BECKY HAMMON, a native of South Dakota and an all American girl, who plays for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has been called a traitor. Reason: She will be playing for the Russian women’s basketball team during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The accuser is Anne Donovan, the coach of America women’s basketball team.
I would like to defend the decision of Hammon to play in the Olympics for Russia. The Olympics is about participating in sports without politics and ideologies ruining the game. It is unfortunate that a group of people have to ruin what should be the historical sporting event for the year 2008. It is also fashionable in this ever globalising world that players can cross frontiers and play for other teams without sacrificing their loyalty to their country.
I would also like to take advantage and criticise some of the members of sports associations in America, who actually sign talent from other countries and resolve their paperwork while the local talent in America remains on the sidelines. The United States of America accepts sports personalities from other countries, yet Donovan appears to practice what is sheer hypocrisy. The United States women basketball team should take a look at their way of recruiting their athletes for the Olympics. After all, it is not fair that the best in the majority of cases are not accepted or are sidelined.
It is not Hammon’s fault that she wants to play basketball for the Olympics. It is her right and if a team has signed her to a contract to play then it would be good for her and for America as a whole. Maybe Donovan and others like her may get away with their comments because of the envy they carry within them but in the end, Hammon will carry the day.
I would like to predict that in five decades, when the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics will be in the history book, Hammon will be remembered in a stamp in the United States postal service for her services to basketball, regardless of whether she played for United States of America or for the Russian Federation.
It is with this article and comments that I would like to tell Donovan’s United States women basketball society that the Cold War is over. Olympics is a sporting event and Hammon is a jewel that America does not appreciate. I also wish Hammon the best in her endeavours.