• Injured pair return;Hockey

Qualified success as Britain punch weight for Beijing;Boxing
Ron Lewis

252 字

2008 年 3 月 1 日

The Times

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102

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
For years, Great Britain's amateur boxers have been the poor relations not only of the professional code but of the rest of the world. But the silver medal won at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games by Amir Khan ushered in a new era of funding and the improvement has been dramatic.
The number of boxers who have qualified for Beijing reached six yesterday, more than the total at the past three Olympics combined, while a further two box for their places today. With one qualifying tournament to go, there is a possibility that Britain will send a full team of 11 to China.
"The days of hit and hope are gone," Keith Walters, the chairman of the ABA of England, said. "We always had the talent and knowledge, but we never had the funding."
Khalid Yafai, an 18-year-old flyweight who was considered a prospect for the London Games in 2012, and James DeGale, a middleweight, became the latest British boxers to qualify, joining Frankie Gavin, the lightweight world champion, Tony Jeffries, Bradley Saunders and Joe Murray, who all qualified at the World Championships in Chicago last year.
Stephen Smith, the featherweight, and Billy Joe Saunders, the welterweight, lost yesterday but will qualify if they win a third-place box-off today. But there will be no box-off for Danny Price, the heavyweight, who lost 15-6 to Aleksandr Usik, of Ukraine.
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Sport

Britain punching weight in Olympic qualification;Boxing

Ron Lewis

655 字

2008 年 3 月 1 日

The Times

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97

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* Six boxers already on track for Beijing glory
* Teenager Yafai hopes to follow Khan example
For years, Great Britain's amateur boxers have been the poor relations not only of the professional code but of the rest of the world. The silver medal won at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games by Amir Khan ushered in a new era of funding for the amateur sport and the improvement has been dramatic.
The number of boxers who have qualified for Beijing reached six yesterday, more than the total at the past three Olympics combined, while a further two box for their places today. With one qualifying tournament to go, there is a possibility that Britain will send a full team of 11 to China.
"The days of hit and hope are gone," Keith Walters, the chairman of the ABA of England, said. "We are now up there with the likes of Russia, Cuba and China and ahead of the United States. We always had the talent and knowledge, but we never had the funding. So kids would turn pro too early without getting the chance to compete on the big stage as an amateur. There has been a lot of coach education as well, so now we are getting kids coming in to the national team already boxing like internationals."
Khalid Yafai, a flyweight, and James DeGale, a middleweight, became the latest British boxers to qualify, joining Frankie Gavin, the lightweight world champion, Tony Jeffries, Bradley Saunders and Joe Murray, who all qualified at the World Championships in Chicago last year.
The success of Yafai was particularly impressive. At 18, he was seen as a hope for the London Games in 2012, but his chance came four years early after he beat Igor Samoilenko, of Moldova, 13-11 on points "A year ago I was looking towards London," Yafai said. "But I'd seen Amir Khan do it when he was even younger so that gave me the encouragement. I'm proud to have qualified but I won't be happy with just going there for a holiday. My aim now is to follow Amir and get a medal."
Stephen Smith, the featherweight, and Billy Joe Saunders, the welterweight, lost yesterday but will qualify if they win a third-place box-off today. But there will be no box-off for Danny Price, the heavyweight, who lost 15-6 to Aleksandr Usik, of Ukraine.
Things could have been even better had David Price, the 6ft 8in super heavyweight, not been the victim of one of the sort of miscarriages of justice that have dogged international amateur boxing for years.
Price was beaten 19-17 by David Arshba, of Azerbaijan, despite being ahead on three and level on one of the five scorecards. What appeared to make it worse was that Arshba should have received a two-point penalty. England lodged an appeal but lost.
Things became farcical when Arshba was then thrown out of the tournament when it was revealed that he had boxed for Russia and was not qualified to represent Azerbaijan. Rather than reinstate Price, the organisers drew lots for the three boxers beaten by Arshba, but the draw was won by Robert Helenius, of Finland.
"The Azerbaijan boxer beat the Finn easy," Price said. "Then he outclassed the Greek. Those weren't even close. But I beat him. To even think about putting one of those two back in at my expense is a farce."
It was a particular blow for Price, who had won all his three contests at the World Championships, only to be forced to pull out with a broken hand ahead of his quarter-final.
The two Prices, Paul Butler, the light-flyweight, plus Smith and Saunders, should they lose today, will have one more opportunity to qualify at a tournament in Athens in April.
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Sport

