Olympic Times - Sports Daily

On 12 December 2008 at 11:00 GMT follow the live announcement of the 1st Youth Olympic Winter Games on www.olympic.org.

Two cities to compete to host the 1st Youth Winter Olympic Games in 2012:
Innsbruck, Austria
Kuopio, Finland

About the Winter Youth Olympic Games
The Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are a 10-day multi-sport, cultural and educational event for young people and driven by young people. The YOG will add a new dimension to the Olympic ideal, complementing what is already being achieved through the
Olympic Games and the numerous IOC projects to bring the Olympic values alive. The YOG will bring together talented athletes to participate in high-level competitions and lead them on their way to becoming true Olympians. This event will allow the Olympic Movement to extend its reach and stimulate worldwide sports activities.

Carolina Kostner earned the Cup of Russia gold on Saturday, topping error-strewn overnight leader Fumie Suguri with an elegant free skate.

Suguri’s mistakes allowed American Rachael Flatt to take the silver medal after posting the session’s top technical score at the Megasport arena. Suguri of Japan finished third.

“I was quite nervous going into my program,” said Kostner, who landed a triple-triple that she missed in her short program. “I got my confidence and then enjoyed my skating.”

She fell on a triple toeloop later in the free skate, but that wasn’t enough to deny her victory.

Suguri, meanwhile, skipped an early double loop, two-footed a triple salchow, and didn’t attempt some other elements.
“I did a lot of mistakes on my jump,” she said. “I was in very good condition over the last two weeks, so I’m very disappointed with how I did.”

Flatt managed to come away with second place.

“I thought I skated very well but it wasn’t my best program. … But I had a lot of fun and it was very exciting,” said Flatt, who adjusted her program after a wobbly landing on an early triple loop.

Kostner and Suguri remain in contention for a Grand Prix Final berth heading into the sixth and final preliminary competition, the NHK Trophy, in Japan next week.

Kim Yu-na and Joannie Rochette have already qualified for the Grand Prix final with two golds apiece. The other four final places remain open.

source: iht.com

Up to 1,000 euros per hour for Carolina, who declines the offer.
Beckham wants Kostner to teach skating to her children.
Victoria will come to Milan with David. On the ‘Spice list’ are a helicopter, big swimming pool and fitness center.

All alone in Milan David Beckham could run the risk of being overwhelmed (as some are saying) by the highlife of some of players? Not ever. Victoria, who at first was thinking to remain in Los Angeles to pursue her fashion career has decided instead to fly to Italy with the whole family and stay with her husband who is on loan to Milan. But she brings with her a few demands to leave you breathless.

THE ‘SPICE LIST’ - At least that’s what American magazines have reported. First on the list, is a private helicopter available 24 hours always ready to take off to follow David in his training. Obviously it is better not to waste time waiting for the ‘popular’ flights. Also on the ‘Spice list’ is a pool of 100 square meters with whirlpool spa, fitness center and a beauty salon built specially for her and her personal hairdresser available 7 days a week.

CAROLINA KOSTNER - According to rumors from friends of the couple, Posh also asked for an ice skating rink for their children, lovers of skating and avid fans of the game “Stars on Ice”, a video game dedicated to skating in winter. According to Star magazine she would be prepared to pay up to 1,000 euros per hour for an international champion to teach their children to skate. Contenders for the post are current world champion Jeffrey Buttle, the American Sasha Cohen and Italian Carolina Kostner.

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Tokyo 2016 today called on the National Olympic Committees of Asia to share in its unique vision to inspire the world by hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games at the heart of city life in one of the region’s most vibrant capital cities.
Bid Chairman and CEO, Dr Ichiro Kono said he was humbled by the support Tokyo 2016 had received from Japan’s partner nations within the Olympic Movement in Asia and expressed his pride at leading Asia’s Bid for the world’s greatest event in 2016.
Addressing the 27th Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly in Bali, Dr Kono said:
“Japan needs an iconic event with new sports venues to help inspire millions more Japanese to play and stay with sport. This will be made possible, because the 2016 Games coincide with Tokyo Big Change – our Ten Year Plan for the comprehensive urban and environmental transformation of the Greater Metropolitan Tokyo area.
“The 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be a catalyst for the world’s greatest, metropolitan make-over. This will leave the Olympic Movement with an incredible legacy to inspire future bid cities.
“We aim to unite the Olympic Family with the heart and soul of our cosmopolitan capital city. That is why our vision and theme is called: ‘Uniting Our Worlds’. To ensure this vision becomes a reality we plan to create the most compact Games ever, based in the very centre of Tokyo, and promise athletes and the whole Olympic Family the friendliest, most exciting and most memorable Games in history.”
Dr Kono began Tokyo 2016’s presentation. He was joined by International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member and IOC Vice President, Chiharu Igaya; IOC Member, Shunichiro Okano; Japanese Olympic Committee President, Tsunekazu Takeda; Executive Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bid Promotion Division, Nagatoshi Nakamura; and Chair of the Tokyo 2016 Athletes’ Commission and Seoul 1988 Olympic medallist, Mikako Kotani.

