Fears continue over Salford"s future after club cancel friendly with Leigh

Posted on December 21, 2012 by adminsports

Fears continue over Salford's future after club cancel winter friendly with Leigh

UPDATED:

16:29 GMT, 21 December 2012

Salford have called off their festive friendly against Leigh amid continuing uncertainty over the club's future.

The City Reds, who are due in court on January 7 to face a winding-up petition, say they are unable to raise a team for the friendly, which was due to take place at the Leigh Sports Village on Sunday, December 30.

Reds coach Phil Veivers, who has been able to make just one new signing so far for Super League XVIII, said: 'It's unfortunate but we had to make the right call.

Game over: The clash at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium has been called off

'We have a few too many knocks and niggles this week and, as everybody knows we are a bit light on personnel at the moment anyway with the current situation.

'We felt it was better to give the boys an extended break over Christmas and prepare ourselves fully for the Swinton game on January 6.'

Salford's bank account remains frozen and recruitment hinges on new investment in the club taking place.

The club, who are faced with a tax bill in the region of 50,000, need to find around 600,000 in the next six weeks to pay off their debts.

Sports Personality: Andy Murray deserves the award – Martin Samuel

Posted on December 15, 2012 by adminsports

It's been the greatest sporting year we've seen, but there can be only one winner, so… It must be Murray

UPDATED:

00:39 GMT, 15 December 2012

It is what you have to leave out that tells you what a year it has been. There is no room, for instance, to tell the story about standing at the back of the 16th green at Royal Lytham and St Annes, chatting amiably with course marshals about what a disappointing day of golf it had been.

There isn’t time to recount that we agreed Adam Scott had been given the easiest ride of any Open champion because the pursuing pack had not put him under pressure at all; or how, 15 minutes later, coming off the back of the 17th, Scott was a broken man and Ernie Els on the brink of one of the most astonishing victories in the history of major golf.

There is no space for such details because, at the very moment Els was profiting from one of the most spectacular implosions in a sport that rather specialises in them, Bradley Wiggins was successfully completing his own procession along the Champs-Elysees, to be the first British winner of the Tour de France.

Le Gentleman called for the excited throng, tens of thousands deep and hanging on his every word, to be quiet. ‘We’re just going to draw the raffle now,’ he told them. Yes, it was that sort of year.

Enlarge

The best of the lot: Andy Murray memorably won the US Open title in November

In British sport, 2012 will be talked
about like a 1990 Burgundy or a 1959 Bordeaux. We will drink this
cellar of special memories dry. 2012 was the year it came together; a
home Olympics and so many moments in orbit around it, that the year in
review seems almost mythical or magical, like Brigadoon, the mysterious
Scottish village that appears one day in every 100 years.

And
there was a night, a very special night in the Olympic Stadium when, in
the time it takes to play the first half of a football match, Britain
won more track-and-field gold medals than in the previous two Olympics
combined.

Glorious: Bradley Wiggins celebrates his Tour de France success in Paris

Greg Rutherford won the men’s long jump, Jessica Ennis the heptathlon and Mo Farah the 10,000 metres, each victory tearing the traditional narrative of plucky failure apart. A week later, Farah returned to do it again in the 5,000m.

Usain Bolt, the most famous athlete on the planet, celebrated his own victories by doing the Mobot, Farah’s M-shaped celebration invented by Clare Balding and christened by James Corden during a knockabout appearance on the sports quiz A League Of Their Own. Like Wiggo’s raffle joke, there seemed something very British about a gold medallist whose trademark was cooked up irreverently on the hoof.

It felt like us. It felt like modern Britain. The public go to the polls this weekend to decide the Sports Personality of the Year and the shortlist is a perfect cross-section of male and female, black and white, dis- and abled, yet there is not a hint of pre-determined correctness about it. This really was that sort of year.

Unforgettable: Mo Farah crosses the line to win the 5,000m at the London Olympics, and later Usain Bolt copied his famous celebration

Mo Farah and Usain Bolt at London Olympics

It was a coming together year, an
I-was-there year, a year for cliches about telling the grandkids and
remembering where you were when and keeping little scrapbooks, or
souvenirs, or at the very least crystallising memories, and it was a
year so good that sometimes we slip and forget how good it has been.

Football,
for instance, has had a terrible year, what with the racism and the
coin-throwing and the greatest finish to a title race in recent memory,
and the first London side winning the European Cup against
insurmountable odds on a penalty shootout and then Spain played the best
football anyone had seen for the first half of the European
Championship final and Chelsea are now one game from being world
champions and . . . and . . .

I’m
sorry, I’ll rephrase that. Football has had a great year, despite the
racism and the coin-throwing, because — well, like I said: Manchester
City, Chelsea in Munich, Spain and then there was this chap Lionel
Messi, who some of you might know.

What drama: Sergio Aguero scores the goal that won Manchester City the title

And
Andy Murray! Hell’s bells, we nearly forgot Andy Murray, who came
closer to winning a Wimbledon men’s singles final than any British man
since the nation was represented in tennis by people called Bunny. Then
he won the gold medal at the Olympics, but we barely mention that now
because on September 10, Murray won the US Open, so we no longer have to
pretend Olympic gold is the pinnacle of his career and neither does he.

We
can return Olympic tennis to its rightful place and remember the
extremes of physical endurance that were required to overcome Novak
Djokovic in New York in Britain’s first men’s singles Grand Slam win in
76 years.

That an opponent who was believed to
have taken the sport to a new level of relentless, brutal athleticism
simply could not take any more remains arguably the sporting achievement
of the year.
Yet nothing
illustrates the pain and determination it took Murray to get there more
perfectly than a 20-minute vignette in defeat several months earlier.

It
went like this: Murray’s serve 15-0, 30-0, 40-0, 40-15, 40-30, deuce,
advantage Murray, deuce, advantage Federer, deuce, advantage Federer,
deuce, advantage Federer, deuce, advantage Murray, deuce, advantage
Murray, deuce, advantage Federer, deuce, advantage Federer, deuce,
advantage Murray, deuce, advantage Federer, game Federer. Third set, game six, Wimbledon final. Federer breaks Murray’s serve. But look what he had to do.

Finest hour: Murray in action during his US Open final showdown against Novak Djokovic in September

Revisited with hindsight, it truly was a matter of time before Murray won a Slam. Seeing what he put Federer through, of course he would later survive, victorious, the longest US Open final in history.

