Chinese-born athletes fly the flag for adopted countries

Excess of talent

Chinese-born players representing adopted countries is a trend that started in the 1980s. Back then, Chinese athletes began changing nationality to compete for other countries, driven by the prospect of brighter career opportunities, which wouldn't be available to them at home.

As a world power in sports like table tennis, badminton and diving, China is never short of talent thanks to its rigorous State-run development system.

With these sports producing more world-class talent than China needed, some of those "surplus athletes" opted to pursue their athletic careers elsewhere, after being approached by national Olympic committees of other countries eager to boost their talent pool.

In table tennis alone, as many as 13 players born on the Chinese mainland, where they developed their skills, are representing other NOCs in the men's and women's singles tournaments at the Paris Games.

The two oldest table tennis players at the Paris Olympics, Ni and her former teammate Zeng Zhiying, 58, were among the first generation of Chinese national team players who moved overseas to extend their sports careers by becoming naturalized citizens of other countries.