#former junior world record holder!!

[figureskatingpenguin]

Marin Honda (JPN): Faded | 2023 Japanese Nationals

marin on her last nationals:

"when i touched the ice surface, i was very thankful. since the warm-up, i saw many banners and realized how many people supported me. this gave me the strength to make it to the end.

i started skating when i was two years old, and i've made many experiences both in practice and competitions. the public practice was very hard, and i thought about changing the triple combination to a double. i'm very satisfied with my performance."

although marin was injured, she decided to not withdraw and give her last nationals (and likely her last competition) her very best. to the 2016 junior world champion and perpetual champion of hearts, thank you for everything!

[ukiiseikou]

don't mess up, my lucky charm, my last chance.

wanderer x gn! reader. figure skating au.

synopsis: your pairs partner just ghosted you, but no worries! your coach manages to replace him with the next worst thing - wanderer. a/n: hi! making this a series called complementary figures, a figure skating au universe. stay tuned for other characters ^^ thanks for reading

“hi, i’d like to report a missing person’s case.”

ayaka looks up from unlacing her skates, giving you a sympathetic smile, “any news?”

“he’s gone gone, like, poof! i’ve been calling him ever since he disappeared two weeks ago but it’s like he never existed. i even called the police, and all they could say was ‘he’s still alive’, like buddy, i hope so.”

ayaka stands up, offering you a quick hug, “i’m so sorry, it was an asshole move for him to ghost you like this in the middle of the season.”

“it’s fine. i guess it’s all over now. still kind of in shock, but whatever.”

you sigh, sitting down on the bench and kicking off your sneakers as you pull your skates out from your bag. you weren’t even sure why you were here, your partner had up and left you in the middle of the competition season and you can’t perform a pairs routine by yourself. you were content to just wallow in self pity and refreshing instagram to see if, miraculously, any available pairs guy would contact you and ask to try out. in fact, you had been doing exactly that for the past few week and a half, but yae asked you to come in today, saying that you ‘needed to reconnect with the ice’.

you wave bye to ayaka as she walks away, leaving you to your own devices as you start pulling on the strings of your laces.

“y/n.”

yae appears before you, and you strain to get a look at her, a familiar grin on her face.

“hi, coach, what’s up?” you finish tying up your skates and stand up. with your skate, you tower over yae just a little bit, but you always felt like a little kid before her - she’s been your coach since you were little anyway, alongside your former partner.

“no news?” 

you shake your head, and she sighs.

“disappointing, but no matter, we move ahead.”

she beckons you to follow her, and you trail behind her as she steps onto the ice gracefully. you’ve been off ice for about a week now, and you really feel it. there’s a bundle of nerves as you slowly follow her in a lap around the rink, is this where yae tells me my pairs career is over?

“what do you think about getting a new partner?” she stops suddenly, and you nearly crash into her, lost in your thoughts.

“um, if there’s someone out there who wants me?” you offer awkwardly.

she laughs, “well, he better, you’re his last chance.”

“wait, you’re saying someone asked to partner up with me?”

she taps her chin, “it’s more like - i offered and no one else wanted him, so we’re his only choice.”

she finishes with a self satisfied grin, “don’t worry, y/n dear, he’s won a few medals.”

“yeah? like what?”

“world championships, world cup finals,” she lists off a bunch of titles, including national champion.

wait, national champion?

“are you talking about, uh, wanderer?” you interrupt her.

“is that the kid's name? ah, i forgot. he always hissed at me and ran away whenever i went over to ei’s house.”

while yae launches into reminiscing about her shared history with his coach, your mind goes a mile a minute.

wanderer, national champion, current world champion, former junior world record holder, and current world-renowned asshole.

no one can deny his talent and skills, but also that comes with a major attitude. you’ve heard changing room horror stories about him scaring off potential partners; people leaving in tears; a world record in the number of partners dropped; and if he drops you in the middle of a lift it’s not his fault - it’s yours.

“yae, why in the world did you offer to pair me up with some asshole?” you blurt out, “yae, i thought you liked me.”

 “oh look, they’re here!”

yae pointedly ignores your comment and pushes past you, making her way to the edge of the rink. you can feel the drilling stare, even with your back facing him. you just prayed to whatever archon is listening that he didn’t hear you, and you would at least leave this temporary partnership with your ego and self-confidence intact.

“ei! long time no see,” yae stops at the boards, as you slowly turn on your blades and skate towards where the pair is waiting.

“this is y/n,” she beckons you, and you pick up the pace, gliding into place next to her.

“hi, uh, it’s nice to meet you!” you’ll try your best to leave a good impression on his coach, at least.

“likewise,” ei nods and holds out a hand to shake, which you take.

“kunikuzushi,” she angles her head towards you, “say it.”

“hey,” he says curtly, avoiding your gaze. awkward silence settles over the group before yae claps her hands.

“i see. kuni, then? i see your skates are on, good! get up here. y/n, sweetheart, can you get my phone please? i would like to film this, thank you.”

you sigh, moving to grab yae’s phone on the other side of the boards. you watch the boy pull off his skate guards and step onto the ice out of the corner of your eye. you can’t deny it - you can tell by the way he holds himself that he’s far more elegant and well-trained than half of the guys you’ve seen come in and out of the rink door. the two of you make eye contact and you quickly fumble with yae’s phone, placing it near her hand.

ei and yae are chatting, leaving you to awkwardly follow wanderer, or kuni, or kunikuzushi, you weren’t really sure what to call him anymore.

“can you even skate?” he sounds irritated, and you bristle.

“of course i can, can you?” you retort.

“i’m the current world champion. of course i can. are you dumb?” he whirls around to face you.

“yeah? try doing that again without a partner,” you fume.

“i don’t need a partner to win.”

“it’s called fucking pairs.”

he snorts, “and you think your mediocre skills can keep up with me?”

“sorry, but i happen to hear you switch partners every season? you need me. admit it, i’m your last chance, because nobody else is stupid enough to partner up with someone like you.”

“someone like me? it’s okay! you can just call me an asshole again, just to my face. go on.” 

you stop, skates slowing to a halt, you can feel your face heating up at the reminder of the less-than-kind comment you made only a few moments ago. ah, fuck, he heard me.

his eyes narrow at your silence, and he whirls around again and kicks off, throwing ice in your direction and he leaves you behind.

“y/n, honey, you’re supposed to skate with him! don’t tell me you forgot after a week already!” 

you hear yae call from the boards, and you roll your eyes.

you race to catch up to him, but he ignores you. 

“okay, fine! i’m sorry! but like - prove me wrong!”

he turns at you with a strange look in his eyes that you can’t really place. before you can get a closer look, yae yells at you to ‘do a spin or something!’

he grabs your hand, grumbling something under his breath as he slows to match your strokes.

“do you know how to do triple salchow?” he questions over the sound of blade scratching ice.

“side-by-side? i mean, i can try!”

he rolls his eyes at you, but he releases your hand, “you go first, i’ll follow.”

wait, shouldn’t we talk about this?

you nearly stop your momentum but you catch how he’s staring intently at you. your insides squeeze together, your partner could never do a salchow properly, so you haven’t done it in a long ass time.

okay, fine.

you adjust your position, and you can hear his skates against the ice as well, perfectly mirroring your position as you launch yourself into the air.

there’s a foreign feeling in your legs, and next you know it, you end up hitting the ground, legs giving out as you slip and land. wanderer snickers as he slows to a halt next to you, and you just know he landed that triple salchow perfectly.

"not only did you double it, but you also fell on your ass? some skating skills you have."

you fell a thousand times before, but this one stings. you wince as you hang your head, trying to figure out if the dull throb in your leg is anything serious.

"are you crying? archons, i can't believe i have a crybaby of a partner." he sighs, but twists to get a better look at your face. you turn away from him.

"i'm fine," you say, pulling yourself to your feet, there's a shit-eating grin on your face, "let's try that again, partner."

he scoffs, "should've known you were pretending. can't deal with crybabies. you're lucky i'm giving you a second chance."

"watch this one. their debut internationally, the new wonder pair from inazuma. their chemistry is electrifying, and their technical content is one of the best!"

you let out a dry laugh of amusement at the commentators as you splay out across the couch, taking up all the space. wanderer hisses at you to 'get off me' but makes no move to shove your legs off his lap, instead, he grabs the remote from the coffee table to fast forward through the gushing that takes place before you've even entered your beginning pose, eyebrows drawn in irritation.

the two of you watch intently, the bright lights of yae's TV cutting through the darkness of the night combined with tightly drawn curtains. wanderer lets out a snort when you nearly crash into the ground as you land from your throw lutz, only saving it with a ridiculously bent knee that keeps you upright.

"still not used to the height?" he smirks.

"shut up, you're lucky i saved that," you spit. it's true, despite his shorter stature, he's hiding some serious muscle, enough to throw you into the air with height that looks like 'he's trying to send you to the moon' - as the commentators put it. your former partner never threw you that high up, and when you first did it, you felt as if you were in the air for an eternity.

"hah! no. you're lucky i held back."

"let's just call it even," you sniffle, turning back to watch the replay. after months of skating together, you know his little quirks, and when you shake with mock tears he stiffens, and you know you've actually got him wrapped around your finger. when you first actually cried in front of him (after a particularly ugly fall that felt like a broken bone), he spent his time saying that you 'looked ugly when you cry' and holding up tissues to your nose, but you can tell by his eyes his worry when the tears won't stop coming despite his irritated sighs and non-stop shaking of his head.

"whatever," he pats your ankle with a sense of urgency, the sofa creaking as he throws off your legs to stand up, "keep those ankles of steel safe, lucks, you'll need it."

you watch as he moves to ransack yae's fridge, and he sticks his face into the cool air in a desperate bid to stop the red crawling across his face. you're left quiet on the couch, an indescribable feeling racing up your neck at the nickname.

you tune out yae's usual pep talk as you survey the crowd - the arena's more packed than usual, and you're feeling the pre-program jitters. 

wanderer's hand finds your's, giving you a tight squeeze.

"you ready?"

you turn to smile at him, and he returns a rare one, "with you? always."

he snorts, but turns his head away as red tinges the tip of his ears, "don't mess up."

(and, by the way, thanks for giving me a chance back then.)

maybe i will write one where wanderer meets your ex-partner anyways, ♡ or ↻ if you enjoyed, support your writers, thank you!!

[newstfionline]

Friday, September 20, 2024

Residents of Springfield, Ohio, hunker down and pray for a political firestorm to blow over (AP) In the quiet corners of Springfield, Ohio, people are praying and attempting to carry on. In this city of 58,000, there is dismay at being transformed overnight into a target for the nation’s vitriol. Pastor Andy Mobley said people are hoping the attention sparked by former President Donald Trump spreading unsubstantiated rumors about the city’s legal Haitian immigrants eating house pets during last week’s presidential debate will blow over. Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Ohio’s junior Sen. JD Vance, have used the cat-eating rumors to draw attention to the city’s 15,000 Haitian immigrants. Since the Republican candidates’ initial comments, more than two dozen bomb threats—mostly from foreign actors seeking to sow discord—have prompted the state to send in additional state troopers and install surveillance cameras around the city in order to reopen schools and government buildings. Local families are still avoiding schools in the wake of earlier bomb threats, even though dozens of troopers have fanned out across the Springfield City School District to stand guard. Some 200 of 500 students were absent Tuesday from a single elementary school, officials said.

Americans can now renew passports online (AP) Americans can now renew their passports online, bypassing a cumbersome mail-in paper application process that often caused delays. The State Department announced Wednesday that its online renewal system is now fully operational, after testing in pilot programs, and available to adult passport holders whose passport has expired within the past five years or will expire in the coming year. It is not available for the renewal of children’s passports, for first-time passport applicants, for renewal applicants who live outside the United States or for expedited applications.

Venezuela’s opposition ex-candidate says he was forced to sign letter that effectively admits defeat (AP) Venezuela’s former opposition candidate, Edmundo González, on Wednesday said he was coerced into signing a letter effectively recognizing his defeat in July’s presidential election, which electoral authorities claim was won by President Nicolás Maduro. “They showed up with a document that I would have to sign to allow my departure from the country,” González said. “In other words, either I signed or I would face consequences. There were very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure.” The revelation of the letter is the latest strain to the country’s political crisis, which was exacerbated by the disputed election results and González’s recent departure for exile in Spain. González and the Unitary Platform coalition he represented on July 28 claim they defeated Maduro by a wide margin.

Amazon fires and drought (NYT) Large parts of Brazil, a country that holds over a tenth of the world’s fresh water, are on fire. They include vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetlands, as well as the Cerrado grasslands and the Atlantic forests along the country’s eastern coast. The number of fires in the country has more than doubled compared with last year, burning an area the size of Costa Rica in August alone. Smoke covered large parts of South America this month and blackened the skies of some of the region’s biggest cities, including Buenos Aires; São Paulo, Brazil; and La Paz, Bolivia. As if that weren’t dystopian enough, black rain from the soot produced by the fires has fallen over cities in several states in Brazil in the past few days. Water levels of the rivers in the Amazon basin have reached to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were navigable waterways. The drought is the most intense and widespread Brazil has experienced since records began in 1950.

Portugal declares a state of calamity as wildfires rage out of control (AP) More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declared a state of calamity for the hardest-hit areas late Tuesday, invoking powers to mobilize more firefighters and civil servants. The European Copernicus satellite service said that over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) were scorched and a combined 13 kilometers (8 miles) of fire fronts were detected as of Tuesday night. It added that an area home to 210,000 people was exposed to the fire risk.

He Had 5 Followers on YouTube. It Landed Him in Jail, Where He Died. (NYT) As a teenager, Pavel Kushnir won a coveted spot in Russia’s most prestigious training program for pianists at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. His classmates remember him as a shy, quirky introvert. He made a career playing for provincial orchestras, while on the side he wrote novels, mostly unpublished. Long a critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, Mr. Kushnir took up political activism with added zeal after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. He spread leaflets damning the war. Four blurry, muffled antiwar screeds that he posted on his YouTube channel, which had just five subscribers, landed him in a dark, crumbling jail on Karl Marx Street in Birobidzhan, the remote Siberian provincial capital where he lived. Now, at age 40, he is dead. Mr. Kushnir is one among what human rights activists say is more than 1,000 Russians who have been caught in a harsh state apparatus designed to mute criticism of the war.

