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Entries Tagged as 'Major Events'

Federer versus Woods

July 28th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Golf, Golf Majors, Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

Roger Federer is the current undisputed champion of tennis, and Tiger Woods is the undisputed champion of golf. Although they could never go head to head, comparing their stats and their impact on their respective sports and the world of sport, who do you think is the greatest? It is a debate that is difficult to win, but interesting to have nonetheless. Roger Federer has just won another grand slam title, making it 11 grand slam singles titles. Tiger Woods has equally dominated his sport, winning 13 Majors. Both have been labeled the greatest ever, but there can only be one! The greatest of the greatest?

In terms of fitness, Federer would win hands down, but that is not what this is about. They have both dominated their respective sport in recent years. There are good arguments on both sides about who may have the edge. My answer? I would give it to Woods, but only just. In the history of golf, it seems more difficult to win tournament after tournament as he has. They are still very close and I think that we will have to wait until they have each completed their careers before a clear winner may emerge.

Related Pages: golf, Tiger Woods profile, tennis, Roger Federer profile

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Tour de Farce

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Tour de Farce · Cycling, Tour de France

The Tour de France cycling event is becoming a joke. After last year’s debacle with the initial winner Floyd Landis being rubbed out due to drug taking (which is still ongoing), we thought that the event would be cleaned up. This year’s event is not over yet, and there have been several doping incidents, the latest with the tour leader Michael Rasmussen being dropped by his team for lying to them and possibly covering up where he was when he missed drug tests last year. Other recent events include pre-race favourite Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov testing positive for a prohibited blood transfusion, and early on in the tour a German rider tested positive for testosterone resulting in some German TV channels stopping their coverage of the Tour. Tour officials are trying hard to clean up the race, but the problem in cycling is too deeply rooted. The penalties need to get even tougher. How about banning transgressors for life? And they should not hold another event until the sport is squeaky clean.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Floyd Landis profile

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Women’s Tennis Prize Money

March 15th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

Tennis CourtIt was recently announced that women tennis players at Wimbledon next year will get the same prize money as the men. Why does it have to be so? There is inequality in sport everywhere, but this is not sexist.

Athletes in most Olympic sports and many other international sports do not get anywhere near as much as tennis players, and most likely work just as hard, but it is just the way it is. It comes down to market demands, if people are paying to watch them play, to buy products etc, then there will be money in sponsorship and gate fees that can be passed on to the players in the form of payments and prize money.

If women tennis players want to get paid more, they should entertain us more, increase the quality of their play, make reasons for people to come and watch, and give us value for money. I am not saying that they are all like this, but I see are too many fat, lazy, bitchy, rich kids which are not good for the image of females in sport. If you looked at most of the high-profile women’s sports, they don’t need a pay rise – they are getting paid too much already.

Related Pages: Wimbledon, Tennis

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Breaking the Wave

January 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Breaking the Wave · Grand Slam Tennis, Spectators, Tennis

Yesterday at the Australian Tennis Open we were witnesses to a Mexican Wave out on one of the smaller courts. An audience wave can come around pretty quickly in a small tennis stadium. They also had a double wave going, the wave going in alternate directions and seemingly passing through each other – I had not seen that before. I have also heard of crowds coming up with combinations, changing speed, and bouncing back in the direction it came.

A few stadiums are discussing the option of stopping audiences from making the wave, as it is considered dangerous. Although this wave at the tennis was just a ripple as far as waves go, I would have to agree that they can be dangerous when people start throwing objects and drinks as the wave passes, and it can be distracting if you are trying to watch a game being played.

mexico city aztec stadium
The home of the Mexican wave? Mexico City Aztec stadium

If they can control it so that waves are only done during breaks in the games, and stop people from dangerous throwing of objects.

It may be easier said than done, as a log day at the cricket or tennis, after a few beers, people will think they can get away with whatever they want.

Related Pages: Australian Open, Grand Slam Tennis, About Tennis

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A Day at the Open

January 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on A Day at the Open · Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

I planned a nice day today at the Australian Open, avoiding the forecast of very hot weather mid-week. However, today the weather has gone too far the other way, and drizzling rain set in for the day.

After some days where the heat policy was put into play, it was now the turn of the wet weather policy to have an effect. Luckily our day ground pass tickets allowed entry to the Vodafone Arena, with its roof closed to the rain.

We could see on the scoreboard that no play was taking place on the outside courts, so we settled in to watch a few games under shelter. There was a strong French theme providing the entertainment: Amelie Mauresmo, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet.

At the end of the day, the clouds cleared for a short time for us to explore the outer courts and set down to watch the Australian crowd favourite, Wayne Arthurs. The crowd was very excited about the prospect of watching one of the few Aussies left in the draw, however, a misdirected pain-killing injection prior to the match turned his leg numb, and he had to hobble off the court and withdraw only after a couple of games.

