Ryder Cup 2012: After immortal summer of Wiggins, Murray and ... - Telegraph.co.uk

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This was the greatest of all Ryder Cup comebacks. The US team who overturned a 10-6 European lead at Brookline 13 years ago were on home turf. Ian Poulter and company flipped the odds on foreign soil.

Though it was Martin Kaymer who nailed the final putt, on the 18th green, Poulter was the leader and the star, ending the weekend with the best percentage record of any Ryder Cup player.

Olazábal, who was like a brother to Ballesteros, wept, saying: “This is for the whole of Europe. Seve will always be present with this team.

"He was a big factor for this event, for the European side, and last night when we were having our meeting I told the boys that believing was the most important thing – and they did.”

Never in Ryder Cup history has a home crowd been left so shocked, so deflated. Maybe this was karma for the lone idiot who shouted, “F––– you, Seve,” at the 16th on Saturday night.

Luke Donald, Poulter, McIlroy, ­Justin Rose and Paul Lawrie were Europe’s hit squad, rattling up five victories. Lawrie, the veteran, struck a 50-foot birdie and then an eagle to crush Brandt Snedeker 5&3. In the second half, Sergio García, Lee Westwood and Kaymer finished the job.

A day of searing tension picked out four of the also-rans of this cup to decide its fate. Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods, Kaymer and Franceso Molinari had not won a single point from nine outings and yet here they were with the eyes of the world boring into them, with the score tied and both their matches all square.

We had no right to ask for this, much less to expect Europe to match the feats of the US team at Brookline in 1999. The Americans lost the first five matches and seven of the first 10.

A European onslaught neutralised the partisan home crowd and dumped intolerable pressure on the bottom half of America’s 12.

A suspicion is that leading 10-6 on the final morning is harder than it looks. The assumption is that victory is already in the bag.

With a few early setbacks there is a whiplash effect. The sense of a big lead slipping away inflicts terrible stress on the brain, in all sports. In a Ryder Cup, it must feel like a vortex that cannot be escaped.

Jim Furyk is no fresh-faced lad. But by the end of his defeat by García he looked like a stricken geriatric.

In match eight he led by one with two holes to play. On the 17th green a putt from the edge seemed to paralyse him. He backed off it twice, dropping to his knees to make the read. You could see his sinews tightening, his face turning grey.

Then he did it again on 18, missing an easier one and losing the hole to García, and with it the match. In his face was scored a terrible despair.

Guilt, you would call it. The Ryder Cup’s special cruelty is that it can make one man responsible for the suffering of another 11.

Imagine the ghosts and demons that haunt the psyche when an apparently safe victory is tossed away. America will turn on Furyk, Woods and Stricker, who contributed almost nothing.

“We just knew we had a chance, and do you know what? This is history, right here,” Poulter said.

So, to recap: this summer, a British rider has won the Tour de France for the first time, Britain has turned in its best Olympic performance and a Briton has won a major tennis title for the first time since Fred Perry in 1936.

In this Ryder Cup, seven UK citizens contributed to the greatest of all fightbacks in this most compelling of golfing tournaments.

The leaves turned golden and red in a single week at Medinah, so surely now the summer cycle is over.

Even the farce of McIlroy’s late arrival looked like part of the fun after Bubba Watson. Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker were blown away in the first five matches.

Chicago: Europe’s kind of town.

Strictly star Smith considers quitting gymnastics after London 2012 ... - Daily Mail

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By Alex Horlock

PUBLISHED: 11:29 GMT, 21 September 2012 | UPDATED: 13:23 GMT, 21 September 2012

Team GB’s double Olympic medal-winning gymnast Louis Smith has said he could quit the sport before Rio 2016 because he may be ‘too old’ to challenge for a podium place.

At only 23, Smith, who won a bronze medal in the men’s team gymnastics and silver in the pommel horse at the London Games, also has other goals he wants to pursue.

Although the Peterborough gymnast is currently in training for both gymnastics and hit TV show Strictly Come Dancing, Smith wants to launch a clothing range or start a property business, and believes these other ventures would be incompatible with full-time training.

Game changer: Louis Smiith (right) is competing on Strictly Come Dancing

But Smith would be 27 in Rio, the same age as Krisztian Berki, the Hungarian who beat him to gold in London.

When asked whether retiring before the Brazil Games would be too early, Smith told Sportsmail: ‘It’s not to do with it (retirement) being early. It’s to do with being 27 and being past my day.

