Whatever the flag, pride in who you represent is vital
I’ve been happily watching all types of sports and I’ve developed expert knowledge in floor routines and diving and all from the comfort of my couch.
Watching major events like this throws up the topic of national identity. Watching people giving their all in their sporting endeavours and then draping themselves in their country’s flag is what it’s all about.
When Rory McIlroy recently announced his intention to play for Ireland in the Olympic Games everyone breathed a sigh of relief but to me it seemed logical. Looking back at McIroy’s amateur days, he represented Ireland at boys, youth and senior levels with considerable success.
Taking the step to represent Ireland in Rio seems a logical step from that as he grew up through the Irish golfing system.
The lines have become blurred when it comes to deciding what country an athlete represents. I don’t have personal experience of the complexity of some people’s situations. It was obviously simple for me as both my parents are Irish and I have lived my entire life in Ireland.
I first represented Ireland when I was 13 and it was a massive deal to me. To run for my country was a huge honour; it never became less than a privilege to wear the Irish colours throughout my career. I have always felt a deep-rooted loyalty to being Irish. I was born in Ireland, I ran for a Cork running club from a young age and I came up through the Irish running ranks.
Watching the Commonwealth Games, I heard commentators describe many different competitors as being “formerly” from another country. For me being Irish was never a changeable option but for many athletes it isn’t a straightforward choice.
Growing up in a country is no guarantee a sports person will choose to represent that country. Many athletes have parents that are from different countries and this opens up their options.
My husband has an English mother and an English grandfather, who won an Olympic sailing medal for Great Britain, but at no point did he ever feel a pull to represent Britain.
He was born in Ireland, learned to sail in Cork and has always simply felt Irish.
Nigeria came under fire for their team choices at the Commonwealth Games. They selected some athletes who formerly competed for the USA and who have now chosen to switch allegiances. A practical reason why athletes change allegiance is that each country has a limited number of places on their national team. A country such as the USA has an abundance of runners and only the top three athletes at the national championships will make the team.
So it is a much tougher ask to get on the USA national team.
People in other countries used to tell me they wished they had an Irish connection because it was easier to make an Irish team compared to more competitive nations. But I think that is a huge simplification.
While the challenge in coming from a nation with multiple athletes bidding for a limited number of places is tough, I’d argue that making it from a small nation with no major structures or resources in place for world class standards is almost as challenging. No matter what country you are representing there are difficulties to making it in sport.
Everybody wants success — from the athletes to the governing bodies. Medals are seen as a measure of a country’s worth, everyone wants to be high up the medal table. It’s far too romantic a notion to think sport is not a business.
Some countries are putting huge amounts of money into luring athletes to compete under their national flag. For example, Bahrain has recruited Kenyan distance runners, while Qatar is also busily recruiting athletes. In the London Olympics around half of the Azerbaijan team was made up of naturalised citizens.
At the recent Sochi Olympics, there was an extremely popular win for the host nation by speed skater Viktor Ahn in the men’s 1000m race. He did his lap of honour wrapped in a Russian flag to the chants of “Vik-Tor” from the packed Russian crowd. The fact that he is formerly Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea who became a Russian citizen seemed to bother the fans very little.
Ahn chose to represent Russia following a difficult period with the South Korean federation and injury issues. His chances of pursuing his career appeared to be far better as part of the Russian system and he chose to become Russian.
There are sports people who compete under the flag of an adopted nation that have had an incredibly hard battle to get to that point. The American Lopez Lomong fled war-torn Sudan when he was six and became a US citizen in 2007. He proudly led out the American team at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Maybe it doesn’t matter what country anyone competes for. The lines of national identity have become an increasingly blurred. Perhaps we are entering into an era when people can become free agents and run for whatever country they wish on the international stage.
I hope that whatever flag they drape themselves, they will feel a genuine pride in being from that country.
