WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012
S P ORT S
Looking at Britain’s real austerity Olympics: 1948
BUDAPEST: In this Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 file photo Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen celebrates winning the gold medal in the Men’s 100m breaststroke final at the Swimming European Championships. — AP
Swimming world champ Dale Oen dies in Arizona STOCKHOLM: Alexander Dale Oen, a world champion swimmer who was one of Nor way ’s top medal hopes for the London Olympics, died from cardiac arrest after collapsing in his bathroom during a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was 26. The president of the Norwegian swimming federation, Per Rune Eknes, confirmed the death to The Associated Press via telephone yesterday. He said it was still unclear what led to the cardiac arrest. In a statement, the federation said the 100 meter breaststroke world champion was found collapsed on the floor of his bathroom late Monday. He was taken to the Flagstaff Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. “ We’re all in shock ,” Nor way Coach Petter Loevberg said. “This is an out-of-the-body experience for the whole team over here. Our thoughts primarily go to his family who have lost Alexander way too early.” Hospital spokeswoman Starla Collins confirmed the death, but did not provide further details. Dale Oen earned his biggest triumph in the pool at last year ’s worlds in Shanghai when he won the 100 breaststroke, a victory that provided some much-needed joy back in Norway just three days after the massacre by right-wing extremist Anders Breivik that killed 77 people - including children at a summer camp. Dale Oen dedicated the win to the victims of that massacre, pointing to the Norwegian flag on his cap after the finish to send a message to his countrymen back home. “We need to stay united,” he said after the race. “Everyone back home now is of course paralyzed with what happened but it was important for me to symbolize that even though I’m here in China, I’m able to feel the same emotions.” His death dominated the news in Nor way on M onday, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter that “Alexander Dale Oen was a great sportsman for a small country. My thoughts go to his family and friends.”
The Norwegian team is holding a camp in Flagstaff ahead of the Olympics, and the federation said Dale Oen had only under went a light training session on Monday, and also played some golf that day. But teammates became worried when the swimmer spent an unusually long time in the shower, and entered his bathroom when he failed to respond to their knocks on the door. The federation said “they found Dale Oen laying partly on the floor, partly on the edge of his bathtub.” Team doctor Ola Roensen said he immediately began performing CPR until an ambulance arrived. “Everything was done according to procedure, and we tried everything, so it is immensely sad that we were not able to resuscitate him,” Roensen said. “It is hard to accept.” In his last tweet on Monday, Dale Oen said he was looking forward to going back home: “2 days left of our camp up here in Flagstaff,then it’s back to the most beautiful city in Norway.. (hashtag)Bergen.” Dale Oen was born in Bergen, Nor way ’s second largest city, on May 21, 1985. He was the second son of Mona Lillian Dale and Ingolf Oen. He started swimming at the age of 4, and said on his website that the sport “came very easy and natural for me.” He is the second high-profile athlete to die from cardiac arrest recently, after Italian football player Piermario Morosini collapsed on the pitch during a S erie B game for Livorno last month. That incident came just a month after Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba also collapsed during a game, but survived. “It feels unreal that Alexander Dale Oen is no longer with us,” Norwegian skiing champion Aksel Lund Svindal, the two-time overall world Cup champion, said on Twitter. “My thoughts go out to his family, friends and his whole team in Flagstaff.” Keri-Anne Payne, the 10-kilometer open water world champion from Britain, said: “Such sad news for swimming.”— AP
LONDON: Athletes bought their own uniforms, and some their own food. They stayed in private homes, schools and military barracks. If eggs appeared on the training menu, it was a cause for celebration. When London hosted the Olympics in 1948, organizers did it on the cheap - and they made no apologies about it. “We talk about austerity now, but it isn’t anything like right after the war,” said Janie Hampton, who recounted the joy and sacrifice of athletes in “The Austerity Olympics.” “They had to buy their own shoes, their own kit (clothing).” The 1948 Games have been recalled often as the global banking crisis and the European debt crisis dogged the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. As pressures build on Britain’s government to stay within its 9.3 billion pound ($14.6 billion) budget for the games, historians note that London in 1948 spent 730,000 pounds - roughly 20 million pounds in today’s money, Hampton said. But 1948 was a different, more innocent time. Britain’s ability to stage an Olympics before wartime food rationing had ended says a lot about how the UK has often risen from impossible circumstances, banking on grit to make up for what it may lack in luster. England was only barely ready for the Olympics in 1948, coming so soon after World War II. London itself was dotted by rubble. Milk and meat were luxuries. “Nobody had cars. Nobody had television. Nobody had traveled,” Hampton said. “It