Ben Uzoh

[Barlass]

Ben Uzoh will be playing for Nigeria in next month's Olympic games.

Here's a link showing every former NCAA player that will be participating in the Olympics this year. Seems like a lot of talent spread out across the different teams this year.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/which-former-college-basketball-players-are-competing-in-2016-rio-olympics/

 

[TU Man]

Congrats to ben....tho I'm not sure how several on their team were born here but play for Nigeria. Including two born in Oklahoma. Ere and udoh.

 

[Gold*]

That happens in all international sports and has for years. If you have a link to a country, you can potentially play for them. I think Ben's parents are from Nigeria.

 

[nevadanatural]

National team competition in many sports can be determined either by your nationality or your heritage. If you were born in the US but your parents were from another country you often have the choice of playing for either country. Once you actually play for country A though you typically can't play for country B. During the 90's the US soccer team had multiple players who were born and raised in Europe but had American fathers.

 

[TU_BLA]

Most recently, Julian Green played for US in the World Cup and took Landon Donovan's roster spot. US was in such a hurry to get him into a cap so he couldn't change his mind and play for Germany (where his mom was from). And you are correct, if your parents are originally from a country you can play for that country or your country of citizenship.