Olympic Diary : Day 4

All about Phelps : Glory and Heartache

The Men's 200 m Butterfly Podium

Tuesday at the games was all about one man, who firmly put himself on top spot as the greatest Olympic medal winner of all time (lets reserve the term greatest Olympian for another discussion). Anchoring the men’s 4 x 200 m freestyle relay , Michael Phelps was handed a comfortable lead and never really looked in any danger of being overhauled , even by the face of the pool in London , Yannick Agnel. However for all the joy at this 15^th gold (and 19^th medal) , the real moment (easily destined to be one of the most memorable from London) had come half an hour earlier in the men’s 200 m butterfly , an event which Phelps had dominated for the best part of a decade and went into the final as the 2 time Olympic gold medallist....For 9/10^th of the race , all seemed to be going to plan with the American leading , if not comfortably , with breathing space , when over the final 20 m , the curse of the three-peat hit home.   

Forget 8 golds.....world records.....sprint doubles and trebles....the holy grail in men’s swimming has suddenly become a 3-peat gold medal in the same event.  Having led pretty much from start to finish he was beaten on the line by the stretch of a hand. South African Chad Le Clos took the gold but the race was Michael’s to win...and he failed. You could sense the whole watching world  (minus the country of SA maybe rooting for him on that final home stretch , I was sure he’d won it...but alas). Not that it tarnishes a legacy, if anything it only enhances it. All this would have done was place Phelps that extra league further in the pantheon of great Olympic swimmers that he shares with...well no one really. Popov failed, Thorpe couldn’t even attempt it and now Phelps too has come up short. He will win other medals in these games (even golds) but the loss is likely to rankle for some considerable duration of time. 

In other pool events 16 yr old swim sensation Ye Shiven added the 200 m IM to the 400 m title she won 2 days back , while American Alison Schmidt took home the women’s 200 m freestyle gold.

Elsewhere the Chinese were finally toppled from the gymnastics podium by the US as perennial powerhouses Russia and Romania took home the other honours. China promptly went out and earned itself gold in 3 other disciplines (apart from Shiven’s Swimming gold) – Men’s Sabre , Women’s synchronised diving (platform), and weightlifting (men’s 69 kg). 

Olympic Diary : Day 3

Pool Upsets galore , Controversies Rage, India on the Board

For the 2^nd time in 2 days Ryan Lochte was comprehensively beaten by French sensation Yannick Agnel. In a star studded 200 m freestyle relay field, Agnel demolished the field to finish more than a second ahead of the silver medal. With Lochte finishing a disappointing 4^th, Agnel has now replaced the American as the male star of the pool in these Olympics. The US though did get golds in the Mens and women’s 100m Backstroke (Matt Grevers and Missy Franklin). Franklin’s swim was especially impressive as it came just minutes after her qualifying heat for the 200 m freestyle. The games continued providing newer stars with 15 yr old Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania claiming as outstanding gold in the 100 m breaststroke for women.

There were controversies galore in the boxing ring, the fencing competition and in the men’s gymnastics team final, where the Japanese score was increased after an official protest over the last pommel horse routine. As a result the Brits were shunted into 3^rd place and Ukraine out of the medal places with Japan sneaking in for the silver. China, of course, ran away with the gold.

In spite of a first gymnastic medal in a 100 years for GB , these games might well prove to be one where the hosts put up the worst showing. Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield failed to impress off the diving board and all the British swimmers came up short in the pool. The realistic gold medal hopes for the Brits now seem to be in the rowing events and track cycling.

India on the Board : India is creating a bit of a fortress in the shooting gallery (if one medal per games can be called that). For us, who’ve been brought up to delight on scraps , 3 consecutive medals in  one sport , is probably akin to the monopoly of the Dream team for the US. But it was a great performance by Narang in the 10m Air Rifle final. Saina breezed through her match and surprise , surprise...the hockey team went 2 goals down , came back to equalise , conceded a late penalty corner goal and went down fighting against the Dutch – now where have we heard that before.  India should get one or 2 more medals with Saina, Vijender Singh (boxing) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling).