Is Murray the Sports Personality of the Year He’s mine. Wiggins would be a worthy winner, too, so would Farah and Ennis and Sir Chris Hoy and David Weir and, well just about any name on the shortlist and then some. The coward’s way out, a special 2012 award each, certainly had appeal. Yet it was not a matter of national debate that no Briton had won the Tour de France.

Nobody was button-holing Farah in the
street, asking urgently when the dominance of east Africans in
long-distance running would be at an end. Every
time Ennis lost it was not held up as symbolic of wider British failure
in modern life. That is what makes Murray different. He was dragging 76
years of British sporting gloom everywhere he went. No wonder those
shoulders occasionally slumped.

Hero: Ian Poulter was brilliant at the Ryder Cup at Medinah in September

To
be there in New York when he finally cut that burden loose, to see
Murray on the balcony of the British Residence, the newly crowned king
of New York, felt like being present at the audiences granted by
heavyweight champions of the world in presidential suites in Las Vegas.
Murray, a boxing obsessive, would enjoy the comparison.

Like Wiggins, he is a man apart. Road cyclists from Kilburn High Road do not beat the French at their own game. What makes Wiggins unique is also what separates Murray, originating from a part of the world in which the weather is more conducive to bad chests than good tennis.

It applies to Farah, too. He is
Somali by birth, which is presumed to make him good at distance running;
except Somalia has no pedigree in the sport. What Farah has achieved
comes from growing up distance running in his miserable, wet, cold
northern hemisphere country, pounding the track when every human urge
must have been ordering him to get inside and into the warm. These are
remarkable people: champions and more.

What
else, what else in 2012 There was a horse, and what a horse. You can’t
give the SPOTY award to an equine candidate, so Frankel is not on the
BBC’s list, but by any measure of pure achievement, he should be. He
had personality, he had class, he had 14 wins in 14 races and nine of
those were Group Ones. He was the greatest quadruped athlete of his time
and some would say of any time. Cheering him home was a privilege for
more than just his supporters in the betting ring.

Memorable: Tom Queally celebrates after Frankel won his final race at Ascot

As was being in Medinah the night Europe’s golfers retained the Ryder Cup against all presumption, logic and gambling instinct. It was a win that defied explanation — like Liverpool in Istanbul in 2005 — except to say that in Ian Poulter, European golf has its Steven Gerrard figure. For AC Milan’s 3-0 half-time lead, read United States 10-4 up by Saturday afternoon on home soil. Poulter made five birdies to give Europe a chink of light that evening and the rest is history.

Except this time it truly is history.
All of it. All of them. The Olympians, the Paralympians, the golfers,
the horse, the footballers, watching Alastair Cook make another
subcontinent ton, watching England thump the All Blacks, watching West
Ham United win promotion on a tiny television screen erected by the nice
people from Sky in the lot outside the Allianz Arena before the
Champions League final, watching Hoy become Britain’s greatest Olympian,
and a personal favourite: that mad, mad look when Katherine Copeland
knew she had won rowing gold for Britain, and turned to her partner
Sophie Hosking.

‘We’re going to be on a stamp,’ she said.

It was that kind of year. Very special. Very British.

Special: Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hoskins celebrate Olympic rowing gold

The contenders for Sports Personality

The Football Hit Parade: The best and worst footie songs in 60 years of the UK chart

Posted on November 14, 2012 by adminsports

The Football Hit Parade: As the UK Top 40 celebrates its 60th birthday, we take a look at the best (and worst) footie songs

UPDATED:

17:15 GMT, 14 November 2012

It has provided the soundtrack to life in the British Isles for 60 years.

Whether you enjoyed the songs on vinyl, cassette, CD or iTunes download, the Top 40 singles chart has been as much a staple in national life as Butlins, village greens and Wimbledon.

The first 'hit parade' was released in a brand new magazine called New Musical Express precisely 60 years ago today, with Al Martino's 'Here in My Heart' top of the pops.

Since then, the Sunday afternoon countdown has dictated what we hear on the radio airwaves, what we watch on the music channels and what we flock down to the record shop to buy (or flock to the internet to download).

Top of the Pops: England players recording 'World In Motion' with New Order in 1990 - a football number one

Top of the Pops: England players recording 'World In Motion' with New Order in 1990 – a football number one

And, very occasionally, in amongst the Beatles and the Stones, Madonna and the Spice Girls, would be a bunch of very awkward looking footballers packed into a sweaty recording studio mumbling lines from a crib sheet.

In the last six decades, there have been 54 tracks recorded by clubs that have charted in the Top 75 and a further half dozen or so recorded by footballers on their own.

The majority are, of course, FA Cup final records, designed to bring fan anticipation to fever pitch ahead of the big Wembley day out.

In the studio: Man United players with 19-year-old Katrina Wallis, who co-wrote their 1985 Cup final song 'We All Follow Man United'

And there's quite a few English and Scottish efforts before the national team jets off to the World Cup – and inevitable failure.

So on this anniversary of the 'Top 40', Sportsmail salutes some of the best (and worst) football records.

1970: England – ‘Back Home’

England had plenty to sing about heading into the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico. They were, after all, the defending champions and one of the tournament favourites. Accordingly, the squad got together to record ‘Back Home’ and started the tradition of the England squad single at major tournaments.

Such was the feel-good factor towards the idea, it spent three weeks at number one in the summer of 1970 and definitely ranks as one of the better football singles with all the players sounding as if they want to be there.

Unfortunately, England couldn’t replicate their success of 1966, crashing out to the Germans in the quarter-finals.

Enlarge

Squad sing-song: England's 1970 World Cup squad on Top of the Pops performing 'Back Home'

Squad sing-song: England's 1970 World Cup squad on Top of the Pops performing 'Back Home'
(Top row) Peter Osgood, Brian Kidd, Emlyn Hughes, Peter Thompson, Peter Bonetti, Allan Clarke, Norman Hunter, Unknown (2nd row) Harold Shephardson, David Sadler, Nobby Stiles, Francis Lee, Ralph Coates, Les Cocker (trainer), Terry Cooper, Colin Bell, Tommy Wright and Alan Ball. (Front-row) Geoff Hurst, Alex Stepney, Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Jack Charlton, Jeff Astle, Alan Mullery and Martin Peters

1971: Arsenal – ‘Good Old Arsenal’

The start of the seventies brought plenty of cheer for Arsenal, who scooped the league and cup Double in 1971 and were widely considered the best team in the land.

