Aaron Cook's international switch and cooking up passports of convenience

This has been a predictable parting ever since Cook, then world No.1 at 80 kilos, was passed over for the London Olympics in favour of a man ranked 58 places lower.

Cook was 17 when he won the world junior title in 2008, but later that year lost the bronze-medal fight at the Beijing Olympics. He quit the British Taekwondo high performance system in 2011 because he felt training elsewhere and funding his own preparation would further his hopes of Olympic gold in London. He reckoned without what appears nothing less than spite and malice from the governing body who declined to pick him. The governing body deny such allegations, but four of their coaches, including that of Lutalo Muhammad whom they chose ahead of Cook, were on the selection panel.

Muhammad (blameless in this unsavoury situation) was European champion at 87kg (not contested in the Olympics). Cook was European champion at 80kg, the Olympic weight. The British Olympic Association declined to accept Muhammad, and ordered the selectors to reconvene. They did, reaching the same conclusion by a 2-1 majority, with two abstentions.

The World Taekwondo Federation, felt the selection brought the sport into disrepute, and conducted its own investigation which backed the British body's process. The BOA, with no right to interfere in an autonomous governing body, was powerless, and blocked an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Muhammad took bronze in London.

Cook quit the English system, opting to represent the Isle of Man, and won his third European 80kg gold in Baku last year wearing their colours.

An interested spectator was the billionaire president of Moldovan Taekwondo, Igor Yuzefovich, who has sponsored Cook's change of nationality. Cook already has his passport, and is likely to make his Moldovan debut at next month's World Championships in Russia, followed by the inaugural European Games in Baku -when he was supposed to be competing for Britain. Cook hopes to represent Moldova in next year's Rio Olympics. Continuing lack of clarity and transparency over GB selection, he said, has left him "no option".

The BOA, which has repeatedly attempted to broker rapprochement, and "an environment that provides a fair and equal opportunity for Aaron to be selected" found it hard to disguise its feelings. In agreeing his transfer of allegiance, chief executive Bill Sweeney said: "Aaron Cook has a named place for Team GB for the Baku 2015 European Games. We strongly urged Aaron to re-consider his decision to make himself available for selection to Team GB in Baku, and to represent his country of birth, rather than proceeding with a change of sporting nationality.

"Despite the fact that there is no legitimate case for nationality change here, the BOA cannot compel any athlete to represent the United Kingdom against his or her will. . . the BOA will not stand in his way. We are saddened by Aaron's decision."

Transfers of allegiance in sport are routine. They are aided by rules which vary widely from sport to sport, increasingly exploited for economic reasons. There are Chinese table tennis and badminton players and Kenyan endurance athletes representing nations across the globe. Among the most notable, perhaps, is Stephen Cherono, Commonwealth steeplechase champion in 2002. He changed his name to Saif Saaeed Shaheen and won World titles in 2003 and 2005 for Qatar. As a child, drout struck his family and his parents could not afford to send him to school. He said his deal with Qatar meant his family would never suffer again.

Naim Suleimanov was born in Bulgaria and his feat of lifting 3.17 times his bodyweight made him, pound for pound, the strongest man in the world. He set his first world record at 16, but Bulgaria joined the 1984 Olympic boycott. Soon after, the Communist regime began persecuting the Turkish minority to which he belonged. Suleimanov defected in 1986, changing his name to Süleymano�lu.

The Bulgarian government was paid $1,250,000 to clear him to compete for Turkey in the 1988 Olympics.The 4ft 10ins Süleymano�lu, who weighed 60 kilos, took the featherweight gold medal. He added further gold in 1992 and '96, and won five world titles.

Edinburgh hockey internationalist Laurence Docherty feared the England-dominated GB selection system might prevent him fulfilling Olympic ambitions, so he moved to Holland and competed for the Netherlands at the Beijing Olympics. And Edinburgh-born Kathy Butler, who was brought up in Canada, represented that country in the 1996 Olympics before switching to Scotland - where funding was better than in Canada - and running for Britain in the 2004 Olympics.

South African Zola Budd struck many a raw nerve when granted indecently quick UK citizenship in 1984. She had broken the world 5000m record but apartheid blocked her from racing internationally. She competed in the Los Angeles Olympics and won two world cross-country titles for Britain before reverting to South Africa for the 1992 Olympics.

Peter Nicol, who won Commonwealth gold for Scotland in 1998 was World squash No.1 when he opted for England's superior funding. That caused national affront, but rarely can a sportsman or woman have wreaked such constructive revenge when at the peak of their careers, as Cook has done.