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

I agree with her that athletes representing a country internationally should be legitimate citizens of the country they represent, i.e., they should have become citizens for reasons other than athletic ones. Her own move to Oz was certainly for reasons other than athletics.I don't know how that would be defined or enforced though in all cases but I do think the IAAF should be looking at doing so.

They aren't 'Kenyan Turks' they are Kenyan Kenyans. Turkey just gives these athletes money to run for then. They don't live in Turkey, or have ever lived in Turkey, don't speak Turkish, weren't born in Turkey.

They are not Turkish by any stretch of the imagination.

The biggest farce is when Ali Kaya won the U23 European 10,000m by a lap on every runner. He wasn't European or under 23.

Turkey should be banned from European athletics.

You missed the two Americans that ran for other countries in this past Olympics.I assume with dual passports they continue to compete for US prize monies as well.

The africans than run for other countries as you may or may not know do this money, they can make a living by running for another country. In Kenya it is very difficult with the corruption and of course the talent level they compete with.

Who are we to say it wrong that they cannot make a living by running/racing.

Unless the IAAF and IOC change the rules its perfectly legitimate.

They won't develop a system as there's no money in looking after aspiring athletes.

One of the strange things is that Irish selectors have in recent years had a complete breakdown in relations with a system where it's best athletes are based. If the likes of the runners below or a large number of others in the states were selected he results wouldn't be this bad.

Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner

Sean Tobin

Hugh Armstrong

Sarah Collins

Or maybe it's just the Turks fault...

BullSlacker wrote:

They aren't 'Kenyan Turks' they are Kenyan Kenyans. Turkey just gives these athletes money to run for then. They don't live in Turkey, or have ever lived in Turkey, don't speak Turkish, weren't born in Turkey.

They are not Turkish by any stretch of the imagination.

The biggest farce is when Ali Kaya won the U23 European 10,000m by a lap on every runner. He wasn't European or under 23.

Turkey should be banned from European athletics.

Another issue is you've got a country with a massive doping problem importing athletes from a country with a massive doping problem.

Both of these countries have a lot of athletes who are happy to dope to win money.

The odds that all of these athletes are doped is pretty high.

Totally agree. Was disheartening to see these results as well as what happened at the US Trials above 1500 meters (excl. Marathon). NO I didn't vote for Trump (or the H bomb) so please don't start throwing the racist/xenophobe shite. When it is an obvious move to upgrade your distance program it should have to go through a serious review (read "delay"). My heart goes out to those who are displaced by this madness,

The sight of "Turkish" runners born in Keyna winning both men's and women's euro xc titles shows everything that is wrong with the sport of athletics and the IAAF. Turkey is a wealthy country with a population of over 80 million people so why don't Turkey invest in developing their own distance runners that are born in Turkey instead of abusing the rules of switching allegiance. They could afford to invest in some top coaches and facilities to develop Turkish-born athletes with resorting to doping. The same goes for Qatar and Bahiran. It is about time Seb Coe did something about "flags of convince" before it causes more ill-feeling. Sort it out Seb.

To be fair, the 4 athletes you list would definitely strengthen the teams, however they all had demanding NCAA seasons, and probably didn't end their seasons on a high at the big dance

Immigration happens. Stop whining about it. In some countries, its hard to become a citizen (ie Japan, Kenya), in some its easy, ie USA. If it were easy to become a citizen anywhere, Americans would move to Kenya and clean up the swims.

age limits is a horrible idea.

Example: A female athlete from a barbaric place such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, or NK. She'd never be allowed to go out and train properly on her own. The conditions required to get the support of the athletic federations as an emigrant could put her in danger.

Well, I agree with her, but, at least now it's at least conceivable that the Turk team was not doped, so that's good I guess.

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.

Is Turkey in the EU? IDIOT....

Immigration is fine, that's not what this is. Do you not understand that Ali Kaya etc live and train in Kenya and have likely never set foot in Turkey?

The Scot wrote:

elmore345 wrote:

So in the mens GB went 1,2,3 - result!!!

The real hoot is that Turkey isn't even IN Europe IMHO any more than Israel is (the latter also ran, with a team of Ethiopian Jews). I think some people are muddling up Europe with Eurasia...

Exactly. Officially a tiny part of Turkey, including most of Istanbul, is in the European continent. The rest of Turkey is in Asia. For those Americans that have never seen a map before, this is a map of Turkey:

The term they were struggling in the discussion to find is "mercenary".

BullSlacker wrote:

Officially a tiny part of Turkey, including most of Istanbul, is in the European continent.

Therefore .`. Turkey is in Europe.

In my comment I did say 'IMHO'. Georgia also is bisected by the Europe Asia boundary (I've stood on it) but I don't personally consider Georgia to be European. Given the way the EU is going though ie continual eastward expansion as a political bloc, I'm sure it will get gobbled up in due course.

Lol, we complain about Mexico. Look at all those crap holes bordering Turkey!

They're Turkish Kenyans and are therefore very likely to be doping when you look at the doping track record of both of those countries (Abeylegesse etc ..). That alone is enough not to have them competing in any championships.

Brits should also not be competing when you look at all their TUE revelations.

Irish wasteland wrote:

You missed the two Americans that ran for other countries in this past Olympics.I assume with dual passports they continue to compete for US prize monies as well.

It doesn't work like that. There's a process for changing your national affiliation and you can only represent one nation at a time.