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

The Montreal Canadiens will roll out the red carpet to welcome goaltending great Patrick Roy back to the club.

The NHL team announced Thursday that it will retire Roy’s jersey No. 33 at a Bell Centre ceremony before a game against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 22.

BEIJING – Canada’s Michelle Stilwell captured her second Paralympic Games gold medal Thursday, but her first as a wheelchair racer.

Stilwell, from Nanoose Bay, B.C., a gold medallist in wheelchair basketball in 2000 in Sydney, raced to gold in the 200-metre T52 classification race in a Paralympic record time of 36.18 seconds.

MILAN, Italy – Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa resume their tight title chase at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, the last European race of the Formula One season.

Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the overall standings dwindled to two points after a time penalty cost the McLaren driver a dramatic victory at the Belgian GP last weekend.

SUANCES, Spain – Italian rider Paolo Bettini won the 12th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday while Egoi Martinez of Spain retained the overall lead.

Bettini, a Quick Step rider who also won the sixth stage, completed the 186 kilometre trek from Burgos to Suances with two major mountain climbs in four hours 42 minutes 44 seconds.

CONOVER, N.C. – Jay Haas has a chance to widen his lead over Bernhard Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings with a good finish in the Greater Hickory Classic.

The Champions Tour event begins Friday at Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Robert Trent Jones course and features five of the top 10 players in the standings.

ROLLA, Mo. – Canadian Michael Barry pulled away from a group of four riders to win the fourth stage of the Tour of Missouri on Thursday while Christian Vande Velde maintained his overall lead.

Barry, riding for Team Columbia, emerged alone approaching the three 2.1-mile finishing circuits. The Toronto native completed the 152.95-kilometre race from Lebanon to Rolla with a 46-second margin in three hours, 16 minutes, three seconds.

The new leader of USA Track and Field analyzed the team’s underwhelming performance at the Beijing Olympics – including dropped batons and a record-low men’s gold medal count – and judged the federation’s overall performance to be “seriously deficient.” After watching both U.S. relay teams drop the baton in the 400-metre preliminaries and seeing the U.S. men win only four gold medals, CEO Doug Logan has decided to form a panel of former athletes and coaches to analyze USATF’s high performance programs. “This will probably be an uncomfortable exercise,” Logan wrote Tuesday in his blog on the USATF website. “But, this is not a ‘knee jerk’ reaction, or a ‘witch hunt,’ or an attempt to castigate anyone. Indeed, this panel may determine that the factors leading to less-than-optimal performance were beyond anyone’s control.”

The Americans took home 23 medals from Beijing – most of any country – but the results were still disappointing on many levels.

Everyone is chasing Usain Bolt.

The world’s fastest man is in high demand, the latest invitations coming from David Letterman and the Real Madrid soccer team.

STUTTGART, Germany – Asafa Powell will get another shot at regaining the world record in the 100 metres at the World Athletics Final this weekend.

After five races in eight days, however, Powell may not have enough left to challenge his Jamaican countryman Usain Bolt’s 9.69-second mark set at the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING – For 14 years Steven Daniel viewed life through a soldier’s eyes.

The Sudbury, Ont., native sees things a lot differently since a parachuting accident left him in a wheelchair and rearranged his priorities.

BEIJING – Canadian swimmer Stephanie Dixon won her second medal at the Paralympic Games on Thursday, finishing runner-up to Natalie du Toit in the SM9 200 metres.

The Victoria resident finished more than nine seconds behind the South African swimming machine who picked up her third gold of the Paralympics after competing at the Olympic Games.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Magic forward Pat Garrity is retiring from the NBA.

Garrity played 10 pro seasons – nine with the Magic – after spending his rookie year with the Phoenix Suns. He appeared in 513 games for Orlando, second most in franchise history.

LONDON – Manchester United is expected to unveil its new strike force of Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney this weekend, and it couldn’t come at a better time for the defending champions as they travel to fierce rival Liverpool.

Liverpool, which plays United on Saturday (7:45 a.m. ET), is level on points with early leader Chelsea, which is at Manchester City in another of the day’s eight matches.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Stefan Schumacher of Germany has joined the Quick Step team of world champion Paolo Bettini and sprint ace Tom Boonen, the team said Thursday.

Schumacher finished third in last year’s world championship and won two stages in the Tour de France this year. He is an expert time-trial rider and has good climbing abilities that serve him well in the hilly, one-day classics.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The Swedish wrestler stripped of his bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics for protesting during the medal ceremony filed an appeal Thursday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ara Abrahamian, who was disqualified from the games after the protest, asked the top court in international sports to downgrade his punishment to a warning. CAS said it would rule within four months.

CHICAGO – The Toronto Bue Jays’ 10-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday thanks to Chicago White Sox veterans Mark Buehrle and A.J. Pierzynski.

Buehrle outpitched Toronto’s Roy Halladay and Pierzynski had three RBIs against the Blue Jays ace as the White Sox won 6-5 to stay one game ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central. “I’ve never had a loss that wasn’t frustrating,” said Halladay, who’d won five in a row. He lasted six innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.

BEIJING – A pair of powerlifters caught using banned substances Thursday increased to four the number of athletes found guilty of doping violations at the Paralympic Games.

Fracourou Sissoko of Mali and Liudmyla Osmanova of Ukraine both failed drug tests, the International Paralympic Committee said in a release.

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from: ckwstv.com

Two more powerlifters have been kicked out of the Beijing Paralympics after failing doping tests, bringing the number of athletes expelled from the Games to four, organisers said Thursday.
Powerlifters Facourou Sissoko, from Mali, and Liudmyla Osmanova, from the Ukraine, were both slapped with two-year bans for failing pre-competition drug tests, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.
Sissoko, 46, tested positive for the banned steroid boldenone metabolite, on September 6, the day of the opening ceremony, the IPC said in a statement. He had been due to compete on Sunday.
Osmanova tested positive for 19-norandrosterone, also a banned steroid, the statement added. The 22-year-old, tested at a training camp on August 29, was due to start her medal bid on Saturday.
The positive doping tests bring the number of powerlifters expelled to three. Pakistani Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, tested positive for a steroid on September 4, it was announced Tuesday.
On Wednesday, German wheelchair basketball player Ahmet Coskun was kicked out of the Paralympics for taking a banned drug contained in hair loss treatment.
A statement from the German National Paralympic Committee said that although finasteride does not enhance performance, it can be used to cover up drugs that do.
Before the Games started, IPC president Philip Craven said he was hoping for a “totally clean” event but he acknowledged the doping problems associated with powerlifting.
A total of 461 tests had been carried out at the Games, both in and out of competition, by the end of Tuesday.
At the Athens Games in 2004, 680 doping tests were conducted, resulting in 10 violations.
The Beijing Paralympics, involving more than 4,000 athletes, run until September 17.

from: afp.google.com

Pontypridd swimming star David Roberts is celebrating a golden hat-trick. Triumphing in the 400m freestyle (S7) in a new world record, won his third gold medal at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

Roberts’s time of 4:52.35 broke the record held by New Zealander Dean Booth’s since 2000 by 1.40 seconds. Not that he was satisfied.

