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.
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Former Member
This is going back a little in this thread. Sorry, but I'm way behind in my e-mail.
When did anyone hear about the last great medical breakthrough in countries with socialized medicine?
And one of the reasons for our astronomical health care costs has to do with outrageous court settlements. I live in a county where a number of these have been handed out and guess what? A huge number of area doctors left the county. It's become a real problem for us. I understand malpractice and the can of worms this opens up, but there needs to be some sort of cap.
As for illegal immigrants... with our imperfect healthcare and as was mentioned before, anyone is treated - even those not paying taxes, which is putting more stress on our already over-burdened system.
Does anyone know of U.S. citizens training in other countries? I've heard of it for other sports, but I'm not aware of this practice taking place in swimming?
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Former Member
This is going back a little in this thread. Sorry, but I'm way behind in my e-mail.
When did anyone hear about the last great medical breakthrough in countries with socialized medicine?
And one of the reasons for our astronomical health care costs has to do with outrageous court settlements. I live in a county where a number of these have been handed out and guess what? A huge number of area doctors left the county. It's become a real problem for us. I understand malpractice and the can of worms this opens up, but there needs to be some sort of cap.
As for illegal immigrants... with our imperfect healthcare and as was mentioned before, anyone is treated - even those not paying taxes, which is putting more stress on our already over-burdened system.
Does anyone know of U.S. citizens training in other countries? I've heard of it for other sports, but I'm not aware of this practice taking place in swimming?
