Delano Williams.

Bournemouth Addick

What do we reckon then Lifers? A fake Brit parachuted into the GB team at the last minute in an attempt to save face in the sprints at the Games or a golden opportunity to secure the most promising athletics star since the emergence of Bolt and we'd be stupid to pass it up?

This lad is going to be a superstar imo and since he cant run for his place of birth and it is one of 'ours' effectively, get him in the team like any one else would do!

Algarveaddick

He deserves the chance to compete in the Olympics, why not for GB if he can't represent the T & C islands?

sam3110

Yep, use him, all teams in all sports do it, just look at the NZ rugby team, our cricket team and the american football team too, full of Islanders, South Africans and Mexicans/Puerto Ricans respectively.

LenGlover

These days country of birth of self or ancestors seems irrelevant if money can be made.

kigelia

no problem with it at all. Citizens from the T and C islands are automatically British by default by my understanding as the islands cannot confer their own citizenship on people born there. I doubt there would be any controversy at all if he was from the Falkland Islands.

He is entitled to a British Passport and has been since birth and would not have been able to compete at the Olympics as any other nationality, so to me that makes him British.

ShootersHillGuru

no problem with it at all. Citizens from the T and C islands are automatically British by default by my understanding as the islands cannot confer their own citizenship on people born there. I doubt there would be any controversy at all if he was from the Falkland Islands.

He is entitled to a British Passport and has been since birth and would not have been able to compete at the Olympics as any other nationality, so to me that makes him British.

Not as well versed as Kigelia but if the post is right then 100% what it says.

se9addick

He isn't a British citizen, but he's a citizen of a British Overseas Territory, different from having mainland British citizenship, but the same as the Falklands I believe. If he represents GB as a citizen of a British territory that's fine by me, very different to some of the athletes who have no British association whatsoever who have been brought in for the Olympics.

se9addick

If you're interested - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Overseas_Territory

Rothko

and this is all you need to know

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Overseas_Territory#section_10

nth_london_addick

So is he running for team gb or not

se9addick

So is he running for team gb or not

Yes, good chance of getting a place in the 100/200m final, maybe even a medal. Great prospect for the future as well.

sam3110

So has Chambers missed out?

Bournemouth Addick

So is he running for team gb or not

Yes, good chance of getting a place in the 100/200m final, maybe even a medal. Great prospect for the future as well.

Not a done deal yet I think. Coming over for the trials next weekend. If he runs to form should do it and with Adam Gemili could seriously bolster our relay team in particular.

JCAddick

Better than Zola Budd...and marvellous to give the chap a chance to compete on the international stage. If he's quick enough, why not give him a go!

buckshee

not something we'll have to worry about after that performance in the trials

Tewkesbury_Addick

Yeah. He's not quick enough...

Browntrousers

No he should not. Does he really represent the nation? What has he dine for this nation? Is the British Olympic team becoming like a pret a manger sandwich shop where the local workforce are almost entirely replaced by foreign labour under the misapprehension that a British born worker can't make a bacon and lettuce sarnie. Why can't delano run for his country of birth, education and family. Why have our selectors taken a talent from a poorer nation and robbed them of a bit of national pride? How does T & C feel about all this? what about the poor British kid that trained all his life to get screwed over to find a place for a kid that has never even set foot on these shores as a brit.

They have already screwed Aaron Cook out of a place for political or diversity reasons.

Browntrousers

No he should not. Does he really represent the nation? What has he dine for this nation? Is the British Olympic team becoming like a pret a manger sandwich shop where the local workforce are almost entirely replaced by foreign labour under the misapprehension that a British born worker can't make a bacon and lettuce sarnie. Why can't delano run for his country of birth, education and family. Why have our selectors taken a talent from a poorer nation and robbed them of a bit of national pride? How does T & C feel about all this? what about the poor British kid that trained all his life to get screwed over to find a place for a kid that has never even set foot on these shores as a brit. It's stinks.

They have already screwed Aaron Cook out of a place for political or diversity reasons.

Stig

Better than Zola Budd...and marvellous to give the chap a chance to compete on the international stage. If he's quick enough, why not give him a go!

I agree, but I think that's what's wrong with the Olympics. Qualification should be on ability, not nationality.

harveys_gardener

No he should not. Does he really represent the nation? What has he dine for this nation? Is the British Olympic team becoming like a pret a manger sandwich shop where the local workforce are almost entirely replaced by foreign labour under the misapprehension that a British born worker can't make a bacon and lettuce sarnie. Why can't delano run for his country of birth, education and family. Why have our selectors taken a talent from a poorer nation and robbed them of a bit of national pride? How does T & C feel about all this? what about the poor British kid that trained all his life to get screwed over to find a place for a kid that has never even set foot on these shores as a brit.

They have already screwed Aaron Cook out of a place for political or diversity reasons.

