The USA and the International Athletics Federation have shown their smallness, Santtu Silvennoinen writes about Eugene.
Donald Trump made it difficult to enter the USA. PDO
Entertainer Jope Ruonansuu said in the voice of TV journalist Aarne Tanninen that everything in the USA is so big and awesome that snowflakes the size of Paavo Väyrynen’s head are falling on the ground.
Viking Tony Halme described in his book that he ate steaks the size of a toilet seat every day in restaurants in the United States during his show wrestling days.
At the World Championships in Athletics, the United States has shown its smallness.
It is incomprehensible how difficult it has been for various athletes, even Western ones, to get a visa. USA Today reported that as of Thursday, 374 athletes or officials have had difficulty getting their visas.
For example, British marathoner Chris Thompson had to miss the concert because he couldn’t get his visa in time.
US embassies around the world have cited the bottleneck caused by the corona virus, when they have not had time to process visa applications.
The real reason is the immigration crackdowns driven by humorist President Donald Trump. The America first policy made various visas even more bureaucratic than before. Joe Biden has not been able to correct all the stupidities of his predecessor.
Athletics has been described as a global power sport, but when the USA entered the country, the umbrella organization World Athletics has shown itself to be an underdog. In real major sports competitions, such as the Olympics, the accreditation issued by the event organizers works together with the passport as a sufficient travel document.
Last April, I confirmed from the Finnish authorities that an Esta electronic travel permit is sufficient for a business trip to Eugene. Two colleagues who were on a business trip in the USA during 2022 said that they operated on Esta without problems.
The Visa Waiver Program Esta is a program offered by the US government that offers citizens of 36 visa-exempt countries the opportunity to travel to the United States for business or pleasure for up to 90 days without a visa. The condition is that you don’t make a single dollar from the USA.
On the last day of May, the organizers of the competition in Eugene announced by email that Esta is not enough, but that all media representatives working at the competition must have a visa.
In the first week of June, I submitted a visa application to the American embassy in Finland and paid 152 euros. It took two hours to fill out the forms. In addition, you had to visit a photo studio to take visa photos according to special standards.
For the visa, a hearing is organized at the US Embassy of Finland in Helsinki. The first available hearing time was available on December 1.
I made an expedited processing request and called back three times. At the end of the line, the guy who spoke to London with an Indian accent urged to be ready to slip into the embassy “at very short notice”.
Nothing has been heard until today.
At Chicago’s O’Hare airport last Tuesday, the authority asked one question during the entry inspection.
– Do you have food?
– No, I answered.
– Welcome to the United States, the man of Asian background said.
The stands in Eugene’s small stadium have not been full every day. Pasi Liesimaa
The USA has been said to be the mother country of athletics and Eugene is called the home of athletics.
The smallest stadium in the history of the World Cup until now has been Gothenburg’s Ullevi, which in 1995 attracted around 42,000 spectators.
What to think that Hayward Field in Eugene, according to the official announcement of the organizers, can hold between 17,221 and 20,000 spectators during the World Cup, and the stadium has not even been sold out every day?
If only 20,000 spectators were admitted to the main stage of the World Cup in Norway, the mother country of skiing, a popular uprising would follow.
Make America great again.