was real austerity.” Mindful of the scarcities, the Americans flew in steaks and fruit; the French red wine. But the cash-strapped Brits attempted to make up in goodwill and chutzpah for what they lacked in funds. In interviews with The Associated Press, many athletes who took part recalled those games warmly, not because of the facilities or even the competition, but because of the hospitality of people who had so little themselves. “I admired the spirit of the people in London,” said diver Sammy Lee, a gold medalist in 1948. “What got me, it was (people asking), ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’” World War II forced the cancellation of the games in 1940 and again in 1944. But the nearly bankrupt British government agreed to support the games, in part hoping for the hard currency the tourists would bring in. Distinguished former athletes stepped up to organize, including Harold Abrahams, whose victory in the 100 meters in the 1924 Paris Games became the subject of the Oscar-winning film, “Chariots of Fire.” With no money to build new stadiums, the organizing committee identified structures that hadn’t been bombed that could be transformed into venues. Wembley Stadium, the showpiece for the ceremonies, had to be converted from a greyhound racing track. There was no athletes’ village for the 1948 Olympics:
Competitors stayed in private homes, classrooms and summer camps. Torchbearers received instructions on how to carry the Olympic flame by reading directions pasted on the side. John Peake, 87, who played field hockey for Britain, recalls being put up in a military barracks in Uxbridge 18 miles (30 kilometers) away. Although the accommodations were hardly luxurious, he remembers getting eggs for breakfast, which was so unusual at the time it was considered exciting. “Sometimes people ask what it was like,” he said. “It might have been rough, all things considered. But it was improving.” Many had wondered whether the Olympic movement would continue at all. The war had decimated many countries and much goodwill. The final event before the war - the Nazithemed 1936 Berlin Games - tarnished most memories of the sporting competition. London had to give people inspiration - and make the public forget the past. But expectations at the time were very different. “I don’t think there was any razzmatazz that there is now,” Peake said as he recalled marching into the stadium. “We were the last ones in. We were being boiled in the sun what felt like hours. When everyone was assembled, then of course the torch comes around. That was extraordinarily special. It was really, very great.” London was the Olympics of Fanny Blankers-Koen, the 32-year-old Dutch mother who won four gold medals after being dismissed by many as too old. Czech distance great Emil Zatopek took gold in the 10,000 meters. Bob Mathias, a 17-year-old from Tulare, California, became the youngest decathlon gold medalist. Many athletes, having waited out the war, couldn’t wait for their chance to compete. Lee, who spent the war in the military studying medicine, tried out for the team after seeing a poster recruiting potential athletes. But when he stood on the platform to dive, the sun started to shine - and it was brighter than the water. He had flubbed a dive previously in a similar situation and kept saying to himself “don’t mistake the water for the sky” - an error that would ruin the timing of his dive. “For 16 years, I’d waited for this moment,” he said. “I was tingling all over. ... and for the second time in history, a man walked on water.” He won gold. Lee, 91, who lives in Huntington Harbor, California, plans to return to London this summer. And he won’t be alone. Several athletes who competed in London in 1948 will be coming back - anxious to see the city that holds so many memories. “I’m coming for the diving,” he said eagerly. This time, he’ll be inside, watching at the swim stadium, a sweeping wavelike building designed to international accolades by architect Zaha Hadid. Lee won’t have to worry about the sun, but he’ll be free to remember the moment he walked on water.—AP
LONDON: In this photo taken Tuesday, March 27, 2012, a copy of a programme collected by London 1948 British Olympian Dorothy Tyler is seen during an interview with The Associated Press at her home.—AP
Argentine gymnast hopes to break new ground BUENOS AIRES: No one would have dared to bet a few years ago that Argentine gymnast Valeria Pereyra would be competing at the 2012 Olympic Games but the late starter puts her place in London down to five years of sacrifice. Most Olympic gymnasts start formal training as young two or three years old, however, Pereyra, who at 16 will be the youngest Argentine competing at the London Games, did not get serious about gymnastics until she was 11. “I think it’s all a reward. I started training late, because at 11 years old as a gymnast you’re already old. You already have a base and it’s difficult to improve that base,” she told Reuters in an interview at the Cenard national high performance training facility on the edge off the capital. “I think the sacrifice I’ve made for the last five years is showing results. And obviously it was not just me, because I have a lot of people around me who help and support me. I’m very happy,” added the blonde schoolgirl with an easy smile and braces on her top teeth. Pereyra’s days are gruelling. She gets up at five in the morning to make the one-and-a-half-hour bus ride to the gym, where she runs through four-hour training under the eye of coach Daniela Conde. A lover of Twitter who messages fans about what she is doing, she eats a quick lunch before hustling off to high school in the afternoon. Conde has Pereyra working
