LONDON 2012: Team GB's 'Plastic Brits' outnumbered by England's rugby and cricket teams

BRITISH Olympic Association officials bristle at the suggestion of Plastic Brits, a phrase invented to describe sporting mercenaries competing under a flag of convenience at this month's London 2012 Olympics.

CONTROVERSIAL: Team GB wrestler Olga Butkevych only received her British passport in May and is one of 60 foreign born athlete representing UK this summer

Of the 542 athletes that will represent Team GB this summer, 60 - or 11 percent - were born abroad.

They include Cuban-born triple jumper Yamile Aldama, who has already represented the country of her birth and Sudan in three previous Olympic appearances, and wrestler Olga Butkevych, who qualified on residency grounds and only received her passport in May.

But Great Britain's Olympic team - for all the negative coverage it receives for the selection of these athletes - certainly stands to scrutiny with other sports, where the same microscope has not been applied.

Of the 24 cricketers to represent England during the recent Test, one-day and T20 series with West Indies, 21 percent were born outside the country - Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan, Stuart Meaker and Jade Dernbach.

This number rises slightly when you look at the England rugby team that played in the final Six Nations clash against Ireland earlier this year.

Five of these players were born abroad - Matt Stevens, Alex Corbisiero, Mouritz Botha, Bradley Barritt, Lee Dickson and Manu Tuilagi.

Of course, place of birth should be no indication of nationality, Douglas Jardine was born in India and you couldn't get more English than one of England's most controversial cricket captains.

Each case is different and some of these names were simply born abroad to British parents and others moved to the UK as small children and have come through the sporting system in this country.

However, many others, from  Butkevych to Pietersen to Tuilagi, spent their formative years learning their respective sports elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Halfords have done their very best to find the 2,000 dimmest people in the UK for their survey about British Olympic knowledge.

Ten percent think Sir Steve Redgrave still rowing, 11 percent think Sir Chris Hoy is a rower and 20 percent think ten-pin bowling is an Olympic sport.

Amazingly, their survey found that cycling is now the most popular Olympic sport. What do Halfords sell again?

© Sportsbeat 2012