Athletics Should Not be a Hasbro Board Game

[Guest]

.....like Monopoly, with track teams just another piece of real estate to be accumulated. One of the wiser moves out of the IAAF in a while, IMHO.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1046738/iaaf-freeze-all-transfers-of-allegiance-in-athletics

[gh]

from the subject line I thought this was a reaction to the Nitro Series!

[dupontred]

Devil's in the details though. Say, for example Sally Kipyego who just got US citizenship and has lived in the US for 10 years. Would she fall under this? What are the terms?

I agree with it, just hard (to me at least) to know who is legit and who is just going to the highest bidder.

[jc203]

Maybe.
I agree that something stinks about seeing so many athletes (predominantly East African) suddenly becoming citizens of some new oil rich nation.

But what, exactly, is not legit about going to the highest bidder?

Of course, the catching point here is that the highest pay-days for most T&F athletes is a WC or OG where nationality is the initial requirement.

But, is it fair to poverty level athletes who might never make a national team in their native country to be denied opportunities to prosper through immigration to a welcoming situation abroad? This seems to fly in the face of long established professional and semi-professional (read collegiate scholarships) sports world wide.

The highest paid, most talented, most-in-demand athletes in the world live and compete where the most $$$ is offered for their specific talents. Should Lebron have been limited to playing only for Cleveland? Maybe people in our sport should have the same latitude.

[gm]

Stinks to me of certain nations irked by Turkey's imports.

It Boggle's™ my mind that such a Trivial Pursuit™ in the name of Diplomacy™ could Scrabble™ the playing field for so many budding Careers™. I truly hope no deserving athlete falls victim to the Monopoly™ that is the federation. They each deserve a Pay Day™, considering the Risk™ they assume in venturing out of their comfortable home nations. Don't Miss the Boat™ people!

[gh]

I don't have a Clue™ what you're getting at.

[Guest]

Stinks to me of certain nations irked by Turkey's imports.

The idea is just go out and buy 'em up. A Sorry^TM situation.

"In 2000, Qatar bought an entire weightlifting team from Bulgaria, which helped it win a bronze medal by Angel Popov, competing under the name Said Saif Asaad."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/16/how-some-middle-east-countries-are-buying-olympic-medals.html

"Bahrain’s gold-medal Olympic track team is almost entirely made up of Africans"

https://qz.com/759279/bahrains-gold-medal-olympic-track-team-is-almost-entirely-made-up-of-africans/

[cubehead]

About time for something like this....it was Turkey that was the last straw...doing their best to destroy European athletics...especially in cross country...

[Bruce Kritzler]

The 2-4 yr. waiting period for championship participation needs to be reinstated.