No he should not. Does he really represent the nation? What has he dine for this nation? Is the British Olympic team becoming like a pret a manger sandwich shop where the local workforce are almost entirely replaced by foreign labour under the misapprehension that a British born worker can't make a bacon and lettuce sarnie. Why can't delano run for his country of birth, education and family. Why have our selectors taken a talent from a poorer nation and robbed them of a bit of national pride? How does T & C feel about all this? what about the poor British kid that trained all his life to get screwed over to find a place for a kid that has never even set foot on these shores as a brit. It's stinks.

They have already screwed Aaron Cook out of a place for political or diversity reasons.

BT, the whole point is that T & C can't compete as they are not a nation.

Bournemouth Addick

Turned out to be a nonstarter. Literally. :-)

Browntrousers

They are a nation they don't have a Olympic committee so he can't travel to the olympics! He has been to Britain once. His mum is from Haiti who are recognised by the ioc and Jamaica educate him. He does and will represent t & c in the world champs and it's likely he will only ever run for this country at the Olympics which is nonsense. What about the bristish kid that had to advertise on eBay to get funding for training, surely he has some say in this if he makes the qualifying time?

se9addick

They are a nation they don't have a Olympic committee so he can't travel to the olympics! He has been to Britain once. His mum is from Haiti who are recognised by the ioc and Jamaica educate him. He does and will represent t & c in the world champs and it's likely he will only ever run for this country at the Olympics which is nonsense. What about the bristish kid that had to advertise on eBay to get funding for training, surely he has some say in this if he makes the qualifying time?

Did you read any of the above ? Who cares where his Mums from, he's a British Overseas Citizen. Would you have an issue with someone from Jersey/Guernsey/Falkland competing for team GB ?

T&C are British territory as much as London or Manchester are, the reason he shouldn't compete is that he's not made the qualification grade rather than he lives in the wrong part of British territory to keep some happy.

Browntrousers

They are a nation they don't have a Olympic committee so he can't travel to the olympics! He has been to Britain once. His mum is from Haiti who are recognised by the ioc and Jamaica educate him. He does and will represent t & c in the world champs and it's likely he will only ever run for this country at the Olympics which is nonsense. What about the bristish kid that had to advertise on eBay to get funding for training, surely he has some say in this if he makes the qualifying time?

Did you read any of the above ? Who cares where his Mums from, he's a British Overseas Citizen. Would you have an issue with someone from Jersey/Guernsey/Falkland competing for team GB ?

T&C are British territory as much as London or Manchester are, the reason he shouldn't compete is that he's not made the qualification grade rather than he lives in the wrong part of British territory to keep some happy.

I did read it and perhaps your missing the point. He can run for Haiti as that is where his mum if from.( that is enough for most people to don a national identity)He can rum for Jamaica but that is where his education, domicile is at present. Perhaps these countries are not paying enough. He only has been to these shores once. I wonder if his decision is based on finaces rather than a love for your mother country as he only applied for a british passport this year such is his commitment to our Olympic cause. I wonder how faster athletes like Ellington, devonsish etc feel about the patronage of our Olympic committee of a foreign athlete when they have had to prostitute themselves on eBay do they can go training.

Further the British tax payer has paid for these Olympics not the falkland islanders or Turks and Caicos surely it's not asking too much to see our lads complete in their homeland..

He may only appear once for Britain at the olympics as he the IAAF recognise T C. This is an nonsense if he just runs in the Olympics for us then as a tc in the world champs.

And I really don't think t & c is at much British territory as Manchester. Even tho I would like it to be.

Rothko

Oh gawd, another less then casual xenophobe on here

Browntrousers

Oh gawd, another less then casual xenophobe on here

I was born in India.

Rothko

And? Some of your friends are black?

Browntrousers

What other ignorant assumption are you trying to make? Are you raising the bar? If you want to discuss xenophobia then look up the clinical description and apply it properly before making yourself sound so self righteous and arrogant.

My mum is 'black' if that qualifies me although I am not sure of the significance of the racial classification of the word.

se9addick

T&C is literally called a "British Overseas Territory", that's precisely what it is, so it seems natural for me that he would run for us. Him running for someone else at other competitions is a non- starter of an issue (get it!?!?) because the home nations all compete individually in some other competitions.

Also he is educated in Jamaica because at age 15 a hurricane devastated his homeland and Jamaica was the only place he could go to school.

Northern Ireland isn't in GB yet their athletes compete for us. And again no-one seems to mind if Jersey/Guernsey/Falkland folk compete in the British team, why is it any different for Carribean British territories ?

Browntrousers

I think I dealt with this earlier, I offered an opinion and explanation. In any event clearly, he is not good enough when other local athletes are.

I am not one for plastic brits. Mens sprinting in this country is embarrasingly poor compared to past games, and now we considering turning to a drug cheat to fly our flag. Are we really that desperate? Do we not care who wears a GB vest? How will GB athletics flourish when we are not investing or promoting in our home grown talent?

redcarter

He's not a plastic Brit. He is British.