UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

To me, to be considered the greatest international striker in football, one must fulfill the following conditions:

- must have played for a top footballing nation
- must have scored more goals than the number of caps received; the greater the difference, the better
- plus point: have won the World Cup
- plus point: have scored many goals during (a) World Cup tournament(s)

If based on numbers alone, Niels Poul “Tist” Nielsen (1891 – 1962) of Denmark should be the greatest international goalscoring machine who ever lived.

He played 38 times for his country, yet scored 52 goals, averaging an astounding 1.37 goals a match. However, he lived before the era of professionals and mondials. The best international honour he got was winning silver at the 1912 Olympiad.

Then how about Sandor “Golden Head” Kocsis (1929 – 1979) of Hungary, a member of the legendary Mighty Magyars of the 1950s, together with Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor, Jozsef Bozsik and Nandor Hidegkuti.

He scored 75 goals for his country with only 68 caps – 1.1 goals per game. His greatest achievement was during the 1954 World Cup where Hungary were runners-up, and where Kocsis scored 11 goals – including two hattricks – for an average of 2.2 goals in a single World Cup finals competition – still unequaled more than 50 years later.

Still, I think Gerd Muller (b. 1945) of Germany is the greatest football striker at international level who ever lived. Sure, he looks more like a nuclear scientist nowadays but…

… together with Nielsen and Kocsis, Muller is one of only 3 players, among those who’ve scored 50 or more goals for their country, to have scored more goals than received caps. He got 62 caps, yet scored 68 goals – average 1.1 goals per game, same as Kocsis, including 10 goals at the 1970 World Cup, which Germany did not win. But win they did in 1974, even though Muller scored fewer i.e. 4 goals.

So Muller is a World Cup winner, scored 68 goals in 62 international games, including 14 in two World Cups – and most importantly scoring in the final, the winning goal no less – he truly is the greatest football striker who ever lived.

If ever someone deserves personalized footballs, it would be Muller.

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How high? A World Cup match.

The date: 23rd of June 1990
The event: 2nd round match of the 1990 World Cup being held in Italy
The match: Colombia vs Cameroon

Colombia had, among them, the excellent but highly eccentric goalkeeper Rene Higuita, 24.

Cameroon had, in their ranks, Roger Milla, 38, the aging but highly experienced forward. He became an international star during this World Cup by scoring a total of four goals and led his country to the quarterfinals, where they only narrowly lost to England 2-3. No less than Pele named him as one of the 125 greatest living football players in 2004.

In that match, Milla had scored the first goal at the 106th minute. Colombia, with the clock ticking, threw forward everything they had. Typically perhaps, Higuita himself travelled more than 30 yards IN FRONT of his goalmouth, but isn’t that a highly risky move for a goalkeeper in a match of this importance?

What happened next is history: he tried to dribble past Milla, failed, and Milla gleefully scored his country’s 2nd goal. It was the 109th minute. Milla had scored 2 goals in 3 minutes. Colombia pulled one back through Bernardo Redin at the 115th but it was not enough.

See below to relive that unbelieveable moment.

I bet Higuita couldn’t sleep at all that night, hopefully natural sleep aids came to his rescue.

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Donald “The Don” Bradman, (1908 – 2001), an Australian cricketer, the greatest batsman of all time, and some have called him “the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games”.

His 20-year career Test batting average is a peerless 99.94. His level was such that the Australian team captain quipped that he’s worth 3 batsmen. To try to stop him, the England team created dubious tactics known as the Bodyline. After a 6-year break due to World War II, he made a stirring comeback, captaining his country on a triumphant tour of England, undefeated.

Bradman in 1928

The number 99.94 has become not just cricket, but sports in general’s, iconic statistic. No other cricketer, ever or since, who’s played more than 20 Test match innings has done better than 61.

A rare occasion where Bradman scored zero, sometime 1932

Statistician Charles Davis has analysed the stats for some athletes widely acknowledged to be the best in their chosen sport, to see “the number of standard deviations that they stand above the mean for their sport.” In other words, to see how much better they are, represented in numbers, compared to their rivals:

- Bradman, cricketer, with his batting average as input, has a standard deviation of 4.4
- Pele, soccer, with goals per game average as input, has a standard deviation of 3.7
- Ty Cobb, baseball, with his batting average as input, has a standard deviation of 3.6
- Jack Nicklaus, golf, with number of major titles won as input, has a standard deviation of 3.5
- Michael Jordan, basketball, with average points per game as input, has a standard deviation of 3.4

The stats show that “no other athlete dominates an international sport to the extent that Bradman does cricket”.

To be as dominant as Bradman:

- a baseball batter would need a career batting average of .392; Ty Cobb’s record is .366.
- a basketball player to score an average of 43.0 points per game; Michael Jordan’s record is 30.1.

I wonder how many endorsements he signed up with during his career, perhaps even included weight loss products.

It was reported that Nelson Mandela, finally released from prison after 27 years, on meeting an Australian visitor, the first question he asked was: “Is Sir Donald Bradman still alive?”

In 2000, when the Wisden Cricketers of the Century list was compiled, 100 members of the panel of cricket experts had to select their top 5 favourite cricketers: all 100 voted for Bradman.

In 2001, more than 50 years after he retired, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the “greatest living Australian”.

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Francisco “Pancho” Varallo (born 5th February 1910) played as a forward for Argentina in the first World Cup final, on 30th July 1930. He is the only player still alive from that tournament which was held in Uruguay.

He was the youngest player in that first World Cup.

In that match, Uruguay, the Olympic champions, defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of 93,000 spectators. The next day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay, while in Buenos Aires, stones were thrown at the Uruguayan consulate.

A more recent photo of Varallo:

The stadium where the match was played:

One of the balls used in the final:

In the whole tournament, Varallo scored one goal, in a group match on 19th July 1930 against Mexico which Argentina won 6-3.

In 1933, he was topscorer in all of South America, with 34 goals. At club level, he played for Boca Juniors, in which he’s the highest ever goalscorer with 181 goals which stood for many years until it was broken by Martin Palermo in 2009! In fact, in his nineties, his sense of humour was intact: he was quoted to have said that he would have to come out of retirement if Palermo beat his record.

He did not play (not selected?) in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups.

He retired from professional football in 1940 aged 30.

He recently celebrated his 100th birthday.

Incredible, considering all that was achieved during a time when there was no such thing as catching up on no xplode reviews to enhance performance.

He has been awarded the FIFA order of merit, the body’s highest honour: it had only ever been given 3 times previously, to Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore. The Argentine Football Association honoured him by giving him a striped blue-and-white Argentina team shirt, emblazoned with the words “Varallo,” and what else but number 100 on the back.

Still, the pain of losing that final still lingered:

However, in my whole life I’ve never felt such a bitter pain as losing that World Cup Final against Uruguay in 1930.

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Without a doubt.

He joined Manchester United, one of the world’s top football clubs, in July 2005. As at the time of writing this, he has played for the team more than 90 times and scored 10 goals.