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Beijing has announced a series of post-Olympics car restrictions, which will take effect next month and hopefully sustain the hard-won smooth traffic and good air quality during the Games.

Under the new traffic restrictions, 30 percent of government vehicles will be sealed off as of October 1, said a circular issued by the Beijing municipal government on Saturday.

The remaining 70 percent of government vehicles, as well as all corporate and private cars, will take turns off the roads one out of the five weekdays as of October 11, it said.

Cars whose number plates end with 1 or 6 will be taken off roads on Monday, while those ending with 2 or 7 will be banned on Tuesday, 3 or 8 on Wednesday, 4 or 9 on Thursday and 5 or 0 on Friday. The ban does not apply on weekends.

The ban will be applicable within the Fifth Ring Road inclusive, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for private cars and round the clock for government and corporate vehicles.

The new restrictions will take effect on a trial basis on October 11 for six months until April 10, but does not apply to police wagons, ambulances, fire engines, buses, taxies and other public service vehicles.

“It’s expected to reduce Beijing’s average road traffic flow by6.5 percent and speed up traffic within the Fifth Ring by 8 percent at least,” said Wang Zhaorong, an official with the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, at a press conference on Sunday.

In compensation, the restricted vehicles will be exempt from one month of vehicle tax and road maintenance fee a year. Drivers who are caught to have breached the new rule will not enjoy the exemption, according to Wang.

While most people applaud the ban on government and corporate vehicles, the ban on private cars, however, has sparked an outcry from car owners, many of whom complain it is “unfair”.

“I need to take my daughter home from boarding school on Friday night,” said Beijing bank clerk Zhang Min, whose number plate ends with “0″ and will be banned on Friday. “Probably we need to buy another car.”

More than 2,400 people posted online comments on China’s leading portal website sina.com within two hours after it published the ban. Very few postings were supportive of the ban on private cars.

“To ban should not be the ultimate way to ease Beijing’s traffic woes,” reads one of the postings. “Instead, our city should be better planned and the road network better designed.”

While most people were tolerant of the two-month ban on vehicles on alternate days during the Olympics and Paralympics, many are now fed up with the idea to take public transport just once every week.

But to like it or not, the Olympic traffic ban, which took nearly 2 million cars off the roads, was not only successful in easing congestion but also cleared the skies.

During the ban, traffic flow within the Fifth Ring was reduced by an average 21.2 percent and the average speed at rush hours increased by 25.8 percent to 30.2 km per hour, according to the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications.

The city returned to its normal congestion after the ban was lifted on Sept. 21. Urban streets are unbearably jammed in the rush before the week-long National Day holiday set to start on Monday.

The debate over whether the ban should stay after the Games has lasted for weeks and Beijing authorities, apparently hard to find a solution that is effective and acceptable to all, are rather late in announcing the new ban.

Alongside the ban, city authorities have also encouraged employers to adopt more elastic working hours — even to work at home, if possible — in order to ease congestion.

Downtown department stores have been advised to open at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m., as of Oct. 11 and close one hour later than before.

Except for schools, governments and the public service sector, many Beijing organizations will be advised to readjust their office hours to avoid the rush hour.

The government is also considering raising downtown parking fees to ease congestion but no details are available yet.

To improve the city’s air quality, Beijing plans to ban a total of 357,000 “yellow label” vehicles from entering the Fifth Ring starting on Jan. 1, said Du Shaozhong, deputy chief of the municipal environment protection bureau.

By October next year, all the yellow label vehicles, mostly tippers and heavy-duty trucks, will be banned across Beijing, he said.

