Becky isn't alone: NPR and other outlets cover the several handfuls of Olympians with unexpected flags on their uniforms, among them Pittsburgh-bred men's baller, and Russian Olympian, J. R. Holden.

"More athletes than ever," says Time magazine, "are competing in Beijing under flags (and, in many cases, names) different from the ones under which they were born."

On the same tip, Russian news services treat Becky as a transplanted American-- and gymnast Nastia Liukin as a transplanted Russian. (Her dad emigrated to the United States.)