I think you may have some problems finding many matches to this picture:


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...ours are gorgeous, too.

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As I write, I am watching the spectacular struggle for second place in the grand prix of canada between Michael Schumacher, Jensen Button and Mark Webber. WEbber and Button have the faster cars, but Schumacher is a genius and his recoveries have been incredible. It is some of the greatest racing, the greatest moments in any sports, I have ever seen ( Read more... )

Italy just beat France at Rugby by one point, thanks to a magnificent scrum pack, unbreakable courage that kept going even when nine points down with twenty-five minutes to go, exemplary fitness, and sustained teamwork. But above all, everything else was driven by courage and character and courage and courage and courage. Some other Italian ( Read more... )

We were nowhere in the Beijing Olympics. We stank at the Wotld Athletics Championships. And now, in one of our traditional areas of strength - winter sports - we are doing nothing but collecting fourth places. I am fast going from disappointed to furious. The day that Great Britain, who have never been any good at winter games, are ahead of us ( Read more... )

If Il Corriere della Sera is not making things up, the astonishing scandal of Nelson Piquet's false accident is only the top of the iceberg of what really happened in Formula One over the last twelve months. Behind the cut is my translation of a truly staggering report that appeared today on the site of Italy's main newspaper
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Yesterday, Britain had one of its golden sporting days of all time. The World Athletics Championships closed with two more silver medals - with Britain winning many more than had been expected, and that in spite of the fact that the great Paula Radcliffe had not been able to take part - and, which tasted much sweeter in British mouths, the ( Read more... )

The 200 metre world record is the most awesome object in athletics. In thirty years, it has only been broken three times. In 1978, I think, Pietro Mennea broke it in Mexico City. It then stood until 1996 and the Atlanta Olympics, when Michael Johnson broke it with one of the most awesome runs I ever saw. And Johnson's record has stood until now ( Read more... )

There's something wrong here. Who let in the superhero? 8-)

The loud American complaints about Chinese cheating in the Olympics would sound better if the US athletics establshment had not been a sink of doped iniquity for decades, leading to horrors such as the "flo-jo" so-called world record, which is still on the books, and finally to the disgrace and humiliation of Marion Jones and her contemporaries. ( Read more... )