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.
My opinion is that I don't think there will be any changes in the future regarding foreign swimmers that attend US Universities, receiving athletic scholarships, and compete at the NCAA's. The swimmers do benefit from US coaching, training with US swimmers, and competing in high level meet competitions. Then went the World Championships or Olympics come along they represent there home countries instead of the US where they train. This has been going on for 60 years and I don't see any change because of the history of this being done and no one having an issue with it. The NCAA, AAU, USA swimming actually create opportunties for this with US Open Competitions thru the years.
The first swimmer that I can remember was from Australia and swam for the University of Michigan back in the early 50's. His name was John Davies and he was an Olympic gold medalist. Rumor has it that he wanted to swim for the USA but the USOC did not want him to do so. He became a US citizen and is a Federal Court Judge. You can read about him at www.johndavies.com This is an example of someone that could not swim for the USA. Another example is Lenny Krayzelburg. He was not a US citizen when he started training with Mark Schubert at USC but became one and actually swam for the USA in the Olympics. These are 2 examples and I am sure there are countless others like this. I have read so many stories about swimmers with dual citizenship and some swim for the USA and some don't.
When I think of great swimmers in history that have swam for USA colleges but not the USA, the list is big. For example: Murray Rose, Jon Konrads, Kevin Berry, Juan Bello, Hans Fassncaht, Gunnar Larson, Santiago Esteva, David Wilke, Jonny Skinner, Mark Kerry, Anthony Nesty, and Martin Zubero just to name a few. Almosty every famous NCAA coach has recruited foreign swimmers and it was never an issue until recently. Now I know a lot of these people above were before the Title 9 days and there were more scholarships available so the % of foreign athletes was probably smaller. But I think that we have done it so long that I think it will be hard to change. Plus the USA has been so strong in swimming than any other country, that it never became an issue.
The only way I see it changing is that more foreign swimmers will go professional and go on the World Cup circuit. But if the coaches have skills to recruit those swimmers than I see it not changing. I think its a fact of life that foreign athletes like American sports programs. Look at the NBA and you see it happening there. I think the San Antonio Spurs have 5 foreign players on there squad.
My opinion is that I don't think there will be any changes in the future regarding foreign swimmers that attend US Universities, receiving athletic scholarships, and compete at the NCAA's. The swimmers do benefit from US coaching, training with US swimmers, and competing in high level meet competitions. Then went the World Championships or Olympics come along they represent there home countries instead of the US where they train. This has been going on for 60 years and I don't see any change because of the history of this being done and no one having an issue with it. The NCAA, AAU, USA swimming actually create opportunties for this with US Open Competitions thru the years.
The first swimmer that I can remember was from Australia and swam for the University of Michigan back in the early 50's. His name was John Davies and he was an Olympic gold medalist. Rumor has it that he wanted to swim for the USA but the USOC did not want him to do so. He became a US citizen and is a Federal Court Judge. You can read about him at www.johndavies.com This is an example of someone that could not swim for the USA. Another example is Lenny Krayzelburg. He was not a US citizen when he started training with Mark Schubert at USC but became one and actually swam for the USA in the Olympics. These are 2 examples and I am sure there are countless others like this. I have read so many stories about swimmers with dual citizenship and some swim for the USA and some don't.
When I think of great swimmers in history that have swam for USA colleges but not the USA, the list is big. For example: Murray Rose, Jon Konrads, Kevin Berry, Juan Bello, Hans Fassncaht, Gunnar Larson, Santiago Esteva, David Wilke, Jonny Skinner, Mark Kerry, Anthony Nesty, and Martin Zubero just to name a few. Almosty every famous NCAA coach has recruited foreign swimmers and it was never an issue until recently. Now I know a lot of these people above were before the Title 9 days and there were more scholarships available so the % of foreign athletes was probably smaller. But I think that we have done it so long that I think it will be hard to change. Plus the USA has been so strong in swimming than any other country, that it never became an issue.
The only way I see it changing is that more foreign swimmers will go professional and go on the World Cup circuit. But if the coaches have skills to recruit those swimmers than I see it not changing. I think its a fact of life that foreign athletes like American sports programs. Look at the NBA and you see it happening there. I think the San Antonio Spurs have 5 foreign players on there squad.