“I expected better from myself this evening. I was really nervous when I was coming out and that doesn’t normally happen to me.

“I wanted to perform better but this is amazing to have my tenth Paralympic gold medal.

“I don’t know why I was nervous. That will be something I will be discussing with my coach before Sunday.”

He has amassed his ten gold medals from Games in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. And his 2008 campaign is not over yet he returns to the starting blocks on Sunday for the 50m freestyle before he competes in the medley relay on Monday.

Philip Carling, Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, was quick said: “David is always striving to excel and to better his performances. Ten gold medals in a career is absolutely superb. His success is particularly impressive considering how the Paralympic movement has moved on since Athens. We have seen other countries catching up yet, David has still maintained dominance in his events.”

Roberts is coached at the Wales National Pool in Swansea which was built with more than 8m pounds of National Lottery funding by the Sports Council for Wales. He is coached by former miner Billy Pye:

“In Billy Pye, we have a world-class coach and he has cultivated the careers of many swimmers including David. We can be very proud of the fact that the pool in Swansea supports many of the Paralympic swimmers competing in Beijing.”

The Pye training stable also features gold medallists Eleanor Simmonds, Rob Welbourn and Graham Edmonds.

Newport’s Pippa Britton faced a difficult encounter in the archery when she came up against fellow Brit Mel Clarke in the quarter-final of the compound. She will return to action next week for the team competition.

On the track, Tracey Hinton of Cardiff and guide runner, Steffan Hughes, qualified for tomorrow’s 400m semi-final.

Wales’s London 2012 hopefuls also put in promising performances. Chepstow sprinter Jenny McLoughlin, who is just 16-years-old, finished seventh in the heats of the 100m.

Meanwhile, her training partner, Kate Arnold of Newport, who turned 20 last week, delivered a new personal best, finishing ninth in the 200m. Arnold, a former swimmer made the switch from pool to track relatively recently and was originally not expected to qualify for Beijing.

Brian Alldis, who is coached by Tanni Grey-Thompson, was unable to advance to the semi-final of the 800m. The Cardiff wheelchair racer finished seventh in his heat which was won by David Weir:

“I’m a bit disappointed. I couldn’t get on the back of the pack as they pulled away and I was about two seconds off my PB. It was good that Dave was in the heat but it probably made it harder for me.”

The shot putt saw two North Walians take season bests. Beverley Jones of Queensferry finished fifth while training partner Rebecca Chin, the youngest member of the Welsh contingent at 16-years-old, finished tenth. Chin will be using the experience from Beijing as she trains towards London 2012.

Rower James Roberts demonstrated his potential for London 2012. Together with Karen Cromie of Northern Ireland, the Prestatyn rower today finished in fifth place in the double sculls at Shun Yi, an event won by hosts, China.

Bridgend footballer Keryn Seal suffered a Spanish inquisition. Paralympic GB’s visually impaired five-a-side football team lost 3-1 to Spain in a dramatic game that saw Britain take an early lead before the European Champions dominated the second half.

Britain now lies fifth in the rankings after three matches with two to play. They take on Brazil on Saturday.

Fortune didn’t shine on the women’s wheelchair basketball team either. Losing 42-50 to Germany in the final group game, Clare Strange, from Newport, and Caroline Matthews of Cardiff will face Japan in tomorrow’s quarter-finals.

Racing has been delayed in Qingdao but sailor Steve Thomas and the Sonar crew lie seventh overall. Not yet halfway through the race schedule, there is still time for the Bridgend man to move into a medal spot.

ONES TO WATCH FRIDAY DAY 6

ATHLETICS Cardiff’s Tracey Hinton and guide runner Steffan Hughes of Aberaeron will be in the line-up for the 400m semi-final. Hinton won three medals at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000.

CYCLING After success on the track, hopes are now riding high for the ParalympicsGB road cyclists. Rachel Morris of Pembrokeshire is making her Paralympic debut in Beijing as she goes in the time trial. As a double world champion though, she will certainly not be fazed. Nor will Simon Richardson. He is also on time trial duty but confidence will be high after winning two gold medals in the Velodrome.

SWIMMING Gareth Duke produced an emotional performance four years ago in Athens but winning gold second time around will really be an achievement. Known as El Dulche to his team-mates, he was victorious over the 100m breaststroke in Athens and he is well remembered for his tearful medal presentation. Twelve months later, his went into the operating theatre to receive a new kidney donated by his father, Trevor. Newport’s Liz Johnson is also in the swim – she will be racing in the women’s 100m breaststroke.

SAILING Steve Thomas of Bridgend will be into races nine and ten in Qindao. They currently lie in seventh position overall.

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL Clare Strange and Caroline Matthews are into the quarter finals and will face Japan.

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY The rugby tournament kicks off which will see Oswestry’s Jason Roberts and Abergavenny’s Josie Pearson. Pearson is the only female in the entire competition to be playing murderball, as it is fondly described by Paralympians.

from: newswales.co.uk

IF Australia’s wheelchair basketballers roll to a medal in Beijing, Brad Ness won’t have much time to celebrate.

Barely a week after the Games end, Ness is due back with his team in Europe, where growing numbers of disabled players are breaking down barriers as full-time professionals.

With a comfortable salary and a free car, apartment and other perks thrown in by his Rome club, athletes such as Ness are enjoying some of the rewards and recognition of able-bodied counterparts.

“Guys are able to live by playing their sport. It’s every athlete’s dream,” said Ness, who has been Australia’s top scorer at the Paralympics.

Ness played the last two seasons in Taranto, where players are local celebrities.

“In Taranto, everyone recognises you and you’re in the paper regularly. We get up to 2000 people at home games. It’s a great atmosphere. You really get the love there,” Ness said.

Pro leagues are already well-established in Spain and Italy, but other countries such as France, Germany and Turkey are also getting into the act.

