Joesitz said:
Naomi leaving her baby alone to skate. That sort of thing was the way we were Nowadays, Nanis and baby sitters as well Au Peres are quite plentiful and certaintly Naomi's tribal family would see to it that the baby was well taken cared for.
There is a big difference between leaving a baby during the day while mommy is at work, and leaving the baby at home while going on tours, or even leaving for competitions all the time. From reading Gordeeva's book (I know you don't believe in reading that), I did not get a feeling that her arrangement with Daria was just like any working mom's arrangement. I would think coaching would be much easier on the new mom.
diver chick said:
Also it gives the impression that he himself does not value citizenship as anything more than a passport/piece of paper.
Try looking at it from a different angle (though as the bottom line, your assessment is correct). Peter was born in "Leningrad, USSR"; he competes under a red flag with hammer-and-sickle. Then, suddenly, he lives in "St. Petersburg, Russia", and competes under a tri-color flag. I'd say that a pride in one's citizenship is something one gets from one's earliest years; I think anyone would admit it would be kind of difficult for the Russians of our generation. It is not wonder that that generation is more cynical than most about such things as "citizenship", "national pride" etc.
diver chick said:
Effort should be made to learn the language if you don't already speak it, time should be taken to learn about the country, the history, customs, ways of life etc and it should be the same for *everyone* who applies.
Once again, being a part of a country is different for everybody. For instance, my mother has always had 0 interest in politics; she, as an American citizen, would be hard pressed to describe the three branches of our governement (she can do it, but it's just rote memorization). However, she knows more about American literature than probably 95% of natural-born Americans. For her, knowing a country's art and culture is way more important than all that stuff they ask you about on the citizenship exam. Personally, I started considering myself a "Bostonian" much earlier than an "American". In fact, I remember clearly the moment I realized I was
fully and trully an American. It was during a Clinton administration, and I disagreed vehemently with certain actions the US took on international front (don't want to mention which to avoid another discussion); I realized that what I felt most of all was not
anger but
shame; I then realize that I indeed became an American, because one feels
shame for one's own actions, not for someone else's. All I am saying is that it's very personal for each and every individual.
Joesitz said:
As far as the Olympic rules, can you imagine a six man regata where the coxman is a German, and the rowers are Portuguese. If the team wins, which flag is hoisted up? The Olympic rules are there for a purpose.
I disagree. All countries have very different rules on citizenship. Take Frasier & Lukanin, for example. They could represent Azerbaijan immediately, but they would have had to wait a long time had they chosen to represent US (BTW, I would very much doubt Kristin has
any feelings about Azerbaijan, or knows much about it). Why not let invidual countries decide who can and who cannot represent them at the games. In your example, the flat hoisted up would be them one that the teams would announce beforehand they represent.
Dual citizenship
The rules regarding official dual citizenship are indeed quite complex. However, most people don't bother. If you simply obtain another citizenship without doing anything about their old one. The truth is that getting rid of the old citizenship can be quite cumbersome. I didn't have to go through that -- my family left USSR in 1988, when we were forced to pay huge money (500 rubles per adult, when my parents each earned 160 rubles per month) to renounce our citizenship; otherwise, we couldn't leave. Right now, my friends who did go through the trouble of renouncing their Russian citizenship had to go to Washington, pay a fairly large amount of money (I think around $2000), go through red tape that took days, etc. Most just don't bother.