                                                    A Disconsolate Shin Lam

Image of the Day : A tearful protest by South Korea’s Shin Lam, who’s semi-final fencing math against Britta Heidemann ended controversially. With the scores tied , the official clock was reset with 1 second to go in which Heidemann landed the winning hit. Lam sat on the piste for almost an hour while her entire entourage staged a written protest. Both Lam and Heidemann lost their respective bronze and gold medal matches subsequently. 

Olympic Diary - Day 2

More favourites dethroned , Certain fortresses defended and China flexes its muscles

If history at the games has taught one lesson, it is that big boasts often come short on the day of the performance. The Australian mens 4 x 100 m relay team , famously describing themselves as “Weapons of Mass Destruction” should have got omens from the performance of the Great Britain cycling team in the mens road race – having been described by Bradley Wiggins as the greatest road race team ever assembled in an Olympic games. So the greatest road race team failed to place a single rider in the top 20 and similary the wapons of mass destruction were clinically diffused by France, US and the Russians. It was sweet revenge for the Frenchmen who were pipped to the finish by the width of a fingernail at Beijing. On this occasion , The Beijing anchorman , Bernard was benched for the final , and Yannick Agnel upstaged Ryan Lochte in yet another classic finish. Michael Phelps after the 2^nd leg had given the US a sizeable lead , but the French clawed back some of the deficit in the 3^rd leg before Agnel blew Lochte away in the home stretch. In other pool events , there were world record performances for American Dana Volmer (Women’s 100 m Butterfly) and South African Cameron van der Burgh (Mans 100 m breaststroke).

      

                Sweet Revenge for the Frenchmen

The home team , GB , finally got on the medal board with a silver for Lizzie Armitstead, in the womens cycling road race , an event where Dutchwoman Marriane Vos comprehensively outsprinted Armitstead in a 3 woman breakaway to claim gold.

The Chinese meanwhile continue to prove that their 1^st place finish in the medal tally at Biejing was not a fluke with wins in shooting and synchronised diving to take the early gold medal lead. Team US has its work cut out to outmatch China especially with the pool events perhaps not going exactly to plan.

The Dream Team , meanwhile , hardly got out of 2^nd gear and still beat Tony Parker’s France by more than 25 points. Neymar and Oscar showcased their outstanding talent as Brazil overcame Belarus 3-1 in Football , while GB stuttered past UAE.

Star of the Day : Kimberly Rhode (US) who won her 5^th consecutive Olympic gold in the skeet shooting.


Fortresses Defended : Hungarian Aaron Szilagyi claimed a 13th gold for his country in the men's fencing (sabre). South Korea won a 7th consecutive gold in the women's archery team competition while China continued its monopoly on the women's synchronised diving (springboard) event.

Performance of the Day : Yannick Agnel’s final 100 m leg , blowing away the golden boy of the pool , Ryan Lochte. 

The Olympic Diary : Day 1

Favourites Stumble

Opening day marked major stumbles by defending champions and hot favourites , none bigger than Michael Phelps turning out a poor 4^th place in the 4 x 100 m Individual medley , an event in which he was the 2 time defending champion. This was the first time Phelps finished out of the medal positions in 17 previous events on the pool. His insipid performance raised further doubts on his likelihood of adding further golds to the glittering tally of 14. He might be part of the gold winning team in the relays but , individual race wins seem highly unlikely , especially with the crown prince of the pool , Ryan Lochte , so comprehensively announcing his intentions and form in the pool yesterday.

