Breaking: Visa rejections by US embassy prevent Ethiopia from entering full teams in jr races at 2026 World Cross Country Champs

This isn't a good look for the US. Pisses me off really. There has to be a better way.

It seems like you could require Ethiopia to put a cash bond of say $10,000 and if anyone overstays their visa, you use that money to track them down and send them back.

Yeah that’s complete BS.

I wonder if Argentina, Spain, France will have some visa issues for the World Cup.

The Ethiopian U20 team is not U20 anyway.

No idea why their visas were denied but let's not pretend like Ethiopia has ever played fair. They have always been age cheating.

So no, I actually don't feel bad for them at all.

Not a great look with the olympics coming up in 2 years...

Exactly. There's nothing surprising about this. Anyone paying attention could see it coming a mile away.

This is dumb. There is no threat that any of the E. African athletes would try to stay in the US or do anything bad (other than doping). These athletes are already under the control of sports agents and would not do anything that would jeopardize their chances of running international races for $ in the future.

And this is going to mean that international sports federations are going to do everything they can to avoid having events in the US in the future as we cannot be trusted to let athletes in to compete.

You would think they could make use of GPS trackers or something. Take them off to race, put them back on afterwards. And/or tighter security, not letting the athletes leave the accommodation except to race, see a doctor etc. Keep a tighter rein on them if they're from a country with a high absconsion rate, sure, but still let them compete.

No surprise really from a guy who cheats so blatantly and frequently at golf, who supports his son's investment in the Enhanced Games and who tried to steal the 2020 election. He doesn't care about fair competition.

You think requiring a $10,000 bond would be a better look? "Hey Ethiopia, you're welcome to send your athletes which are some of the best in the world, but we're worried they just want to stay here and become welfare queens so we need a cash guarantee. South Africa, your white athletes can come, but the black ones will also need to post bond."

And I just noticed the commenter above me talking about GPS ankle bracelets and acting like they're the voice of reason! Do you know how demeaning that would be?

I tell you what, if you can make the Ethiopian Jr XC team you are harder working than 99.99% of Americans, and we should welcome any defectors (unlikely to be any) with open arms.