WORLD SPORTS STARS

Sunday, August 14, 2011

hope solo A North Carolina community

A North Carolina community is rallying around a high school senior with down syndrome who has just been told he can no longer be a full member of his high school's football team. Brett Bowden has been the inspirational leader of the Hobbton High School team, dressing in pads with the team he loves, but rarely playing. Now, because of state rules, the 19-year-old senior has been told he's too old to fully suit up this season. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association says that Brett's not kicked off the team, and that he can still wear the jersey and take part in pre-and-post-game activities. He just can't dress in full pads. But Brett's friends and family are saying this age limit rule is going to crush him. There is now a Facebook page called "Let Brett Bowden Play," and as of this morning, over 45,000 people have "Liked" the page.
It was an emotional homecoming at a minor league baseball game when a pair of 4-year-old twin girls were surprised by their daddy, who had just come home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Little Gracie and Ruby Weichman thought they had won a contest to play on the field between innings at a Spokane Indians game, but instead, they got a much more special gift... a surprise from their father! In tears, Sgt. Chris Weichman dropped to his knees and embraced his girls, who sprinted across the field to hug their dad. They had no idea that he had just come home, finished with his 3rd tour of duty in Afghanistan. The crowd in attendance rose to its feet for an emotional standing ovation.
Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has cracked the Top 10! No, not in boxing... in singing! His hit single "Sometimes When We Touch" has just moved to number seven on the secondary adult contemporary charts. Pacquiao recorded that song in his workout clothes while he was training for a fight. The boxing champ says he sings to his children every night.
Hope Solo is taking it all off! The goalie and most well-known player from this summer's inspirational US Women's World Cup soccer team will be appearing in ESPN The Magazine's annual "Body Issue." The special issue is billed as a celebration of the athletic physique... but it's basically a bunch of really buff athletes, both male and female, posing nude (tastefully!). Solo sent out this Tweet this week: "Being naked outside is very liberating."

hope solo

Dale Begg-Smith Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is an Australian

Dale Begg-Smith born 18 January 1985 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is an Australian-Canadian freestyle skier. Begg-Smith won the gold medal for Australia, his adopted country, in the men's moguls event at the 2006 Winter Olympics and silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He is only the third Australian to win a gold medal in a Winter Games and the youngest to win an Olympic Gold in the history of mens freestyle mogul skiing. In the lead-up to the 2006 Winter Games, Dale Begg-Smith had won three World Cup rounds and was ranked world number one in the moguls discipline. In 2010, Begg-Smith's fourth World Cup title put him even with French Skier Edgar Grospiron for most World Cup wins.
Contents
* 1 Early years and career
* 2 Business controversy
* 3 Honours
* 4 Results
o 4.1 Olympic Results
o 4.2 World Championship Results
o 4.3 World Cup Season Victories
o 4.4 World Cup Podiums
* 5 References
* 6 External links
Early years and career
Begg-Smith was skiing for his native Canada as a teenager when his coaches told him he was spending too much time on his fledgling business, and not enough time in training. He subsequently quit the Canadian ski program because it clashed with his business interests and, along with his brother Jason Begg-Smith, moved to Australia at age 16. The brothers chose to ski for Australia because the country had a smaller ski program that offered them more attention and flexibility. This ensured that they could still successfully manage their business. The brothers stayed out of competitive skiing for three years and instead trained with the Australian team, living in Jindabyne each winter. The pair qualified for Australian citizenship after these three years in 2003-04, and were then free to compete for their adopted country.[citation needed]
Alisa Monk, coordinator of the moguls program, says that she books Begg-Smith's hotels and flights economically, despite his wealth. "Wherever the team stays, he stays. There are certainly no big demands. You wouldn't know he had a bit of money." She also said, "When he is at Perisher he stays in the same hut as the other mogul skiers and his brother which is small and old and almost falling down", and that "He just doesn't try to stand out at all."
Begg-Smith won silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, leading to some complaints about biased-judging from members of the Australian coaching staff. “Sometimes you’re in the good graces of the judges, sometimes you’re not,” Gold medalist Alex Bilodeau said. “Judged sports can’t be perfect. It can be a bad part of my sport. I see it. But everybody is going to be equal in the end.”
He is considered a recluse by many, and has repeatedly refused to communicate with non-Australian media, Canadian media in particular NBC dubbed him "the most mysterious man of the Winter Olympics" in a piece aired on 14 February 2010, during the Vancouver games.
Begg-Smith is a consist qualifier for World Cup finals, in March 2010 he reached his 48th consecutive final leading Australian moguls coach to say of the accomplishment that "he always qualifies. He has now qualified for 48 straight finals, which is incredible - I don't know if that's a record or not, but I would presume it is." This claim is disputed however as Begg-Smith has missed multiple events due to training or injury, such as his season ending surgery in January 2009. It is unclear whether the coach was claiming whether he had qualified for 48 straight finals or 48 straight finals which he had competed in.
After the Haiti earthquake, Begg-Smith donated his prize money - about $13,670 - to earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

Dale Begg-Smith

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Robert Scheidt brazilian sailor, having won two gold

