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
Well, thank about 30 years ago it was the Aussies, and the Americans and the Europeans and sometimes Japanese that medaled at the Olympics. And some good latin Americans. Now the sport is more around the world where someone can go to the olympics and worlds. And less people in the third world have to go under special categories like Eric the Eeel, that came from a wealthy Afrcian family and got to train in Spain and almost dropped a mintue off of his time. India qualified I think in the A standard at worlds in a relay.
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Former Member
Well, thank about 30 years ago it was the Aussies, and the Americans and the Europeans and sometimes Japanese that medaled at the Olympics. And some good latin Americans. Now the sport is more around the world where someone can go to the olympics and worlds. And less people in the third world have to go under special categories like Eric the Eeel, that came from a wealthy Afrcian family and got to train in Spain and almost dropped a mintue off of his time. India qualified I think in the A standard at worlds in a relay.