 Poster: A snowHead
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Surprisingly higher than you might think! Ski Dubai has already recruited a top Austrian slalom racer, Kilian Albrecht, who hopes to change nationality and race for Dubai as soon as the International Ski Federation approves its admission as a member nation. Kilian has regularly finished in the top 20 in WC races. With its economic clout others, on the fringes of team selection in Alpine countries, may yet follow.
Read Kilian's story...
Not so farfetched then, and following in the steps of athletics, which has seen several worldclass recruits from the likes of Kenya to the UAE national team.
Is this a fair way to proceed? Should nationals of one country be able to shift allegiance from one nation to another on a whim, with financial incentives from the rich Gulf states no doubt a big factor in this case? Reminds me of when I watched France on its way to the 1998 World Cup in soccer - a large chunk of the squad had been born elsewhere, or were the children of foreign nationals, but granted nationality no doubt on the strength of their talent at some point... Just seems to me that it makes international competitions a little meaningless with all these 'shenanigans' going on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The important thing is that individual athletes achieve their potential. One of the greatest ski racers of all time, Austrian-born Marc Girardelli, raced for Luxembourg for much of his career.
Hang-ups about nationalism are for nationalists. Politicians fund and exploit sport for the national kudos it can promote in the modern day. Therefore there may be stresses and strains in the relationship between athlete and state. If athletes act with integrity in achieving their personal gains, and jump borders to do it, that's a perfectly acceptable thing as far as I can see.
"Shenanigans" is a slightly perjorative word, I would have thought.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I take your point, and agree to an extent. It's important that athletes should follow the route that best enables them to realise their potential, unhindered by politics. But in the real world a nation may subsidise an athlete's training from childhood and contribute greatly to his/her eventual success, and a degree of resentment should they later choose to jump ship is a little understandable.
Also I do still think it makes something of a mockery of the concept of team competition between nations. It is theoretically possible for two teams to meet that are made up mainly from former nationals from the opposing country. Seems a bit daft to me.
Individual sports, with athletes competing in their own name, rather than as part of a team representing a country, is a little different.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David Goldsmith, PG, not something about which I have terribly well formed nor informed opinions but hey, it's a Saturday morning...
My immediate reaction would (simplistically) be; either we run competitions on a national basis, or we don't. Allowing switches of allegiance means that we are effectively not. So drop all pretence and change the whole system.
Perhaps WC ski racing should organise a little like F1 racing, with the equipment companies forming teams? Although we'd need a few more large ones, rather than the existing quasi-cartel. And no interference from Ecclestone-like magnates.
That said, as I shift uncomfortably on my rather narrow fence, sub-WC levels should/maybe/probably need a national infrastructure to support grassroots development?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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FAQ
was guilty of using mercenaries in the past - something I was never totally happy with but now the concentration is on nurturing home-grown talent.
