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.
Mr. Goodsmith:
"May I remind you of the incident in the 1988 Olympics when several members of the men's team were immediatly instructed to pack their bags and go home because of their "conduct" violations there." What incident are you referring to? Honest I can't remember anything several members did that were conduct violations.
Mr. Goodsmith:
"May I remind you of the incident in the 1988 Olympics when several members of the men's team were immediatly instructed to pack their bags and go home because of their "conduct" violations there." What incident are you referring to? Honest I can't remember anything several members did that were conduct violations.