What does the International Olympic Committee think?
It does not break the IOC code. Rule 42 of the Olympic Charter states that an athlete can switch nationality after three years’ absence from competing at international, continental or regional level for their previous nation. Even within this three-year period, exceptions are made, for example, for athletes who have changed nationality due to marriage. Are other Olympic sports in Britain also importing athletes for 2012? Niche sports struggling to put together a team for 2012 have sought different ways to boost their chances. UK Sport sponsors sport-switching “talent identification programmes” in which a promising netball player, for example, could be trained for the British Olympic handball team. In badminton and table tennis there is a great temptation to take rejects from the China team as other European nations have – six of the last eight at the recent European Championships were Chinese-born. But Britain’s national federations say they have taken a stand against this. What other
