Vuelta a España in Netherlands!

On Saturday, the 64th edition of the Vuelta a España will start in Assen, the Netherlands.

The only other Vuelta edition which started outside of Spain was 12 years ago in 1997 in Portugal. Assen hosts the sixth Dutch start in any of the three major tours, more than any other country.

According to Infostrada Sports, the last time the Netherlands hosted a major tour was seven years ago when the Giro d’Italia started in Groningen. Both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France will start in 2010 in the Netherlands as well, respectively in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Major tour starts – Foreign countries
# Starts Country Year(s)

6 Netherlands Tour (1954,1973,1978,1996), Giro (2002), Vuelta (2009)
5 Belgium Tour (1958,1975,2004), Giro (1973, 2006)
3 West Germany Tour (1965,1980,1987)
2 Luxembourg Tour (1989,2002)
2 Monaco Tour (2009), Giro (1966)
1 Switzerland Tour (1982)
1 Spain Tour (1992)
1 Greece Giro (1996)
1 Portugal Vuelta (1997)
1 Ireland Tour (1998)
1 France Giro (1998)
1 England Tour (2007)

List of Dutch starts in three major tours
Year Race City

2009 Vuelta Assen
2002 Giro Groningen
1996 Tour Den Bosch
1978 Tour Leiden
1973 Tour Scheveningen
1954 Tour Amsterdam

Federer goes for sixth one at Flushing Meadows

On Monday, the 2009 US Open starts in New York. World number one Roger Federer can become the first man to win the US Open for the sixth time in Open Era.

Richard Sears, Bill Larned and Bill Tilden have managed to win the US Open seven times before the start of the Open Era, according to Infostrada Sports.

If the Swiss wins the tournament, he also becomes the first in Open Era to win a specific Grand Slam six successive times.

Federer won Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year. If he wins the US Open, it will be the third time that he wins three successive Grand Slam titles.

Federer has reached the final the last six Grand Slams. This is the second most in Men’s Singles in Open Era.

Federer already holds the record of reaching 10 successive Grand Slam finals (2005-2007).

Most US Open Men’s Singles titles – All-time
# Name Nation Years

7 Richard Sears USA 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887
7 Bill Larned USA 1901, 1902, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911
7 Bill Tilden USA 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929
5 Jimmy Connors USA 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983
5 Pete Sampras USA 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
5 Roger Federer SUI 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
4 Robert Wrenn USA 1893, 1894, 1896, 1897
4 John McEnroe USA 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984


Most consecutive specific Grand Slam Men's Singles titles – Open Era
# Name Nation Grand Slam Editions

5 Roger Federer SUI US Open 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
5 Björn Borg SWE Wimbledon 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
5 Roger Federer SUI Wimbledon 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
4 Björn Borg SWE Roland Garros 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
4 Rafael Nadal ESP Roland Garros 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Most consecutive Grand Slam Men's Singles titles – Open Era
# Name Nation Year(s)

4 Rod Laver AUS 1969
3 Pete Sampras USA 1993-1994
3 Roger Federer SUI 2005-2006
3 Roger Federer SUI 2006-2007

2 Roger Federer SUI 2009

Usain Bolt: how do Jamaicans run and run so fast?

Usain Bolt got the party started in Jamaica when he smashed the 100m world record on Sunday. It seems that party shows no signs of stopping after adding the 200m gold in record time on Thursday night.

But while Bolt has stolen the headlines at the World Championships in Berlin, his teammates have also been delivering on the track. Jamaica currently top the medals table with five gold, two silver and two bronze leading to one question: how do Jamaicans run so fast?

There is nothing fortuitous about how this poor Caribbean island, with a population of just 2.6 million people, have made the sport of sprinting their own.

Preliminary medical research has indicated that the so-called speed protein Actinen A is much more prominent in Jamaicans’ fast-twitch muscles, meaning they are naturally better adapted to sprinting events.

But what cannot be understated is the combination of a successful development programme for raw talent and a tradition that sprinting is a one way ticket out of poverty, and a route to free education.

In 1971, former world record sprinter Dennis Johnson decided he wanted to pass on some of the knowledge he had gained at San Jose State University and set up a USA-style college sports academy in Jamaica.

As Anthony Davis, Johnson’s predecessor as sporting director at Jamaica’s University of Technology (UTECH) explains: “Dennis had the opinion that the sprint is a bit like engineering – people can be taught how to do it.”

Johnson’s speed academy offered scholarships to promising Jamaican athletes who he could develop on an individual basis, while receiving a free college education.

