Mondo competes for Sweden instead of USA. Brilliant move or cheap copout!

+1!!!

No doubt he put his self interest first.

Mondo is all about winning medals at championships.

Why risk the american trials system? If you're unlucky (very possible in possibly the most technical track event) or if you're injured at trials, you've lost a secure spot at int'l championships.

Also, as others have pointed out, he is actually half swedish,.

And to spice it up he gets to compete at European Championships (which is actually a fairly big thing in Europe, especially in Non Olympic years).

No brainer.

I'm more Swedish than he is in that at least I spent four summers in Sweden while I was growing up because my grandmother lived there. He was able to do what he wanted but it makes no sense for someone born, raised, and trained in America, all his schooling publicly funded, including LSU.

I agree with the OP. Kind of a BS move by both Mondo and Sweden.

Born and raised in Louisiana. LSU is a public school. 99.9% of his life in the USA (has he ever even been to Sweden?). I could understand it from his perspective if he was not good enough to make the USA team, but that's not the case.

As for Sweden, it's a BS move taking a spot from an actual Swede who was born there, trained there, part of the culture, society, nation, community, etc.

lame

It is stupid that it is allowed. Just because there is a loophole doesn’t mean it is right. Who cares if his Mom is from Sweden? He hasn’t lived there, didn’t visit and doesn’t speak the language. No different than Ato Bolden getting these USA HS sprinters to do a similar switch to a Carribean country.

Didn’t Great Britain call the fake citizens from the US who had a Grandmother or something from GB “plastic Brits”? Didn’t one media type ask one of them to sing the National Anthem and she didn’t know it?

I don’t like Chelimo but at least he had a connection to the USA. Mondo is just a phony.

At last he had been to Sweden before deciding to represent them internationally.

Do you know anything of what you said to be a fact? Or are you just spouting nonsense from your rear? He speaks Swedish, has visited before and has a Swedish mum. Get over yourself and your inaccuracies

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to say that pretty much every place in Sweden is nicer than pretty much every place in the US. If this kid was born and raised in Louisiana he probably thinks Sweden is heaven.

Nonsense.

I absolutely understand why Mondo competes for Sweeden. But it sure would be satisfying to see him compete for the US, win the gold, and take a knee during the anthem.

yes...the world record holder competes for Sweden to avoid the US olympic trials and other qualifying meets. that's exactly his reason

josh1988 wrote:

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to say that pretty much every place in Sweden is nicer than pretty much every place in the US. If this kid was born and raised in Louisiana he probably thinks Sweden is heaven.

He doesn't live in Sweden and your post adds nothing.

individual sport wrote:

Track and field is an individual sport. I don’t understand why athletes represent a country in the first place, much less why some people make a big fuss over what country an athlete chooses to represent.

From the very beginning, as far back as the Greeks, athletes represented nation states. I guess people make a fuss when they feel they have commonality and a connection to an athlete and then find out you don't have the connection you thought you had.

josh1988 wrote:

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to say that pretty much every place in Sweden is nicer than pretty much every place in the US. If this kid was born and raised in Louisiana he probably thinks Sweden is heaven.

Sweden is a wonderful country, but I don't think anyone who truly knows both countries would agree with your statement. America receives as many VISA requests as the rest of world combined.

Alabama BSS wrote:

It is stupid that it is allowed. Just because there is a loophole doesn’t mean it is right. Who cares if his Mom is from Sweden? He hasn’t lived there, didn’t visit and doesn’t speak the language. No different than Ato Bolden getting these USA HS sprinters to do a similar switch to a Carribean country.

Didn’t Great Britain call the fake citizens from the US who had a Grandmother or something from GB “plastic Brits”? Didn’t one media type ask one of them to sing the National Anthem and she didn’t know it?

I don’t like Chelimo but at least he had a connection to the USA. Mondo is just a phony.

He has dual citizenship and can do whatever he wants. Naomi Osaka is similar to Mondo in that she grew up in the U.S. and probably doesn't speak Japanese. She represents Japan and makes a like of money from Japanese endorsements. I guess you would be too noble to do the same thing she did.

not traitors but definitely wrong wrote:

AzWhippet wrote:

Remember what happened to the German Soldier from Oregon in Raising Private Ryan?

Was that the movie starring Tom Shanks and Pat Demon?

I agree that you should only be able to compete for one country. If you have dual citizenship you should be required to declare which country you will represent each Olympiad. Once you choose, you are locked in for the next four years.

I wouldn't go so far as to call them "traitors" but it is not appropriate. After all, traitors are hanged.

You're thinking of Raising Ryan's Privates

As long as he is competing I don't really care what country it is for. The kid is just fun to watch. He doesn't even have his man body yet.

Anyway, could someone explain how it makes sense financially for him to compete for Sweden instead of the USA? I've heard it mentioned several times but no real in depth explanation. I'm sincerely curious. Only thing I could think of so far is he could probably be named Swedish athlete of the year and thus maybe he'll make a bigger splash in a smaller pond? Not that being a world record doesn't make a big splash anywhere, but it's hard to compete with the big money sports in the US I'm sure.

CapnPerv wrote:

One word: Swedishchicks

fify