Professional opportunities in Paralympic sports remain rare, with the basketballers, a handful of track-and-field athletes and competitors on the world wheelchair tennis tour the only ones to have made it big on pro tours.

“Down in Oz it’s still seen as an amateur sport, almost a disabled sport. You only have to come and watch a game to see that we are athletes and we play hard,” Ness said.

The exposure of the Paralympics makes them a proving ground for aspiring professional players, said South Africa’s top scorer Nicholas Taylor.

“(The Paralympics) give us the sort of competition we need to really prove ourselves at the international level and show pro teams in Europe we can hold our own,” said Taylor, who plays semi-pro basketball in Australia.

Catching the attention of a European club can mean salaries of up to E6000 ($8500) a month. Free cars and apartments are typically provided and clubs also pick up incidental costs including international airfares.

“(The packages) are not as much as an (able-bodied) player, but it’s nothing to scoff at,” said Australia’s Shaun Norris, who has two seasons in the Italian leagues under his belt and will switch to a Madrid club after the Games.

“They try to make you just concentrate on basketball and that’s it. That’s what’s so great — to not have a job and just make it 100 per cent basketball and become an even better player.”

from: theaustralian.news.com.au

Sport-by-sport guide

Archery
Archery has been a Paralympic sport since Rome 1960. At the Paralympic Games, archers shoot the Olympic round only (70 meters, qualification & finals): Men’s Individual Olympic Round; Men’s (Open) Team Olympic Round; Women’s Individual Olympic Round and Women’s (Open) Team Olympic Round. Archers compete both standing and in a wheelchair in women’s and men’s categories. The Paralympic program includes singles and team events, and the competition and scoring procedures are identical to those used in the Olympic Games. Team competition is an open competition for both men and women and includes three archers of any class (standing or sitting). Archery opened the first International Games for the Disabled at Stoke Mandeville in 1948. It reached a new pinnacle 44 years later when Paralympian Antonio Rebollo ignited both the Olympic and Paralympic flames in Barcelona with a fire arrow.

Athletics
Athletics became a Paralympic Games sport in Rome, 1960 and has more events and competitors than any other sport in the Paralympic Games. Track events include all Olympic distances (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 10000m, marathon, 4 x 100m relay and 4 x 400m relay). Field comprises, shot put, discus, javelin, club throwing (for severely disabled athletes), pentathlon, long, high and triple jump. Wheelchair racing, 60m sprint was included in the Paralympic Games for the first time in Tokyo, 1964. This continued to be the standard racing distance until Toronto, 1976, when 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m events were introduced.

(Wheelchair) Basketball
Wheelchair Basketball was developed by Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital following WWII as a form of rehabilitation for injured war veterans. Basketball became a Paralympic Games sport at the first Games in Rome in 1960. Wheelchair Basketball is open to male or female athletes and is played by two teams of five players each. Players are allocated points from 1 to 4.5 depending on their functional ability. Five players out of 12 from each team are on the court at any one time and throughout the game the total point value of each team on court must not exceed 14 points.

Boccia
Boccia is unique to the Paralympic Games and was refined from an ancient Greek ball tossing game by the Italians in the 16th century. Men and women compete together in team, pairs and individual events. It is a game of precision with leather balls thrown as close as possible to a white target ball (the jack) on a long, narrow field of play. Boccia became a Paralympic Games sport in Barcelona, 1992.

Cycling
Cycling competitions are relatively new for athletes with disabilities. In the early Eighties, the visually impaired were the first group of athletes to compete, and athletes with cerebral palsy and amputees began racing at the International Games for the Disabled in 1984. Up until the 1992 Paralympics, the competitons for each of these different groups were held separately. Then, at the Barcelona Games, spectators witnessed intense competitions in both track and road races between athletes in all three disability groups. The cycling events are divided into individual and team (a group of three cyclists from one nation) events. Athletes with cerebral palsy compete using standard racing bikes and, in some classes, tricycles. Athletes who are blind or visually impaired compete on tandem bicycles with a sighted team-mate, and they participate in the road race and the time trial events. Finally, amputees and cyclists with permanent locomotor deficiencies compete in individual road race events using cycles specifically constructed for their needs. Handcycling was included for the first time at the Athens Paralympic Games. Handcycling is for athletes who normally require a wheelchair for general mobility, or athletes not able to use a conventional bicycle or tricycle because of severe lower limb disability.

Equestrian
Riders compete only in individual and team dressage and develop creative ways to communicate with their horses if they are unable to give signals with their legs, such as utilising a dressage whip or other aids. In dressage competition, riders perform individually and they must ride a pattern which includes various changes in pace and direction. At the Paralympics, all riders are grouped according to their functional profiles and they are judged on their ability to control and maneuver the horses. Prior to Athens, athletes competed on borrowed horses. Own horses were used in Athens. Equestrian became a Paralympic Games sport in Atlanta 1996.

(Wheelchair) Fencing
Fencing became a Paralympic Games sport in Rome in 1960. There are team and individual events for men and women in foil and epee and for men only in sabre. Athletes are connected electronically to a scoring box that records hits on their opponent. In the initial rounds of the competition the first fencer to score five hits wins but in the latter stages it is the first to 15 hits.

Football
Seven-a-side football, for players with Cerebral Palsy, became a Paralympic Sport in New York in 1984 when the Games were split – for financial reasons -between Stoke Mandeville, England and New York. Five-a-side football for visually impaired athletes was introduced at the Summer Paralympic Games in Athens 2004. Goalkeepers can be visually impaired (B2/B3) or fully sighted in five-a-side football. GB has two sighted goalkeepers. The goalkeepers are not permitted to leave their area.

Goalball
Goalball was invented in Europe in 1946 and was used for sport and rehabilitation for the post WWII blind veterans. The game was introduced to the world in 1976 at the Paralympic Games in Toronto and the first world championships were held in Austria in 1978. Women first competed in goalball at the 1984 Paralympic Games in New York. All players wear masks and bells in the ball enable players to pick up its movement. Taped lines on the court enable players to ‘feel’ their way around the court. Audience/spectators are asked for silence while watching, as players listen to the bells. Goalball is a team sport for men and women. A team is comprised of six players with no more than three players per team on the court at any one time. The object is to roll the ball past the opposition defence and into the opponent’s goal. A bell inside the competition ball enables defending players to hear it and try to prevent its passage. Matches are played on a court 18m x 9m in two, seven-minute halves, with three players on each side. No GB team competing.