A 9-Year-Old Girl Killed in Pager Attack Is Mourned in Lebanon (NYT) Mourners gathered in the village of Saraain on Wednesday for the funeral of the youngest confirmed victim of the pager attack in Lebanon: 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah. “The enemy killed us using this small device!” mourners chanted as they made their way through the dry grass of a cemetery. “They killed our child Fatima!” She was one of two children killed in the attacks on Tuesday that Lebanese officials said had left at least 12 people dead, and that injured nearly 2,800 others. Fatima was in the kitchen on Tuesday when a pager on the table began to beep, her aunt said. She picked up the device to bring it to her father and was holding it when it exploded, mangling her face and leaving the room covered in blood, she said. Sumaya Mousawi, Fatima’s cousin, said at least 30 people in her hometown of Nabi Sheet were injured in the attack, many in the eyes or stomach. Meanwhile, Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes across southern Lebanon Thursday, one of the most intense bombardments in the country this year.

Panic spreads after two days of explosions (BBC) After a second day of deadly explosions in Lebanon, Hugo Bachega reports that people are fearful of using electronic devices—not just pagers and walkie-talkies, which have now been banned from Beirut airport, but phones and laptops, too. The amount of injuries resulting from the explosions has overwhelmed doctors. "All patients had lost fingers or had eye injuries. It was something we never had seen before," Dr Nour El Osta told Nafiseh Kohnavard. Israel, which Lebanon has blamed for the attacks, has not commented. Its military, however, said it had hit several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight. In Washington DC, Tom Bateman reports on the "barely concealed sense of exasperation" at developments that could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle East. Top US and European diplomats are meeting in Paris for talks about the deepening crisis.

UN General Assembly widely supports a Palestinian resolution demanding Israel end its occupation (AP) The U.N. General Assembly strongly supported a nonbinding Palestinian resolution Wednesday demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year. The vote in the 193-member world body was 124-14, with 43 abstentions. Among those in opposition was the United States, Israel’s closest ally. The resolution was adopted as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza approaches its first anniversary and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs. Troubled efforts to broker a cease-fire deal in Gaza are pressing ahead, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting fellow mediators Wednesday in Egypt, even as attacks elsewhere in the region raise fears of escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Jihadists step up attacks on Burkina Faso civilians (BBC) Islamist insurgents in Burkina Faso have stepped up attacks on civilians, carrying out door-to-door killings, targeting Christian worshippers, a report by campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. It quoted data showing that more than 6,000 deaths, including around 1,000 civilians killed by Islamist insurgents, have been recorded in the West African state in the first eight months of the year. Burkina Faso has been battling jihadist groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), since 2016. When Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a coup two years ago, he pledged to improve the dire security situation within “two to three months”. However, the violence has only escalated. Large swathes of the West African country are run by the jihadist groups, leaving the government in control of just roughly half of nation.

Nigeria’s flood-hit residents lament expensive canoe rides (Reuters) When floods swept through Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri last week, canoe owners volunteered to help move residents to safety. But residents say they are now being ripped off by the canoe owners charging steep fees to move their belongings. Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, is reeling from the worst flooding in three decades after a dam wall burst following heavy rains that also hit several parts of West and Central Africa. With vehicles unable to move in many parts of Maiduguri, residents are relying on canoes. Falmata Muhammed, a 48-year-old mother of three said she decided to move some furniture this week but was shocked when a canoe owner charged her 80,000 naira ($49.56) for a short trip, more than the monthly minimum wage. After losing almost everything to floods, she was upset that “some are making it a big business, using the disaster to make a huge amount of money.”

Satellites ‘blocking’ view of the universe (BBC) Radio waves from Elon Musk’s growing network of Starlink satellites are blocking scientists’ ability to peer into the universe, according to the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. The satellites provide broadband internet around the world, often to remote places, but the new generation of Starlink satellites are interfering more with radio telescopes than earlier versions, scientists say. The scientists found unintended electromagnetic radiation from almost all the V2 Starlink satellites observed. They say it was about 10 million times brighter than from the weakest sources of light identified. One estimate suggests there are 6,402 Starlink satellites currently in orbit, external at around 342 miles (550km) above Earth, making it the largest provider by far. By 2030 the number of satellites in orbit is expected to surpass 100,000.

Rome’s influence (YouGov) A new survey found that 9 percent of adult Americans reported thinking about the Roman Empire on at least a weekly basis. In general, the Roman Empire enjoys a somewhat stellar reputation, with 49 percent of respondents saying it had a positive impact on the world and just 15 percent saying a negative one. Among ancient civilizations, only Athens (54 percent favorable) comes in as worthier in the eyes of the American people.

[chlostertalks]

So, so young.

Cameron came from track royalty; he was coached at U of H by his dad, Olympic champion and former world record-holder Leroy Burrell, and his godfather, 10-time Olympic medalist Carl Lewis. His mom won a gold medal at Barcelona 1992, and his aunt competed at Sydney 2000.

Cameron was a professional track athlete himself, and had deals with Nike and Red Bull. As a pro, he won a silver medal on the men’s 4x1 for Team USA in the IAAF World Relays in 2019.

He was also a native Houstonian who attended Ridge Point High School, where he won the Class 4A UIL State Championship in the 100, and later joined Team USA to win the 2012 World Junior title in the 4x1. While at U of H, Burrell was an eight-time All-American, broke four school records (including his dad’s 100 record by one millisecond in 2017), and broke an NCAA record in the 4x1. He was also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.

He passed away last night. His 27th birthday was just a month away. May he rest peacefully.

[anewbeginningagain]

Things about Tessa and Scott that can easily be put into words:

The most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history

The fourth most decorated Canadian Olympians ever

The first and only team to take ice dance gold in their Olympic debut

The youngest team to ever take ice dance gold at the Olympics

The first and only ice dance team to ever win Olympic gold on home ice

The first ice dance team from North America to take ice dance Olympic gold, breaking Europe's 34-year streak

The first former junior world champions to win Olympic gold in ice dance

The first figure skaters in 38 years to win three Olympic golds

The second ice dance team to win three Olympic medals in ice dance

The second ice dance team to win two individual Olympic gold medals and the first one to do it in nonconsecutive Olympics

The first duo to carry the Canadian flag at an Olympic opening ceremony

The first ice dance team to receive a 10.0 for a program component score under the new ISU Judging System.

The first team to receive four 10.0s from the judges in any figure skating discipline (under the International Judging System)

The first team to break the 80-point mark in the short dance in an international competition (2016–17 Grand Prix Final).Current record holders for the highest technical score in a short dance with 44.53 established at 2018 Winter Olympics

Historical record holders for the original dance

The first and only ice dance team to achieve a Career Super Grand Slam under the current ISU judging system. They are the first and only ice dance team to win all major ISU championship titles including the Junior Grand Prix Series and Final, World Junior Championships, Grand Prix Series and Final, Four Continents Championships, World Championships, and Winter Olympic Games

The only ice dance team to win world championship titles and Olympic golds under both the old compulsory & original dance system and the new short/rhythm dance system

The most decorated Canadian ice dance team ever

The longest-standing ice dance team in Canadian history

The first and only Canadians to win the Junior Grand Prix Final

The first Canadians to win the Junior World Championship

The first and only ice dance team to win the World Championship and Grand Prix Final as both seniors and juniors

Three-time senior world champions

Seven-time senior world medalists

Eight-time Canadian senior ice dance champions

Ten-time Canadian senior ice dance medalists

Things about Tessa and Scott that are almost impossible to put into words:

How they make people feel when they skate

How they made people who never watched skating fall in love with them within 7 minutes in three different Olympic games

How they overcame injuries together and came out the other side as a stronger team

How their chemistry and connection are so strong that millions of people across the world watched them perform their SD for 3.5 minutes and were sure it’s the greatest love story of all time

How they never settled for being the best in the world and still kept taking risks and pushing the sport and everyone in it

How naturally gifted skaters they are 

How regardless of that they are still some of the hardest working skaters out there

How they feel the music, any music, in any style, and how they interpret it to perfection 

How they manage to stay partners and friends for over 22 years and still want each other in their lives and want to continue to work together

How they are each other’s biggest fans

How they root and care about the other’s success, both in their joined projects and their solo ones.

And for me - how they made me find my almost forgotten love for skating and how they made me feel watching them admiring the beauty of their art. 

They are retiring on their own terms, after achieving everything there is to achieve and breaking every record there was to break, and as a fan that’s all I could have asked for them. I’ve said before that a big part of me believes that they will be back, that this is not goodbye but a see you later kind of thing, but even if it’s not I’m one happy fan for having witnessed their comeback and the success they had and I can only wish for them to have everything they want and more. I know I will still be around to watch them flourish ❤️

[empresswenjing]

2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final Qualifiers: Men

Petr Gummenik 🇷🇺 30 points

Age: 16 (April 11, 2002) Coach: Veronika Daineko, Vladislav Sesganov Choreographer: Alexandra Panfilova Season’s Best: 77.33/150.35/220.04 SP: Czardas FS: Love Theme from “Romeo and Juliet”

Only man to win both of his events; first-time qualifier (also the youngest man to qualify this season)

Missed most of last season with injury

Competes a rare 3A-3Lo combo in the free skate

Current junior men’s free skate record-holder

Camden Pulkinen 🇺🇸 28 points

Age: 18 (March 25, 2000) Coach: Tom Zakrajsek Choreographer: Stéphane Lambiel (SP), Tom Dickson (FS) Season’s Best: 81.01/147.80/223.95 SP: Oblivion FS: West Side Story

Defending silver medalist; second-time qualifier

Highest total score PB of the qualifiers (Stephen Gogolev of Canada is the current junior men’s record-holder)

Huge triple axel

Adam Siao Him Fa 🇫🇷 26 points

Age: 17 (January 31, 2001) Coach: Brian Joubert, Cornelia Paquier Choreographer: Nikolai Morozov Season’s Best: 70.50/135.33/205.83 SP: Archangel/Flying/Star Sky FS: Weight of Love

First French singles skater, junior or senior, to qualify for the Final since Florent Amodio in 2010–11; Luc Economides was second alternate last season

Unexpected qualifier after contenders made mistakes at both of his events and said in an interview that making the Final is an added bonus to skating well at his events

Attempts two quad toes in his free skate, but has not yet landed both successfully in a program this season

Tomoki Hiwatashi 🇺🇸 26 points

Age: 18 (January 20, 2000) Coach: Christy Krall Choreographer: Mark Pillay, Ben Agosto Season’s Best: 76.81/140.99/215.16 SP: Cry Me a River FS: Fate of the Gods

Won silver at both events to qualify for his first Final; previously won three bronze medals on the JGP circuit and was the surprise 2016 Junior Worlds bronze medalist after being called up to replace Nathan Chen

Flexible enough to do a Biellmann spin

Includes a phenomenal split jump in both programs, including cantilever-split jump-3S in his free skate

Andrew Torgashev 🇺🇸 24 points

Age: 17 (May 29, 2001) Coach: Christy Krall, Erik Schulz, Joshua Farris Choreographer: Andrew Torgashev, Scott Brown Season’s Best: 69.39/132.24/201.63 SP: Open Arms FS: El Tango de Roxanne

Won JGP Lithuania to qualify after finishing fourth at JGP Slovakia; second-time qualifier looking for redemption after a rough competition at the Final last season, previously won two silvers on the JGP circuit

Relocated to Colorado Springs to train with Christy Krall during the off-season after being coached his whole life by his parents, former Soviet Union ice dancers Artem Torgashev and Ilona Melnichenko

Helped choreograph his short program this season

Koshiro Shimada 🇯🇵 24 points

Age: 17 (September 11, 2001) Coach: Stéphane Lambiel, Robert Dierking, Anna Bernauer Choreographer: Stéphane Lambiel Season’s Best: 74.78/145.67/220.45 SP: Adios FS: Winter in Buenos Aires

Qualified largely due to a 0.01 point margin of victory over Conrad Orzel of Canada for the bronze medal at JGP Slovenia; first-time qualifier, previously won a bronze on the JGP circuit

The lone Japanese qualifier in either singles discipline

Had a large growth spurt over the past season, but has adjusted fairly well

[expertfitnesstipsblog-blog]

