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 Tom Ellison
Gosh, I guess we can water this down to what city or county they swim for...but the fact is...Spitz swam for the USA...and given... the state of California is out there on the left bank....But, the last time I checked it was still a part of the United States....
So your opposition to foreign swimmers getting scholarships boils down to xenophobia, is that it?
Originally posted by Tom Ellison
Gosh, I guess we can water this down to what city or county they swim for...but the fact is...Spitz swam for the USA...and given... the state of California is out there on the left bank....But, the last time I checked it was still a part of the United States....
So your opposition to foreign swimmers getting scholarships boils down to xenophobia, is that it?