Judo
Originating in the late nineteenth century, judo developed from a diverse range of Japanese combative arts and was funded by Professor Jigoro Kano who studied the principles of the jujitsu schools of Japan’s Samurai warriors when developing the sport. Judo’s inherent qualities of touch, balance and sensitivity complement the highly developed skills of visually impaired athletes. Visually-impaired judo became a Paralympic sport at the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul. Women competed for the first time at the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004. Unlike sighted judo, visually-impaired judo fighters begin bouts holding each other’s judogis (suits).

Powerlifting
The benchpress competition widely known as “weightlifting ” was among one of the original Paralympic sports dating back to its inclusion in the second Paralympic Games in 1964 and was offered exclusively to Spinal Cord Injured lifters. The sport undertook a major transition with the incorporation of identical rules as those of the able-bodied “powerlifting” competitions and with the inclusion of other disability groups. At the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, 25 countries participated in the Powerlifting competitions. That number more than doubled in 1996 at the Atlanta Paralympic Games with 58 countries in participation. Since 1996 that number has risen to a total worldwide membership of 109 countries on five continents. Women competed for the first time at the Sydney Games in 2000.

(Wheelchair) Rugby
Wheelchair rugby, formally known as ‘murderball’, is unique to the Paralympic Games. It was invented in the 1970′s in Winnipeg by persons who had become quadriplegics as a result of spinal cord injuries to the neck. The purpose of the game is for players to score goals by touching or crossing the opponent’s goal-line while maintaining possession of the ball. Using a volleyball, players carry, dribble or pass the ball while moving toward the opponent’s goal area. The player in possession of the ball must dribble or pass at least once every ten seconds. A goal is scored when a player in control of the ball touches the goal-line with two wheels. It is believed to be the fastest growing wheelchair sport in the world. After being a demonstration event at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, wheelchair rugby became a full medal sport at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. Full contact sport. The athletes’ village has a welding workshop for repair to chairs after collisions.

(Adaptive) Rowing
Rowing was introduced to the Paralympic Programme in 2005 and will make it’s debut to the Games in Beijing in 2008. Rowers compete in four Paralympic boat classes – men’s arms only single scull (AM1x), women’s arms only single scull (AW1x), trunk and arms mixed double (TA2x) and legs, trunk and arms mixed coxed four (LTA4+) and each class race over a distance of 1000m. Rowing is open to athletes with spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, lower-limb amputations and visual impairments.

Sailing
Sailing was introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and became a full-medal sport at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. Crews of three athletes compete aboard the 23-foot keelboats in the Sonar event. The 2.4mR is a single-handed keelboat. Both events are open to male and female competitors. There are slight modifications in equipment and a scoring system assigns points based on a level of disability, which allows athletes from different disability groups to compete together. Sailing is open to amputee, cerebral palsy, visually impaired, wheelchair and les autres athletes

Shooting
Shooting became a Paralympic Games sport in 1980 during the sixth Paralympic Games in Arnhem. The shooting competition is divided into rifle and pistol events, air and .22 calibre. Athletes shoot from three positions: standing or sitting, kneeling and prone. The programme includes men’s, women’s, mixed and team events, although team events are not held at the Paralympic Games.

Swimming
Swimming has been a Paralympic Games event since the first games were held in Rome in 1960. It is one of the largest and most popular competitive events in the Paralympic Games. Athletes compete in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, individual medley and relay ranging from 50m to 400m. Swimming is open to all disability groups, including swimmers with spinal cord injuries, swimmers with cerebral palsy, swimmers with amputations and others swimmers including those with progressive diseases such a muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, dwarfs, swimmers with joint disabilities including stiffness, spina bifida, swimmers with a combinations of different disabilities, etc; blind and partially-sighted swimmers.

Table Tennis
Table tennis has been a Paralympic sport since the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. Table tennis is played in over 50 countries and in terms of the number of participating athletes is the fourth largest Paralympic Games sport behind athletics, swimming and powerlifting. Table tennis competitions take two forms at the Paralympic Games: standing and wheelchair events (sitting). Individual and team, men’s and women’s events are included in the program.

Wheelchair Tennis
Wheelchair tennis was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games and became a full-medal sport at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, with men’s and women’s singles and doubles events being a part of every Paralympic Tennis event since then. The Quad division (for players affected in three or more limbs) made its Paralympic Games debut in Athens in 2004, where Peter Norfolk MBE became Great Britain’s first-ever Paralympic Games gold medallist in tennis, winning the quad singles title before partnering Mark Eccleston to silver in the quad doubles.

Volleyball
Volleyball was introduced to the Paralympic Games in Arnhem in 1980. Originally both standing and sitting competitions were included in the Games, however, standing volleyball was removed from the programme following the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. In sitting volleyball the court is smaller than standard (6x10m) and has a lower net, so the game is a considerable faster than the standing equivalent. The game lasts up to five sets and the winning team is the first to win three sets. The team winning the set is the one to reach 25 points with at least a two-point lead.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Iran beat South Africa 73-62 in the opener of the men’s wheelchair basketball in the National Indoor Stadium Sunday at the Beijing Paralympics.
Alireza Ahmadi scored 24 points to lead Iran past South Africa for an easy win. Other Iranian players reaching double digit points were Vahid Gholam Azad, 18 points, Morteza Gharibloo, 14, and Adel Torfi Meneshidi, 12.
Iran did obviously a better job in offense and also defense in the first match of preliminaries, limiting South African double-digit scorers to two, Richard Nortje and Nicholas Taylor in 25, 24 apiece.
The 11 points deficit disappointed South African team. “It’s really disappointing. We put everything into this game. This was our must-win game that we identified. We’ve got some really hard games coming up and we thought if there was a team we could beat, we could beat Iran,” said South African coach Vivian Sierra.
“If we could have started off with a win, I’d feel a lot better than we do, but I think my guys played well. I think our shooting let us down a little bit and there’s two big men out there that just kill us.”
South Africa suffered a shooting slump in the third quarter and was outshot 23-15 to slide away.
“I think we just lost our focus during halftime. In the third quarter, we just were not thinking about basketball,” said South African forward Richard Nortje.
“We made a bit of comeback, but it was too little, too late. I think we need to identify the scorers and put pressure on them. We need to stop the big guys,” added the top scorer of the game.
“The third quarter really let us down. The whole team has identified the third as a critical point for us in terms of performance and something we really need to focus on. Once you’re down in a hole like that, it’s really hard to get out of it. We just didn’t perform like we’d liked,” said South African guard Nicholas Taylor.
There are 12 teams divided into two pools at the Paralympics. The top four teams in each pool after round-robin matches advance to the eliminations.

source: xinhuanet.com

Paralympics

China is following its successful hosting of the Olympics with a lower-key opening ceremony for the Paralympics, an international sporting event for handicapped athletes, that runs until September 17. Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing.

