Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Sad.
Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Sad.
Sifan Hassan is legitimate. She grew up in the Netherlands and everything. Not sure what Bahta's story is but I assume she's a legitimate Swede as well.
Abebu Aregawi on the other hand is a mercenary, a disgrace, took advantage of the system, and should not be wearing a Swedish uniform.
Chris Rock wrote:
Sifan Hassan is legitimate. She grew up in the Netherlands and everything. Not sure what Bahta's story is but I assume she's a legitimate Swede as well.
Abebu Aregawi on the other hand is a mercenary, a disgrace, took advantage of the system, and should not be wearing a Swedish uniform.
Bahta was supposed to leave Sweden 2 years ago because of permit issues. The Swedish athletics federation found some loopholes in the system that eventually even led to full naturalization.
Not so different from the import Quatari's and paper Brits I think. We might as well end the tournaments where people run for a country. Just invite the first 25 athletes in the IAAF rankings and let them run for themselves. A European championship means sh*t if half Africa is going to run there.
Don't get me wrong; no problem whatsoever with people who came as a child and grew up to be a part of a society in a certain country. I do have problems with golddiggers who have little chance to make it in their country of origin and come to Europe to have an easy life in sports.
yyy wrote:
She came to the Netherlands in 2008:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sifan_Hassanhardly growing up.
That would be age 15... clearly had nothing to do with athletics.
Kenjii wrote:
Don't get me wrong; no problem whatsoever with people who came as a child and grew up to be a part of a society in a certain country. I do have problems with golddiggers who have little chance to make it in their country of origin and come to Europe to have an easy life in sports.
Agree with that
Kenjii wrote:
Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Sad.
Maybe you should inform yourself before posting these kind of messages.
I can't speak for Bahta, but Sifan Hassan came to The Netherlands as a refugee in 2008 and only started running here. Basically noone knows the reasons for her refuge, as, at least in press, she never talked about that nor people around her. I guess there must be a reason for that and probably that is also why she has never been back to Ethiopia for training or holidays.
Anyway, whatever happened in Ethiopia, the Dutch immigration service gave her a residence permit before she was even running. So she did not took advantage of the system in a way some Kenyans did, who are now running for Qatar.
As a Dutchman, am I proud on her silver medal or Kuijken's bronze? No, but that's just me I suppose...
Should be proud of of course, pretty common Dutch mistake.
Some Swedish inside info about Bahta's case could be valuable in this thread...
I totally accept the idea that athletes changing citizenship (not importance if for political reasons, or for money, or for better assistance) can compete in WCh and OG for their new Country. Everybody is a Citizen of the World, and in my opinion the best have the right to compete, not depending on the Country they represent.
But I don't agree all this athletes changing continent and competing in their Area Championships.
When I was coach of Qatar, I Always brought Shaheen, Kwalia, Shami, Ahmed Hassan in WCh and OG (when the athletes were allowed), but never I went with them, for example, in Asian Championships.
Qatar Federation had the Agreement with Kenyan Federation for this Group of athletes, looking at a strong team for the Asian Games (in Doha in 2006). That's was the main reason for pushing Qatari Federation to have this Agreement, and I had to accept, but I was not happy, and never considered fair this behavior.
African of medium level invaded Europe and the Gulf Countries (specifically Bahrein and UAE, Qatar never recruited some new athlete after 2007, and today doesn't enter to any Championship Kenyan and Ethiopian still athletes under Qatari flag), provoking a decrease of interest and of motivation for the local athletes.
For example, Chinese athletes are no more interested in international activity, because they know it's very difficult to reach the podium in middle and long distance against African. This was a situation well known also before, at World level, but Chinese (and Japanese) had the goal to be competitive in Asian Championships (that are not very competitive) and Asian Games. Now, with the massive presence of Bahrein and UAE with Ethiopian and Kenyan, also in these Championships, there is no longer interest in Area Championships too.
The same in Europe, particularly in middle distances.
