Be a national hero in Sweden or get some coverage once every four years in the US.
It's not even debatable.
What is the view of him in Sweden? Any Swedish people on here? He doesn't live there and never has, I imagine many Swedish people aren't fully embracing him as being one of their own. Imagine if someone with American parents was born in Monaco and lived their whole life there but still showed up once per year to compete at the US championships and worlds for the US. Maybe it's different because they don't exactly have a bunch of other pole vaulters who he's taking a spot from.
Why do you spread lies? He has a home in Sweden and its where he lives when he is not on training camp. Also he doesn't have "american parents", he has a swedish mother. Imagine being an american and being so salty about this.
Again its so weird of Americans to say that you cant compete for a country where you live, speak the language, have family etc etc. He is swedish, his mom is swedish, his gf is swedish, he lives in sweden. You realize how many medals the US would lose out of with those standards?
The notion that posters here have (repeated) several times that he chose SWEDEN because he'd have an easier time with making the Swedish Team (discretionary pick by coaches) versus here in the USA is literally INSANE.
Sure sounds like there are people here chiming in about an Athlete and Event that they know nothing about. This kid was pole vaulting in his own backyard and idolizing his older brother. The videos out there of his Dad Greg (who is probably the shortest dude to ever clear 19 feet at 5-06) are legendary!
As a high schooler In 2017, he cleared 18 feet 10X in 28 minutes for crying out loud! To put that into context, there are only about 20 "official" jumps over 18 feet in the history of American High School PV.
Mondo is the poster child for PHENOM.
He didnt need an "easier" track and field federation to join. That's just absurd.
The notion that posters here have (repeated) several times that he chose SWEDEN because he'd have an easier time with making the Swedish Team (discretionary pick by coaches) versus here in the USA is literally INSANE.
Sure sounds like there are people here chiming in about an Athlete and Event that they know nothing about. This kid was pole vaulting in his own backyard and idolizing his older brother. The videos out there of his Dad Greg (who is probably the shortest dude to ever clear 19 feet at 5-06) are legendary!
As a high schooler In 2017, he cleared 18 feet 10X in 28 minutes for crying out loud! To put that into context, there are only about 20 "official" jumps over 18 feet in the history of American High School PV.
Mondo is the poster child for PHENOM.
He didnt need an "easier" track and field federation to join. That's just absurd.
Yeah. Mondo is not like JCQ who couldn't make the US Olympic team in the hurdles and suddenly seemed to want to "honor mom" by competing for PR.
The only thing competition wise you might be able to say is that he has to qualify for the US team which, even if you're the absolute best, has some risk.
The notion that posters here have (repeated) several times that he chose SWEDEN because he'd have an easier time with making the Swedish Team (discretionary pick by coaches) versus here in the USA is literally INSANE.
So insane even Duplantis family said this played a role. Do your research.
There are a lot of videos about this, from Duplantis side and from Sweden federation side.
And even if he didn't mention it (he did) it's the best choice to do. Everyone has bad days, injuries... no one would waste 4 years if their lives (and a lot of money) because they had a bad they if they had a choice. Simple as .
Be a national hero in Sweden or get some coverage once every four years in the US.
It's not even debatable.
What is the view of him in Sweden? Any Swedish people on here? He doesn't live there and never has, I imagine many Swedish people aren't fully embracing him as being one of their own. Imagine if someone with American parents was born in Monaco and lived their whole life there but still showed up once per year to compete at the US championships and worlds for the US. Maybe it's different because they don't exactly have a bunch of other pole vaulters who he's taking a spot from.
Soccer is so much bigger than any other sport in Sweden it´s not even close. It is as if you combined American football, basketball and baseball in one sport in America.
The notion that posters here have (repeated) several times that he chose SWEDEN because he'd have an easier time with making the Swedish Team (discretionary pick by coaches) versus here in the USA is literally INSANE.
So insane even Duplantis family said this played a role. Do your research.
There are a lot of videos about this, from Duplantis side and from Sweden federation side.
And even if he didn't mention it (he did) it's the best choice to do. Everyone has bad days, injuries... no one would waste 4 years if their lives (and a lot of money) because they had a bad they if they had a choice. Simple as .
