Monday, July 30, 2012

4950...Independents

At theLondon Olympics, on now. 

According to Deadspin there are 204 teams in this year's Olympics; that is more teams, by eleven, than there are countries in the United Nations but four athletes slipped under the radar.

Three  of the jocks are "Reginald de Windt, a judoka, Lee-Marvin Bonevacia, a distance runner, and Philipine van Aanholt, a sailor, all hail from Curacao, which until 2010 was part of the Netherlands Antilles."  The Netherland Antilles gave up the ghost and is now a province of the Netherlands disenfranchising these three.

The fourth is a marathoner who lives in the States but is South Sudanese.  South Sudan is just a tad over a year old and is having some issues with its former civil war opponent Sudan, a famine, other new country issues.  So Flagstaff, Arizona resident Guor Marial is going to be an independent athlete but truly he is representing South Sudan in the Olympics.  A marathoner, Mr. Marial ran his first marathon last year in a not too shabby time of 2:14 and change.  Marathon fans will recall that was my time in the Ottawa Marathon this year.   

WFDS

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