What is the point of the world championships in gymnastics, or in any sport? The world championships are a chance for the top athletes from a country to compete against the top athletes from other countries. In order to prevent one country from dominating the competition and it becoming more of a domestic event than an international one, most sports have rules in place that limit the number of entrants from one country. In gymnastics, each country is limited to a team of 6 for the world championships, or 5 at the Olympic games. The all-around and event finals competitions currently only allow two athletes per country to compete. While there is controversy over this rule, the point of it is to allow representation from as many countries as possible.
So what happens when athletes find loopholes in these rules and end up competing for a country with which they have no real affiliation? You end up with a "World" Championships that isn't really a true representation of the world's best athletes. Hmmm...
There are examples of gymnasts switching nationality that are completely legitimate, such as Oksana Chusovitina who has competed for Uzbekistan, Germany, and the Soviet Union over her lengthy career. A second is Anna Pavlova who switched from competing for Russia to Azerbaijan over the last quadrennium. More recent examples include NCAA stars Danusia Francis and Toni-Ann Williams, who plan to represent Jamaica at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow. All of these athletes have real ties to the countries for which they are competing or have competed.
Then, we hear some news from International Gymnast that two girls from AOGC named Alaina Kwan and Kylie Dickson are planning to represent Belarus: a country with which they have no affiliation, other than happening to know someone who can help them get citizenship.
To quote the IG article:
"IG: What kind of contact have you had with the team itself?
AK: As of right now we don’t have contact because the team is really small, but our coaches have a really good connection with Nellie Kim, who also helps the Belarusian team a lot. So that’s kind of how we got associated with them."
I don't think I'm alone in thinking this, but you should not be allowed to compete for a country that you have no affiliation with. Heck, it doesn't seem like they've ever even BEEN to Belarus! That makes NO sense and is unfair to the Belorussian gymnasts who have spent their lives training there, hoping to get a spot on the world team, and then having some American girls come in and take their spots.
Another interesting quote from the article: "I always had my mind set on competing for America because that’s my country. But once the idea sank in, it showed me how much I can do and see. I can travel the world and experience everything, but just representing a different name. So I’d rather go for the experience than for the name."
Gee, well then lets just call it the "Everybody Pick a Name to Represent" Championships instead of the World Championships, because that's what it'll become! Forget having pride for your country, let's just all pick a random one and go with it!
K, I'm done. Thoughts?
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