hard on all disciplines, floor routine, which is her favourite, uneven bars, vault and balance beam, and hopes she can put in a strong overall performance and make it to the final. “I qualified for London 2012. The idea is to train hard with the clear objective of making it into the top 24 and getting into the final round. It’s a pretty high goal, but we really want to do it. We are working at 100 percent to get closer every day,” Pereyra said. The young Argentine booked her Olympic place at trials in London in January, where she finished 21st among the 30 who directly qualified. “The fact that I’m going, I think changes my situation, to have on my resume the Olympic Games is no small thing. And obviously I have the pressure on me that a ton of Argentines are going to be watching me, but I want to do it,” she said. She will be the first Argentine woman gymnast to compete at the Games since Celeste Carnevale went to Athens in 2004. With Federico Molinari also going to take part in men’s events it will be the first time since Atlanta in 1996 that Argentina will be represented at the Games by gymnasts of both sexes. Gymnastics in Argentina lags behind other Latin American countries like Mexico and Brazil, who each won three gold medals at the Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico six months ago, half the number won by the United States. Argentina won no medals at all. — Reuters
Abu Dhabi Volvo crew running out of rations
Al-Adwani, first Kuwaiti to win gold at Jiu-Jitsu Championship KUWAIT: Under the auspices of the Kuwait Finance House, the SideKick Academy team won three medals for the first time ever at the World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship held in Abu Dhabi on April 13-14, 2012. Abdul Mohsen Saleh Al Babtain, founder and coach of Sidekick Academy team said that the participation of Sidekick Academy is the living proof of the players’ capacity and the success of the training programs adopted at the academy. He further added : “ Sidekick Academy players have made an honorable achievement. And I would like more particularly to congratulate Abdul Hadi Al Adwani for winning first place during his first participation in a world championship, and Nasser Al Qattan who ranked second
in the blue belts category (under 82 kilos) and who had also won third place in last year’s championship. At that time, the Kuwaiti team had the chance to make it to the finals if Abdullah Al Shemari would have not ranked third during the pre-final match. Al Babtain also stated : “Sidekick Academy team has proven that the word” impossible” does not exist in the world of sports. We are assured that we will be making more important achievements in order to raise the name of Kuwait in the biggest championships. Furthermore, I would like to thank the official sponsors of the team for having continuously supported and encouraged us, whether materially or morally, starting from the Kuwait Finance House, Tri Alpha Co. for
General Trading and Contracting and Mprints Co. for their continuous support to youth and sporting fans. The World Jiu-Jitsu Championship is the biggest championship with regard to the number of participants (more than 500 players) and to the value of the prizes offered to participants. Sidekick Academy achievements at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2012 • Abdul Hadi Al Adwani- White Belts, First place (Gold Medal), under 64 kilos. • Nasser Al Qattan- Blue Belts, Second place (Silver Medal), under 82 kilos. • Abdullah Al Shemari- White Belts, Third place (Bronze Medal), under 64 kilos.
MIAMI: British double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker ordered rations to be imposed on his Abu Dhabi crew’s dwindling food supplies yesterday as the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race to Miami reached its halfway stage. With around 2,400 miles and at least a week’s sailing still to go, Walker’s team were facing the reality of several days with little food at the end of the leg, which is taking longer to complete than expected due to light winds in the Atlantic Ocean. “Despite a reasonably quick passage so far it is becoming increasingly clear that we will run out of food,” said Walker, skipper of the race’s first ever Emirati team, currently in fourth place. “This is in no small part due to the fact we cut everything right back to keep the boat light for the downwind sailing. “We took two weeks’ worth of food - we have food until Monday and our routing is saying a Wednesday arrival at the moment. “We’ll just have to be a bit hun-
gry for the last couple of days.” Abu Dhabi’s rivals meanwhile were grateful of their decision to pack more food even though it would make their boats heavier during the 4,800-mile leg from Brazil. “We didn’t pack light with food, we packed for 16 days,” said Ken Read, skipper of American crew Puma as they led the fleet towards the Caribbean Sea. “Getting through the Caribbean will be the big one - if we can get through unscathed then we’re pretty set on 16 days. “But if things get bogged down again around there we could have to ration food yet again.” Will Oxley, navigator on second-placed Spanish/Kiwi team Camper, added: “We ignored the advice of our weather team and packed what we thought was correct, otherwise we might have been in trouble. Really, we couldn’t care how long the leg takes as long as we win it.” The fleet are expected to arrive in Miami on May 9, with the 39,000mile round the world race ending in July in Galway, Ireland.—AFP