Nationality Requirements in Olympic Sports

Who may compete for a country at the Olympics?

While the qualification rounds for the Rio Olympics have received huge media attention, the underlying question regarding which country an athlete may compete for only makes headlines when prominent athletes change the country for whom they are competing. Nationality requirements are an issue that has yet to be brought to the forefront of public discussion, as most recent works have only focussed on a small number of Olympic sports. This book explores the terra incognita of nationality requirements in Olympic sports, providing not only a comprehensive overview of the different sports, but also placing them in the wider context of the international standards of nationality law. The following questions are examined:

What are the eligibility criteria currently employed by the Olympic Sports? To what extent is it problematic to align these currently applicable eligibility criteria with international standards of nationality law? How can tensions that may exist between the criteria applied by the sporting federations and the international standards of nationality law be solved?