  Cavendish and Phelps : Opening day Shocks

If Phelps was the big pool name that failed, perhaps the biggest shock of the day came in the Mens Cycling road race. The so called British Dream Team, boasting names like Bradley Wiggins , Chris Froome , Dan Martin and of course hot race favourite Mark Cavendish failed to pull back a 30 man breakaway. The breakaway held fast to a time gap of a minute over the final 20 kms and with big names like Cancellara , Nibali , Gilbert , Sagan , Van Garderen in the mix , it was team GB that faded and the hopes for a bunch spring finish for the likes of Cavendish , Andre Griepel and Matt Goss faded fast. In the end , it was an emotional gold medal winning performance by Alexander Vinokourov , in his final season as a professional bike rider. Plagued by injuries and drug suspensions, Vino seemed to have indicate something of a final push at this year’s Tour de France with a number of  breakaway attempts , only to be reeled in by the peloton. In the classic finish in front of Buckingham Palace , the Kazakh rider upturned all british expectations but wrote a memorable page in Olympic cycling history. (The ramifications from the road race might well be felt later in the time trial where Wiggins and Froome start as big favourites )

Other big names (and defending champions) who stumbled included Stephanie Rice , the Korean mens archery team (bronze) and the dutch womens 4 x 100 m freestyle relay team (silver). Even Roger Federer managed to drop a set on centre court (perhaps the great man isn’t used all those bright colours at the All-England Club)

Star(s) of the Day : Chinese swim duo of Sun Yang (400 m freestyle gold) and 16 yr old Ye Shiven ( womens 4 x 100 m individual medley gold)

Clutch Performance of the day : Italian Mens archery team - Needing a 10 with the final arrow to claim the outright win against the US, the big burly Italian with the ‘kissing’ stance duly obliged with the bulls eye.

The Indian Meter – Flop : Losses in the badminton mixed and women’s doubles as well as the tennis women’s doubles. Add to it disappointing performances at Lords (archery) , in weightlifting and losses in the ring. Vijender remains on course – watch this space. 

Gunners Transfer Saga – A No Win Situation for All

And so it starts again – The annual North London summer pantomime, which in the past few years has featured headline acts by Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas (2 consecutive years), Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy. The latest duo tussling for the Broadway honours are the Gunners frontmen Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott. While RVP was easily the player of the season in England last year (his horror show in the subsequent European championships notwithstanding) and Walcott had the most consistent of all his inconsistent seasons with the Gunners, a close introspection into the career history of players under Arsene Wenger might suggest that transfers of these latest Arsenal wantaways might not be in the best interest of pretty much any party concerned – unless of course the only interest the player might profess is to garner a bank load of extra cash.

                                    Theo and RVP : Greener Pastures ( really ???)

Throughout the Wenger era the notable names who have left the club for greener pastures (money or trophies or both) include Marc Overmars , Gio van Bronckhorst , Ashley Cole , Mathieu Flamini , Alexander Hleb , Jose Reyes , Fabregas , Kolo Toure , Adebayor , Clichy and Nasri. Of course this list does not include the likes of Robert Pires , Freddy Ljunberg and Sol Campbell who shone for several years with the club before being relieved of their duties (at least in Pires’ case rather dubiously so). Neither do names like Pascal Cygan , Senderos or Jeffers feature as they were horrendous failures at the club.
So, to head back to our first list , of players who left Arsenal at their prime, only Overmars , Gio and Cole can proclaim with any real honour that they tasted success in their future ventures after quitting the Gunners.

Now success is a very gray term. Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri might well jump at my throat claiming they won the EPL trophy in their first season with City. However if success is merely to be measured by medals in the cabinet and not by the actual amount the individual contributes to the medal winning effort , then Robert Horry with 5 NBA championship rings is a greater player than Karl Malone and Tom Moody with 2 cricket world cup wins is more successful than Sachin Tendulkar. Success and greatness in team sport ought to be measured in more than merely by the number of medals and trophies unlike in individual disciplines. Cryuff , Puskas , Zico , Socrates , Bergkamp have no world cup medals to display , but at would any of them have changed their careers with Cristoff Dugarry or Luca Toni. Sometimes medals are merely won by being at the right place at the right time, and can then be hardly be equated with sporting greatness.