Phil Heath Aims to Make History in Vegas

The saying goes that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And, according to my crystal ball, that will be the story at this season's Mr. Olympia, set for September 14-15 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. For defending champ Phil Heath, I'm predicting another Sandow and another 400K. He'll be tied with Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman as the all-time leader with eight wins each. And, as I wrote last year, ultimately I envision 10 straight victories for Heath, then the retirement announcement at the age of 40. With a record that will never be broken, mind you. Yeah, I know, it's a bold prediction. But how many times has the Swami been off the mark? That said, let's be clear, there are several great physiques in the Olympia lineup, and I would not be shocked if there's an upset. Surprised, yes, but not blown away. So, let's take a closer look at major players in the show, and who, if anybody other than Heath himself (should he fall ill, suffer an injury, or come in out of shape) has the best chance of stopping the string. The Defending Champ If Heath, now 38, comes in sharp, unseating him will be a monumental task. OK, there's been criticism over the years of the narrow shoulders, weak chest, bloated tummy, average calves, etc. From my viewpoint, I don't think the 5-foot-9, 240-pounder is that narrow. His chest is adequate enough. And he may have solved his distended-belly troubles with hernia surgery several months ago. People who say the man has weak calves need to move up their annual eye exam. "The Gift" earned that moniker by having few flaws, actually, and presents a great overall package onstage, set off by those terrific guns, deeply etched wheels and hamstrings, and a back that resembles a relief map of Brazil. Heath's full, round muscle bellies pop when he poses, especially in the front double biceps, and the quality of detailed muscle when he turns to the back separates him from his adversaries. The Top-Six Challengers Nipping at Heath's heels will be the second- through sixth-place finishers from last year: Mamdouh Elssbiay (or Big Ramy to most of you), William Bonac, Dexter Jackson, Shawn Rhoden, and Roelly Winklaar. Hey, let's add Nathan De Asha and Brandon Curry to this list as well. Yup, you got it: Seven dudes battling for the next five slots behind Heath. The field is that congested. Big Ramy allegedly "slimmed down" to about 280 last year, and the six-footer benefited from the change. Enough, in fact, that more than a handful of fans felt the Sandow was his after the prejudging. He's improved each year at the Olympia, so if the law of progression holds true, Big Ramy will be the big winner in Vegas next month. And, he's my pick for the new People's Choice Award. More on that later. Bonac, who has gone from a relative unknown to one of the best in the game in the past three years, made his Arnold Classic debut this year, and walked off with first-place prize money (130K), trophies, and medals. But, more importantly, he held off the challenge of Jackson again to defeat "The Blade" for the second time. Bonac, who's about 5-foot-7 and 235 pounds, edged Jackson for third at last season's Olympia as well, but in both shows Jackson stood biceps to biceps with Bonac and could have swapped places with him in many people's eyes. Jackson still doing this well at this point in his career is plain stupid! I've been hearing for the last five years how he should hang up the posing trunks. Damn, the 5-foot-7, 230-pounder (Jackson says closer to 240) must be using some out-of-this-world sun-tan protector then, 'cause he's still great at 48. And, don't forget, he's the all-time IFBB record holder with 28 pro contest wins. Rhoden has beautiful shape but an injury to his jaw last year forced him to miss 12 weeks of training. So, it's understandable that he fell to fifth last season after a strong runner-up finish in 2016. The 43-year-old Jamaican, at 5-foot-11 and 240 pounds, is the modern-day Kenneth "Flex" Wheeler when he's spot on, making him a real X factor in this lineup. Could he push Heath once again for the crown? I think so. This brings me to the beast. Nobody—not even Big Ramy—packs as much hard-core beef as Roelly Winklaar. Originally from Holland but training in Kuwait for the past year or two, Winklaar jumped out at me at this year's Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio. I had had him as high as second in Ohio, and two weeks later he moved past both Bonac and Jackson in winning the Arnold Australia. At 5-foot-7 and 265 pounds, the 41-year-old Winklaar could finish anywhere from second to sixth; the latter is where he placed a year ago. If Winklaar is really tight, this could be a helluva fight! The 30-year-old De Asha, from the United Kingdom, stands 5-foot-10 and carries 240 pounds of well-conditioned muscle on his frame. De Asha has been one of the fastest-rising stars in the past couple of years. He was 12th at the Olympia two years ago, seventh last year, and absolutely has the tools to break into the top six this time around. And, he's got moxie, basically calling out Heath to go pose for pose against him. So, judges, can this be arranged at the Friday night judging on September 14? Curry, eighth last season, is another one of those Flex Wheeler types…Pretty lines with great symmetry. Not a bad tag to be labeled with, eh? The 35-year-old Curry has had a great career, including a victory at the 2017 Arnold Australia. Both De Asha and Curry are top-of-the-line physiques who could easily crack the top six. Top 10 Contenders Steve Kuclo, Cedric McMillan, Juan Morel, Michael Lockett, and Alexis Rivera all have a legit shot at cracking the top 10. Kuclo is ready to break out. The 6-foot, 265-pound former firefighter should bring the heat to this year's festivities. A 33-year-old from Michigan, who now calls Dallas, Texas, home, he has the size and shape to mix it up with anybody in the lineup. He was at his all-time best at the Arnold Classic this year with a strong fifth-place landing. His upper body now matches his powerful wheels. McMillan is perhaps the most physically gifted man in the lineup, with height (6 feet, 2 inches), size (265 pounds), and symmetry. If he could just hit his peak, finally, at the Olympia, he could move way up from his tenth-place finish of a year ago. I was ripped by McMillan fans last year when I predicted he would finish exactly where he landed. We've all been waiting a long time to see the "next Lee Haney" show up in Las Vegas. Will the wait be over this year? I'm not convinced, but I could be converted. Morel, Lockett, and Rivera are very good bodybuilders. But good enough to land in the top 10 at this show? Not likely, but not out of the question. Then there's the feel-good story of the show: the qualification of Sergio Oliva Jr., 34, son of "The Myth," Sergio Oliva. The father won three consecutive Olympia crowns (1967-69), becoming the only competitor to ever best Arnold Schwarzenegger in the latter show. Junior is probably just glad to be here. This marks the first time in history a father and son both will have competed on the Olympia stage. The People's Champion A new addition to the show will take place where fans in the audience cast their votes. And those votes will matter! Fans will judge each competitor and rank them. The final decision, of course, will ultimately come down to the judges' selection. If the judges and fans disagree, the person who received the most audience votes will named be The People's Champion. Considering the dissatisfaction of so many fans over the past few years with the unanimous selection of Heath, I'm going with Big Ramy as the winner of this title, with Winklaar a close second. The 212 Division Defending champion James "Flex" Lewis has won the class six years in a row. The 34-year-old Welsh bodybuilder has announced his retirement after the weekend—from the 212 category, that is. Lewis has said he will take a year off, then move up one level to match muscles, shape, and conditioning with the big boys in 2020. At 5-foot-5 and 212 pounds (235 in the off-season), Lewis presents a great overall package of size, density, conditioning, and shape to be pretty much unbeatable. Not to mention the best calves in the game. There will be no shortage of challengers looking to end Lewis' 212 reign on a sour note. The likes of Ahmad Ashkanini (second last year), Hadi Choopan (The Persian Wolf), rapidly improving Derek Lunsford, David Henry, Jose Raymond, and Nicolas Vullioud all possess outstanding physiques. If Choopan in particular can make it to Las Vegas (Visa issues prevented him from competing at the 2018 Arnold), this could become interesting. The Men's Physique Division Jeremy Buendia, coming off pec tear surgery, is also coming off four straight Olympia MP victories. I thought it would be close last year…and he won unanimously. So, I'm not going against the 27-year-old this time around. Having said that, I won't be surprised by a Ryan Terry upset. Andre Ferguson and Brandon Hendrickson—second and third, respectively, in 2017—will also be factors. My longshot pick is Joseph Lee, who is improving with each show. He actually turned the tables on Henrickson earlier in the season after narrowly losing to him a week earlier. The Classic Physique Division Defending champion Breon Ansley is terrific, but last year I felt the title in this class might have gone to the amazing Canadian Chris Bumstead, who finished second. Of all the divisions in the men's competition, I feel Bumstead has the best chance of upending the reigning title holder when the final judging is completed. That said, the 5-foot-7, 185-pound Ansley followed up his Olympia victory last year with a win at the first ever Classic Physique competition at the Arnold Classic in Columbus. So, it ain't gonna be easy for his opponents to score the upset. That's how impressed I was last year with the 23-year-old Bumstead, who carries about 220 pounds on his 6-foot frame. George Peterson, third last year, is made up of championship breed, as are Arash Rahbar and Danny Hester. Rahbar was top five last year, but really showed impressive gains when he was second to Ansley in Columbus in March. Hester, the 49-year-old wunderkind—yes, he's even nine months older than Dexter Jackson—is, after all, the inaugural CP victor at the 2017 Olympia. Source link Read the full article

[black-halla]

Fear and Loathing in FS thread or What’s Wrong with Eteri Tutberidze

Disclaimer by me: Sports.ru is a fan web resource full of very toxic people who move from love to hate very easily. They are ready to spend their nights on the site writing mess things about athletes. Why? I don’t know. This article is about disappearing Russian skaters and the faults of Tutberidze, written as reply on the article “What’s wrong with Medvedeva” and also as reply to all toxic haters in fs fandom. A lot of sarcasm here. Please, beware.

«Hate is easier than love. Hate can be explained.»

Prehistory. For those who joined fandom during the Olympics, and do not really understand what’s happening.

In the previous series:

ep.1. On the eve of the Olympics, the story of one cycle. Pre-Olympic seasons 2015-2017.

In the lead roles (titles and age as for May 2018):

Elizabeth «she smoked live on Periscope, ew!!!» Tuktamysheva, World Champion 2015, triple Axel, 21 years old.

Sports.ru hates her for «disgusting programs» , «extra weight»  and laziness.

Elena «fat cheeks, left Goncharenko (her coach), ew!» Radionova, 2-times junior world champion, holder of the badge of CSKA school, 19 years old.

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Sports.ru hates her for her lifestyle and her «mushroomed» CSKA. [Mushrooms (Russian fs slang) – high PC scores. To get mushrooms – to have high PC’s scores.]

Anna «unstable and injured, ew!» Pogorilaya, bronze medalist of the World Cup 2016, skater with the most unusual programs and stunning looks, 20 years old.

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Sports.ru hates her less now because she doesn’t skate.

Adelina Sotnikova — episodic role, the Olympic gold of Sochi.

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(she had such jumps, oh).

She is hated on Sports.ru for everything.

Maria «woman-underotation» Sotskova.

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Well, obviously, it's hard to hate a person you do not remember.

Team «Tutberidze’s monsters»

Evgenia  «LICEMERIC MEAN SHIT»  Medvedeva, 18 years old. The winner of everything in the seasons of 2016-2017. 

Polina «totally injured» Tsurskaya, 16, owner of the most beautiful « hunged» jumps and talent, yet unrealized.

Alina Zagitova, 15 years old. Olympic champion 2018 had not yet annoy anyone in her first season at the adult, so no nicknames on Sports.ru.

Team «former Tutberidze‘s monsters»  + episodic male roles: 

Yulia  «she leaved Tutberidze because she was lazy and fat»  Lipnitskaya. The one «in a red coat»  who «beautifully put her leg up».

Adyan  «lazy! (not fat because he’s not a girl)»  Pitkeev, the former hope of the dead now men's figure skating.

Sergei Voronov, episodic role.

Team «very former Tutberidze‘s monsters»

Polina Shelepen’ was «lazy and ungrateful»  along before it became mainstream, oh, wait, I mean, before Medvedeva, Lipnitskaya and Tsurskaya. The first student of Tutberidze, who stepped at a high level.

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(it turns out, she was a swan before the mainstream too!)

Brief content of the 1st episode:

Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova opens the beauty salon, visits talk-shows, posts in Instagram — in short, goes into the shadows, but sits in the care of the federation. Olympic champion Yulia Lipnitskaya does not cope with eating problems (not confirmed) and injuries (confirmed). After leaving Tutberidze's group (accompanied by scandals), Yulia tries to pursue a career, but the Rostelecom drama and the flow of dirt on Sports.ru come to see her soon.

To replace the champion here comes Liza Tuktamysheva and her triple axel (the same one, for whose performance Mirai Nagasu will become the hero of the US, despite the modest final place), but a year later the axel leaves, and together with him Liza leaves too. Well, she is still here, but there is no chance for her at all.

On the place of leader comes 15-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva, who dominates everywhere for next two seasons. A new world record holder, which guarantees the talented Russian team what it lacks – the stability.

At the pick up Zhenya has Lena Radionova and Anya Pogorilaya, who leave at the end of the episode right before the Olympics. Lena — because of coach changes and sharp growth, Anya .... Anya is a theme for a single episode.

Quintessence of the state of the Russian women's team in 2016-17: World Cup 2017, where the fate of the Olympic tickets was determined. The hellish fight at the Russian Nationals and ... the deafening failure of the 2/3 team at the decisive moment. Medvedeva and her iron nerves pull out 3 tickets for the Olympics. «School Tutberidze» , they say. «Iron nerves» , they say.

Only one problem, «evil, dirty»  tongues whisper quietly behind their back that Tutberidze can not coach adults. If Zhenya will have a hard puberty, her career will be finished: talented Yulia Lipnitskaya left after the Olympics. ET has no students who perform reaching the age of 18 years. The coach is credited with the hellish methods of weight loss (which cannot be sustained after puberty) and indifference to injuries. As confirmation — the trauma of the Main Tutberidze’s Monster, «indestructible» Medvedeva. But Zhenya goes to the starts. Behind her back — the whole team. Problems? First, not everyone agrees with the PC — this is a clear premium from the Federation for stability. Secondly, lutz. A clear technical problem.

At this time, a girl named Alina Zagitova wins the junior world championship. Tutberidze took her in group recently. She’s still in the shade.

ep.2. During the Olympics (All of you has watched this episode)

Prologue: Medvedeva's speech in Lausanne at the IOC meeting, where the issue of Russian team’s admission to the Olympics was decided. Zhukov's gratitude for Medvedeva and her knowledge of the language.

Main action: Olympics. Drama. Technical superiority of the younger rival. The unofficial prohibition of Tutberidze to call «stepdaughter» Zagitova Olympic champion. A stream of mud in the comments: The Sports.ru's troops, of course, begin to protect the defenseless and disadvantaged minors, watering the aging old generation with mud.

ep. 3. After the ball (You are here).

Starring:

«Supernew monsters of Tutberidze» 

Alexandra Trusova. 13 years old, 148 cm, quads in official competitions. 

Alena Kostornaya. 14 years, 146 cm, triple axel. 

Anna Shcherbakova. Broken leg, but now jumps everything, including quad lutz, hello, Misha Kolyada.

«We were in the shadows, but we are also monsters of Tutberidze»

Darya Panenkova. 15 years old, the only one who passed puberty, but not very «danceable, according to the coaches themselves. 

Anastasia Tarakanova. 13 years old, according to rumors all the same dropped out of struggle due to injury.

Evgenia Medvedeva as the main villain.

In this episode: Supernew Monsters of Tutberidze «stamp» the quads in Instagram. Zagitova is in the shadows.

Evgenia Medvedeva after months of rumors leaves the coach. The coach shows on the air of national channel a private conversation in Viber and pretends that she learned about the transition only from news. Medvedeva leaves for Orser, perhaps the world's most famous coach, who just has a free places in group.

There is a lot of gossip and mud: they say, the coach from the group of Tutberidze himself says that the quads of the Supernews will leave soon; someone gloats.

A photo appears where Eteri hugs Zagitova like a mother. From this day Alina can be called the Olympic champion. Now, Alina is the New Hrustalnaya Daughter.

[Hrustalnaya means Crystal; Tutberidze’s rink is called Hrustalniy.]

The main part. What’s Wrong with Eteri Tutberidze?

Before the beginning:

Eteri Tutberidze is an excellent coach. Yes, she does not have athletes over 18 years old. But the successes of Lipnitskaya (in her few seasons on senior) and Medvedeva (under 18 years) cause respect. Yes, the junior coach. But the sport is changing, and Eteri enjoys this very well.

But with all due respect, here are the tense moments collected in one post.

1) The methods of training are clearly not designed for long-term athletes.

About nutrition of Lipnitskaya:

When she needs to lose weight, she eats only powder «Squid» — it's fiber, which gives energy. It's hard, and the weight goes down very slowly — 100 grams a day. But she copes, thank God.

via

It's not very surprising that Yulia started having weight problems, right?

Of course, it's much easier not to put the girls on the weigher during puberty, not to take food from them, not to force running crosses... Of course, the child is hurt, and he very often seeks whom to complain. Not everyone understands that if the coach screams at you, it means that he loves you.

via

Athletes of Tutberidze have usually very small height and weight (Medvedeva is  159 cm and 41 kg according to Tatler). It is purely physiologically impossible for 18 years. She’s even smaller than her mother. And by the way, screams mean love?

2) Medvedeva — not the first one who left Tutberidze like this.

Lipnitskaya and Medvedeva left without saying goodbye. It's not polite. But, whatever one may say, this is an indicator of fear and a general atmosphere in group. Why does Eteri say that all her leaving athletes are beasts? Why along with Medvedeva Tsurskaya left, which in another version may become the second number in the strongest group of the country? Why Shelepen’ left the same way? Are they all «ill-mannered, lazy and ungrateful» , while Eteri is one there who’s the right?

