Post-Olympics Intro
by Derek Miller 
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The twenty-sixth modern Olympic Games are over and what a spectacle of sport they were. Some of my picks did a lot better than others, but that wasn’t the point of them. These games will be remembered primarily for Michael Phelps becoming the most successful Olympian ever and the emergence of Usain Bolt as the greatest sprinter ever, but there were many other performances to thrill and inspire. I will be reflecting on these games in a future issue of the magazine. The Beijing Games raised the question of who is the greatest Olympian - thanks to the phenomenal Michael Phelps, but where did it all begin?
In our Post-Olympics Special Satish begins by taking us back to Olympia in ancient Greece in 776BC. In The Ancient Olympiads he details the history of the ancient Olympic Games from their beginning through to abolition in 394AD. He introduces us to the legendary wrestler Milon of Kroton, chariot owner Princess Kynisca of Sparta and the greatest athlete in the ancient Olympiads Leonidas of Rhodes. In The Origins of the Modern Olympics Games Satish details the oft forgotten contribution of Victorian doctor William Penny Brookes in reviving the Olympic Games as well as the better known role of Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He also tells of Brookes’ role in organising the annual Olympian Games in the English village of Much Wenlock.
We follow this with the beginning of our investigation of one of the most shameful episodes in Olympic history. In An Olympic Disgrace (Part One) - The Greatest Satish details the early life of one of the greatest athletes America ever produced - Jim Thorpe - up to the ticker-tape parade in New York that greeted his record-breaking success in the fifth modern Olympiad in Stockholm in 1912. The next issue will detail the shameful treatment that he received from the International Olympic Committee and the seventy year campaign to right a terrible wrong.
Thorpe should feature in any sensible discussion on the greatest Olympian. The success of Michael Phelps prompted us to investigate further. What should the criteria for greatness be? Should a great Olympian transcend their sport? Should they win more gold medals than anyone else, or even more medals than anyone else? Should they dominate over many Olympiads? Should they master many disciplines or should it be a combination of all of those of those factors?
We begin our search for the greatest Olympian with The Greatest Olympian (Part One) - An Exceptional Olympiad which details phenomenal performances in a single games including the Ancient Olympiads, but longevity should also be considered and in The Greatest Olympian (Part Two) - Longevity and Multiple Titles we research Olympians who have made a great impact in more than one Olympiad ending by highlighting the extraordinary achievement of Leonidas of Rhodes who won three separate events at four consecutive Olympiads. No other Olympian has come close to matching, let alone surpassing, that achievement. We conclude our Post-Olympics Special with The Greatest Olympian (Part Three) - Longevity that details the achievements of great Olympians in lesser known sports such as the great kayaker Birgit Fischer and fencer Aladár Gerevich, but even their achievements do not match that of Milon of Kroton who won the wrestling title from 540BC until he was beaten in the final in 512BC.
Most people refer to these Olympic Games the twenty-ninth modern Olympiad. We don’t because the games of 1916, 1940 and 1944 that were scheduled to take place in Berlin, Tokyo and Helsinki, respectively were cancelled due to the First and Second World Wars.
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The Ancient Olympiads
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a Friend
Greece was the birthplace of European civilisation. It gave the world some of the greatest philosophers: scientists and dramatists the world has ever seen, such as Socrates: Plato, Pythagoras, Æschylus, Archimedes , Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, but they gave the world something even more special - the Olympic Games. They lasted nearly twelve-hundred years and despite the dictates of the Sacred Truce that obliged city-states to observe periods of peace to allow competitors to travel to and from the games, wars for control of the site of the prestigious games were frequent, especially between the neighbours of Olympia, Elis and Pisa. Read More...
The Origins of the Modern Olympics
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a Friend
Everyone knows that the modern Olympic Games were revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896 don’t they? Well actually they weren’t and de Coubertin himself acknowledges the fact. In 394AD the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I abolished the ancient Olympic Games as a pagan ritual contrary to his Christian beliefs. They had lasted almost twelve centuries and would remain dormant until the nineteenth century when their spirit would be revived by an Englishman - . Baron Pierre de Coubertin would later develop Brookes’ idea into the modern Olympic Games. Read More...
