Athletics
Oscar Pistorius is a 400m runner who won a silver medal last week at the World Athletics Championships, with his approved set of carbon fibre prosthetic legs.
Terence Parkin won a silver medal in 200m breaststroke at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Sekou Kanneh is an Australian eleven-year-old aspiring Olympic sprinter, running competitively in both the 100m and 200m events.
Continue reading "Starting gun shooting blanks for disabled sports champs" »
I can’t believe I’m saying this about the woman who had her fake breast removed for Australia, but I think it’s time we let Jana Rawlinson go from the shackles of her colonial confinement.
As much as the Commonwealth Games champ has showered Australia with gratitude for all the years of Woman’s Day covers and tolerance of her Olympic choking, it’s pretty clear we haven’t lived up to our end of the bargain.
Now she’s pulled out of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to say Jana, it breaks our hearts, but if you want to go and run for England in the London Olympics we’ll try very hard to get over it.
Continue reading "It will be painful, but it’s time to set Jana Rawlinson free" »
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Flutter says:
Speak for yourself Adam, I certainly do claim Dale Begg-Smith as an Australian because guess what? HE IS!!!! As for Jana, I’m not bothered by her wanting to compete for GB (despite the fact she can’t - not before 2013 anyway). I prefer to support athletes who WANT to represent… Read more »
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Nicole says:
Absolutely agree with you, Mayday. I was appalled when I found out they don’t have to repay their HECS debt - I plan to work in mental health when I graduate from my psychology degree, but somehow the government thinks I should have to pay them back the thousands I… Read more »
Morning, all. I’ve written a profile piece on Olympic and world Champion pole vaulter Steve Hooker in today’s Weekend Australian Magazine.
As I was writing the piece, I pretty much came to the conclusion that Hooker is Australia’s best current athlete in any sport. If not him, then who?
I’m going to run through a few candidates, then throw it over to you. But my vote goes to the 27 year old Victorian who, apart from being an absolute genius with a five metre pole in his hands, is one of the most natural, chatty, intelligent individuals on the sporting scene.
Continue reading "And Australia’s greatest living athlete is ..." »
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adam says:
two words kurt fearnley next question Read more »
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David says:
Motorcycle riders not being athletes? Someone needs to rid their minds of the 1930s cigar chomping Grand Prix stereotype. Casey Stoner is well worth a mention, as is Cadel Evans and Emma Snowsill. She wins a lot, why not her? She’s even a triathlete and ironwoman. Read more »
Losing is not something we like to talk about much at this time of year.
We’re reminded of the greatest premiership winning teams, the possibility of St. Kilda or Parramatta breaking the drought or Geelong or Melbourne Storm cementing their place as real champion teams.
But given that the team or individual that we follow is more often going to lose the premiership, not win the gold, or fail at the World Cup, our experiences with losing are arguably are more important in defining our support of the team or person than that of winning.
So in the lead up to the two biggest sporting weekends of the year The Punch writers have compiled, in no particular order, the ten teams or people that have let us down or just not performed when it mattered in Australia’s recent sporting history. What are yours?
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Ken Warren says:
4 of your 10 are rugby related… this blog was obviously written in Sydney. Please be aware no-one in Melbourne, Adelaide or Queensland like the game, it’s crap. Rugby/NRL is just a game of grown men constantly grabbing each other and slamming them into the ground. Although, Sydney is the… Read more »
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Mike Stand says:
The 2009 St George dragons surely take the cake. They got the minor premiership purely because the Bulldogs had 14 players on the field for a few seconds, they were beaten easily by the 8th place team that they flogged 1 week out from the finals and then they got… Read more »
An endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, a gender expert and a psychologist are involved in a round of “gender verification” tests on Caster Semenya, who overnight won gold in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. The alarm bells were raised some time ago after Semenya, who has lived her whole life as a woman, started demolishing fields and winning by extraordinary margins.
The Daily Mail has an excellent round up here of the story, including some photos of previous female competitors who were later revealed as men - but there’s more photos and a video interview with Semenya below, where you can hear her speaking.
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Nat says:
@ Jen Jaxon - why would any guy have a sex change just so that he could win competitions? It’s not exactly an appealing process. You would not change who you are sexually just to win a race. Semenya may have ambiguous characteristics but that doesn’t make her a man.… Read more »
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Blighty says:
Philp, Are you a girl or a guy? If you are a guy I suggest a visit to specsavers. Read more »
It has been an extraordinary few hours in sport.
Overnight Usain Bolt ran a world-record 9.58sec in the 100m sprint, and Tiger Woods just lost the US PGA Championship to Y.E. Yang - the first time he has ever lost a major tournament having held the lead at the start of the final day.
So here’s a question for you: Which do you think is the more amazing feat? I say Tiger’s defeat, and here’s why.
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chris says:
There is no comparison of freakish talent. Bolt has change the way science view human physical capability. Tiger has just pointed out the obvious, the talent pool for golf is very shallow. A person only needs basic social infrastruture to become 100m champion, for Golf a kid needs parents with… Read more »
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Evan says:
How objective is this piece? You’re a mad Irish golfer aren’t you? Jeez, I think I’ve even seen a few videos of your swing (it was pretty good, too) Read more »
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