Best way to watch Triathlon at the Olympics for free at Hyde Park

 Guaranteed Entry Tickets are now available to reserve for BT London Live in Hyde Park on the triathlon event days of Saturday 4 August & Tuesday 7 August.

Due to the Women’s and Men’s Triathlon events taking place in Hyde Park, the BT London Live site will open at the earlier times of 7:00am on Saturday 4 August and 8:30am on Tuesday 7 August. Guaranteed Entry tickets will be valid from 7:00am – 9:00am on Saturday 4 August and 8:30am – 11:30am on Tuesday 7 August. If you don’t want to be out on the course then BT London Live is a great place to watch the event live on the big screens.

Tickets are available to reserve from 5:00pm GMT on Monday 28 May from http://www.btlondonlive.com/tickets

That’s a great site to check,  if you live in London, or if you will be there during Olympics and don’t want to spent a lot of money on entry tickets.

Elite Triathlete: A cry for help

Triathlete Hollie Avil reveals why she has decided to bring an end to her promising career

Read this, so you realized that not everything is perfect in the elite triathlon world. Hollie has been one of the best female triathletes in the world but too much pressure really cracked her. Here is what she wrote in an article, at Daily Telegraph 

I had finished the race and was sitting with team-mates, talking about the size of female triathletes. I was still swimming a lot and was joking that I still had my big swimmer arms and needed the body fat to be buoyant.

It’s important to note that I didn’t even know what a calorie was and, apart from thinking it was fuel, I had no funny thoughts about food.

That quickly changed when one of the coaches – not mine – said: “You’ll need to start thinking about your weight if you want to run quick, Hollie.” That comment planted a seed in my head that didn’t need to be planted.

From that day on I constantly thought about what went into my mouth. Food became my enemy. I developed an eating disorder.

At the time I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t until I heard other athletes discussing eating disorders that I realised I had one. I lived in denial. I was losing weight rapidly but I felt great and was running fast.

My life was governed by food. It was a nightmare. I’ll never forgive the coach who said those words to me.

This particular eating disorder came and went pretty quickly. My coach at the time, Ben Bright, had some harsh words, saying he would refuse to coach me unless I sorted myself out. That hit home. My parents also discovered what was going on.

Stopping wasn’t easy. I didn’t tell any friends, though I did have help from my psychologist, Joce Brooks, and a nutritionist called Jacqueline Birtwisle. I cannot put into words how grateful I was for their support.

After making my debut at the 2008 Olympics and winning the world under-23 title a year later, 2010 became very dark. The coaching and squad structure changed dramatically at my base in Loughborough and I hated it.

Ben and I drifted apart and I wanted to leave Loughborough, but British Triathlon wanted me to stay. I really had to battle for the right to move.

My lack of control and the endless fighting with my governing body saw me turn back to my old ways. My eating disorder returned. What I ate became the one thing I could control in my life. I kept everything secret. I lost a lot of weight but kept lying to people that it was just because I was running more.

The eating disorder followed me to my new training location in Leeds.

With new coaches, new athletes and new friends, I don’t think people realised what was going on. I was on my own and didn’t want to speak up. In February 2011, I finally made a cry for help, admitting everything to Joce and my parents. This time I was too far gone and we had to work so hard to get me better.

In June last year, I decided the only way to recover was to break the vicious cycle and leave Leeds. I called Michelle Dillon, a two-time Olympian in triathlon and now a successful coach.

Michelle guessed what had been going on. I asked her if she would coach me and she said yes. That was the day I put eating disorder round two to bed.

Over the past few months, Michelle has helped me so much with my thoughts around eating but in February this year a new problem emerged. I was diagnosed with stress fractures in each shin.

At first I just wanted to swim and cycle like mad because I was determined not to let the injury get the better of me. That determination lasted a month, and then I cracked.

I was in tears at training, I was tired and I was lost. Looking back, I was proud I didn’t turn back to old ways of controlling myself through food, but I ended up being diagnosed with depression.

This is the first time I’ve spoken about this publicly, and is the reason why I have to say goodbye to my elite sporting career. I don’t ever want to go back to those dark, lonely times.

