I don't really think there's any rules at all. Say you're a middling Olympic skating hopeful in the Canada, but then you find out your Grandmother was from Jamaica and now boom, you immigrate there, get citizenship and now you're a shoe-in for their Olympic team. Whereas if you stayed in Canada you'll probably get cut from the team. I'm sure some countries offer pay-for-play service as well. I mean 2 olympics ago this Korean guy decided he wanted to compete for Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_An
Quote:
Ahn trained in Russia and received Russian citizenship to compete for Russia in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Ahn's father stated that the decision was due to lack of support from the South Korean skating association.[28] Prior to moving to Russia, Ahn did not know the Russian language and had no familial ties to Russia. He had considered competing for the United States, but found that the process for gaining Russian citizenship was much easier. He chose "Viktor" as his Russian name as it derived from Victory,[29] and to pay tribute to Viktor Tsoi, a Soviet rock star of ethnic Korean descent.[30]
In South Korea, a furor erupted over the loss of Ahn to Team Russia, after his participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Several newspapers reported the scorn of the South Korean public and newspaper editors on the actions of the skating federation. The minister of sport and president of South Korea both promised action in rooting out corruption and feuding at the organization that may have led to his "defection", in a bid to clean it up in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The South Korean public is generally supportive of Ahn.[31][32][30] In September 2018, Ahn announced his retirement from short track and moved back to South Korea.[33]
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