Nothing wrong with African athletes really living in some European Country and training with local coaches, using local facilities and, may be, having assistance from their federation. We have a lot of African "really" living in European Countries (already more than half million people escaping from Africa for different reasons reached Italian coasts on big boats, becoming object of a criminal traffic of human beings, with more than 1000 dead, for making reach some organization including people from Central Africa (recruiters) and Northern Africa (piloting the boats)), and in many cases they have the right to try to better their life (sometimes to try to remain alive only, in the cases of many refugee escaping from some war).
But, looking at the results of ECh, we can see a lot of African who have nothing to do with their current official Country. Typical example are all the Kenyan in Turky, regularly living in Iten or Eldoret and not staying there for training only.
And IAAF not only is not against this "commercial activity", but accepts to help these Countries too.
In many cases IAAF authorized athletes to compete for their new Country BEFORE the legal period, without having any evidence they were really resident in the new Country.
So, my proposal is the following :
OK for WCh and OG with the current rules
For the Area Championships / Games, athletes changing citizenship can compete with the new Country only AFTER 6 YEARS OF OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN THE NEW COUNTRY.
This can contribute to give again motivation to the "real" European or Asian athletes (Always we speak about middle and long distances, for other events the situation is not like this, because the athletes from Nigeria or Cuba, for example, really stay in their new Country), looking for some prestigious medal in those events now completely empty of European or Asian runners (with the ecception of Japanese, that have interest, tradition and organization at top level).
Renato Canova wrote:
I totally accept the idea that athletes changing citizenship (not importance if for political reasons, or for money, or for better assistance) can compete in WCh and OG for their new Country. Everybody is a Citizen of the World, and in my opinion the best have the right to compete, not depending on the Country they represent.
But I don't agree all this athletes changing continent and competing in their Area Championships.
When I was coach of Qatar, I Always brought Shaheen, Kwalia, Shami, Ahmed Hassan in WCh and OG (when the athletes were allowed), but never I went with them, for example, in Asian Championships.
Qatar Federation had the Agreement with Kenyan Federation for this Group of athletes, looking at a strong team for the Asian Games (in Doha in 2006). That's was the main reason for pushing Qatari Federation to have this Agreement, and I had to accept, but I was not happy, and never considered fair this behavior.
African of medium level invaded Europe and the Gulf Countries (specifically Bahrein and UAE, Qatar never recruited some new athlete after 2007, and today doesn't enter to any Championship Kenyan and Ethiopian still athletes under Qatari flag), provoking a decrease of interest and of motivation for the local athletes.
For example, Chinese athletes are no more interested in international activity, because they know it's very difficult to reach the podium in middle and long distance against African. This was a situation well known also before, at World level, but Chinese (and Japanese) had the goal to be competitive in Asian Championships (that are not very competitive) and Asian Games. Now, with the massive presence of Bahrein and UAE with Ethiopian and Kenyan, also in these Championships, there is no longer interest in Area Championships too.
The same in Europe, particularly in middle distances.
Nothing wrong with African athletes really living in some European Country and training with local coaches, using local facilities and, may be, having assistance from their federation. We have a lot of African "really" living in European Countries (already more than half million people escaping from Africa for different reasons reached Italian coasts on big boats, becoming object of a criminal traffic of human beings, with more than 1000 dead, for making reach some organization including people from Central Africa (recruiters) and Northern Africa (piloting the boats)), and in many cases they have the right to try to better their life (sometimes to try to remain alive only, in the cases of many refugee escaping from some war).
But, looking at the results of ECh, we can see a lot of African who have nothing to do with their current official Country. Typical example are all the Kenyan in Turky, regularly living in Iten or Eldoret and not staying there for training only.
And IAAF not only is not against this "commercial activity", but accepts to help these Countries too.
In many cases IAAF authorized athletes to compete for their new Country BEFORE the legal period, without having any evidence they were really resident in the new Country.
