GLASGOW, Scotland — Alaina Kwan and Kylie Dickson drew a disproportionate amount of attention for gymnasts who won’t make the all-around final at the world championships, let alone win any medals.
They wore the same leotard that club teammate and Fierce Fiver McKayla Maroney wore in the 2012 U.S. championships. Only theirs had the Belarus flag on the shoulder.
While Kwan and Dickson competing for a country they’ve never even visited doesn’t violate International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) rules, it has sparked a debate and drawn criticism on social media and in the gymnastics community.
“I don’t really focus on what flag I’m representing,” said Kwan, 17. “I just honestly want to do what I do, do what I love and see how far I can go.”
Dickson, 16, said the same. Late to make the senior elite level in the United States, Kwan and Dickson’s best and likely only chance to take part in a major international competition came in representing another country.
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While neither would discuss their thoughts on the controversy it has created, it was clear they’re aware of it.
“I don’t really know,” Dickson, 16, said of the debate. “I’m excited about (competing) and that’s all.”
For those who see Kwan and Dickson as reaching for an opportunity they wouldn’t have had otherwise, the controversy might not register. Of course they would have preferred to compete for the Americans, but with a team deep enough that a B team could medal that wasn’t likely to happen. By competing for Belarus, they’ve given themselves the chance to compete at this level.
“I love having the opportunity just to travel to a different country and just to meet different people,” said Kwan, “so it would be really hard to pass this opportunity.”
For others who put stock in the value of national pride, their decision to represent another country seems incomprehensible. The hard work it takes to get to this stage has value not just in the individual achievement but in the flag the gymnasts compete under.
Three-time U.S. Olympian John Roethlisberger questioned the decision in a column for Inside Gymnastics, saying, “Ultimately, in my heart that bleeds red, white and blue, I believe citizenship and country means so much more than an individual opportunity at a sporting event.”
Kwan and Dickson competed in the U.S. Classic in July, but with Kwan finishing ninth and Dickson in 11th it was clear they would not get to experience international competition for the U.S. team.
Galina Marinova and Artur Akopyan, their coaches at All Olympian Gymnastics Center in Los Angeles, proposed competing for Belarus and worked with the country’s gymnastics federation and Nellie Kim, its vice president, to get the gymnasts onto the team.
“It’s not new. We have our rules in FIG, and whatever happened, happened,” said Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist from Belarus who is also the president of the FIG women’s technical committee.
“It was according to the rules. And the last 20 or more years, there are many gymnasts who change national or who obtain dual citizenship for different reasons. If we go to the past, in the ’90s, you can see that some teams, five out of seven from other countries.”
FIG’s rules allow gymnasts who have dual citizenship to choose which country to compete for. Kwan and Dickson could only compete for the United States in the future if it were approved by both countries and the FIG.
“It’s happened several times during the years, the past years and it’s foreseen since a very long time in our statutes,” said Nicolas Buompane, FIG deputy secretary general.
“This is for not something special, unusual.”
Athletes in other sports have often gained citizenship to compete for other countries. It happens somewhat regularly in track and field and ice dancing.
And there are examples in gymnastics. Danusia Francis was a reserve for Britain in the London Olympics and Toni-Ann Williams was born in the United States. But each has at least one parent from Jamaica, so both will compete for that country here.
And Oksana Chusovitina has competed for the Soviet Union, Germany (in appreciation for the treatment her son received there when he had leukemia) and her native Uzbekistan.
Kwan and Dickson’s lack of ties to Belarus seem to have struck a nerve.
“And for those that may say that it has happened in the sport in the past, or has happened in other sports. Let me ask you this — because it’s technically legal, does that mean it is ethical, right or just?” Roethlisberger wrote. “Heck, maybe Belarus has it all figured out. Don’t invest time, effort and money into developing your own countrymen, simply advertise citizenship to the next best person who wasn’t selected to compete for their own country and boom, you have a team.”
Buompane said it’s not up to the FIG to determine the validity of citizenship. Kwan and Dickson do not have familial ties to the country and have not visited. The met the Belarussian federation president when they arrived here.
The American gymnasts replaced Sviatlana Lifenka and Valeryia Tsekhmistrenka, who were on Belarus’ nominative list for the event. Lifenka competed for Belarus in the European Games in June, earning her best finish on vault where she was 18th. Tsekhmistrenka has not competed internationally.
With three more qualifying sessions to go Saturday, Kwan and Dickson seemed poised to improve on the results for Belarus from last year’s championships, where its lone gymnast finished 155th in the all-around (although she did not compete in uneven bars).
Both stressed that they don’t know what future plans hold, although they left open the possibility of training in Belarus. Amid the controversy surrounding their entry here, both were trying to enjoy what they viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I get it, how we got the attention because we were able to go to the Classics and everything and people noticed us,” said Kwan. “… (W)e are new. We had no idea what we were getting into, honestly.”