We conclude our 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage with an entry about athletes who represented different countries besides their nations of birth.
These include Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse (pictured here) who won two silver medals. One in the women's 5000 meters and the second in the 10,000 meters.
Her native country is Ethiopia. According to Wikipedia, Elvan simply fell in love with Turkey during a 1999 visit to Istanbul. She said that the Turkish federation got behind her, and she agreed to compete for Turkey.
She later got married and changed her name to Elvan Can, but she got divorced and returned to her maiden name. Elvan does not train in Ethiopia, but she remains friendly to her fellow Ethiopian runners who represent Ethiopia.
But, Elvan's story is hardly the only one of its kind at the Olympics. Armenian wrestler Ara Abhahamian represented Sweden, and he got lots of media attention for protesting his bronze medal on the medal stand.
Similary, many American Olympians, like runner Bernard Lagat (Kenya), tennis player Liezel Huber (South Africa) and badminton player Khan Malaythong (Laos) were from other countries.
American-born athletes also played for other countries.
When that country is Russia, assuredly some eyebrows were raised. American men's basketball player J.R. Holden played for Russia, but women's basketball player Becky Hammon, a guard who has played for the WNBA's New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars, played for Russia as well.
Hammon, who is originally from Rapid City, SD, said the American women's basketball team was not interested in her so the Russian team asked her to play for them. Hammon had played professional basketball in Russia, and she was familiar with their players.
The Russians lost to the USA, which went on to win gold in women's basketball, 67-52 in the semi-finals.
Russia won the bronze by beating the host China 94-81 (Team USA beat Australia for the gold).
Bob Ryan of "The Boston Globe" talked to Hammon, who was called a traitor which may have been aided by Russia's invasion of Georgia right before the games.
Hammon told Ryan that she was relieved the Olympics were behind her.
"It was nice to win a medal, but that was never why I did it," Hammon said.
Since this is my last blog entry on the Olympics, I would like to mention rower Benjamin Boukepti, who won a bronze medal for Togo. It was the first medal ever for that country, which is an island in the South Pacific.
And, one has to feel for Taiwanese baseball player Chang Tai-shan who could not compete because he failed a drug test. As it turns out, he was taking the drug for fertility and not to enhance his performance 'on the field.'
The Olympics reportedly cost $40 billion, and eight American protesters who tried to hold a Free Tibet protest were deported back home. Perhaps, the next host country, the United Kingdom, will be more accomodating?!
NOTE: See earlier entry on gymnast Oksana Chusovitina of Germany who is originally from Uzbekistan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice
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