Athletes as Citizen Free Agents

While an athlete's change in nationality has long permitted a citizen of one country to subsequently represent another in international competition, two recent cases have heightened the dialogue about citizen-based eligibility. Earlier this year, American-born soccer player Edgar Castillo decided to play for the Mexican national team, and this past spring San Antonio Silver Stars standout and WNBA most-valuable player runner up, Becky Hammon -- who holds a Russian passport and plays for CSKA Moscow in the off season -- announced that she will play for Russia at the Beijing Olympics. Apparently, neither athlete drew much interest or attention from the US teams, and thus -- as dual citizens -- opted to play for their adoptive countries. Taken to its extreme, countries bent on a poaching strategy to build formidible sport teams can offer susceptible athletes all manner of inducements, coupled with instant citizenship, and voilà . . . a contender is born!

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/sports/soccer/23soccer.html?ref=sports

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/news/story?id=3336490

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/soccer/27soccer.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-whereareyoufrom&prov=ap&type=lgns

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