In the Olympics, can you pretty much represent any country you want?

Question

Are there requirements to represent a country?

Answer 1

NO YOU HAVE TO EITHER LIVE IN THAT COUNTRY OR BE WORKING WITH THAT COUNTRY IN YOUR CATAGORIE TO COMPETE I THINK IDK IM SSSLLLOOOWWW NOT IN A RETARDED WAY IN A SORDOF IM JUST NOT THAT SMART WAY  

Answer 2

There was this one American who's never lived in Germany but has German grandparents who was allowed to play for the German team, so my guess would be no. :-)

Answer 3

No, there are nationality requirements.

Answer 4

citizenship is all you need and an opening in their olympic team.

Answer 5

i don't think you have to be a citizen ...for example the west african country, Togo just got their first olympic medal ever from some half-french half-togolese guy who's only been to Togo once in his life but has a togolese father. If you have dual nationality you can choose either country.

http://www.china.org.cn/olympic/2008-08/...

then there's also Bernard Lagat who used to run for Kenya in previous olympics and marathons but recently became a naturalized american citizen and is now running for the US which i personally think is unfair but he is not american in heritage so i guess if you're not of the specific country's heritage, you could represent that country if you become citizen...

http://www.runworks.com/about515.html

Answer 6

Hmm how about you actually have to be a citizen?? lol There are athletes that I've heard of that were born or even sometimes raised in a certain country but move to a different country when they are older and represent that country, or even sometimes the country they were born in. ( You are automatically a citizen of the country you are born in despite where you grow up.)

Answer 7

You have to be an asset to a country to be able to represent it in. Usually the country chooses you, not otherwise.