They need to have a passport of the country they represent, and thus are citizens of the country they represent. There are a lot of athletes in many sports with a double nationality, and thus they are eligible for both nations (although in some sports you do have to make a choice and you can’t go back on that choice if you’ve met certain conditions).
Take Sifan Hassan (she has three gold and three bronze medals from Tokyo and Paris combined). She is a refugee from Ethiopia who fled to the Netherlands when she was 15. She has since gained Dutch citizenship, and thus was eligible for both Ethiopia and the Netherlands. But since she only took up running in the Netherlands she chose to represent the Netherlands. The only people who say she isn’t Dutch are the kind of people you don’t want to associate with.
They need to have a passport of the country they represent, and thus are citizens of the country they represent. There are a lot of athletes in many sports with a double nationality, and thus they are eligible for both nations (although in some sports you do have to make a choice and you can’t go back on that choice if you’ve met certain conditions).
Take Sifan Hassan (she has three gold and three bronze medals from Tokyo and Paris combined). She is a refugee from Ethiopia who fled to the Netherlands when she was 15. She has since gained Dutch citizenship, and thus was eligible for both Ethiopia and the Netherlands. But since she only took up running in the Netherlands she chose to represent the Netherlands. The only people who say she isn’t Dutch are the kind of people you don’t want to associate with.