Dein erstes Forum » own.ddddddddddddHamilton is not ex

SAO PAULO -- Rugby player Isadora Cerullo never lived in Brazil. Fencer Ghislain Perrier speaks very little Portuguese. Golfer Miriam Nagl played abroad most of her life.Theyll still be parading under the host nations flag at the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games come Aug. 5.Cerullo, Perrier and Nagl are among several athletes who will be fulfilling their Olympic dream because of Brazils shortage of athletes in sports it automatically qualified for as host. Without an Olympic tradition to fall back on, the country was left to rapidly recruit an international band of athletes for events such as field hockey, golf, water polo, fencing and rugby.Their ties, in many cases, are weak. Some have lived away for most of their lives but were born in Brazil. Some were born abroad but have Brazilian parents or grandparents. Some had almost no links to the country but were hired by local federations and became naturalized.I would have very slim chances of participating in the Olympics if I hadnt made the switch to play for Brazil, said Nagl, a Brazilian-born golfer who left the country when she was 8 and had always played for Germany. When this idea came up and I realized that I had a chance to make it to Rio, I started dreaming about being at the Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony.The 35-year-old Nagl, who plays in the Ladies European Tour and is No. 444 in the womens world rankings, said she hadnt given much thought about representing her native country until being contacted by golf officials after Rio was awarded the games.By making the switch, I gave myself a chance to be in the Olympics, but I also thought about how this could be good for Brazil, about how I could become a good ambassador and help the game develop, she said.Nagl admitted she had concerns about how she would be seen in Brazil after deciding to compete for it despite being away for so long.If there is some bad press about it, I will be fine, she said. I know my connection, and I feel its a very strong connection. I feel good about this.Brazil had only two foreign athletes in its delegation at the 2012 London Games -- American basketball player Larry Taylor and Chinese table-tennis player Gui Lin. Now about 20 international athletes will be taking advantage of the many extra spots available for the home nation in Rio.The International Olympic Committee said it is against changes of nationality motivated by money and other unethical reasons, but it allows for switches made within the rules, including when a country has changed international status, when an athlete is a citizen of more than one nation or because of a direct link to a country, such as marriage or permanent relocation. The international federations also must approve the changes in most cases.Rugby is one of the sports in which Brazil lacks tradition but will compete anyway. Hoping to put on a good show in front of the home fans, the local federation launched a worldwide campaign -- entitled Brazilian Rugby Players Wanted -- to attract athletes playing abroad.A few who responded to the campaign will be in Rio, including American-born Cerullo, who has Brazilian parents but had never visited the country until after contacting Brazilian rugby officials. Two Brazilian brothers who lived in France also made it to the team, as well a Brazilian-born athlete who lived and played in Argentina. England-born Juliano Fiori and France-born Laurent Bourda-Couhet, who has a Brazilian mother, will also play.Brazils fencing team earned eight additional spots as hosts and included three international players for the games. Among them are Ghislain Perrier, who was born in Brazil but left the country as a baby after being adopted by a French family, and Italian-born Nathalie Moellhausen, who competed for Italy at the 2012 London Games but chose to be with the hosts in Rio to fulfill the wish of her Brazilian grandmother.I dont have many connections to Brazil, admitted Perrier, who has lived and trained in France most of his life. I spent vacation in Brazil a few times, but I know only a few people there.The fencing team will also have Marta Baeza, who was born in Brazil but had been competing for Spain, and reserve team member Katherine Miller, who was born in the United States.Another foreigner, Hungarys Emese Takacs, tried to make the team but she was dropped after her citizenship was contested in court by a Brazilian athlete who had been left out of the squad. Takacs was accused of faking her marriage in Brazil to become naturalized.She had the legal documents but we always suspected it was a fraud, the Brazilian who had lost her spot, Amanda Simeao, told local media. She was married to a Brazilian but had a boyfriend in Hungary.Takacs denied wrongdoing but lost her battles in court.Another controversial case was water polo goalkeeper Slobodan Soro, a Serbian whose naturalization process was approved just before the games. He and center Josip Vrlic of Croatia were hired to play for Brazil despite not having direct connections to the country. They were among five foreign-born players picked to play for the Brazilian team by Croat coach Ratko Rudic, the gold medalist with Croatia at the London Games.The others were Spains Adria Delgado, who has a Brazilian father; Italian-born Paulo Salemi, son of a Brazilian mother; and Cuban Ives Gonzalez, who is married to a Brazilian. The team also has Brazilian-born Felipe Perrone, who used to play for the Spanish national team before joining the hosts for the Rio Games.They have been playing for Brazilian clubs for some time, this is not something that just happened, said Ricardo Cabral, who is in charge of Brazils water polo team. We created an Olympic project to help the sport develop and make Brazil more competitive. Because of the Olympics in Rio, there is more investment available and we want to take advantage of that to give the sport more visibility.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni Cheap Nike Baseball Jerseys . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Baseball Jerseys China Free Shipping . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. http://www.cheapbaseballjerseyscustom.com/ .ca. Hey Kerry, big fan of yours, just finished reading your book. I think that we all saw the Canucks/Flames line brawl just after puck drop. It was obvious that something was about to happen, even to the referees because the fourth lines were on to start. Fake Baseball Jerseys . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Discount Baseball Jerseys . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- After a further power unit change ahead of final practice, Lewis Hamiltons grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix has hit 55 places, ensuring he will start from the last row of the grid in Sundays race.After Hamilton suffered two turbo and MGU-H failures earlier this season, it became inevitable he would have to take a penalty at some point over the remaining races. Mercedes chose to take the grid drop at this weekends Belgian Grand Prix to coincide with an engine update, allowing Hamilton to stock up on updated components rather than old-spec versions.Over the course of the weekend Mercedes has fitted an updated power unit to Hamiltons car ahead of each practice session, creating a pool of new components to be used over the remaining nine races of the season. The power unit changes mean Hamilton has now used eight turbochargers and eight MGU-Hs this year and six internal combustion engines and MGU-Ks, exceeding his season-long quota of five for each component.Under Formula Ones complex engine penalty regulations (see sidebar), the changes equate to a 55-place grid drop, which means Hamilton will start from the back row, most likely joined by McLarenss Fernando Alonso, who has a 35-place grid drop of his own.ddddddddddddHamilton is not expected to take part in qualifying beyond Q1 in order to save fresh sets of tyres for the race.Therefore, Hamilton will have to fight back through the field in Sundays race in the hope of minimising the damage teammate Nico Rosberg can cause to his championship lead. The world champion believes there are seven or eight potential overtaking opportunities at Spa-Francorchamps, but said it will become increasingly difficult to pass anywhere other than Les Combes once he comes across the more competitive cars at the front of the field.On Sunday I might have a chance to overtake in Turn 1 [La Source], maybe, but its unlikely anyone will overtake there because it screws up the long straights, so most people will only overtake into Turn 5 [Les Combes] down the back straight.What Im saying is that there are other places you could overtake if the car in front is struggling, but thats unlikely as you get further up the grid. Its not really a good track for overtaking, I think. ' ' '