The athletes to recieve the singing lesson will include team captain Tiffany Porter. Porter, who qualifies to represent Britain by her English mother, was born and raised in Michigan.

In March Porter was challenged during a press conference by a Daily Mail journalist to recite the words of the national anthem. Porter refused, although she claimed to know them.

“They know the words or they will,” said Charles van Commenee, the Dutch head of UK athletics.

“I’m not going to rehearse everybody because we have 90 athletes. But the people that matter, let’s say the ones on your radar [will be rehearsed].”

Others likely to get a singing lesson include triple jumper Yamile Aldama, who has competed for Cuba and Sudan in past, long jumper Shara Proctor who moved to the UK from Anguilla, and US-born 400m runner Shana Cox.



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