So, my proposal is the following :
OK for WCh and OG with the current rules
For the Area Championships / Games, athletes changing citizenship can compete with the new Country only AFTER 6 YEARS OF OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN THE NEW COUNTRY.
This can contribute to give again motivation to the "real" European or Asian athletes (Always we speak about middle and long distances, for other events the situation is not like this, because the athletes from Nigeria or Cuba, for example, really stay in their new Country), looking for some prestigious medal in those events now completely empty of European or Asian runners (with the ecception of Japanese, that have interest, tradition and organization at top level).
Well said. +1
Bahta came to Sweden after she had deserted the eritrean army. She is facing a death penalty if she ever returns. After she had fled her parents were put in prison. Her mother has since then died in prison. Eritrea is one of the true hellholes on this planet. Nothing like Aregawi who can travel to and from Ethiopia as she pleases.
Makes me sick to this type representative, only thing worst is those who support it!
well., wrote:
Bahta came to Sweden after she had deserted the eritrean army. She is facing a death penalty if she ever returns. After she had fled her parents were put in prison. Her mother has since then died in prison. Eritrea is one of the true hellholes on this planet. Nothing like Aregawi who can travel to and from Ethiopia as she pleases.
The last person executed in Eritrea was 1989.
Donnegal wrote:
Kenjii wrote:Don't get me wrong; no problem whatsoever with people who came as a child and grew up to be a part of a society in a certain country. I do have problems with golddiggers who have little chance to make it in their country of origin and come to Europe to have an easy life in sports.
Agree with that
I'm not sure how I feel about this. Calling them "golddiggers" is pretty ridiculous because it is track and field and if they were making lots of money they wouldn't have to leave their country. Some people go where the money is and some have a connection to their country. Non athletes move to Monaco all the time to escape taxes in their country. Which is worse?
Kenjii wrote:
Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Sad.
I can't speak for Bahta because I don't know much about her, but Sifan has been in the Netherlands since her mid-teens. You can't fault any athlete for trying to make a better life for themselves and representing the country that has been most instrumental in their development. However, I have a big problem with athletes who barely live in that country and can't speak the language.
Kenjii wrote:
Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Wonderful! Good for them.
People should be free to live where they want, to travel where they want, and this is what should happen all the time.
There are way too many governments and government restrictions these days!
J.R. wrote:
Kenjii wrote:Got robbed of gold by 2 girls who claim to be refugees....but still travel to their country of origin for holiday/training.
Wonderful! Good for them.
People should be free to live where they want, to travel where they want, and this is what should happen all the time.
There are way too many governments and government restrictions these days!
There are 6.5 billion people in the world.
Kenjii wrote:
Don't get me wrong; no problem whatsoever with people who came as a child and grew up to be a part of a society in a certain country. I do have problems with golddiggers who have little chance to make it in their country of origin and come to Europe to have an easy life in sports.
If you do a minimal investigation of the facts, you will find that Ethiopia is not a hospitable place for many of the individual and civil rights that we expect in western nations. Also, it is a male-dominated society in which the majority of the women are forced to marry some random guy, often by abducting them.
Don't get me wrong; I have no problem whatsoever with people that want to create a better life for themselves in a different country.
trollism wrote:
well., wrote:Bahta came to Sweden after she had deserted the eritrean army. She is facing a death penalty if she ever returns. After she had fled her parents were put in prison. Her mother has since then died in prison. Eritrea is one of the true hellholes on this planet. Nothing like Aregawi who can travel to and from Ethiopia as she pleases.
The last person executed in Eritrea was 1989.
Please don't make up these sorts of facts.
Off the top of my head, I can tell you that Eritrea was not an independent country 1989. I think 1993 was when they gained independence.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/er.htmlEritrea seems to have some pretty miserable things going on, with the same a-hole in charge since independence. I think former citizens have plenty of reasons to leave the country as a refugee. Halt the taxi drivers in my city would rather do that than live in Eritrea.
Report them to European Athletics immediately! You can contact them on Facebook.