The 5’9″ dynamite winger/attacking midfielder’s achievements include:

- first Asian to ever captain Manchester United. Happened when captain Ryan Giggs passed the armband to him when he was substituted in a game against Lille OSC.
- captain of South Korea since October 2008.
- first Asian to play and win the Champions League, when he was named in the starting line-up against Barcelona in the 2009 final. In the 2007 final against Chelsea, he was left out of the squad.
- first Korean to win the Premier League (is he also the first Asian to win the Premier League?)
- first Asian to to win the Fifa Club World Cup
- was in the South Korean 2002 World Cup team as a 21-year old, where he scored a memorable match-winning goal against Portugal in the group stages. He controlled the ball with his chest, beat Sérgio Conceição then volleyed, with his left foot, through the legs of goalie Vitor Baia and into goal. That goal knocked favoured Portugal out of the tournament. Ultimately South Korea got as far as the semifinals, the best ever achievement by an Asian team at a World Cup.
- was in the South Korean 2006 World Cup team, when he scored the equaliser in the group match against eventual finalists France and was voted Man of the Match.
- is in the South Korean 2010 World Cup team, where he is the top scorer in their qualifying campaign. The team advanced to the finals without any defeats.

He has raised the bar much higher than previous Asian greats like Saeed Owairan (in 1994, scored one of the greatest goals in a World Cup, which earned him the title “The Maradona of the Arabs”), Khodadad Azizi, Ali Daei (the world’s all-time leading goalscorer in international matches), Hidetoshi Nakata, Majed “Desert Pele” Abdullah (the best football player in the history of Saudi Arabia), Kunishige Kamamoto, Kazuyoshi Miura (first Japanese recipient of the Asian Player of the Year award in 1993, first Japanese football superstar) and Cha Bum-Kun (Asia’s Player of the Century, all time leading goal scorer for the South Korean National team).

Whew, I’ve finished talking – and I’m announcing defeat – no matter how many times I’m reincarnated, I’ll never top Park’s achievement, and we know now all his footballing achievement. But life is more than football, perhaps I’d like to start by getting tips from him on how to treat acne!

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Kim Christensen (b 1979) is a Danish goalkeeper and currently plays for the Swedish club IFK Göteborg.

On 23 September 2009, before a Swedish first division league match against Örebro he was caught on video kicking on the goal posts inwards, making the the goal smaller.

He even had the cheek of saying that “he had done so before on many occasions” and that “maybe that’s why he was able to keep goals out.”

20 minutes later, referee Stefan Johannesson got wind of the situation:

As a result, Christensen’s career could be in trouble.

P.S. the match ended 0-0 and his club stayed at the top of the table with the season about to end.

Source
The BBC, 24 Sep 2009

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Now I am not sure if this has ever happened in other similar team sports to soccer/football, but in all likelihood, I don’t think so.

First, the requirements:

- must be by a professional player
- must be in a competitive (i.e. non friendly) international match

Martín “El Loco” Palermo (b 1973) is a professional footballer currently playing for Boca Juniors (Argentina) and the Argentine national team.

During the Copa America in 1999, in a match against Colombia, he managed to do something no other professional footballer has ever done: missing not one but three penalties in a single competitive, international match:

- 1st: rebounded off crossbar
- 2nd: went over
- 3rd: saved

Video:

Someone commented that he should never have been allowed to take that 3rd penalty!

One would’ve thought his international career would’ve stopped there and then but surprisingly current Argentine coach Diego Maradona has recalled him to the national team.

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So bad that it earned a booking, fine or ban for the culprit. If one thought that highly-paid professional footballers, with their walk in baths are the perfect gentlemen, one is sorely mistaken.

During an English Premier League (EPL) match between Manchester City and Arsenal on 12th September 2009, after scoring City’s third goal, the Togo international ran the entire length of the pitch to celebrate right in front of Gunners fans, provoking projectiles-throwing and an attempted pitch invasion. It earned him a booking, shirt-burning and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry criticised him for “a lack of class.”

When Robbie Fowler scored from a penalty in a match against Everton in 1999, he sniffed the line, simulating drug-snorting. It not only landed him a 4 match ban, but also fine of GBP32,000 imposed by his own club!

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During the 1998 World Cup held in France, the Netherlands (Holland) faced Argentina in the quarterfinals on 4th July.

Both giants in world football, it was evenly matched and the football of the highest quality.

The score was 1-1, and during last minute of normal time, a perfectly weighted long pass fell into the Argentine penalty box and one of the world’s top strikers in Dennis Bergkamp was there.

He controlled the ball expertly, sidestepped a defender, and scored a beautiful goal.

The Dutch commentator then completely lost his cool and unleased enough energy adoring Mr Bergkamp that was enough to turn a thousand ceiling fans

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A nutmeg (also known as tunnel or panna) is a technique used in football (soccer) where a player plays the ball through an opponent’s legs.

It is commonly seen as showing the opponent is lacking in footballing skill and hence providing an ultimate humiliation on the field.

But being nutmegged can happen to anybody, even to the very best of them.

Examples:

Cristiano Ronaldo nutmegged by Scott Hiley:

Zinedine Zidane nutmegged by Zebina:

Luis Figo nutmegged by John O’Shea:

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Yang Yong-eun (Y.E. Yang), 37 of South Korea won the 91st PGA Championship [one of the 4 major championships in professional golf] on 16th August 2009, his first major championship, stunning world number one Tiger Woods.

Yang celebrating while Woods can be seen on the right:

image source

Video of the moment of triumph:

Yang turned pro in 1996 and currently ranked a lowly 110th in the world.

With that achievement, he became the first Asian-born golfer to win a major championship. The previous best achievements by an Asian-born golfer were second place finishes:
(i) by Lu Liang-Huan in the 1971 Open Championship
(ii) by Isao Aoki in the 1980 U.S. Open
(iii) by Tze-Chung Chen in the 1985 U.S. Open.

His achievement would make him even more visible in web searches; it’s like listing his name in a paid web directory.

More remarkably, Yang’s playing partner was none other than Tiger Woods. That alone would affect a player’s composure. And he came into the final round with a two-shot deficit, but still managed to finish three strokes ahead of Woods, who finished second.

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Updated 30 August 2011

American Samoa is in the news again, for producing yet another unlikely 100m competitor at a world championships in athletics.

After Savannah Sanitoa in 2009, it’s now the turn of Sogelau Tuvalu, 17. He’d failed to qualify for the shot put so he decided to wild card into the century dash.

Note that he’s the only participant not wearing spikes.

At one point, he was trailing 40m behind the second last sprinter.

In the end, he clocked 15.66 seconds, even slower than Ms Sanitoa did 2 years previously.

His heat was won by none other than Mohd Noor Imran A Hadi of Malaysia.

Still, it was not the slowest time in the history of the championships. The 2003 world champion, Kim Collins (Saint Kitts and Nevis) clocked 21.73 at the 1997 worlds.

Tuvalu was quoted to have said:

I trained four hours a day for one month before the meet. I achieved my personal best.

Previously at the 2001 championships in Canada, Trevor “The Tortoise” Misipeka who weighed 133 kg and is from… you’ve guessed it, American Samoa also participated in the 100m and finished last in his heat, clocking 14.28 seconds.

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17 August 2009

Savannah Sanitoa, 22 of the American Samoa’s speciality is the shot put and competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

Q: She failed to qualify for the short put, so what else is there to do after flying 15,000 kilometers on a 22-hour flight?
A: She took up a wild card entry for the 100m.

