USA’s Olympic team is bolstered by a crucial group of athletes: immigrants

Many of those with the American contingent in Paris have chosen to represent a country where some have vilified people like them

A judo world championship bronze medalist from Cuba who got back into the sport after moving to America. The son of a pioneer in the new Olympic sport of breaking who came to the US after an arduous journey through the desert. Basketball players and track and field athletes who came to the USA for college and professional sports who decided to represent their new country internationally.

Many of the 594 athletes named to the US Olympic team this summer are immigrants or the children of immigrants, all of whom have chosen to represent a country that is in the throes of a movement that would have limited their ability to get there or stay there, even through legal means.