If the young girls were not afraid to go to the Olympics, why did the fear to write to the coach turned out to be more of a fear to go out in front of millions of spectators and give out a skate of the life? Perhaps the famous methods in the style of «wagging on the ice» had the opposite effect, when the athletes become more mature. Adulthood inevitably leads to the appearing of critical thinking.

And by the way, is it possible to speak so loudly about love and family relations, when...

3) Unethical statements about the left (and even not yet time to leave) athletes.

…when after you talk about them in bad manner, giving wvwryone all the small details of the leave? Why do we know everything about the leaving of athletes? Is it necessary for public? What is this for? Eteri has no one to share, and a strong woman does not want to cry near the window alone?

Adyan Pitkeev.

Before leaving:

He is always focused on himself. The presence or absence of several practice mates does not reflects on him. There is such a type of athletes.

After leaving:

At that time, several guys were riding at the same level, but the coaching staff had to prove their love to him on a daily basis. He had sincere tears when he thought he was not needed. The guy ran away, threw the skates into the garbage can. Of course, he didn’t want to leave skating. But he wanted someone to get these skates out of the can, wipe it, bring it back to the locker room and say to him "Adyan, come back.”

He shouted on trainings: “Withdraw me, I do not want to go there as a tourist.” How is it to «withdraw» ? Why «tourist»? Before this European Championship there was a chic Russian Championship. Why does he suddenly start acting like this? We persuaded him with love very long. But in the end we literally forced him to go on the championship.

Polina Tsurskaya.

Eteri says the one of the most talented female athletes had a bad season because of the rare genetic disease.

The mother of Polina denies.

A year later, Polina leaves the coach. She says that she doesn’t know for who she’s going. Clearly cunning.

Yulia Lipnitskaya. 

all about her leaving

The main reason for the transfer according to Tutberidze's version: 

Yulia is very driven. She does everything her mother says her to do.

Zhenya Medvedeva.

Well, you know. Publishing of the private chat, loud complaints for the fun of the public.

The full list of athletes who «for some reason» do not greet Eteri — here.

You know, when people constantly leave that way, even those whom she calls   «her children» (Shelepen’, Medvedeva, Lipnitskaya), are you either a very naive person or a very complicated person? And not all coaches of the group share the negative attitude of Eteri to the «defectors» : 

I can say only one thing: every person chooses his own destiny. If Evgenia decided this, then it remains to hope that she will succeed. I have known her since childhood, I accept her any decision. Is it wrong or not — time will show.

via the choreographer of the group, Zheleznyakov.

Is it possible to blame a person for leaving without saying goodbye the place where people are called pets? Yes, sure, it is. Do we know all the details of the conflict? No, we don’t.

4) Pay attention to the recurrence of the scenario:

From Medvedeva's sincere faith that «we just need to work harder and to not eat»  to the beautiful Alina’s phrase: 

Talking about puberty, when you become fat, it seems to me, that this is all fiction. You just need to close your mouth and not eat! Or, at least, eat a little. I eat, but in small quantities.

via

It’s impossible not to grow up ever. In modern Russian (and world) sports, only Medvedev succeeded. Well, Tursynbayeva and Miyahara too, perhaps. Where is the guarantee that Tutberidze's school will release an adult athlete into life?

5) Choreography.

Daniil Gleichengauz is a wonderful young specialist. The Tutberidze’s group has excellent specialists, but… There are some questions to the choreography.

1) Why did Medvedeva really has the same program every year? It's not she herself who made herself the program with her mouth open.

2) Why do the students of Hrustalniy have such, um, strange topics in their skate? Escape from an asylum for 15-years girl?

Coming out of a coma for Medvedeva? Red lipstick of Panenkova — it's absolutely something weird that will appear in nightmares of fs fans all their life.

In total. The main questions we have to this whole situation.

1) Could Medvedeva progress further in the Tutberidze group? Is her leaving the reasonable step? Was it necessary to wait for another brilliant program in the same style with same elements?

Obviously not. Leaving is a great solution. Was situation ugly? It was. But why we are on the side of coach? Why the fact that the change of coach is an absolutely casual story for figure skating takes the second plan? Radionova left Goncharenko. Gubanova left Turenko. Sotskova and Tarakanova left Panova. All these coaches didn’t throw the skates in the backs of leaving athletes.

The difference is that all that people left because of a lack of ice or PC. And here? Why did Tsurskaya leave? Yes, silent leaving is terribly ugly. But why does everyone leave from Tutberidze without saying goodbye? How did it happen that this talented coach this season will have only adult women? Why all this people are so ungrateful? Is the spreading of information about the leave of each athlete ethical?

2) Why is there such a hype around the phrase «keep Alina one season in juniors» ? Medvedeva should refuse to translate for Zagitova at press-conferences? Where is the line between «hypocrisy» and professional ethics? Is it possible to judge a person for emotions?

3) Yes, the comments of Tarasova and others were incorrect. But what does Medvedeva have to do with it? Why is it so fashionable to hate winners, especially on Sports.ru? Why everyone here  is hated?

And the very main question.

Why do we not appreciate our athletes, knowing well that between 10 talented at a high level will hold 1-2? Of the talented list of Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Lipnitskaya, Proklova, Sakhanovich, Pogorilaya, Radionova, Medvedeva, only one potential revealed her potentional. And God forbid it will open further. We do not have many of them.

For the next season, Zagitova, Gubanova, Konstantinova, Panenkova remain competitive, not injured and inclined to struggle. The oldest (and hated by public) of them is 17 years old. The rest are 15 and 16. Our list of hopes: Shcherbakova, Trusova, Kostornaya, Tarusina, Panova's school. Changes in the rating rules from the next season will somewhat «skew» the advantage of the Russian school — jumping in the second half and technical complexity. It will become more difficult.

«Tutberidze’s conveyor» is an ambiguous phenomenon, but it deserves respect. In any hero there is a hint of villain. In any villain there is something human. This is about both sides of the conflict.

But in the argument «girls should be grateful to Tutberidze for who they are» there is one significant omission — Eteri should also be grateful to those who worked for her name. And we too should be grateful if we demand moral superiority over the mortals from the athletes.

And nationalism and general hatred against athletes is bad.

Please, think about it.

[sywtwfs]

Get to Know: The Pairs Figure Skating Field of the 2018 Winter Olympics

With the conclusion of the Team Event, skaters will now gear up for the pressure cooker of the main Olympic spectacle, starting off with the pairs’ individual event! Here’s a (slightly belated) overview of some of the top competitors in an excitingly packed field. Information on how to watch the Olympics is available here.

Of the two disciplines of figure skating that involve teams of two partners, pairs skating is the more terrifying one to watch for casual (and, indeed, long-time) viewers - not only do pair skaters jump and spin like singles skaters, the women are also lifted or thrown several feet in the air, all without wearing any protective gear. Pair teams must master a variety of elements, including synchronized jumps and spins, throw jumps, twists, lifts, and death spirals, all while maintaining unity as a team and expressing the emotion of their music. Although one top team, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia - reigning Olympic silver medalists from Sochi - were not invited by the IOC to participate in the Pyeongchang Games, the pairs field is still the strongest that it’s been in years. The competition at the top is so close that no team can afford to make mistakes if they hope to come away with a medal, or the Olympic title itself.

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WENJING SUI / CONG HAN

Representing: China

Ages: 22/25

ISU Personal bests: SP 81.23, FS 155.10, total 234.53

ISU Season’s best: 234.53

Notable titles: 2017 World Champions, 2015 & 2016 World Silver Medalists, 4-time Four Continents Champions, 2017 Grand Prix Final Silver Medalists, 2-time Grand Prix Final Bronze Medalists

Programs: SP - Hallelujah; FS - Turandot

Known for: Throw jumps, quad twist, emotional connection, interesting transitions, first team to perform both a quad twist and quad throw in a free skate, breaking the world record free skate score at 2017 NHK Trophy

BIO: The longest-lived partnership in the current field, Sui and Han teamed up as children in 2007 and have been skating together for 11 years. Scions of the latest dynasty of Chinese pair skating excellence, they dominated the junior ranks for 3 seasons, winning 3 Junior World titles in a row. However, their career has been a rollercoaster of health struggles - diagnosed with a bone injury in 2012, Wenjing missed most of the 2012-13 season, and the pair failed to qualify for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Although devastated by their loss, Sui and Han used disappointment as fuel to emerge as one of the top teams of the past Olympic cycle, winning silver medals at the World Championships in 2015 and 2016. Throughout all their success, Wenjing continued to suffer from chronic ligament injuries in both feet. In May 2016, she was forced to undergo surgery to repair the extensive ligament damage. A long, painful rehabilitation process followed, where it was unclear if Wenjing would be able to skate again. Sui and Han made their competitive return at the 2017 Four Continents Championships, winning their fourth title. A month later, with a suave short program to “Blues for Klook” and a moving free skate to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” - a program that told the story of their journey together - Sui and Han claimed their first World title, becoming the first Chinese team to win a World title in 7 years.

This season, Sui and Han have chosen the opera Turandot as their free skate, inspired by the legendary performances of their coaches (2010 Olympic Champions Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao) more than 15 years ago. At the 2017 NHK Trophy, they broke the world record free skate score with a clean performance. However, a fall on their side-by-side jumps in the short program at the Grand Prix Final put Sui/Han in second place behind their closest rivals, Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany.

Sui/Han’s long partnership shows in the ease and harmony of their skating. The team is also known for their technical elements, especially their huge throw jumps, which often earn near-perfect Grades of Execution from the judges. They are the first team to perform both a quad twist and quad throw in a free skate, a feat they accomplished at the 2016 Four Continents Championships, but they have not attempted the throw quad salchow in competition since Wenjing’s return from surgery. Front-runners for the Olympic title along with Savchenko/Massot, Sui/Han must land their jumps cleanly and gain the maximum possible levels on their other elements in order to win. The side-by-side jumps are their biggest weakness, and may ultimately determine their placement in Pyeongchang. It will also be crucial for the team to manage their nerves in their first Olympic appearance.

OFF-ICE: Wenjing enjoys watching the anime Natsume’s Book of Friends. She started skating after she met a skating coach living above her grandmother’s car wash. Cong was scouted for skating when he was in kindergarten. He once bought Wenjing a ukelele because she thought it was pretty. Sui/Han have a close relationship and tease each other mercilessly in interviews. (Wenjing describes Cong as a spider, and Cong describes Wenjing as Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.) Wenjing is nicknamed the “Empress” by fans for her charisma on the ice.

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ALIONA SAVCHENKO / BRUNO MASSOT

Representing: Germany

Ages: 34/29

ISU Personal bests: SP 79.84, FS 157.25, total 236.68

ISU Season’s best: 236.68

Notable titles: 2017 World Silver Medalists, 2016 World Bronze Medalists, 2017 Grand Prix Final Champions, 2016 & 2017 European Silver Medalists

Programs: SP - That Man; FS - La terre vue du ciel

Known for: Triple twist, lifts, interesting choreography and transitions, holders of the current world record in the free skate, Aliona’s expressiveness

BIO: The oldest female pairs skater in the current field, Aliona has seen it all. With former partner Robin Szolkowy, she was a 5-time World Champion and 2-time Olympic bronze medalist. Following Robin’s retirement after the 2013-14 Olympic season, Aliona refused to give up her dream of Olympic gold and teamed up with Bruno Massot, who previously skated for France. Savchenko/Massot debuted internationally in the 2015-16 season and immediately climbed to the top of the pairs field, winning bronze at their first World Championships in 2016, and silver at the 2017 World Championships, two points behind Sui/Han of China. Their biggest breakthrough came this season at the 2017 Grand Prix Final, where they set a new world record in the free skate and won the title over Sui/Han, establishing themselves as serious contenders for the Olympic title.

Savchenko/Massot’s greatest strengths are their lifts and enormous triple twist, which often receives straight +3 GOEs from the judges. But in order to win the Olympics, they will need to be as clean as possible on their side-by-side and throw jumps. The team has attempted the risky throw triple axel in competition before, but they likely will not include it in their programs at the Olympics. Now heading into her fifth Olympics, Aliona has the confidence of experience on her side, while Bruno is experiencing the Olympics for the first time in his career. They placed 3rd in the Team Event short program after a fall on a throw jump, but at their best, they are capable of record-breaking scores. If they win the Olympics in Pyeongchang, they will be the first German pairs team to do so since 1952.

OFF-ICE: Aliona often designs the team’s costumes. Bruno passed the German citizenship test this season on his third try, allowing him to compete at the Olympics with Aliona.

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EVGENIA TARASOVA / VLADIMIR MOROZOV

Representing: Olympic Athletes from Russia

Ages: 23/25

ISU Personal bests: SP 80.92, FS 151.23, total 227.58

ISU Season’s best: 224.25

Notable titles: 2017 World Bronze Medalists, 2017 & 2018 European Champions, 2016 Grand Prix Final Champions, 2018 Russian National Champions

Programs: SP - Piano Concerto No.2 (Rachmaninoff); FS - Candyman

Known for: Twists, throw jumps

BIO: Competing together since juniors, Tarasova/Morozov had a breakthrough season in 2016-17, winning the Grand Prix Final, European Championships, and bronze medals at the 2017 World Championships. The team is known for their solid technical elements, especially their triple twist, and they also include the quad twist in their free skate. In the last season and a half, Tarasova/Morozov have set themselves up as Russia’s leading pairs team and the latest in a long line of champions from that country. Russian and Soviet pair teams have won the majority of Olympic titles in the sport’s history.

This season has been a bit of a bumpy road for the Tarasova/Morozov, who started off strong at Rostelecom Cup, but made multiple errors to finish off the podium at the Grand Prix Final. Nevertheless, they won the 2018 Russian National Championships and 2018 European Championships, and got their first Olympics off to a great start with a winning short program in the Team Event. If Sui/Han or Savchenko/Massot make mistakes, Tarasova/Morozov could sneak into the top 2 spots in the pairs’ individual event, but as it stands, they are a solid contender for the bronze medal.

OFF-ICE: Tarasova/Morozov are in a relationship with each other off-ice.