Being a short put competitor, you can imagine that her 90-kilogram physique is not exactly suited for sprinting:

A video of the race:

Predictably she came last in her heat, clocking 14.23 s. It did not better her personal best which is 14.07 s set 6 years ago. The winner of that heat was Chandra Sturrup (Bahamas) who clocked 11.28 s. Sturrup went on to the finals where she finished 7th.

Compare her to Indonesia’s Serafi Unani (left) who clocked 12.05s (4th place) and Russian Anna Geflikh (right) who clocked 11.47s (2nd place):

But amazingly she did not come last overall – 2 other people were even slower. The slowest was Tioiti Katutu of Kiribati: 14.38 s.

Source
The Daily Mail UK, August 2009

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First

Fred Perry
- 1933 US Championships
- 1934 Australian Championships
- 1934 Wimbledon Championships
- 1935 French Championships

Second

Don Budge
- 1937 Wimbledon Championships
- 1937 US Championships
- 1938 Australian Championships
- 1938 French Championships

Third

Rod Laver
- 1960 Australian Championships
- 1961 Wimbledon Championships
- 1962 French Championships
- 1962 US Championships

Fourth

Roy Emerson
- 1961 Australian Championships
- 1961 US Championships
- 1963 French Championships
- 1964 Wimbledon Championships

Fifth

Andre Agassi
- 1992 Wimbledon
- 1994 US Open
- 1995 Australian Open
- 1999 French Open

Sixth

Roger Federer
- 2003 Wimbledon
- 2004 Australian Open
- 2004 US Open
- 2009 French Open

Agassi and Federer are the only two men to have achieved a Golden Slam i.e. Grand Slam + an Olympic gold, Agassi having won it in 1996 and Federer in 2008. However, it should be noted that tennis was not part of the Olympics from 1924 to 1988.

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…or the creepiest football stadium to play in.

Swaziland’s 50,000-capacity Somhlolo National Stadium in its capital Mbabane, in which King Mswati III (L) was crowned is probably the world’ most unnerving stadium for foreign teams to play in.

Officials are furious that players have wrecked the artificial turf there by putting magic charms, locally known as “muti” underneath it. They were put there obviously to help win games.

Most of them were found near the goal posts and centre circle.

Holes were cut and burned in the turf, so that the “muti” could be placed underneath.

The rituals were often carried out at night to evade the authorities.

Photos of the stadium (source)

Source
The BBC, 8th June 2009

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Update 24 Feb 2012

The BBC reported yesterday that a court in the US state of Alabama has acquitted Gabe Watson, 34 of the murder charge, when a judge said “there’s too little evidence to send his case to a jury.” The only eyewitness had testified that he thought Watson was trying to save his wife.

Earlier, in an Australian court, Watson had pleaded guilty of manslaughter, and was jailed 18 months.

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8 June 2009

Christina “Tina” Watson, 26, a beginner diver, drowned while scuba diving with her husband, David “Gabe” Gabriel Watson, an experienced diver, a mere 11 days after their wedding in 2003.

In fact, the American couple were on their honeymoon at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia when it happened.

In June 2009, he was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison, having previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Lawyers contended that he failed as a dive buddy: either giving her oxygen, inflating her buoyancy vest or removing weights from her belt to enable her to surface. They also said he most likely Gabe killed his wife by holding her underwater and turning off her air supply.

He never admitted to murder.

The following photograph was taken by another diver of his diving buddy. In the same photo, one can see a diving instructor racing to Tina Watson, who can be seen lying on the sea floor:

Tina and Gabe during happier times:

Source
The BBC, 5th June 2009

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France was on top of the world by the time the 2002 World Cup started. They were the reigning world champions, having stunned the world by beating Brazil 3-0 four years earlier to earn the most coveted trophy in the world for the first time ever.

Then 2 years later they won the European championships.

Between 1998 and 2002, they only lost 6 times.

Thus the 2002 World Cup began with France being the overwhelming favourites to be successive world champions.

In the first round they encountered Senegal, world ranking 40+, playing in their first World Cup.

Consider this:

France
Players: highly experienced, from top European clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus.
Average age: 29
Total caps: 652
Stars: Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, Patrick Viera, Fabien Barthez.

Senegal
Players: trophy-less French clubs
Average age: 28
Total caps: only 2 players had more than 30 caps
Stars: none known worldwide

In the match, it was Senegal who came on with all guns firing. African footballer of the year El Hadji Diouf, playing as long striker, effectively attacked the French wings, particularly Frank Leboeuf, a weak point in the world champions’ side.

In the first half, Diouf escaped Lebouef’s marking, passed to Papa Bouba Diop who evaded Emmanuel Petit and goalie Fabien Barthez, then scored – the first goal of the 2002 World Cup.

The goal is shown starting 0:15 here:

It left the French reeling, and as the game wore on they looked slow and devoid of any urgency. The absence of the talismanic Zidane didn’t help.

Eventually, France did get into the game, dominated possession, but ultimately failed to score.

Senegal went on to the quarterfinals, narrowly losing to Turkey 0-1, the eventual third placer.

Senegal was the second African team to progress to the quarters, the first being Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup.

France, their confidence shattered, would fail to score a single goal in the whole tournament, and went home in the first round.

It was the darkest day in French soccer history.

On the part of Senegal, it’s a pity that they did not build on that success, for they failed to qualify for the 2006 or the 2010 World Cup, while France showed their pedigree, as did Italy in 2006 by bouncing back from the depths and qualifying for the finals.

Source
Bleacher Report, 13 Jan 2009

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Jose Luis Chilavert (born 27th July 1965) of Paraguay is one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers.

He’s only second to Brazilian Rogerio Ceni when it comes to number of goals scored (62), but some of his feats even Ceni could not surpass, including the most number of international goals scored by a goalkeeper (8). He played for his country a total of 74 times. Rogerio Ceni received 17 international caps, but never scored.

Most of his goals came from penalties, but he was also known as a free kick specialist.

Many of his goals were crucial: 4 of his international goals helped Paraguay qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

In the 1998 World Cup, he was the first goalkeeper ever to attempt a direct free kick at a World Cup finals, in the match against Bulgaria.

In 1999, he became the first, and to date, only goalkeeper ever to score 3 goals (hat trick) in a single match in the history of football. In that match, he played for Velez Sarsfield against Ferro Carril Oeste, he scored all three goals through penalties.

I don’t have a video for that, but watch this incredible goal from him off a free kick from the halfway line, in match against River Plate:

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Video courtesty of Andres Lopez who happened to have his self-confessed cheap camera in video mode.

This was shot on 7th April 2009 at Augusta National Golf Course.

It was the practice round on hole 16 (170 yard Par 3), played entirely over water.

Vijay Singh stepped up, skipped the ball over the water, and into the hole in one shot.

It starts at 25 seconds into the following video:

It would’ve been even greater if it was in an actual game.

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Japanese professional wrestlers The Great Muta (Keiji Mutoh) and Hiroshi Hase fought in 1992. Muta shed an “incredible amount” of blood in that match, that by the end of the match, he looked like this:

So much so that the “Muta Scale” was created as a result, to judge the severity of bladejobs.

This is the full video of that match (20+ minutes long):

Some people say 2 other matches were even worse: Axl Rotten vs Ian Rotten Taipei & Foley vs Funk King death matches.

Have you seen a better gore-fest in the history of pro wrestling?

