Originally published at Caste Football in 2008, and republished to coincide with the Rio Olympics.
Some countries will do anything to get an Olympic medal. Georgia, for example, went to the trouble of recruiting both its men and women’s beach volleyball teams from players rejected from Brazil’s national team. This meant that players who spoke no Georgian, knew almost nothing about the country, and had only visited it once or twice, briefly, competed under its banner. Luckily, justice was done and both teams failed to get a medal.
Georgia’s neighbour Turkey was more successful. It got a couple of silver medals from the Ethiopian long distance runner Elvan Abeylegesse. Compared to the ‘Georgians,’ at least Abeylegesse had lived in the country for a few years and had also married but then divorced a Turkish national. Still, the reason she finished second in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races wasn’t because she was Turkish. Despite what it said on her passport or vest, she was still biologically benefiting from having the lightweight frame and high red blood cell count of an Ethiopian.