Back then to my original point – Nasri had a sub-par season with city and an even worse Euro with France, a far cry from the exalted heights of footballing artistry he displayed in 2010-2011 (especially the first half). Similarly Adebayor , Clichy or Toure haven’t really done anything spectacular in their post Arsenal ventures. Even Gunners Legend Thierry Henry, though he won the Champions League with Barcelona , was pretty much reduced to a bit part player for the Catalans in his years there, a far cry from week after week electric entertainment he used to provide English audiences during his time with Arsenal. As for Flamini and Hleb, average players who seemed much more than that under Wenger’s tutelage and system , sunk without a trace at Milan and Barcelona respectively. Even Fabregas didn’t really steal the show at an embarrassingly rich Barca squad that promptly surrendered their stranglehold on the La Liga to Jose and Ronaldo’s Madrid. The case for him, however, might be different with Xavi getting no younger and Iniesta ever injury prone , he and Leo Messi might well be footballing duo that etches their name in history.

                        Hleb and Flamini : Spectacular failures in Post Arsenal Careers

Van Persie, no doubt is an extremely accomplished striker , but I still think his performances have flattered his own abilities during the past year and a half. Always a feather touch away from an injury, and a failure to match his club performances on the international level should be a warning for the player and potential suitors alike. I personally do not think RVP will ever match the excellence of last season, whether it is for Arsenal or for another club. At Arsenal at least he will be playing a familiar system and under a man who has groomed him from his youth (just ask Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs the importance of the latter). As for Walcott , he is far from the finished product – already cries in the stands have called for the dynamic Alex Oxlade Chamberlain to be promoted over him in terms of first team appearances. He especially should take heed from the fates of Flamini and Hleb as he is in asimilar point in his career and is as likely to vanish out of contention as he is likely to finally fulfil those long prophesies of greatness.

All in all, introspection into the history of Arsenal transfers under Wenger might well forebode that RVP and Theo are best staying put in North London. Podolski is a good player , Giroud I haven’t seen much of, but with a couple of further tweaks , a fit squad and more essentially an early return by Jack Wilshere might just see the Gunners as dark horses to the 3 way challenge predicted between the Manchester clubs and the free spending Chelsea in the forthcoming season 

A Back 9 for the Ages : Scott's Collapse vs Enigmatic Ernie

Sunday evening quite simply took my breath away. Sentimentally of course, Ernie Els is the one golfer I’ve been following and supporting blindly ever since the sport enchanted me back in the mid 90s. From his 2^nd US Open triumph, it has been a steady case of near misses, failure to turn up altogether, injuries and of course, domination by a certain striped jungle cat. I missed his Open triumph at Muirfield in 2002 and this Open success was as sweet for me as any success for a sports fan. However this post is not by Ernie’s fan, but more about by a student of the game.

Going through the innumerable articles and reactions since the unbelievable Sunday back 9 at Lytham, it bothered me that all the attention was focussed on Adam Scott and how he choked over the final 4 holes. Comparisons with Greg Norman at the Masters and Jean Van de Velde from Carnoustie in ’99 were painfully common. One writer went to the extent of saying that Ernie had been gifted the Open due to no great play by him but merely by the massive collapse of the Aussie Scott’s game.

                                                  Els and Scott : Contrasting Emotions

True , Scott choked and badly at that. Standing on the 15^th tee leading by 4 strokes, there was no way he should have let Ernie back into contention. But his demise should not in any way undermine a phenomenal back nine of golf by the Big Easy. On a Sunday afternoon , when the slumbering course finally woke up and terrorised pretty much all competitors especially the later groups , Els’ mastery of the windy links was as contributory to his win as was Adam’s disintegration. Consider the following stats – of the 6 players in the final 3 groups with a genuine shot at the title on Sunday ,  Scott , Graeme McDowell and Brandt Snedekar all shot 5 over par rounds of 75 , while Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson shot 3 and 4 over par respectively. Under such brutal scoring conditions, Els’ 2 under 68, should be equated with rounds of 65 or below on normal courses. Consider the tough back 9 where pretty much everyone dropped at least 2 shots – Els played it 4 under par.

