Which country should immigrants run for at olympics?

[Huck]

Im just watching a documentary on radio canada (french version of the CBC) and they are talking about a Quebec born guy, of madagascar origins which is going to the Turin olympics. The problem: he will be running for madagascar, not Canada.


My question is: do you think immigrants should run for the country in which they now live, or their country of origin? and, what if they are canadian born, should the HAVE to run for canada?

I personally think they shoud. What about you?

 

[Calberty]

What's wrong with options? Hopefully one day people will get over all this nationalism nonsense.

Many excellent athletes wouldn't be at the Olympics at all if they had to compete for a particular country. There's Canadians on other country's curling teams...skiers from France on Andorra's ski team...on so on. the more countries and athletes competing the better.

 

[Andem]

Probably because this guy from madagascar couldn't make the Canadian Olympic team. I'm betting it's a lot easier for any athelete to play for such a low profile country as opposed to a larger, western, industrialised country.

 

[#juan]

If he has had Sports Canada help with his training, that help should stop right now. For whatever reason, Canada pays for training to improve our international sports teams, not Madagascar's

 

[Huck]

RE: Which country should

Andem

Yeah, you are right, thats what they said in the documentary. The guy is a football player for some quebec team and decided to try the olympics. He is no real professional.

#juan

I dont think canada supports their activities. The got some donations from quebecers after apearing on a very popular talk show a few weeks back. Courageaous guy.

Calberty


At second thoughts, you are right. In the best of worlds, no frontiers would exist. But, the main goal i had when asking the question was to link it with other threads related to immigration and country policies on the matter. When someone comes to a country, what is the integration level we should expect from them? HAving chinatowns, little india, little iraq, etc. may cause isolasionsm. It may also cause problems like we saw in france.

In short, someone not running for its adoptive country may demonstrate a lack of integration that may, in too great numbers, cause french like problems and ghettos. It can boil down to the canadian cultural mosaic vs the american melting pot strategies...

 

[Andem]

>> In short, someone not running for its adoptive country may demonstrate a lack of integration that may, in too great numbers, cause french like problems and ghettos. It can boil down to the canadian cultural mosaic vs the american melting pot strategies...

Yeah, well I'm totally against mass-immigration. Look what its done to our society. I'm never going to ever live in Toronto again because of (oh, so politically incorrect) the "ethnic crime". Multiculturalism doesn't work, melting pots don't work, total-integration (which is not very often successful, see Turks in Germany) only weakens and threatens the existence of it's host culture.

If he wants to play for his home country, go ahead. Don't expect anything from this taxpayer though.

This isn't that kind of discussion, though. My point still remains that this player obviously isn't good enough for a Canadian Olympic team.. saw something similar about an Estonian girl on Radio-Canada.

 

[FiveParadox]

Freedom of Association

I would argue that, seeing as how this citizen would be guaranteed the freedom of association under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he should have the right to play for whatever team he does so choose, whether or not such a team would be Team Canada.

To force new Canadians to play exclusively on Canadian teams, or to take part exclusively in Canadian programs on other fronts, would be a highly questionable and highly controversial exercise, in my opinion.

 

[Virtual Burlesque]

Like Calberty, I favour open options.

In many cases, the need to immigrate does not and cannot break that person’s ties with the place of their origin. (This is as true of British and American immigrants as it is of immigrants from Pakistan and Madagascar.)

In other cases, immigration to Canada was not so much a goal, as it was a refuge. In these cases, any regulation which stipulated that immigrants must compete FOR those countries from which they were forced to flee, would be doubly onerous.

 

[Machjo]

Which country should immigrants run for at olympics?

I don't know. But come 2008, they'll have to speak a new language:

http://www.worldlanguageprocess.org/china/china_olympic.htm

Cheers.

 

[Virtual Burlesque]

Re: RE: Which country should immigrants run for at olympics?

But come 2008, they'll have to speak a new language:
http://www.worldlanguageprocess.org/china/china_olympic.htm
Cheers.

So!

What, pray tell, was the matter with good old Esperanto? :roll:

 

[Machjo]

Hey, I'm neither for nor against. Ijust thought it would be fun to point out that in Beijing 2008, English spelling and grammar might seem a little odd.

 

[missile]

Expecting to win a lot of medals,eh? It could happen ,with all the time and effort China is putting into athletics

 

[Curiosity]

Re: RE: Which country should immigrants run for at olympics?

Hey, I'm neither for nor against. Ijust thought it would be fun to point out that in Beijing 2008, English spelling and grammar might seem a little odd.

Japan had no problem with language barrier, so why should Beijing???

They put on an excellent Winter Olympics and I learned more about Japanese customs and foods and out of the way mountain villages instead of the usual display of neon lights in Tokyo.

It is a time for a nation to put on its best show for publicity and national horn-tooting.... and somehow the languages never present a problem. There is always someone who can help or people just muddle through with laughter and spirit.

It's about non-political international sport - for most of the athletes....although the politics and vested interests creep in to taint the beautiful concept of the Games.....when they should be left at home before arrival in the host country. At least most of the athletes remain above it all.

 

[Doryman]

Re: RE: Which country should immigrants run for at olympics?

Probably because this guy from madagascar couldn't make the Canadian Olympic team. I'm betting it's a lot easier for any athelete to play for such a low profile country as opposed to a larger, western, industrialised country.

That was my take on it. I was actually talking to my girlfriend the other day ( before I heard of this) and musing that it would probably be a good idea for an athlete to compete for a Banana republic. If they're any good, they're bound to be picked to go!

If he has dual citizenship, and he hasn't yet been trained by Canadians, then I say let him go. We let people with dual-citizenships join other nations armies, why not other nations sports teams?

 

[Mogz]

im·mi·grant ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-grnt)
n.
A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another.

If you leave a County and apply for immigrant status in another, you're a resident of that Country. If you won't support that nation at a hugely symbolic gathering like the Olympics, then I say pack your bags and get the hell out. To be fair though, there are a lot of Canadian immigrants who DO support this great nation at the olympics, and my hat goes off to them.

We let people with dual-citizenships join other nations armies, why not other nations sports teams?

Being a soldier myself, you can lump people who run off to join a foreign army in with the people who run off to join a foreign Olympic team. If the Canadian Forces aren't good enough for them, or the Canadian Flag isn't good enough to represent (e.g. Brett Hull). Piss on ya.

 

[JoeyB]

RE: Which country should

lol. Them's fightin words Mogs, careful or someone's gonna put the fire out underneath ya ...


Ahhh never a dull conversation round here. Good to see.

 

[Mogz]

Meh, i'm opinionated. Some would deem that a good thing