‘I mean, what happened in London, I was 23-years-old and in the peak of my career, I did the best routine of my life.

‘I’m not going to do better than that, so what am I going to achieve in Rio? Another bronze? Another silver? It’s not going to compare to this summer.’

‘Like I said, I would love to get to Rio, but it (retirement) is an option. I have got to think about life, life is bigger than Rio.’

Game over? Smith could quit gymnastics rather than compete in Rio

He added: ‘I wouldn’t class it as giving up or quitting. I can look back on my career and I have 11 major international competition medals.

‘I’ve got three Olympic medals, I can look back and say if I was to retire, “I have had a fantastic run”. I wouldn’t be giving up, I would be retiring on a massive high.

‘But I’ve got to think about my future. I’ve got a lot of things that I want to do. Like my fashion range, my clothing range, my property - I want to set up a business.

‘I can’t really do all those things and train full-time so I will make a decision about what I am going to do.’

For now though, Smith is starring in the new series of BBC ballroom dance show Strictly Come Dancing.

Silver lining: Smith finished second in the pommel horse competition

Although used to spending hours training to be among the world’s best on the pommel horse, Smith said the regime for the TV show was just as tough.

Smith, who was running a training session for children at his gym in Peterborough for Sky Sports Living for Sports, said: ‘To be completely honest, it’s hard work. My body’s aching, I’m getting ill, I’m getting run down.

‘Lots of people say you must find it easy compared to gym. But it is hard work, to do what they do.

‘I train 10 to 4 and then my partner will stay longer and carry on dancing. I’m in bits.’

Living for sport: Smith (centre) is involved with the Sky Sports scheme

Louis Smith is supporting Sky Sports Living for Sport, a free secondary schools initiative that uses sport stars and sport skills to skills to improve the lives of thousands young people across the UK.

Find out more and get involved at: www.skysports.com/livingforsport

04/09/2012Football: Germany eye Brazil berth after Euro 2012 failure - Expatica Germany

Coach Joachim Loew has said it is up to his squad to impress him after their Euro 2012 semi-final defeat when Germany take on minnows Faroe Islands in Friday's opening World Cup 2014 qualifier.

After Germany's bid to win Euro 2012 failed when Loew's young side was beaten 2-1 by Italy in the semi-finals, the Germans face Faroe Islands in Hanover on Friday, then Austria in Vienna on Tuesday, in qualifiers for Brazil.

"We want to win both games and set an example," Loew said after his 10-man team were beaten 3-1 at home by Argentina in a friendly last month.

Faroe Islands, an archipelago between Norway and Iceland, are 151 places below Germany, according to FIFA's world rankings, and are not expected to present Loew's team with too many problems.

With Sweden, Austria, Kazakhstan and Republic of Ireland also in Group C, only finishing the qualifying campaign top of the table will impress Loew, who is under pressure with his contract running until the 2014 World Cup.

With Germany playing further qualifiers against Sweden and Ireland in October, Loew said it is up to his present squad to impress him.

"There are no guarantees and perquisites in our team," said Loew, who is without Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gomez as the pair return from injury.

"We have moved on in the last two years, the competition has grown.

"Everyone has to prove themselves."

Borussia Dortmund's star midfielders Marco Reus and Mario Goetze are likely to feature in Hanover and Vienna, while Bayer Leverkusen's Andre Schurrle is also one to watch.

The backbone of Loew's squad is six players from Bayern Munich with five from league and cup winners Dortmund, but Loew says he wants to see the Germans achieve high levels of consistency and maintain their reputation for attacking football.

"There has been enough talk, now we want to show what we are capable of," said Loew, who has come in for criticism after the failed Euro 2012 campaign.

Olympics: No sanction for Pistorius after Paralympics outburst - Channel News Asia

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Knicks' Anthony Optimistic After Olympics - New York Times (blog)

Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesCarmelo Anthony in a game against Nigeria at the London Olympics.

This off-season has been a success for Carmelo Anthony. He won his second Olympic gold medal for the United States in London, where he averaged 16.3 points and set a single-game American Olympic scoring record with 37 points against Nigeria.

Anthony believes his success at the Olympics can translate to the Knicks.

“I’m excited just to get this thing going, especially coming off of the run I had on the U.S.A. team” said Anthony, who was at St. John’s on Friday to promote a new video game, “N.B.A. Baller Beats.” “We were able to accomplish something with everybody on that team, and I’m excited to bring that mentality back here to the Knicks.”

Anthony has also noticed the way his teammates have approached the new season.

