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U.S. Team Truly A Melting Pot

By DAVID CRARY The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2008

NEW YORK - As the U.S. struggles with immigration policy, Americans will get a chance to see their melting-pot nation through the prism of foreign-born athletes competing in USA uniforms at the Beijing Olympics.

There are at least 33 of them, compared to 27 at the 2004 Summer Games, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which didn't track the statistic before then. They include four Chinese-born table tennis players, a kayaker from Britain, Russian-born world champion gymnast Nastia Liukin and seven members of the track and field team.

For those seeking symbolism, it's hard to top the men's 1,500-meter squad - Kenya native Bernard Lagat; Lopez Lomong, one of the "lost boys" of Sudan's civil war who spent a decade in a refugee camp; and Leo Manzano, a Mexican laborer's son who moved to the U.S. when he was 4 but didn't gain citizenship until 2004.

"It's a magical time," said U.S. men's track coach Bubba Thornton. "I'm glad that these young men found their way here. It may just remind us all of where we came from, and how hard the struggle may have been, and how big the dream was to be here."

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors stricter immigration enforcement, said foreign-born Olympians merit public support - but should be viewed as exceptions.

"Not everybody coming into the U.S. is an Olympic athlete or a Nobel prize winner," Mehlman said. "Maybe this ought to be a wake-up call that we ought to design am immigration policy that seeks out exceptional people. Now, most of it is based on extended families. ... You don't have a policy designed to bring in people who fit the needs of this country."

Generally, foreign countries don't complain when their citizens relocate to compete for the U.S. However, some Kenyan officials were displeased when they learned that Lagat - who attended Washington State University but won two Olympic medals for Kenya - had quietly gained U.S. citizenship in 2004 prior to the Athens Games.

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