Don’t get me wrong. I have had some amazing experiences in triathlon. I leave the sport as an Olympian, a double world champion, a national champion and also someone who was once ranked world No 1.

But those great times do not outweigh the miserable times. I don’t want to risk my health again, not just my mental health, but my physical health.

I want to be happy.

So what now? I am excited at what the future holds. I have learnt so much from my experiences in sport and want to use my knowledge to help others.

One day I would love to set up a charity to help young female athletes with eating disorders. I feel it’s rife in our sport and lots of girls suffer in silence.

It’s not just triathlon. There are many other sports where eating disorders develop. I want to encourage young females to strive for their dreams, just as I did, but I also want them to be helped when obstacles get in their way.

I believe life has chapters and this is the end of one of mine.

Although I am sad to be hanging up the race shoes, I’m proud of what I’ve overcome.

Olympic swimmer dies: Norwegian hopeful Alexander Dale Oen suffers cardiac arrest

Twenty-six-year-old world champion tragically passes away at training camp

Champion: Oen was tipped to shine at London 2012

Getty

The world of swimming is mourning the sudden death of Norway’s world champion Alexander Dale Oen, who passed away aged 26.

The 26-year-old, who won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke event at last year’s World Championships, suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away following a training session in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Dale Oen’s death comes little more than a week after the death of Italian footballer Piermario Morosini following a heart attack during a game.

That in turn followed Fabrice Muamba’s cardiac arrest while playing for Bolton at White Hart Lane although he survived and has now left hospital.

In a statement, the Norwegian Swimming Federation said that on Monday evening a teammate, who noticed that Oen had spent a long time in the shower, entered the bathroom and found the 26-year-old lying on the floor.

After immediate attempts to resuscitate him failed, Oen was swiftly rushed to hospital, but he was pronounced dead less than 90 minutes after he was first found.

 

Gold medal: Oen celebrates becoming world champion in Shanghai, 2011

The Norwegian Swimming Federation statement said: “We are all in shock and this is an out-of-body experience for the whole team over here.

“Our thoughts now go primarily to families who have lost Alexander too early.

“This is the toughest day the sport of swimming in Norway has ever had.”

The Federation said that Oen had undertaken a light day of training that day, including a round of golf, and that he had seemed healthy.

Oen, who won a silver medal during the 2008 Beijing Games, was tipped to be one of Norway’s star performers at the upcoming Olympics.

 

World governing body FINA released a statement which read: “FINA was shocked to learn about the sudden death of prestigious swimmer Alexander Dale Oen at the age of 26 in a training camp in Flagstaff (Arizona, USA), on April 30, 2012.

“Dale Oen has been one of the most promising revelations at the 2008 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke, an event in which he obtained the victory (the first ever for his country) at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai (CHN).

“He was therefore one of the most talented swimmers in this stroke and was certainly preparing a brilliant participation at the upcoming Olympic Games in London.

“In everyone’s memory is also present his courage in Shanghai when shining in the pool immediately after the sad events that had taken place in Norway.

“He had given to media and fans an image of a brave and sincere athlete, paying a heartfelt tribute to his compatriots from the pool deck in China. His example had been one of the most vivid moments of those Championships.

“FINA shares the mourning of the entire Norwegian swimming community and addresses its most sincere condolences to his family and friends.”

Quadruple Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima, who is looking to become the first man to twice successfully defend a swimming title in London, Tweeted: “In shock over the passing of a dear friend and great rival. RIP Alex.”

 

‘A great rival’: Kitajima, middle, is shocked by death of his friend

South African Cameron van der Burgh, double bronze medallist in Shanghai, added: “To my greatest rival. My greatest friend. My brother in breaststroke. May you rest in peace. One love.”

European governing body LEN bureau member and British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes said: “I think he was an outstanding athlete and a great inspiration – not only to everyone in swimming but in particular to swimmers in Norway.

“He was just outstanding and he very much did it his way.

“He clearly had a great future potential as being Olympic champion in London – he was a class of his own.

“It is a great loss, it is hard to believe he is no longer with us.

“He was a charming young man and so gracious in victory.