Now, nearly 40 years on, UTECH students make up a quarter of the Jamaican athletics squad and the University has an impressive list of success stories, including Usain Bolt and former world record holder Asafa Powell.

Davis believes that the link between athletics and free education cannot be ignored.

He said: “You can’t escape the fact that in Jamaica, many of these athletes are running to escape poverty.

“Sport for many is their one chance to get a tertiary level education and make themselves a better citizen. Sport opens doors to Jamaican youngsters which would be otherwise closed for them.”

The UTECH programme is just one of Jamaica’s assets when it comes to developing young sprinters. Perhaps more importantly, is the cross-island high school sports system, which sees 120 schools compete in a national championship, in front of crowds of up to 30,000 people.

“The intense rivalry and standard of competition can give young athletes a massive boost.” Davis said.

“Because our island is so small it’s fairly easy to organise a national event with every school competing and the crowds are brilliant.”

These national high school events provide UTECH’s coaches with a chance to scout the best talent from around the isle, although Davis says they are not necessarily interested in the fastest.

He said: “Rather than trying to pick out the quickest athletes at high school level, our coaches look out for promising talent and then teach them the most effective ways to run.

“That’s why so many of the Jamaican squad run with a high front leg style. Asafa Powell was not the quickest athlete at high school level, but he showed signs that he could be moulded to run with a quick stride and he was eager to learn.”

The story of Jamaica’s rise to a sprinting powerhouse has lessons which could even be learned by some of the world’s sporting superpowers. Even with modest investment and facilities, phenomenal results can be achieved with the right grassroots strategy and attitude.

“We’ve shown that you can develop world class athletes locally without the investment and facilities other countries have available to them. We are punching way above our weight.” Davis said.

“We are at the stage now where Jamaica are going to dominate Olympics and World Championships for the next decade or so. With our current athletes inspiring so many young people to run, anything is possible.”

With young Jamaicans dominating the annual Penn Relays in the USA, and a generation of children likely to be inspired by the role models of Bolt, Powell, and Fraser, the future for Jamaican athletics looks nearly as bright as their yellow and green vests.

Source: Paul Garbett via Telegraph

Brooklyn Decker gallery: photos of Andy Roddick wife for Men Style Magazine

What else?

Usain Bolt goes for the sprint double - double

This evening, the men’s 200m final is at stake at the World Athletics Championships. World champion Usain Bolt can become the first man ever to win the sprint double at both the Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships.

The men’s sprint double has been completed at each of the last two World Championships, by Justin Gatlin (2005) and Tyson Gay (2007), according to Infostrada Sports. Last year, Usain Bolt became the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the Olympic sprint double.

Winning Men’s 100m and 200m double at World Championships or Olympic Games

Year Name Nation Competition

2008 Usain Bolt JAM Olympic Games

2007 Tyson Gay USA World Championships

2005 Justin Gatlin USA World Championships

1999 Maurice Greene USA World Championships

1984 Carl Lewis USA Olympic Games

1972 Valeriy Borzov URS Olympic Games

1956 Bobby Morrow USA Olympic Games

1936 Jesse Owens USA Olympic Games

1932 Eddie Tolan USA Olympic Games

1928 Percy Williams CAN Olympic Games

1912 Ralph Craig USA Olympic Games

1904 Archie Hahn USA Olympic Games

Usain Bolt: the fastest man in the history

Usain Bolt has captured another world record, winning the 100-meter race in 9.58 seconds at the world championships.

Bolt shaved 0.11 seconds off the record he set at the Beijing Olympics, beating defending champion Tyson Gay on Sunday, who set a U.S. record of 9.71 seconds.

In the fastest 100 ever, Asafa Powell earned a bronze with a time of 9.84 in Berlin.

The race had been the most anticipated event of the world championships and lived up to its billing.

Bolt won the Olympic gold in Beijing last year with a world record performance of 9.69.

Usain Bolt said he was ready for the world record even before the final at the World Championships.

The Jamaican stormed to a stunning victory with a new world record of 9.58 seconds, shaving 0.11 seconds off his own record of9.69 set in last year's Olympic Games.

"I was definitely ready for the world record and I did it! " he said.

"I am proud of myself. This is a big moment in history but you never know what happens tomorrow. For me it was a great run.

"This is big in Jamaica. I just came to execute and I did it right."

Triple world champion Tyson Gay of the United States, who vowed to beat Bolt earlier, found that he had just no chance, even though he won the silver with a U.S. national record of 9.71 seconds.