It was not the day we expected, but nevertheless very entertaining.

Related Pages: Australian Open, Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

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First Day Violence

January 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on First Day Violence · Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

On the first day at the Australian Open, there was lots of action and excitement, but unfortunately, a lot of that took place off the court.

Melbourne is a very multicultural city, with many Australians having European ancestry, including Croats and Serbs. There has been a long history of animosity between Serbs and Croats back home in Croatia, but not here. I don’t know all the details, but some youths from these groups had an altercation in the crowd resulting in them being ejected. These guys have mostly grown up in Australia, so they must have learnt this hatred from their parents.

Australian-open-tennis-mine

It is embarrassing that these images were broadcast around the world – they are painting a bad image of Australia for the world audience, one that is essentially untrue. They have obviously not embraced the spirit of Australia.

The Australian Open has a history of the Swedes being very vocal and colourful, and they have added a unique flavour to this ‘friendly’ tournament. There has never been a serious complaint about their behaviour.

The authorities are going to increase security at the tennis from now on, but the tennis supporters don’t want to see a stop to people dressing up, chanting and showing support for their country or parent’s country.

Related Pages: Australian Open, Grand Slam Tennis, Tennis

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Lance Struggles in New York Marathon

November 6th, 2006 · Comments Off on Lance Struggles in New York Marathon · Cycling, Tour de France, Track & Field

Lance Armstrong competed in the New York Marathon on the weekend. He finished in a credible time for a non-runner at just under 3 hours. With his huge aerobic fitness level that he has shown on the bike in winning the Tour de France seven times, you would think it would be a walk in the park for him. He struggled, and said afterwards that it was the hardest physical thing he has ever done. This will bring joy to all the distance runners out there to get the credit for the hard work that they regularly go though. Maybe it was so tough for him as he is not with a cycling team anymore, and therefore does not have the team resources to ‘aid’ his performance.

Related Pages: marathons, track and field, Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile

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Norman Black Power

October 9th, 2006 · No Comments · Olympic Games, Track & Field

Australian sprinter Peter Norman recently passed away. His silver medal in the 200m at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 is still the best performance by an Australian male sprinter. Norman ran 20.06 seconds, which is still an Australian record. Despite his great performances, he is not a well known sportsman in Australia. However, many people have seen a photo of him receiving his Olympic medal, as he was part of one of the classic Olympic Games controversies. Norman came second behind American Tommie Smith, and in front of John Carlos also from the USA. Smith and Carlos were African Americans, and made their black power salute, raising their fists with black gloves on. All three athletes wore human rights badges, with Norman showing his support for their cause.

Related Pages: Mexico 1968, Summer Olympic Games, Australia at the Olympics

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Early Start for Swimmers

August 7th, 2006 · No Comments · Olympic Games, Swimming

It has recently been announced that the Beijing Olympic Committee are considering turning the swimming program on it’s head, so that the swimming finals at the 2008 Olympic Games are in the morning and the heats in the evening.

The reason for this is so the finals are on at prime time in the US. I have no problem with this, and I think the swimmers should welcome it. Although the world’s top swimmers are professional athletes, as with all sports, there are able to be professionals due to sponsors and the public who enjoy watching them perform.

swimming competition

By swimming their finals in the morning they are able to satisfy both of these groups. Physiologically, they should be more than capable of swimming their best in the morning. Look at every swimmer’s training program, and you will see that they are up early every day doing laps in the pool. If the Olympic program is switched around, you will see all the lead up meets also change their program around so they can get used to the new schedule.

I have also always wondered about how fresh the swimmers are after swimming several heats in the morning then coming out later that day to swim in their finals. Having to come to the pool fresh each day to race their finals, we may well see better performances – then we will not be hearing any complaints.

Related Pages: swimming, Olympic Games, Beijing 2008

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Lands In Trouble

July 28th, 2006 · No Comments · Cycling, Tour de France

It would not be a Tour de France without some doping scandal. I thought that when a few of the favorites were pulled out by their teams at the start of the event due to a link with a drug laboratory, then that would be it. However, the day after the end of the Tour finished, we discover that this year’s winner Floyd Landis gave a positive test for elevated testosterone, from a sample given after his big comeback win on one of the final stages. This whole incident may go on for a long time with appeals etc, but already the damage has been done to his reputation and to the reputation of world cycling, if it could get any worse. I followed the ups and downs of the Tour for the two weeks, and even stayed up late and watched a couple of the stages. Now I feel like what I watched was not real, and I feel cheated. I feel the same disappointment whenever there is a drug scandal. The doping cloud over Lance Armstrong is never going to go away either. In an era when many of the leading cyclists are being done for drug taking, indicating that the many performances are drug assisted, here is a guy who has won seven of the events in a row. It is hard to believe that someone who is clean can dominate for so long in those conditions.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile, Floyd Landis profile

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