There has been a lot of discussion since Athens about foreign swimmers training in the United States. Most of them attend U.S. Universities, receive athletic scholarships, and compete at NCAA's. Some notable examples include Duje Draganja (Cal), Fred Bousquet and Kirsty Coventry (Auburn), Markus Rogan (Stanford), and the South African sprinters (Arizona). Some train in the U.S., but don't compete for a university (Inge de Bruijn). All of these athletes benefit from U.S. coaching, from training with U.S. swimmers, and in some cases, from financial support provided by U.S. entities (athletic scholarships). They all turn around and then win medals for other countries.
A couple questions: 1) What do you think about this arrangement generally? 2) Is it of benefit or detriment to U.S. swimming to have these foreign athletes training and competing here? 3) Should we be giving athletic scholarships, which are a scarce resource in swimming, to foreign athletes who will represent their own countries internationally instead of U.S.-born swimmers who will represent us internationally?
I'm sure there are other issues, but these come directly to mind.
I have to say that Tom and I don't agree on this one. I have no problem with this situation and am not aware of any situations where top calibre swimmers are denied scholarships or admission because of a foreign student. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of scholarships that aren't used every year so these few swimmers aren't denying anyone an education. We live in a global economy. In order to compete you bring in folks from around the world. A person we give a swimming scholarship to over a working lifetime will more likely return that gift a hundred fold to our country in various forms over their lifetime.
I have to say that Tom and I don't agree on this one. I have no problem with this situation and am not aware of any situations where top calibre swimmers are denied scholarships or admission because of a foreign student. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of scholarships that aren't used every year so these few swimmers aren't denying anyone an education. We live in a global economy. In order to compete you bring in folks from around the world. A person we give a swimming scholarship to over a working lifetime will more likely return that gift a hundred fold to our country in various forms over their lifetime.
