The mystery of athletes disappearing after the Commonwealth Games

When the closing ceremony ends at a major multi-sport event, national contingents are expected to return home.

But every few years, a handful of athletes choose not to board those flights.

Instead, they disappear from the Games Village, abandon their teams without informing officials and, in many cases, apply for asylum or overstay their visas in the host country.

Following the conclusion of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Police Scotland confirmed inquiries into athletes who failed to return with their national delegations, with the UK's Home Office also involved.

Reports identified four Ugandan boxers, Nuhu Batte, Angel Katushabe, Ibrahim Kemis and Emily Nakalema, along with Pakistani boxer Qudratullah as unaccounted for.

One of the Ugandan athletes reportedly told the media that they intended to remain in the United Kingdom and seek asylum, citing better training facilities, career opportunities and living conditions.

Authorities have not yet announced the outcome of those investigations, but the episode is far from unprecedented.

A pattern spanning decades

Athletes disappearing after a major international competition is not a new phenomenon.

While there is no single official global database tracking such cases, media reports, police investigations, immigration records and government documents consistently show that the pattern has recurred, particularly when the Games are hosted by countries such as the United Kingdom or Australia.

The Commonwealth Games provide the clearest evidence.

The 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games saw around 40 athletes and officials disappear or overstay their visas. The group included members of the Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Bangladesh contingents.

There were very few comparable reports during the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, underlining how the trend is closely linked to the destination country.

The 2014 Glasgow Games recorded around 66 athletes who did not leave Britain after the competition. Among them was Cameroonian weightlifter Cyrille Tchatchet II, whose story would later become one of the most remarkable examples of an athlete rebuilding life after seeking refuge.

The largest wave came after the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where approximately 230 athletes and officials either disappeared, overstayed their visas or became linked to protection visa applications.

Australian authorities reported around 50 people still unlawfully present a month after the Games, while roughly 190 to 205 protection visa applications were lodged. Most of those claims were eventually rejected, although several applicants pursued lengthy appeals.

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games saw at least 17 competitors reported missing, including athletes from Pakistan, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Cameroon and Botswana.

With the latest Glasgow case added to the list, more than 380 athletes and officials are estimated to have disappeared, overstayed their visas or sought asylum across recent Commonwealth Games hosted in Western countries.

Similar stories at the Olympics

Although the numbers are generally smaller than at the Commonwealth Games, the Olympics have also experienced athlete defections and asylum claims for decades.

The 1948 London Olympics produced one of the earliest known defections when Czechoslovak gymnastics coach Marie Provaznikova refused to return after the Communist takeover of her country.

Following the Soviet invasion of Hungary, nearly half of Hungary's Olympic delegation remained abroad after the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

More than 100 athletes reportedly sought asylum during the 1972 Munich Olympics, while the Sydney 2000 Olympics saw dozens of asylum claims and visa overstays.

The London 2012 Olympics recorded around 21 athletes and coaches who failed to return, while UK Home Office data later showed 82 members of the Olympic family, including athletes and officials, submitted asylum claims. Many of those applications took years to resolve.

In recent editions, large-scale disappearances have become less common. Instead, the focus has shifted towards individual cases, such as Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who sought protection during the Tokyo Olympics after criticising sports officials in her country.

The International Olympic Committee's creation of the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016 reflected the growing recognition that displacement and forced migration had become significant issues affecting athletes worldwide.

Why do athletes disappear?

The reasons vary widely, but they rarely stem from sport alone.

For many athletes from lower-income or politically unstable countries, events like the Commonwealth Games provide one of the few opportunities to legally enter nations with stronger economies and established asylum systems.

Some athletes speak of inadequate training facilities, poor financial support and corruption within their national sports federations. Others cite political instability, conflict or fear of persecution based on their political opinions, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

For many, the decision is not about abandoning a sporting career but trying to build one under better conditions.

The outcome, however, is far from guaranteed.

One of the best-known examples is Cyrille Tchatchet II.

After representing Cameroon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the weightlifter chose not to return home. His early years in Britain were marked by homelessness, detention and severe mental health struggles before he was granted refugee status in 2016.

Tchatchet rebuilt his life by qualifying as a mental health nurse, represented the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at the Tokyo Olympics, later became a British citizen and has since won medals representing England.

Incredibly, Cyrille Tchatchet II, also won a weightlifting silver at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, 12 years after fleeing the Cameroon team camp from the 2014 edition in the same city.

Another athlete, Madia Ngake, also from Cameroon, sought asylum after fearing persecution because of her sexuality. She later represented England and won a silver medal at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Have Indians gone missing?

India has never featured prominently in documented cases of athletes disappearing after the Commonwealth Games or Olympics to seek asylum.

The closest example remains Gurcharan Singh, one of India's leading amateur boxers around the turn of the century.

Gurcharan reached the quarter-finals in the light-heavyweight division at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, narrowly missing out on a medal. Months later, while attending a training camp in the Czech Republic with the Indian team, he disappeared without informing officials.

He resurfaced in the United States, where he lived for nearly a decade while pursuing a professional boxing career. During that period, he worked various jobs to support himself while trying to establish a future in professional boxing.

Gurcharan later explained that he believed professional boxing abroad offered opportunities unavailable within India's amateur structure.

At the time of his disappearance, he was serving as a Havildar in the Indian Army. His actions led to disciplinary proceedings, and he was declared absent without leave.

Unlike many of the Commonwealth Games cases, Gurcharan never sought asylum.