Geopolitics finds way to 2008 Olympics
Kristi Heim, The Seattle Times - MCT Campus
Published On: 08/19/2008
In one of the more surreal moments of the Olympics, cold, hard geopolitics landed in the middle of a beach volleyball match, with bikini-clad rivals, “beach girl’’ cheerleaders, riffs of AC/DC over the loudspeaker and mountains of sand forming a fake beach in downtown Beijing.
Less than a week after Russia and Georgia faced off in a sudden war over a disputed province, their national athletes met in what was expected to be an emotionally charged match Wednesday.
A mostly Chinese crowd cheered excitedly for the Georgian team, the underdogs in politics and volleyball except for one thing: The players were actually from Brazil.
It turns out that the Russian player, Alexandra Shiryaeva, was the one who had family members in Georgia. Georgian teammates Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Chagas, both born in Brazil, have dual citizenship but have only visited Georgia twice.
Santanna goes by the name Saka, and Chagas by Rtvelo, chosen by their coach. Their names put together form Sakartvelo, the Georgian word for Georgia. The pair were invited to play for the team by the Georgian president and his wife, a beach volleyball enthusiast.
At the start of the game, Santanna, 29, and Chagas, 31, crossed under the net to give their Russian opponents a hug. Georgia’s first serve hit the net and the team went on to lose the first game 21-10. They fought back, rallying intensely and hammering spikes to the back court to win the next two games and the match. After the game, the Russians’ exasperation spilled into a testy exchange. They were unhappy to lose the match and see what would be their first Olympics mired in politics.
Santanna called the victory “special’’ because of the ongoing conflict and the possibility of Georgian athletes having to leave the Olympics to return home. “Yes, I feel more Georgian now,’’ she added.
“If they are Georgian, they certainly would be influenced, but they’re not,’’ retorted a dejected Natalia Uryadova, 31.
“These girls are Brazilian,’’ Shiryaeva said. “I don’t think they even know who the Georgian president is.’’
In the end that didn’t matter, because the win trumped everything.
“Right now even a little success for us is very important,’’ said Giorgi Tschanishvili, press officer for the Georgian team. “There is an abnormal situation in our country. The athletes - they can’t concentrate. Our judo wrestlers they lost.”
“The athletes are too distracted thinking about what’s happening at home,’’ he said. “It’s absolutely crazy. We know that some of them lose their friends, their family members .... This win, maybe it will help us.’’
Although Georgia’s players live in Brazil, they also felt the weight of the situation, he said.
After scoring the last point, their nervousness gave way to elation. Still coated in sand, Santanna and Chagas held the white and red Georgian flag, posed for pictures and signed autographs for Chinese and foreign fans.
“We fought two years to be here,’’ Santanna said. “I’m very proud today, not only because it was against Russia. It’s a tough competition.’’
Santanna praised her opponents. “I want to compliment them. Despite where we come from today, we had a good match back there,’’ she said. “I don’t want this to become a war between us. I respect them as players.’’
Shiryaeva, 25, also struck a conciliatory tone and asked the media not to exaggerate the conflict in the sporting arena.
“We play against the team, not against Georgia,’’ she said. “I want you not to make like a continue of the war. It’s just a game.’’
But she had real worries, too. “I hope the conflict ends ... many of my relatives live in Georgia,’’ she said. “I know this must stop.’’
In Beijing, relations between the athletes at the Olympic Village have been so positive, she said, “If I don’t have Internet and TV, I never see there is conflict between Georgia and Russia.’’