Beijing’s vehicles were issued green or yellow labels according to their emission levels and cars with a yellow label were banned from entering the city center during the day since two years ago.

Exhaust emission from a yellow label vehicle is equal to that from 28 low-emission vehicles of Euro-IV standards, said Du.

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mayumi

How the tale of the two cities hosting the 2010 Olympics will end is anyone’s guess, with many predicting the legacy will be a mix of the best and worst of times.
But in the cities outside Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., some people are less convinced it’s an ending that will see them living happily ever after.
While both host cities and those nearby are getting millions in new and upgraded infrastructure, including badly needed housing, some on the outskirts of Olympic glory say they’re getting hardly anything at all.
In Squamish, B.C., which sits along the Sea-to-Sky highway between the Vancouver and Whistler, Mayor Ian Sutherland rails against what he says are broken promises leaving his town bereft of lasting physical legacies from the Games.
A new ferry terminal and service was promised to transport spectators to Squamish, where they were then to transfer to Whistler by bus.

That plan was cancelled.
An ice arena for Paralympic sledge hockey was also supposed to be built.

That plan was cancelled.
Organizers briefly floated the idea of housing media on cruise ships nearby, which would give the town of about 15,000 massive media exposure.

That plan was cancelled.
Squamish was also supposed to be a transportation hub, where buses going to Whistler would stop for people to get a chance to visit on their way to Olympic events.

That’s also been scrapped.
“At the end of the day, it’s a fair amount of frustration for the people who live in Squamish,” said Sutherland, who is running as a Liberal candidate in the current federal election.

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A surcharge of $4 to $18 will be added to all tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic events to cover public transit and administration costs, organizers said Friday.
People attending events in Whistler from Vancouver will be required to buy a $25 round-trip bus pass on top of the surcharge because there will be no parking at venues.
The return-trip pass using the Olympic bus network will be $12 for people going to events at Cypress Mountain.
There will also be a delivery fee for all tickets.
“Most ticket holders will need to use public transportation to get to Olympic events as there will be no parking at venues,” said Caley Denton, vice-president of ticketing and consumer marketing of the Vancouver Organizing Committee.
“One of our goals is to see the increased use of public transportation, walking and cycling as one of the legacies of hosting the Games,” Denton said in a release on Friday.
The surcharges are less than those usually applied to high-profile event tickets and the cost to travel between Vancouver and Whistler is about half that of taking a commercial bus service, he said.
The first phase of ticket sales for the Games begins on Oct. 3, but the transportation passes will be sold separately next year.
“With an Olympic ticket in your hand, you will have access to public transportation on the day of your event in Metro Vancouver, including buses and Skytrain, and in Whistler,” Denton said.
TransLink, the company that operates the public transit system throughout the Lower Mainland, said it is gearing up for the extra ridership.
“One way or another we were prepared for the fact that there’s going to be an awful lot of extra people on transit during the Games time, primarily because there will not be parking at or near most of the venues if not all of them,” TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie told CBC News Friday.
Hardie said by 2010 the Canada Line will be in service, 200 new buses will be added to the transit system and another 200 buses will be put into service especially for the Olympics.
The Canada Line is a $1.9-billion expansion of Vancouver’s SkyTrain elevated rapid-transit system that will run completely separated from traffic to and from downtown Vancouver and Vancouver International Airport in Richmond. It’s expected to be in operation in 2009.
At this point Olympic organizers said they aren’t planning to restrict access on the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler to only Olympic business.
“The highway will essentially be able to operate as open,” said Maureen Douglas, director of community relations for the organizing committee.
“We will certainly provide the public with guidelines as to the best time to travel. There will be more efficient times to travel south and more efficient times to travel north,” he said.

