Waiving the Flag

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The opening of the 20th winter Olympics in Torino was a proud moment for Italy. But when Italy's hockey team steps onto the ice at the Palasport Olimpico on Feb. 15, it will be a proud moment for Canada. That's where 10 of the Italian team's 23 players and three of its four coaches were born and raised. Many of the names on the Italian roster — try Carter Trevisani — sound like they belong to players on an Ontario farm team. Then again, the Italian squad is like a Canadian farm team. "I still dream about playing in the National Hockey League," says defenseman Trevisani, 23, a former Canadian junior standout and son of an Italian immigrant. "I was a good player but I wasn't an unbelievable player. In Canada, you have to be unbelievable."

Not so in countries like Italy that lack the sport's traditions. But hockey's crossover nationals are hardly anomalies in Torino, where plenty of athletes are competing under the flags of second or adopted homelands. The practice is so common in both Winter and Summer games that International Olympic Committee ( i.o.c.) President Jacques Rogge blasted some of them as "mercenaries" last November.

Are these transnational Olympians playing by the book — or just gaming the system in their favor? i.o.c. rules say athletes cannot switch teams if they have played for their old countries in the past three years. They need approval from both their old and new nations' Olympic committees and they have to meet the new country's citizenship requirements, which vary widely. But, says David Fitzpatrick, sports director of the International Ice Hockey Federation, "you shouldn't be able to just grab a passport and represent a country at an event." Nonetheless, national rosters are full of ringers. Ice dancer Tanith Belbin was born in Canada and moved to the U.S. in 1998. A strong contender for a medal with her American partner Ben Agosto, Belbin finally got her U.S. passport by a special amendment to a congressional act on Dec. 31, 2005, a day before the U.S. Olympic Committee's deadline for eligibility — even though a parent of a rival ice dancer lobbied senators to oppose the bill. Yet not every athlete desperate to find a welcoming Olympic team makes the cut. Greece's national bobsled and skeleton teams include at least two Canadians and three Americans with dual citizenship, but they still didn't qualify for the Games. Austrian skier Josef Strobl had no chance to penetrate his country's talent-deep ski team. So Strobl, who had a Slovenian great-grandfather, tried for a spot on Slovenia's team — but didn't make that, either. The Olympic dream fuels the nation-hopping. Alpine skier Christelle Douibi and cross-country skier Noureddine Bentoumi both grew up in the Grenoble area as children of Algerian fathers. At Torino, they are the whole team competing for Algeria. "To be honest, I knew I would have the opportunity to be in the Games, whereas with the kind of competition that exists in France, I wouldn't," says Douibi, 20. Bentoumi, 34, realized he could compete for Algeria a few years ago after meeting a Hungarian athlete living in France: "I saw how the Hungarian guy was good, but not that good, and I began to realize it was possible." Yet the switch can also awaken a new sense of identity. "I'm rediscovering a part of myself that I'm not accustomed to on a daily basis," says Bentoumi. "When I can get back to my history, to my father's history, it's exciting."

Some of the national ties can be more distant. Luger Sarah Podorieszach, from Calgary, Canada, was discovered by Italian scouts at the 2003 World Cup. She was eligible for Italian citizenship through her grandparents, who were from Trieste. "With the Canadians, I was only on the development team," she says. "When I came to Italy, they saw my talent and put me on the team." She'd never even visited Italy until moving there in 2004, she says, but got her passport within five months. Changing nationality can have its drawbacks, however. About half of the world's countries do not recognize dual citizenship, so new citizens may have to surrender their old passports. Under Japanese law, pairs figure skater Rena Inoue, who moved to the U.S. seven years ago, had to give up her original nationality after becoming a U.S. citizen last year. "When I was trying to decide if I was going to go for it, that was the biggest worry," she says. Nor does swapping your nationality guarantee Olympic success. Italy isn't expected to cruise through the ice hockey draw, much less earn a medal. Forward Giulio Scandella, a Montreal native who has held an Italian passport since he was 16, concedes that expectations for his team are low. "Our goal is to pass the first round," he says. The odds, alas, are long. Italy's first opponent is none other than star-studded medal contender Team Canada. Italians are calling the match Canada I vs. Canada II.