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
Former Member
Interesting article....... Sounds like "war" in the pool to me.
John Smith
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Taking America down in medals standings
By Bill Briggs
Denver Post Staff Writer
America, enjoy the golden view while you can. Your next stop in the medal count just might be third place after a backroom deal of Olympic proportions.
Russia and China - the most potent Summer Games teams behind the Americans - have formed an unprecedented sporting alliance with brash plans to topple Team USA as the reigning medal monster by 2008.
Under the athletic pact, signed last week during a visit to China by the Russian Olympic Committee, the two nations will share coaches, training secrets and medical advances, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia daily. Russia and China also plan to split up certain sports, each applying its national muscle against American strongholds.
"(The Chinese) hope that we will take some of the medals in sports that are traditionally considered American, i.e., swimming and track and field," Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev told the newspaper. "They speak openly about it: We cannot give in to the U.S." ..............
Interesting article....... Sounds like "war" in the pool to me.
John Smith
===================================
Taking America down in medals standings
By Bill Briggs
Denver Post Staff Writer
America, enjoy the golden view while you can. Your next stop in the medal count just might be third place after a backroom deal of Olympic proportions.
Russia and China - the most potent Summer Games teams behind the Americans - have formed an unprecedented sporting alliance with brash plans to topple Team USA as the reigning medal monster by 2008.
Under the athletic pact, signed last week during a visit to China by the Russian Olympic Committee, the two nations will share coaches, training secrets and medical advances, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia daily. Russia and China also plan to split up certain sports, each applying its national muscle against American strongholds.
"(The Chinese) hope that we will take some of the medals in sports that are traditionally considered American, i.e., swimming and track and field," Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev told the newspaper. "They speak openly about it: We cannot give in to the U.S." ..............