from: cbc.ca

The Beijing Olympics have given sportswear firm Nike a windfall, with orders surging 50 per cent after the Games.
The company today unveiled surprisingly strong results, with robust sales in the US despite the financial meltdown and recession fears, and a weak dollar adding to its international bottom line.
Revenue from Nike’s Asia businesses grew 36 per cent to $861million (£465.3million), boosted by sales in China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Nike gets more than half its sales outside the US and so was helped by the decline of the dollar against foreign currencies. European sales grew 20 per cent to $1.8billion while in the US they also rose to $1.8billion.
Nike said advance orders were up 3 per cent in the US, with gross profit margins at 47.2 per cent in the first quarter, up from 44.8 per cent a year earlier, helped by higher prices in its home market.
Net profits fell to $510.5million on revenue up 17 per cent at $5.4billion in the quarter. Last year’s result was boosted by a $105.4million tax credit.
In Europe, 15 per cent of the 20 per cent growth came from the weaker dollar and Forex accounted for 10 per cent of the Asian growth.
Global orders for delivery of shoes and apparel from now until January rose 10 per cent, with gains of 4 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, in europe and Asia.

source: dailymail.co.uk

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Beijing capped its six-week run as the center of world sports, ushering out the Paralympic Games on Wednesday with a lavish closing ceremony.
The ceremony marked the end of seven intensive years of preparations and $40 billion in spending on venues and infrastructure — all meant to symbolize China’s emergence as a leading nation in the 21st century.
A 91,000 sellout crowd in the Bird’s Nest National Stadium saw the ceremonial flame extinguished and the event formally handed over to London, which will host the next Olympics and Paralympics in 2012.
As with the Olympics, officials praised their Chinese hosts for the striking venues, tight organization and stadiums that were mostly filled for 11 days of competition.
The games were held in nearly perfect weather with blue skies and light traffic, leaving Beijing’s chronic air pollution a distant memory.
However, traffic control measures are slated to end Saturday, with 2 million vehicles expected to return to the roads. In addition, heavy industry — shuttered for two months — and building construction is expected to return to pre-games levels, along with accompanying pollution.
“These games have been great games,” said Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee. “Everybody realizes that. These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever.”
The symbolic hand over came as London Mayor Boris Johnson and Beijing counterpart Guo Jinlong gathered on the infield. The London handover segment featured a red London double-decker bus, London landmarks like Nelson’s Column and a moment when a “tea lady” arrived and the show stopped.
Because if one thing unites China and Britain, it is the agreement that all things — even an Olympic ceremony — must stop for tea.
China led the gold-medal table in the Olympics and did the same in the Paralympics, winning 89 gold and 211 overall. Britain was No. 2 with 42 gold and 102 overall. The United States was No. 3 with 36 and 99.
South African swimmer Natalie Du Toit, who also competed in the Olympics, won five gold medals. She lost her left leg after a 2001 motorcycle crash.
Compatriot Oscar Pistroius, a double-amputee sprinter who runs on carbon-fiber legs, won three golds in 100, 200 and 400 meters.
He is hoping to run against able-bodied athletes in next year’s world championships in Berlin, and the London Games. Du Toit also plans to compete in the regular Olympics in London, in the 800-meter freestyle and the 10-kilometer open-water swim.
Four athletes were sent home for failing pre-competition doping tests — a German wheelchair basketballer, and powerlifters from Pakistan, Ukraine and Mali.
In a lunch Wednesday for foreign dignitaries, China president Hu Jintao said the Paralympics would push the government to improve care for the disabled, who historically have received little help or visibility in Chinese society.
“The Chinese government and people will build on the success of the Beijing Paralympic Games to carry forward the humanitarian spirit and advance in an all-round way the well-being of people with a disability in China,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Hu saying.
Four thousand athletes from 147 regions and countries took part. That number is expected to reach 4,200 in Britain, which gave birth to the modern-day Paralympic Games. The genesis of the games came in 1948, when German neurologist Ludwig Guttman organized an athletic event in Buckinghamshire — northwest of central London — for soldiers wounded in World War II.
Unlike the tight security at the Olympics, security was much looser during the Paralympics, with the Olympic Green area filled nightly with people lingering on strolls between venues.
That area was often nearly empty during the Olympics, as ordinary citizens were not given access.
It also ends a special run for 100,000 games volunteers, who staffed every nook and cranny at the venues. Their friendly efforts were credited with softening the image of China’s authoritarian government, which before and during the Olympics cracked down on security, visas and battled with journalists over blocked Internet access and freedom-of-the press issues.
“It’s no use to be sad, it’s all ending anyway,” said Jiang Wei, a 19-year-old university student who worked since July 8 in the main press center. “We can take memories and get on with our lives.”

from: ap.google.com

There has never been a Paralympics that has not been hailed the best ever.

