I stumbled across an
interesting story at ESPN.com. It's the story of an American female cyclist that fell short in her goal to make the U.S. Olympic cycling team. So, she decides to persue athletic adoption, that is, she will gain citizenship in a small obscure country with little or no cycling presence, and become that countries representative in Beijing.
It has been done before. But my question is not really can it be done, but
should it be done? Is citizenship something that should be sought after the same way an athlete seeks sponsors? This is basically what is happening. Instead of a frame builder or shoe maker, she is looking for a country to sponsor her for the 2008 Summer games.
It's a neat story, but it got me thinking about the ethics behind it. Where does it end? Can I go find a small island or a struggling third world country to grant me citizenship so I too can be an Olympian?
I think that if you don't have the legs to qualify for your countries Olympic team, then you don't have the legs to be an Olympian. Citizenship is not simply the color and name on your jersey. It's not sponsorship. At least not in the same sense that we normally think of sponsorship. Citizenship is more than that. It is identity, it is geography, and it is something that I don't think should be sought after simply for athletic gain.
Is shopping yourself around to any country willing to give you a chance the best way to go about becoming an Olympic athlete?
Read the complete post at http://www.epicriding.com/2008/03/athletic-adoption.html