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This is debatable on many fronts, but if you count the number of trophies won in a calendar year, it would be Liverpool, who won 5 trophies in 2001.

Strictly speaking it was 5 trophies in a 6 month spell; but in 2 different seasons between February and August 2001: 3 trophies in the 2000/2001 season and 2 trophies in the 2001/2002 season.

Season 2000/2001:
(i) won UEFA CUp (beat Alaves 5-4 in extra time)
(ii) won FA Cup (beat Arsenal 2-1)
(iii) won Worthington Cup (League Cup) [1-1 (p) v Birmingham]

Season 2001/2002:
(iv) won Charity Shield (beat Man Utd 2-1)
(v) won UEFA Super Cup (European Super Cup) [beat Bayern Munich 3-2]

Manchester Utd is well on the way to bettering that in the 2008/2009 season.

At the time of writing, they have won the Club World Cup and the Carling Cup, and are still in the running for the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

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All fingers point to Larry Bird (b. 1956). Some even say he’s the second greatest basketball player ever, behind only the incomparable Michael Jordan.

His achievements:
- 3-time NBA MVP;
- 3-time NBA champion;
- 2-time NBA Finals MVP;
- Rookie of the Year;
- 12-time all-star.

All that he achieved during a glorious era in the NBA. He was a clutch player, a great scorer, a leader, a great passer and a fierce competitor.

Other great white players:

(i) Jerry West – NBA MVP, 13 time all-star, probably second best white player behind Bird.
(ii) Steve Nash – 2-time NBA MVP but no titles.
(iii) Dirk Nowitzki – 2007 NBA MVP.

A video of Bird in action:

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Kadour Ziani is originally from Algeria and relatively short (5′ 10″) for a basketball player. Yet he has a vertical leap of 56 inches – that’s almost 5 feet!

That sets up the stage for incredible shows of dunking:

Click here to see the video

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At the 2006 World Cup, Argentina met Serbia, which had one of the best qualifying records – undefeated.

The end result was that Argentina gave a masterclass, pounding Serbia 6-0 that prompted the commentator during the match to say: “it’s been a pleasure watching Argentina play at the highest level.”

The standout goal, and probably the greatest ever team goal ever seen at the World Cup was the 2nd, where there were 24 passes among the Argentinians in 1 minute before the goal.

During that time, at no point did the Serbians appear to be anywhere near to claiming the ball.

Players who had posession (in order): Riquelme – Maxi Rodriguez – Sorin – Maxi Rodriguez – Sorin – Mascherano – Riquelme – Heinze – Cambiasso – Mascherano – Maxi Rodriguez – Sorin – Maxi Rodriguez – Cambiasso – Riquelme – Ayala – Sorin – Saviola – Maxi Rodriguez – Saviola – Cambiasso – Crespo – Cambiasso – goal.

Video:

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UPDATE 6th Feb 2009

USA Swimming, the sport’s governing body in the US has suspended Phelps from all competitions for 3 months.

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Michael Phelps, 23 is probably the greatest Olympian ever, the only person ever to win 8 gold medals at one Olympiad.

He did that at the Beijing Olympics in August.

Then, weeks later in early November 2008, he was photographed deeply inhaling from a bong (glass pipes commonly utilised to smoke cannabis / marijuana / ganja during 2 days of partying, during which he also:
- got totally drunk
- from his moment of arrival, he was loud, rude and downing beers and double spirits like there’s no tomorrow.
- did not hesitate at all when the bong was offered to him.
- seemed very experienced with the thing: he’d smoked it before.
- later became paranoid and nervous, then ran out. But he was back the next day.

News Of The World produced a world exclusive photo of him doing that, but not before the superstar’s aides apparently offering “extraordinary incentives” not to publish it.

Phelps then admitted that the photos are genuine, apologised and promised it would not happen again.

But his 2012 Olympiad dreams could be as good as dead, as there are 4 year bans for such offences.

The US Olympic Committee said:

Michael is a role model, and he is well aware of the responsibilities and accountability that come with setting a positive example for others, particularly young people. In this instance, regrettably, he failed to fulfil those responsibilities.

USA Swimming said:

We hope Michael can learn from this incident and move forward in a positive way.

Source
News of the World, 1 Feb 2009
The BBC, 1 Feb 2009

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I suppose all of us like to see our sporting heroes get emotional every now and then, if only to witness their humanity being laid bare.

2006

After winning the Australian for the 2nd time against Marcus Baghatis.

It was pure joy.

“I guess it’s all coming out now”

2009

After losing in the final to Rafael Nadal.

It was pure disappointment.

“God, it’s killing me.”

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Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, 29, better known as Manny Pacquiao was born in the Philippines on 17th December 1978.

As of the time of writing, he’s the WBC Lightweight Champion, and former WBC Super Featherweight Champion, IBF Super Bantamweight Champion and WBC Flyweight Champion.

He is the first Asian boxer to win four world titles in different weight divisions.

His current record is 48-3-2, with 36 KOs.

And some might argue, the best boxer in the world due to his status as Ring Magazine’s top ranked pound for pound boxer since 9th June 9 2008 after Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired.

He underlined his stature in a match-up with legend Oscar “The Golden Boy” De La Hoya, 35 on 6th December 2008 at the MGM Las Vegas. Dubbed The Dream Match, De la Hoya quit before the 9th round started (officially a TKO).

It was an upset victory, since some pundits had speculated that “147 pounds could be too far above Pacquiao’s natural weight against the larger De La Hoya.”

… needless to say, you’d be glued to the tv instead of even the world’s most expensive tv stand if he’s on …

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There are many videos on youtube of young people showing off their table tennis talents, but I have never seen one as good as this one.

This is reportedly a 6 year girl training at one of the many table tennis training centres in China.

The video was taken at Zhengzhou.

Look at how early and hard she hits the ball and her footwork.

Someone commented: “She has a Sharingan”

At this rate, surely she’d be a great player when she’s older.

We could well be looking at a future world champion.

Click here to see the video

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…or the world’s most unbelieveable ending to a football match.

On 28th October 1998, it was reported by L’Avenir, a Kinshasha (of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa) newspaper that there was a football match in the country’s eastern province of Kasai between the home team Basanga and a visiting team.

During the match, with the score at 1-1, a bolt of lightning suddenly hit the ground, resulting in ALL 11 members of the visiting team dead!

Even more amazingly, not one member of the home team was hurt.

Still, the paper reported that 30 other people got burns.

It’s no wonder that the most popular local opinion is that somebody had put a powerful curse on the visiting team.

Unbelieveable? Well, it was a little difficult to verify the report since war was going on in that part of the country at the time of the match.

That incident capped a very strange few days for football (or soccer, as some prefer to call it). A few days earlier, during a South African premier league match in Johannesburg between the Jomo Cosmos and the Moroka Swallows, a bolt of lightning also struck the ground as the ball was being played near a penalty box.

At that time, one of them was leading 2-0.

Result:
(i) half the players from both teams fell to the ground;
(ii) several could be seen holding their eyes and ears;
(iii) the referee was so shocked that he blew his whistle non-stop;
(iv) two players had to be taken to hospital for shock and irregular heartbeats.