“It was so nice to see someone from a country not famed for its swimmers but more for its skiers doing so well.”

Sparkes added: “Swimming is one of those strange sports where they are rivals but also great friends. Often they train together and compete together. It will have affected a lot of people in the sport.”

Dennis Pursley, British Swimming head coach said: “The international swimming family is small and tightly bonded, so it is always difficult when we lose one of our own.

From Mirror

Hoy: After every session I’m helped off the bike … the pain is unimaginable

Here is an interview of Britain’s Olympic Champion Chris Hoy, given at Mail Online describing some of his sessions on the bike and what it takes to become Olympic Champion. I have found it very inspiring. Good luck Chris! Here is the article and the interview:

Sir Chris Hoy does not mince his words.

‘It’s the worst pain imaginable,’ he says. ‘You feel as if you are dying. You’re physically sick and you writhe around on a mat in a world of pain until you can form a foetal position, which you stay in for 15 minutes thinking you can’t go on.’

But, of course, Hoy will go on. And before the Olympic Games begin in London this summer, he will endure the pain on a weekly basis, pushing himself to the limit – and beyond – as he trains at the English Institute of Sport just across the road from the Manchester velodrome that has become his second home.

 

Still got it: Chris Hoy (centre) with his World Championship gold medal

Hoy may have four Olympic gold medals, including an incredible hat-trick four years ago in Beijing, but at 36 the body and the demands of his sport care nothing for reputations and past achievements.

So as he prepares for his bid to add yet more medals to his collection, he must face eight more sessions of interval training, all undertaken on a stationary bike and all expected to cause him the discomfort that any athlete who wishes to become an Olympic champion must confront.’

The lactic acid builds up in your legs until, in the final minute or so, your muscles begin to shut down,’ says Hoy. ‘When the session is over, people have to unclip me from the bike, ease me out of the saddle and lay me down on a padded mat.

 

Good Hoy: Sir Chirs celebrates his victory in the World Championship Keirin

‘If it is painful during the interval session, it is nothing compared with the pain that immediately follows when you end the training.

‘Every time, you think it’s worse than ever. Every time, you convince yourself that something’s wrong, you must have a virus, or you’re ill, or something. You have pretty much decided you’re not going to do it again – ever. Then after 15 minutes, almost to the second, the pain subsides, you sit up, start talking and get on with it.’

This is how it will be until just a few weeks before the Games begin. This is how it has always been.

At 32, Hoy defied the traditions of sport by winning golds in the men’s sprint, team sprint and keirin inside the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing in 2008, picked up the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award that December, and followed that by being knighted.

Already considered old for his sport, and with four golds and a silver medal as well as 11 world titles, it seemed the ideal time to retire.

Maybe he would have done if the Olympics were being staged anywhere else, but London had been in his sights even before his triumph in Beijing.

‘I was on the stage in Trafalgar Square in 2005 when the IOC announced that London had got the 2012 Games,’ says Hoy. ‘Now that was seven years ago, when I was 29 and already veering towards middle age in track cycling terms. Anything could have happened since then. But on that day, on that stage, there was no doubt in my mind I’d be in London.

Outrageous manouvre: Sir Chris Hoy beats Maximilian Levy in the Keirin final

‘What then clinched it after Beijing was my reaction. Don’t get me wrong, all the awards and the plaudits, the knighthood, it was all incredible and hugely exciting, but it was also a fantasy land, one far removed from my real life.

‘I was commentating on TV at a World Cup event in 2009 and realised how much I hated watching my team-mates and rivals competing while I was on the outside. I realised that all I really wanted to do was get back on my bike.’

Hoy then provides a third reason for putting himself through the pain again, three times a day, six days a week.

‘I’ve never said this before, but I see it as a matter of honour that I defend my titles and give people the chance to beat me,’ he says. ‘The alternative is to win and then simply run for the hills. I don’t like to do things that way.’

And so Hoy climbed back on to his bike, and promptly fell off it again in a crash in Copenhagen that put paid to the rest of 2009, before picking up an assortment of medals at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 World Championships, the most recent in Melbourne two weeks ago when he and his team-mates were disqualified in the team sprint, and he took bronze in the individual sprint and gold in the keirin.

Crashing out: Chris Hoy’s accident in 2009 put him out for the season

Throughout this time, Hoy’s ‘failure’ to emulate his Beijing feats has prompted comments concerning his waning powers connected, naturally, to his advancing years.

‘To the outsider, what we achieved in Beijing probably looked easy,’ he says. ‘We turned up and won. It was simple as that. Seven golds in 10 track events. Of course, it wasn’t easy. It was the culmination of an incredible amount of work. I aim to win every race I compete in, but it’s impossible to do so. You just can’t keep up the level of performance witnessed in Beijing for four years.

‘I also noticed a change in my opponents’ approach to me in races post-Beijing. Suddenly, they were trying new tactics that veered away from tradition. They knew they didn’t have the horsepower to beat me in normal racing circumstances, so they tried different strategies.

‘Of course, I didn’t want to be beaten at all over the past few years, although I have consistently been picking up global medals. In track cycling, though, you’re ultimately judged on your Olympic performances. That’s all that matters.’

Still, it was good to finish the recent World Championships on a high with a keirin gold achieved with an outrageous, last-gasp manoeuvre after the disappointment of losing out to team-mate Jason Kenny in the individual sprint semi-finals, a defeat that has presented British cycling with a nasty selection dilemma concerning the one spot available for the event at the Olympics.

On a high: Chris Hoy celebrates with his family after his World Championship win

‘With 50 metres to go, you wouldn’t have put a penny on me winning that keirin,’ says Hoy. ‘I went for a gap that wasn’t there but I hoped would open up for me. It did. It doesn’t have too much relevance concerning what happens in London. It’s another race. But at least it reminded people that when I’m in a corner I come out fighting.’

Will it be enough to be selected in all three events again? His places in the team sprint and the keirin are all but assured, but in the individual sprint, Kenny, the man Hoy beat in the 2008 Olympic final, has a big claim, too.

‘I don’t know for a fact that I’ve been selected for anything yet,’ says Hoy. ‘I’d be a little surprised if I didn’t make the team sprint and the keirin, though. As for the individual sprint, it’s a tough one. My hunch is they’ll leave the decision until much closer to the Games.

Golden Hoy: Sir Chris with his Beijing Olympic medals

‘After all, on the form of Jason in the 2008 worlds he may not have been picked for Beijing in the team sprint, but by the time the Games came round he was in good enough form to help us win team sprint gold and lose in the individual sprint final to me.

‘It might make sense to see how we’re performing in a few weeks’ time. But whoever they pick, don’t be surprised to see him standing at the top of the medals podium.’

Whether he competes in two or three events, Hoy has the chance to overhaul Sir Steve Redgrave’s medal tally of five golds and a bronze, a collection that makes the rower Britain’s most successful Olympian.

Hoy, who rowed for Scotland as a junior, admits that Redgrave was one of his heroes.

‘For a time I took my rowing as seriously as my cycling and that meant Steve was the man,’ he says. ‘Even if I won three golds in London, to take my tally up to seven, would that really diminish what he achieved? No, it would not. Steve still is a total hero of mine.’

Good memories: And Chris Hoy will be hoping history repeats itself in London

Like Redgrave, Hoy remains ultra-confident, despite recent results suggesting he is far from unbeatable. His reasons are threefold, beginning with his stunning performance inside the new London Velodrome at the World Cup event staged there in February.

‘I was back to my old self,’ he says. ‘The crowd was the nosiest I’d ever heard inside a velodrome, and it wasn’t even the Olympics. In the sprints and keirin you hear the volume of support go up whenever you make a move. It definitely helps.

‘I know if I’m in good shape and in the right frame of mind I’ll still beat anybody. Does this mean I believe I can win three gold medals again?

‘Yes, it does. I achieved my lifetime ambition of becoming an Olympic champion in 2004. My next dream was to become a triple Olympic champion and I achieved that in 2008. Now I have another dream – to become a champion in front of a home crowd.’

And what happens then?

‘Well, I won’t do a Redgrave,’ he says. ‘I won’t ask to be shot if I get back on a bike. I’ll see how I feel after a few weeks away.’

