Music competitions are rarely China vs. US vs. Canada vs. Australia, etc. The top Chopin piano competitions, etc. just choose the BEST pianists, regardless of nationality. Same with ballet, same with many other forms of art.
Yes, I know that sports are very different from art.
I think that team sports should always be based on some sort of nationality or geographical region (e.g. city, like Lakers, Raptors).
For individual sports, such as ping pong, gymnastics, figure skating, (although I guess the latter two do have "teams" but they could form a national team just for that sole TEAM gymnastics or TEAM figure skating) and then have all the other individual events (pommel horse, rings, all around) just go to the best individual.
I think this could be a way for sports in general to get less political. For example, no one ever complains about loyalties etc. when a Chinese musician goes to the US to study with the top music gurus and accomplish great things there. They are still respected as a Chinese individual who was able to excel in music. And vice versa. But with sports, it's sometimes seen as directly opposing your country, etc.
I think there shouldn't be nationality boundaries for many sports. I can already imagine this idea will VASTLY unpopular because most people watch sports to cheer on their city, country, or whatever, and I do too.
But once I got to read more about the athletes themselves, I feel that it isn't important what country they're from. It's more about the athletes themselves.
This is probably highly impractical though because of funding for training. If there is no incentive for the government, then they simply won't fund these individuals.