With softball returning to the Olympics in 2020, countries around the world are developing their programs in efforts to qualify. In many sports, that means recruiting athletes from other countries. Countries that traditionally don’t excel in a given sport often reach out to athletes from overseas, hoping to get them to play in their programs. In some cases, there’s a long term goal of developing the sport in a country that hasn’t traditionally played it. In others, the goal is simply to win medals.
In the U.S., athletes in sports as disparate as ice dancing and long-distance running have gained U.