Coe lines up Ferguson to take charge of British Olympic side;Football;Excl usive

Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Correspondent

656 字

2008 年 3 月 1 日

The Times

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112

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* Exclusive 2012 Games chief in talks over role
* United manager is intrigued by prospect
Lord Coe is trying to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson to manage a Great Britain football team at the London Olympic Games in 2012. The Times has learnt that the men have held discussions about the prestigious post.
Ferguson is understood to have been intrigued by the offer, but is reluctant to commit to the job while he is still managing Manchester United. He does not want to distract from his work at Old Trafford, but, with four years until the Games, Coe has not given up hope that something could come of their discussions.
Coe, chairman of the organising committee for 2012, first raised the idea with Ferguson at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year awards in Birmingham in December. "Seb came up with the idea totally out of the blue and the more he (Coe) thought about it, the more perfect the fit became," a source close to the discussions said. "They have spoken about it on a couple of occasions. Sir Alex has said he is interested but he is understandably focused on Manchester United for the foreseeable future."
Coe is a Chelsea fan, but that does not seem to have presented any problems in the talks. Ferguson is the outstanding and obvious candidate given his experience and CV. "It would be bizarre if Sir Alex was not uppermost in their thoughts given his credentials," a United spokesman said last night. The club is relaxed about the prospect of Ferguson and Coe continuing to discuss the proposal.
Another good reason to recruit him is that the prospect of Great Britain fielding a team in 2012 is mired in political wrangling, with the Scottish Football Association (SFA) refusing to play any part. The FA of Wales and its Northern Ireland counterpart have also dragged their heels because they fear that their independence as footballing nations could be threatened.
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, has given written guarantees that Olympic participation would not affect their standing, but talks have been deadlocked for months. The involvement of a high-profile and respected figure such as Ferguson could force the SFA to drop its objections and give fresh impetus to a GB team.
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is committed to fielding an under-23 team in London whatever the make-up of the squad. The organisation has set a highly ambitious target of finishing fourth in the medals table on home soil and the involvement of a manager of Ferguson's calibre would be a massive boost to the chances of gold. The matches will be played in front of full houses at Wembley Stadium.
The Games will not clash with the start of the Premier League season in 2012, so Ferguson, 66, could theoretically do both jobs, although it remains to be seen whether that is a practical solution given the demands on training and scouting. But he could be free to take part in the Olympics in any case, given that he cannot go on for ever at United.
Ferguson's competitive fires have been relit since he abandoned his plans for retirement and, having won the Premier League title last season, there are no signs of him standing down any time soon. But a second Champions League triumph might persuade him that is time to go - and he will want to go out on a high.
Winning Olympic gold may not equate to lifting the European Cup, but it would be a notable achievement given that Britain has not played in the Olympics since 1960. Subsequent attempts to qualify ended in failure and then came the political rows that have so frustrated the BOA - and the English FA - since London won the Games.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Great Britain team still at the mercy of Celtic fears;Football;Factbox

