's Farah.

With the Kenyan-Born Turks, it's been alleged that they don't even live in Turkey.

Let me quote Irish athlete Jerry Kiernan:

"Those two Kenyans don't live in turkey. They've probably never been to Turkey.

"They have no connection to Turkey but are allowed to pitch up to these international competitions in a Turkish singlet."

My main question is do we know that they don't even live in Turkey?

thepaddy wrote:

Sonia never competed for Australia. You need to correct your statement.

The Europeans have become a joke with turks etc taking advantage of the transfer of allegiance.

Having said that, it is hypocritical of the Irish to complain. I don't remember too many complaints when Alistair Cragg won a European indoors for Ireland. He also raced a European cross when he had never even set foot on Irish soil.

I would like to hear Mark carroll opinion on this?

I've been researching the O'Sullivan switch of allegiance.

It's a lot different. She had had two children with an Australian father and often trained in Australia so her ties were deep. She wanted to compete in the Commonwealth Games for Austrlia as Ireland isn't in the Commonwealth. But she was planning on still running for Ireland in European competitions and said she'd never ever compete against Ireland in anything.

"Let's remember I am Irish and they don't come and compete in the Commonwealth Games, but with dual nationality I can now do so," she said. "It's a simple thing really."

But she insisted: "No matter what championship it might be, I would never compete against Ireland. That is the country where I was born and bred. But this is an exception.

"I plan running for them at the European Championships in the summer," added the 1998 champion over both 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

As for Alistair Cragg, his also is a unique case. He had Irish ancestry. I believe once he left South Africa - he and his family never went back. So basically, he was a man without a country.

Doesn't O'Sullivan know her country fought a war to get out of the UK and hence British Empire? Jeeze.

Perhaps next we'll have dual nationality Americans so they can run the Commonwealth too.

I refer to all males as males. Females are to be called by their correct and proper names.

I couldn't give a f who the male was/is he was whining like a child.

I accept my title and will collect my prize due course.

jCo wrote:

UK Brexit so they shouldn't be part of the EURO XC Championships!!

Out with the British athletes... leave them on the island that they are.

What about Norway?

olyrun wrote:

Renato makes excellent points. However, if the Oly/WC are about individuals and not nations than the current structure is obsolete.

The world does not need anymore strife caused by nationalism.

Lets put the athletes and individual performances first.

I like the Olympics the way they are. WC could use a change. Only real athletics fans care about WC anyway. Make the WC standards tougher

A standard - Unlimited per country

B standard - One per country per event

C standard - Everyone else get one athlete in the championship. Can choose between 100, 200, 400, and Marathon. None of these Chad girls tripping people in the 5K

That way we can still laugh at AK incompetence every four years at selecting their Olympic team, but make a true murder's row global championship. Bad thing is the USA champs would be less exiting, but we can live with that.

Britlady wrote:

I watched the highlights yesterday on BBC2. Similar to O'Sullivan the male commentator spent the entire race moaning about the Kenyan/turks and the change of allegiance laws. I found it hard to hear/watch - it's certainly been to our advantage in the past.

Paula Radcliffe, the other commentator, was incredibly quiet and diplomatic not sure if was a good cop bad cop routine but it just made the other guys bleating on even worse....

The courses itself bone dry, no leaves or debris, crappy man made hills and reed things...the footlocker course was far better. I think the course played to the Kenyans strengths.

Its the same old thing having ex-elites as commentators they are not very good and not being journalistically trained will tend to go off on idiotic tangents.

Sonia sitting on her high horse makes me sick!

Britlady wrote:

I refer to all males as males. Females are to be called by their correct and proper names.

I couldn't give a f who the male was/is he was whining like a child.

I accept my title and will collect my prize due course.

Face it, you don't know who Steve Cram is. One of the most distinctive voices in athletics aside from his stellar career as an athlete.

This proves that you know nothing about athletics and wasted your time registering that username.

Your input is invalid.

Translation. They are white so it's ok.

rojo wrote:

"Let's remember I am Irish and they don't come and compete in the Commonwealth Games, but with dual nationality I can now do so," she said. "It's a simple thing really."

Britlady wrote:

I refer to all males as males. Females are to be called by their correct and proper names.

What if Cram identifies as a female?

The rule should be that an athlete can only represent :

(a) Country of your birth, or

(b) Country of your parents' birth, or

(c) Country where you have been a permanent resident and/or citizen for at least three years.

This allow cases like Lorna Kipligat who moved to the Netherlands and married a local (other examples - Bernard Lagat, Sonia Richards etc) - i.e. genuine immigration. But it would prevent the phony "flags of convenience" offered by Turkey, Qatar etc

That's racist ` wrote:

Britlady wrote:

I refer to all males as males. Females are to be called by their correct and proper names.

What if Cram identifies as a female?

The IAAF rewrites the female middle distance record books ...

Sonia had many gold and silver medals ripped off from under her by Chinese and EE dopers, so if she is a bit vocal about what she sees as unethical (in this case I agree) I'll give her some slack.

Good read on it here http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/athletics/you-cant-just-swap-countries-and-names-like-that-fionnuala-mccormack-hits-out-after-turks-make-mockery-of-euros-35285860.html

That's racist ` wrote:

Britlady wrote:

I refer to all males as males. Females are to be called by their correct and proper names.

What if Cram identifies as a female?

Britlady will be VERY unpopular around here. Sexism towards men will not be tolerated.

Britlady is VERY unpopular around here because she's female and British and if she has typically bad British teeth she'll be even more unpopular.

Pics of your teeth please so we determine your level of unpopularity.

Absurdities ` wrote:

rojo wrote:

"Let's remember I am Irish and they don't come and compete in the Commonwealth Games, but with dual nationality I can now do so," she said. "It's a simple thing really."

This doesn't make sense. Does she mean that she can represent Australia or Ireland whenever she feels like it? Or am I interpreting wrongly?

Am I the only one seeing the actual problem here: that Kenyan runners always have been and always will be natural the best, superior.

If these Kenyan runners representing Turkey were at the back of the field there would be no discussion.