As seen on Swiminfo today.......so much for citizenship eh?! And we complain about masters "superteams"!
Draganja Changing Allegiances to Qatar
ZAGREB, Croatia, December 7. WHILE South Africa’s Roland Schoeman has spurned an offer to switch his allegiance to Qatar, the same cannot be said for Croatian Duje Draganja. The sprint sensation, a 24-year-old, recently accepted a lucrative offer to swim for the Middle Eastern nation, which has been chasing high-profile athletes by offering significant sums of money.
Before accepting the offer from Qatar, which is believed to be at least $1 million, Draganja gave Croatian swimming officials the opportunity to keep him swimming under his homeland’s flag. Ultimately, though, the Arab nation won out and Draganja is expected to race for Qatar at next year’s World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, China.
This is an interesting topic for a number of reasons. One perspective that I have seen mentioned in other contexts is that a problem with the Olympics as they are currently constituted is an excess of nationalism(I don't see that changing by the way and am not sure it would even be feasible).
I remember someone suggesting that athletes should compete as individuals and not as representatives of their countries because at the end of the day the Olympics should recognize sporting excellence and not national pride, etc. In a back door way, that's what this does. It may not be the intent of the purchasing country but it is the real outcome.
The other potential twist is athletes who are short of the standards for making a team who move to another country's Olympic team to make their standard. I competed in High School against some Indonesian Olympicans who were swimming in San Diego County--the gap between us was a lot less than the gap between me and the US Olympic team. They were all Indonesian, but I remember pondering how to sign up--not seriously of course but the only way I was going to make it to the Olympics was to buy a ticket.
I think this has happened in soccer with foreign nationals making the US team when they could not qualify with their own. Or Americans playing on other Olympic baseball teams in the Athens Olympics.
This is an interesting topic for a number of reasons. One perspective that I have seen mentioned in other contexts is that a problem with the Olympics as they are currently constituted is an excess of nationalism(I don't see that changing by the way and am not sure it would even be feasible).
I remember someone suggesting that athletes should compete as individuals and not as representatives of their countries because at the end of the day the Olympics should recognize sporting excellence and not national pride, etc. In a back door way, that's what this does. It may not be the intent of the purchasing country but it is the real outcome.
The other potential twist is athletes who are short of the standards for making a team who move to another country's Olympic team to make their standard. I competed in High School against some Indonesian Olympicans who were swimming in San Diego County--the gap between us was a lot less than the gap between me and the US Olympic team. They were all Indonesian, but I remember pondering how to sign up--not seriously of course but the only way I was going to make it to the Olympics was to buy a ticket.
I think this has happened in soccer with foreign nationals making the US team when they could not qualify with their own. Or Americans playing on other Olympic baseball teams in the Athens Olympics.
