Top 5 sportspersons who represented multiple countries during their careers

#1 Martina Navratilova – Tennis

From Czechoslovakia to the U.S.A

With her astonishing record, it is no wonder that Navaratilova is considered to be amongst the very elite personalities to have ever graced the sport. In a career spanning three decades, she won numerous titles, both in singles and doubles.

Born and brought up in then-Czechoslovakia, Navratilova had discontent with the restrictions under the communist government which ruled at the time, for example, most of her sports activities and schedule were arbitrarily influenced by the national tennis federation. Further her interaction with her western counterparts only increased this discontent. Finally in 1975, she left for the United States and began playing under its nationality, while subsequently being granted full citizenship in 1981.

Competing for Czechoslovakia in mid 1970s, she made it to the finals of both Australian and French Open in 1975. But her career picked up in the late 1970s when she won Wimbledon twice. This was followed by her utter dominance throughout the 1980s, during which time she won Wimbledon six times, Australian Open thrice, French Open twice and US open four times. In the same decade she also maintained a similar stellar record in grand slam doubles too.

She continued to play throughout the 1990s and early 2000s and most remarkably she continued to win tournaments in mixed doubles well into the new millennium. It was only in 2006 that she finally retired and that too after winning in the mixed doubles at that year’s US Open. In 2008, she re-acquired Czech citizenship and as of now, holds citizenship of both the countries.