Immigration of Athletes

[Dan]

There has been a number of Kenyan long distance runners who immigrated to the Middle East and competed under their flag during the last Beijing Olympics. How do you feel about this?

[Asante]

I think this practice is a disgrace and not what the Olympics is meant to be. It is obvious they changed there nationalities and turned their backs on Kenya for cash.

[Abasi]

I think those guys are just trying to earn a living. They know they can not run forever and they should cash in while they still can. How much do they earn as allowance for running under the Kenyan flag, anyway. I think it is barely enough...

[Kiara]

What are the sports authorities of Bahrain and Qatar thinking? They may have bought their first gold medal by way of Moroccan runner Ramzi but I think no one in Bahrain is celebrating because they know Ramzi is not one of them.

[Asante]

Athletes should not be treated as an export because this turns the Olympics as a charade. The rules should be changed to disallow this renting of athletes in order for a rich country like Bahrain and Qatar to win a gold medal.

[mpoipoi]

The way countries are treating the "should be celebs" deserves a lot to be said. I have to agree, these guys have no choice by look out for themselves. After all, it's all about money....right?.

[Seth]

I think there should be a rule to prevent athletes from switching countries on a whim just to make money from the sport. What's next? Michael Phelps playing for Bahrain in the next Olympics? Athletes for hire is a disgrace to the Olympic spirit.

[Joseph]

Complex ha!

We can argue the case against being patriotic for your country one side, or we can think of the benefits from the "money side" or perhaps we can also argue from the individual responsibility against communal responsibility and the list of arguments can get real long!

Welcome to the global economy and global citizenship.

I wonder where it will eventual take us but I see a citizen born in one given country call it X, lives and work in another county call it Y but actually the job is located in another country call it Z and the money he or she makes helps educate their younger sibling who are studying in country A

We are in a new world and each passing day the world politics and economy are getting blurred each day and it's getting harder to tell the difference any more.