Maria Sharapova plans 1st trip back to Chernobyl since family fled

[bananas]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-mariasmission&prov=ap&type=lgns

Maria Sharapova plans 1st trip back to Chernobyl since family fled

By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer
August 13, 2007

CARSON, Calif. (AP) -- Maria Sharapova travels the world as the highest-paid female athlete, cocooning in fancy hotels, dining at swanky restaurants and indulging her love of shoes.

Yet there's one place the 20-year-old tennis superstar's journeys have never taken her -- the region devastated 21 years ago by the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.

Sharapova's mother, Yelena, was pregnant with her only child when the plant in Ukraine exploded and spewed radioactive clouds over the western Soviet Union and northern Europe.

"A lot of families were moving, but not a lot of them could because they didn't really know where to go," Sharapova told The Associated Press. "My mom's dad happened to be working in Siberia, so that's why we had a sense of direction."

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[Ezlivin]

1. Is radiation exposure the reason she soared to 6'2" in height?

Hey, wait a second...I'm 6'7" tall and was born in Oakridge, Tennessee.

Gee, maybe there is a radiation connection?