The Greatest
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a FriendAn Olympic Disgrace (Part One)
“Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world,” Swedish King Gustav V told Jacobus Franciscus ‘Jim’ Thorpe - the star of the fifth modern Olympiad in Stockholm in 1912. The Swedish monarch then presented Thorpe - arguably one of the greatest ever athletes - with a silver chalice plated with gold and encrusted with jewels. It was shaped as a Viking ship. It was one of the highlights of Thorpe’s life - one that should have secured his future for life, but like much else the greatest sportsman of his era would not be allowed to keep his Olympic achievements and endorsements during his lifetime. Thorpe would be treated shamefully by his own Olympic Association and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), each of whom would break their own rules to rob him of his accomplishments. No Caucasian athlete had ever been treated so poorly.
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An Exceptional Olympiad
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a FriendThe Greatest Olympian (Part One)
When the twenty-sixth modern Olympic Games ended in Beijing earlier this month - three were cancelled due to World Wars I and II - the twenty-three year-old American swimmer Michael Phelps staked a strong claim to be the greatest Olympian of all time at least in terms of his haul of medals, but who is the greatest of them all? Muhammad Ali only won a single gold medal in Rome in 1960. Denied the most basic courtesy of service at a restaurant in his home country he flung his medal in the nearby river in disgust. He went to become the greatest heavyweight boxer ever. Stripped of his title for refusing to be drafted into the American army for the war in Vietnam, Ali overcame the odds to win back his World Title twice. Ali eventually transcended sport. In later years Parkinson’s Disease robbed him of many of his legendary faculties. Nevertheless, he received a replacement gold medal at the centenary Olympic Games in Atlanta. Ali was also chosen to light the Olympic cauldron to open those games, but should he be thought of as the greatest Olympian ever? Should an athlete who has won only one Olympic title and is considered great for his achievements - phenomenal though they undoubtedly are - after winning his only Olympic title really be considered the greatest Olympian ever?
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Longevity and Multiple Titles
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a FriendLongevity and Multiple Titles
While there have been several athletes who have posted exceptional performances in a single Olympiad, or even two, should they be considered the greatest ever Olympian? Michael Phelps is the most successful athlete in Olympic history with an incredible tally of fourteen gold medals and two silvers as well, but he has achieved that in just four years in a sport that offers the opportunity to do so. Mark Spitz achieved his haul of nine gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the same four year period. The great Paavo Nurmi’s athletic career spanned three Olympiads - it should have been four. Sigfrid Edström, the then President of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to allow Nurmi to run the marathon in Los Angeles in 1932 because he considered Nurmi’s travel expenses for a meeting in Germany to be too high. Nurmi was a national hero in Finland and had travelled to the USA to compete in the marathon. He trained in America for the event and fellow athletes wanted him to compete. Nevertheless, Edström refused to budge and Nurmi was denied the opportunity to emulate the achievement of his mentor and first Flying Finn Hannes Kolehmainen. Nurmi believed that despite illness he would have won the marathon easily. He may well have been denied the opportunity to prove that because of the Swede’s jealousy at Nurmi’s accomplishments. Finland retaliated by refusing to compete in a traditional athletics meeting between the two countries again until 1939. Meanwhile, Nurmi had to console himself with a then record tally of nine gold medals and three silvers.
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Longevity
by Satish Sekar Print Send to a FriendThe Greatest Olympian (Part Three)
Another great modern Olympian who is mentioned almost in passing in this debate is the Ukrainian gymnast Larissa Latynina. She had a ten year sporting career that spanned three Olympiads. She burst onto the Olympic scene in Australia at Melbourne’s games in 1956. Latynina also graced the Olympic Games of Rome and Tokyo as well. She won a total of eighteen Olympic medals - nine gold: five silver and four bronze. Unsurprisingly the Soviet Union - including Latynina - won the team competition at those three Olympiads. She did the same in the floor exercise. Latynina treated Australia’s first Olympiad to gold medal displays in the all round event, which she retained four years later and the vault as well. She finished her medal haul from Melbourne with silver in the uneven bars and bronze in the team portable apparatus. Latynina took six medals in her first Olympiad. Ville Ritola did slightly better in the 1924 Olympiad in track and field - taking two silvers as opposed to Latynina’s silver and bronze, along with the four gold medals each of them won. However, despite beating her rival for the title of best gymnast at the games to the all round title, Latynina had a slightly worse record than her rival - the Hungarian star Ágnes Keleti - in a rivalry that was spiced up by political events. Keleti matched Ritola’s achievement of four gold medals and two silver. The Soviet Union had invaded Hungary and crushed the Hungarian Revolution led by the reformist Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who was secretly tried and executed in 1958. In 1989 Nagy was rehabilitated.
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Olympic Special
by Derek Miller Print Send to a Friend
The 26th Olympiad in Beijing is now over, we extend our congratulations to the competitors whose dreams have been fullfilled. Coming very soon our post Olympics special... watch this space!