"There were seven guys and not just Tyson running in this final with me. I took them all seriously. Yes, my parents are here. I had nuggets for lunch. The first phone call I got was from a TV station in Jamaica and the second from our Prime Minster."

He said that he had expected to set a world record but did not expect to beat the record by such a big margin.

"I was focused and came out to execute, I did not think that I could run 0.1s faster than my own world record.

"But for me, anything is possible. I did not worry about anything before the race. I do the worrying outside of competition."

Bolt, who also won the 200m and 4X100m relay in Beijing, said: "The game is now on for the 200m gold."

Jessica Ennis on course for heptathlon glory

Life has taught Jessica Ennis never to take anything for granted, but a story that would have been unthinkable 15 months ago is edging closer and closer towards a glorious conclusion.

The young woman who feared her career might be over when she suffered multiple stress fractures in her right foot was on course for an astonishing comeback at the World Championships here after three events of the heptathlon.

Commanding performances in the 100 metres hurdles and the high jump were followed by a brilliant lifetime best in the shot put, just when it looked as if the event would prove her undoing.

It left her with a 138-point lead over second-placed Nataliya Dobrynska, the Olympic champion, with the 200m to come at the end of the opening day of competition.

She returns to the Olympic Stadium today for the long jump, the javelin, the 800m and then, barring a disaster, an emotional medals ceremony.

That would be a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the 23 year-old. This time last year she was hunched in front of a television at home in Sheffield, her broken right foot encased in a protective boot, as Dobrynska dominated proceedings in Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium.

Yesterday Ennis wasted no time in reminding the Ukrainian that she is now the world's No 1-ranked heptathlete – 12.93sec to be precise. That was the time it took her to cross the line in the hurdles and, though she was slightly disappointed not have got closer to her personal best of 12.81, it was enough for a big early lead.

Significantly, Dobrynska was almost a second slower in 13.85, well down on her 13.44 time in Beijing.

"I was quite nervous about the hurdles because I had it in the back of my mind that something was going to go wrong and I was going to fall over or something," said Ennis. "So, to be honest, I was really pleased to get down and run under 13 seconds."

The fatalism was understandable given her wretched experience last year when she received the diagnosis on her injured foot and was ordered to rest if she wanted to save her athletics career.

But her brilliant comeback at a low-key heptathlon in Italy in May, when she produced a world-leading points total of 6,587, proved she was far from finished. Yesterday she showed she is getting even better.

Her hurdles time was an improvement on Italy, and so was her clearance of 1.92m in the high jump - just three centimetres shy of her British record.

But it was in the shot put that Ennis showed her true class. Under extreme pressure, with only 13.07m to show from her first two attempts, she knew she had to pull out something special in the final round to avoid a repeat of Osaka two years ago, when a poor shot put ruined her medal chances.

This time she delivered. With Dobrynksa threatening to slash her overall lead after achieving a 15.82m put, Ennis hurled the shot to 14.14m, the first time she had exceeded 14 metres.

There was more encouragement for Britain in the women's 400 metres as Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders, the gold and silver medallists in Osaka two years ago, qualified comfortably for today's semi-finals.

Ohuruogu found herself pitted against the world No 1, Sanya Richards, in her heat and though the American crossed the line first in 51.06, Ohuruogu showed no sign of her recent hamstring injury as she coasted home in second place in 51.30.

On paper, Richards is almost two seconds quicker than Ohuruogu this year but she knows how dangerous it is to under-estimate her British opponent when there is a championship medal at stake.

Having finished third behind her at the Beijing Olympics, Richards had no hesitation in naming Ohuruogu as the biggest threat to her World Championships ambitions.

"Christine has a great track record of being ready at these meets no matter what's going off for the rest of the season. For me, she's still the No 1 competition," Richards said.

Sanders has drifted off the radar following her injury-hit season last year, though the Windsor and Eton athlete was happy with her condition after finishing second in her heat in 51.64. "I'm feeling really good and I'm looking forward to the semi-finals," she said. "Obviously, Sanya has run the fastest but I think it's really wide open, like Osaka."

James Brewer, a former European junior silver medallist, underlined his promise with a personal best of 3min 37.17sec to qualify for the semi-finals of the 1500m. He was third in his heat.

Andy Baddeley, whose place in the Great Britain team was confirmed only a week ago after a season hit by injury, also justified his inclusion by going through in fourth place in his heat in 3-45.23.

Source: Telegraph

Female Boxing confirmed for London 2012

Women's boxing will make its Olympic debut at the 2012 London Games, giving all 26 sports on the program female and male competitors.

