Give me your tired, your 1,500-meter runners...
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With the U.S. Olympic team all but finalized in every discipline, the Associated Press, using figures compiled by the U.S. Olympic Committee, said a record 33 foreign-born athletes will be competing for the United States in Beijing next month.
That’s six more than in 2004, the first year for which the statistic was kept.
Many countries, such as Mexico, Greece, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, require only that an athlete prove familiar ties to compete for their national teams. The U.S., however, requires its athletes to complete a lengthy citizenship process and then, in many sports, they must also win their spot on the Olympic team in competitive trials events.
In last month’s track and field trials in Eugene, the top three finishers in the 1,500 meters -- Bernard Lagat, Lopez Lomong and Leo Manzano -- were all naturalized citizens. Lagat came from Kenya, Lomong from Sudan and Manzano from Mexico. Four other members of the U.S. Olympic track and field team are also naturalized citizens. Other foreign-born U.S. Olympians, according to the Associated Press, include four Chinese-born table tennis players, a British kayaker and world gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin, who was born in Russia.
At the same time, however, there are dozens of U.S. citizens competing for other nations, such as pole vaulter Giovanni Lanaro and wrestler Larry Langowski, who will represent Mexico. In fact, the growing number of U.S.-trained athletes competing for their parents’ and grandparents’ homelands is quietly becoming a matter of concern internationally.
The USOC, however, insists it has no problem with the current system.
‘Freedom of choice is one of the values our country stands for,’ said Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer for the USOC. ‘And we’re not going to stand in the way of someone who wants to compete for another country. [But] we are extremely proud of the athletes that qualify for our teams. There is no greater honor than to represent our country in the Olympic Games.’
-- Kevin Baxter