Marcus Leroux

956 字

2008 年 3 月 1 日

The Times

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110

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* Scots lead opposition to BOA's 2012 ambition
* Fifa's reassurances fail to allay officials' worries
The prospect of a Great Britain team competing at the 2012 London Olympic Games continued to meet with entrenched opposition from the football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland last night - regardless of the possible involvement of Sir Alex Ferguson.
The authorities, backed to a large extent by supporters, fear that Olympic participation would be the thin end of a wedge leading to Fifa failing to recognise their eligibility to compete independently, despite reassurances that the circumstances in 2012 would be exceptional. The organisations are also concerned that competing in the Olympics would endanger their coveted right to elect between them a Fifa vice-president.
Supporters have voiced concern that their national identities would be subsumed in an England-dominated Great Britain set-up. The Scottish FA has led the protests, and even the involvement of Ferguson, a former Scotland manager, is unlikely to bring it on side.
The SFA plans to prohibit Scottish players from competing. Rob Shorthouse, the SFA's head of communications, said that their opposition was not negotiable. "Our line on this is quite clear: we're absolutely opposed to a Great Britain team for two reasons. First, we feel that having a Great Britain team will threaten our independence. Second, supporters' groups are opposed to it, loud and clear. They simply can't have a Great Britain team without Scotland."
The association's caution comes despite moves by Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, to allay the three associations' fears that co-operation with a Great Britain team would make them ineligible for the World Cup, and be used as a precedent for pushing through a combined side permanently. Shorthouse said: "With the greatest respect to Mr Blatter, he's not going to be there much longer. For us, it's non-negotiable."
The FA of Wales (FAW), like the SFA, did not even attend meetings with the British Olympic Association (BOA) to discuss the proposal, with David Collins, the FAW secretary, saying that the body would not do anything to jeopardise Wales's position as a separate nation within Uefa and Fifa.
Opinion has also hardened at the Irish FA. Under the presidency of Jim Boyce, who stood down last year, the IFA did not rule out participating in the Great Britain team. But the IFA's new regime of Howard Wells, the chief executive, and Raymond Kennedy, the president, has moved closer to the Scottish and Welsh positions. Wells told The Times that he had heard nothing from the BOA in nearly two years. He drew attention to Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, arguing for a Scottish Olympic team. Wells said: "Why don't we start exploring country representation? It's a more realistic reflection of where we are, with devolution. It's time for sport to start looking at what's happening, and we're working with devolved government. Football has always worked in a devolved way."
But the associations' opposition has drawn criticism from the Olympic establishment. Simon Clegg, the BOA's chief executive, is adamant that a Great Britain team will take part in the 2012 Olympics. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, accused the celtic authorities of behaving selfishly in refusing to co-operate, while Tony Blair, when he was Prime Minister, backed a combined team, but acknowledged that it required the agreement of the federations. Richard Caborn, the former Sports Minister, accused the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations of being responsible for a "national scandal" for blocking moves to send teams to the Beijing Olympic Games. Gordon Brown has previously said that he "expected" a Britain team to compete.
The debate has also opened divisions in the football world. Craig Brown, the former Scotland manager, and Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, have clashed over the issue, with Brown being a staunch critic of the plan. Smith has said that Scottish players should make themselves available, while Brown believes that it would eventually deny Scottish players their right to represent their country.
Britain has not competed at the Olympic Games in football since 1960, having won on the first two occasions when international teams competed, in 1908, in London, and in Stockholm four years later.
On two other occasions, Great Britain XIs were fielded for one-off matches. In 1947 this was to celebrate the home nations rejoining Fifa in a match in Glasgow, and again in 1955 to mark the 50th anniversary of Windsor Park in Belfast. In a nod to the host countries, the Britain team wore the blue of Scotland and the green of Northern Ireland in those games.
100 years of hurt
Britain's Olympic record
* Great Britain have not entered the Olympic football competition for more than three decades, but they dominated the event initially. They won gold in the first two official Olympic football competitions, beating Denmark in the decisive match in London in 1908, and in Stockholm four years later. 6Britain last reached the finals in 1960 in Italy, where they were eliminated at group level, and their most recent qualifying tournament was for the 1972 Games.
* When the FA Council abolished the official distinction between amateur and professional players in England in 1974 - a move made in response to so-called amateur players receiving irregular payments from clubs - it precluded Olympic participation because the event was open only to amateurs.
* Professional players were admitted from the 1984 Olympics onwards, but since 1992 all but three of the players in each squad have needed to be aged 23 or under.
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Sport

England's full hand push for Beijing;Boxing

100 字

2008 年 2 月 29 日

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85

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Boxing Five England boxers will attempt to secure their place at the Olympic Games today by reaching the final of the first qualifying tournament in Pescara, Italy. Victory will mean Danny Price, James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders, Stephen Smith and Khalid Yafai would join the four boxers who earned their passage to Beijing at last year's World Championships.
David Price lost his appeal against a controversial loss. The the super heavyweight has one more tournament, in Athens in April, in which to earn his place.
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Sport

Britons make splash;Swimming

73 字

2008 年 2 月 28 日

The Times

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83

‚ń文

(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Kirsty Balfour, Liam Tancock and David Davies have been confirmed in the Great Britain team for this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. They were pre selected after winning medals at last year's World Championships, but the British Olympic Association has made their inclusion official. Davies will compete at his second Games after winning bronze over 1,500 metres freestyle in 2004.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Beijing tests possible;Drugs in sport;Olympic Games 2008

74 字

2008 年 2 月 28 日

The Times

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83

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Test kits for human growth hormone could be available for the Olympic Games this summer, David Howman, the World Anti-Doping Agency director general, said yesterday. "The kits are under scientific scrutiny to check there is no loophole, legally or scientifically," he said. "Will it be ready for Beijing? That depends on the validation process, but we hope so."
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Sport

Tomlinson primed for a good, clean fight in approach to Beijing summit;Athletics;Factbox

