2010 Belarusian presidential election, Background
The new constitution, enacted in 1994, has been amended twice: the first amendment – in 1996 – increased the power of the presidency and established a bicameral parliament. In 2004, the two-term presidential limit was abolished. According to the OSCE, the executive branch of the Belarusian government has significant authority over the other branches; though Article 6 of the constitution of Belarus includes the principle of separation of powers. It has also stated that the Belarusian political system is composed of weak political party structures with no opposition deputies in the previous parliament.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Candidates
The election was called by the House of Representatives on 14 September.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Candidates, Lukashenko
President Lukashenko (who had been serving his third term), when addressing the press in February 2007, stated that his health permitting, he would run in 2011. According to the result of a referendum in 2004, Lukashenko was declared the first President of Belarus and therefore had no term limits. On May 4, 2010, in an interview with Reuters, he stated: "I have not yet decided whether I will run [...] There are no factors now that would force me to refuse to participate".


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Candidates, Official registration information
Alaksandar Milinkievic, of the "For Freedom" movement (Руху "За Свабоду"), initially announced his bid, but canceled it in September.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Campaign
The run-up to the campaign was marked by a series of Russian media attacks upon the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. NTV television broadcast throughout July a multi-part documentary entitled 'The Godfather' highlighting the suspicious disappearance of opposition leaders Yury Zacharanka and Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasoŭski and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski during the late 1990s, as well as highlighting a statement Lukashenko had made seemingly praising Adolf Hitler. Lukashenko referred to the media attack as "dirty propaganda".


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Campaign
Campaigning officially began on November 19, with candidates holding one-to-one meetings across the country and beginning their TV and Radio broadcasts via Belarusian state media. Every candidate was entitled to make two 30-minute broadcasts on Belarusian TV and Radio until 4 December, and could take part in a live media debate.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Campaign, Death of Aleh Byabenin
In the first week of September 2010, candidate Andrei Sannikov's campaign press secretary Aleh Byabenin was found hanged. Biabienin had been a key member of Sannikov's campaign, and was also director and co-founder of Charter97 – an opposition group and website and one of the few outlets for information on opposition candidates during the election. The official investigation ruled the death as suicide, but Sannikov expressed suspicion; saying that Biabienin had been in good mental health, there was no suicide note, and there were unexplained injuries on the body.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Opinion polls
The Central Election Commission said that all nine opposition figures were likely to get less than half the vote total incumbent Lukashenko would get. No independent verification of the government polls were allowed.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
The Central Election Commission of Belarus (CEC) said it was ready to cooperate with the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in monitoring the election.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
The CEC issued a warning to Uladzimir Nyaklyayew's "Say the Truth!" movement for violating the Electoral Legislation when his organisation gathered signatures of ineligible constituents for "subscription lists."


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Conduct
On 15 December 2010, Andrei Sannikov filed two legal complaint applications with the Central Election Commission, demanding they withdraw the registration of Alexander Lukashenko; and also remove Lidia Yermoshina – the chairperson of the CEC – from office. In both cases, Sannikov cited that their positions were illegal. Jarmošyna was a member of Lukashenko's political team, compromising her neutrality; and was under international scrutiny for purportedly rigging the previous election. He also brought up that Lukashenko ignored his own guidelines on how much time presidential candidates were allowed to speak on television (two appearances for 30 minutes each). Lukashenko also had "propagandistic meetings" at places not included on the Minsk City Executive Committee list where meetings could be held – Lukashenko held a large event at the Palace of the Republic and funded it with the state budget against the rules. The complaints were ineffective.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests and crackdown
A large protest rally was organized the evening after the election at October Square in the center of downtown Minsk. This square had historically been the site of large protests, such as the violent suppression of the Jeans Revolution that took place after the disputed 2006 presidential election. However, riot police had cordoned off the square before the event, and people instead gathered at the nearby Liberty Square. While walking to the rally with about a hundred other people, presidential candidates Uladzimir Nyaklyayew and Mikola Statkevich were attacked by armed men dressed in black. Nyaklyayew was beaten to unconsciousness and hospitalized for head injuries. Statkievič later claimed they were attacked by Belarus special forces.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests and crackdown
During the rally up to 40,000 people protested against Lukashenko, chanting, "Out!," "Long live Belarus!" and other such slogans. A group of protesters tried to storm a principal government building, smashing windows and doors before riot police pushed them back. Candidate Vital Rymasheuski blamed "drunk provocateurs" for the violence. According to a protester, the demonstrators were largely peaceful and that it was a separate "group of people" who attacked the government building – suggesting also a provocation of force by Belarusian authorities.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests and crackdown
According to a protest participant (who is also director of the Belarus Free Theatre), thousands of demonstrators were beaten by riot police, and the square was left spattered with blood. She stated she was forced into a prison van and made to lie face down, while prison guards threatened her with murder and rape if she moved.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests and crackdown
Andrei Sannikov and his wife Iryna Khalip were among those attacked by police during the rally; and according to eyewitness statements gathered by Charter 97, Sannikov was singled out from the crowd by the OMON for a beating: "Andrei was beaten by truncheons while he was lying. He was beaten on the head [...] all over the body. Andrei was lying and trying to protect himself with his arms. No one was allowed to come near him, so that people could not defend Sannikov."


