(CNN) Competing for your country at an Olympic Games is the highest honor for some. For others, the national flag on your kit is altogether more complicated.
The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang will feature 178 athletes who are competing for a non-native nation, about 6% of the total competing in South Korea, according to research by global mobility company CapRelo.
The US has experienced the biggest talent drain, with 37 American-born athletes competing for other nations, followed by 21 from Canada and 19 from Russia.
Hosts South Korea are the biggest winners, welcoming 18 athletes from other countries followed by 13 to Canada and 11 to Germany.
Alpine skiing features the most non-native athletes with 32, while figure skating has seen 26 changes of flag.
Twelve countries are represented wholly by non-native athletes, eight of which are single person teams, and three -- Nigeria, Kosovo and Eritrea -- are making their first appearance at a Winter Games as a result, according to the research.
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'I skied for myself, not for my country'
However, the bare statistics often hide the nuances.
Nigerian skeleton slider Simidele Adeagbo was born in Toronto, Canada, while the Nigerian women's bobsled team -- the first from Africa to make the Games -- of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga were all born in the US, but always felt a deep-rooted affinity for Nigeria. Adigun also competed at the 2012 London Olympics in the 100m hurdles for Nigeria.
"Being Nigerian was always something that was definitely prominent in my childhood, as it is as much as in adulthood. That was the first culture that I've ever known," Omeoga told CNN Sport.
READ: Nigerian women's bobsled team make Winter Olympics history
For some athletes, switching nations is a necessity to maintain their livelihood.
Former alpine ski racer Kilian Albrecht, who is now the agent for US star Mikaela Shiffrin, competed for his native Austria at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City before switching to Bulgaria, for whom he competed at Vancouver 2010.
Albrecht says he was frozen out by the Austrian team, despite still performing well enough on skiing's World Cup circuit, but he needed to compete for a nation to be eligible to stay on the tour.
"It wasn't about the Olympics for me," he told CNN Sport.
"I skied for myself, not for my country. I just wanted to continue my job as a ski racer and that wasn't possible so that's why I looked for an option and ended up skiing for Bulgaria."
Albrecht says he had some detractors when he got his Bulgarian passport in 2006 and was accused of being a traitor in some quarters, but he insists he also had plenty of support, as well as phone calls from other athletes wanting to switch.
"Obviously it's controversial -- they say, 'well, he just switched nations because he was really bad,' which isn't true," says Albrecht, who still consults for Bulgaria and has been coaching the Mexican ski team since before the Sochi Games of 2014.
"I saw it more as an individual sport and I tried to do the best for myself and the people who supported me rather than doing it for a nation."
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One of the Mexican team is US veteran Sarah Schleper, who has come out of retirement to race for her adopted nation after marrying Mexican Federico Gaxiola and acquiring citizenship in 2014. Schleper competed in four Winter Olympics for Team USA from 1998-2010.
In another twist, Minnesota sisters Hannah and Marissa Brandt will represent the US and the unified Korean team respectively in ice hockey in PyeongChang.
Marissa was born in South Korea and adopted by her American parents as a four-month-old before her parents conceived Hannah naturally a year later.
"I'm really looking forward to going to the opening ceremonies ... but for my sister, to see her walk in in front of the South Korean fans, I think it's going to be just an incredible experience for her," Hannah told CNN.
For Albrecht, the anthem played for the gold medalist is just a mark of "honor" and "celebration," and says it wouldn't matter to him which anthem was played.
"Most people might not understand that maybe, personally I don't get the whole anthem thing, the whole proud nation thing because I think we're all on the same planet. We need to work together, there shouldn't be any barriers," he says.
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But for Indian luger Shiva Keshavan national pride is everything.
The 36-year-old, from the Himalyan town of Manali, will be competing in his in sixth and final Winter Olympics for India in South Korea, but ahead of the 2002 Games he was invited to switch allegiances to Italy, land of his mother's birth.
He was offered full use of Italy's coaches and facilities in the sport, a job in the police force and eventual citizenship, but he was adamant he was staying with India despite the financial struggles and hardship of competing for a fringe Winter Olympics nation.
"For me the dream was to get the Olympics to my hometown," he was reported as saying in the New York Times. "And that was the only reason I was doing it. To show that we are also here."
Austrian skiing great Franz Klammer, the 1976 Olympic downhill champion, believes patriotism adds a whole different realm to competing at an Olympic Games.
"The pressure is enormous," Klammer told CNN Sport. "You only have one shot every four years, and you're representing your whole country, it's not just yourself so that's why it is a different dimension."
Ones to watch in the Winter Olympics
Mikaela Shiffrin (United States): Shiffrin comes into the Winter Olympics as the most dominant female skier in the world. The 22-year-old is the defending World Cup champion, and she is
already out to a big lead this season. In 2014 she became the youngest woman to ever win Olympic gold in the slalom, and she'll be looking to defend that title in PyeongChang -- and also add gold in the giant slalom.
Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga (Nigeria): Nigeria has never had an athlete compete in the Winter Olympics, but that will change in PyeongChang. In November, these three
made history when they became the first African bobsled team to qualify for the Olympic Games. All three are former track-and-field stars.
