Just today I have come across Roger Ruth's question as to the citizenship of former USSR pole vaulters. There are some good points in Randy Treadway's answer, but things were sometimes even more complicated.
After the end of the USSR, Leo Heinla and me tried to compile lists for the new states and were faced with a lot of problems (Randy Treadway pointed out some). The biggest problem were the athletes in the army clubs: for instance, a club was located in a town in Ukraine, but a part of this unit fulfilled its service in Belarus. And in a kind of federation cup, he may have represented Ukraine, but actually he was born and brought up in Russia, and only his military service took place anywhere else. So there was no given solution. Heinla and me advised the newly-created federations as to their new records, some accepted our proposals, others had their own ideas. So some athletes are claimed by two nations nowadays. Winfried Kramer Kohlrodweg 12 66539 Neunkirchen/GERMANY ATFS Editor of NATIONAL ATHLETICS RECORDS Fax: (49) 6821 932101