The first time I heard the phrase delivered “live” in the stadium was at Atlanta, which was almost certainly the worst ever.
On Wednesday evening in Beijing, President of the International Paralympic Committee Sir Phillip Craven did not let me down, delivering the mantra word for word.
So how does it stand up to the claim?
Let us do the pluses first, and there are plenty of them.
My own personal abiding memory of the Beijing games, the fourth I have attended, was the crowds.
Disabled athletes over the years have been used to performing at most of their meets to sparse crowds made of friends, family and other team members.
Even at the best of the games - Sydney - there was still an element of “rent-a-crowd” about the attendances.
Many of the audiences were almost entirely made up of children, allocated tickets en bloc as an educational exercise.
They were reminiscent of those schoolboy and schoolgirl hockey internationals that used to be staged at Wembley, where the pitch and decibel level of the cheering were excruciating.
Nothing like that in Beijing but many of the events were total, or almost total, sell-outs.
The Bird’s Nest stadium several times had its full complement of 91,000 spectators. The swimming events were full every night. Great attendances too at the basketball.
And when GB quadriplegic wheelchair tennis star Peter Norfolk was winning his gold in the singles, there were more people watching him than turned up to see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the Olympics.
Perhaps people were benefiting from the fact that the Paralympic tickets were considerably cheaper than at the Olympics, and also yielding to a huge curiosity to get inside stadiums like the Bird’s Nest?
Another major plus was access. I am guided by the athletes here. I talked to many of them, and they all said the same - that facilities in the village, the stadiums and around the Olympic complex were second to none.
Libby Kosmala, a Paralympian attending her 11th games, said she thought that Beijing’s access was “faultless”.

Avoidable glitches
Now for a couple of minuses. These reflect as much on the nature of the games themselves, and their management by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), as they do on Beijing.
There were a number of foul-ups in the running of events trackside and poolside.
It has been hard to get to the bottom of what led to them, but they need to be sorted if the Paralympics is to take its place as a major sporting event.
For instance, two events were ordered to be re-run. One actually took place, the other re-run was cancelled after the objection was withdrawn.
But the re-run is an odd concept in all but the most extreme cases. To be honest, it smacks of patronising attitudes. Olympic gold medallist Steve Cram said he could not remember a re-run ever being ordered.
In one case a re-run was deemed necessary because of a crash, which led to a disqualification.
The disqualification was fair enough, but ordering a re-run because someone screws up smacks too much of the sports day “oh give them another go” attitude, which has no place in the Paralympics.
The other was caused by an administrative error, a wrong lane allocation. The protest about that should have happened before the race was ever run.
Both of these re-run decisions were reached after the medal ceremonies had taken place - so that athletes who had publicly been cheered suddenly found themselves deprived of that medal.
Whether it was miscommunication between the IPC and local organisers is not clear.
What is clear is that in terms of rigorous organisation, these games must look as professional as the Olympic counterparts they seek to be compared to.
Which leads me to the other matter that must be sorted out before London 2012 - classification.

A job well done
There has to be classification in Paralympic sport. The principle of grading people on the basis of their severity of disability, so that like competes with like, is essential. But classification must be managed better.
In these games, there were a number of examples of people being thrown out of events because they were felt to be less disabled than their classification allowed.
Clearly, if there is a blatant example of cheating, it must be dealt with. But the answer to that is not expulsion during the games, but a proper, independent and transparent programme of classification before the games ever begin.
If a competitor performs above the level which appears to be consistent with their disability, it should be dealt with after the games.
We cannot have a situation where doing particularly well, is regarded as a reason for re-classification within the games.
Classification is confusing enough for spectators, and I think in London there should be more attempts to explain it to crowds.
What happened here is likely to lower the reputation of the games, which on the whole is rising exponentially.
The Beijing games have done plenty to continue that process, and they should be congratulated on that.
They should also be congratulated on changes to the environment which will provide a permanent legacy for disabled Beijingers for the future.
It seems impossible to think that the exposure of huge numbers of people to disabled athletes performing extraordinary feats would not change the perception of disability in China.
Though whether change will be sustained at the rate achieved by the needs of staging the Paralympics remains to be seen.
Was it the best ever? It is a subjective judgment, but I would say yes. I would put it on a par with Sydney, but with the added dimension of genuine, deeply enthusiastic crowds. Well done, Beijing!

source: bbc.co.uk

The high-spirit United States beat Australia 53-44 to win their third Paralympic gold in wheelchair rugby here on Tuesday.

