Second Reaction Paper

Julie Drexler
September 24, 2008
Second Reaction Paper

When thinking of the Olympics Games, the things that come to my mind are: culture, respect, diversity, and accomplishments. Are these things still a part of the ancient games our ancestors passed down to us? My paper is on the issue of athletes from other countries immigrating to the United States with the sole intent of representing the United States in the Olympic Games. The first question that I had was: what qualifications are needed to become an American citizen? I found a number of articles on the CQ Global Researcher. This site gave me in-depth details on the qualification one needs to attain United States citizenship. I was surprised to see how difficult it was, you would think that by making this processes so drawn out and difficult that would deter athletes from considering coming to the United States. What is that they do not have in their country that is making them want to represent us? I found that the Ethnic NewsWatch source had related magazine and news articles on immigration and Olympic regulations. The second question I had was on the topic of each country having their own individual regulations for being an Olympic athlete. This was a surprise to me considering the Olympic Games are supposed to be a fair and ethical festival celebrating each countries abilities and strengths. If each country participating does not have the same regulations; how is this at all fair? The Academic Journal, “Citizen Studies” published by Routledge had information relevant to athletes immigrating to other countries for the intent of training and competing in the Olympic Games. By researching these databases, I have come to the conclusion that these country’s athletes are coming to United States because we are allowing them. The Olympics has turned from an individual’s dream of proudly representing their heritage and country into a country trying to have the highest number of gold, silver, and bronze medals. Allowing other immigrant athletes into our country for the sole purpose of representing a specific sport that is lacking representatives, such as table tennis, so that we can dominate at an additional sport is cheating. Using other country's athletes to gain more opportunities to win another medal is wrong.


A global event like the Olympics is dated back to 776 BC as part of religious festivities. All war ceased, and the Olympics were intended to foster a sense of international sportsmanship and fair play. With athletes being able to switch “teams” becoming a citizen in another country, we lose all purpose of the Olympic Games. Regulations need to be equal for all countries and the International Olympic Committee needs to be enforcing them.
In doing this research I was surprised how difficult it was to find specific articles in such a vast amount of information. It is important to have credible sources when doing any research. A valid source is key to effectively persuading your side of an issue. I decided to enter in false information into someone else’s Wikipedia entry and see how long it took for that information to be discarded. I had simply edited a sentence about Esther Williams, saying that she had a phobia of taking a shower in public locker rooms. Within a few minutes, the sentence was no longer posted and removed from the article. Majority of teachers do not allow Wikiapedia as a credible source, which is understandable because not all of the information can be reliable and it is peer edited. Although this search engine may not be the most credible source, it has ten times the amount of information the Encyclopedia Britannica has. I have found that Wikipedia is a good source to start your research and build a foundation. Using the related links and references at the bottom of each article can lead you to the information that is factual and edited by fact checkers and editors. Some of the information I found in Wikipedia I also found in the articles in the NY Times Magazine. It was much easier and convenient to use Wikipedia, but valid sources are needed when persuading an audience.