USA: TENNIS - Tennis star Maria Sharapova backs Russia's bid for 2014 Winter Olympics

Tennis star Maria Sharapova backs Russia's bid to host its first ever Winter Olympics -- in the town of Sochi, where she lived as a child. International tennis star Maria Sharapova announced in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday (May 9) that she has thrown her support behind the Russian city of Sochi's bid for the 2014 Olympic Winter games. The 20 year-old who has won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and was the first Russian to top the WTA rankings spent five years of her childhood in Sochi. Sharapova said her love of tennis began in Sochi when she was four. She hopes that the Winter Olympics will leave a legacy of sports facilities for young athletes so they won't have to leave their country to train for their chosen sport as she did. "Well I lived in Sochi for five years from the age of two to seven and I moved to the (United) States because of my tennis career, because there weren't a lot of opportunities especially in the winter time to develop my tennis game and this (supporting the bid) is one of the most exciting things I have done in my career because I am able to let the world know about this amazing place where I grew up, Sochi and it's definitely cool because the athletes from around the world will get to see the sea and you know 40 minutes away you get to see amazing mountains where they are able to compete and definitely bring a lot of legacy to our country," said Sharapova. While in the middle of the tennis season, Sharapova intends to take her message about Sochi's bid along with her on tour. Sharapova said that she will not be able to attend the Winter Olympics election on July 4th in Guatemala because she will be competing at Wimbledon. Sochi is competing against Salzburg in Austria and Pyeongchang in South Korea.

ITN Source | May 11, 2007

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