U.S. Volleyball Team's Donald Suxho Has Wins on Court and Off

 
VOLLEYBALL | MEN'S POOL PLAY  
U.S. Volleyball Team's Donald Suxho Has Wins on Court and  Off
 

 
Josh Haner/The New York Times 
Donald Suxho, the starting setter for the United States men's  volleyball 
team, the defending Olympic champion, after his team's victory over  Tunisia.
 
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By KAREN CROUSE
Published: August 07, 2012 
 
LONDON - The stew of cultures served up by the Olympics is comfort  food 
for Donald Suxho, the starting setter for the United States Olympic men's  
volleyball team who immigrated from Albania in the 1990s and met his  
Ukrainian-born wife in 2005 while playing professionally in Greece.  
Multiculturalism is the spice of Suxho's life, but a pinch of  politics 
threatened to poison his second Olympics. Suxho's wife, Eleni, who said  she 
was in the final stages of becoming a permanent resident of the United  
States, was denied a visa when she applied for one in Kiev in late July, in  
advance of her trip here from Ukraine on Aug. 3.  
She said she did not have her marriage certificate and was carrying  a new 
passport, with no stamps. Her application was flagged by British officials  
intent on stemming the tide of illegal immigration from Eastern Europe.  
"Maybe they didn't trust that I'm wife and I'm coming here only to  support 
my husband," she said.  
Several frantic Skype conversations with Suxho ensued, each one more  
fraught than the last. 
"She was crying, and I didn't know what to do," Suxho said Monday  night 
after helping the defending champion United States squad to a 25-15,  25-19, 
25-19 victory over Tunisia. 
Upon hearing of Suxho's predicament, a fund-raiser for USA  Volleyball 
reached out to Representative Dana Rohrbacher of California, who  pleaded 
Suxho's wife's case to the British embassy in Washington, after which  she was 
issued the visa in time to make her scheduled flight to Heathrow. There  she 
met up as planned with Suxho's parents, Peter and Vera, who traveled from  
their home in Boston.  
"I was upset, but in the end, it's O.K.," said Suxho's wife, who  stood 
after the match in the concourse outside Sections 115-116 at the Earls  Court 
exhibition arena to steal a few minutes with her husband before he  returned 
with his teammates to the Olympic Village.  
When the 6-foot-5 Suxho showed up, his wife, who is also a  professional 
volleyball player, did not have to stand up on her toes to kiss  him. After 
they embraced, he hugged his parents and brother and draped his arm  around 
his 11-year-old son, Shane, who also attended his father's first  Olympics, in 
Athens in 2004. "But I don't remember anything except running  around the 
stadium," he said. "It's really fun this time watching my dad."  
Suxho, 36, was already a promising volleyball player when he came to  the 
United States with his family as a teenager. He starred at Southern  
California and backed up Lloy Ball at the 2004 Games. This is the first Olympics  
since 1992 that the United States team has someone other than Ball running the 
 offense.  
Suxho and his wife, the former Eleni Gkortsaniouk, met the year  after 
Suxho's Olympic debut when he returned to Athens to play professionally.  She 
was new to the country and playing on a pro women's team.  
Suxho asked her out and they sat at a cafe for nine hours sipping  their 
coffees and drinking each other in. 
"She spoke very bad English, but it didn't matter," Suxho said. "You  
always find a way when you feel good with somebody. After cafe, we got in  
taxicab and the driver asked, 'How long have you guys been together?' I believe  
in destiny, in chemistry, in love at first sight."  
When Suxho was transferred to a team in Italy three months later,  
Gkortsaniouk accompanied him. They have been together ever since. Their one-year  
wedding anniversary is on Thursday, but the celebration may have to wait. The  
Americans finished pool play atop their group with a 4-1 record and will 
face  Italy in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, with the semifinals Friday.  
"I'm still worried about games only," Suxho's wife said, "so we'll  see 
about our anniversary." At least they're in the same country. That's all  that 
matters.