Astonishingly, Hoy may be prepared to put himself through further pain to compete in Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014, when the cycling will be staged at the velodrome which bears his name.

‘I’ll be 38 and it will mean two years more of training,’ he admits. ‘But then I’ve never competed in an international event in Scotland.’

The rationale says everything about Hoy’s obsession with his sport – and his willingness to punish himself in the pursuit of glory.

What is “The Bolt Effect”?

Usain Bolt winning the 100 m final 2008 Olympics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He is the fastest man on two legs, the greatest sprinter of all time – and Usain Bolt can also claim another superlative. He alone has caused the other top athletes in the world to run faster.

Scientists are calling it the “Usain Bolt Effect” because he has significantly improved the average performance of the world’s top sprinters, who are now suddenly running about 1 per cent faster than they did prior to Bolt’s explosive appearance in 2008 – a significant margin at this distance.

The reason? The sprinters are basically just trying harder to keep up with the competition.

Bolt holds the world 100-metres record of 9.58 seconds but believes he is capable of 9.4 seconds.

An analysis of the average speeds for the 100m sprint by the top 25 athletes over the past century shows a sudden and consistent improvement in performance over the past four years.

“We see in 2008 what we call the Usain Bolt Effect,” said Professor Steve Haake of Sheffield Hallam University, who has analysed the records of every international 100m track event since 1888. “It is a little jump in performance when he appeared in that year. If we look at the top 25 sprinters and take Usain Bolt out of that list, so that you just analyse the other 24, you still get this step change.

“What’s happened is that he’s come on the block and the peer competition is such that everyone has improved.”A graph of finishing times since 1888 shows an overall and consistent improvement with each decade. For instance, the average 100m event is now being run about 10 per cent faster than in 1948, Professor Haake said.

“The Usain Bolt Effect improved overall performance of the top 25 sprinters by 0.9 per cent, so almost 1 per cent. When you think that this entire performance index improved in total by 10 per cent since 1948, it is quite extraordinary that the Usain Bolt Effect accounts for a significant proportion of that improvement,” he said.

The World Wars and the Korean conflict of the early 1950s resulted in significantly slower speeds, probably because athletes could not train and the pool of talent was made smaller. Another significant milestone came in 2000 with the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which appeared to halt the overall improvements in performance.

But Professor Haake believes further improvements in average performance will still be possible. “All performances in sport are levelling off and inevitably people ask, ‘are we at the limit?’ The answer is, ‘no, not yet’, but we’re probably coming up to the limits of human physiology.”

By The Independent

Brownlee on comeback trail after stepping up recovery from achilles injury

From Daily Mail

Triathlete Alistair Brownlee has stepped up his recovery from an achilles injury sustained last month, with his coach revealing on Monday that the Olympic gold medal contender has stopped using a protective boot.

The 23-year-old reigning triathlon world champion, and potential star of this summer’s Games in London, had his preparations disrupted when he tore the tendon in his left ankle at the end of February.

But Brownlee’s training is now getting closer to normality, with running sessions not far off. The former Leeds University student had only previously removed the boot twice a day to go swimming.

Put it there! Brownlee’s recovery is moving forward

‘Alistair has been wearing an air cast as a precaution following the diagnosis of a slight tear to his left achilles, but he is now no longer using this,’ Malcolm Brown, British Triathlon’s Olympic Programme Manager, told Sportsmail.

‘During the last few weeks he’s been in the water more frequently and he is swimming well. He’s on the bike, and he will be running shortly.

‘We’re getting good advice from specialists and not rushing things. We’re going through a process to put the strength and mobility back and get him out running again as soon as possible.’

Together with his 21-year-old brother Jonathan, who finished runner up in the world last year, the Brownlees could provide the story of 2012. They are currently training in Yorkshire.

Hard yards: Alistair (left) with brother Jonathan before his injury

Speaking after sustaining the tear, the senior sibling explained: ‘I felt pain in my calf and ankle. Alarm bells sounded.

‘It’s hard to put into words just how frustrating it is not being able to train. For me it is the loss, for a month at the very least, of the thing I love.

