Alexi Pappas will be representing Greece

Khannouchi

Grick Records

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15:04.03 María Protópappa Bruxelles 2006-08-25 Alltime-191

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15:15.32 Hrystosomía Iakóvou Heusden-Zolder 2003-08-02 Alltime-368

xcrunner6 wrote:

Whoa!! What a move, as a fellow Greek, this makes me happy that we have a decent looking and FAST female to represent our country!

Cool!! Who is it then?

If Greece fans are fine with it, then its a win win situation. Why would we care about it unless it decreases our chances of medal count.

FU wrote:

Khannouchi

...defected from the Moroccan team, sought asylum, lived in cramped quarters and washed dishes in NYC while he trained for the opportunity to become American.

He is the polar opposite of Alexi.

Snore. wrote:

She's an opportunist.

In the "Land of Opportunity".

We whine if someone comes in that can help us win medals, we whine when someone leaves that doesn't. We will definitely whine if a medal capable person leaves. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a permutation there but I'm even more sure we would whine about that too.

Good to get the worlds experience if she's thinking she wouldn't make the US team. If Diego Estrada didn't run for mexico in the olympics, he probably wouldn't have ever gotten an opportunity to run. I'm cool with athletes with dual citizenship running for their other country. Isn't that the point of why we run? To compete at the highest level? I don't think you necessarily have to take the path that is the most difficult to get there as long as you're not cheating with PEDs.

FU wrote:

Khannouchi

Khannouchi is the absolute worst example you could have picked.

That is cool if that is what she wants.

I am so amazed by Alexi. She is a writer, a poet, a model, an actress, a film director, a musician, a singer, an athlete, a chef, a designer, a comedian, a physician, a teacher, an engineer, an economist, a scientist, a brewmaster, a farmer, a cosmetician, a politician, an artist and a public speaker. Despite all of that, she is so very humble.

Alexi achieved a high level of excellence in everything she has ever tried despite having no native talents or financial help from her family. It all comes from hard work.

She inspires all the youth and adults throughout the world.

Why wasn't the thread about Aisha Praught running for Jamaica 5 pages of insulting things about how unamerican she is too?

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=6549360&thread=6549360#6549360

Shot Put Put wrote:

Why wasn't the thread about Aisha Praught running for Jamaica 5 pages of insulting things about how unamerican she is too?

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=6549360&thread=6549360#6549360

She's not a major attention seeker like alexi has always been

Good point about Aisha Praught. Praught and the Rosa brothers were the first that came to mind, simply because it happened so recently.

I don't blame her, and would do the same, but do think I would feel guilt about it. Plus I realize that it would not be as satisfying.

Being a 2:18:xx marathoner and running for Greece is a different level than running 2:10 and not making the US team.

As usual, Oakland is trading away another one of its best athletes...

She's All That wrote:

I am so amazed by Alexi. She is a writer, a poet, a model, an actress, a film director, a musician, a singer, an athlete, a chef, a designer, a comedian, a physician, a teacher, an engineer, an economist, a scientist, a brewmaster, a farmer, a cosmetician, a politician, an artist and a public speaker. Despite all of that, she is so very humble.

Alexi achieved a high level of excellence in everything she has ever tried despite having no native talents or financial help from her family. It all comes from hard work.

She inspires all the youth and adults throughout the world.

Some of your list ,yes she is some of those things, most not. It's a bit like saying your a race car driver because you drive a sports car. She is liked because she is an engaging young woman.

Running for Greece,nothing wrong with it,just an opportunity given by birth rite.

Would this mean, when she runs US championship road races she should split her prize money as being half Greek an half American only taking half?

Dewey_Runner wrote:

Fair enough, at the end of the day she's a talented runner who deserves to go to the Olympics if she works hard to earn the standard.

We're all just human beings and she happens to be one with the opportunity to compete in the sport that she loves on its highest stage; a country is just an idea, try not to get to caught up in that.

The only drawback to Pappas' decision is that she won't be able to take the same kind of pride in representing Greece that she would if she made a US Olympic team, which is a problem that only affects her, not anybody on these message boards.

Literally thousands of runners run faster every year but they will not get a chance to compete in the Olympics because they do not fall into a highly protected sub category of athletes who are allowed to compete. The issue is not just a country problem, it is an entire system problem.

mellow seeds wrote:

I would do it as it would obviously be an awesome experience, but I would have a hard time feeling like a real Olympian if I did that.

I guess it would be hard to feel like an Olympian if you were competing in the Olympics after hitting a qualifying standard.

Pappas has the Olympic standard and last year was the 43rd fastest in the world according to the IAAF: