Foreign swimmers training in the U.S.

Former Member
Former Member
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.
Parents
  • I think it's kinda important to remind people what war is about when they start comparing it to things like an athletic contest. From what I hear that Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest is a WAR. Imagine the inhumanity of eating all those hot dogs on a hot day for a prize. You continue to minimalize war and what it involves and if it's ok with you, I'll remind folks it's a bit more serious. Either way, they can pick and choose who to believe. Ironic to bring up 9/11 to discount the notion of war when that was when we went to war on terror and real people died, not just got wet as we see in swim meets, the other kind of war.
Reply
  • I think it's kinda important to remind people what war is about when they start comparing it to things like an athletic contest. From what I hear that Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest is a WAR. Imagine the inhumanity of eating all those hot dogs on a hot day for a prize. You continue to minimalize war and what it involves and if it's ok with you, I'll remind folks it's a bit more serious. Either way, they can pick and choose who to believe. Ironic to bring up 9/11 to discount the notion of war when that was when we went to war on terror and real people died, not just got wet as we see in swim meets, the other kind of war.
Children
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