Posted on 02/19/2014 10:46:56 PM PST by cunning_fish
What's that old saying?
If you don't like the resources your nation is devoting to your snowboarding discipline, move to Russia?
Yeah, well, that's exactly what Vic Wild of White Salmon, Wash., did back in 2011 after he figured that parallel slalom snowboarding wasn't a high priority for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. He obtained Russian citizenship upon marrying Russian girlfriend Alena Zavarzina in Siberia and then went to work representing a different kind of red, white and blue flag. While the U.S. focused on events like halfpipe and slopestyle, the Russians were much more serious about Alpine snowboard racing.
“I told everybody in the Russian snowboard federation: If you guys take me, you’ll never regret it,” Wild told the Wall Street Journal this week.
And it won't regret anything. Wild won the gold medal in the parallel giant slalom on Wednesday, an event that saw only one American entrant. Wild later celebrated with his wife Zavarzina, a fellow snowboarder who won bronze in the women's event, and draped himself in a Russian flag.
Wild's gold medal will certainly help Russian compete against the U.S. in the medal count, but American officials weren't decrying an opportunity lost on Wednesday.
At least not publicly:
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
International eligibility in soccer is not necessarily based on citizenship, but rather on a ‘clear connection’ to a country a player wishes to represent. This usually means having a parent or grandparent born in that country, or residency for a period of time.
That’s how a player like Zlatan Ibrahimovic can represent Sweden.
I have no idea what documentation is required. The US Department of State has a website. You could look there. Or try Google.
All I know is that it happens, and I have known people with dual citizenship.
There isn’t any.
That’s the point.
The US does not “recognize” dual citizenship.
Your thinking is at significant variance with the official US Government position. Just paste this in your browser and see for yourself.
http://answers.usa.gov/system/templates/selfservice/USAGov/#!portal/1012/article/3399/Dual-Citizenship
Thanks Curlydave,
The page you linked to 100% supports what I am saying and my impression of dual nationality with respect to the US.
It recognizes that it exists.
There is no legal implication one way or the other.
This is due to the nature of US naturalization and countries of origin attitudes towards citizenship.
But,
If a US citizen chooses to Actively gain foreign citizenship, he can lose his US citizenship.
To the extent that US law addresses dual nationality, it states it is not acceptable.
It never meant anything. International competition doesn’t say anything about a country, it’s just sport, fun and enjoyable, but come Monday the number of medals people from various countries won or did not win doesn’t change anything. We wouldn’t be a better place if he’d stayed and won his medal with an American flag on his jersey.
Alternately, but less likely, Wild looked at what is going on here, and our "slide downhill", and convinced himself that he would be no worse off in Russia, with support for what he does best (and with a beautiful wife at his side, no less!) Or maybe his wife convinced him, as others have suggested.
I do find it odd that parallel snowboarding gets no support in the US. Clearly, we could be good at it (esp. if Wild was still on the U.S. team!) Plus, I found it to be very entertaining to watch, with it's pitting of one competitor directly against another, in simultaneous / parallel "elimination" races on courses that clearly are NOT equal, but each competitor gets an opportunity on both courses.
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