'latest update July 2007'
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Arsenal FC fans will no doubt be in deep mourning as their hero, Thierry Henry takes his leave of the London team to join Barcelona. ESPN acknowledged public interest in the 300 contestants in the USA Rock Paper Scissors Final in Las Vegas by covering the event. And the first prize: a very serious US$50,000. European free magazine, Sport gave a very enthusiastic (and somewhat sexist) thumbs up to Brazilian, Kartika Luyet, wife of footballer, Nicola Ventola and ex-friend of Ronaldo. While Ventola has been playing for Atlanta, he is currently looking to move to a new club and European journalists are of the view that his wife would make a very welcome addition to the current WAGs on offer. Due to a three votes each from the nomination committee, the two candidates standing for the position of President of The ICC (cricket) have to break the deadlock by agreeing between themselves who should claim the title role. In the hot seat: David Morgan (England) and Sharad Pawar (India).  Defending champions of their Paralympic title in wheelchair rugby (otherwise known as Murderball) are the Wheel Blacks from New Zealand.   Rather like their able-bodied counterpart, the All Blacks, they are prepared to take on the recent winners of the European title, Team GB, alongside the other main competitors, the USA and Canada.  A total of 50,000 people have paid US$20 to be the faces on the two Red Bull cars that will line up to compete in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.  And all the money goes to the charity Wings For Life, which supports those affected by spinal cord injuries.  A fantastic idea!  Three women took part in this year's legendary Indianapolis 500.  Danica Patrick, Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher.  Fisher's second place finish in the 2001 season opener at the Homestead-Miami Speedway remains the best finish to date by a woman in Indy car history.    

spotlight on: too close to call

Maria Sharapova, two-time Wimbledon Grand Slam winner arrived in London to hold a tennis skills session on a specially-made winter court to show her support for Russia's Sochi 2014 bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The "Winter Wimbledon" court was created to show how a tennis match would look amidst the snow and palm trees of Sochi; and all against the stunning backdrop of London's iconic Tower Bridge in British summertime.
Sochi-raised tennis ace, Sharapova, lobbed and volleyed with an excited group of London children complete with ball boys and girls in winter dress.
Back at the main event, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge predicted a tight race next month with a decision due on July 4 during an IOC Session in Guatemala.   Rogge confirmed that all three bids were of a very high quality as Sochi is joined by South Korea's Pyeongchang and the Austrian city of Salzburg. "I suppose it will be very close. I expect it to be as close as in Singapore (for the 2012 Games vote)," Rogge told reporters during a teleconference. "What really makes the difference is the confidence they (IOC members) have in the people. The human factor will make the difference in the bids." All three bids have strong political backing with the Russian and South Korean presidents as well as Austria's chancellor travelling to Guatemala to push their city's bids. While local support for Pyeongchang and Sochi is high, Salzburg's bid does not appear to share the same level of local support - an issue raised by a recent IOC evaluation report.

hotspot: carrying the torch

© IOC/Stéphane Romeu - Denis Oswald
The Olympic Torch Relay in Lausanne

Jacques Rogge threw his weight behind plans by the Beijing 2008 Games organizing committee for the torch relay to include a stop in Taiwan, before heading for Hong Kong.
However, as usual, politics intervene, as self-governed Taiwan -which China claims as its own - has called China's linking of them to Hong Kong an attempt to include the island in the domestic relay route and has rejected the plan. In turn, Beijing has accused Taiwan of betrayal.
Rogge has said the torch relay was a matter for the Beijing Games organizers (BOCOG). "Decisions are not finalized. But this is something that the IOC will not intervene. The torch relay is decided by BOCOG. This is their call."
"We have said very clearly that we agree with the route as proposed by BOCOG," Rogge said. Taiwan is referred to as "Chinese Taipei" in Olympic circles, a compromise that was reached decades ago to allow the return of China to the sporting movement. China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has vowed to bring the island back under mainland rule, by force if necessary.

hotshot: the new regime

 

It is fair to say that London 2012 are not receiving universally good press; and in particular the level of discontent reached an all time high in response to the official logo.  Protest and comment has reached the highest level of government; but LOCOG retains full control of their choice of design and as a result the protests have largely been ignored.  In sharp contrast, it is rumored that IOC inspectors have told the 2012 bosses to change the name of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) responsible for most of the infrastructure projects in the build up to the Games. They would prefer the use of the word "Olympic" to be removed as they do not wish to be associated with publicly funded projects (and the much publicized spiraling costs).
One piece of good news, however, is the universal approval of one of the venues for the London Games.
The reopening of the Dome - now known as The O2 - has proved a huge success.
The Bon Jovi opening night event may not have been everyone's first choice, but no-one can dispute the amazing acoustics of the new O2Arena.
Seating around 23,000 - depending upon the format - the line-up for sports events is impressive and includes Basketball, Boxing, Ice Hockey, Tennis and Ultimate Fighting.
And with a new Scottish Prime Mister in situ in the UK, it is suprising (or not suprising) that the Scottish Nationalist government in Scotland is planning an Olympic divorce as it hopes to field its own team in the future: thereby leaving TeamGB without the benefit of medal winning Scottish elite athletes.