‘Triathlon drives me and I don’t do it for the money, I do it for the love of the sport. This is not just a job for me, it’s my passion, so the setback has hit me hard.

‘People want to know how it affects my Olympic preparations. It’s hard to tell at the moment but if I can get this boot off quite quickly and get training, I have plenty of time to get myself fit.

‘I’ve shown before that I can return from injury to championship-standard competition in the space of a month.

‘However, I won’t be overdoing it in training to make up for lost time as that can be very dangerous – I’ll just return at my own pace.’

Brownlee’s first major race of the year is the ITU World Triathlon San Diego on May 12. His team had never intended that he would race the World Triathlon Series event in Sydney in April.

 

Austerity measures leaves Greek Olympic buildup in a shambles

What a shame for Greece.

from The Guardian

Greece’s Dimitris Chondrokoukis has criticised the Greek government for cutting funding for its Olympic squad. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

The Greek Athletics Federation has been forced to indefinitely suspend all domestic competitions because severe funding cuts have made life impossible for athletes, coaches and support staff. In just over a month’s time Greece will host the Olympic flame lighting ceremony ahead of London 2012 but, as the suspension highlights, the country’s own Olympic preparations are a shambles.

Tradition dictates that the Greek team always lead the procession of athletes during the Olympic opening ceremony, but the government’s cuts mean that this summer the country will be sending its smallest squad since the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Only 75 athletes will travel to London, less than half the number who attended the Games in Beijing and only a sixth of the number who competed at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

The head of the athletics federation, Vassilis Sevastis, said: “The cuts in funding for the federation, last year and this year, are so extensive that they do not allow us to cover our basic needs. We can’t do our job properly. We’re at a dead-end financially.” The federation’s budget was cut by a third in 2011 and by a third again in 2012. It has €6.5m (£5.4m) to spend this year. It is not enough to cover basic operating costs and leaves coaches and other support staff unpaid for their previous year’s work.

Greek athletes, including the world indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis, have criticised the government for cutting funding. “The conditions are unacceptable and facilities are a big problem,” Chondrokoukis said. “There is lack of heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Nevertheless, we all keep trying. I do it purely for personal reasons.”

Chondrokoukis’s father forbade all politicians from attending his son’s welcome-home celebrations after his recent success at the world indoor championships, saying: “Politicians are closing athletic facilities; it is unbelievable what is happening. No politician has the right to congratulate or partake in an athlete’s triumph.”

The long-jumper Louis Tsatoumas, who holds the European record with 8.66m, added: “We face so many difficulties in our preparations. The tracks we are using often have no lighting and the indoor gyms this winter have had no heating. It is sometimes below 10 degrees Celsius. It’s a worry because many athletes can get injured during training.” The indoor training centre at the 2004 Olympic stadium is said to have a leaking roof, so when it rains athletes have to work around buckets put out to collect the drips of water.

Other Olympic sports have also been affected by the austerity measures. Greece’s government invested around €30m in the run-up to the Beijing Games. The same amount had been pledged for this Olympic cycle but in the event the national Olympic committee did not receive a single euro in 2010 or 2011. As a result the gymnastics, weightlifting, sailing and water polo teams – Greece’s women are the current world champions – were unable to travel to their Olympic qualifying events. The International Olympic Committee had to step in to provide emergency funding.

Athens hosted the Olympics only eight years ago but the legacy of those Games has been disastrous. “Heaven and hell,” is how Spyros Kapralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, describes the contrast between Greek sport then and now. “The success of the 2004 Olympics was lost when the lights went out at the end of the closing ceremony as our country had no plan to capitalise on their success,” Kapralos says. Now the venues for the Games sit unused, unwanted, and crumbling.

Olympic Games won’t be the same anymore.

