EXPLAINER: Competing for ‘another’ country is nothing new
By MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — U.S.-born athletes have taken centerstage at the Winter Olympics in Beijing — for the host country, that is, generating scrutiny of nationality switching. Freestyle skier Eileen Gu’s decision to compete for her mother’s native China over her native U.S. has drawn critical coverage that has at times veered into plain racism and misogyny. But she’s not the first to do it. Mutable nationality has a long history at the Olympics and, more generally, in the field of sports. You have to be a citizen to compete for a country at an Olympics, but there are myriad paths to getting there.
