DiegoDiego Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 If the Olympics are to continue having athletes represent nations, surely they need to tighten up the rules on who can represent whom. Case in point: for most of last night's handball, none of the seven Qataris on the court were born in Qatar and none had any Qatari relatives. For one of the competitors, Qatar was the third nation he had represented at international level (along with Serbia and Bosnia, four if you also include Serbia & Montenegro). Tony Cascarino is as Irish as Seamus Heaney compared to that lot. You can't blame Qatar for pushing the rules to the limit, but should the Olympics really come down to which country can buy the best athletes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Connolly Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 I reckon you should be able to represent whoever you like, as long as you meet the criteria, but once you've declared for one, you shouldn't be allowed to change. Two of the GB men's hockey players had previously played for Ireland - they sat out of international hockey for four years in order to allow them to change. They effectively decided they had a better chance with GB than Ireland, sat out the 4 years, in which time Ireland also qualified, and GB exited at the same time as Ireland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Fortunately Great Britain has always been above bending the rules... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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