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MEAGAN DUHAMEL / ERIC RADFORD

Representing: Canada

Ages: 32/33

ISU Personal bests: SP 78.39, FS 153.81, total 231.99

ISU Season’s best: 222.22

Notable titles: 2015 & 2016 World Champions, 2-time World Bronze Medalists, 2-time Four Continents Champions, 2014 Grand Prix Final Champions, 7-time Canadian National Champions

Programs: SP - With or Without You; FS - Hometown Glory

Known for: Side-by-side triple lutzes, throw quad salchow

BIO: One of the veteran teams of this field, Duhamel/Radford teamed up in 2010 and steadily rose through the international ranks, medaling at the World Championships four times, including gold medals in 2015 and 2016. Struggles with injuries in the last year or so have resulted in uneven performances, but the team seems to be hitting their stride as they enter their second - and last - Olympics together. Duhamel/Radford’s strength lies in their high base values; although the quality of their execution is not as high as some other teams, they are one of very few pairs teams capable of performing side-by-side triple lutzes, and they have landed the throw quadruple salchow in competition many times. Strong performances in both segments of the Olympic Team Event helped Team Canada to a gold medal, and Duhamel/Radford will be looking to repeat those performances for a spot on the individual podium as well. As with Tarasova/Morozov, Duhamel/Radford are capable of sneaking into the gold or silver position, but a bronze medal battle with the Russian team is probably the most likely scenario. That said - never try to predict anything in skating, especially in a field as stacked as this one.

OFF-ICE: Meagan is a vegan. She is married to her coach, Bruno Marcotte. Eric is openly gay; in June 2017, he became engaged to his boyfriend, Spanish ice dancer Luis Fenero. With Canada’s gold medal in the Pyeongchang Olympic Team Event, Eric became the first openly gay Winter Olympic Champion. Eric is a musician and composer; he composed the 2016-17 free skate music of fellow Canadian skater Patrick Chan.

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VANESSA JAMES / MORGAN CIPRES

Representing: France

Ages: 30/26

ISU Personal bests: SP 75.72, FS 146.87, total 222.59

ISU Season’s best: 214.37

Notable titles: 2017 European Bronze Medalists, 6-time French National Champions

Programs: SP - Make It Rain; FS - The Sound of Silence

Known for: Emotional connection, interesting transitions, being hot

BIO: James/Cipres are the living definition of late bloomers. Since teaming up in 2010, the team showed potential but lacked consistency and harder technical elements until last season, when all their hard work under a new coach came to fruition with a bronze medal at the 2017 European Championships. They became the first French pairs to medal at Europeans in 14 years. This season, James/Cipres started off strong with a stellar Grand Prix run, just barely missing out on the Grand Prix Final. They won the short program at the 2018 European Championships, but mistakes in the free skate kept them off the podium by a fraction of a point.

Known for their sizzling chemistry, modern style, and Vanessa’s pantsuits, James/Cipres have the full package when they’re on. They have attempted the throw quadruple salchow many times in competition, although they have not yet landed it cleanly. Heading into their second and last Olympic Games together, James/Cipres decided to return to their intense “Sound of Silence” free skate from the 2016-17 season. They placed 6th in the Team Event after a costly mistake on the side-by-side jumps, but if clean, they have the potential for top 5 in the individual event.

OFF-ICE: Vanessa was born in Canada and competed for the USA and UK before moving to France.

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XIAOYU YU / HAO ZHANG

Representing: China

Ages: 22/33

ISU Personal bests: SP 75.34, FS 145.53, total 219.20

ISU Season’s best: 219.20

Notable titles: 2016 Grand Prix Final Silver Medalists, 2017 Asian Winter Games Champions

Programs: SP - Swan Lake; FS - Star Wars

Known for: Twists, throw jumps, Xiaoyu’s elegance

BIO: Both Yu and Zhang have had successful previous partnerships, but after a relatively disappointing outing for Chinese pairs at the 2016 World Championships, coach Hongbo Zhao decided to pair Xiaoyu Yu with Hao Zhang, despite her reservations. Nevertheless, Yu/Zhang competed together for the first time in the 2016-17 season and achieved some significant results, including silver at the 2016 Grand Prix Final and 4th place at 2017 Worlds. This season, they set personal best scores at 2017 Skate America and qualified for their second Grand Prix Final together, where they placed 6th.

Yu/Zhang’s strong points are Xiaoyu’s grace and elegance, as well as their technical elements, especially their triple twist. Their main weakness is their side-by-side jumps; Xiaoyu often struggles with them in competition. Yu/Zhang have the potential for a top-5 finish in the Olympic individual event, but it will depend heavily on the cleanness of their elements. Hao Zhang, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist with first partner Dan Zhang, is now heading into his 4th Olympics with his third partner, while Xiaoyu is experiencing the Olympics for the first time.

OFF-ICE: Xiaoyu is fluent in Japanese, having taught herself the language by watching anime. She has given interviews in Japanese with the Japanese media and translated for her teammates.

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OTHER SKATERS TO WATCH

Natalia Zabiiako / Alexander Enbert (OAR): 2018 European Bronze Medalists, 2017 & 2018 Russian National Bronze Medalists. Teamed up in 2015; Natalia previously skated for Estonia. Placed 3rd in the Olympic Team Event free skate.

Kristina Astakhova / Alexei Rogonov (OAR): 2016 & 2017 Rostelecom Cup Bronze Medalists. Teamed up in 2014. Known for their quirky programs. Replaced Stolbova/Klimov on the Olympic team after Stolbova/Klimov were barred from competing by the IOC.

Cheng Peng / Yang Jin (CHN): 2017 Asian Winter Games Silver Medalists. Cheng previously skated with Hao Zhang, Yang previously skated with Xiaoyu Yu. Teamed up in 2016, qualified for the 2016 Grand Prix Final. A well-matched team with quality elements when they’re on, but often struggle with side-by-side jumps.

Valentina Marchei / Ondrej Hotarek (ITA): Teamed up in 2014. Valentina used to compete in singles, winning Italian Nationals 5 times. Ondrej previously skated pairs with Stefania Berton and won the bronze medal at the 2013 European Championships. Placed a surprising 2nd in the Olympic Team Event free skate with a personal best performance.

Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise (ITA): 3-time Italian National Champions, 2017 Lombardia Trophy and Finlandia Trophy silver medalists. Placed 7th in the Olympic Team Event short program.

Julianne Seguin / Charlie Bilodeau (CAN): 2015 Junior World Silver Medalists, 3-time Canadian National Medalists. Teamed up in 2012. Young team hampered by injuries in recent seasons, including a series of concussions suffered by Julianne. Julianne used to compete in both singles and pairs at the same time, winning the bronze medal at 2014 Autumn Classic in ladies’ singles.

Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro (CAN): 2017 & 2018 Canadian National Bronze Medalists. Have risen steadily this season, winning an unexpected spot on the Olympic team. Kirsten previously skated with Dylan Moscovitch, with whom she won a Four Continents medal and a Canadian National title. She teamed up with Michael Marinaro in 2014.

Alexa Scimeca Knierim / Chris Knierim (USA): 2015 & 2018 US National Champions, 2016 Four Continents Silver Medalists. Teamed up in 2012. USA’s top pair in recent years, missed most of the 2016-17 season due to illness. Known for their triple twist; may perform a quad twist in the Olympic individual free skate. Married each other in 2016. Placed 4th in the Olympic Team Event short program and free skate.

Tae Ok Ryom / Ju Sik Kim (PRK): 2018 Four Continents Bronze Medalists, 2017 Asian Winter Games Bronze Medalists. First North Korean skaters to medal at an ISU Championships and to gain international recognition. Debuted internationally in 2015-16 and have improved rapidly since then. Trained in Canada during the off season with South Korean pair, Kyueun Kim and Alex Kam. Watch out for their fun short program to “A Day in the Life”.

Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya / Harley Windsor (AUS): 2017 Junior World Champions, 2017 Junior Grand Prix Final Champions. First Australian pair to achieve international recognition. Ekaterina previously competed for Russia; she teamed up with Harley in 2015. Harley is of Australian Aboriginal descent.

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Leon Spinks

Leon Spinks (born July 11, 1953) is an American former boxer who was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Spinks had an overall record of 26 wins, 17 losses and three draws as a professional, with 14 of those wins by knockout. In only his eighth professional bout, Spinks won the undisputed world heavyweight championship when he beat Muhammad Ali on February 15, 1978, in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. However, he was stripped of the WBC title for fighting Ali in an unapproved rematch seven months later, which he lost by a 15-round unanimous decision. Besides being heavyweight champion and his characteristic gap-toothed grin (due to losing two and later all four of his front teeth), Spinks gained notoriety for the disaster which befell his career following the loss to Ali.

Prior to turning professional, Spinks won a bronze medal at the inaugural 1974 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana. Two years later, he capped off his amateur career by winning a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, alongside his brother Michael Spinks, who won the gold at middleweight. Leon defeated Cuban great Sixto Soria in an entertaining slugfest where Spinks was rocked several times by the much more polished fighter but landed a crushing overhand right that put Soria face down on the canvas. His Olympic teammates included Sugar Ray Leonard, Leo Randolph and Howard Davis Jr. Spinks also served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1973 to 1976.

Professional career

Spinks debuted professionally on January 15, 1977 in Las Vegas, Nevada, beating Bob Smith by knockout in five rounds. His next fight was in Liverpool, England, where he beat Peter Freeman by a first round knockout. Later, he saw an improvement in opposition quality, when he fought Pedro Agosto of Puerto Rico and knocked him out in round one. He then fought Scott LeDoux to a draw and defeated Italian champion Alfio Righetti by a decision.

First Ali match

Now a lower ranked contender, he made history on February 15, 1978, by beating Muhammad Ali on a 15-round split decision in Las Vegas. Spinks won the world heavyweight title in his eighth professional fight, the shortest time in history. The aging Ali had expected an easy fight, but he was out-boxed by Spinks, who did not tire throughout the bout. It was one of the few occasions when Ali left the ring with a bruised and puffy face.

Spinks' victory over Ali was the peak of his career. He was the only man to take a title from Muhammad Ali in the ring, as Ali's other losses were non-title contests or bouts where Ali was the challenger. Spinks' gap-toothed grin was featured on the cover of the February 19, 1978 issue of Sports Illustrated.

However, Spinks was stripped of his world title by the WBC for refusing to defend it against Ken Norton, instead agreeing to a return bout against Ali to defend his WBA crown. The title, stripped from Spinks, was then awarded to Norton.

The Ali rematch

His second match with Ali, at the Louisiana Superdome on September 15, 1978, went badly for Spinks. A now in-shape Ali—with better, sharper tactics—rarely lost control, winning back his title by a unanimous fifteen-round decision. Ali regained the title, becoming the first three-time heavyweight champion.

Career development

Spinks's next fight, his only one in 1979, was at Monte Carlo, where he was knocked out in the first round by future WBA world heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee. In the following fight, Spinks defeated former world title challenger and European title holder Alfredo Evangelista by a knockout in round 5. He fought to a draw in with Eddie López, and beat the WBC's top-ranked challenger, Bernardo Mercado, by a knockout in round nine.

The Holmes title fight

His strong performance against Mercado earned Spinks a title match against Larry Holmes. In Spinks' only fight in 1981, and what would be his last chance opportunity at the heavyweight title, he had a clear loss by a TKO in the third round at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on June 12.

Changes weight division

It was Spinks' last heavyweight bout for years, as he began boxing in the cruiserweight division. He beat contender Ivy Brown by a decision in ten rounds, and a gained a decision against former and future title challenger Jesse Burnett in twelve rounds.

When his brother Michael Spinks defeated Larry Holmes in a controversial upset for the IBF heavyweight championship in 1985, they became the only brothers to have held world heavyweight championships. They kept the distinction until the Klitschko brothers became champions two decades later.

In the 1980s Leon Spinks competed in several boxer vs. wrestler matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling, including losing by submission to Antonio Inoki. In 1986 Spinks earned his last championship opportunity, fighting Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA cruiserweight championship. Qawi had been defeated by Michael Spinks three years earlier for his WBC light heavyweight championship. However, Leon Spinks lost by TKO in the sixth round. During the fight, Qawi taunted Spinks as he beat him mercilessly in a corner.

Spinks boxed for another eight years with mixed results. In 1994 he lost a bout by KO to John Carlo, the first time a former heavyweight champion had lost to a boxer making his pro debut (promoter Charles Farrell later admitted to falsifying Carlo's record in order to get the fight sanctioned by the District of Columbia). Spinks retired at age 42, after losing an 8 round decision to Fred Houpe in 1995, who was coming off a seventeen-year hiatus.

Professional boxing record

Amateur career

1974, 1975, and 1976 National AAU light heavyweight champion

Defeated future champion Michael Dokes for first AAU title in 1974

Olympic results

Defeated Abellatif Fatihi (Morocco) KO 1

Defeated Anatoly Klimanov (Soviet Union) 5-0

Defeated Ottomar Sachse (East Germany) 5-0

Defeated Janusz Gortat (Poland) 5-0

Defeated Sixto Soria (Cuba) RSC 3

After boxing

During the 1990s, Spinks worked for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, winning its world title in 1992 making him the only man to hold titles in both boxing and wrestling. In the late 1990s, Spinks was a headliner on year-round, touring autograph shows.

In 2009 Spinks was featured as part of the 2009 documentary Facing Ali, in which notable former opponents of Ali speak about how fighting Ali changed their lives.

As of 2012, Spinks lives in Columbus, Nebraska. He told a reporter his life is "comfortable", and that he keeps a low profile.

"I love helping the kids," he says. He loves being a hero to them and he also still loves working a room.

Personal life

His son, Cory Spinks, held the undisputed welterweight title and was the International Boxing Federation Junior Middleweight champion in 2006–2008.