Robert Scheidt born April 15, 1973 is a renowned Brazilian sailor, having won two gold medals and two silver medals from four Olympic Games. He is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of the most successful Brazilian Olympic athletes.
Contents
* 1 Early career
* 2 Senior career
* 3 Personal life
* 4 Main Titles
* 5 References
Early career
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)
Born in São Paulo, his father gave him his first boat at the age of 9 and began practising in the Guarapiranga dam. With the help of Dudu Melchert, his coach, he began winning several competitions.
At the age of 11, Scheidt became the South American Champion in the Optimist Class, in Algorrobo, Chile, in 1985 and again in 1986. Because of his wins, he was chosen to represent Brazil in the Optimist World Championship in 1986. This fact was the turning point of his career and made him decide to quit tennis and focus on sailing.
Because his weight and height exceeded the Optimist recommendations, he began sailing in the Snipe Class and became three times Brazilian junior champion. In 1990, he began sailing in the Laser dinghy and became Brazilian junior champion and was called to represent Brazil in the Junior World Championships, held in Netherlands. In this championship, he realized he had what it took to be a great athlete and trained in Denmark and Sweden and participated for the first time in the Kiel Week (Kieler Woche). In 1991, he sailed a good and consistent regatta won 10 out of the 11 races and became Laser Junior World Champion, in Scotland.

Robert Scheidt

Natalia Falavigna Maringá, Paraná state is a taekwondo

Natália Falavigna da Silva born May 9, 1984 in Maringá, Paraná state is a taekwondo athlete from Brazil. She finished in the fourth place in the women's 67-kilogram category in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics on August 26,and won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was the first Brazilian Olympic medal ever in taekwondo.

* 1 Achievements
* 2 Awards
* 3 Career
o 3.1 2000 World Junior Taekwondo Championship
o 3.2 2001 World Taekwondo Championship
o 3.3 2004 Summer Olympics
o 3.4 2005 World Taekwondo Championship
o 3.5 2007 World Taekwondo Championship
o 3.6 2007 Pan American Games
o 3.7 2008 Summer Olympics
* 4 References
Achievements
Natália Falavigna won the following competitions:
* World Taekwondo Championship: 2005
* World University Taekwondo Championship: 2006
* World Junior Taekwondo Championship: 2000
Awards
Falavigna won the Brazilian Olympic Award's Women's Best Athlete of the Year in 2005, and also won the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 Best Taekwondo Athlete.
Career
2000 World Junior Taekwondo Championship
In 2000, two years after starting practicing taekwondo, Falavigna won the World Youth Taekwondo Championship, held in Killarney, Republic of Ireland. It was the first international tournament that she participated in.
2001 World Taekwondo Championship
In 2001, in the World Taekwondo Championship held in Jeju, South Korea, Natália Falavigna won the Bronze Medal.
2004 Summer Olympics
Natália Falavigna competed for the first time in the Olympics in 2004, when she finished in the fourth place in the competition. She was defeated in the semifinal by Chinese Chen Zhong. In the Repechage semifinals she defeated Italian Daniela Castrignano, but was beaten by Venezuelan Adriana Carmona in the Bronze medal match.
2005 World Taekwondo Championship
In 2005, in Madrid, Spain, Natália Falavigna defeated British Sarah Stevenson in the final, and won the World Taekwondo Championship.
2007 World Taekwondo Championship
Falavigna won the Bronze medal in the 2007 World Taekwondo Championship held in Beijing, China

Natalia Falavigna

kaka connected kaka get GPS backpacks

Connected kaka get GPS backpacks
Bird watching has gone hi-tech at Zealandia, where GPS tracking devices have been attached to kaka.

The threatened native birds have been fitted with specially designed backpacks which hold 70.5gram tracking devices.

The packs hold tracking device technology and have been developed by Otago Unviersity PhD student Keith Payne.

Mr Payne said the data would help researchers understand where the birds go, instead of relying on occasional sightings from the public.

"It's especially valuable in urban areas where radio tracking the birds would be impossible through people's backyards or in built up areas."

Each tag should last around six months, storing a GPS location every 11 hours and transmitting an SMS message with 8 of these locations coded into the message.

Once the tags were in place, Mr Payne would use the nationwide network of cell phone towers to receive the data.

That would then be decoded back into exact locations.

Zealandia conservation manager Raewyn Empson said the research project was of national significance and it was the first time birds as small as kaka had been able to fitted with GPS tracking devices.

Staff at the sanctuary would be able to gather more information about where kaka were travelling and where they were roosting at night.

"Identifying birds from coloured leg bands is very difficult while they are in flight or high up in a tree or in the dark - so any additional information about the movements the kaka are making in Wellington will be of interest."

Five birds are carrying the tracking devices, and it is hoped more tags would be deployed next summer.

Mr Payne has an MSc in electronics and is doing his PhD in Zoology and Physics.

"While I was studying physics I was still a birder, that's how I like to balance things. I want findings from this data to help the birds."

The tags could be used to monitor other species and other students are using the same tags to monitor pateke in Northland and Bluff weka in Wanaka.

Ms Empson said it was estimated that 150 kaka lived at the sanctuary, although they were often spotted flying around Wellington.