Well who wouldn't?

It has never really occurred to me like this before:

There are millions of people in the world who would prefer to live anywhere other than their own country.... why shouldn't some of them be elite athletes?

I was astounded when i read that 70% of the Sierra Leone Commonwealth Games team went missing at the Manchester Games in 2002: astounded to the tune of my jaw dropping almost to my knees. So far, there are 9 athletes "missing" from Melbourne 2006.

I wonder though, at my first reaction: "Why didn't they run in their races BEFORE they disappeared?" I can think of no greater honour than representing my country in my chosen sport (or at least, this was so when I was involved in elite sport). I'm obviously a product of being brought up in a wealthy country, because if you only became an athlete in order to win a free ticket to another country, then I guess there are more important things to you than running a silly little race.