And yet there's never been anyone close to Mondo from the USA. Not even close. Maybe Sam Kendricks on his best day of his career.
So insane even Duplantis family said this played a role. Do your research.
There are a lot of videos about this, from Duplantis side and from Sweden federation side.
And even if he didn't mention it (he did) it's the best choice to do. Everyone has bad days, injuries... no one would waste 4 years if their lives (and a lot of money) because they had a bad they if they had a choice. Simple as .
And yet there's never been anyone close to Mondo from the USA. Not even close. Maybe Sam Kendricks on his best day of his career.
I'm sure if they had known he was going to be the best vaulter of all-time they'd have kept his national affiliation with the US. It was a biz decision, I can understand that, but still feels off to me.
Iam not a Swede but a Brit ,I’ve Swedish friends they say{but this is obv by watching Stockholm diamond league}that Mondo is huge out there [he’s huge at every meet]he is basically THE embodiment of Swedish summer olympics ,he’s very probably on a government stipend of some sort outside of any sponsorship,his ties with family over there are genuine ,during the difficult last few seasons I gather he trains there during Euro heavy parts of the season and last year when vaulters were continually having gear held up or lost on flights his family drove his poles down from Sweden to what I think was the Paris diamond league,he is huge at the meets ,to show his universal popularity you should of seen the welcome he got at the Oslo diamond league,next Winter Olympics try and follow the Swedish/Norwegian animosity that competition incurs,his decision to register for Sweden would certainly of been influenced by knowing he could avoid a trials system but I find it hard to blame him ,he gives every impression of wanting to deliver his best at all competitions,I feel he was also looking at a long term environment that would allow that ,Americans should be proud of him as he is a product of both his birth country and his parents ,he is articulate and full of humility,yes he’s in Swedish kit but everybody knows his backstory ,a better advert for your nation couldn’t be found,you couldn’t get further away from the cliche’ of the ‘ugly American’[iam assuming he holds both passports but competes for one] he will always go for a higher bar even after the competition is won ,you can see his fellow competitors adore him ,apart from being a nice kid he’s elevated the vault to being THE event at some meets
As a swede I can attest that Armand Duplantis is huge. Ask a random swede on the street. EVERYONE will know who he is.
He's not Zlatan (yet) but Sweden loves its track and field stars. Anyone who's won an Olympic gold will forever be remembered. We don't get them that often, you know.
So insane even Duplantis family said this played a role. Do your research.
There are a lot of videos about this, from Duplantis side and from Sweden federation side.
And even if he didn't mention it (he did) it's the best choice to do. Everyone has bad days, injuries... no one would waste 4 years if their lives (and a lot of money) because they had a bad they if they had a choice. Simple as .
And yet there's never been anyone close to Mondo from the USA. Not even close. Maybe Sam Kendricks on his best day of his career.
You need to go back in time and tell them that, not me.
He chose Sweden when he was 16, and it was the right choice, as his results prove. Sweden was after him from the start, they made their case and convinced the family.
Check the videos, it's a nice look behind the scenes.
He currently lives there, and yes he can speak Swedish.
And yet Swedes prefer to talk to him in English because, well, he's born and raised in Louisiana.
Armand literally went to the same high school as his dad...in Louisiana.
So two generations straight in the same town of Louisiana, but he's gonna compete for Sweden and people don't see why that's frowned upon?
Lol you can turn that the other way around. His mum is from Uppsala and he now lives in Uppsala. Two generations straight in the same area in Sweden. Again, do you really want to go this route? 9/10 its usa that benefits from this.
Mondo is from Cajun country. More people there can tell you who makes the best boudain/boudin in the world then who is the best Pole Vaulter in the world. When he signed with LSU they had a bill board up on the highway to let everyone know who he is. On the flip side more people in Sweden can tell you about " My Life as a Dog" than where Cajun country is.
Can someone find the video of Mondo vaulting at night in his backyard off a hoverboard?
Why do people try to commercialize every thing they see? It is an American psychosis.
This. Its incredible to not be able to see that he got good backing from the swedish federation and wanted to explore the swedish side of himself. Obviously he enjoys competing for Sweden. Its his choice, its understandable that he want to represent the country he lives in, where his mother is from, and where he enjoys good backing from his federation.