In 1990, his son, Leon Calvin, was shot to death in East St. Louis as he was driving home from his girlfriend's house. Leon Calvin, 19, was a light heavyweight boxer who had turned pro the month before his murder.

http://wikipedia.thetimetube.com/?q=Leon+Spinks&lang=en

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Yordenis Ugas upsets Manny Pacquiao via unanimous decision

Yordenis Ugas upsets Manny Pacquiao via unanimous decision

Pacquiao was consistently beat to the punch by Ugas. Photo by German Villasenor 21 Aug by Dan Rafael LAS VEGAS – Yordenis Ugas, a little known fighter with a dubious claim to a welterweight world title, is a lot more well known now and can rightfully claim the belt. Riding a strong right hand and jab, Ugas outpointed heavy favorite Manny Pacquiao, and may have sent the Filipino legend into retirement, as he retained the WBA title before a pro-Pacquiao crowd of 17,438 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Ugas solidified his credentials as a world titleholder and a player in the welterweight division with his points win over Pacquiao. Photo by German Villasenor “I’m a warrior. I’ve been doing this since I was six years old. I knew deep down inside he wasn’t going to beat me tonight,” Ugas said through an interpreter. “I felt that coming into the fight. We had a plan. We were going to move him. jab him. That was the key to the fight — move him and keep him off balance. That was the game plan.” Ugas, The Ring’s No. 5-rated welterweight, was not even supposed to be facing Pacquiao, but wound up in the fight on 11 days’ notice when unified titlist Errol Spence Jr. was ruled out against Pacquiao after he was diagnosed with a torn retina in a pre-fight medical exam. Because Ugas’ opponent in the co-feature, Fabian Maidana, suffered a cut around the same time as Spence’s diagnoses, Pacquiao and Ugas agreed to meet in the new main event of the Fox Sports pay-per-view – and Ugas toppled one of the most iconic fighters in history. The judges had it 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113 for Ugas, who at one point was out of boxing for more than two years after suffering a couple of losses and having had problems making the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds. But when Ugas decided to resume his career, he found trainer Ismael Salas, moved up the 147-pound welterweight division and now is 12-1 since the return, losing only a highly disputed decision to Shawn Porter, challenging him for a welterweight world title. “I had some two years off, I came back, I got the right team behind me and I felt I couldn’t be beat,” Ugas said. The 35-year-old Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs), a 2008 Cuban Olympic bronze medalist, who defected and fights out of Miami, got the victory against a Pacquiao who looked ragged at age 42 and having not fought since he won the WBA title by decision in a masterful performance against then-undefeated Keith Thurman in July 2019 to become, at age 40, the oldest welterweight champion in boxing history. But Pacquiao was unceremoniously stripped in January, supposedly due to inactivity, despite the global coronavirus pandemic that kept many boxers sidelined. Ugas, who had claimed the secondary title, was elevated to take the belt that had belonged to Pacquiao, and he said for the past two weeks that whatever the status of the belt he would prove he was the rightful holder. He did just that and may have brought down the curtain on Pacquiao’s legendary 26-year career in which various boxing records were set, including winning titles in eight weight classes (flyweight and junior featherweight to junior middleweight), winning the lineal title in five divisions (flyweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight) and holding world titles in four decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s). “I’ve been living under Manny’s shadow for a year,” Ugas said. “Now we fought in the ring to find out who the champion is. We decided it in the ring.” The fight began at a measured pace with Pacquiao darting in and out with Ugas looking to counter. The crowd soon began to chant “Manny! Manny! Manny,” which it would at various times throughout the fight, and the round ended with Ugas shoving Pacquiao to the canvas. The action picked up in the third round as Ugas landed a solid right hand and Pacquiao’s right eye began to swell. There were several exchanges and Pacquiao fired combinations and landed a good left hand. After Ugas landed a low blow with his right hand early in the fourth round, referee Russell Mora warned him and gave Pacquiao time to recover.

Ugas’ right hand was a key weapon vs. Pacquiao. Photo by German Villasenor The fight never really found an offensive flow, although there were some good exchanges, such as in the sixth round when Pacquiao connected with an uppercut and Ugas responded with two good right hands. Ugas’ right hand was a big factor for him and he landed some excellent ones early and late in the eighth round. Mora warned Ugas for shoving Pacquiao to the mat early in the ninth round. There were plenty of close rounds, but whenever Pacquiao landed anything the crowd erupted, like in the 10th round when he landed a nice combination. But Ugas was steady with his right hands and made several rounds hard to pick between the two. Ugas, perhaps feeling he really needed the 12th round, had perhaps his best round of the fight, landing numerous hard right hands upside Pacquiao’s head for which Pacquiao had little response. When it was over they both raised their hands in victory even though Pacquiao’s battered and swollen face did not make him look like a winner. Although Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) was the far busier fighter, he landed few punches and at a paltry rate, according to the CompuBox statistics. While Ugas landed 151 of 405 punches (37 percent), Pacquiao landed just 130 of 815 blows (16 percent). It was 20 years ago this summer that Pacquiao arrived on these shores from the Philippines as a little known former flyweight champion and weeks later found himself as a late replacement opponent to challenge Lehlo Ledwaba for his junior featherweight title at the MGM Grand. He destroyed Ledwaba to win the 122-pound title and set in motion a two-decade run of greatness that may have finally concluded with the loss to Ugas. Ugas said if Pacquiao wants a rematch he will gladly give it to him. “Two hundred percent. Manny is a great legend, a great fighter,” Ugas said. “If he wants a rematch, no question about it. A legend like that deserves it.” But most thought a loss would end his career, especially because those around him believe he will seek the presidency of the Philippines. The election is in May and Pacquiao said this week he will announce whether is going to run in September. While he has professed that he still loves boxing, Father Time appears to have caught up to him. He also has said repeatedly that he feels the pull of public service as a way to help the many poor in his country. If he decides to retire in favor of continuing his career in politics and public service, he may walk away from the ring as a loser but as a winner in his life. GET THE LATEST ISSUE AT THE RING SHOP (CLICK HERE) or Subscribe

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O. J. Simpson

Orenthal James (O. J.) Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed The Juice, is a former American football running back, broadcaster, actor, and convicted armed robber and kidnapper.

Simpson attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he played football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) as a running back for 11 seasons, with the Buffalo Bills from 1969 to 1977 and with the San Francisco 49ers from 1978 to 1979. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average, which stands at 143.1. He is the only player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in the 14-game regular season NFL format.

Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. After retiring from football, he began new careers in acting and football broadcasting.

In 1995, Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman after a lengthy and internationally publicized trial. The families of the victims filed a civil suit against him, and in 1997 a civil court awarded a $33.5 million judgment against Simpson for the victims' wrongful deaths.

In 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, and charged with the felonies of armed robbery and kidnapping. In 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment, with a minimum of nine years without parole. He is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada.

Early life

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Simpson is the son of Eunice (née Durden; 1921–2001), a hospital administrator, and Jimmy Lee Simpson (1920–1986), a chef and bank custodian. His father was a well-known drag queen in the San Francisco area. Later in life, Jimmy Simpson announced that he was gay. He died of AIDS in 1986.

Simpson's maternal grandparents were from Louisiana, and his aunt gave him the name Orenthal, which she said was the name of a French actor she liked. Simpson has one brother, Melvin Leon "Truman" Simpson, one living sister, Shirley Simpson-Baker, and one deceased sister, Carmelita Simpson-Durio. As a child, Simpson developed rickets and wore braces on his legs until the age of five. His parents separated in 1952, and he was raised by his mother.

Growing up in San Francisco, Simpson and his family lived in the housing projects of the Potrero Hill neighborhood. In his early teenage years, he joined a street gang called the Persian Warriors and was briefly incarcerated at the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center. At Galileo High School (currently Galileo Academy of Science and Technology) in San Francisco, Simpson played for the school football team, the Galileo Lions.

College football and athletics career

From 1965 to 1966, Simpson was a student at City College of San Francisco and a member of the California Community College system. He played football both ways as a running back and defensive back and was named to the Junior College All-American team as a running back.

Simpson was awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he played running back for head coach John McKay in 1967 and 1968. Simpson led the nation in rushing both years at USC: in 1967 with 1,543 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1968 with 1,880 yards on 383 carries.

As a junior in 1967, Simpson was a close runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting to quarterback Gary Beban of UCLA. In that year's Victory Bell rivalry game between the teams, USC was down by six points in the fourth quarter with under eleven minutes remaining. On their own 36, USC backup quarterback Toby Page called an audible on third and seven. Simpson's 64-yard touchdown run tied the score, and the extra point provided a 21–20 lead, which was the final score. This was the biggest play in what is regarded as one of the greatest football games of the 20th century.

Another dramatic touchdown in the same game is the subject of the Arnold Friberg oil painting, O.J. Simpson Breaks for Daylight. Simpson also won the Walter Camp Award in 1967 and was a two-time consensus All-American.

Simpson was an aspiring track athlete; in 1967 he lost a 100 m race at Stanford against the then-British record holder Menzies Campbell. Prior to playing football at Southern Cal, he ran in the USC sprint relay quartet that broke the world record in the 4 x 110-yard relay at the NCAA track championships in Provo, Utah on June 17, 1967.

As a senior in 1968, Simpson rushed for 1,709 yards and 22 touchdowns in the regular season, earning the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award. He still holds the record for the Heisman's largest margin of victory, defeating runner-up Leroy Keyes by 1,750 points. In the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, #2 USC faced top-ranked Ohio State; Simpson ran for 171 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run in a 27–16 loss.

Professional football career

Buffalo Bills

The first selection 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft was held by the AFL's Buffalo Bills, after finishing 1–12–1 in 1968. They took Simpson, but he demanded what was then the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. This led to a standoff with Bills' owner Ralph Wilson, as Simpson threatened to become an actor and skip professional football. Eventually, Wilson agreed to pay Simpson.

Simpson entered professional football with high expectations, but struggled in his first three years, averaging only 622 yards per season. Bills coach John Rauch, not wanting to build an offense around one running back, assigned Simpson to do blocking and receiving duties at the expense of running the ball. In 1971, Rauch resigned as head coach and the Bills brought in Harvey Johnson. Despite Johnson devising a new offense for Simpson, Simpson was still ineffective that year. After the 1971 season, the Bills fired Johnson and brought in Lou Saban as head coach. Unlike Rauch, Saban made Simpson the centerpiece of the Bills offense.

In 1972, Simpson rushed for over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career, gaining a league-leading total of 1,251 yards. In 1973, Simpson became the first player to break the highly coveted 2,000 yard rushing mark, with 2,003 total rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Simpson broke the mark during the last game of the season against the New York Jets with a 7-yard rush. That same game also saw Simpson break Jim Brown's single-season rushing record of 1,863 yards. For his performance, Simpson won that year's NFL MVP Award and Bert Bell Award. While other players had broken the 2,000-yard mark since Simpson, this record happened back when the NFL only had 14-game seasons, as opposed to the 16-game seasons since the 1978 season.

Simpson gained more than 1,000 rushing yards for each of his next three seasons. Simpson did not lead the league in rushing in 1974, but did cross the 1,000-yard barrier despite a sore knee. Simpson also made his first and only playoff appearance during the 1974 season. In a divisional game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Simpson rushed for 49 yards on 15 attempts. Simpson also caught one touchdown pass. The Bills lost the game 32–14.

Simpson won the rushing title again in 1975, rushing for 1,817 yards and 16 touchdowns. Simpson also had a career high 426 receiving yards and 7 receiving touchdowns that season. Simpson once again led the league in rushing in 1976, rushing for 1,503 yards and 8 touchdowns. Simpson had the best game of his career during that season's Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions on November 25. In that game, Simpson rushed for a then-record 273 yards on 29 attempts and scored two touchdowns. Despite Simpson's performance, the Bills would lose the game 27–14.

Simpson played in only seven games in 1977, as his season was cut short by injury.

San Francisco 49ers

Before the 1978 season, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown San Francisco 49ers for a series of draft picks. Simpson played in San Francisco for two seasons, rushing for 1,053 yards and four touchdowns. His final NFL game was in December 1979, a 31–21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. His final play was a 10-yard run on 3rd and 10 for a first down.

Career summary

Simpson gained 11,236 rushing yards, placing him 2nd on the NFL's all-time rushing list when he retired; he now stands at 21st. He was named NFL Player of the Year in 1973, and played in six Pro Bowls. He was the only player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a 14-game season and he's the only player to rush for over 200 yards in six different games in his career. From 1972 to 1976, Simpson averaged 1,540 rushing yards per (14 game) season, 5.1 yards per carry, and he won the NFL rushing title four times. Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility.

Simpson played in only one playoff game during his 11-season Hall of Fame career: a 1974 Divisional Playoff between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Simpson was held to 49 rushing yards, 3 receptions for 37 yards, and one touchdown, and the Bills lost 14-32 to the team which went on to win Super Bowl IX.

Simpson acquired the nickname "Juice" as a play on "O.J.", a common abbreviation for "orange juice". "Juice" is also a colloquial synonym for electricity or electrical power, and hence a metaphor for any powerful entity; the Bills' offensive line at Simpson's peak was nicknamed "The Electric Company".

NFL records

Fastest player to gain 1,000 rushing yards in season: 1,025 in 7 games in 1973 and 1,005 in 7 games in 1975 (tied with Terrell Davis).

Fastest player to gain 2,000 rushing yards in season: 2,003 in 14 games in 1973.

NFL career statistics

Acting career

Even before his retirement from the NFL, Simpson embarked on a film career with parts in films such as the television mini-series Roots (1977), and the dramatic motion pictures The Klansman (1974), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), Capricorn One (1978), and the comedic Back to the Beach (1987) and The Naked Gun trilogy (1988, 1991, 1994). In 1979, he started his own film production company, Orenthal Productions, which dealt mostly in made-for-TV fare such as the family-oriented Goldie and the Boxer films with Melissa Michaelsen (1979 and 1981), and Cocaine and Blue Eyes (1983), the pilot for a proposed detective series on NBC.

NBC was considering whether to air Frogmen, another series starring Simpson, when his arrest in 1994 on charges of murder canceled the project.

Besides his acting career, Simpson worked as a commentator for Monday Night Football and The NFL on NBC. He also appeared in the audience of Saturday Night Live during its second season and hosted an episode during its third season.

Frogmen

Simpson starred in the un-televised two-hour-long film pilot for Frogmen, a The A-Team-like adventure series that Warner Bros. Television completed in 1994, a few months before the murders. NBC had not yet decided whether to order the series when Simpson's arrest cancelled the project. While searching his home, the police obtained a videotaped copy of the pilot as well as the script and dailies. Although the prosecution investigated reports that Simpson, who played the leader of a group of former United States Navy SEALs, received "a fair amount of" military training—including use of a knife—for Frogmen, and there is a scene in which he holds a knife to the throat of a woman, this material was not introduced as evidence during the trial.

NBC executive Warren Littlefield said in July 1994 that the network would probably never air the pilot if Simpson were convicted; if he were acquitted, however, one television journalist speculated that "Frogmen would probably be on the air before the NBC peacock could unfurl its plume". Most pilots that are two hours long are aired as TV movies whether or not they are ordered as series. Because—as the Los Angeles Times later reported—"the appetite for all things O.J. appeared insatiable" during the trial, Warner Bros. and NBC estimated that a gigantic, Super Bowl-like television audience would have watched the Frogmen film. One of Simpson's co-stars in the film commented that the studio's decision to not air it or even release it on home video, and forego an estimated $14 million in profits, was "just about the only proof you have that there is some dignity in the advertising and television business".

