Archives for June 2009

It was Olympic Day on Tuesday.

What do you mean you missed it? It's a "unique, global event held every year" to commemorate the first time the International Olympic Committee (IOC) met for champagne and cigars. And it's "the most celebrated Olympic event after the Games".

It is also exactly the kind of self-reverential mythologizing the rest of the sporting universe finds so irritating about the Olympics. Does the IOC really need a next "most celebrated Olympic event"?

No, of course it doesn't. The Games are big enough to speak for themselves, which is why I went along to Waltham Forest Town Hall a couple of weeks ago to hear how London 2012's architects are selling the project to cynical Londoners. If it's possible to have a fascinating meeting on council premises this was it.

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Frankie Dunn, Clint Eastwood's character in Million Dollar Baby, has a quick answer every time Hilary Swank's Maggie Fitzgerald asks him to train her to box: "I don't train girls."

This dismissal is delivered in a 60-a-day growl that does nothing to hide his distaste for the idea of women's boxing.

For five minutes last week I felt something similar myself.

I had just walked into the Amateur Boxing Association of England's (ABAE) 2009 Women's Championships and two young fighters were in the ring, slugging it out, in front of a vociferous crowd.

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"I will never, ever win BBC Sports Personality of the Year!"

As predictions go that doesn't immediately stand out as a stop-the-presses sound bite. There have been only 52 different winners in the award's 55-year history, so statistically speaking it's a pretty safe statement to make.

But the odds start to change if you happen to be a British sports star, and they begin to get very short if you are a British sports star who happens to be the best in the world at what you do.

Which is why Mark Cavendish's opinion of his SPOTY prospects is so interesting. He's a two-time world champion, the fastest sprinter on the road and a household name throughout cycling's heartlands but the 24-year-old cannot even make the shortlist for Britain's annual sports gong. Are we so blessed with sporting greats?

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For Olympians, the year after a Games is traditionally a time for chocolate, proper holidays and opening school fetes. Some really let themselves go and have a beer every now and then.

With the next peak to climb still three and a bit years away, the first quarter of an Olympiad is not the time for heroics in the gym, hall or stadium.

The pool, however, appears to be a different kettle of fish, as the world's finest swim suits have been racking up records like superstar DJs. The Arena X-Glide is making the most waves so far in 2009 with seven world bests, two more than its closest challenger, the Jaked 01.

Speedo's LZR Racer, 2008's undisputed champion, has claimed four records but is starting to look tired. Can it bounce back at the Worlds in Rome this summer or will its crown pass to a younger rival?

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