Olympians" pride that reveals our prejudice Plastic Brits" yelled the headlines yesterday. "Flag of convenience" thundered the editorials. When the identities of the male and female captains of the British athletics team for the World Indoor Championships were revealed, it provoked many to reach for their John Bull waistcoats in disgust. Tiffany Porter, you see, was born in Michigan and Mo Farah in Mogadishu. They appear to be about as British as the grey squirrel. The fact that they had been appointed by Charles van Commenee, Britain's Dutch head coach, suggested to many that as well as welcoming the world to the London Olympics, we are also welcoming the world into our sporting teams, to the point that they have lost all meaning as representatives of this country. This was an analysis that had Farah, in particular, fuming - and rightly so. His story is one that should make us all feel a little bit better about our country. He came to London as an eight-year-old refugee from civil war in Somalia. When he arrived, the only running he had done was from conflict. In England he found not only sanctuary, but his calling. It was here he discovered he could be a champion. And when he won a gold medal at the world championships last summer, he felt he was paying back the country that had given him so much opportunity - that had not only saved his life, but gifted him purpose. No one could be prouder to represent Britain, or more uplifted by wrapping himself in the Union flag on a lap of honour. Porter, it is fair to say, does not share Farah's passion. The daughter of a Nigerian father and a British mother, she learnt to hurdle on the American college circuit. Not quite good enough to make the US team, she came to Britain to try her luck. She immediately found herself embraced by our system, which was more than keen for her to represent us. There was nothing untoward in Porter's transfer: as a dual citizen, she was entitled to run for whichever nation offered her the best chance. As with the South African cricketers and Tongan rugby players now playing for England, that is the way the system is: a reflection of fluid borders, of migratory work patterns, of peoples on the move. You see it everywhere in sport, this gradual erosion of ready identity. Athletic Bilbao - who destroyed Manchester United in Europe this week - used to restrict selection to players born in the Basque country. But as with Yorkshire Cricket Club, competitiveness eventually took precedent over geography. Germany's football team is full of players of Polish, Turkish and Ghanaian descent. And that's before we even mention the Irish and their longstanding willingness to select any decent prospect who has so much as tasted a pint of Guinness. This may seem odd - a dilution, not a strengthening, of our identity. Yet if Farah wins, or Porter, we will forget their wider origins and cheer the colours on their vest. Indeed, given their proven excellence, we can expect the "Best of British" headlines imminently.