Juiced

In 2006, Simpson starred in his own improv, hidden-camera prank TV show, Juiced. Typical of the genre, Simpson would play a prank on everyday people while secretly filming them and at the end of each prank, he would shout, "You've been Juiced!" Less typical, each episode opened with topless strippers dancing around Simpson, who is dressed as a pimp. He sings his own rap song, which includes the lyrics "Don't you know there's no stopping the Juice / When I'm on the floor I'm like a lion on the loose / Better shoot me with a tranquilizer dart / Don't be stupid, I'm not a Simpson named Bart." In one episode, Simpson is at a used car lot in Las Vegas where he attempts to sell his white Bronco (made famous during the chase in Los Angeles prior to his arrest). A bullet hole in the front of the SUV is circled with his autograph, and he pitches it to a prospective buyer by saying that if they "ever get into some trouble and have to get away, it has escapability." In another sketch called "B-I-N-G-O.J.", Simpson pretends to be having an affair with another man's girlfriend. Later he transforms into an old white man whose dying wish is to call a game of bingo. "Juiced" aired as a one-time special on pay-per-view television and was later released on DVD.

Endorsements

Chuck Barnes helped Simpson form business relationships with Chevrolet and ABC early in his career. By 1971, New York wrote that he was already wealthy enough to, "retire this week if [he] wanted to". Simpson's amiable persona and natural charisma landed him numerous endorsement deals. From 1975, he appeared in advertisements with Hertz rental car company, in whose commercials he was depicted running through airports, serving as an embodiment of speed. Simpson was also a longtime spokesman for Pioneer Chicken and owned two franchises, one of which was destroyed during the 1992 Los Angeles riots; as well as HoneyBaked Ham, the pX Corporation, and Calistoga Water Company's line of Napa Naturals soft drinks. He also appeared in comic book ads for Dingo cowboy boots.

Family life

At age 19 on June 24, 1967, Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley. Together, they had three children: Arnelle L. Simpson (b. 1968), Jason L. Simpson (b. 1970), and Aaren Lashone Simpson (b. 1977). In August 1979, five months after the couple divorced, Aaren drowned in the family's swimming pool, one month before her second birthday.

Simpson met Nicole Brown in 1977, while she was working as a waitress at the nightclub "The Daisy". Although still married to his first wife, Simpson began dating Brown. Simpson and Marguerite divorced in March 1979.

Brown and Simpson were married on February 2, 1985, five years after his retirement from professional football. The couple had two children, Sydney Brooke Simpson (b. 1985) and Justin Ryan Simpson (b. 1988). The marriage lasted seven years, during which Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal abuse in 1989. Brown filed for divorce on February 25, 1992, citing irreconcilable differences. In 1993, after the divorce, Brown and Simpson made an attempt at reconciliation, but according to Sheila Weller "they were a dramatic, fractious, mutually obsessed couple before they married, after they married, after they divorced in 1992, and after they reconciled".

Legal history

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murders and trialsCriminal trial for murder

On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Nicole's condominium in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Simpson was a person of interest in their murders. On June 17, after failing to turn himself in, he became the object of a low-speed pursuit in a white Ford Bronco SUV; TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to cover his case. The pursuit, arrest, and trial were among the most widely publicized events in American history. The trial, often characterized as the Trial of the Century because of its international publicity similar to that of Sacco and Vanzetti and the Lindbergh kidnapping, culminated on October 3, 1995, in a jury verdict of "not guilty" for the two murders. An estimated 100 million people nationwide tuned in to watch or listen to the verdict announcement. Following Simpson's acquittal, the crime remains unsolved to this day.

Immediate reaction to the verdict was notable for its division along racial lines: a poll of Los Angeles County residents showed that most African Americans there felt that justice had been served by the "not guilty" verdict, while the majority of whites and Latinos expressed an opinion that it had not. O. J. Simpson's integrated defense counsel included Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro, and F. Lee Bailey. Marcia Clark was the lead prosecutor for the State of California.

Wrongful death civil trial

Following Simpson's acquittal of criminal charges, Ron Goldman's family filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson. Daniel Petrocelli represented plaintiff Fred Goldman (Ronald Goldman's father), while Robert Baker represented Simpson. Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki presided, and he barred television and still cameras, radio equipment, and courtroom sketch artists from the courtroom. On October 23, 1996, opening statements were made, and on January 16, 1997, both sides rested their cases.

On February 5, 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica, California unanimously found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of and battery against Goldman, and battery against Brown. Simpson was ordered to pay $33,500,000 in damages. In February 1999, an auction of Simpson's Heisman Trophy and other belongings netted almost $500,000, which went to the Goldman family. The Goldman family also tried to collect Simpson's NFL $28,000 yearly pension but failed to collect any money.

In 1997, Simpson was evicted from the estate in which he had lived for 20 years, at 360 North Rockingham Avenue, after defaulting on the mortgage. In July 1998, the house was demolished by its next owner, Kenneth Abdalla, an investment banker and president of the Jerry's Famous Deli chain. The property's address has since been renumbered to 380 North Rockingham Avenue.

A 2000 Rolling Stone article reported that Simpson still made a significant income by signing autographs. He subsequently moved from California to Florida, settling in Miami. In Florida, among a few states, a person's residence cannot be seized to collect a debt under most circumstances.

On September 5, 2006, Goldman's father took Simpson back to court to obtain control over Simpson's "right to publicity", for purposes of satisfying the judgment in the civil court case. On January 4, 2007, a Federal judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Simpson from spending any advance he may have received on a canceled book deal and TV interview about the 1994 murders. The matter was dismissed before trial for lack of jurisdiction. On January 19, 2007, a California state judge issued an additional restraining order, ordering Simpson to restrict his spending to "ordinary and necessary living expenses".

On March 13, 2007, a judge prevented Simpson from receiving any further compensation from the defunct book deal and TV interview, and the judge ordered the bundled book rights to be auctioned. In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family, to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment. Originally titled If I Did It, the book was renamed If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, with the word "If" reduced in size to make the title appear to read I Did It: Confessions of the Killer. Additional material was added by members of the Goldman family, investigative journalist Dominick Dunne, and author Pablo Fenjves.

Other legal troubles

The State of California claims Simpson owes $1.44 million in back taxes. A tax lien was filed in his case on September 1, 1999.

In the late 1990s, Simpson attempted to register "O.J. Simpson", "O.J.", and "The Juice" as trademarks for "a broad range of goods, including figurines, trading cards, sportswear, medallions, coins, and prepaid telephone cards." A "concerned citizen", William B. Ritchie, sued to oppose the granting of federal registration on the grounds that doing so would be immoral and scandalous. Simpson gave up the effort in 2000.

In February 2001, Simpson was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Florida, for simple battery and burglary of an occupied conveyance, for yanking the glasses off another motorist during a traffic dispute three months earlier. If convicted, Simpson could have faced up to 16 years in prison, but he was tried and quickly acquitted on both charges in October 2001.

On December 4, 2001, Simpson's Miami home was searched by the FBI on suspicion of ecstasy possession and money laundering. The FBI had received a tip that Simpson was involved in a major drug trafficking ring after 10 other suspects were arrested in the case. Simpson's home was thoroughly searched for two hours, but no illegal drugs were discovered, and no arrest or formal charges were filed following the search. However, investigators uncovered equipment capable of stealing satellite television programming, which eventually led to Simpson's being sued in federal court.

On July 4, 2002, Simpson was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Florida, for water speeding through a manatee protection zone and failing to comply with proper boating regulations. The misdemeanor boating regulation charge was dropped, and Simpson was fined for the speeding infraction.

In March 2004, satellite television network DirecTV, Inc. accused Simpson in a Miami federal court of using illegal electronic devices to pirate its broadcast signals. The company later won a $25,000 judgment, and Simpson was ordered to pay an additional $33,678 in attorney's fees and costs.

Las Vegas robbery

In September 2007, a group of men led by Simpson entered a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino and took sports memorabilia at gunpoint, which resulted in Simpson's being questioned by police. Simpson admitted to taking the items, which he said had been stolen from him, but denied breaking into the hotel room; he also denied that he or anyone else carried a gun. He was released after questioning.

Two days later, Simpson was arrested and initially held without bail. Along with three other men, Simpson was charged with multiple felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $125,000, with stipulations that Simpson have no contact with the co-defendants and that he surrender his passport. Simpson did not enter a plea.

By the end of October 2007, all three of Simpson's co-defendants had plea-bargained with the prosecution in the Clark County, Nevada, court case. Walter Alexander and Charles H. Cashmore accepted plea agreements in exchange for reduced charges and their testimony against Simpson and three other co-defendants, including testimony that guns were used in the robbery. Co-defendant Michael McClinton told a Las Vegas judge that he too would plead guilty to reduced charges and testify against Simpson that guns were used in the robbery. After the hearings, the judge ordered that Simpson be tried for the robbery.

On November 8, 2007, Simpson had a preliminary hearing to decide whether he would be tried for the charges. He was held over for trial on all 12 counts. Simpson pleaded not guilty on November 29, and the trial was reset from April to September 8, 2008. Court officers and attorneys announced, on May 22, 2008, that long questionnaires with at least 115 queries would be given to a jury pool of 400 or more.

In January 2008, Simpson was taken into custody in Florida and flown to Las Vegas, where he was incarcerated at the county jail for violating the terms of his bail by attempting to contact Clarence "C. J." Stewart, a co-defendant in the trial. District Attorney David Roger of Clark County provided District Court Judge Jackie Glass with evidence that Simpson had violated his bail terms. A hearing took place on January 16, 2008. Glass raised Simpson's bail to US$250,000 and ordered that he remain in county jail until 15 percent was paid in cash. Simpson posted bond that evening and returned to Miami the next day.

Simpson and his co-defendant were found guilty of all charges on October 3, 2008. On October 10, 2008, Simpson's counsel moved for a new trial (trial de novo) on grounds of judicial errors and insufficient evidence. Simpson's attorney announced he would appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court if Judge Glass denied the motion. The attorney for Simpson's co-defendant, C. J. Stewart, petitioned for a new trial, alleging Stewart should have been tried separately and cited possible misconduct by the jury foreman.

Simpson faced a possible life sentence with parole on the kidnapping charge, and mandatory prison time for armed robbery. On December 5, 2008, Simpson was sentenced to a total of thirty-three years in prison, with the possibility of parole after about nine years, in 2017. On September 4, 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court denied a request for bail during Simpson's appeal. In October 2010, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. He is now serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center and his inmate ID number is #1027820.

A Nevada judge agreed on October 19, 2012, to "reopen the armed robbery and kidnapping case against O. J. Simpson to determine if the former football star was so badly represented by his lawyers that he should be freed from prison and get another trial." A hearing was held beginning May 13, 2013, to determine if Simpson is entitled to a new trial. On November 27, 2013, Judge Linda Bell denied Simpson's bid for a new trial on the robbery conviction. In her ruling, Bell wrote that all of Simpson's contentions lacked merit.

On July 31, 2013, the Nevada Parole Board granted Simpson parole on some charges from armed robbery convictions, but he will continue to be held at least until October 2017 based on the other sentences.Simpson's age and reports of his good behavior in prison increase his chances of parole. His next parole hearing is set for July 20, 2017.

Filmography

In popular culture

Films and televisionFilms

In Fox network's TV movie, The O.J. Simpson Story (1995), Simpson is portrayed as youth by Bumper Robinson and as an adult by Bobby Hosea; his close friend Al Cowlings is portrayed as a youth by Terrence Howard and as an adult by David Roberson.

BBC TV's documentary, O.J. Simpson: The Untold Story (2000), produced by Malcolm Brinkworth, "reveals that clues that some believe pointed away from Simpson as the killer were dismissed or ignored and highlights two other leads which could shed new light on the case."

The Investigation Discovery TV movie documentary, OJ: Trial of the Century (2014), begins on the day of the murders, ends on the reading of the verdict, and comprises actual media footage of events and reactions, as they unfolded.

The Investigation Discovery TV movie documentary, O.J. Simpson Trial: The Real Story (2016), entirely comprises archival news footage of the murder case, the Bronco chase, the trial, the verdict, and reactions.

Series and mini-series

In CBS's TV miniseries American Tragedy (November 15, 2000), Simpson is played by Raymond Forchion.

The documentary mini-series, O.J.: Made in America (released January 22, 2016 at Sundance), directed by Ezra Edelman and produced by Laylow Films, is an American 5-part, 7.5-hour film that previewed at the Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals and is airing as part of the 30 for 30 series airing on the ABC and ESPN sister networks. This film adds "rich contextual layers to the case, including a dive into the history of Los Angeles race relations that played such a central role in his acquittal". As James Poniewozik observed in his June 20, 2016 New York Times review: "the director Ezra Edelman pulls back, way back, like a news chopper over a freeway chase. Before you hear about the trial, the documentary says, you need to hear all the stories—the stories of race, celebrity, sports, America—that it's a part of." The film won a 2017 Academy Award for best Documentary Feature.

In FX's cable TV mini-series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (February 2016), based on Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson (1997), Simpson is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.

Exhibits

The Bronco from Simpson's police chase was on display in Pigeon Forge's Alcatraz East Crime Museum as of the fall of 2016.

Wikipedia

[junker-town]

Caster Semenya and the cruel history of contested black femininity

World Athletics’ regulations targeting Caster Semenya are rooted in a long legacy of black bodies being held to white standards.

In the 10 years since Caster Semenya won the 2009 World Championships at just 18 years old, the sports world has whittled her story down to one thing: her body.

Narrow hips. Wide shoulders. Pronounced jawline. Manly.

Based on the tones of disgust used to discuss her physicality, one might think that Semeya is the only runner to ever possess a body that so greatly differed from everyone else’s in the field. It seems the sports world has forgotten the peculiarities of Ira Murchison’s stocky, 5’4 frame, which earned him both the nickname “Human Sputnik” and an Olympic gold medal in the 4x100. Or that world record-holder Usain Bolt was taller with longer legs than any of his competitors.

Unlike those men, Semenya’s body is often deemed unwanted and out of place, most notoriously by her sport’s governing body. Throughout her career, World Athletics, formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations, has insisted she undergo intrusive testing and hormone regulation, and ultimately banned her from competition after instituting rule changes that seemingly targeted her in 2019.

But Semenya is not alone. Burundian runner Francine Niyonsaba, one of Semenya’s competitors in the 800-meter run, has since revealed she is one of a growing number of female athletes, mostly from the Global South, whose hyperandrogenism puts them directly in the crosshairs of World Athletics’ regulations. Former top junior-athlete Annet Negesa, an intersex runner from Uganda, recently disclosed that she underwent invasive surgery at the behest of World Athletics doctors to ensure she could continue competing. Complications from the procedure left her damaged both mentally and physically.

Underlying this harsh, discriminatory treatment is not simply an adherence to faulty biological metrics or antiquated, binary conceptions of gender, though these aspects have undoubtedly played a role. In fact, “sex verification” practices originated in the 1950s out of the as yet unfounded suspicion that some countries were allowing men to compete disguised as women, and involved little more than asking athletes to remove their undergarments. (Some of the athletes subjected to this scrutiny, like 1932 Olympic gold medalist Stella Walsh, were discovered to have genetic conditions resembling intersex characteristics.)