Click here to see photos

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Good reads

- The most controversial pictures of a medallist at the Bejing Olympics

- Probably the closest finish at an Olympics swimming final ever

- The most gruelling event of the Beijing Olympics

- The greatest displays of anger at the Beijing Olympics, the first by Ara Abrahamian who threw his bronze medal right after receiving it (he was later proven right), and the second by Cuban taekwondo exponent Angel Matos who kicked the referee [photo gallery].

Videos [see them while they last ]

Click here to see the videos

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George Eyser

The first person ever to do so was George Eyser (b 1871), an American gymnast at the 1904 St Louis Olympics, and amazingly, getting 3 golds! He had a wooden prosthesis installed for his left leg. He lost his real leg after it was run over by a train.

Natalie du Toit

The next person to do so would only come more than 100 years later: at the 2008 Beijing Olympics South African Natalie du Toit, 24, qualified for, and competed in the 10,000m open swimming event, where she timed 2 hours & 49.9 seconds and finished 16th out of 24 participants, 82.2 seconds behind the gold medallist.

Of that result, she said: “I tried my best. I’m not too happy with it, but I’ll be back for 2012.”

She continued with a truly inspiring message:

My message isn’t just to disabled people. It’s to everyone out there that you have to work hard. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs … but I’ve seen a lot of good things along the way. I was able to use the negativism in a good light and say after my accident, ‘I can still do it if I work hard.’ You have to set dreams, set goals and never give up.

By finishing 16th, she defeated 9 others. One of them was Chloe Sutton, who after finishing broke down in tears, and every part of her body cramping and aching, then said:

I was swimming next to her and she beat me—and she has one leg. It’s incredible she was able to do that.

She qualified for the 2008 Olympics by finishing fourth in the 10km open water race at the Open Water World Championships. She was only 5.1 seconds behind the winner of that race.

She’s the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics although when she swims, she does so without the aid of any prosthetic limb.

At age 17 her left leg was amputated at the knee due to a scooter accident. She was on her way back to school after swimming practice. 3 months later, before she had even started walking again, she was back in the pool.

Natalia Partyka

Then there is Ms Partyka, 19 of Poland who also competed at Beijing 2008 in table tennis. She lacks her right forearm.

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4 days after the stunning 100m performance, he’s done it again, or as some people said: “lightning bolt struck twice at the same spot.”

If ever there was a Michael Phelps of track and field, it must be Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, 22, who at current form is totally untouchable.

When he really stomps on the accelerator, everyone else’s fighting for mere silver.

Leading all the way from the start, he was already practically miles ahead at the bend.

19.30 seconds. Bolt is the first man ever to break world records in both the 100 and 200 at the same Olympics.

Even more amazingly, he was running into a headwind of about two miles per hour!

Nobody else, apart from living legend Michael Johnson had even broken 19.60 seconds!

Miles ahead of the rest, this time he was not clowning around at the tape

Ironically, Johnson was reported to have said, hours before the start that he didn’t think Bolt would be able to break his record in Beijing:

I don’t think his training has been geared to that part yet. But in a few years it will be, and then I will be ready to kiss my record goodbye.

Well he did

Silver medalist Churandy Martina clocked 19.82, more than half a second behind. In an event where usually hundredths of seconds separate winners and losers, this is absolutely mind-boggling. In fact, it was the largest ever margin of victory in a modern Olympics 200m race.

And we thought Johnson’s 12-year old record would never be broken, at least not in this century.

If it’s even possible to add more superlatives to the historic feat, the win completed the first Olympic golden sprint double in a quarter of a century. He’s the ninth man ever to do so.

It really makes one wonder what could’ve been if he really pushed himself during the 100? The world’s first sub 9-second 100m?

At the same time, this was the greatest 200m of all time: 5 men dipped below 20 seconds, although 2nd placed Churandy Martina and 3rd placed American Wallace Spearmon were later disqualified for leaving their lanes.

Video of the race:

Click here to read the rest of the post

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By far, the worst one must be the one endured by Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai, 24, who was competing in the 77 kilo divison on the 13th of August. It was his first Olympics.

He was attempting to snatch 148 kg (326lbs) during his third lift when his right elbow popped out of its socket (some reports said he “tore his right elbow joint”). That resulted in his right arm no longer able to support the weight of the barbell, causing it to be bent backwards. He then fell to the floor in shock, trembling and crying out in pain while people rushed to his aid.

All videos about the incident on youtube have been taken down, so only photo montages are available, but some people say the photos made it seem much worse.

So, watch at your own discretion.

Click here to see more

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It’s a photograph of water polo player Christina Tsoukala of Greece in their first group match, which was against Australia, fighting for the ball with rival Gemma Beadsworth on 11th August.

Somehow she had a case of “wardrobe malfunction” which resulted in her left breast being unintentionally exposed.

At the end Australia defeated Greece 8-6. Greece went on to lose their other 2 group matches, hence finishing last in their group.

I first saw this at chilipaddy.blogspot.com posted on 14th August. Apparently he got it from yahoo.com. When I checked just now i.e. 4 days after the fact, amazingly the photo’s still there at yahoo’s website!

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Finally, after 17 years it was done. The greatest 100m race in the world is no longer the century dash at the 1991 World Championships, previously the first and only time 6 men clocked below 10 seconds.

At the Beijing Olympics, the feat was repeated, of course with much quicker times.

At the 1991 World Championships, the result was:

1. Carl Lewis (USA) 9.86 s (World Record)
2. Leroy Burrell (USA) 9.88 s
3. Dennis Mitchell (USA) 9.91 s
4. Linford Christie (Great Britain) 9.92 s
5. Frank Fredericks (Namibia) 9.95 s
6. Ray Stewart (Jamaica) 9.96 s
7. Robson Da Silva (Brazil) 10.12 s
8. Bruny Surin (Canada) 10.14 s

Video:

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the result was:
1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 9.69 s (World Record)
2. Richard Thompson (Trinidad and Tobago) 9.89 s (Personal Best)
3. Walter Dix (USA) 9.91 s (Personal Best)
4. Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) 9.93 s (National Record)
5. Asafa Powell (Jamaica) 9.95 s
6. Michael Frater (Jamaica) 9.97 s (Personal Best)
7. Marc Burns (Trinidad and Tobago) 10.01 s
8. Darvis Patton (USA) 10.03 s

Bolt timed sub-10 seconds in all rounds except the first. His most impressive performance was probably in one of the earlier rounds where he practically jogged the last 50m but still timed 9.92 s!!!

The heavily hyped Bolt-Powell-Gay showdown didn’t materialise, and Gay even failed to qualify for the finals: he placed a disappointing 5th in the semifinals.

Video:

Photos by Getty Images

The first half of the race was led by eventual silver medallist Thompson, before Bolt switched to another gear. His lead was so commanding that he eased up about 15 metres before the end, held out his hands in celebration and thumped his chest as he crossed the line.

Who knows what his time would’ve been if he kept pressing on the accelerator then? 9.50 secs? 9.40 seconds? Maybe even the first sub 9-second time in the history of the universe? We could only speculate.

Incredible, the guy who finished last still timed an impressive 10.03 seconds!

This was also the fastest 100m race in history, due to the fact that the average time of all the finishers was 9.92 s, bettering the previous best of 9.93 s set at the 2004 Olympics. Note: at the 2004 Olympics 4 men dipped below 9.90 seconds (the most in history) even though only 5 men dipped below 10 seconds.

