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.
Originally posted by justforfun
But, shouldn't those opportunities go preferentially to U.S. swimmers? None of the many foreign swimmers who came to Nebraska ever became U.S. citizens and competed for the United States.
This same theme has come up numerous times and I just don't get it. These foreign swimmers are coming to the U.S. to get a free (or at least cheap) education and train with and compete against some of the best swimmers in the world. I don't really understand why they are in any way obligated to become U.S. citizens or compete for the U.S. and I really don't understand why people think they would. That said, several of the foreign guys I swam with did stay in the U.S. after school and have jobs and familes here now. This may be a different tack than most of our ancestors took to reach the U.S., but the end result is the same, and in my opinion this is one of the things that makes the U.S. great.
I'm sure there are lots of examples, but let me name just one name of someone who came to this country to swim and has had a HUGE positive effect on swimming in the United States: Jon Urbanchek.
Originally posted by justforfun
But, shouldn't those opportunities go preferentially to U.S. swimmers? None of the many foreign swimmers who came to Nebraska ever became U.S. citizens and competed for the United States.
This same theme has come up numerous times and I just don't get it. These foreign swimmers are coming to the U.S. to get a free (or at least cheap) education and train with and compete against some of the best swimmers in the world. I don't really understand why they are in any way obligated to become U.S. citizens or compete for the U.S. and I really don't understand why people think they would. That said, several of the foreign guys I swam with did stay in the U.S. after school and have jobs and familes here now. This may be a different tack than most of our ancestors took to reach the U.S., but the end result is the same, and in my opinion this is one of the things that makes the U.S. great.
I'm sure there are lots of examples, but let me name just one name of someone who came to this country to swim and has had a HUGE positive effect on swimming in the United States: Jon Urbanchek.
