If she had won a gold medal, which flag would Shara Proctor have draped around her shoulders?

The 23-year-old athlete lives in Florida and hails from Anguilla, a Caribbean island of around 15,500 people close to Puerto Rico.

But the long jumper competes for Britain, under rules linked to the U.K.'s colonial past.

While three of Britain's 14 overseas territories have their own Olympic teams in London — Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands — other ex-colonies don't have International Olympic Committees and so can't field a squad.

Proctor was handed a spot by the Great Britain team, placing 9th in the women's high jump.

"We are very proud to have her," British foreign minister Alistair Burt said Friday.

— David Stringer - Twitter http://twitter.com/david_stringer

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EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.