Plastic Brit

Plastic Brit, or Plastic Briton, is a pejorative term used to describe athletes who choose to represent Great Britain in international sport despite having personal connections to another country. Some media critics believe it undermines the purpose of international sport for the purpose of medals. The term came into popular use in 2012 when it was reported that 61 out of 542 (11%) of the British Olympic team had been born abroad.

The term "Plastic Brit" is derived from Plastic Paddy, which is used to describe people who claim to be Irish despite not residing in that country. While the concept gained the British media's attention in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, it had also been used in describing members of other British sporting teams. England's cricket team had a perceived problem of having too many foreign-born players. The England and Wales Cricket Board responded to the issue by lengthening the residency period before a foreign player can be accepted to play for England to seven years.

The term was popularised in the United Kingdom through its usage in the Daily Mail newspaper to describe athletes born outside the UK who had been selected to represent Great Britain at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The term originally had foundations from South African-born Zola Budd having her British citizenship application fast tracked in order to represent Great Britain at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Several athletes have been described by the press as "Plastic Brits". Tiffany Porter was selected as the captain of Great Britain's athletics team at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships despite being born in the United States. She was described as a "Plastic Brit" in the media for refusing to recite the words of the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen", at a press conference. After Porter broke the British record for the 100 metres hurdles, the previous record holder Angela Thorp said that she felt "devastated" that Porter had broken her record because she had expected Jessica Ennis to break it.

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