“Everybody’s working,” he said. “I see Amar’e Stoudemire is in the gym working. Iman Shumpert is getting his knee right. Tyson Chandler was out there at the Olympics with me.”

Unlike some veterans, Anthony is looking forward to training camp. It will be his first full camp since joining the Knicks. He and Stoudemire said this week that last year’s condensed training camp hurt the Knicks.

“Anybody who says it doesn’t is lying,” Anthony said. “When I first got here, it was the middle of the year and last year it was dealing with the lockout. Now we can just focus on basketball.”

Anthony is looking forward to playing with Raymond Felton, the new starting point guard, whom he has been playing against since they were both 9 in A.A.U. tournaments.

“This is a special year for him mentally, for him being traded here and having the chance to come back and prove to people what his game is about,” Anthony said. “When he was in New York, he was having an All-Star year, so to bring him back was an extra incentive for him to want to do well.”

Olympics-Boxing-Murata ponders retirement after London glory - Reuters

TOKYO | Mon Aug 27, 2012 2:03am EDT

TOKYO Aug 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Olympic boxing gold medallist Ryota Murata is considering a future away from the sport after rejecting a lucrative offer to turn professional.

Murata ended Japan's 48-year wait for an Olympic boxing gold by winning the middleweight title in London earlier this month but now plans to take an extended break before deciding on his next move.

"It's the end of a chapter for me and boxing," Murata told Monday's Nikkan Sports newspaper. "Basically I don't have plans to continue with my career.

"I'm a person who has already quit once and came back," added the 26-year-old, who briefly left the sport after failing to make the team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Offered a $1 million contract to turn professional, Murata, who beat Brazil's Esquiva Falcao Florentino in the London final, plans instead to study sports science and foreign languages.

He was also far from enthusiastic over the possibility of going for a second gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, insisting he would rather coach future boxers.

"I'm not thinking about a return. There will be new, young boxers in Rio and I won't be of interest to the media," said the native of Nara in western Japan. "I just want time off." (Reporting by Alastair Himmer; Editing by John O'Brien)

London 2012: Diver Tom Daley 'stronger' after family heartache

By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter Monday 23 July at 22:35 BST on BBC One: Tom Daley - Diving for BritainBritish diver Tom Daley says he wants to win an Olympic medal for his family after a turbulent year.

The teenager lost his father, Rob, to cancer in May 2011 and was also criticised for spending too much time on media commitments.

"My dad was always Olympic crazy. He was just so proud to say that his son was an Olympian. It's great to know he's always been so supportive and I definitely think he's still looking after me."

"It's about time we got some good news in our family," he told BBC Sport.

"It's definitely been a tough year, but it's helped me gain a lot of motivation and inspiration and made me stronger."

Daley's father was believed to be in remission following the removal of a brain tumour in 2006. However, a scan in 2010 revealed it had returned. He eventually lost his fight for life in May last year.

"We kind of knew that it was inevitable, it was just a question of when," said Daley, 18.

"It brought me closer to my dad. I think if he didn't have that brain tumour, we wouldn't have been so close. It's great that we've had that really strong connection."

Daley, who made his Olympic debut in Beijing four years ago, continued to compete while his dad was ill.

He won European gold in the 10m platform event in 2008 and became world champion in 2009. He then won double gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

But just eight weeks after his father's death, he finished fifth at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai.

"I wasn't prepared properly because I had just lost my dad and it was about going in there and giving it my best shot," said Daley. "I know he would have wanted me to have carried on."

GB divers in LMFAO lip sync video tribute

In February of this year, GB diving performance director Alexei Evangulov criticised Daley for spending too much time on media work.

Daley insists he has never lost focus and pays little to what is written or said in the media.

"To be honest, I don't watch anything, I don't look at the papers," he said.

"I look at some of the pictures and watch some of my dives back but apart from that I focus on training and competitions. I can't focus on what others are writing or saying, so I have to focus on myself."

Daley claimed overall victory in the World Series in April and followed that up with European Championship gold and new British record score in Eindhoven in May.

He then secured qualification for London 2012 with victory at the GB Olympic trials in Sheffield.

His first event in London, the 10m synchro, will take place on Monday, 30 July. He will then return for the 10m individual preliminaries on 10 August.

"London 2012 is the biggest thing in my life," said Daley. "It's going to be an amazing experience and I'm going to really try and go in there and do the best six dives that I could ever do. For me, it means everything."

Tom Daley relives his Beijing Olympic experience and looks to London