The U.S. team won their first two gold medals since the wheelchair rugby was introduced to the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics as a demonstration sport. They took the bronze in Athens four year ago.

Having a redemption of Athens’ loss, the exciting Americans celebrated their fifth straight victory at the tournament with a “wheelchair dance”, spinning their “vehicles” at the court, while the Aussies, with obvious disappointment on the face, gave each other consoling hugs.

“Winning a gold medal compares only to when I was born and when I got married,” said Will Groulx, the American leading scorer.

“This feels so great. We set a goal four years ago, we promised to each other we were going to make it and it is great to see how all the hard work and determination became a gold medal.”

The Aussies, who won a silver at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, should be proud of their own performances as the Americans hardly took any advantage to end the second quarter 21-20.

However, the world’s No. 1 U.S. strengthened their defense at the second half of the game, when the Australian top scorer Ryley Batt often found himself blocked by two or three aggressive Americans.

Will Groulx, who scored 11 of his 16 goals, helped the U.S. to establish a five goal lead by the third quarter and extended the gap to seven in the end.

However, the 19-year-old Australian “Magic Boy” Batt remained the shiniest star of the game with 23 goals and 12 assists.

“I’m not disappointed at all. I would have liked to win gold of course but the U.S. played a better game. Both teams had such great defence, you couldn’t have asked for a better match,” said Batt.

Earlier, the Athens runner-up Canada defeated Britain 47-41 to win the bronze medal. The Britons, ranked No. 4 in the world, repeated their Athens 2004 fourth place.

Mike Whitehead scored 14 goals to become Canda’s best scorer, while Briton Troye Collins led his teammates with 16 goals.

In another two matches of the day, defending champion New Zealand beat Germany 28-25 to place fifth.

The New Zealanders were far from their tournament goals as they missed out on the semifinals by losing the first two preliminaries to Britain and Australia with identical 39-38. Germany, however, bettered their Athens position of seventh to stand on the sixth.

New Zealand captain David Klinkhamer took the fifth finish as a “complete heartbreak”, saying his team “has gone from hero (winning Athens gold) to zero”.

“We underperformed and there is no way to sugar coat it,” said Klinkhamer. “We failed in executing our game plan and we lacked basic rugby techniques. We don’t get to compete often and need to travel more.”

Asian powerhouse Japan, who are also set for a medal, suffered another major setback after they surprisingly lost to Germany at the first round of the fifth place playoffs.

However, the Japanese, most of whom got a haircut to show their determination to win after preliminaries, found no trouble to defeat inexperienced China, trouncing the host 58-32 to finish seventh.

China, who trained less than one year, finished their first Paralympics with five straight losses but showed no regret after the match.

“As rookies, we are here to learn from the world’s top-level teams and I’m proud that we have been improving match by match and my players have never given up on the court,” said China head coach Wen Yan.

“The losses have only inspired us to work harder to do better in London,” she said.

from: xinhuanet.com

Oscar Pistorius completed his gold-medal haul at the Paralympics on Tuesday, winning the 400 meters to go with sprint victories in the 100 and 200.

The South African double amputee known as “The Blade Runner” finished in 47.49 seconds, a world record for his disability class.

Jim Bob Bizzell of the United States won the silver medal at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium, the venue for Olympic track and field. Ian Jones of Britain took the bronze.

Pistorius was cleared in May to run in the Beijing Olympics by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This followed a decision by track and field’s governing body that said he was ineligible.

He then failed to make the Olympic qualifying standard in the 400. He needed to run 45.55, and his best time was 46.25 run against able-bodied athletes.

Pistorius’ next goal is to qualify for the world championships next year in Berlin, where he would face able-bodied runners. He also is looking toward the London 2012 Olympics.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do before that,” he said. “I have five or six able-bodied meets in Europe next year and those are all stepping stones to get to the bigger meets and perform there. I’m looking forward to next year’s calendar and next four years.”

Pistorius, who won gold in the 200 in the Athens Paralympics, runs on carbon-fiber blades. He was born without a fibula, a bone in the lower leg, and both legs were amputated below the knees when he was 11 months old.