The International Olympic Committee added the event to the program on Thursday during a meeting of the executive board.

"It's a great addition," IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "The sport of women's boxing has progressed a lot, a tremendous amount, in the last five years. It was about time to include it in the Olympic Games."

Female boxers will compete in three weight classes, with 12 competitors each in flyweight, lightweight and middleweight. To make room for the 36 boxers, one of the 11 men's classes will be dropped.

"We made an internal adjustment ... to keep the quota," international boxing federation president C.K. Wu said. "This is a very important guideline by the IOC. (If) you want to increase the quota, it's not easy."

The IOC has a limit of 286 boxers in the Olympics, so only 250 men will be allowed to compete in London. Still, the men will fight for 10 medals while the women compete for three.

"There are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to men but this is a step in the right direction," British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said.

Like men's boxing, the women's competition will be confined to amateurs. "We don't allow professionals," said Wu, who added that the world championships would likely serve as the qualifying competition.

Four years ago, women's boxing was rejected as an Olympic sport for failing to reach standards of medical safety and universality.

"From the medical point of view, we've checked everything," Rogge said. "There is no issue." Now that women's boxing is officially in, Wu is already looking ahead to the future.

"I already have plans to support all national federations who want to develop women's boxing," Wu said. "AIBA will offer long-term support to talented young boxers, particularly those from emerging nations, and it will create more competitions for women, at both international and continental levels."

The IOC made several other changes to the 2012 schedule, including reducing all men's 500-meter canoe events to 200 meters. "That will give a more spectacular race," Rogge said.

Also, the modern pentathlon will implement a run-shoot format, similar to biathlon, rather than the normal shooting and running events, handball is dropping the non-medal consolation matches, and wrestling, swimming and cycling were all given the option to compete in new events if they drop others.

Humour: Daily Mail

Bekele aiming for fourth successive gold at 10,000 metres

On Monday, 17 August, Kenenisa Bekele aims to become the seventh person to win at least four successive gold medals at the same individual event at the World Athletics Championships, when he participates in the 10000m. according to Infostrada Sports.

Sergey Bubka holds the record, winning the Pole Vault event in a record six successive World Athletics Championship editions.

Winning most successive gold medals per individual event at World Athletics Championships
# Name Nation Event First Last

6 Sergey Bubka UKR Pole Vault 1983 1997
4 Lars Riedel GER Discus Throw 1991 1997
4 Iván Pedroso CUB Long Jump 1995 2001
4 Hicham El Guerrouj MAR 1500m 1997 2003
4 Michael Johnson USA 400m 1993 1999
4 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 10000m 1993 1999

3 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 10000m 2003 2007

Can anyone reach Carl Lewis in Berlin 2009? I don’t think so…

Waiting for IAAF World Championship here we remember Carl Lewis Profile

Country United States
Date of birth 01-Jul-1961
Era 1980s, 1990s
List of honours Olympic Gold: 100m 1984, 1988, 200m 1984, 4x100m 1984, 1992, Long Jump 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996; World Championship Gold: 100m 1983, 1987, 1991, 4x100m 1983, 1987, 1991, Long Jump 1983, 1987


Widely recognised as one of the greatest athletes of all-time, American Carl Lewis won a record nine Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 1996. Together with Paavo Nurmi, Mark Spitz and the gymnast Larissa Latynina, the sprinter/long jumper is one of only four Olympic athletes to have achieved this feat. After winning three titles at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki in 1983, Lewis set out to emulate his boyhood idol Jesse Owens by winning gold in the 100m, the 200m, the long jump and the 4x100m relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The young athlete confirmed all the potential and promises his previous years had shown and became an instant immortal. A superstar was born, but ‘King Carl’ was not satisfied. He defended his long jump and the 100m title four years later in Seoul, although he was helped by Ben Johnson’s disqualification in the 100m. Also, Lewis won silver in the 200m.

At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Lewis added two more gold medals to his impressive tally by winning the long jump competition and the 4x100m relay. The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta were to be his last trick on the highest stage. Lewis was no longer a dominant sprinter, but he bowed out in glory after winning the long jump, becoming one of only three Olympians to win the same individual event four times.

At Olympics and World Championships Lewis amassed a total of 17 gold medals, two silver and one bronze. This illustrates that Lewis was good at one thing: winning. The only thing he never achieved was breaking Bob Beamon’s legendary long jump world record from 1968, a blemish on his career which Lewis can certainly live with.

Source: Infostrada

Xisca Perello photos, Rafael Nadal girlfriend

Here we have a Maria Francisca “Xisca” Perello Gallery