Tennis, baseball, both forms of football, badminton, athletics and mahjong all feature in this week’s wrap…
Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Optimistic Americans, Struggling Print Journos and Manny’s Dreadlocks
Category Archives: Athletics
Why Liu Xiang should retire
Liu Xiang is out for the season, and will miss the 2013 World Championships in Moscow among other events. Further ahead, the 2015 World Championships will be held in Beijing and the 2016 Olympic Games will be held in Rio. In 27 Olympics, the oldest ever winner of the 110-metre hurdles was Mark McCoy who was 30 in 1992; Liu will be 33 in Rio.
Blade Runner faces day of reckoning
Here’s my Sports Talk column from today’s Global Times on Oscar Pistorius’ fall from grace:
When Oscar Pistorius came to Beijing for the 2008 Paralympic Games, he was already something of a celebrity. As a 17-year-old, he had won Paralympic gold in Athens four years earlier, and though he had failed in his bid to run at the Beijing Olympic Games against able-bodied athletes, he didn’t disappoint at the Paralympic Games, winning three gold medals and running record times in each event.
Speaking to him on the track immediately after his third win, I remember a humble young man breathless with excitement, and quick to credit others for his success. He told me his dream had been realized. But that dream has turned to a nightmare.
Oscar Pistorius winning three gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing
In light of recent events, it’s interesting to look back at a feature I did on Oscar Pistorius in 2008. I interviewed him twice on the night he won his third Paralympic gold medal – once immediately after he crossed the finish line, then again an hour or two later after he had got his breath back.
Continue reading Oscar Pistorius winning three gold medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing