• Injured pair return;Hockey

Olympic Games Haile Gebrselassie may yet enter the Olympic marathon in August if organisers move the race from the centre of Beijing. The world record holder from Ethiopia, who suffers from asthma, had said that he would run in the 10,000metres instead because of high pollution levels. "If the IOC makes the decision to switch venues, then I may compete," the 34-year-old said.
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Features

'We can help China change';Interview;Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron;A rts

Tom Dyckhoff

1,267 字

2008 年 3 月 12 日

The Times

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Steven Spielberg's boycott of the Beijing Olympics infuriates the architects who built the stadium, they tell TOM DYCKHOFF
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have just completed the world's most iconic building in this decade of iconic buildings, the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, which won the inaugural Design of the Year for Architecture award from the Design Museum yesterday. They've built the world's most famous and successful art gallery, Tate Modern, and, aged 57, built dozens more, including their latest, Caixa Forum, in Madrid.
Apart from football, there is only one subject that raises their ire: Beijing. Or, more specifically, the decision of Steven Spielberg last month to pull out of directing the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games this summer, citing China's human-rights record and involvement in the Darfur tragedy in Sudan.
"It's very cheap and easy for architects and artists and film-makers to pull out or to make this kind of criticism," Herzog says. "Everybody knows what happens in China. All work conditions in China are not what you'd desire. But you wear a pullover made in China. It's easy to criticise, being far away. I'm tempted almost to say the opposite...How great it was to work in China and how much I believe that doing the stadium (and) the process of opening will change radically, transform, the society. Engagement is the best way of moving in the right direction."
"It would be arrogant not to engage," de Meuron adds. "Otherwise no politicians could go there, no athletes. You would just close the borders."
"Literally everybody in the Western world trades with China," Herzog continues. "This is a fact. So why should an architect not?"
They hope that the biggest single symbol of the West's engagement in China their stadium -might be, if not a Trojan horse, then a building that embodies and moves forward loose but, in China, radical ideas, such as freedom. The very architecture -an open basket or "bird's nest" of girders in which visitors can choose their own, random paths, is pointedly designed. "We wanted to do something not hierarchical, to make not a big gesture as you'd expect in a political system like that," de Meuron says, "but (something that for) 100,000 people (is still) on a human scale, without being oppressive. It's about disorder and order, apparent disorder. It seems random, chaotic, but there's a very clear structural rationale."
"The Chinese love to hang out in public spaces," Herzog adds. "The main idea was to offer them a playground." The Chinese Government, they say, has carried out their wishes to the letter. They make a distinction between creating a building that fosters a country's ideology -say, Albert Speer's work for Hitler -and one that seeks to transform it.
Herzog, the front man, the politician, with his shaven skull and sunken, unsmiling cheeks, looks as if he wouldn't suffer fools, though his gravitas is leavened occasionally with camp, gossipy asides. De Meuron, by contrast, doesn't like limelight. He looks like Beethoven: a bit tortured, introverted, with mad, wiry hair and a furrowed brow, as if he's the one always left to worry if they've ordered enough rivets for their latest stadium. They look as if they spend their evenings discussing Hegel, not American Idol. That they're rabid fans of FC Basel comes as a blessed relief.
In their Basel HQ they flit between desks, whispering together in corners, chuckling together at jokes like twins. "The chemistry works between us," Herzog says. "We've never had problems of jealousy, or one being more visible. We do a better job together." They've grown so close that it's hard to discern who does what. "No project is either Herzog's or de Meuron's," he continues. "Maybe my strength is getting a project started, and Pierre then pushes it."
"It's not only professional collaboration," de Meuron adds. "It's friendship, and that's unique. To have no barriers in a relationship, whether it's husband and wife or a working collaboration, (means you can) be open to everything."
They met at the age of 6 at kindergarten. "Jacques is more middle class, and I, as my name says, am more aristocratic," de Meuron says. "But we grew up in the same way. If you grow up together you share the same secrets."
"We had almost a professional relationship even as children," Herzog says. "He was less interested in football, so instead of doing sport together, what we did was produce things together. We copied things we saw on the street."
At university Herzog drifted first into biology, though de Meuron says he "always knew" he wanted to be an architect, despite his (and Herzog's) family having no architectural connections and his parents' suspicion that architecture was somehow flakey. "They wanted me to be an engineer, something real." "We just sort of drifted together," Herzog says, "like it was inevitable."
They did so at a critical moment. By the mid-1970s, modernist architecture had become discredited. Architects were after new directions. At university the pair studied under the influential theorist Aldo Rossi, who proposed returning to the traditional qualities of buildings. They prefer the left-field views of conceptual artists -as common as trams in Basel. They've collaborated with, designed spaces for and absorbed the methods of artists from Thomas Ruff and Rosemarie Trockel to Michael Craig-Martin at Tate Modern and Ai Wei Wei in Beijing. "Artists are clearly more interesting than most architects," Herzog continues. "They are obliged to invent their own language."
Herzog and de Meuron's architecture is for all five senses -"a sensory whirlwind," Herzog says, "otherwise we chop it off, we limit it, we mutilate it." They owe this interest in materials to meeting at the start of their careers the artist who perhaps influenced them most, Joseph Beuys, who "made us aware of the invisible qualities of materials", Herzog has said. Their every project is distinguished by celebrating the multisensory qualities of the stuff that makes up the skin and flesh of buildings -concrete stained by the rain, a thick fudge of pebbledash smeared over their Schaulager art gallery, Basel, the metal foil smothering the Walker Art Center, Milwaukee, the glass lenses wrapped around their Prada store in Tokyo.
In May they release new designs for their extension to Tate Modern. They first attracted criticism that their glass zigurrat would not fit in. "I don't agree," Herzog says. "It will fit in. But we are still working on it. It will be very different. We have to respect that. The building will be very radical too. But if you come up and demonstrate your otherness with a huge beard or long hair or you tint your hair green -who's interested in that in architecture?"
De Meuron says it "is critical not to build all over the world in the same way". Unlike their peers, Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, they have no signature style. Every building they make is unlike the last, united only by their odd looks and uncanny mood. In an age of Identikit skylines, you can be sure of getting something different when you hire Herzog & de Meuron, or, more accurately, when they hire you.
Jacques Herzog is speaking at Tate Modern on April 8
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Features

Health before glory;Haile Gebrselassie;The face

Kevin Eason

494 字

2008 年 3 月 12 日

The Times

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
For millions, it is a daily irritation as their breath shortens at the end of a jog around the block or a session in the gym. For Olympic athletes, an uncomfortable wheeze can become a life-threatening last gasp for breath as they push their bodies to the limits of human endurance. Which is why Haile Gebrselassie, the world's fastest marathon runner announced this week that he is not willing to take the risk, even for the sake of a gold medal.
Gebrselassie has unwittingly become the voice of hundreds of athletes who will be faced with competing in one of the most polluted cities on Earth when they travel to Beijing for the Olympic Games in August. The veteran Ethopian, like a quarter of the British Olympic squad (including Paula Radcliffe, our own marathon gold medal hope) suffers from exercise-induced asthma.
The Chinese authorities have waged a huge campaign against polluting factories, forcing some to close and others out of the city, and are threatening to ban cars from the traffic-choked streets for the duration of the Games to try to eradicate exhaust fumes. They are even considering "seeding" cloud formations to induce rain to wash the early-morning air in the hope that athletes can run, jump and throw unhindered. Whatever the assurances, they were not enough for Gebrselassie, arguably the greatest distance runner of all time. This is a man with nothing to prove and no reason to back out of an event for which he would be an automatic favourite. As a child, he used to run six miles to school from the family farm near Asela and by the age of 16 was running against adults. Accolades and money have rolled in since then: six World Championship and Olympic gold medals and enough prize-money and endorsements for him to start a business with 400 employees and build two schools at home in Ethopia.
Gebrselassie lives in a rarified atmosphere of celebrity at home in Ethopia, where he has built a palatial, marble-floored villa, high in the hills where there is clear air above the capital, Addis Ababa, for his family. He is a figurehead for his nation, providing employment, setting up numerous charities and inspiring hundreds of youngsters to run.
With his 35th birthday next month, Gebrselassie knows that athletes in the speed events will be less affected by Beijing's smog, while marathon runners will be sent out on more than 26 miles of Beijing streets, sucking in the same air that smoke-belching buses and lorries were rattling along only hours before.
Which is why he may opt to run the 10,000 metres in Beijing, a sprint by Gebrselassie's standards. By the standards of millions of fellow asthma suffers, though, 10,000 metres at full pelt would be a wheeze-inducing lung buster to avoid.
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Features

Judge R. S. Pathak;Lives Remembered;The register

165 字

2008 年 3 月 11 日

The Times

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73

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Michael Beloff, QC, writes: Your summary of Judge PathakÆs career (Feb 25) referred to his role in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In 1995 for the first time the court appointed a panel of 12 international lawyers to act as the final court of appeal for disputes arising at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Judge Pathak was the first president of that panel and, although not sitting in a judicial capacity himself, he was responsible for supervision of the panel's work. I had the privilege of serving under him and sitting on some six occasions. At our first meeting he would always make an opening address. He spoke with such elegance and quiet emotion that he convinced us all that the mission to bring justice based on universal principles of law to such important sporting events was a task of genuine importance. He will be sorely missed in Beijing.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Features

Dreams do come true;Over to you;Letter

176 字

2008 年 3 月 11 日

The Times

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
I CAN testify that those with disabilities have the same interests and aspirations as the nondisabled (Give disabled people a sporting chance, Independent Living, March 4).
My sight began deteriorating as a child and by adulthood I had lost 95 per cent of my vision. But my passion for sport remained and, with determination and hard work, I realised my dream of becoming a Paralympic gold medallist.
Now, working as an athlete mentor with the Youth Sport Trust on an initiative called Sky Living For Sport, I visit schools across the country to share my story and inspire young people to engage in school through sport. In doing this I also hope to change some of the misconceptions about disabled people.
Britain's young sportspeople, disabled and non-disabled, are now preparing for this summer's Olympic Games. They all share the same dream of stepping up on to that podium.
Tim Prendergast, athlete mentor, Sky Living For Sport, Youth Sport Trust
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Sport

Blatter's muscle-flexing;The Continent;Football

Gabriele Marcotti

210 字

2008 年 3 月 10 日

The Times

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The Game 15

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Fifa has a rule whereby it can suspend any member association if it deems it to be subject to political interference. So, for example, if Parliament were to pass a law that decreed that David Beckham had to win his 100th cap against France this month or that Gordon Brown's nephew should replace Brian Barwick at the FA, Fifa could step in. It could prevent English clubs from signing foreign players, it could ban English clubs from European competition and kick England out of qualifying for the World Cup.
That is fair enough. That is what those powers are meant for. But last week Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, went overboard in flexing his muscles. He reminded us that it would take "only six hours" to convene an emergency Fifa board meeting and ban Spain from international football. Spain's crime? The Government wants FA elections to be held before this summer's Beijing Olympic Games, the FA wants to hold them in November.
Surely Fifa has more important things to worry about. Kicking Barcelona out of the Champions League and Spain out of Euro 2008 - we will believe it when we see it.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Sport

Blatter strongly against Great Britain 2012 team;News in brief;The News;Fo otball

185 字

2008 年 3 月 10 日

The Times

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The Game 3

‚ń文

(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Great Britain's chances of fielding a united football team at the 2012 Olympic Games were dealt a further blow yesterday when Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, insisted that the team should feature only English players. Blatter said that playing a combined team would risk the four British associations losing their identities.
Blatter spoke with Scottish FA officials during his stay at Gleneagles for the International FA board meeting at the weekend. "The Scottish FA have said they would not play in a combined team," Blatter said. "I said that is the best thing for them to do. If you put together a combined team the question will come up that there are four different associations, so how can they play in one team?
"If this is the case then why the hell do they have four associations, four votes and their own vice-presidency? This will put into question all the privileges that the British associations have been given by the Congress in 1946."
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Overseas news

China says it has foiled Olympic terror threat

Jane MacArtney in Beijing

578 字

2008 年 3 月 10 日

The Times

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36

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
* Crew 'halted attempt to crash passenger flight'
* Officials fear attacks from Muslim insurgents
The Beijing Olympics face the threat of terrorist attack by Chinese Muslim separatists after a shoot-out this year and an attempt last week to crash a domestic passenger flight.
Top officials of the mainly Muslim far-western region of Xinjiang revealed yesterday for the first time the anxieties of China that extremists from the ethnic Uighur minority were plotting to sabotage the Games in August.
The statements are unusual from a Communist leadership which has long insisted that anti-Chinese movements are so weak that they are incapable of causing instability.
Uighurs, who are engaged in a low-intensity insurgency to demand an independent state of East Turkestan in Xinjiang province, have been blamed for sporadic incidents of violence although no serious attacks have been reported in China for more than a decade. Nur Bekri, the governor of Xinjiang, said that the threat remained real. He added that the flight crew on Friday had foiled an attempt to crash a Southern Airlines passenger aircraft en route from the regional capital of Urumqi to Beijing.
The crew made an emergency landing in the western city of Lanzhou before proceeding an hour later to their destination.
The governor gave few details of the incident, indicating only that more than one person was involved and an investigation was under way. He said: "From what we presently know, this was an attempt to crash the plane."
Two people have reportedly been detained and some flammable materials were found in the aircraft's lava- tory. Mr Bekri did not say whether those involved were Uighurs but took the opportunity to denounce separatists. He said: "Those in Xinjiang pursuing separatism and sabotage are an extremely small number. They may be Uighurs but they can't represent Uighurs. They are the scum of the Uighurs."
Wang Lequan, the regional chief of the Communist Party, revealed that a police raid in Urumqi in January had uncovered a plot to sabotage the Olympics. Two militants were killed and 15 arrested in the January 27 operation in which five police officers were wounded when three home-made grenades were thrown at them.
Mr Wang said: "The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event but there are always a few people who conspire to commit sabotage. It is no longer a secret now."
While police have given no details of who was arrested and what exactly the suspects were doing, they have said that the militants were collaborating with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is listed by the UN as an international terrorist organisation.
However, the obscure group is believed to have no more than a few dozen members and has carried out very few attacks. Such revelations are seen as giving greater force to the argument by Beijing for extreme measures to ensure social stability and safety during the Olympics.
China has been increasing anti- terror preparations and the top police official last year labelled terrorism as the biggest threat to the event. But this causes a dilemma for a Government eager to show the world that China is a stable nation where visitors can travel without fear of violence. The last known Uighur attack was in 1997 in Urumqi when bombs placed in buses killed nine and wounded seventy-four.
(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
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Business

Chance to be Chancellor;Budget 2008;UK Business

Grainne Gilmore

215 字

2008 年 3 月 10 日

The Times

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(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
Entrants for the "Chance to be Chancellor" competition had to grapple with issues that challenge Alistair Darling as he prepares for the Budget on Wednesday. Students were to create their own Budgets and justify their plans for public spending. They were given 27 possible policies to include, including increased flood defences, extra funding for the 2012 Olympic Games and free dental care. They also had to balance the books, forcing them to choose their policies carefully.
The competition, run by The Citizenship Foundation, an education charity that is supported by Norwich Union and The Times, was open to students aged 14 to 18 and was endorsed by Mr Darling.
The most popular policy was the plan for 100 new GPs' surgeries in areas with the poorest provision. Nearly half of all entrants included this measure. Tellingly, 46 per cent of students opted to boost funding for sporting facilities in schools and youth clubs. University fees featured heavily - 42 per cent opted to cut fees and increase grants.
Tanim Zaman, 17, left, from Seven Kings High School in Ilford, was awarded first prize. He impressed the judges with a well-argued speech, which is published on this page. (Grainne Gilmore)
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Features