China vs. Austria in Olympic Beach Volleyball. The Austrian team are sisters. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This morning has been a sad morning for me. Even though it started so well, with our successful  training session, the news i read later at Yahoo sports  have ruined my day.  I saw an article called :

Women beach volleyball players don’t have to wear bikinis at Olympics

Why are you doing this to us? Women beach volley is a highlighted event, especially for men fans. Sitting at my couch, drinking a beer and watching beautiful girls with perfect bodies wearing bikinis and rolling in the sand was something i was waiting for during every Olympic Games. Hopefully the players won’t follow this instruction, otherwise will be the end of an era. Here is the article:

Women beach volleyball players won’t have to wear bikinis at the 2012 London Olympics. A new rule announced Tuesday says that participants in this summer’s beach volleyball competition can wear shorts and sleeved tops.

Athletes in the event have exclusively worn bikinis since the sport was introduced at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Competitors could also wear bodysuits in cold-weather events.

The change was made to reflect cultural conventions of various participating countries.

“Shorts of a maximum length of [1.18 inches] above the knee, and sleeved or sleeveless tops,” will now be allowed, according to the new IOC ruling.

Since the Beijing Olympics, most beach volleyball competitions have changed rules to allow for more modest uniforms. It’s an attempt to broaden the diversity in the sport, which tends to be dominated by athletes from Europe, Brazil and the United States. Allowing shorts and shirts can encourage participation from countries with more modest cultural beliefs.

As the AP reports, the field at London’s beach volleyball competition won’t be dictated by world rankings, as in Olympics past. Qualifying tournaments on various continents will fill the 24-team draw.

London Olympics Dream Is Over For Ian Thorpe

Image via Wikipedia

IAN Thorpe was beaten like never before in his failed Olympic comeback bid, but said it was the most fun he has had in the sport in years.

Article by HERALD SUN

“It’s crazy, I do (enjoy it more now),” Thorpe said at the post-mortem to his failed swimming comeback.

“You can have tremendous success and not be enjoying something and I have had bitter disappointment here and I still am enjoying what I’m doing again.

“I guess the light at the end of the tunnel for this week is realising that even though those results weren’t what I wanted, I am enjoying this and it’s why I will continue to push through.”

After so much fanfare, Thorpe’s Olympic comeback was sunk in 50.35sec as he placed 21st in the heats of the 100m freestyle yesterday, unable to even reach the top 16 semi-finals.

For a champion who accumulated five Olympic gold medals, 11 world titles and 13 world records, it was a deflating defeat.

Thorpe, 29, knows his legend may have been diminished, but he doesn’t care.

“When I started this, I realised that was a risk, that I would damage what people’s memories were of what I did,” he said. “And it’s something that I didn’t care that much about.

“I was happy to put it at risk because I saw more value in doing this and trying it out than whatever I would do to those accomplishments.

“I don’t regret giving this a go. Compared to how I have raced before and how I have competed, the success that I have had, this does look like doom compared to it.

“But I’m glad that I was willing to put myself out there to give this a shot and I’m pleased with that part, and disappointed that it hasn’t been the result that I wanted.”

Thorpe has yet to decide his next move. He wouldn’t rule out the 2016 Games in Rio, but it is highly unlikely.

His only aim is to return to the selection trials for the 2013 world titles in Barcelona and be fast enough to make the team.

“Failing something is a great motivator,” he said.

“It’s pretty obvious, it’s just not a pleasant thing to go through.

“I think I’m pretty close to where I need to be. Hopefully it’s less than 12 months.

Ian Thorpe crashes out in 200m freestyle semi-final of Australia’s National Swimming Championships

Reposted by Daily Telegraph

Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe’s bid to compete at the London Games suffered a major blow on Friday when he failed to make the final of the 200 metres freestyle at Australia’s national swimming trials in Adelaide.

Thorpe, who will also compete in the 100 freestyle at the weekend, finished 12th fastest of the semi-finalists in one minute 49.91 seconds, outside the top eight that will contest Saturday’s final at the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre.

The 29-year-old, who came out of retirement last year in a bid to qualify for London 2012, said he was “terribly disappointed with that … I thought I could and thought I would swim a lot quicker – much quicker”.

He added: “The fairytale has turned into a nightmare.”

Thorpe who won a total of five golds at the Sydney and Athens Olympics, has struggled to reproduce anywhere near the times he swam in his prime with a string of disappointing results since his comeback in Singapore in November.

He formerly held the world record in the 200m freestyle at 1:44.06, which remains the Australian record.