The Definition of "My Country"

Unpatriotic? Olympic Athletes hail from one nation, compete for another.

All the remarkable athletes. You know the athletes go to the Olympic to represent their countries, right? That’s clear from the parade of nations in the opening ceremony to the playing of the national anthem for gold medal winners. But Stephanie Saia reports the definition of what country an athlete belongs to is getting just a bit blurry.

The only thing Russian about Becky Hammon is her fanny pack. Everything else is apple-pie American.

“You know, I stand an honor of my country. Always my hand will be across my chest. I am one of those people that still believe the pledge of allegiance should be said in school every morning.”

But tomorrow the WNBA player from South Dakota will put a jersey on for Russia and play against the United States. Playing for an old Cold War enemy and being a formidable point guard, Hammon has brought the brunt of criticism. But she is among / countless athletes playing for other nations at the Games.

“Pretty sure, the Canadian / track and field teams of Nigeria?".

"Azerbaijan, for a lot Korean girls, that game had got them married to Azerbaijanis. /”

A French man won Togo’s first gold/ medal after only being to the African nation once. When people look to the Russia versus Georgia beach volleyball game for political metaphors, they realize the Georgian players were actually Brazilian. And the entire US table tennis team is from China, not to mention the woman’s volleyball coach. 33 foreign-born athletes are on team USA.

The Olympics have come to represent universal values of peace and friendship. But at the end of the day, it is a competition between nations. And some say those athletes that choose to play for other countries are traitors.

If you play in this country, live in this country, and grow up in the heartland, you know, if you put on a Russian uniform, you are not a patriotic person in my mind.

But Hammon says she did everything she could to get on the US team, it still wasn’t enough. When it became a choice between participating in the world’s greatest sporting event and watching from the sidelines, it was easy for 31-year-old Hammon.

If I was 26, 25, I probably wouldn't have made this decision to play for Russia, / I would held out and hope that United States would have come back around.

So Hammon chased her dream. There’s nothing more American than that, even if she had / chased it all the way to Russia.

Stephanie Saia, ABC news, Beijing.

很多奧運會運動員更改國籍，為其他國家而戰。這是不愛國的表現嗎？

所有的耀眼奪目的運動員。大家都知道，運動員是代表他們的國家參加奧運會的，對嗎？從奧運會開幕式

上每個國家的代表儀仗隊到為奧運金牌獲得者奏響的國歌都可以得知，這是毫無疑問的。但是 Stephanie Saia的報道讓我們對一個運動員的國籍感到越來越模糊。

對貝基哈蒙來講，唯一能體現出和俄羅斯相關的地方只是她的隊服，其他方面她仍然是一個徹底的美國人。

“你知道，我為我的祖國感到驕傲。我仍然會把手放在胸前，我仍然和所有美國人一樣，相信那些上學的時候每天早上宣誓的忠誠的誓言。”

但是從明天開始這位來自南達科他州的WNBA運動員就將身著俄羅斯的戰衣，和美國隊相抗衡。為冷戰時期的老對手而戰，并且作為一個杰出的控球后衛，讓哈蒙受到鋪天蓋地的批評。但是她只是眾多更改國籍為他國而戰的眾多外籍兵團中的一員。

“確實如此，就好象尼日利亞的田徑代表隊里的加拿大運動員一樣？”
“還有阿塞拜疆，很多韓國的姑娘們就因為更改國籍參加奧運會而嫁給了阿塞拜疆人。”
一個法國人由于去了多哥西非共和過一次，為這個國家贏得了第一枚金牌。當人們在俄羅斯對壘格魯吉亞的沙灘排球中尋找政治喻意時，他們意識到其實格魯吉亞的選手是不列顛人。美國所有的桌球選手都是來自中國，更不用說美國女子排球的教練。美國代表隊中有33名外籍運動員。

奧運會代表和平和友誼，但是歸根結底，它是國家之間的競爭。有人說那些更改國籍為其他國家而戰的運動員是叛徒。

如果你在這個國家比賽，在這個國家生活，在這個國家的心臟地區長大，而你卻穿上俄羅斯的制服，那么，在我的心里你就不是一個愛國的人。

但是哈蒙說，她曾盡最大努力留在美國隊，但是仍然被教練排除在參賽名單之外。對于已經31歲的哈蒙來說，在參加世界上最大的體育盛事和做一個普通觀眾之間選擇，是非常簡單的事。

“如果我還是二十五六歲，可能我不會決定為俄羅斯而戰，我會堅持等待下次機會，等待美國能夠凱旋歸來。”

所以哈蒙是在追求她的夢想。這正是她體現出美國人特點的方面，即使她為了追求這個夢想而投靠了俄羅斯。

patriotic 形容詞 愛國的
blurry形容詞 模糊的
污臟的;污斑的
formidable 形容詞 可怕的,令人畏懼的
難以克服的,難對付的
巨大的;杰出的

metaphor 名詞 隱喻(一種修辭法)
象征