"No sir, you will not be allowed into France"
The fat immigration officer had his mind made up. As a manager of a group of international top athletes I was used to dealing with unwilling authorities trying to cross the borders in Europe. The EU hadn't opened it's internal borders yet and Africans, even with valid visas were frowned upon by most immigration officers. And the two clients I was accompanying into France at the Paris airport were world class runners from Kenya: Julius Korir, the 1984 Olympic Champion in the steeple chase, and Sammy Koskei, the second best ever 800m runner in the world. Two days before the French government had tightened their entry requirements as a protest to the French travelers needing visas to enter the USA. Anybody from outside the EU needed to obtain visas before leaving their home country. Americans, Swedes, businessmen that had never been refused entry anywhere in the world, all were sent back home. The airport was in complete chaos with agitated, loud angry people everywhere. It didn't look like my Kenyan athletes would stand a snowballs chance in hell to get in.

"But sir, this is Julius Korir, he is Olympic Champion in the steeple chase and Sammy here is the second fastest 800m runner ever!" Often immigration officers recognised my athletes immediately and were proud to let them enter their country, and sometimes I had to refresh their memory to get results. Not this time though:
"I couldn't care less" the uniformed man said "Everybody needs a visa"

"There will be a crowded stadium of disappointed people tomorrow when Julius, who is an Olympic Champion will not participate" Using the word Olympic Champion, usually a trump card didn't impress the now heavily sweating police man: "If was the president of Kenya he wouldn't get in without a visa"

The situation was quite serious for us. If we weren't let in the Kenyans wouldn't just have waisted an intercontinental plain ticket, but they would also miss out on an appearance fee that represented more than a yearly wage in Africa and more unplanned travel would harm their shape and jeopardize the rest of the season. I didn't have a problem because I have a Dutch passport, but there was no reason for me to be in Paris without the two.

"Sammy is the world's second best 800m runner ever and Julius is Olympic Champion sir" the order had changed but my argument hadn't, my mind was spinning, but I couldn't come up with anything else.
"Even Jesus Christ would need

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