Rick Broadbent, Athletics Correspondent

1,043 字

2008 年 2 月 28 日

The Times

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81

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* Long jumper targets gold after injury woes
* Focus on Chambers a bore for fellow athletes
This is a story of wrecks and dogs and rock'n'roll. But first the drugs. It is all about drugs. In the pubs and the papers and on Question Time. Chris Tomlinson is fed up with it. "I was speaking about it with a few athletes the other day," he said. "The only time we're big news is when someone is on drugs. There are thousands of clean athletes, but it's always the dirty ones..."
Tomlinson has been in and out of love with the sport enough to know the pain and sacrifice needed to reach the summit. Like Greg Rutherford, a fellow Briton, he has suffered injuries that resulted in him being written off, but young, gifted and back, he is seeking to put the record straight.
So how to take Dwain Chambers off the back pages at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia next week? Jump 8.40 metres and win gold? "Yeah, that might do it," Tomlinson said. "It's about time I started winning medals."
He means it. Tomlinson is only 26 but has been tipped as a star since breaking Lynn Davies's 34-year British long jump record in 2002. He was fifth in the Olympic final in Athens in 2004 and the world was his oyster, but then came the injuries, including a serious hernia; he lost most of his contracts and appearance money and contemplated quitting.
Now the desire is evident and he has joined Lloyd Cowan's sprint group at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Enfield, North London, where he trains alongside Simeon Williamson, the prodigious sprinter going to Spain to partner Chambers in the 60 metres.
"There are athletes who look good in training and there are those who rise to the big occasion," Tomlinson said. "Simeon is the latter. I think he'll do very well in Valencia and will relish the pressure." As for Chambers, Tomlinson's pragmatic view is that, having served his ban, he should be able to run, but the penalties remain too lenient. "Dwain probably thinks that, too," Tomlinson said.
The speed work is paying off. Tomlinson wants to reach 6.7sec for the 60 metres and said that he does "OK" against Williamson. "People underestimate long jumpers," he said. "I remember being at a meeting with Mark Lewis-Francis (the British sprinter) in 2004 and he was up against Dwight Phillips (the Olympic long jump champion). He said, 'Who's this bloke?' I told him and he was pretty dismissive. Then Dwight went and beat him by about three metres.
"I decided this is my year. If you come fifth at the Olympics as a 22-year-old then you should be thinking about winning the next one. There is a lot more to come from me."
Tomlinson extended his British record to 8.29 metres at a meeting in Germany last summer but needs to be jumping farther than 8.40 to be in medal territory. His jump of 8.18 in Stuttgart this month was a British indoor record and he looks to be a star in the making.He is getting married to Lucia Rovardi, the lead female role in The Buddy Holly Story in London's West End. The wedding is being held in May in Arpino, Italy, and Tomlinson, a Buddy aficionado, denied that it could be a distraction in Olympic year. "I only have to turn up and say 'I do'," he said. Their relationship is unaffected by the plaque Tomlinson had made for the couple's shiitsu, who died in a road accident. "I picked it up and the name was spelt wrong," he said. "I left it there (at the shop)."
While Tomlinson focuses on Valencia, Rutherford has opted to miss the indoor season in an attempt to "make myself bulletproof". The past two years have been a sorry tale of torn hamstrings, turned ankles, scar tissue and cysts. His capacity for misfortune was summed up when he got sunburnt at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. "It was quite sore jumping into sand," he said.
Tipped by Davies to turn his European silver into Olympic gold in London in 2012, Rutherford, 21, will open his season in May in Brazil, where he will compete in an Olympic qualifier. "I have to focus on the positives because if I thought about the negatives I'd go nowhere," he said.
He has a personal best of 8.26 but missed most of 2007. "I jumped 7.96 in my first meeting of the year in Estonia but tore my hamstring and had to bale out in the air," he said. "Then I had one jump at the World Championships (in Osaka) and one wonderful foul. Two jumps a year - not good."
He remains nonplussed by the form of Irving Saladino and Andrew Howe, the world and European champions. "We're not looking at Mike Powell (the American who set the world record of 8.95 in Japan in 1991) distances," Rutherford said. "I can pretty much jump 8.20 whenever I want. There's nothing to be scared about."
The presence of Tomlinson is making Rutherford raise his game and it is a good, clean fight that could help to restore the reputation of athletics in Britain. They are treading different paths, but the endgame is the same.
GOING THE DISTANCE
* Chris Tomlinson
* Age 26
* Home town Middlesbrough
* Height 6ft 6in
* Personal best 8.29m (British record)
* Coach Peter Stanley
* Honours Fifth at