Semenya’s treatment is rooted in something far more disturbing. As early as the 16th century, European explorers who made their way to the African continent began remarking on the anatomical features of the populations they encountered. To the Europeans, the dark skin, strong builds, and wide lips and noses they encountered resembled those of apes, so much so that they began perpetuating the idea that Africans regularly copulated with monkeys. Over time, such beliefs took on a more gendered tone, with comparisons made between African and European women that not only promoted arbitrary markers of racial difference and inferiority, but also justified the exclusion of African women from the category of “woman” altogether.

World Athletics remains committed to a centuries-old, white supremacist notion that defines “womanhood” in terms of the white, cisgendered female body, rendering everyone else, especially women of African descent, socially unacceptable abberations.

World Athletics describes its mission as fostering “athletic excellence” and enhancing sport to “offer new and exciting prospects for athletes.” Yet it has historically done so by enabling vile attitudes towards black women and the bodies they inhabit.

In 1897, just 15 years before World Athletics was founded, British missionary Sir Albert Cook, a medical doctor by training, wrote broadly and unabashedly about his ethically dubious biopsies of women in present-day Uganda, remarking:

“Who has not been struck by the extraordinary narrowness of the Negroid hip? Viewed behind in the erect position at the level of hips the female Negroid body is narrow and round as compared with the “broad beam” of the average European woman, and when the dried pelvises of each are placed alongside each other the explanation is obvious, the Muganda’s bone looks like that of a child in size and in the fineness of its structure.... The negroid races have a shape of pelvis which is intermediate between the protomorphean races and those of the higher civilised types.... The brim, as in the apes, is long­oval in shape.”

It is difficult to overemphasize how critical Cook’s now-disproven studies were in the development of racialized ideas around femaleness and womanhood, and ultimately the dehumanization of black women’s bodies. He would become a two-time president of the British Medical Association and was knighted by way of King George V after his studies of African women’s anatomy became popular. Cook exemplified to the colonizing world the “knowledge” that could be seized upon through engagement with the African “other.”

Before Cook, Sarah Baartman, more commonly known by her derogatory nickname “The Hottentot Venus,” encompassed Western society’s fixation on black women’s bodies. Captured and enslaved in what is now South Africa (Semenya’s home country), Baartman was brought to Europe in 1810 and exhibited in circuses and public squares until her death, when scientists assessed and dissected her elongated labia. That work was promoted as more evidence that black women’s so-called deficiencies made them less “womanly” than their white counterparts.

The impact of such ideas can still be seen today within the medical community through widespread diagnoses of “labial hypertrophy,” a medical term for an elongated labia, despite the fact it is not a major (nor, for the most part, even minor) health concern. The rise of labiaplasties — a procedure that shortens and reduces the overall length and size of the labia — reifies the idea that the legitimacy of female genitalia should be defined by its distance from the physiology of the black, female body.

And while some might dismiss the relevance of these concepts today, chalking them up to a long-ago historical era of “overt” racism, they nonetheless helped Europeans institutionalize racism in areas like sports. As a result, the medical knowledge that informs society and World Athletics’ standard of womanhood is deeply rooted in racism, to the extent that black women like Semenya, Niyonsaba, and Negesa never really stood a chance.

Getty Images

AFP via Getty Images

Take sex hormones, for example. The idea that there are racial differences in testosterone and estrogen levels, particularly between black and white groups, is widely held yet highly controversial. The belief that black women are more masculine than just about every other race of women is rooted in the 17th and 18th centuries, and based on the notion that people of African descent are animalistic and aggressive. Fast forward to 1995, when popular psychologist J. Philippe Rushton argued that black people are less intelligent and more impulsive than white and Asian people, in large part due to their heightened levels of testosterone. Though Rushton’s work has been subjected to criticism over the years, his book Race, Evolution, and Behavior is in its third edition. Rushton himself was elected to the prestigious Canadian Psychological Association, and received a one-time Guggenheim fellowship. Scientists have spent the last few decades refuting Rushton’s claims, and ironically fanning the flames of racial pseudoscience.

Some studies suggest that among older women in the U.S., black women possess lower levels of estradiol, a form of the female sex hormone estrogen, than white women. On the surface, this may appear to be the source of World Athletic’s highly racialized policies. But it is important to note few studies have assessed racialized hormone disparities among women of different races, and even fewer studies with results that can actually be replicated. More common, as one might imagine, are studies that explore racial differences in sex hormones among men. Some show, contrary to popular belief, testosterone levels are quite similar between black and white men, while free estradiol levels are much higher in black men than men of other races. But even those results have been questioned by endocrinologists, biologists, and doctors due to conflicting studies in the field.

World Athletics’ relative lack of interest in variance in men’s bodies illustrates, by contrast, just how disproportionately unfair it has acted towards women. In his 1996 book Darwin’s Athletes, historian John Hoberman argues this discrepancy is due to a fixation on “black athletic aptitude” that goes back centuries. In 1851, physician Samuel Cartwright wrote that, “It is not only in the skin that a difference of color exists between the negro and the white man, but in the membranes, the muscles, the tendons, and in all the fluids and secretions.” Cartwright’s work, which Hoberman claims was read widely by slaveholders, gave (pseudo-) scientific, biological justification for maintaining racial hierarchy and slavery, even as moral opposition grew in other parts of the United States. Implicit in Cartwright’s work was the idea that black men’s physicality is acceptable only when it can be manipulated for profit.

Today, we see Cartwright’s legacy in sports. Exceptional male bodies, often characterized by great strength and size, often inspire awe, and not ire, because for the last century sports institutions have forged and refined mechanisms to make money off of them. Strong women’s bodies, however, haven’t yet been nearly as profitable, and thus have been much more easily derided.

From an interracial lens, black athletes are only considered worthy of wealth once they’ve proven their value beyond any reasonable standard. Until then, they are denied the same fame, wealth, and recognition that white competitors more easily receive. In their analysis of the rise of Kenyan athletes in the middle and long distance winners’ circle, John Bale and Joe Sang show that, when confronted with the domination of African-American sprinters from the top of the 20th century onward, white sprinters from Europe quietly retreated to the longer distances while sports writers claimed black athletes lacked the stamina and strategic acumen to succeed in those races. Further, when black athletes began performing better than whites, race officials would either give white athletes another opportunity to run, or disqualify the faster times run by their black counterparts. Such was the case when African runners Humphrey Khosi and Bennett Makgamathe bested white runners in a 1962 meet held in Mozambique, but were denied victory by officials.

Now, World Athletics has established “development centres” throughout Africa and many other parts of the Global South, hoping to recruit and cultivate the very talent it once sought to restrict from success in competition. Some argue that regional development centres are actually a way to export these athletes to the West so that they can compete for nations like Britain and France. And still, these centres cater to the cultivation of male athletes, leaving women behind even in countries with more liberal attitudes towards women’s participation in sports.

World Athletics simply sees little use in acknowledging and developing female talent, particularly black female talent in the Global South. As exemplifiers of a particular strain of racialized thinking, those women, to them, are not “real women.” And when World Athletics refuses to elevate the athletic prowess of a black woman, within a body that defies centuries of white supremacist, colonial, gender-essentialist myths, it chooses, instead, to humiliate her on every level.

In this era of sports and protest, perhaps a movement of solidarity from other runners could rise up, forcing World Athletics to reevaluate its stance. But track and field is still an intense, cutthroat competition. Many contestants instead see a chance to fill a void atop the podium, or worse, proliferate their own racism without fear of backlash. British middle-distance runner Jemma Simpson described racing with Semenya as “literally running against a man.” Australian Madeleine Pape recently defended Semenya, and expressed regret at having joined “the chorus of voices condemning her performance as ‘unfair’.” Black female athletes from sub-Saharan Africa occupy a position of heightened marginality; the chances of them receiving widespread support were miniscule from the jump. Ironically as some of the world’s fastest runners, they haven’t been able to garner the momentum needed to create a different outcome.

And yet, these women shouldn’t need to advocate for themselves. As society continues to confront the racial legacies of social institutions in other ways, sports organizations like World Athletics have a clear opportunity to address the harm done as a result of the implementation of racist, sexist ideas. No more hiding behind biased science, doctors, and metrics. Semenya, Niyonsaba, Negesa, and other African female athletes with hyperandrogenism need not alter or manipulate themselves to fit ideals of womanhood that were constructed explicitly around their exclusion. Their bodies are simply not the problem.

They never were.

[olympictickets]

Olympic Athletics: Former world junior 800m champion joins list of suspended Kenyans

Previous world junior 800 meters’ Olympic Athletics champion Alfred Kipketer is the most recent Kenyan competitor to be temporarily suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for doping infringement. The 23-year-old, a finalist in the 800m at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, purportedly neglected to make himself accessible for out-of-rivalry drugs tests.

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Kipketer was suspended for neglecting to profit himself for doping tests in opposition to the AIU's article 2.4 which says: Any blend of three missed tests and additionally recording disappointments, as characterized in the global standard for testing and examinations, inside a year time frame by a competitor in an enrolled testing pool.

Kipketer, who likewise won the world youth title in 2013 and arrived at the last of the 2015 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Beijing, won't be permitted to contend again until the case is completely researched - leaving his investment at the current year's Summer Games in Tokyo in question.

The AIU included that temporary suspension forced in a non-doping case doesn't in any capacity annul the assumption of blamelessness and it's anything but an early assurance of blame. Or maybe, it is a request made on a preparatory premise to defend the interests of the Olympic 2020.

Kipketer's case comes only days after previous long-distance race world-record holder, Wilson Kipsang was suspended for a comparable infringement. World Anti-Doping Agency rules expect competitors to present their whereabouts for one hour consistently, in addition to medium-term settlement and preparing data, in the event that they are required for out-of-rivalry testing.

English 800m sprinter Kyle Langford, barely beaten by Kipketer to the IAAF World Youth Championship title in Donetsk in 2013, took to internet-based life to state: Another of my rivals busted! Kipketer drove after the opening lap of Rio 2016 800m before distorting to complete seventh in a race won by partner David Rudisha.

Half a month later, Kipketer set an individual best of 1min 42.87sec for the separation soon thereafter. The improvement is the most recent hit to the believability of Kenyan games. Kipketer joins the developing rundown of Kenyan competitors suspended for doping offenses.

An aggregate of 43 competitors, including the ladies' 2016 Olympic long-distance race champion Jemima Sumgong and three-time world 1,500m victor Asbel Kiprop, are at present restricted from the Tokyo Olympic Games. A few others, as Kipketer, are anticipating hearings - the quantity of Kenyans right now serving bans could before long reach more than 50.

Kipketer is probably not going to be the last competitor this year to fall foul of neglecting to make themselves accessible for drug testing after the AIU cautioned on its site that it will be adopting a progressively stringent strategy to whereabouts prerequisites in Olympic 2020.

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[breakingasia-blog]

Sharpest Chess Queens Battle for World Champion Title

The 500,000 euros on the table in the showdown between holder Ju Wenjun and challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina is the largest prize fund in the nearly 100-year history of the Women's World Championship. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) says it is a significant moment for women's chess, which has long lagged behind the publicity, pay packets and participation of men. The winner between the grandmasters from China and Russia -- which will be determined over 12 game days in Shanghai and Vladivostok -- takes home 300,000 euros. The total purse is a 150-percent hike on the previous women's championship match, according to FIDE, and the format of the competition has been changed to mirror the World Chess Championship, which is theoretically open to all but has been dominated by men. "We are trying to increase the prestige of the women's game and also close the pay gap with the men," said Nigel Short, once one of the top-ranked players in the world and now FIDE vice president. "It's something that we are concerned about and we are trying to do our best to improve the conditions in particular for women's chess," the 54-year-old Briton said. Moves to boost women's chess came with the election of Arkady Dvorkovich as FIDE president in October 2018. He is a former deputy prime minister of Russia. Goryachkina called the changes to the women's tournament "very positive" but said she was motivated by winning the title, not the cash Speaking on the eve of Sunday's opening game, rising star Goryachkina, 21, called the changes "very positive" but said she was motivated by winning the title, not the cash. Shohreh Bayat, chief arbiter for the match between Goryachkina and the 28-year-old Ju, laughed off the notion that this is chess's #MeToo moment. But the Iranian said: "There were many complaints from women players about the format of tournaments, such as this one, and the prize money." Bayat hopes that one day women will earn the same as the likes of Magnus Carlsen, the world champion and best-known name in chess. "In chess right now, if you compare their ratings, men are better players than women, there's a big difference," said Bayat. The effort to improve the standing of women's chess extends to having more female tournaments and more women as coaches and arbiters, Bayat added.  The winner between the grandmasters from China and Russia -- which will be determined over 12 game days in Shanghai and Vladivostok -- takes home 300,000 euros Help or Hindrance? But the 500,000 euros for the Women's World Championship match is still only half of the World Chess Championship prize fund. And some believe that female-only tournaments hinder rather than promote equality. "Perhaps there is an argument for scrapping girls-only sections and best girl prizes in junior tournaments," said David Cox, a freelance journalist and contributor to the website Chess.com. "After all, chess is a sport where men and women can compete on a level playing field, and that would push more girls to aim higher and keep trying to improve to be the best player overall, rather than the best girl." There are various theories why men dominate the top 100 in the FIDE ratings. Cox and Bayat believe a major factor is simply that there are significantly more men than women playing. At US Chess, only 14.5 percent of its 92,000 members are female, although that is more than double what it was in 2000 and a record high. Jennifer Shahade, a two-time US women's champion, believes that FIDE is on "the right track" with the significant increase in prize money. Shahade, women's program director at US Chess, said: "Building a strong base of female players is crucial to developing the game. "I think chess is particularly crucial in a time of constant distraction, where the intellectual is de-emphasized in favor of the immediate and the visual," she added. "Men, kids, and especially women and girls, need the benefits of chess right now more than ever." Read the full article

[upshotre]

ODD NEWS: MIT students break Guinness record for hot dog throwing

A pair of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students put their softball skills to the test when they broke a Guinness World Record for throwing a hot dog and catching it in a bun. Phoebe Li, a junior at MIT, lobbed the cooked hot dog 120 feet, where it was caught in a bun by graduate student Amber VanHemel. The Monday record attempt was masterminded by VanHemel, who recruited her former softball teammate to the effort after seeing video of previous record holders David Rush and Jake Smith setting the mark at 105 feet, 4 inches, during the summer. The students said they held multiple practice sessions and took measures to make sure they would qualify for the Guinness record, including making sure the tossed sausage measured between 5.5 and 7 inches. The pair said documentation from their record attempt is now being submitted to Guinness for official recognition. Read the full article