Chinese President Hu Jintao officially declared that the Paralympic games had begun.
The opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics involved a lavish and elaborate performance that presented thousands of years of Chinese history.
In contrast, the opening ceremony for the Paralympics was mostly about the athletes.
Four thousand physically-disabled athletes from around the world entered the Bird’s Nest stadium, either on foot or in a wheelchair.
Chinese women in bright pink frilly dresses led each of the 146 national delegations. Groups of young Chinese dancers, dressed in blue shorts and white baseball caps, danced to the music and waved red flags.
The president of the International Paralympic Committee, Philip Craven, praised these games as a Paralympic milestone.
“These games will have more athletes, more competing nations and more sporting events than ever before,” he said.
Earlier in the day, President Hu hosted visiting dignitaries for lunch in the Great Hall of the People.
President Hu says the Beijing Paralympic games are an opportunity for China to further promote a humanitarian spirit and safeguard the rights of disabled people.
One notable name on the guest list was Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who shook hands and posed for pictures with the Chinese president.
In Beijing Saturday, residents watched the Paralympic torch make its way through the city to the stadium.
Chinese state television showed excited spectators waving flags and cheering for the torch.
One spectator told CCTV that just as the Olympics have improved China’s position in the world, he is hopeful the Paralympics will enhance China’s position as a powerful sports country too.
There are 20 sports under competition during the Summer Paralympics. These include swimming, sailing and judo, as well as things like wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby.
The first day of competition is Sunday, and athletes will use many of the same venues that were featured in the Olympics.

source: voanews.com

Australia’s Paralympic team is aiming to take its all-time medal tally over 1000 at the Beijing Games starting on Saturday.
The team of 170 athletes – 96 men and 74 women – which flew out from Sydney today is the largest team Australia has sent overseas for a Paralympic Games.
And the Australian Paralympic Committee is confident it can collect the 92 medals it needs to take Australia’s tally to 1000 over the past 48 years.
“Its a hard task, but we’re in the running for that and we could win the 1000th medal in these Games,” committee CEO Darren Peters said. “It’s pretty exciting.”
No more specific medal projections would be made so as not to place extra pressure on athletes already feeling the weight of expectation, he said.
The athletes will have a few days to acclimatise to conditions in Beijing before the 13th Paralympic Games, which run from September 6 to 17.
At the Paralympics in Athens in 2004, Australia won 100 medals and came fifth overall with 26 gold, 38 silver and 36 bronze.
China topped the medal tally with 63 gold and 141 medals overall and is expected to considerably exceed their 2004 tally at their home Paralympics.
The team’s best-known athlete Kurt Fearnley, who won gold in the wheelchair marathon in Athens, was impatient to get started.
“It’s been four years in waiting,” Fearnley told AAP.
“I’m putting myself in for individual medals and hopefully I’m on the higher end of the medals.”
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s wife Therese Rein, an honorary member of the Paralympic team, was at the airport to wish them luck.
“The team is brilliant and the atmosphere and support between athletes is amazing,” she said.
“They’ve all trained really hard and I’m sure they’re going to do brilliantly.”
Ms Rein’s father was an Australian Paralympic athlete in the 1950s.
“He was an archer, he played wheelchair basketball, he played tennis and he swam,” said Ms Rein.
“Sports was really meaningful for him and helped him to be the best he could be.”
Australian Paralympic Committee chairman Greg Hartung said the team was the best away team Australia had ever assembled.
“They are big on talent and big on toughness and we will expect our athletes to perform at peak value for Australia,” he said.

source: smh.com.au

Three London 2012 venues could be discarded if a financial review ordered by the British government discovers they will not be cost effective.
KPMG, a leading financial management consultancy, is scrutinizing the Greenwich Park development, which is due to accommodate the shooting venue in front of the historic Royal Artillery Barracks, equestrian and basketball at the main Olympic site.
It’s part of a complete surveillance of the 2012 project instigated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ensure it stays within the overall US$17 billion budget.
It is “possible but unlikely” the iconic venues at Greenwich Park could be scrapped as a result, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said.
While money seemed no object for the Beijing Olympics, soaring costs have seen the British plans – which will regenerate a derelict area in east London – come under intense scrutiny from government watchdogs, politicians and taxpayers.
“We have commissioned KPMG to do a report on the equestrian, shooting and basketball venues, looking at whether the Olympic experience and the legacy they will provide represents value for money,” Jowell said. “When you take the costs for these venues, it seems like a lot of money to a lot of people.
“It is a sort of testing-to-destruction to see whether that spending can be justified.”
The Olympic Delivery Authority has warned that London’s preparations are being affected by turmoil in the global financial markets, which could make the project go over budget.
London organizers moved shooting from Bisley – 72 kilometres away from the Olympic Park – to the more visually appealing barracks in Woolwich, a 10-minute drive away, during the bid process.
But Britain’s shooters have since expressed opposition to the 7,500-seat temporary venue at the Royal Artillery Barracks in southeast London that would cost more than US$48 million and would be demolished after the games.
British Shooting wants a gun club in Dartford, a 45-minute drive away from the Olympic Park in London’s East End, to be revamped to become a permanent range for all shooting disciplines.
Basketball will be played at a temporary 12,000-seat arena in the Olympic Park, which will provide no legacy, while the finals will be at O2 Arena, formerly the Millennium Dome.
Ecological concerns have been raised about plans to locate the equestrian events in London’s oldest Royal Park at Greenwich, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

from: canadianpress.google.com

The Paralympic Games are known as a joyful Games, a friendly Games, as an event far more laid back than their more famous cousin, the Olympics.

