If you look a little closer at her times, she wouldn't even be accepted into USA Nationals anyway.
If she qualifies for Hong Kong, she will walk under the Chinese/Hong Kong flag which, in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration, is a policy that is known as the "one country, two systems" policy. Ultimately she will be swimming for China even though the Hong Kong flag appears to state otherwise. Though Hong Kong and Taiwan are seemingly autonomous regions, when the USS Nimitz was granted permission to sail into a Hong Kong port recently, China was not amused and the appropriate politicians were spanked.
Rachel Grant set a BYU short course yards record in the 200 fly in a time of 2:01.04. The world record for for the 200-long course meter fly is 2:01.81 set by Liu Zige. If you convert the times to long-course-meters, a meter being 10% farther than a yard, and in a venue with four less walls to push off of, her times convert to 2:19-plus. I don't think you can get invited to quasi pro-meet or a USA Swimming Grand Prix with a time like that. (In fact Kendyl Stewart at age 14 swam a 1:59.97 in a short course yard pool. I am told that Kendyl Stewart is going to continue to swim as fast as she can and try to make the US team. Go Kendyl.)
So what are the motivations for swimming under a foreign flag when a swimmer has no chance of making it to the finals or even the semi-finals in either USA Nationals or the Olympics? I am going to say it straight out, it is vanity and it thereby robs a struggling athlete who lives in Hong Kong the glory and the right to represent their country?
Examples of Olympic greats who swam as expatriates: Gabrielle Rose for both Brazil and the United States and of course Milorad Čavić stand out.
Rose swam for Stanford with Richard Quick and was so accomplished as a swimmer that she swam the gauntlet for both Brazil and the USA and made it into the Olympics. At Nationals she was in lane-8 and not expected to win but she did win and it was a stunning race full of heart and lots of fortitude and she made it. I was lucky enough to get stroke tips from her. In fact, I have gotten stroke tips from four Olympians through SCAQ.
Milorad Čavić, A citizen of both the United States and Serbia, attended Tustin High School in California, where he set four CIF records and a national high school mark in the 50 yd freestyle. While swimming for the University of California, Berkeley and training with Mike Bottom, Čavić set a new school and Pac-10 record in the 100 yd butterfly. Then we know about his being out touched twice by Michael Phelps in one of the most exciting races the Olympics have seen. I have no problem with Milorad Čavić because he could make any team in the world and Serbia was the team he chose. His allegiance is pure and he belongs in the Olympics because he is the 2nd best the world had ever seen.
Look what the internet, religion, corporations, and capitalism have done to sovereign borders. Will borders become obsolete and when they do will nations begin to sponsor athletes much like corporations do or will people expatriate themselves for 15-minutes or so just to put on their resume that they swam in the Olympics. I hope USA Swimming and the IOC make policies regarding this.
From the Mormon Times:
Yes, the BYU swimmer was born of a Chinese mother and an American father in Hong Kong. Though she only lived there for a short while after her birth, she has dual passports and dual citizenship, leaving her fully credited to swim for the team from her other country.
Of course, before she decides if she has enough oomph left to train for a year on her own for the next Olympics, Grant is happily training and competing in the water for the BYU Cougars.
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