sidelines: no breeze please

Sport is all about excitement and competition.  Television coverage is dependant upon things happening.  A rainy day at Wimbledon can be filled with coverage of previous dramatic moments and a lot of chat from the likes of John McEnroe, but if the sun doesn't come out soon, the TV audience quickly disappears.
More dramatic is a light breezy wind during competition days of the Americas Cup. 
Mother nature is not very forgiving when it comes to the complicated schedule of preliminary fleet racing, round-robin head-to-heads and the one-to-one finals.  And when the wind doesn't pick up, the coverage of crews sun bathing did not seem very appealing to the high-end TV fan base.
These are days of TV nightmares. 
Channels such as the German public broadcasters ZDF and ARD slashed their coverage of the America's Cup to a minimum.  In contrast, Canal Plus which holds the French TV rights (and is an obvious supporter of the Louis Vuitton Cup), was happy to show images of   the bobbing 24 ton vessels.
But in the States, plans to air the races with two minutes of Cup coverage nightly during breaks in the National Hockey League finals were pulled after the winds failed to co-operate.
All of this proves that even one of the most 'elite' of sporting events can fall victim to outside forces.

fashion icon...... sports fundraisers

Nothing brings out the best in 'Joe Public' than the opportunity to do something fun for a lot of money in the name of charity.  Perhaps the The Platex Moonwalk is for some a dream come true: the opportunity to power-walk around London wearing extravagantly decorated brassieres . 
!5,000 men and women donned their bras in aid of the breast cancer charity, Breast Cancer Care. The Playtex Moonwalk starts at midnight and takes the power walkers around seven hours to complete.

home and away: away from clay

A rainy start to Wimbledon may have discouraged the very few who are not prepared to sit and wait it out in the rain, but for the most part Wimbledon is still seen as the tournament to win.
One challenger who is yet to grasp the crown id second seed, Rafael Nadal.  Born and raised in Spain (Majorca) he spent his early years developing his skills on the typical clay court.  His success on that surface has broken all records.  In fact, he recently broke John McEnroe's record run of wins in a row on a similar surface.  Nadal came to Wimbledon last year as a rookie grass court player and was largely discounted as a potential winner of the surface.  Home may be clay for Nadal but the charming and very funny 20 year-old has the adaptable kind of game and the maturity to win on every surface.   Like his main challenger, Roger Federer winning on some surfaces can prove elusive and if Nadal doesn't crack all four major championships he will join the elite few who will always remain frustrated that they never achieved their dream goal, including recent tennis stars who have never won the French Open: Boris Becker, Jimmy Conners, Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

sport culture: the collector

If you are passionate about sport and Olympism,and if you are looking for a particular object, or if you are missing a piece from your collection, Beijing is the latest place for enthusiasts.  June 23 to 28, 2007 found the 13th World Olympic Collectors' Fair - co-sponsored by the IOC, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the Chinese Olympic Committee, the State Post Bureau, and Desheng Ltd.
The fair is one of the pioneers in the Olympic collectors' world and it was founded 12 years ago by Juan Antonio Samaranch, now IOC Honorary President and Chairman of the Olympic Philately, Numismatics and Memorabilia Commission.
Olympic collectors from all over the world brought their treasures - including stamps, coins, medals, torches and other memorabilia - which carry more than one hundred years history of the Olympic Movement.
Beijing became the place to exchange memorabilia and to show to the Chinese people the 'greatness' of the Olympic Collectors Family.  Some 21 countries were represented.

starting blocks: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has been compared with the likes of Tiger Woods and he is truly a star of the sporting world as he continues to claim podium positions during this Formula One season.
The British Grand Prix in particular, has gained a well needed boost with fans of the new superhero more than happy to attend this year's event at Silverstone.
The race day will likely be a sell-out with 85,000 fans - many of whom will be F1 novices - in attendance.
Ticket prices for the 3-day event cost around US500 - but this may be seem as bargain basement prices in comparison to some other sporting events.
Recent research indicated that Brits had long lost their enthusiasm for the sport; but with the universally popular Hamilton breaking records they are back!  And even inspired US fans have claimed him as one of their own!

life after..... success

Who can forget Marion Jones, the US sprinter who won five Olympic medals at Sydney 2000?  Yet after the many million dollar endorsement contracts Ms Jones is now broke.
Legal bills have followed her around since 2003, including a very expensive breach of contract case which she filed against her coach, Dan Pfaff.  Pfaff was awarded around US$250,000 owed for unpaid training fees and legal expenses.
Perhaps more serious were the unproven allegations of drug abuse.  Jones filed a defamation suit against Balco founder, Victor Conte, who accused her of taking performance enhancing drugs. 
Last year she missed a series of races when a urine sample tested positive for EPO. She was later cleared when a back-up test produced a negative result.
Now down to her last few bucks, Marion Jones has been forced to sell many of her assets.
A salutary lesson for anyone who reaches such heights of success.