Dual citizenship and anti-Americanism

Years ago, I was having a discussion with a political writer and the conversation included dual citizenship. Her thought was that those with dual citizenship could vote in the elections of both countries, so dual citizenship was bad. My thought was that dual citizens could compete in the Olympics for either country, which would be good.

Now that one of my own descendants has dual citizenship, an anti-American aspect, albeit a temporary one, of dual citizenship has occurred to me. My granddaughter could eventually compete in the Olympics and/or soccer’s Women’s World Cup for Spain, and should she compete against the United States I would be rooting for her rather than for my own country.

My son’s fiancée gave birth to a baby girl the Friday before Thanksgiving. Since Lola’s mother is a Spanish citizen, my granddaughter has both Spanish and American citizenship.

The first person to whom I mentioned Lola’s dual citizenship responded that I was prematurely planning that she would compete in the Olympics for Spain. Lola will decide whether she wants to pursue athletics, and she’ll also need to be talented enough to make either country’s national team, but the opportunity to be on Spain’s national team in sports where the Spanish aren’t as competitive as the Americans could be an additional incentive.

Although I didn’t pressure my own children to play sports, Lola will eventually learn what Grandpa Joe does for a living and may become interested. Lola and her parents live in Kentucky, which has a strong basketball culture. My son competed in gymnastics during his middle school years, so Lola might take interest in becoming a gymnast.

For years, Americans have used dual citizenship to compete in the Olympics for another nation. To the best of my knowledge,e figure skater Diane DeLeeuw was the first of those to win an Olympic medal. She was born and raised in Southern California but, when she was born, her mother had Dutch citizenship. She skated for The Netherlands in the 1976 Winter Olympics and won the silver medal with Dorothy Hamill taking the gold medal on behalf of the United States. It is likely that Diane DeLeeuw still could have made America’s 1976 Olympic team and still would have won a medal, but that’s hindsight and she took the better opportunity to compete in the Olympics in the first place by skating on behalf of The Netherlands.

If Lola takes up a sport and is good enough to make the Spanish national team, it would be nice to see her in the Olympics and/or soccer’s Women’s World Cup. If she plays tennis, she may have a better chance to make the American team rather than the Spanish team, but in many sports Lola would likely have a greater chance of playing for Spain than for the United States.

Some of my great-great-grandparents – who are Lola’s great-great-great-great-grandparents – were born in Germany, and I am a member of the German American Societies in El Cajon. When Germany’s national soccer team plays in an international tournament, the German American Societies has a watch party if the match has a reasonable California time start.

In the 2024 Euro Cup tournament, I rooted for Germany during the bracket matches. Since I’m part Danish as well as part German, the knockout match between Denmark and Germany could have gone either way for me. When Germany played Spain in the quarterfinals, I didn’t have the interest in Spain my son and his fiancée did, although I was happy for them when Spain won what was a great match regardless of the winning team.

The United States doesn’t play in the Euro Cup, but it should be noted that should the United States play Germany or Denmark in the World Cup or in the Olympics, I would be rooting for the American team. I can put aside my ancestry and my descendants’ ancestry to root for the Americans in an international match. That wouldn’t be the case if my granddaughter was playing for another country.

Should Lola play for Spain in the Olympics or the Women’s World Cup, I would travel to the venue to watch the match. I would be rooting for Spain for all of Lola’s competitions, not just any against the United States, and I would be rooting for the Americans in all other events as well as during the other matches in Lola’s sport. But should Lola play against the American national team, I would temporarily have to take an anti-American position.