In this issue of the magazine we concentrate exclusively on the Olympic Games. We will include other articles on the Olympics in future issues. We thank John Little for the research that he contributed to this issue. We begin with the Path to Beijing (Part One) which shows that modern issues of performance enhancing substances: cheating, boycotts and bans are nothing new. It takes the Olympic story from the foundation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894 through to the Antwerp Games of 1920. It is followed by The Betrayal of Olympic Ideals that details the harsh treatment of Germany in particular after the First World War by the IOC. The IOC stands for peace and harmony, yet despite an illegal occupation of its territory following an invasion by France and Belgium, the victim of that aggression was punished. France hosted the 1924 Olympic Games despite invading and occupying an important part of Germany. The IOC rewarded this aggression by not only allowing France to keep the Olympic Games, but maintaining the Olympic ban on the victim. This was a shameful betrayal of Olympic principles by the IOC.
The Greatest Olympian
by Derek Miller Print Send to a Friend
Empower-Sport Magazine congratulates the American swimmer Michael Phelps on becoming the greatest modern Olympian ever with a personal tally of eleven gold medals. He won six gold medals in Athens four years ago. Currently, the greatest Olympian of all time is the athlete Leonidas of Rhodes. Between 164-152BC he won the stadion, diaulos and hoplitodomus in each Olympiad. His haul of twelve Olympic racing titles was unsurpassed.* Phelps has a chance of becoming the best ever during these games as he still has three more races to swim 
It all comes from Self Belief
by Derek Miller Print Send to a FriendNumber ten is an athlete...
...who embodies each and every aspect of the Olympic spririt, and the human spirit in general.
At the age of fourteen, Natalie du Toit, competed for South Africa, in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth games. Less than two years later she just missed out on qualification in three events for Sydney 2000. She made Athens her next goal. Then in 2001, tragedy struck. She hopped on her scooter after a training session, heading back to school in her native Capetown, and was his hit by an erratic driver who struck directly at her exposed left leg. It would have been better if she had fainted, but she stayed conscious until surgery. And when she came to, her left leg had been amputated at her knee. Far from ending her career or her dreams, she returned with vigour, determined to keep her hopes of competition alive. To the delight of her family and her peers she qualified for the Manchester Commonwealth games in 2002, where she finished a creditable eighth in the able-bodied 800 metres freestyle. It was the first time in the modern era that an amputee had raced in the finals of an able-bodied swimming competition. In an historic double of competing as both an able-bodied athlete, and an athlete with a disability, she also took gold in the 50m and 100m lite athletes with disability events.
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Born to Run
by Derek Miller Print Send to a FriendMy picks for numbers eight and nineAs the title suggests are both runners. But that's where their similarity with the most of the field abruptly ends.
Nader al Masri, twenty eight, is a 5000 metre specialist, who hails from Beit Hanoun, in the Gaza Strip. He's the only one from Gaza on the Palestinian team, and he just made the trip. The rattle of gunfire and threat of rocket attacks, form the backdrop for his training regime, and he was repeatedly refused requests to train outside the strip. Finally, after activists took up his cause he got his marching orders in April, and has been allowed to take flight from the Hamas controlled region to follow his Beijing dream. He faces stiff competition on the track too, but if he makes qualifying it will be personal triumph and there's no limits to what he might achieve.
Gypsy King
by Derek Miller Print Send to a FriendMy number seven pick
Is an eighteen year old British boxer, named Billy Joe Saunders. He's says he's hoping to emulate the feats of Amir Khan, who boxed very well in Athens four years ago. And judging by his overwhelming points victory, 14-3, against Turkey's Adem Kilicci, who managed bronze at the world championships only last year, he could well be on his way.
This young pugilist has no ordinary tale of the tape. He may well be the first Romany Gypsy to qualify for the Olympics in his chosen category. He's no stranger to being an outsider. He and his family live on a caravan site on the outskirts of London, and his rich lineage testifies that he has boxing in his blood. Tom, his father boxed, so does his brother, and so too do his cousins, grandad, and great grandfather. The difference is, they all boxed with their gloves off. This prospect, was born into the bare knuckle variety of the sometimes not so noble art.
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The Redeem team
by Derek Miller Print Send to a Friend
Controversial to some perhaps, my pick at number six is the American basketball team. Truth is there's nothing controversial about it at all, especially if they play as good as they talk.
