January 25, 2006
D.C. to the Olympics?
There are a lot of creative ways to advocate for District voting rights. Of those, our friend Mike Panetta has been behind many. As you may recall, Panetta was one of the minds behind a recent online effort to allow District residents to ask Supreme Court justice nominee Samuel Alito questions, and, prior to that, to rename RFK "Taxation Without Representation Stadium."
Now Panetta has hatched a new scheme to promote voting rights -- having the District represented at the Olympic Games. Ridiculous as it may sound, precedent actually exists, explains Panetta:
That's right. We've started the process of getting Olympic teams for the District of Columbia. We figure if other territories that have a single, non-voting delegate in Congress like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands can have their own Olympic teams, why not DC? If we can't have representation in Congress -- then we should at least have representation in the Olympics.Central to the plan is the creation of the District of Columbia Olympic Committee (DCOC) and the city's first official team vying for a spot in the Olympics -- in curling. Wrote Panetta about this interesting choice of sport:
The first team we put together is the curling team. We figured that it was the only sport that really fit our collective athletic ability, plus there's usually beer at the end of the games. Plus, nobody really wanted to wear the tight outfits you need for luge. We're pretty sure you didn't want to see that either.The DCOC's website features a letter you can send to the International Olympic Committee asking that the District's team be accepted for competition, and you can even offer up your own athletic skills for an official team.
If it ever became an Olympic sport, we'd kick some major ass in kickball.
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That a great idea, here is a list of the 17 Shooting events DC could compete in. Maybe we could petition for new Stray Bullet and Semi-Automatic competition to be added:
http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/programme/disciplines_uk.asp?DiscCode=SH
LIST OF EVENTS
• 10m air pistol (40 shots) Women
• 10m air pistol (60 shots) Men
• 10m air rifle (40 shots) Women
• 10m air rifle (60 shots) Men
• 10m running target (30+30 shot Men
• 25m pistol (30+30 shots) Women
• 25m rapid fire pistol (60 shot Men
• 50m pistol (60 shots) Men
• 50m rifle 3 positions (3x20 shots) Women
• 50m rifle 3 positions (3x40 sh Men
• 50m rifle prone (60 shots) Men
• double trap (120 targets) Women
• double trap (150 targets) Men
• skeet (125 targets) Men
• skeet (75 targets) Women
• trap (125 targets) Men
• trap (75 targets) Women
This is a great idea.
The more and more press we get the closer we get to voting rights.
Well if there's anything to say about Mike Panetta, he's creative. Go for the gold, Mike!
Well if there's anything to say about Mike Panetta, he's creative. Go for the gold, Mike!
I bet DC could field an ultimate frisbee team. Wait... that's not an olympic sport. Damn it!
love it. If we can get the 'benefits' of statehood, then we should go the benefits of not being a state - and I guess this is one. What other fun stuff do Guam and P.R. do?
What other fun stuff do Guam and P.R. do?
Well, they have their own World Cup teams. Their performance is abysmal -- currently, Puerto Rico's in 195th place in the world, the US Virgin Islands are in 196th, Guam's in 204th and American Samoa's in 205th -- but they do have them.
(How bad are they? Well, FIFA currently has 205 teams.)
I wonder if DC United and/or local colleges would be willing to field players for the next World Cup qualifying round? CONCACAAF has a lot of weak Caribbean teams we could probably beat, giving us a non-zero chance of wobbling into the second round.
I checked the "Join a Team" page and it omits skeleton. Between needing to learn the sport and getting the body needed for the suit, I figure four years is about right, but they've denied me the chance even to express my interest.
As for summer sports, I fenced for a semester in college, but I couldn't come close to competing on the international level. And although I'm fascinated by the sport, there's no way I could master Modern Pentathlon in two years.
I think you people in D.C. are missing the point, comparing Puerto Rico to D.C. is ridiculous. D.C. does not constitute a nation neither you were invaded by the US neither you have an international recognition for free determination, neither are you recognized as a country by the UN (Puerto Rico country code in the UN:630) neither are you considered a nationality (check cia factbook on PR).
You are the capital city of a nation, a neighborhood of Virginia and Maryland...get over it!
I think you people in D.C. are missing the point, comparing Puerto Rico to D.C. is ridiculous. D.C. does not constitute a nation neither you were invaded by the US neither you have an international recognition for free determination, neither are you recognized as a country by the UN (Puerto Rico country code in the UN:630) neither are you considered a nationality (check cia factbook on PR).
You are the capital city of a nation, a neighborhood of Virginia and Maryland...sorry, get over it!
I think you people in D.C. are missing the point, comparing Puerto Rico to D.C. is ridiculous. D.C. does not constitute a nation neither you were invaded by the US neither you have an international recognition for free determination, neither are you recognized as a country by the UN (Puerto Rico country code in the UN:630) neither are you considered a nationality (check cia factbook on PR).
You are the capital city of a nation, a neighborhood of Virginia and Maryland...get over it!
"I think you people in D.C. are missing the point, comparing Puerto Rico to D.C. is ridiculous"
You're missing the point -- the comparisan is that neither place has voting representation in Congress. Thus, neither place has full participation in the democratic system.
Seriously, take a breath, and think about this -- DC voters do not get to vote for the legislative body that makes the laws for its people. That's a heaving pile of anti-democratic bullcrap.
If Virginia or Maryland or any state were suddenly told, "sorry, you don't get to have representation in Congress anymore," they would go ballistic.
Frankly, it would be nice to see the rest of the country get off its collective ass and actually help us to right this 200 year old wrong.
"If Virginia or Maryland or any state were suddenly told, "sorry, you don't get to have representation in Congress anymore," they would go ballistic."
But that's apples and oranges. Nobody's representation was suddenly taken away to form DC. It has never had representation. It's been over 200 years and it never had voting representation. Norma's (or tom's or whomever's) point is valid: namely that under international standards, Puerto Rico is recognized as a nation separate from the U.S. The District isn't even close. You're thinking about your DCVote grievances, but that's not the standard that international organizations apply to recognize sovereign countries (and sovereign countries' sports teams). They look at a lot of things, most importantly history; all DC has is an itch for a few votes in Congress. We're not Puerto Rico. We're not Guam. We're not Palestine. There's no history of sovereignity. I think the only groups within the continental U.S. that could arguably form Olympic teams would be native american tribes.
Obviously the main objective of this movement is to raise awareness of DC's unique situation. But I wonder, what happens if the rest of the country becomes aware of the situation and doesn't care? What then?