[GeronL]

I think a South Korean also won gold playing for Russia

[Impy]

Playing for another country is only justified if you fail to make the American team.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Germans look for German last names.

If it’s good, with a German last name, then it’s German.

[DoughtyOne]

My interest in snowboarding is probably less than I care about what Charles Manson had for lunch yesterday. And I don’t give a flying fig what Charles Manson had for lunch yesterday.

Ah, righteous dude...

[kaehurowing]

The Russian teams are based on merit, not political correctness.

[BradyLS]

Whatever the faults of Vic Wild, wife Alena Zavarzina is Not Guilty!

[Southack]

How could Alena have even remotely tempted him?!

[Daffynition]

So what? No worse than having a *pro* skating on a team for the 'lympics.

The whole notion of any well-trained individual can become the *best* in the world in an event has become so marginalized.

Another reason to not support the 'lympics.

Did Costas get over his conjunctivitis? That had been the mostly exciting part of these spectacles thus far.

[Ready4Freddy]

He’s not alone

American athletes representing other countries in Sochi

http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/american-athletes-competing-for-other-countries-in-sochi-1392070841-slideshow/

[Alberta's Child]

This guy may sound unpatriotic, but it's hard to blame him. He had no prospects with the U.S. team because there are almost no financial resources available to U.S. competitors in his event. The Russians devote a lot of money to training their athletes in that sport, and he was eligible to compete for them, so off he went.

Funny how nobody mentions how he qualified to compete for Russia in the first place even though he was American-born. He's required to be a Russian citizen to compete for Russia, and he qualified for Russian citizenship by marrying a Russian. Was that unpatriotic of him, too?

[Spartan302]

Must really piss off the IRS, they cannot tax any Gold medals.
Its a different Russia now, and if it has to be done to compete more power to these athletes. I have no problem with it, actually I wish I could have done what he did.

[jaydee770]

Meh... The guy wanted to compete and it appears the USA had first dibs and declined. No one should fault him for seeking a team that would take him -and- he’s just proven he was a *very* capable competitor.

Another thing to consider is that the guy married a Russian national and presuming it was true love, I won’t fault him there either.

I could be wildly misconstruing, but there seems to be an element of the USA having *ownership* of some sort to this guy in addition to the guy choosing Russia over the US. That doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t think any country should *own* anyone. I believe that a country should attract citizens of their own free will, rather than claiming some sort of leash on a person.

There are a lot of advantages to being an American citizen (compared to other countries) that this guy will lose if he renounces his US citizenship (beyond the loving, kind, caring treatment afforded by the IRS, TSA, NSA and the rest of the alphabet-agencies). If he chooses to walk away from those advantages, I would think him a fool but that’s his decision.

But considering national “marketing” efforts to attract citizens who are for whatever reason considered a net-asset to the country, Russia offered the dude something the USA chose not to. What’s the USA currently trying to focus on to attract quality citizens? The net-loss of amnesty for unskilled mexican peasant’s fleeing some hell-hole existence to come suckle at the teat of the US taxpayer and forever vote dummycrat.

So, I won’t fault him for his choice given the circumstances. Opinions may vary.