Sven Kramer (Netherlands): The Dutch are renowned for their speedskating, and Kramer is one of the most decorated athletes in the sport's history. He has won seven Olympic medals since 2006, and in PyeongChang he will be looking to win the 5,000 meters for the third straight Games. On the women's side, look out for Ireen Wüst. No Dutch athlete has won more Olympic medals than Wüst, who has four golds to go with three silvers and a bronze.
Choi Min-jeong and Shim Suk-hee (South Korea): This year's host nation has won 53 medals in its Winter Olympics history -- and 42 of them were in short-track speedskating. No country in the world has won more Olympic medals in the sport. Two of its big favorites this year are Choi, right, and Shim, center. Choi was world champion in 2016 and 2015. Shim was world champion in 2014, when she also won three Olympic medals in Sochi.
Marit Bjørgen (Norway): If she wins one medal in PyeongChang, Bjørgen will have more medals than any other woman in the history of the Winter Olympics. The cross-country skier, 37, has 10 medals right now, including six golds.
Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan): Hanyu comes into PyeongChang as the man to beat in figure skating. The 2014 Olympic champion also won gold at the World Championships last year, and he holds several world-record scores. He was just 19 at the Sochi Games, where he became figure skating's
youngest Olympic champion in 66 years.
Nathan Chen (United States): Chen is among a group of talented figure skaters looking to dethrone Hanyu in South Korea. He might hold the trump card, however, in that he's the only skater ever to land five quadruple jumps in a routine. He did that at the US Championships in January.
Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada): Canada has defeated the United States in the last two Olympic finals, and both times it was Poulin
scoring the game-winning goal. She is also the reigning MVP of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, which includes teams in Canada, China and the United States. She's been called the "female Sidney Crosby," the best player in her sport, but Crosby and the world's best male players
won't be in PyeongChang -- Poulin and the best female players will.
Martins Dukurs (Latvia): Dukurs has been the dominant force in skeleton for much of the past decade. He has won the last three world titles and the last eight World Cup titles. But the one thing that has eluded him is Olympic gold. He won silver in both 2010 and 2014.
Chloe Kim (United States): Kim had the scores to qualify for the Olympic halfpipe team in 2014, but she wasn't old enough to compete. Now, at 17, the snowboarder is regarded by many to be the gold-medal favorite. She finished first at the Winter X Games last month.
Marcel Hirscher (Austria): Hirscher has won a record six straight World Cup titles, and he's the defending world champion in the slalom and giant slalom. But despite his domination, he's still looking for his first Olympic gold medal. At the 2014 Sochi Games, he finished second in the slalom.
Martin Fourcade (France): Since 2012, Fourcade has been the world's best in the biathlon -- a discipline that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. He won two golds and a silver at the 2014 Olympic Games. Along with a silver in 2010, that made him France's most decorated Winter Olympian.
Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik (North Korea): After a recent thawing of tensions with its neighbor to the south, North Korea
is sending 22 athletes to compete in the Olympics. Its best hope for a medal might be
Ryom and Kim, a figure-skating pair who finished 15th at last year's World Championships and qualified for the Olympics in September. They skate their short program to The Beatles song "A Day in the Life."
Felix Loch (Germany): Loch will be looking for his third straight Olympic gold in the luge. The Germans have owned the sport in recent years. On the women's side, the favorites include Germans Natalie Geisenberger (the 2014 gold medalist) and Tatjana Hüfner (the 2010 gold medalist).
Kamil Stoch (Poland): Stoch won ski-jumping gold on both the normal hill and the large hill at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and after his recent performance at the Four Hills Tournament, it's hard to see many who can top him in PyeongChang. Last month, Stoch became only the second man in history to finish first at each of the tournament's "four hills" across Germany and Austria.
Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic): Ledecka is expected to become the first athlete in Olympic history to compete in both snowboarding and Alpine skiing. She already did both last year at the World Championships. Ledecka is one of the world's best snowboarders in the parallel disciplines. She won the World Cup title last year and a gold and a silver at the World Championships. On the skiing side, she finished among the world's top 30 in the downhill, the super-G and the combined.
Evgenia Medvedeva (Olympic athlete from Russia): Because of allegations of state-sponsored doping in 2014, the International Olympic Committee
has barred athletes from competing under the Russian flag in PyeongChang. But more than 160 Russian athletes have been cleared by the IOC to compete as neutral athletes. One of them is Medvedeva, an 18-year-old figure skater who has won the last two world titles and holds several world-record scores. She could be vulnerable in South Korea, however, as she recently recovered from a broken foot and finished second last month at the European Championships. It was her first loss in two years.
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American Tommy Moe, the 1994 Olympic downhill champion and super-G silver medalist, is another for whom competing for his nation was a huge motivation.
"At the Olympics you are representing your country and I think that's important, it's huge," he told CNN Sport.
"Before the 1994 Games Sports Illustrated called the US Ski Team the 'lead-footed snow plough brigade.' It kind of pissed me off. I had something to show them, and in the next issue I was on the cover."
Tommy Moe won Olympic downhill gold for Team USA in Lillehammer in 1994.
For some athletes team uniforms are just items of clothing. For others the pride in wearing their national kit is as deep-rooted as DNA.
They are all Olympians.