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Protests and crackdown
Lukashenko criticised the protesters, accusing them of "banditry" and saying that "the vandals and hooligans lost their human face. They simply turned into beasts. You saw how our law-enforcers behaved. They stood firm and acted exclusively within the bounds of the law. They defended the country and people from barbarism and ruin. There will be no revolution or criminality in Belarus." He also added that he could not imagine what more he could have done to make the election more democratic.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Censorship, raids
Several websites of the opposition and opposition candidates were blocked or hacked. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Talk, many email services and LiveJournal were also blocked. The headquarters of Charter97 was stormed by the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (known by the Russian acronym "KGB") and all its staff were arrested. Its editor-in-chief Natalla Radzina  was briefly imprisoned on a charge of "organizing mass disorder". Radina was released in January 2011 on the condition that she leave Minsk; she fled to Moscow before receiving asylum in Lithuania, where she continues to manage Charter 97.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Censorship, raids
The offices of Polish-funded broadcasters Belsat TV and European Radio for Belarus had also been raided, while relatives of arrested prisoners were denied access to them.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Arrests
Up to 700 opposition activists, including 7 presidential candidates, were arrested in the post election crackdown. Furthermore, at least 25 journalists were arrested; a detained Russian press photographer went on hunger strike on December 21, 2010. According to a detainee, after being shipped to a detainment center after the protests, there were rows of men on every floor standing facing the walls with their hands behind their backs. Women were separated and moved to another floor. Guards made them spend the night standing with faces to the walls, and every detainee was forced to sign statements confessing to "taking part in an unsanctioned rally." 639 prisoners received immediate prison sentences of up to 15 days.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Arrests
The presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, who had been seriously beaten during the evening of the election day, was taken from hospital by men in civilian clothing who wrapped him in a blanket on his hospital bed and carried him away as his wife screamed. While journalist Iryna Khalip and her husband Andrei Sannikov were on the way to a Minsk hospital to treat Sańnikaŭ's injured legs, their car was intercepted by authorities while Khalip was giving a mobile phone interview to the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy - Echo of Moscow.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Arrests
Khalip screamed on air that they were being forcibly removed from their car, arrested, and further beaten. Both Khalip and Sańnikaŭ were detained in a KGB facility in Minsk. Lukashenko later revealed that Khalip's phone was bugged. Ryhor Kastusioŭ and Dzmitry Us were re-summoned for further questions by the KGB after being initially released. Kastusioŭ responded to the state crackdown saying "the regime has shown its true essence. We've been thrown 10 years into the past."


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, Arrests
The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) charged the activists, while domestic human rights groups stated they could face up to 15 years in jail. Twenty of the leading opposition figures were facing charges of "organising or participating in a public order disturbance" which is punishable by up to 15 years in jail.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, By candidate
I pray to God they all run away! Let them all run away. Nobody needs them there. Nobody needs them here either.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, By candidate
Lukashenko's chief election rivals were either intimidated (Jaroslav Romanchuk) or sentenced to prison terms just long enough to ensure they will be unable to participate in the 2015 elections (Andrei Sannikov, Mikola Statkevich and Dzmitry Us). Opponent Uladzimir Nyaklyayew is under house arrest for an unknown period of time. Candidate Ales Michalevic was released from detention on February 15, 2011; in a press conference on March 1, he accused the KGB of torturing him and other former candidates while he was in custody.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, By candidate
On 17 February a Belarus court sentenced an opposition activist to four years in jail for taking part in the post-election protests. On March 2, 2011, Alexander Otroschenkov—a spokesman for candidate Sańnikaŭ, and who had been working as a journalist for Delfi during the December protests—was sentenced to 4 years in prison for violating "Article 293" of the penal code ("organizing and taking part in a mass riot"). Otroschenkov and many others are listed as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Aftermath, By candidate
Andrei Sannikov was convicted of the charge of "organizing a mass protest" on May 14, 2011 and sentenced to five years in a high-security prison.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Reactions
The West generally denounced the election as fraudulent; the European Union renewed a travel ban effective January 31, 2011 – prohibiting Lukashenko and 156 of his associates from traveling to EU member countries – as a result of violent crackdowns of opposition supporters by Lukashenko's government forces following the election.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Reactions
Lukashenko's inauguration ceremony of 22 January 2011 was boycotted by European Union ambassadors, while fellow CIS countries did not send officials higher than ambassadors. During this ceremony Lukashenko defended the legitimacy of his re-election and vowed that Belarus would never have its own version of the 2004 Ukrainian Orange Revolution and Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Analysis
Though opposition figures alleged intimidation and "dirty tricks" were being played, Al Jazeera reported that the election was seen as comparatively open as a result of desire to improve relations with both Europe at-large and the United States.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, Analysis
Political scientists and commentators said that Lukashenko's handling of opposition protests is seen as the result of the choice of his government to trade a foreign policy loss for a perceived domestic gain in regards to worse relations with the European Union in return for a stable internal political situation. However, this was seen as fragile, as dissidents remain active (up to 25% of the population), though dissident leaders are marginalised and left out of any meaningful cooperative mechanism thus strengthening their isolation and opposition to current ruling élite. Lukashenko's main achievement, effective state-building of Belarus, is seen as in possible danger because of the lack of consensus over a shared Belarusian national identity, one that is still divided between an older Soviet-base one, and supported by the government, versus a symbolic medieval-based one, advocated by the opposition.