Before the race Bolt was so confident that he was already dancing at the start and made poses during the introductions.

Dr Herb Elliott, the Jamaican team chief doctor, quickly poured cold water on the idea that Bolt was on drugs:

I don’t care about the rumours. He’s been tested over and over again.

Asafa Powell, perennial failure on the biggest stages, said:

I messed up big time, my legs died on me. Usain ran an awesome race, I’m very happy for him. I’m not sure what happened, I just have to be happy for Usain. It’s a sad time for me, I really wanted to get that gold medal. But its quite obvious I wasn’t ready for the big stage yet.

Silver medallist Richard Thompson said:

It feels good to be here, to be part of history. It was good to finish behind him (Bolt) because there’s no way anyone on earth could have beaten him tonight. To finish second to him that is a great accomplishment in itself.

Legend Michael Johnson, still the world record holder for the 200m, said:

It’s the greatest 100m performance in the history of the event. He shut down with 10m to go. We have never seen anything like it before. It’s absolutely amazing. Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay cannot run with him. He is a show unto himself. I’m ready to kiss my (200m world) record goodbye.

As for Bolt himself, he said:

My one aim was just to be a champion. That is what I came here to do. I told you I was going to be number one and I did just that. I got a great start. I was getting good starts all the way up to the final. I was getting better and better. I wasn’t bragging… when I thought I had the field covered I was celebrating. It was crazy – phenomenal. I didn’t know I’d broken it (the world record) until my victory lap. When I ran the earlier round I felt the world record was possible because it’s a new track, it’s fast. But I came out here just to win. I am just happy I did the country proud. I am Jamaica’s first gold medallist, and I know the whole of Jamaica is going crazy.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Men’s 100m

Asafa Powell (Jamaica), 25. Dominated the 100m since 2004 with world records of 9.77 (June 2005) and 9.74 (September 2007). Has 39 sub-10 seconds, a record only bettered by Maurice Greene. Only 2 men have ever run legally under 9.80 seconds more than once, and one of them is Powell, having done so on 5 occasions. Powell is the only man to have run under 9.80 without any wind assistance, at 9.78s in September 2007, and that run remains the fastest ever 100m after correction for wind and altitude.

vs

Usain Bolt (Jamaica), 22, broke Powell’s world record with a time of 9.72 on 31st May 2008. Amazingly, this was only his 5th senior run over the 100m. He has 5 sub-10 seconds in 100m. Apart from Powell, he’s the only athlete to have run legal sub-9.80s more than once: twice in fact.

vs

Tyson Gay (USA), 24 is the reigning world champion at the 100 metres in which Powell finished 3rd. He set his personal best of 9.77s on 28th June during the US Olympics trials. It was an American record and 3rd fastest legal 100m ever. Then the next day he ran the fastest 100m sprint ever timed, at 9.68s but it’s not officially recognized due to a windspeed which exceeded the IAAF legal limit. That time bettered Obadele Thompson’s 9.69s which had stood for 12 years.

Final: 16th August, 10.30pm (local time)

Result:
Video of the race taken by a spectator at the stadium

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It was at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the men’s 200m freestyle final.

It pitted four of the fastest swimmers ever over that distance, all imposing figures at that:

Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe, 21, 1.96m, former world record holder of this event.

Pieter van den “The Flying Dutchman” Hoogenband, 26, 1.93m, 93kg, reigning Olympic champion and former world record holder.

Michael Phelps, 19, 1.93m, 88 kg, rising star who was on a quest for an unprecedented 8 golds in one Olympiad.

Grant Hackett, 24, 1.97m, 89kg, former world record holder of this event.

How did the race go:

Thorpe in lane 5, van den Hoogenband in lane 4, Phelps in lane 3 & Hackett in lane 2.

Click here to see the video

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I blogged about him being the greatest swimmer in the world in April 2007 when he won 7 golds at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships held in Australia.

To show just how good a swimmer he is, back in August 2007 (a year ago), just for kicks, Phelps competed in an event he won’t be swimming at the Olympics, and nearly set a world record in it!!! He won the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. National Championships, finishing more than 2 seconds ahead of a field that included world record holder Ryan Lochte. Phelps clocked 1:54.65 seconds – the third-fastest ever. Lochte’s mark of 1:54.32 set in March 2007 barely held up. And in that race, Lochte finished 4th at a disappointing 1:59.11.

For the Beijing Olympics, he’s gunning for 8 golds, and even if he got only 4, he’d already be the greatest Olympian of all time, since his 6 golds at the 2004 Olympics would make it a grand total of 10. So far, only 4 Olympians have had 9 golds total: Larissa Latynina (USSR – gymnast), Paavo Nurmi (Finland – athletics), Mark Spitz (USA – swimming) and Carl Lewis (USA – athletics).

And by the 13th of August 2008, he’d already done it: 11 golds total, 5 at Beijing 2008: ALL in world record time.

Gold No.1 – 400m IM – 10th August
He set an Olympic record in the preliminaries, then broke his own world record by almost 2 seconds, in 4:03.84. Top European swimmer Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was more than 2 seconds behind.

Gold No.2 – 4x100m freestyle – 11th August
He swam first in 47.51 (US record). The US team won in a new world record of 3:08.24, slicing almost 4 seconds off the former record set earlier on the same day. This race has been dubbed the greatest swimming relay of all time, since 5 teams broke the world record, and Jason Lezak’s amazing split (46+ secs), which if he didn’t, Phelps’ 8-gold target would’ve been in tatters. The US beat silver medalists France by 0.08 seconds.

Gold No.3 – 200m freestyle – 12th August
He broke his own world record by nearly a second, and won gold by nearly 2 seconds over silver medalist Park Tae-hwan. The new world record now is 1:42.96.

Gold No.4 – 200 m butterfly – 13th August
He looked displeased after getting out of the water, then revealed that his leaky goggles almost cost him victory. Still, he managed to shave 0.06secs of his own world record, at a time of 1:52.03, beating Laszlo Cseh by almost 0.7 seconds. Phelps said: “…I wanted 1:51 or better, but in the circumstances it’s not too bad I guess.”

Gold No.5 – 4x200m freestyle – 13th August
A mere one hour after the above event, Phelps swam first in this relay. The Americans duly won in a world record time of 6:58.56. They were the first team to break the seven-minute barrier in this event relay. The previous record was broken by more than 4.5 seconds!

Gold No.6 – 200m IM – 15th August
Michael Phelps won in 1:54.23, bettering his own world record by half a second, and was more than 2 seconds faster than the silver medalist, who still broke the European Record.

Gold No.7 – 100m butterfuly – 16th August
This was probably his toughest event. He was not the world record holder, and being a notoriously slow starter, was close to losing out, being seventh after the turn, before turning on the style at the end to finish at 50.58, beating Milorad ?avi? by 0.01 seconds. Phelps set an Olympic record and equalled Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in one Olympics.

Gold No.8 – 4x100m IM – 17th August
With this, he’s broken Mark Spitz’s seven-gold-in-a-single-Olympics record. This is an event the Americans have never lost, and with world-class specialists in each field it’s almost certain they’d win anyway. Just look at this lineup: Aaron Peirsol (Olympic champion and world record holder in the 100m backstroke), Jason Lezak (who produced a world record split in the 100m freestyle relay earlier, Brendan Hansen (former world record holder for the 100m breaststroke), Michael Phelps. The old world record was obliterated by 1.34 seconds, with a time of 3:29.34. Silver medalists Australia, 0.7 seconds behind, also broke the old world record.