But if you think this means that every competitor at the Paralympics wears a halo, you’d be wrong.
In a perverse way, the fact that some people are willing to cheat to earn a medal at the Games can be seen as a sign of quite how seriously the competition is taken.
So how do people try and break the rules at the Paralympics, and how do their methods differ from their able-bodied counterparts?
Performance-enhancing drugs are also a problem in Paralympic sport.
The main offenders are competitors in powerlifting, just as weighlifters at the Olympics often seem to get into trouble.
In Sydney 2000, there were a total of 14 athletes who returned positive drug tests. The majority of these (10 out of 14) were powerlifting, with athletes mainly using drugs to increase power and strength.
In this regard the cheaters are little different to athletes like Ben Johnson in Olympic sprinting, or cyclist Floyd Landis in the Tour de France, who use steroids or EPO to increase muscle strength, speed, power and endurance.
There is another category of Paralympic cheats, however, whose illegal behaviour would make most people turn pale.
They are the “boosters”, mainly athletes who have spinal cord injuries such as paraplegia.
To gain an unfair advantage in their chosen sports, they try to raise their blood pressure, to trigger the kind of fight or flight response that normally happens when someone is in danger.
To do this they don’t take drugs – instead, they injure themselves to trick their bodies into boosting performance.
Some of the ways that Paralympic athletes “boost” include sitting on pins, thumb tacks or ball bearings, turning off their catheters – allowing fluid to build up inside the body – while some male athletes who go so far as to tie wire around their genital area.
Such extraordinary and totally illegal manoeuvres cause no pain to the athletes – who have no feeling in those parts of the body – but they can lead to a boost to athletic performance of up to 15 per cent.
Paralympic athletes are tested to ensure that their level of disability – or put another way, their range of movement – tallies with their registration. This is designed to stop people faking or overstating their disability to gain an advantage.
The biggest scandal in Paralympics history, however, relates to the faking of a mental rather than physical disability. In the Sydney Games of 2000, the Spanish team won the basketball event for intellectually disabled competitors.
It was only afterwards, when 10 out of the 12-member squad were found not to have any intellectual disabilities that the team was disqualified, causing a furore in Paralympic sport.
A Spanish journalist, who went undercover and became part of the Spanish squad, broke the story, claiming that officials had intentionally sought out people who were not intellectually disabled to boost the team’s chances of winning.
The International Paralympic Committee reacted to the scandal by taking all intellectual disability events off the program for Athens in 2004.
There was more disappointment in store for genuinely intellectually disabled athletes, when the IPC left their events out of the Beijing Games as well.
There is some hope for the future, however, as the IPC will revisit its decision after Beijing, so there could be some intellectual disability events on the program for London in four years time.

source: abc.net.au

We got our full measure of Olympic moments in the just-completed Beijing Games, topped by Michael Phelps’s eight gold medals and Usain Bolt’s lightning sprints.

Nonetheless, some of the greatest feats took place in corporate suites, where the Olympics’ global sponsors calculated huge returns on their investments.

General Electric Co.’s NBC soared past its $1 billion ad revenue target by delivering the biggest TV audience for a non- U.S. Summer Games since Barcelona in 1992. Its industrial divisions sold $700 million of equipment to Olympics venues and other Beijing customers.

Coca-Cola’s Olympic-themed “Red Around The World” campaign yielded 17 percent and 18 percent volume gains in China the past two years. Coke not only cut into Pepsi’s market share lead, it also induced Yao Ming, China’s iconic basketball player, to leave Pepsi and endorse Coke.

I could go on and on about the Olympic sponsors as hustlers — perhaps McDonald’s super-sized ad campaign, “I’m loving it when China wins” or Adidas’s new four-story retail emporium in Beijing, the shoemaker’s biggest in the world. Yes I could, except I know my astute readers don’t need Kodak to get the picture. (If you did happen to need Kodak, Beijing is awash with this Olympic sponsor’s latest digital imaging products.)

Corporate Land Rush

Let me be blunt. What has unfolded in China the past two weeks is less a global sports festival than a corporate land rush into the world’s No. 1 growth market. In those terms, the Cha-Ching Games of Beijing have been a huge success.

In terms of the vision of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, Beijing represents a total bastardization. His credo was “The important thing is not to win but take part.” The Beijing Games’ motto was: “Do you take Visa?” (Of course they do, silly; Visa is another global sponsor which plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into the Games.)

I’m no naif. Sure it’s been many an Olympiad since there were pure amateurs. Sure the Games have been big business ever since the Los Angeles Games of 1984, when Peter Ueberroth showed how lucrative they could be.

What Beijing did was remove the last fig leaf from the Olympic ideal. Put it right up there among the laurel leaves on the winners’ heads and that was that.

The International Olympic Committee sold out the Games’ soul — even if at a handsome price — to accommodate a host that didn’t subscribe to basic Olympics values and sponsors that didn’t seem to care.

Berlin Games

Not since the worst moments of Avery Brundage, the longtime Olympics autocrat who appeased Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Games by pulling American Jewish runners from a track event, has there been such pitiful leadership.

IOC President Jacques Rogge and his cohorts repeatedly let the Chinese play them for patsies. In part, the suits from Lausanne, Switzerland — IOC headquarters — were victims of their own egos.

They awarded Beijing the Games in 2001 under a dearly held conceit: that the Olympics are a great geopolitical force for good. It’s why they prefer to call this a Movement, not a sports property. That’s why Juan Antonio Samaranch, the longtime imperious president of the IOC, liked to be called “Your Excellency.”

Beijing represented both a grand commercial opportunity for sponsors and a grandiose gesture for the Movement. The Olympics were supposed to be, at once, a welcoming of China into the international community and a means of changing China’s uglier practices. The Beijing delegation pledged human-rights reforms if awarded the Games.

Business China’s Way

Alas, this proved to be less the stuff of a Nobel Peace Prize than of a Faustian bargain. The closer the 2008 Games grew, the less sway Lausanne held over Beijing. In the seven years between bid and Games, China had become a fast-emerging economic power, which did business the way it did government: in its own didactic way.

By the time it was clear China had its own ideas about what constituted human rights, media access, peaceful dissent and other such western values, it was too late. A predictable, recurring pattern developed.

NBC and other broadcasters would scream about China’s severe restrictions on where they’d allow cameras outside athletic venues. IOC officials would “tsk, tsk.” China would do as it bloody well pleased.

Internet Access

Journalists would scream about China’s restrictions on their Internet access during the Games. IOC officials would “tsk, tsk.” China would do as it pleased.

The IOC was at its most feeble when it refused to stand up for Joey Cheek, the gold-medal speed skater at Turin. He’s become a prominent advocate for Darfur and wanted to come to Beijing to enlist other Olympians in the cause.

China, which is Sudan’s biggest oil customer and has been accused of complicity in that country’s Darfur slaughters, could see no good in that. Cheek was refused a visitor visa and the IOC declined to stand up for him.

In the same non-Olympic spirit, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies repeatedly deflected reporters’ increasingly hostile questions about why no permits had been issued for protests that were supposed to be allowed in designated areas.

The Chinese government finally provided an answer of sorts. It threatened two elderly women who’d submitted repeated protest applications with a sentence to re-education camp if they persisted. With such hosts, the Olympics were about as much fun as the cultural revolution.