While it is easy to say that he could have shot lower had he not left a number of putts agonisingly short of the hole, the great tee-to-green golf played by Ernie to get to those potential birdie opportunities should not be forgotten. In the home stretch, he took on the task of challenging Scott by hitting driver of pretty much every tee. Even on the 15^th and 16^th where he found the thick stuff, some immaculate scrambling and pressure putting ensured he didn’t not drop a shot (as vital as gaining strokes)

His clutch birdie putt on the 18^th is destined to become part of Open folklore, not only because it gained a vital stroke which won him the championship outright, but it can be argued that it was this birdie which made Scott hit a 3 wood on the 18^th tee, which ultimately found the fairway bunker and sealed his Open fate. So essentially that putt on 18 becomes a 2 shot gain for Els, the difference between winning or losing by a single stroke.

So while we gawk astonished at Adam Scott’s meltdown , it would not be fair to deprive Els of the praise worthy of a back 9 of golf that merits consideration among the tournaments great ones. 

Team Sky : Fortuitous Monotonous Metronome or Future of Grand Tour Cycling.

Let us make no bones about the fact that this was a great 12 months for British Cycling; starting with Mark Cavendish’s world championship win in 2011 right to the top 2 podium spots of this year’s Tour de France. At the very heart of these achievements, especially the latter, which many Brits deem greater than the 1966 world cup win, has been that ruthless cycling machine called Team Sky. Masterminded by David Bralisford and spearheaded by Bradley Wiggins (Surely ‘Sir Bradley’ in the future) , Sky demolished all and sundry in the most clinical display of team cycling , possibly in the entire history of the Tour.

The course suited Wiggins to the hilt with 2 long time trials and the paucity of major mountain top finishes. Once he gained the Yellow jersey in the 2nd week, his trusty lieutenants, notably Chris Froome and Ritchie Porte pretty much carried him piggy back over the mountains and set him up for the one thing he does best – demolish the field in the Individual Time trial. Job done – champagne uncorked, knighthoods / OBEs earmarked. People are already proclaiming US Postal / Discovery like domination of the Tour by Sky for the better part of the decade.

                                                         The Indomitable Sky Train

Sure, Sky attired itself perfectly for the course of this year’s Tour and Wiggins won Yellow without a strain of effort on his face but portends for years of dominance might just be a tad early. For one, this was the most dead pan Tour in years. For me the Tour is about the mountains , where the big boys come out to play and lay the gauntlet down for their rivals– like Lance Armstrong on the Alpe D’Huez giving the ‘look’ to Jan Ulrich , or Alberto Contador putting on his dancing shoes on many a back breaking climb. Even last year’s Tour was epitomized by the legendary long attack by Andy Schleck on the climb to the Galibier. Though Evans eventually won on the Time trial, the real battle was how he clawed precious seconds back over Andy in the final climb. The staple diet of the mountains this year were the metronomic Sky train sitting comfortably without a thought of having to attack. Even when Liquigas decided to take the battle to Wiggins to set up Vicenzo Nibali , the pace at the front of the peloton played right into the Briton’s hands, especially as Nibali much awaited ‘Contador’ dance never materialised and he was actually dropped on the final summit finish by Wiggins and Froome. Things would have been much more exciting if Froome had been allowed to show his pace , for surely he had much more left in the tank over the mountains than Wiggins , in spite of his bodyguard duties. But for the inimitable Thomas Voeckler’s heartwarming passion , one might have dozed off on the mountains this tour , woken up after 10 km and found the same sight repeating itself.....3-4 sky riders shepherding one in yellow , rapidly dwindling so-called attackers of the other teams and yes , Cadel Evans falling back disappointingly.


Is any of this Sky’s fault – of course not. They read the course and the field and plotted their victory with surgical precision. However, let us hope that future courses are planned by the Tour organisers with a bit more scope for adventure. For the 100th anniversary of the Tour next here , I’m hoping to see at least some or all of the more iconic mountain stages – Alpe D’Huez , Mt Ventoux , Galibier etc. Here’s also hoping to have a fit and raring Contadorand Andy joining the battle....also Froome given the license to fight for himself , whether on this team or another....now that might really shake things up.


Some things of course will never change....and Mark Cavendish, if he survives the 3 weeks , will still win on the Champs-Élysées.

P.S. – The most memorable vision from this tour : The Yellow Jersey leading out the final sprint on the Champs-Élysées.