The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang will feature 178 athletes who are competing for a non-native nation, about 6% of the total competing in South Korea, according to research by global mobility company CapRelo.
The US has experienced the biggest talent drain, with 37 American-born athletes competing for other nations, followed by 21 from Canada and 19 from Russia.
Hosts South Korea are the biggest winners, welcoming 18 athletes from other countries followed by 13 to Canada and 11 to Germany.
Alpine skiing features the most non-native athletes with 32, while figure skating has seen 26 changes of flag.
Twelve countries are represented wholly by non-native athletes, eight of which are single person teams, and three — Nigeria, Kosovo and Eritrea — are making their first appearance at a Winter Games as a result, according to the research.
READ: North Korean inclusion a ‘positive thing,’ says US skier star Ted Ligety
‘I skied for myself, not for my country’
However, the bare statistics often hide the nuances.
Nigerian skeleton slider Simidele Adeagbo was born in Toronto, Canada, while the Nigerian women’s bobsled team — the first from Africa to make the Games — of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga were all born in the US, but always felt a deep-rooted affinity for Nigeria. Adigun also competed at the 2012 London Olympics in the 100m hurdles for Nigeria.
“Being Nigerian was always something that was definitely prominent in my childhood, as it is as much as in adulthood. That was the first culture that I’ve ever known,” Omeoga told CNN Sport.
READ: Nigerian women’s bobsled team make Winter Olympics history
For some athletes, switching nations is a necessity to maintain their livelihood.
Former alpine ski racer Kilian Albrecht, who is now the agent for US star Mikaela Shiffrin, competed for his native Austria at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City before switching to Bulgaria, for whom he competed at Vancouver 2010.
Albrecht says he was frozen out by the Austrian team, despite still performing well enough on skiing’s World Cup circuit, but he needed to compete for a nation to be eligible to stay on the tour.
“It wasn’t about the Olympics for me,” he told CNN Sport.
“I skied for myself, not for my country. I just wanted to continue my job as a ski racer and that wasn’t possible so that’s why I looked for an option and ended up skiing for Bulgaria.”
Albrecht says he had some detractors when he got his Bulgarian passport in 2006 and was accused of being a traitor in some quarters, but he insists he also had plenty of support, as well as phone calls from other athletes wanting to switch.
“Obviously it’s controversial — they say, ‘well, he just switched nations because he was really bad,’ which isn’t true,” says Albrecht, who still consults for Bulgaria and has been coaching the Mexican ski team since before the Sochi Games of 2014.
“I saw it more as an individual sport and I tried to do the best for myself and the people who supported me rather than doing it for a nation.”
READ: Hockey sisters to represent US and Korea
One of the Mexican team is US veteran Sarah Schleper, who has come out of retirement to race for her adopted nation after marrying Mexican Federico Gaxiola and acquiring citizenship in 2014. Schleper competed in four Winter Olympics for Team USA from 1998-2010.
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In another twist, Minnesota sisters Hannah and Marissa Brandt will represent the US and the unified Korean team respectively in ice hockey in PyeongChang.
Marissa was born in South Korea and adopted by her American parents as a four-month-old before her parents conceived Hannah naturally a year later.
“I’m really looking forward to going to the opening ceremonies … but for my sister, to see her walk in in front of the South Korean fans, I think it’s going to be just an incredible experience for her,” Hannah told CNN.
For Albrecht, the anthem played for the gold medalist is just a mark of “honor” and “celebration,” and says it wouldn’t matter to him which anthem was played.
“Most people might not understand that maybe, personally I don’t get the whole anthem thing, the whole proud nation thing because I think we’re all on the same planet. We need to work together, there shouldn’t be any barriers,” he says.
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