To celebrate, they released this upbeat hit called ‘Good Old Arsenal’ which was more of a chant set to the tune of Rule Britannia, but very catchy nonetheless.

It reached number 16 in the charts but there’s some great players singing along, including Bob Wilson, George Graham, Frank McLintock and Charlie George.

Good old Arsenal: The Gunners lifted the Cup in 1971, beating Liverpool 2-1. Their cup final single reached 16 in the charts

1972 – Leeds United – ‘Leeds United’

After Arsenal’s brief spell of dominance, the brilliant Leeds side of the seventies became the pre-eminent side on the pitch and in the recording studio. This was proven in the 1972 Cup final, when the Yorkshire side beat Arsenal 1-0.

This eponymous hit marked the occasion, essentially a homage by the players to themselves, and reached number ten in the singles chart. A sample line: ‘There’s a red headed tiger known as Billy/And he goes like a human dynamo/Mick the mover of course, he can work like a horse/And Top Cat Cooper’s always on the go…’

However, it’s the B-side that stands the test of time – ‘Leeds Leeds Leeds’ – better known as ‘Marching on Together’ is a terrace favourite at Elland Road today.

Cup success: Leeds United captain Billy Bremner gets the Cup from the Queen after a 1-0 win over Arsenal in 1972

1972: Chelsea – ‘Blue is the Colour’

Another one that has stood the test of time, Chelsea’s March 1972 hit was released to mark their appearance in the League Cup final against Stoke City (which they lost). It reached number five in the charts and has been the club’s signature tune ever since.

This archive film shows how the players needed a little encouragement, and a few takes, to get to the finished product. Thankfully, Osgood and company often got it right first time on the pitch.

All together now! The Chelsea players record 'Blue is the Colour' in readiness for the 1972 League Cup final

1975: West Ham United – ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’

Bellowed from the stands at the Boleyn since the 1920s, the West Ham club anthem was given a seventies twist when the Hammers reached the 1975 FA Cup final, in which they beat London rivals Fulham 2-0.

The hit wasn’t all that successful, however, charting at 31. It did beat the Cockney Rebels punk version of five years later – that only reached 35.

Old-fashioned knees-up: Trevor Brooking of West Ham and Alan Mullery of Fulham on the piano before the 1975 Cup final with some attractive vocal backing

The Cockney Rebels take the mickey on Top of the Pops in 1980

1978: Scotland and Rod Stewart – ‘Ole Ola’

Quite how Rod Stewart was persuaded to do this track I don’t know – presumably it was an overwhelming sense of patriotic duty or a genuine belief that Scotland would return from Argentina 1978 with the World Cup.

Despite being pretty abysmal – there’s a great verse explaining why all the world’s best teams will flop – this song was in the charts for six weeks and peaked at number four.

1978: Nottingham Forest – ‘We’ve got the whole world in our hands’

At around the same time, this gem was in the charts too, albeit some way behind Rod and the boys. Forest, who were on their way to the pinnacle of European football under Brian Clough, teamed up with local one-hit wonders Paper Lace to record this.

There’s some very uncomfortable looking players and backroom staff as the camera pans round the dressing room, including Clough on the end. But certainly would have approved of the lyrics: ‘We’ve got the whole world in our hands/We’ve got the best team in the land.’

Once again from the top: Brian Clough leads the players on a run through as they head to Birmingham to record 'We've got the Whole World in our Hands in 1978

1982: Tottenham Hotspur – ‘Tottenham, Tottenham’

‘Looks like we’re into another Cup final, boys.’

‘Better think of another catchy tune then.’

‘We could get a really big name in this time, get it to number one.’

‘Doubt anyone will do it, all quite busy.’

‘Hmm. Give Chas and Dave a bell…’

Number 19 in the chart!

POP QUIZ: Which Spurs player featured on the same episode of Top of the Pops twice in one night (Answer at the bottom)

1985: Everton – ‘Here we go’

When Everton made the 1985 Cup final against Man United, they hoped that booking into the same Abbey Road recording studio as The Beatles for their record would inspire them to victory.

Unfortunately, The Fab Four would probably storm out in protest at the Everton effort ‘Here we Go’ which, yes, was the terrace ditty repeated over and over again.

Someone was singing along though, as it made number 14 in the charts.

Footsteps of the Fab Four: Everton's 1985 cup finalists make their way to Abbey Road studios to record 'Here we go'

Extraordinary: John Barnes leads his Liverpool teammates in the Anfield Rap of 1988

1998: Arsenal – ‘The Hot Stuff’

Donna Summer’s 1979 hit ‘Hot Stuff’ is regarded as one of the best songs ever and is regularly listed in all-time greatest countdowns. So what a good idea to take her amazing vocals and twist them very cleverly to mention players in your squad.

That’s what Arsenal did to mark their march for the Double in 1998 and it made number nine on the countdown. This is actually quite a sophisticated job, just look at the third verse:

We were on the march with Arsenal’s army
With Tony, Martin, Nigel and Lee (COME ON!)
And vivent les francais, baby, and Patrick Gilles
Et tu es magnifique mon Petit

Hot Stuff! Martin Keown, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp get stuck in to Arsenal's cover of the Donna Summer classic in 1998

1999: Andrew Cole – ‘Outstanding’

Ok, Andy, nobody’s arguing with your goalscoring prowess, especially not during Man United’s Treble season, but is there really a need to bring out a rap to persuade us. No, really, there is no need…

Peaked at number 68 at the end of the century.

POP QUIZ ANSWER: Steve Archibald featured twice in the same episode of Top of the Pops in 1982, first singing 'We Have a Dream' with the Scotland World Cup squad and then alongside his Spurs teammates and Chas and Dave for 'Tottenham, Tottenham.'

THE FULL CHART – EVERY FOOTBALL SONG TO APPEAR IN THE UK TOP 75

Year: Artist and song (highest chart position, number of week in top 75)

1970: England national team with 'Back Home' (Number one, 17 weeks)
1971: Arsenal with 'Good Old Arsenal' (No. 16, seven weeks)
1972: Leeds United with 'Leeds United' (No. 10, ten weeks)
1972: Chelsea with 'Blue is the Colour' (No. five, 12 weeks)
1974: Scotland national team with 'Easy, Easy' (No. 20, four weeks)
1975: West Ham United with 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' (No. 31, two weeks)
1976: Manchester United with 'Manchester United' (No. 50, one week)
1977: Liverpool with 'We Can Do It' (No. 15, four weeks)
1978: Nottingham Forest and Paper Lace with 'We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands' (No. 24, six weeks)
1978: Scotland national team and Rod Stewart with 'Ole Ola' (No. four, six weeks)
1981: Tottenham Hotspur with 'Ossie's Dream – Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley (No. 5, eight weeks)
1982: Tottenham Hotspur and Chas and Dave with 'Tottenham, Tottenham' (No. 19, seven weeks)
1982: England national team with 'This Time'/'England We'll Fly the Flag' (No. two, 13 weeks)
1983: Liverpool with 'Liverpool (We're Never Gonna…)/Liverpool Anthem' (No. 54, four weeks)
1983: Manchester United with 'Glory Glory Man United' (No. 6, five weeks)
1983: Brighton and Hove Albion with 'The Boys in the Old Brighton Blue' (No.65, two weeks)
1985: Manchester United with 'We All Follow Man United' (No. 10, five weeks)
1985: Everton with 'Here We Go' (No. 14, five weeks)
1986: England national team with 'We've Got The Whole World At our Feet' (No.66, one week)
1986: Liverpool with 'Sitting on Top of the World' (No. 50, two weeks)
1987: Tottenham Hotspur and Chas and Dave with 'Hot Shot Tottenham!' (No. 18, five weeks)
1987: Coventry City with 'Go For It' (No. 61, two weeks)
1988: England national team with 'All the Way' (no. 64, two weeks)
1988: Liverpool with 'Anfield Rap (Red Machine in Full Effect' (No. three, six weeks)
1990: Crystal Palace and The Fab Four with 'Glad All Over/Where Eagles Fly' (No.50, two weeks)
1990: England national team and New Order with 'World in Motion' (number one, 12 weeks)
1990: Scotland national team with 'Say it with Pride' (No. 45, three weeks)
1991: Tottenham Hotspur with 'When the Year Ends in One' (No. 44, three weeks)
1992: Leeds United with 'Leeds Leeds Leeds' (No. 54, three weeks)
1993: Manchester United and The Champions with 'United (We Love You)' (No. 37, two weeks)
1993: Arsenal and Tippa Irie/Peter Hunnigale with 'Shouting for the Gunners' (No. 34, three weeks)
1994: Manchester United with 'Come on You Reds' (number one, 15 weeks)
1994: Chelsea with 'No One Can Stop Us Now' (No. 23, three weeks)
1995: Manchester United and Stryker with 'We're Gonna Do It Again' (No. six, six weeks)
1995: Everton with 'All Together Now' (No. 24, three weeks)
1996: Manchester United with 'Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)' (No. six, 15 weeks)
1996: Liverpool and Boot Room Boyz with 'Pass & Move (It's the Liverpool Groove)' (No.four, four weeks)
1996: Scotland national team and Rod Stewart with 'Purple Heather' (No. 16, five weeks)
1997: Rangers with 'Glasgow Rangers (Nine in a Row)' (No. 54, two weeks)
1997: Chelsea and Suggs with 'Blue Day' (No. 22, five weeks)
1997: Middlesbrough with Bob Mortimer/Chris Rea with 'Let's Dance' (No. 44, one week)
1998: Arsenal with 'Hot Stuff' (No.9, five weeks)
1999: Manchester United with 'Lift it High (All About Belief)' (No. 11, five weeks)
2000: Arsenal with 'Arsenal Number One/Our Goal' (No. 46, one week)
2000: Chelsea with 'Blue Tomorrow' (No.22, two weeks)
2002: Lincoln City and Michael Courtney with 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep/Jagged End' (No. 64, one week)
2002: England national team and New Order with 'World in Motion' (reissue) (No. 43, two weeks)
2004: Yeovil Town with 'Yeovil True' (No. 36, one week)
2004: Millwall with 'Oh Millwall' (No. 41, one week)
2007: Bristol City and The Wurzels with 'One for the Bristol City' (No. 66, one week)
2008: Cardiff City and James Fox with 'Bluebirds Flying High' (No. 15, two weeks)
2010: Leeds United supporters with 'Leeds Leeds Leeds' (No. ten, one week)
2010: England national team and New Order with 'World In Motion' (another reissue) (No.22, four weeks)

Darcy Ward to miss Elite League decider after being attacked

Posted on October 22, 2012 by adminsports

Speedway ace Ward to miss Elite League title decider after being beaten up

UPDATED:

21:30 GMT, 21 October 2012

Poole speedway star Darcy Ward will miss Monday's Elite League title decider after being beaten up.

Ward, last week handed a wild-card for next year's Grand Prix series, was still in hospital on Sunday awaiting results of a brain scan.

Missing out: Darcy Ward will miss the Elite League title decider on Monday after being attacked outside his local pub on Friday

He was attacked and hit his head on the pavement outside his local village pub in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset, on Friday night.

Pirates' boss Neil Middleditch said: 'I'd been with Darcy and some friends, but had gone home when I had a call to tell me he'd been attacked and was in hospital with bleeding in his brain.'

Ward, 20, will miss both tonight's second leg against Swindon and the Pirates' Knock Out Cup semi-final against Peterborough later this week.

Munich 1972 – 40 years on from the Black September attack

Posted on September 5, 2012 by adminsports

Munich Massacre, 40 years on: Sportsmail remembers the Olympics darkest hour

UPDATED:

23:31 GMT, 4 September 2012

Forty years on from 'the Munich Masssacre', Sportsmail's Neil Wilson, who was at the 30th Olympiad in the German city, recalls the harrowing moments before, during and after the deadly attack.

September 5, 1972, forty years ago, is a day that lives in infamy in the annals of the Olympic movement. Eleven members of the Israeli team, five Palestinian terrorists and a West Germany policeman died in the midst of the Games of the 30th Olympiad.

David Wilkie had won a swimming silver medal three days earlier but fresh in his memory today is a moment in those Games 11 summer Olympics ago when he may have been witness to the start of the drama that enfolded.

Munich Massacre: Eleven members of the Israeli team, five Palestinian terrorists and a West Germany policeman died when terrorists broke in the Olympic village

The swimming programme was over. Wilkie
and two British team-mates, Barry Prime and Neil Dexter, returned in the
small hours to the British quarters in the Athletes Village after a
night on the town in Munich. They were close to the perimeter fence,
close to the Israeli quarters in Connelly-strasse, 'a lonely spot on the
edge of the Athletes Village', is Wilkie’s memory.

'We saw these two people in track suits climbing over the perimeter fence. We waved to them. We assumed they were athletes although we wondered at the time why they had any need to climb the fence. Security was hopeless. We had got friends into the Village using fake passes, so anybody could get in,' said Wilkie.

The reason why London had warships, missile batteries and thousands of troops ringing its Olympic facilities goes back not to the more recent events of 9/11 or 7/7 but to that most infamous event in Olympic history. The Munich Massacre.

Palestinians from a group calling themselves Black September had taken advantage of the lax security to climb over the fence to reach the Israeli quarters in the Athletes Village.

Two Israelis died immediately resisting; nine more, five terrorists and a policemen after a day's failed negotiations ended in a bungled attempt at rescue by West German police.

I was there that day, alerted by a colleague hammering on the door of my room in the Media Village which abutted where the athletes lived shouting 'someone's been shot in the Athletes Village'.

Village security, as Wilkie says, was non-existent. I ran through its entrance wearing a borrowed GBR tracksuit with my press accreditation bouncing on its ribbon around my neck. A soldier, assuming as I had hoped, that I was an athlete returning from a morning run waved me into the Village.

Wilkie and Prime discovered at breakfast
from Canadian swimmers what was happening. One had been close enough to
hear the shots.

Chaos: Police officers address the crowds who were unable to get accurate information

'When we walked back from the restaurant hall we could see someone with a balaclava on the balcony in the Israeli block. We couldn’t have been more than 25 metres from it,' said Wilkie, the 1976 Olympic breaststroke gold medallist.

'Barry and I have stayed in touch over the years and we still surmise that what we saw that night were some of the terrorists.'

Wilkie continued to watch the drama unfold through the day. Other residents of the Village, the majority, remained blissfully unaware.

I reported the events unfolding from the top room of the Italian headquarters across the street from 31 Connelly-strasse.

From the front window we could see armed police, the balaclaved terrorists and the police negotiator dressed as a Village volunteer. From the rear window the view was of athletes going about their business undisturbed, sun-bathing, embarking buses to their competition venues and walking to the restaurant hall.

Joan Allison, one of Britain’s 1,500 metres runners, was typical.

Shootout: The kidnapping had a tragic end when a gun battle ensued as the terrorists tried to escape in an helicopter

She says: 'I didn’t know anything about it until the morning after it had all happened, which sounds bizarre as I don’t think it was too far away from the GB headquarters. The first I knew was being told we had to go to a Memorial Service in the Stadium.'

Mary Peter, the British pentathlete who had beaten West Germany’s golden girl Heide Rosendahl to the Olympic gold with a world record score, realised something was happening that morning when her room-mate Janet Simpson pointed out armoured vehicles from their balcony. But she spent the day in Munich buying Simpson a wedding present unaware of the seriousness.

'We only had German TV and technology wasn’t what it is today so we didn’t understand what was going on. That evening I asked a Bulgarian athlete, “what happened today”, and she said, “terrorists have kidnapped some Israeli athletes but they are all safe”.

'I went to bed believing that,' remembers Peter, an Ambassador to the 2012 Games.

Ian Millar, a Canadian show jumper who made making a record 11th consecutive Olympic appearance in London, was among the first to know.

He planned to take a bus with Canada’s other riders to where their horses were stabled. 'We were starting early to beat the traffic,' he said.

Round the corner from their own block they found themselves in the middle of the stand-off.

'Police were behind all the bushes and they waved us back. All of a sudden, the curtains opened in the Israeli residence and you could see the gunmen,' said Millar.

Dark day: The shocking incident remains the biggest blight on Olympic history

'When we came back to the Village late in the day we got off our bus and saw the Israeli athletes coming out of their residence, each tied to the one in front, and getting on another bus. It was only later we got the report that they were all shot.'

The panic within an organisation unprepared was understandable.

Mark Spitz, the American swimmer who had won a record seven gold medals and was Jewish, was taken immediately to the airport under guard and flown home. So were other major names they feared might be targets, among them Britain’s gold medallist Mary Peters.

Opinion was divided on what should happen but the International Olympic Committee decided that the tragedy would be marked by a memorial service in the Stadium the next morning after which events would continue as scheduled. Millar to this day believes that the IOC was right.

'There was no choice but to go on. It would have handed victory to the terrorists,' he said.

Peters flew home to Belfast unaware of the Memorial Service.

'I've always felt guilty that I wasn’t able to pay my respects at that time, so I went back recently and met up with Heide (Rosendahl) and together we both paid our respects to those who died at the memorial of stones the Israelis built. I added my stone to the pile.'

London 2012 Paralympics: Britain"s top medal prospects

Posted on August 28, 2012 by adminsports

Meet the stars who have overcome the odds to get in the race for gold in London

UPDATED:

22:30 GMT, 27 August 2012

They have bounced back from life-threatening injuries and defied medical odds. But for these athletes, that was not enough. With the Paralympic Games kicking off on Wednesday, there’s only one thing on all of their minds now. That’s winning gold for Great Britain — and once again proving that anything is possible…

HANNAH COCKROFT

Aged 20, T34 100m and 200m

As wheelchair sprinter Hannah Cockroft remarks dryly, she has a lot more to think about than just ‘remembering her shoes’.

The 20-year-old double world champion names all her chairs, which cost around 3,000 for the frames alone, after Paralympic athletes. Oscar (Pistorius) was followed by Ian (Jones), who didn’t fit and had to be sent back, and her latest one is Sally (Brown).

Going for gold: Hannah Cockroft is a double world champion

She wears Wonder Woman underwear to compete and always paints her nails to match her racing kit. Cockroft is particularly excited about the prospect of the Union Jack talons she’s been promised in the Olympic Village at London 2012.

‘At the World Championships last year I had a puncture the day before my race, then someone moved my chair to get their own out and just dropped it,’ she says. ‘It was wrecked and I couldn’t get the wheels back on.

‘About five o’clock they told me I wouldn’t be able to race the next day in the 200 metres. I was gutted. I just started crying.

‘But they fixed it — well, a botch job. At the end of my 100m, after my second gold, my coach said, “I didn’t want to tell you, but your chair was about to fall apart”.’

It might just be her thick west Yorkshire burr, but Cockroft is wonderfully matter of fact. She isn’t the slightest bit arrogant or boastful, but the straightforward manner in which she recounts her achievements seem to make them all the more remarkable.

She became the first person to break a world record in the Olympic Stadium, clocking 18.56 secs in the T34 100m in May, a time she has since reduced to 17.60.

And 2011 wasn’t ‘a bad year’, she says. ‘I became double world champion and broke 15 world records.’

Speedy: Cockroft was the first person to break a world record at the Olympic stadium

As for 2010, that wasn’t too shabby,
either. Cockroft broke seven world records in eight days just after finishing her four A-levels.

On
the Friday morning she did her final English Language exam. She
trained, packed for a 6am flight to Switzerland the next day and put on a
red cocktail dress to go to her sixth form prom, where she was voted
prom queen by her peers.

That weekend she broke three world records. The week after, in Stoke Mandeville, she broke four more. So what happened on the eighth day ‘I was exhausted,’ she says, grinning.

Last year Cockroft was invited to the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards but her coach, Peter Eriksson, decided she had to attend in her wheelchair.

Cockroft, who has cerebral palsy, cannot wear high heels or walk long distances because she walks on the sides of her feet and she ‘would break an ankle’, but she didn’t want to go in her chair — primarily because she had bought a long dress especially for the occasion.

‘But I know I need to be recognisable as a Paralympic athlete,’ she said. ‘Nobody will know who I am otherwise. And I know my coach doesn’t want people to point and say, “Why is she a wheelchair racer when she can walk”.’

But how does that feel Cockroft shrugs her shoulders.

‘If I can inspire people to take up Paralympic sport then it’s all worth it,’ she says. ‘When I was born they said, “Hannah will never walk. She will never talk. She won’t live until her teens”.

Champion: Hannah Cockroft

‘I had two cardiac arrests directly after birth. I damaged two parts of my body so I’ve got deformed legs and weak hips. It’s been like that since birth, so it’s never bothered me. I’ve always found a way to do what I want to do.

‘Running was something I could never do but in wheelchair racing you’re still going fast — you just happen to be in a chair.’

She bounds up from the sofa in her parents’ living room in Halifax and walks over to the dresser by a window overlooking the moors.

‘I’ll show you my World Championship medals if you like’ she continues excitably, gently placing two heavy, palm-sized burnished gold discs on the armrest between us. ‘They’re the only ones that don’t go in the medal drawer.

‘A lot of people lock them away but I like people to try them on. They’re a bit bruised. They’ve been dropped a fair few times.’

Just like poor old Oscar.

/08/27/article-2194381-14B60903000005DC-20_634x479.jpg” width=”634″ height=”479″ alt=”Brit special: Abdi Jama won bronze in Beijing but wants gold in London” class=”blkBorder” />

Brit special: Abdi Jama won bronze in Beijing but wants gold in London

I also played in Australia in 2009, for the Perth Wildcats, and now I play for Wolverhampton Rhinos.

Team GB has been doing really well, coming back from the European Championships as champions, but I won’t be satisfied until I’ve got that gold medal in London.

/08/27/article-2194381-14A97D13000005DC-277_634x437.jpg” width=”634″ height=”437″ alt=”Sprint finish: Libby Clegg in action in the womens 200m ambulant” class=”blkBorder” />

Sprint finish: Libby Clegg in action in the womens 200m ambulant

I’m not blind, I’m partially sighted. I really struggle reading and I’m always bumping into people or tripping over things. I should use a cane but I feel like a bit of a fraud.

I’ve got unfocused vision. It’s like when you turn on a TV screen and all the pixels come out. It’s quite colourful, but not clear.

It’s like seeing lots of highlighted points on a page. I can’t really see where I’m going at all when I run and I wear glasses to block out the light.

My guide used to be Lincoln Asquith but now his stepson, Mikail Huggins, has taken over.

You have to be completely in synch and get the start absolutely right. We’re kind of a team — wherever I go, he goes.

Rough and tumble: Sam Ingram

— it’s the cartilage in my right knee. There were a couple of guys I couldn’t beat but I managed it at the European Championships. That’s vital because my closest competitors now know I can beat them.

I think I can do it again — and achieve gold — at London 2012.

but we’ll have to perform to our very best. My partner, Jordanne Whiley, and I reached the final of Wimbledon this year and we’ve had some big wins recently. With the home crowd behind us at Eton Manor, we’ll be a real threat in the doubles event.

It’s been a frustrating few years since Beijing. I was out for a long time after suffering tennis elbow in my right arm, my racket arm. It was very frustrating because it was one of the first major injuries I’ve had since I started competing in 2003. I’m also very reliant on my arms because I’m paraplegic, yet it hurt to even boil the kettle.

I was 21 when I had my accident. I had just finished university and walked straight into a sales job. I paid for my motorcycle licence with my first pay cheque and passed first time.

Serving up success: Lucy Shuker (left) in action at Wimbledon

But 12 days and maybe 800 to 900 miles later I went round a corner, there was a telephone pole and postbox next to each other and the only memory I have is waking up and not being able to feel my legs.

I didn’t realise what I had actually done to myself until I saw the MRI scan, which showed my spinal cord had been severed. I hit rock bottom. It was devastating. I really struggled for a few years, in terms of finding myself again.

Then I remember my Nana saying to me one Christmas: ‘You’ve got your sparkle back.’

I started playing tennis when I first came out of hospital. Soon I was playing three times a week and then I joined a coaching group in Taunton. I didn’t get any compensation from my accident because it was my own fault, so I’m grateful to the National Lottery and the Tennis Foundation for support.

I played badminton from the age of eight. I played for my county, Hampshire, but I didn’t realise my potential. I was young and I had other passions — riding and horses in particular. I regretted that after I had my accident but I’ve been given another chance — and I plan to enjoy it and make the most of it this time.

/08/27/article-2194381-14920E66000005DC-768_634x443.jpg” width=”634″ height=”443″ alt=”Sharp shooter: Matt Skelhon won gold in Beijing four years ago” class=”blkBorder” />

Sharp shooter: Matt Skelhon won gold in Beijing four years ago

I had a car accident in 2005. I had just turned 20, I was driving home from work as a greens keeper and I’m not quite sure what happened. I broke my back.

I took up archery in early 2006 and then shooting later that year. Before then it has only been shooting tin cans in the garden; nothing really serious. But I just seemed to take to it.

My Mohawk hairstyle will be back again soon too. That was a mental sort of haircut. I haven’t decided what to do at London 2012 but there will be something going on, don’t you worry.

Thanks to National Lottery players, more than 1,200 athletes are benefitting from world-class coaching and support. The National Lottery is also contributing up to 2.2billion to the venues and infrastructure for London 2012 and its legacy.

www.national-lottery.co.uk/bepartofit

National Lottery

Lance Armstrong: Travis Tygart should be hailed

Posted on August 26, 2012 by adminsports

Arise, Travis Tygart, in Armstrong you finally nailed the biggest cheat in sport

UPDATED:

22:28 GMT, 25 August 2012

For some, it was a sad day for sport. Others said they hoped Lance Armstrong would eventually prove his innocence. More nave contributors pointed to the number of drug tests the seven-time winner of the Tour de France had passed, seemingly oblivious to the case of Marion Jones, who never failed a drug test.

The reality is, though, Thursday, August 23, should go down as a great day in sport. And, assuming the evidence when published is as compelling as seems likely, the little-known Travis Tygart, head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, should be placed on a pedestal along with our greatest Olympic heroes.

For Tygart is the Eliot Ness-type figure who has refused to be cowed or bullied by the aggressive stance of sports stars who have engaged in sophisticated doping conspiracies. His efforts, at times working alongside federal law agencies, have brought down some of the most iconic figures in sport: Jones, sprinters Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomery, and now Armstrong. And anyone who believes in the value of sport should be rejoicing.

Back in the saddle: Lance Armstrong prepares to take part in the Power of Four mountain race at the starting line in Snowmass Village, Colorado

The race was the first public appearance for Armstrong since the US Anti-Doping Association stripped him of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him for life

It doesn’t always feel like that. Apart from disillusioned cycling fans, there will be millions of cancer sufferers worldwide who have an enormous emotional attachment to Armstrong and would defend him whatever. The impact of his battle against that disease and the good he has done in inspiring fellow sufferers through his Livestrong charity is undeniable. He has been for many ‘a secular Jesus’, as one writer described him, bringing hope through his suffering.

Yet he cheated. And, on any rational assessment of the facts, he did cheat. Those who suggest that there is no evidence, that due process has been neglected, that the proceedings have been a farce or a witch-hunt, have not been following the story. Or, more likely, they have been following Lance Armstrong’s Twitter account.

Do not be taken in by Armstrong’s claim that passing thousands of drug tests makes you innocent. It might have been true at Armstrong’s peak that, if you dodged a test, you were clean. But that hasn’t been the case for years now.

Drug tests are part of the armoury of anti-doping organisations, the first line of defence, but not the only weapon. Credible first-hand witness accounts are just as compelling evidence that you are cheating.

Tygart’s organisation, USADA, speaks of more than a dozen witnesses prepared to testify against Armstrong. The indictment speaks of ‘direct observation of doping activity by Armstrong, or through Armstrong’s admissions of doping’ using EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone and cortisone and that Armstrong encouraged the others to do it. For good measure, USADA also say there is scientific data suggesting blood manipulation in 2009.

Only a man with a monstrous ego, with a peculiar charismatic gift for constructing a Messianic personality cult, could believe all those witnesses were just racked with jealousy and spite. ‘It’s all about Lance,’ seems to be the summary of the defence.

Taking part: Armstrong is banned but made an appearance in the mountain race

Defiance: The race was the first public appearance for Armstrong since the US Anti-Doping Association stripped him of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him for life

Good to talk: Armstrong prepares to take part in the race

All smiles: Despite the controversy, Arsmtrong appeared relaxed

There is, it seems, copious evidence Armstrong doped. There has been no proper cross-examination of that evidence, but only because Armstrong has chosen to end the process. That is his choice and it seems a cynical one, to allow his defenders to clutch a fig-leaf of doubt to cover his shame. It is to be hoped that, in time, the full evidence will be published and at least cross-examined by public opinion. USADA have said that they will do this.

But Armstrong cannot have it both ways. He cannot scream his innocence from the rooftops and then say he’s not contesting the process. If you want to clear your name, there are no short cuts. You have to fight to the end. We might have a degree of sympathy if this was a small-time, impoverished athlete. But if anyone had the resources and the will for this fight, then Armstrong was that man.

Do not be fooled by those who suggest due process has not been observed. The US federal courts this week threw out Armstrong’s challenge, which claimed USADA had violated his constitutional rights. If USADA had made a false turn, do you not think Armstrong’s lawyers might have exposed it

Which is why Tygart and his organisation deserve enormous credit. If you really want to rid sport of drugs, rather than merely pay lip- service to the idea, as many sports federations, governments and shoe companies do — Nike, for now, continue to support Armstrong — then you need warriors like Tygart.

You need authorities like the US government, who empower their anti-doping agencies to go after the top names. And they have to excel in the legal niceties. For against them will be arrayed the gods of the modern era, the likes of Jones and Armstrong, who will use the PR powers which the public invest in them, to belittle those efforts.

Centre of attention: Armstrong is surrounded by fellow riders ahead of the race

And they will use more expensive lawyers than Tygart has at his disposal to shut you down. And when all else fails, they will scream that they were innocent anyway and they’re not playing the game any more, as Armstrong has done.

Above all, do not listen to those who say that because all were doping in his era, Armstrong is still a true champion. That would be to surrender to the malign forces that would reduce sport to a circus designed to enrich its participants and hangers-on.

Somewhere in the peloton in the Nineties was a man who was clean, who finished perhaps 30th in the Tour de France. Who knows now if he would have been Armstrong’s equal Who knows if he might have been an even more charismatic champion Maybe he grew depressed and quit as numerous team-mates eventually surrendered to the curse of the needle, because they saw a sport in which so many colluded with cheats that it had become the norm.

That man was suffocated by cynicism and we never got to know his name. It is for him that Travis Tygart pursued this fight, and his ultimate victory was as important as anything celebrated in the Olympic Stadium this month.

Lance Armstrong rides at Power of Four mountain race despite ban

Posted on August 25, 2012 by adminsports

Banned 'drugs cheat' Armstrong back on the bike one day after being stripped of titles

UPDATED:

17:02 GMT, 25 August 2012

Banned Lance Armstrong put in a show of defiance as he climbed back on his bike just one day after his reputation was destroyed by a damning doping verdict.

The American, who was sensationally stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles on Friday and banned for life by the US Anti-Doping Agency, took part in the Power of Four mountain race in Snowmass Village in Colorado on Saturday.

The 40-year-old opted not to challenge the US Anti-Doping
Agency's charges against him, claiming to be 'finished with all this
nonsense' after a long-running battle against allegations of cheating.

Back in the saddle: Lance Armstrong prepares to take part in the Power of Four mountain race at the starting line in Snowmass Village, Colorado

The race was the first public appearance for Armstrong since the US Anti-Doping Association stripped him of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him for life

Armstrong was earlier backed by his ong-time friend Jim Ochowicz. who insisted he had earned every victory he has achieved over the course of his career despite his decision not to contest doping charges.

The USADA have stripped him of all his titles and imposed a lifetime ban, although that still has to be ratified by the sport's governing body, who could take the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Until then, though, questions remain over Armstrong's previously illustrious legacy, but Ochowicz, who has mentored Armstrong throughout his career and is the current manager of BMW Racing, is not buying in to that.

Taking part: Armstrong is banned but made an appearance in the mountain race

Defiance: The race was the first public appearance for Armstrong since the US Anti-Doping Association stripped him of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him for life

Good to talk: Armstrong prepares to take part in the race

All smiles: Despite the controversy, Arsmtrong appeared relaxed

'I think Lance did a lot for the sport. We're all grateful to him for what he's done. I think he's earned every victory he's had,” he said in a statement.

'It's a tough day for cycling but we're going to carry on from here. I'm a friend of Lance's. I support his decision to call it. He's done so much for our sport over the years.

'I'm sad about what's transpired but at the same time, I wish him luck with his family. I love them, I love him.'

Armstrong, who was charged along with
five associates in June, sought a temporary restraining order against
the agency's legal action but that was dismissed in a federal court in
Austin, Texas on Monday.

USADA
claim once that action failed Armstrong had until midnight on Thursday
to contest the evidence against him in an arbitrary hearing, and was
fully aware of the consequences of not doing so.

The statement revealed that over a
dozen witnesses, up to 10 of whom are believed to be former team-mates,
had agreed to testify against Armstrong.

It
also claimed the USADA received evidence Armstrong was doping in 1996,
prior to his battle with testicular cancer, which set his Tour triumphs
in the most heroic of contexts, and in 2009, after making his return to
the sport following his initial retirement.

Centre of attention: Armstrong is surrounded by fellow riders ahead of the race

London 2012 Olympics: Manteo Mitchell ran 4x400m with broken leg

Posted on August 9, 2012 by adminsports

That's relay got to hurt… American Mitchell ran 4x400m with a broken leg!

UPDATED:

18:23 GMT, 9 August 2012

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LIVE RESULTS |
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MEDALS TABLE

Any athlete complaining of a minor injury during the London Olympics had their troubles put firmly in perspective after it was confirmed that American Manteo Mitchell ran on a broken leg.

Mitchell ran the first leg of the men's 4x400m relay and helped the United States finish joint fastest qualifiers for the final as they and the Bahamas were given identical times of two minutes 58.87 seconds.

But the 25-year-old will not contest the final after an X-ray confirmed he had broken his left fibula bone during his run.

Ouch: Manteo Mitchell receives the baton from US team-mate Tony McQuay on Thursday

Mitchell said: 'Three days ago I was going up the stairs (in the Olympic village) and I kind of missed one and landed awkwardly. I got treatment and I was fine.

'I did workouts and when I warmed up today I felt really well. I felt I could go 44 (seconds)-low. I got out pretty slow, but I picked it up and when I got to the 100m mark it felt weird. I was thinking I just didn't feel right.

'As soon as I took the first step past the 200m mark I felt it break. I heard it. I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear it. I wanted to just lie down. It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half.

Pain game: Manteo Mitchell runs during the 4x400m relay at the Olympic Stadium

'I knew if I finished strong we could still get it (the baton) around. I saw Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand it off to him, which lifted me. I didn't want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it. It hurt so bad. I'm pretty amazed that I still split 45 seconds on a broken leg.'

USA Track and Field chief executive officer Max Siegel said: 'Manteo has become an inspiration and a hero for his team-mates.

'Without his courage and determination to finish, Team USA would not be at the starting line in the final. The team has rallied around him and we are all looking forward to the final days of competition.'

London 2012 Olympics: Kim Collins quits St Kitts in row over sleeping with wife

Posted on August 4, 2012 by adminsports

Raging 100m star Collins quits St Kitts team in row over sleeping with his WIFE

UPDATED:

15:39 GMT, 4 August 2012

Kim Collins was on his way home today after the St Kitts and Nevis Olympic federation pulled their greatest athlete out of the London 2012 Games as punishment for visiting his wife at a hotel.

The 36-year-old, who won the World Championship 100 metres title in 2003, was notable only by his absence from the seventh heat of the short sprint this lunchtime.

A furious Collins said he would never again run for his country, a small Caribbean nation, and complained he had been shown a lack of respect.

The empty lane where Saint Kitts and Nevis' Kim Collins was due to compete in the men's 100 meters this morning

The empty lane where Saint Kitts and Nevis' Kim Collins was due to compete in the men's 100 metres this morning

'I could be wrong but I don't see why
it should be such a problem,' Collins said. 'I would have better luck
if I went out with some chick and came back and there wouldn't be a bit
of a problem.

'I honestly don't see what is the big deal.

'I'm a grown man with kids, about to have grandkids.'

Collins will not be hanging around in
London for the 200m and sprint relay, having had the chance to race in
the 100m wrenched away from him.

Kim Collins in happier times, celebrating winning the Men's 100m Final at the World Championships in Paris in 2003

'I'm about to go and change my flight
and go home,” he told BBC Radio Five Live, 'and see my kids who I
haven't seen for a while.

'For me it's a done deal. I've been disrespected for too long for too many years.'

The opening ceremony flag-bearer for
his country was apparently expected by his national federation not to
leave the Olympic Village.

Such is his standing on the world athletics stage that Kim Collins was the flagbearer for the country during last week's opening ceremony

'I can't stay here,' he added. 'I did not come to London to watch the 100m final on TV.

'I've got to go home. What am I supposed to do here Act like a tourist No.

'Do you know how many mornings I wake
up, I could be in bed with my wife but I'm off training and winning,
whenever, wherever, for this

'I earned my right to be here.

Kim Collins seem to suggest he was retiring from international competition because of the row

Collins then let his fans know the row meant he wouldn't be competing in the 100 metres at London 2012 today

Angry at the decision, Collins then snapped at what he saw was punishment for seeing his wife

Angry at the decision, Collins then snapped at being punished just for seeing his wife

'They're asking me to abandon my wife for my team. It's not going to happen.'

Collins revealed he could not even access the Olympic Village.

'I'm not walking away. When I came to the Village I could not get into the Village,' he said.
'My pass, my accreditation, was cancelled

'I'm not walking away, I've been pushed out.'

Sports Bound Guide

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