Rogge’s Status

Thus did Beijing wind up being less a coming-out party for China than a shakedown of its many visitors. Olympic sponsors may nonetheless have done very well by the Games, but the IOC has not. Rogge’s alpha status in the Olympic movement has been weakened.
And even sponsors who did great business in Beijing should worry about the way these Games played out. The Olympic rings are the world’s most recognized brand, but they have been dinged.

source: bloomberg.com

Beijing Paralympics

Over 4,200 athletes to compete at Beijing Paralympics

More than 4,200 athletes from 148 countries and regions will attend the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, said Tang Xiaoquan, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) on Sunday.

In addition, more than 2,500 referees and more than 4,000 journalists and media technicians will gather in Beijing for the event, said Tang at a press conference. She added that there will also be 30,000 volunteers working for the games.

More than 480,000 tickets were sold for the games, which has a total of 1.66 million tickets available for selling. About 16,000 tickets of no-barrier seats are available for handicapped people and the same number for their companions.

Tang said that Chinese Paralympic team was established on July 17th, with 547 members, 332 of whom are athletes. All of them are amateur athletes from all walks of life. They will compete in 295 events of 20 categories at the Paralympics.

It will be the first time for the Chinese team to attend equestrian, wheelchair rugby and basketball, rowing, sailing and other four events.

She said Beijing has made five of its sports venues including the National Stadium, or the Bird’s Nest, reach the world’s level in terms of no-barrier facilities.

The Paralympics will use 20 game venues, and six training venues, all of which were used for the Beijing Olympics, she said.

Beijing has opened 16 special bus lines with 400 no-barrier vehicles for the games. All the 123 stations of eight subway lines have at least one entry-exit which can be used by passengers in wheelchairs, she said.

Tang said the city also built 109 elevators for handicapped people, and organized the first no-barrier taxi team. Tourist attractions such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City have installed no-barrier facilities.

The organizing committee has designated 22 hospitals and 16 hotels for the attendants of the Paralympics. The committee has also published guidance books for no-barrier service and will offer wireless hearing aids and video sign language translation service for the games.

Tang said to provide convenience to blind people traveling in Beijing, the municipal government issued rules to allow blind people to take registered guide dogs to all the Paralympic venues, training centers and public facilities.

She said two Chinese and two Portuguese blind people have already registered their guide dogs in Beijing.

Zhao Chunluan, head of the Beijing Disabled Persons’ Federation said that Beijing will continue to improve no-barrier facilities and other services for its one million handicapped people, or 6.49 percent of its total population after the Paralympics.

from: china.org.cn

Michael Phelps wants more in 2012

LOOK out London, Michael Phelps is coming to the 2012 Olympics and he’s thinking about adding even more events to his repertoire.

The Beijing Olympics and Phelps’s eight gold medals are still making headlines, but the good news for his rivals is that the London games will be his last .

And the bad news? He could be taking part in even more events.

“I am looking forward to trying some new events — some events that I’ve never really had the opportunity to swim since my schedule is always so crowded,” Phelps said, adding he’s never competed in a backstroke event at a major international meet or in the 100m freestyle.

Only a few swimmers are likely to breathe a sigh of relief after Phelps confirmed his future plans.

“No breaststroke, no distance swimming, no open-water swimming,” Phelps said. “At least those guys will still be my friends.”

The only other swimmers likely to be pleased by the 23-year-old American’s comments are those young enough to compete in 2016.

“I’ve never wanted to go beyond 30,” Phelps said. “I might go a few years beyond the Olympics.

“I said to my coach: ‘Don’t get any ideas because I don’t want to compete beyond 30,’ and he said: ‘That’s good because I don’t want to coach you past the age of 30’.”

Phelps has said basketball player Michael Jordan and golfer Tiger Woods are the two superstars he’d most like to meet following his exploits in China, and he could be learning lessons from one of them already.

Woods took time at the pinnacle of his career to remodel his swing to renew his dominance. Phelps is speaking of switching the training programme he has followed for the past decade.

source: thetimes.co.za

United States suffered a gold medal wipe-out on Wednesday after suffering another dismal track and field performance which virtually conceded Olympic Games supremacy to China.
The US only managed two silver medals in the women’s 400m hurdles through Sheena Tosta and in the men’s 200m from defending champion Shawn Crawford.
Walter Dix picked up a bronze behind Crawford.
But even those two medals came by default with Crawford and Dix being promoted after original second and third place men, Churandy Martina of Dutch Antilles and American compatriot Wallace Spearmon, were disqualified.
By the end of the day, China still topped the medals table with 45 gold out of a total of 79 while the US had 26 golds out of 82.
Jamaica piled on the misery for the United States on the track at the Bird’s Nest.
First Melaine Walker took the hurdles gold before Usain Bolt stole the show with a record breaking performance in the men’s 200m which delivered him the double sprint gold as well as a second world record.
Crawford could only marvel at Bolt, who reminded him of US eight-gold swim superman Michael Phelps.
“The guy came out and made the best Olympics of my lifetime,” Crawford said. “To me, Bolt is like what Michael Phelps is to swimming.”
America’s night ended on another low note when world polevault champion Brad Walker was eliminated in qualifying after failing three times to clear 5.65m.
American pride was restored by their teams with its NBA superstars cruising past Australia 116-85 in men’s basketball and the baseball team making sure of their place in the last four with 4-2 victory over Japan to set up a semi-final date with old rivals Cuba.
Team USA will face defending champions Argentina on Friday for a place in the basketball finals.
Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his game high 25 points during a 14-0 run to start the second half, extending a 55-43 lead at the break to 89-61 at the start of the final period.
“At the start of second half we wanted to come out and we had a particular set we wanted to run. I had a lot of good looks and knocked them down,” Bryant said.
LeBron James finished the game with 16 points, many coming as he attacked the rim for hard fought points in the first half. Carmelo Anthony also chipped in 15 for the winners, while centre Chris Bosh and Deron Williams both had 10.
Meanwhile, a dominant United States ensured their place in the last Olympic softball final ahead of the sport being dumped from the Games by beating Japan 4-1.
Yukiko Ueno and Monica Abbott kept each other’s team scoreless through the first seven innings of regulation play and the first extra period.
But then the Americans scored four runs off the previously untouchable Ueno in the ninth inning for victory.

