So
far at the London Olympics, seven athletes from Cameroon went missing,
and three from Sudan have requested asylum. The Olympics have been the
scene of political defectors, asylum-seekers, and others who don't want
to go home ever since 1948, when the president of the International
Gymnastics Federation took the opportunity to avoid returning to
Czechoslovakia.
Marie Provaznikova, a Czech who was
President of the International Gymnastics Federation, was the first
person to defect from the Olympics. Czechoslovakia had recently become a
satellite of the Soviet Union, and Provaznikova knew her country
wouldn’t be the same. She darted to the United States, where she later
taught gymnastics. Provaznikova lived in the U.S. until 1991, dying at
age 101.
Read the stories of defectors from many different Olympiads
here.
Missing Athletes: Seeking New Home?
The boxers, a soccer player and a swimmer from Cameroon haven't been seen since last Monday.
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