Georgia Defeats Russia in Beach Volleyball

BEIJING — Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins, native Brazilians playing for Georgia at the Olympics, rallied to a three-set victory over Russia, advancing to the medal round and sending a proud message to their adopted and war-torn homeland.

The Georgian team rallied Wednesday from a sloppy 21-10 loss in the first set to win the next two, 22-20 and 15-12, and beat Alexandra Shiryaeva and Natalia Uryadova.

Although they made just a few short visits to the country to obtain their new passports, Santanna and Martins took on the nicknames Saka and Rtvelo _ "Georgia," in Georgian _ out of affection for the land that allowed them to qualify for the Olympics.

Comments

[pfc1369]

Many athletes not able to make the teams in their home countries, shop themselves around, for cash.

Because of the timing, these Brazilians are likely to get a nice little bonus.

[elcojonu]

Amanda BC told me to tell yous guys that Russia rocks and Bush sucks.
The Russians will take the humanitarian help we say we're sending over there ( they control the Ports and Airports ) and sell it to the Georgians at a 100% mark-up to help defray the cost of their mobilization.
Mess with the Bear there's a prize to be paid.

[ofbbg]

And Russia beat Georgia at WAR!! Which one do you think will have the greater impact?

[meanguy]

i'm surprised AmandaBC did not log on to claim that russia actually won, but that "the MSM" was lying bout it...

[Steamboater]

Russia deserved this slap in the face.

[meanguy]

amen

[Destin]

Pretty much exactly what I was talking about last night in a different post. About how alot of olympians are becoming like politicians. Cept, instead of going around the country looking for easy house/senate seats to fill, athletes around the world seem to be going around looking for easy teams to make. And probably get paid handsomely to do it as well, by the host country who gives them "citizenship". Imagine, if say, the island nation of Fiji paid Michael Phelps to move there and take on citizenship and represent them in the 2012 Olympics. While that's a huge stretch and bit of fantasy in regards to Phelps doing it, that's pretty much what's going on in some cases. ;)

[FantaPants]

Serve, volley, SMASH!

[gcallaghan]

Did the Russians keep to their own side of the net?

[Mildmannered]

clever

[Obama4Life]

lol

[rwt1138]

The are part of Blackwater's newest service: Private Olympian Contractors

[tony2008]

Naturalized citizens can represent their new country, but this report says that these Brazilians haven't even lived in Georgia. Whats going on?

[ofbbg]

Worked for Hillary, didn't it?

[devilyousay]

The two teams hugged before the match in a show of peace. It was touching.

[Topfeeder]

Carpetbagger Olympians.....who knew?

[shengirl]

to have Brazilians on the Georgian team is no weirder than your hometown football or baseball team being composed of players from all over the US or even from other countries. And they are traded around, nobody cares, it's still your local team. How many Green Bay Packers or Atlanta Braves are actually from Green Bay or Atlanta?

[martinchill]

nice comparison of apples to oranges there.

don't care. not watching.

[tony2008]

USA is one country. Georgia and Brazil are two countries from different continents.

[thewildlunch]

No, Shengirl is right. The principle is the same with this comparison. In a world run by big business, there is no longer anything that is intrinsically "local." Across the North American continent, the expansion of the USA stamped the "local" out almost entirely. The total experience of capitalism worldwide has rendered "difference" an almost out-moded concept.

[Quotidien]

If this athlete-for-hire trend continues, then the spirit of the Olympics will cease to exist as we know it.

It should not like be like professional football, where players for one city's team can come from anywhere else. I cringe at the notion of Olympic sports starts taking cues from professional sports; the magic will be entirely gone.

I would rather compare it to collegiate sports: in order to be a Wahoo Cavalier, you must be an enrolled student at the University of Virginia. Period. Borrowing a player who goes to another school is completely out of the question.

The intent of the Olympics was to display the athletic talents of the citizens of a particular country and have them compete with the rest of the world. I don't think anybody's interested in seeing a global professional sports league.

Who's going to tear up when the national anthem of the country they "work for" is being played? Instead, these mercenary athletes will probably be on their cell phone calling their stockbroker or their agents looking for a better deal.

The whole Georgia-Russia feel good story was never able to take hold because those two women don't have a personal stake in the welfare of that country. Imagine if they were real Georgians with family back home that they were worried about, or if they had brothers in the Georgian Army defending their country.

That's what's wrong with having Brazilian citizens playing for Georgia.

[shengirl]

Doesn't huffpost have a pic of female volley ball players to show? That's a guy, with a beard, or maybe one of the women could use a little hormone therapy. After the Games, of course.

[rmreddicks]

What happened in the real olympics?