Source
The Star, 2nd August 2007

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Check out these superlatives: more than 15,000 performers. 4 hours long. Reportedly cost over USD300 million to produce. Attended by more than 100 heads of state, heads of government and sovereigns, by far the largest in Olympic history.

An NBC commentator said: “No matter how spectacular others have been, and there have been many, that this is uber-spectacular. Even if they pull off 75% of their plans, it will truly be over the top and it should be something that that anybody who sees it will never forget.”

Well, no matter how good it is, people will remember the fakes and the failures, which include the following.

On 11th August, 3 days after the opening ceremony, it was mentioned in Gizmodo that what must be the world’s most spectacular display of Microsoft Windows XP Blue Screen of Death ever seen was right there on the roof of the Bird’s Nest:

This photo was first posted at powerapple.com. The date is 9th August instead of 8th August because by the time the torch was lit by Li Ning, it was near or after midnight in Beijing.

Rivercool was inside the stadium during the ceremony and reported that the BSOD was there for about 2 hours, from 10pm to midnight local time. Why the technicians didn’t notice it is anybody’s guess. An even more pertinent question is: what was the purpose of the roof projection?

Bill Gates was at Beijing too for the Olympics. Wonder what he thought of this.

Then, on 12th August, 4 days after the opening ceremony, Lin Miaoke, 9, who sang “Ode to the Motherland” that night was revealed to have only been miming, and that it was not even her voice, but rather that of Yang Peiyi, who was not chosen because she wasn’t pretty enough, even though her voice was better than Lin’s. Apparently it’s something to do with her crooked teeth, rather than a need for acne cream. This decision was defended by the organisers as “it was in the best interests of the country.” As for Yang, she was reported to have said that she did not regret the decision, as “she was satisfied to have had her voice featured in the opening ceremony.”

This was the performance:

Before that episode, on the 10th of August, it was revealed that a fireworks display used during the opening ceremony was a digitally-crafted fake a year in the making which was then inserted into live TV feed at the correct moments. Those watching TV would’ve seen 29 (or was it 28?) firework “footprints” travelling across Beijing from south to north. Later a senior official from the organising committee confirmed that footage of the display had been produced before the actual opening ceremony. It was explained that this was done for “convenience and theatrical effects,” because following the footprints’ real trail would’ve been too dangerous for a helicopter camera:

It must be said that the footprints were well and truly set off, which can be clearly seen from the ground:

Source
The BBC, 12th August 2008
Gizmodo

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The 2008 Olympiad must be the most reported – written about, videoed, photographed event of the year. Hundreds, if not thousands of journalists and of course bloggers are covering it. Then there comes a point where one gets sick of it all: Olympics overdose, if you will.

When this happens, only truly iconic, truly memorable images will be good enough to jolt you back to your senses.

So ladies and gentlemen, IMHO, the best photograph of the current Olympics I have seen so far is the following, of US President George W Bush looking at World and Olympic champion beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh. He visited the US team at Beijing’s Chaoyang Park Beach on 9th August 2008.

The only caption possible is: WOW!

Source

Ad: You could also say Bush was thinking: she definitely does not need any treatments for acne!

Popularity: 1% [?]

There might have been more inspirational stories, but this one is played out right in front of thousands of visitors and untold millions (billions) more on TV around the globe.

It was the 400m semifinals of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Derek Redmond, 26 of Great Britain might not have been a gold medal contender, but he then held the British national record of 44.5 seconds, and at this Olympics he’d made it as far as the semis, and a top 4 finish would’ve assured him a place in the final.

4 years earlier, at the 1988 Seoul Olympiad, he’d been forced to withdraw a mere 10 minutes before the start due to an Achilles tendon injury. It took 5 surgeries over the next year to fix it.

So you can imagine how much he wanted to make the final this time.

This is what happened:

(more…)

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For some time now, Roger Federer, 26 and Rafael Nadal, 22, the two top-ranked tennis players in the world were playing at a far higher level than the rest of the world.

They then inevitably met at Wimbledon’s 2008 final, arguably the greatest tennis tournament in the world, the unofficial world championships for tennis.

Federer came into the match on a 6-year, 65-match unbeaten streak on grass, his favourite surface. He had won the previous 5 Wimbledons, he’s bidding to win his 6th straight, to be the first man to do so in more than 100 years, and he had been world number one for 200+ consecutive weeks. If he won this, he’d be on Grand Slam no.13, one short of Pete Sampras’ haul.

Nadal meanwhile is the undisputed king of clay, having won the last 4 French Opens (2005-2008), the last 3 over Federer, and the last time they met in the final it was won with ridiculous ease (6-1, 6-3, 6-0). And he’s improving all the time, where at Wimbledon the year before he lost to who else but Federer in 5 sets. At the time of writing, Nadal is currently ranked world number two, a position he has held for a record 156 consecutive weeks.

It was the 6th time the two have met in a Grand Slam final – an Open era record.

The match started at 2.30pm on Sunday the 6th of July 2008.

And what a match it was: the longest Wimbledon final in history: a true epic at 4 hours and 48 minutes, the final score 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 in favour of Nadal, who became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles in the same year.

A video of the last moments of the match up to Nadal’s moment of glory when he collapsed on the turf:

The general consensus is that this match is even better than the previous classic: the 1980 Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe where Borg prevailed 1-6 7-5 6-3 6-7(16) 8-6 after almost 4 hours, and hence won Wimbledon for the 5th consecutive time.

3-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker said of the match:

I’ve never seen a final that was so nail-biting but the right player won and it signals a changing of the guard. We were watching two of the greatest players to have played this beautiful game of tennis; Roger Federer, arguably the greatest player who’s lived, against arguably the best player on clay who’s ever lived. By winning Sunday’s final Rafael Nadal became the first person since Bjorn Bjorg to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year and whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year is the best player in the world. The rankings may still have Federer as number one but it’s only a matter of time before Nadal takes over.

Minutes after the match, Roger Federer said:

I tried everything. Look, Rafa’s a deserving champion. It’s been a joy to play here. It’s shame I couldn’t win it but I’ll be back next year.

…and Rafa Nadal said:

It’s impossible to explain how I feel. It’s a dream. I never imagined I would win this tournament. It’s very tough to play Roger – especially here – he is excellent when he wins and when he loses. He’s still the number one and he’s still the best. He’s won five and I’ve only won one.

Source
Text commentary of the entire match at the BBC

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Granted, Mariah Carey, 38 is not a professional baseball player, and that nobody can touch her when it comes to singing, but c’mon, surely anybody can do better than her opening pitch at the Yomiuri Giants versus Rakuten Eagles match at Tokyo Dome on 28th May 2008:

I think it’s even worse than the celebrated first pitch by the mayor of Cincinnati back in March, when he looked more angry than embarrassed by the result:

Click here to see the video

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Jan Kristian Silva was born on 17th November 2001 in California. At the age of only 4, he began studying at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Paris, reputedly the world’s top junior tennis academy.

Yes, that meant the whole family moved to France. All of his family’s expenses (around USD140,000 per year) are paid by Patrick Mouratoglou, the owner of the academy, hoping that Jan becomes a tennis star one day.