The official and unofficial team spokesman, in a team full of stars who talk and mostly deliver, is Cleveland Cavalier and global icon, LeBron James. 'For us it's now or never. It's the gold or it's failure', he says. Big words indeed, even for for a big man.
Though the United States have won twelve of the fifteen Olympic basketball golds on offer, not counting Moscow, when America stayed at home, their standing in the game has slipped of late. Bronze in Athens, and defeat against Greece in the 2006 world championships, basically disgraced the entire domestic game, so often revered by adoring fans.
Track Queen with asterisk
by Derek Miller Print Send to a FriendPick of the bunch number five. 
The infamy surrounding certain former US champions of the track is not going to disappear any time soon. A victory for 200 metre specialist Allyson Felix, however could help pave the way to dispelling the dark cloud of doping accusations that has hung over the team since the Marion Jones affair.
As Jones, the former darling of the sprint team, languishes in prison, for lying to the authorities about steroid use, the defending 200 metre world champion knows that even the gold will not be enough to enough to silence the critics. Felix has never failed a drug test, but neither did Jones, say dissenters.
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Dynamic Duo.
by Derek Miller Print Send to a FriendMy numbers three and four pick 
They look like certainties to serve up a double dose of excitement and medals. They are the two top contenders for the showpiece 110 metres hurdles event.
Dayron Robles, is the bookish twenty-one year old from the now infamous seaside town of Guantanamo Bay, (it's really quite scenic, I've been there and seen it, from the outside of course).
He stormed to a new world record recently and just might have enough to topple China's other golden boy, current Olympic champion Liu Xiang. (and yes, he's just as revered as the towering Houston Rockets and China Basketball star Yao Ming.)
Disclaimer: The auto-translation should help understand what is written here, but it may not be an accurate translation for meaning.
We can not take responsibility for inaccuracies or misleading translations.
In the global game of football there are currently only two black managers in the English game, three black managers across Europe and a tradition in which African national teams employ white European managers. In the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, out of the thirty-two National Teams, only two countries had a manager of African or Caribbean origins. Throughout the infra-structure of the sport, in organisations like FIFA and UEFA, positions of influence in governance: marketing and administration, the sports management culture is predominantly white, male and European. Whilst at the playing and performance level, players of African and Caribbean origins represent twenty-five percent of the labour. This polarisation of management and playing along racial lines represents a legacy of the global colonial structures of slavery and the neo-colonial age. 
England take the field in this months Women’s World Cup, having qualified for the second time. 
Few would argue that baseball has become America's national sport, especially from spring time through to the World Series October climax.
“ ... racism in football is obviously not as old as the scourge of racism in society in general, but neither is it as recent as the current worrying situation may lead some to believe,” says a spokesperson for FIFA. “FIFA has been actively fighting the problem for a long time, but recent events have given the need for concerted action an added urgency.”
“If any player, assoc' or club official or spectator perpetrates any kind of discriminatory or contemptuous act as described by par. 1 and/or 2 of this article, three points will automatically be deducted from the team concerned, if identifiable, after the first offence. In the case of a second offence, six points will automatically be deducted, and for a further offence, the team will be relegated. In the case of matches without points, the team concerned, if identifiable, will be disqualified.” : Paragraph 4 of Article 55 of FIFA’s amended Disciplinary Code.
“Marc Zoro’s decision to stop the game and protest against racism signalled a new confidence black players had found in challenging racism. Enough was enough,” said Kick It Out spokesperson Leon Mann. “His actions were also extremely timely, because, at the time he was being abused, racism in football was being discussed at very senior levels in the European Parliament and by FIFA ahead of the World Cup.”
“I don’t think – certainly within the SFA – that there are any grounds for punishing Motherwell Football Club, because there is nothing that they could have done to avoid this incident taking place and when it did, by all accounts it was dealt with very swiftly,” says Andy Mitchell, Head of Communications of the SFA. “How it was dealt with is still open to dispute. I wasn’t there so I can’t really give you too much background, but there are issues like should the perpetrators have been arrested, or ejected from the stadium immediately, so in that respect procedures must be improved in dealing with the individuals concerned and calling them to account.”
“Racism is a problem that is and was present in society, not only in football, and that must be tackled first and foremost at national and local level,” says a FIFA spokesperson. 
“Sicily does not have a problem with racism,” says Evelyn Trochidis – Media and Communications Officer of Calcio Catania. “There is no racism here.”
“Fans of Palermo, Catania and Messina like to fight each other,” says Palermo resident and teacher Sonia, “but don’t fight fans of other teams.”