from: afp.google.com

His phenomenal swimming performance was in the books, and not even Michael Phelps himself was interested in watching the rest of the Olympic Games.
Asked if he would stay in Beijing for the Closing Ceremony, a week after his final race, Phelps said, “I have some other things . . . obligations that I’ve got to do.”
So while Phelps attends to sponsor promotions, the Games organizers and NBC Sports are committed to playing out the schedule through Sunday. It’s just that without him, the 2008 Olympics are limping toward the finish.
That’s more than an expression, in China’s case. Track hurdler Liu Xiang, a defending Olympic champion and a Yao Ming-sized star in this country, pulled out of his 110-meter heat Monday because of a foot injury. He walked slowly away from the starting blocks and off the track, taking the hopes and years-long anticipation of China with him into the tunnel of the “Bird’s Nest” stadium.
The Chinese still have Yao and his basketball team, which qualified for the quarterfinals, but Liu’s absence causes “major trauma,” said Jamie Metzl, an executive of the New York-based Asia Society.
“It is impossible to overstate the impact of Liu Xiang to the people of China,” said Metzl, a former State Department official. He had predicted if Liu lost his final race, “you would feel the air going out of the stomachs of 1.3 billion people.”
That may describe how NBC executives felt when Phelps climbed out of the pool for the last time. The network was enjoying a record pace for Olympic ratings, averaging some 30 million viewers nightly as Phelps was shown live (or close to it) in U.S. markets, winning a record eight gold medals while competing in the mornings in Beijing.
The American women’s gymnasts also helped boost the ratings, and they’re down to one event: All-around champion Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson will compete Tuesday on the balance beam.
So what’s left after that? Not much. There’s still some drama in the gold medal count, being led by China, but few high-profile contests will spice the competition. Track and basketball usually drive the second week of the Summer Games. With Liu out, the biggest track event is Wednesday’s 200 meters, with Jamaica’s Usain Bolt attempting to duplicate his world-record performance in winning the 100 last weekend.
For Utahns, there’s intrigue in Wednesday’s quarterfinal basketball game, featuring former University of Utah center Andrew Bogut of Australia against the U.S. team with Jazz players Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. But the Americans have played so well, in contrast to 2004, that little mystery remains in the tournament. What’s more, Sunday’s gold medal game begins at 12:30 a.m. Utah time.
At this point, NBC’s best strategy might be to superimpose an image of Phelps swimming alongside sailing vessels or canoe paddlers, or just show a lot of beach volleyball.

from: sltrib.com

Yelena Isinbayeva made sure the Olympic athletics program ended a lot better than it started Monday at the Bird’s Nest.
The Russian pole vaulter broke her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Already assured of victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the United States, Isinbayeva set a mark of 5.05 metres on her third and final attempt at that height.
After eclipsing her old world record by one centimetre, Isinbayeva did a somersault on the mat before jogging around the stadium with a Russian flag as the crowd wildly applauded.
It was anything but a celebration about 10 hours earlier when defending 110-metre hurdles champion Liu Xiang, one of the most recognizable faces in China and even more popular than basketball player Yao Ming, walked away from the blocks after pulling up during a false start in qualifying, his Olympics over.
“We worked hard every day, but the result was as you see and it’s really hard to take,” said Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping.
While Liu clutched his right leg in pain, an elderly woman in the stands wiped tears from her eyes, providing the most poignant example of what the 25-year-old hurdler, who had been affected by the injury for several months, means to many in his home country as it hosts the games for the first time.
Usain Bolt, the 100-metre gold winner and world record-holder, easily qualified for the 200 semifinals. Bolt never pushed himself to win his quarter-final heat ahead of Olympic gold medallist Shawn Crawford, with the Jamaican mock-wiping sweat off his brow after the race.
The semifinals are set for Tuesday, with Crawford among the few believed to have a chance at stopping Bolt’s quest for a 100-200 double, a feat last achieved by Carl Lewis at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The United States leads all countries through Monday with 72 medals, with China second at 67 and Russia thrid at 36. China has the most gold medals with 39, followed by the U.S. at 22 and Great Britain at 12.
Canada has nine medals, including two gold.
Angelo Taylor won the men’s 400 hurdles, finishing in 47.25 seconds to lead a U.S. sweep in the event. Kerron Clement finished second and Bershawn Jackson finished third, the first sweep since the United States did it in 1960.
Taylor, the 2000 Olympic champion, won his second gold by running a personal-best time of 47.25 seconds. He won the U.S. team’s second gold medal of the meet, joining Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won the discus throw in an upset earlier Monday.
Pamela Jelimo led world champion Janeth Jepkosgei in a Kenyan 1-2 finish in the women’s 800 metres.
The 18-year-old Jelimo, a heavy favourite despite only switching to the 800 in April, won in 1:54.87.
Three-time world champion and Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist Maria Mutola finished fifth in 1:57.68 in her fourth and last Olympics.
Irving Saladino won the men’s long jump, giving Panama its first Olympic gold medal. The 2007 world champion won with a best jump of 8.34 metres. Brimin Kipruto of Kenya won the gold medal in the men’s 3,000-metre steeplechase.
Emma Snowsill, a three-time world champion from Australia, took the triathlon gold in the 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bicycle ride and 10-kilometre run in 1:58:27. Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal was second, a minute behind, and another Australian, Emma Moffatt, took the bronze.
“Coming down on the last lap I had to throw whatever I had left,” Snowsill said. “There’s nothing like running scared.”
Chen Yibing extended China’s unbeaten run of gold – five in five events – in men’s gymnastics by winning the rings. The two-time world champion was perfectly still on nearly every move in registering 16.600 points that blew away the field of eight.
He Kexin of China won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal.
Britain won the men’s team pursuit at the Laoshan velodrome, knocking nearly two seconds off the world record it set a day earlier. The team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and individual pursuit gold medallist Bradley Wiggins finished the 4,000 metres in 3:53.314, almost overtaking the silver medal-winning Denmark in the final.
World champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the women’s points race.
Andrei Aramnau of Belarus broke three heavyweight world records to win his country’s first Olympic gold in weightlifting. Aramnau lifted a total of 436 kilograms in the 105-kg category and also set world marks in the snatch and clean and jerk.
“I came here to win and break records,” Aramnau said. “It’s not just empty talk. I did it.”
He Wenna of China won gold in women’s trampolining, over Canada’s Karen Cockburn, China took the men’s team title in table tennis and the United States won the team show jumping event in equestrian in a jumpoff over Canada.
The United States beat Germany 106-57 in men’s basketball, advancing to the medal round against Australia. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, as the United States completed an undefeated 5-0 march through pool play.