He has been dubbed “The Tiger Woods of Tennis”.

While he can barely able to see over the net, he has already mastered the fundamentals of the game.

His mother is Finnish tennis player and coach Mari Maattanen.

Here’s a video of him in training. It says that tennis experts said nobody under 5 has ever managed to do a one handed backhand, but Silva has been doing that since the age of 3!

Click here to see the video

Popularity: 2% [?]

Dion Tiu, 20 of Australia set this world record in April 2007.

Expert Mode is the most difficult setting in Minesweeper, a computer game that comes standard with Microsoft Windows.

He has held and broken the world record 3 times.

His best times at Beginner and Intermediate level is 1 and 10 seconds respectively.

See how he did it:

This can only mean one thing: countless hours spent sitting in front of that computer. Add to that relentless practice, total dedication to that art form of clicking on computer mice. Being involved in IT professionally, I personally would not even attempt to break that record – I’d rather go out and play football. Now, I wonder if he’s also good at recommending computer memory?

…Oakley watches might appeal to him.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Extreme Ironing (EI) is a combination of extreme sport – performance art where one would take an iron and an ironing board to a remote location and well, iron some clothes. The more unlikely the location, the better, example:

Other locations have included:
- a canoe
- while skiing or snowboarding
- on top of large bronze statues
- whilst parachuting
- in warzones

Its official website defines EI as:

the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.

Sounds crazy? Well, they seem deadly serious about making the sport go to the Olympics.

It’s argued that the “sport” was started by Englishman Phil Shaw in 1997 at the back garden of his house in Leicester. Not surprisingly, Phil Shaw, himself a former world champion is pushing for the sports’ recognition as an Olympic sport.

If you think he’s fighting a lonely battle, consider the fact that on the other side of the world, Japanese Hitoshi Matsuzawa is also concurring. In 2005, he established Extreme Ironing Japan. He explained:

Think about the total number of people doing ironing in the world. If you were the gold medalist of extreme ironing in the Olympic Games, you would be the real champion as you are the best of the huge number of ironers in the world. We have curling in the Olympic Games. We have synchronized swimming. Extreme ironing? Why not?

Why not indeed.

Here are some more pictures of crazy people doing ironing at the unlikeliest places:

Click here to see the pics

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Judging from recent results, it seems Yuuki Spencer (USA) and Hiroyuki Suzuki (Japan) [pic above] are heads and shoulders above the rest.

There are several categories at the world championships, so it’s arguable, but I’ve chosen the style most people can identify with i.e. 1A: one yo-yo on one hand/finger.

Spencer is 2007 World Champion, with Suzuki the runner-up. Spencer scored 93.7 and Suzuki 92.4. Paul Han (USA) was a distant third at 73.0.

Suzuki himself was the 2006 World Champion.

Here are videos of Spencer’s performance at the 2007 worlds and Suzuki’s performance at the 2006 worlds:

Click here to see the videos

Popularity: 1% [?]

The seal dribble is performed by quickly, with the feet of course “flicking the ball up onto one’s head, whereby the player then proceeds to glide past opponents, whilst bouncing the ball on top of his forehead.” It is conceivable that one can do this to score goals, and that this tactic makes it difficult for the other team to stop legitimately.

It has been made famous by Kerlon, 19 of Brazil. He was first seen using the move at the U17 South American Youth Championship. He could do this very quickly and change directions while running with the ball on his head as well.

He said, “It’s just a skill I have, though it’s not meant to be a mark of disrespect for my opponents. The trick is beautiful and efficient. Sooner or later, defenders will find a way to stop me without conceding a free-kick. But until then, I can keep using the play to my advantage. Opponents say they will snap me. But this doesn’t scare me it just motivates me even more.”

Click here to see a video of the seal dribble performed by Kerlon

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Women earning a living playing football / soccer? Better believe it. It has been argued that women’s soccer is now the third most popular sport in the world, so there should be no problem getting interested parties to pay to watch them play.

In fact, as far back as the 1970s, Italy became the first country with professional women’s football players. However, they were only professional “on a part-time basis.”

Fast forward to 1984, the first full-time pro team was the United States national squad (apparently 1984.

Then in 1992, Japan was the first country to have a semi-professional women’s football league.

Then, a few years ago, the Women’s United Soccer Association in the US became the first true all-professional league for women anywhere in the world. That did not guarantee world domination however, as top leagues in stronger nations are either amateur or semi-pro.

Source

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Birgit Prinz, 30 is probably the greatest female football / soccer player who ever lived:

- she’s the Women’s World Cup all-time leading scorer with 14 goals.
- she has appeared in 3 Women’s Word Cup finals.
- she’s a 2-time World Cup winner, 2003 and 2007.
- she’s FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year in 2003, 2004, and 2005
- she was German “Women’s Footballer of the Year” every year from 2001 to 2007.
- she scored seven goals for Germany in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003 as a center-forward
- she has had more than 170 caps

In 2003, she apparently received an offer to play for AC Perugia, an Italian Serie A side. Of course the club’s fortunes have nosedived in recent years, and currently plays in Italian Serie C1.

She could have been the first woman to play in a professional men’s league, had she accepted. However, she declined the offer.

Look at this video of her finishing when she scored Germany’s first goal in the final of the 2007 Women’s World Cup against Brazil. Sheer class.

I can’t resist this question: if the Malaysian national team (men’s) played against either the women’s national team of Brazil or Germany, could we have won the match?

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Some of the names in the list might surprise you, as it contains some of the biggest names, even legends of their chosen sport.

My requirement is: they are known to be smokers while active in their chosen sport.

Zinedine Zidane is probably the most famous recent example. One of the world’s greatest ever football players, he was the EU’s choice to front a campaign against smoking in 2002. However, during the World Cup in 2006, a long-lens photograph captured him sneaking a crafty fag before the World Cup semi-final against Portugal. Eyes closed, cheeks squeezed in tight, index finger stroking his upper lip, he seemed to be in heaven. Did it do him any harm? Well, it may have knocked two minutes off his life, it certainly did not help the campaign, but it did not stop him dominating the midfield to see France through to the final.

Diego Maradona

Michael Jordan, the greatest ever basketball player often smoked in the locker room during championship celebrations.
Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest ever Formula 1 drivers
Johan Cruyff
Paul Gascoigne
Ian Botham
Shane Warne, reputedly 2 packs a day
Tiger Woods
Tim Henman
Preben Elkjaer
Hristo Stoichkov
Fabien Barthez
Gianluca Vialli
Dino Zoff
Socrates
Gerson
Jack Charlton, reputedly 2 packs a day
Frank Leboeuf
Jimmy Greaves
David Ginola
Osvaldo Ardiles
Malcolm Macdonald
Bobby Charlton
Robert Prosinecki
Stan Bowles, reputedly 4 packs a day
Fred Flintoff
Fred Perry
Joe DiMaggio
Darren Clarke
Jesper Parnevik
Vlade Divac, NBA star
Patrik Sjöberg, Swedish high jumper
Wayne Gretzky (cigars)
James Hunt, English Formula One race driver. He usually lit a cigarette on the victory podium. Later he quit.

Do you have any more to add to the list?

…all these people would make good candidates to purchase one of those smokers life insurance policies…

source
The Guardian UK

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