Away from the Bird’s Nest, Ukraine defeated Russia 2-1 in seven-per-team soccer to win the gold medal. Volodymyr Antonyuk scored twice for Ukraine and Lasha Murvanadze had Russia’s only goal. Iran defeated Brazil 4-0 in the bronze-medal game.

In the wheelchair rugby final, the U.S. defeated Australia 53-44. Canada took the bronze-medal game, beating Britain 47-41.

In the men’s wheelchair basketball final, Australia beat Canada 72-60. Britain defeated the U.S. 85-77 for the bronze.

Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Sebastian Coe said London is ready to match — or surpass — the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.

“It is a massive responsibility,” said Coe, chairman of the organizing committee for the 2012 London Games. “We don’t find it daunting. … Beijing has delivered a spectacular games and we will also deliver a spectacular games.”

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from: ap.google.com

Oscar Pistorius, the South African “Blade Runner,” won his second gold medal of the Beijing Paralympics with a victory in the 200-meter sprint on Saturday, but the day was marked by controversy as the Iran wheelchair basketball team pulled out of the Games ahead of a possible matchup against Israel.

The Iran team was scheduled to play the United States on Saturday in a quarterfinal-round match but withdrew before the game. The winner would go on to meet the winner of the Canada-Israel game.

A spokesman for the Iranian delegation denied that Iran pulled out because of the possibility of playing Israel. The country has had a longstanding no-contact policy with Israel, and Iranian athletes have pulled out of events rather than meet Israelis in sports events.

The spokesman said that the Iran wheelchair basketball team withdrew because the Beijing organizers had swapped the starting times of the US-Iran and Canada-Israel matches. That swap had been made without explanation.

“Each match should be done one after another,” Iran deputy chef de mission Iran Doust said. “But unfortunately, concerning our match they didn’t observe the order and that’s the reason” for the pullout.

As it happened, Canada defeated Israel. The Canadians will face the Americans on Sunday.

TRACK AND FIELD: Pistorius won his second gold at the Bird’s Nest before a crowd of more than 50,000, taking the 200 meters by nearly a full second over the silver medalist, Jim Bob Bizzell of the U.S.

“This race is definitely going down as one of my best ever races,” Pistorius said. “I’ve never run in front of a crowd this big and just the crowd, the athletes, it was an awesome race and I couldn’t have hoped for anything better.”

He has one race to go, the 400 meters on Sunday.

China won five gold medals at the stadium on Saturday. Eighteen-year-old Yang Sen won the men’s 100-meter T35 in a world record 12.29 seconds, while Wang Fang retained her crown in women’s 200-meter T36. Yu Shiranwon the men’s 200-meter T53, and Xia Dong (men’s shot put) and Jimisu Menggen (women’s discus throw) won gold medals with world-record performances.

Xinhua’s wrapup of the day’s action is at this link.

The International Paralympic Committee’s “Sixty Seconds” YouTube show for Friday/Saturday (see window below) begins its highlights package with Friday’s Canadian sweep of the women’s 200-meter medley (SM13). Chelsey Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., finished first in a world record 2 minutes 28.15 seconds, followed by Winnipeg’s Kirby Cote of Winnipeg and Valerie Grand’Maison of Montreal. That’s followed by early Saturday road racing action, including American Oz Sanchez’s gold medal in the 12.7-kilometer hand-pedaled cycle time trial with an average of 23.35 mph, and the victory by Heinz Frei of Switzerland in another HC category. There’s also football seven-a-side (S9) action, with Russia taking on Brazil:
Universalsports.com’s re-stream of its coverage of Saturday’s track and field events is available at this link. The site’s one-hour-20-minute highlight package from Saturday’s early events are at this link.

SWIMMING: At the Water Cube, Erin Popovich finally didn’t win a gold medal — she won a silver. Popovich finished second to Huang Min of China in the women’s 50-meter butterfly (S7). “She took it out fast and had a better race than me,” Popovich said. “Hats off to her. China is having a phenomenal meet.”

Popovich, who has won 4 golds at these Games and 14 in her Paralympic career, has one more race in Beijing: the 50-meter freestyle on Sunday.

Justin Zook of the U.S. won gold in the men’s 100-meter backstroke (S10) after setting a world record in the preliminary heat of the event.