2010 Belarusian presidential election, New government
On December 28, 2010 Lukashenko appointed Mikhail Myasnikovich as Prime Minister to replace Sergei Sidorsky.


2010 Belarusian protests
The 2010 Belarusian protests were mass protest actions in Belarus against the results of the 2010 Belarusian presidential election, which took place on December 19, 2010 and were brutally dispersed. Between 10,000 and 60,000 people took part in the protest on October Square and Independence Square in Minsk. It was announced that a people's movement for free elections would be created without Lukashenka. Some participants tried to break into the Government House. Clashes with riot police took place. As a result, dozens of people were detained and beaten, including presidential candidates Khaklyaeu, Sannikov, Kastusyou, Statkevich, and Rymasheuski.


2010 Belarusian protests, Background
Mass political actions and protests have been almost banned since Alexander Lukashenko took power in the 1994 Belarusian presidential election. In 1996 and 1997, a wave of popular demonstrations and massive strikes took place led by opposition members as a continuation of the hunger strikes and unrest in 1995 after the Belarusian constitutional referendum that same year. Mass protests in 1999 against the government was brutally suppressed. Presidential elections have always been rigged and election protests have always been held since 2001, when the 2001 Belarusian presidential election was met with protests. The same happened after the 2004 Belarusian constitutional referendum and the 2006 Belarusian presidential election, when the Jeans Revolution took place. After the 2010 election, protesters marched and chanted slogans depicting the president and saying it was their last straw.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
On the eve of the election, Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, Vital Rymasheuski, Andrei Sannikov and Mikalai Statkevich called on their supporters to hold a rally on October Square in Minsk on December 19. Reinforced police forces were brought to her. A number of opposition websites were unavailable in Minsk, as well as LiveJournal, Twitter, and some other websites. HTTPS secure sites are also not available. In addition, the opposition websites Belarusian Partisan and Charter 97 were unavailable for a long time during the attack.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
Even before the beginning of the rally, at half past seven, unknown people in black attacked Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu's column, which was heading to the square. Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu lost consciousness during beating, he was taken away by ambulance. Other opposition nominees joined their supporters in the square at 8 p.m. An hour later, 5 nominees took part in a march to Independence Square, where the Government House is located, where the National Assembly of Belarus and the Central Election Commission meet, where the votes were being counted at the time. There was a rally and an attempt to negotiate with the government.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
During the protest, a group of unidentified individuals attempted to storm the Government House, breaking glass and breaking doors. There was also a version that the glass and doors in the Government House were broken by provocateurs. In response, the police indiscriminately started beating peaceful marchers, which led to the application of several demonstrators traumatic brain injury and abandonment of the area by most participants in the march. About 5,000 of them remained with Sannikov and Rymasheuski.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
At midnight, after the organizers of the rally tried to summon the leadership of the security forces for talks, hundreds of policemen dispersed them as well. At the same time, one of the presidential candidates Viktor Tereshchenko, who did not take part in the rally and immediately admitted his defeat by Lukashenko, published on his website on December 20, 2010 that “10 days before the storming of the Government House, presidential candidates offered to consider this scenario "and invited him to participate, but he refused.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
At the same time Tereshchenko admitted that due to the situation after the presidential election, he planned to emigrate with his family to seek political asylum in another country. Organisers said the rally would be indefinite and urged everyone to come to Independence Square on Monday, December 20, at 6 p.m. The day after the election, on December 20, at 6 pm, 50 to 200 people gathered in Independence Square and were dispersed by riot police, and some of the protesters were arrested.


