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Navratilova takes Czech nationality after shame over America
TimesOnline.co.uk ^ | March 11, 2008

Posted on 03/11/2008 11:31:05 AM PDT by Arnold Zephel

Martina Navratilova, the former world number one tennis star, said yesterday that she had regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing its communist rule to live in the US.

The 51-year-old, who won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times, said that she was maintaining dual nationality and keeping her US passport.

But her announcement, at a Tokyo press conference, raised questions over whether she planned to leave America, after a series of controversial attacks on President Bush and the Republican party.

Born in Prague, Navratilova defected to the United States in 1975 aged 18, angering the communist authorities who stripped her of her nationality. She was granted a green card within a month and US citizenship six years later.

Navratilova said last year that while she was once ashamed about Czechoslovakia, she was now ashamed of the United States under Mr Bush. “The thing is that we elected Bush. That is worse! Against that, nobody chose a communist government in Czechoslovakia,” she told the Czech daily Lidove Noviny.

In 2002, she told a German newspaper: “The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another. The Republicans in the US manipulate public opinion and sweep controversial issues under the table. It’s depressing. Decisions in America are based solely on the question of how much money will come out of it and not on the questions of how much health, morals or environment suffer as a result.”

Navratilova was confronted with her comments in July 2002 by Connie Chung, then a CNN talk show host, who told the tennis star that when she read them, “I wanted to say, go back to Czechoslovakia. You know, if you don’t like it here, this is a country that gave you so much, gave you the freedom to do what you want.”

Czechoslovakia split in 1993 after the fall of communism into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Navratilova, winner of 59 Grand Slam titles, came out publicly in 1981 about her lesbianism, shortly after being granted US citizenship. She pointed out that under communist rule in Czechoslovakia, “gays were sent to insane asylums and lesbians never came out of the closet.”

She retired in 1994 but returned to play doubles in 2000, again winning several tournaments. She definitively hung up her racket in December 2006 after winning in mixed doubles at the US Open, the 354th tournament of her career.

She is planning to open an academy for young tennis players in the Czech Republic.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bds; buhbye; genitalpolitics; homosexualagenda; ilhanomar; martina; martinanavratilova; minnesota; moonbat; navratilova; petulantrugmuncher
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In 2002, she told a German newspaper: “The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another. The Republicans in the US manipulate public opinion and sweep controversial issues under the table. It’s depressing.

[sarcasm]
She better be careful how she speaks out against Bushitler. He will send out the "Secret Republican Police" to arrest her and send her to Guantanamo where she will be waterboarded and have her sacred copies of "Out" magazine flushed down the toilet.
[/sarcasm]
1 posted on 03/11/2008 11:31:06 AM PDT by Arnold Zephel
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To: Arnold Zephel

She is truly brainless.


2 posted on 03/11/2008 11:33:42 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (ENERGY CRISIS made in Washington D. C.)
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To: All

Shut up and grunt.


3 posted on 03/11/2008 11:34:00 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Arnold Zephel

DLTDHYITAOTWO


4 posted on 03/11/2008 11:34:21 AM PDT by synbad600
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To: Arnold Zephel

Translation: I’ve made all the money I can make in the US. Now I am free to trash them and move on to another country. The way a flea jumps from dog to dog.


5 posted on 03/11/2008 11:35:33 AM PDT by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: synbad600

TAAGTBMTICKUW


6 posted on 03/11/2008 11:35:44 AM PDT by pgyanke ("Huntered"--The act of being ignored by media and party to prevent name recognition)
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To: Arnold Zephel
"The most absurd part of my escape from the unjust system is that I have exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another...

Whatever. Don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out.

7 posted on 03/11/2008 11:35:48 AM PDT by Lurking in Kansas (Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.)
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To: Arnold Zephel
What an absolute moron. Surpresses? As she disses the President?

What an idiot. Where is the KGB Martina, where is the gulag?

Stick to tennis, because politically you are sounding more and more like a leftist moonbat.

8 posted on 03/11/2008 11:36:28 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Arnold Zephel
Bye.

It was nauseating to have to call her an American.

And the Masryk family did more for freedom in Czechoslovakia then she will do in a million lifetimes.

9 posted on 03/11/2008 11:36:40 AM PDT by Regulator (RIP Jan Masryk)
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To: Republic of Texas

Oh, you mean Madonna?


10 posted on 03/11/2008 11:36:55 AM PDT by WakeUpAndVote (Pork, just bring the hot sauce!)
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To: Arnold Zephel

She defected to the US, made a ton of money, then bashes the country that gave her so many opportunities. What an idiot.


11 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:05 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: pgyanke

Ok, can’t figure it out.


12 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:05 AM PDT by synbad600
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To: Arnold Zephel

Ignoranus.


13 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:10 AM PDT by Southern Partisan ("Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less." ----R. E. Lee)
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To: Arnold Zephel

Wonder how they feel about lesbos in Czechoslovakia?


14 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:18 AM PDT by Churchillspirit
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To: Arnold Zephel

I say we have the Williams Sisters take this lesbocommieslut into an alley and work her over before she leaves. I’ll hold the flashlight.


15 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:39 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (Nobama08. Get me a general for President and Steele or Blackwell for VP.)
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To: Arnold Zephel

First Scythian, and now this.


16 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:51 AM PDT by gundog (John McCain is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.)
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To: Arnold Zephel; Eric in the Ozarks

Persona non grateful......


17 posted on 03/11/2008 11:37:53 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Arnold Zephel

“said that she was maintaining dual nationality and keeping her US passport.”


Must be nice, us good old boys don’t get that opportunity much.


18 posted on 03/11/2008 11:38:08 AM PDT by ansel12 (Ronald W. Reagan and William F. Buckley Jr., both were U.S. Army veterans.)
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To: Arnold Zephel

What a shame. One less lesbian in the country.

/do I need it?


19 posted on 03/11/2008 11:38:25 AM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (Men fight well when they know that no prisoners will be taken.)
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To: Arnold Zephel

He sure looks like a democrat.

20 posted on 03/11/2008 11:38:55 AM PDT by Slump Tester (Only CINOs and democRATs knowingly and willingly vote for RINOs!)
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