Countryman Jarrett Perry also set a world record during a preliminary heat of his event, the 100-meter backstroke (S9), but the final was won by Australian Matthew Cowdrey, his third of the Beijing Games to go along with two more from Athens 2004. Perry took the bronze.

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY: The American team had its hands full with a tough Japan team, winning by 44-37. Will Groulx led the U.S. with 12 goals and four steals, while Bryan Kirkland pitched in 11 goals and four assists.

The murderballers’ final group-stage game is Sunday against Canada, the team that beat the Amerks in the semifinal at Athens four years ago.
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL: While the U.S. men’s advanced through forfeit, the women’s team advanced to the gold medal game by beating Australia, 60-47, in the semifinal.

With less than five minutes to go, the U.S. was clinging to a 46-45 lead after fighting back after trailing for most of the third quarter. But the Americans pulled away at the end.

Christina Ripp and Stephanie Wheeler led the U.S. with 18 and 15 points, respectively.

The Amerkas will play Germany for the gold medal on Monday.
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS: Nick Taylor and David Wagner won the quad doubles gold with a three-set victory over Boaz Kramer and Shraga Weinberg of Israel. Taylor and Wagner overpowered the Israelis in the first set, 6-0, lost the second by 4-6, but won the third, 6-2, to defend their gold from Athens four years ago.

TABLE TENNIS: The U.S. duo of Mitch Seidenfeld and Tahl Leibovitz lost, 3-2, to Ukraine’s Yuriy Shchepanskyy and Vadym Kubov in the Class 9-10 teams tournament to end American participation in the table tennis competition at the 2008 Paralympics.

Seidenfeld, who won a gold and bronze in the 1992 Games and a silver and bronze in 1996, lost his singles match while Leibovitz, of Ozone Park, won his. But the Ukranians won the doubles match to prevail over all.

source:olympics.blogs.nytimes.com

The Iranian men’s wheelchair basketball team has withdrawn from the Beijing Paralympics competition on the first day of quarterfinal competition.

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and the International Paralympic Committee today announced that Iran have pulled out of competition “due to their dissatisfaction with the draw proposed for the cross-over round and subsequent schedule”.

There is conjecture that this in in reference to the possibility of Iran playing Israel if they got through to the next round.

Iran was due to play the USA today.

In a statement the IWBF said it “regrets this decision taken by Iran and the disruption caused to the tournament”.

The move means the US teams goes through to the semi-finals. The ABC has been unable to contact the Iranian team.

The spokeswoman for the United States Paralymic team Jeannine Hansen would not be drawn on whether the Iranian team was making a political statement.

“The team is focused on playing and looking forward to Canada,” she said.

“But beyond that I’m not going to comment. Iran really needs to speak for their reasons for withdrawing.”

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source: abc.net.au

Natalie Du Toit of South Africa won her fourth gold medal in swimming at the Beijing Paralympics, taking the 400-meter freestyle on Friday in a world-record time for her disability group.

Du Toit, who lost a leg in a 2001 motorcycle crash, finished in 4 minutes, 43.81 seconds — 0.15 better than the mark she set three years ago in London.

One of two athletes in the Paralympics who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, Du Toit has set three disability group records in winning four golds. She also set records in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Her other gold came in the 100 freestyle, where she already holds the record.

She will wrap up her Paralympic program Sunday in the 50 freestyle, where she also holds the disability group record.

Du Toit won five golds and a silver at the Athens Paralympics, but chose to compete in only five events in Beijing. She said she could have done even better Friday.

“I had a really bad turn and had to stop and start again, which wasted a lot of energy,” she said. “I didn’t think I would do a best time.”

Du Toit finished 16th at the Beijing Olympics in the 10-kilometer open-water swim. A promising Olympian until her injury, she’s hoping to qualify for the 2012 London Games.

Fifty-four medals were up for grabs Friday. In the major disciplines, there were 16 in swimming, 15 in cycling and 18 in track and field. Spain won three golds in swimming to lead all countries.

Britain dominated cycling with four gold medals and six overall. The United States won seven medals in cycling, including three gold. Spain also managed three gold medals in cycling and six overall.

In track, sprinter Oscar Pistorius is expected to win the 200 on Saturday, adding to the gold he won earlier in the week in the 100.

In the medal standings, China leads with 37 gold and 109 overall. Britain has 33 gold and 69 overall, followed by the United States with 23 and 56 overall.

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from: ap.google.com