2020, uh, 21, uh, who knows Tokyo Olympics thread

I saw some dude or woman who has won a medal for two different countries. I didn't think that was possible.

 

Qatar is famous for that. It's got the money to do it.

That said, if I was 30 years younger I'd petition to get dual citizenship with the Faroe Islands or some other nation to play for the national soccer team.

 

In fairness to the IOC, they didn't let Cherono/Shaheen compete in the 2004 Olympics. There is (or was, not sure if it's still there) a rule that one cannot compete for one's new country in the Games until three years after the switch. That rule could have been waived if both countries agreed to do so, but Kenya declined to let him run for Qatar.

 

I think Bernard Lagat did that for Kenya, landed American citizenship and medaled for us too. EDIT: Only in the worlds. Best Olympic finish was a fourth.

 

Well, Sanchez's motivation, as I recall, was definitely to avoid the U.S. trials.

 

It's more common than you'd think, with the dissolution of the USSR. Can't remember her name, but there is a 30+ year old gymnast who has competed for a bunch of different countries - partially because of the USSR dissolution, partially because she's had to move around because her child has needed health care treatments.

 

Is synchronized ... err ... artistic swimming the only sport where competitors are expected to smile during their performance?

 

If I were the 10th fastest Kenyan long distance runner and another country gave me a stipend to change my citizenship, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

 

Smiling causes your neck to expand at least slightly and allows you to get more oxygen to your gills.

 

Both of Lagat's Olympic medals were for Kenya, but when he earned his silver medal in the 2004 Olympics he had already become a U.S. citizen -- though he didn't announce that until after the fact.

He did win two outdoor and two indoor world championships for the U.S.

 

Oksana Chusovitina. Was a Soviet gymnast in the Goodwill Games in 19-fuckin'-90, won a gold medal with the Unified Team in 1992, represented Uzbekistan in the next three Games, Germany in the two after that (her son had leukemia and got treatment in Germany), and then Uzbekistan in the last two.

OG = Original gymnast.

Needless to say, she's the only person out there who has an adult son (born in 1999).

 

Have you held a field hockey ball? Those SOBs are solid and they can get moving real fast.