2010 Belarusian protests, Civil unrest
On December 20, Lukashenko announced the arrest of 639 people and confirmed that presidential candidates were being interrogated in KGB detention centers. On December 29, Nyaklyaeu, Rymasheuski, Sannikov, and Statkevich were charged with organizing an unauthorized public event, which under Article 293 of the Criminal Code provided for imprisonment for a term of 5 to 15 years. On February 17, Nyaklyaeu, a member of the campaign, was sentenced to four years in prison. Most of those arrested were sentenced to fines of up to 30 "base amounts" (about 265 euros) and 15 days in prison. On December 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affair announced the termination of the powers of the OSCE Office in Minsk due to the government's unwillingness to extend them. On January 21, Lukashenko was sworn in for a fourth presidential oath.


2010 Belarusian protests, Aftermath
The official newspaper of the Lukashenko administration "Soviet Belarus - Belarus Today" on the basis of declassified documents of the Belarusian secret services accused the special services of Poland and Germany of the events of December 19 in Minsk.


2010 Belgian Cup Final
The 2010 Belgian Cup Final, named Cofidis Cup after the sponsor, was played on 15 May 2010 between Gent and Cercle Brugge. It was the 55th Belgian Cup final.


2010 Belgian Figure Skating Championships
The 2010 Belgian Figure Skating Championships (Dutch: Belgisch Kampioenschap 2010; French: Championnat de Belgique 2010) took place between 20 and 21 November 2009 in Liège. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles and ladies' singles across the levels of senior, junior, novice, as well as the age-group levels of minime/miniem A, B, and C.


2010 Belgian Figure Skating Championships
Skaters from Austria and South Africa competed as guest skaters and their results were discounted from the final results.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix
The 2010 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near Spa, Ardennes, on 29 August. It was the 13th round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship and the 55th Belgian Grand Prix held as part of the Formula One World Championship. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the 44-lap race after starting from second position. Red Bull's Mark Webber was second ahead of Robert Kubica's third-placed Renault. It was Hamilton's first victory at Spa-Francorchamps, his third of the season and the 14th of his career.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix
Webber achieved the sixth pole position of his career by setting the fastest lap in qualifying but started slowly and immediately lost the lead to Hamilton. The Grand Prix was slowed by two safety car deployments due to a collision between the Williams car of Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on the first lap and another accident for Alonso on the 38th lap. Hamilton led throughout in variable weather, despite running into a gravel trap on lap 35, and finished 11⁄2 seconds ahead of Webber. Kubica took third after overshooting the entry to his pit lane box late in the race.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix
The result returned Hamilton to the top of the World Drivers' Championship standings with 182 points, three ahead of the previous leader Webber in second. Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel remained in third despite coming 15th after colliding with Jenson Button and sustaining a left-rear puncture from contact with Vitantonio Liuzzi's Force India car. McLaren lowered Red Bull's World Constructors' Championship lead to one point with Ferrari third with six races left in the season.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
The 2010 Belgian Grand Prix was the 13th of the 19 events in the 2010 Formula One World Championship, and the 55th World Championship edition of the race. It was held at the 19-turn 7.004 km (4.352 mi) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near Spa, Ardennes, on 29 August. Formula One tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the soft and medium dry compounds and the intermediate and full wet-weather tyres to the race.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
After the 2009 event, the tarmac run-off area at Les Combes chicane was expanded with three bumps (similar to those on the chicanes at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, the Circuit de Catalunya and the Valencia Street Circuit) added to stop drivers sustaining damage to their cars if they ventured off the circuit. La Source turn had a larger area of artificial grass and a 50 mm (2.0 in) kerb installed at the corner to deter competitors from transgressing track limits.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
After winning the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull's Mark Webber led the World Drivers' Championship with 161 points, ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren with 157 points and Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 151 points. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button was fourth with 147 points and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fifth with 141 points. With 312 points, Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship followed by McLaren in second with 304 points and the third-placed Ferrari with 238 points. Mercedes were fourth with 132 points and Renault were fifth with 106 points.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
The race was the first after a four-week gap between races that includes a mandatory two-week shut-down for all teams. Although he had reclaimed the World Drivers' Championship lead from Hamilton in Hungary, Webber said consistently finishing and reliability was an important factor in the final seven races, "You have to be mindful of the fact that you might not get anything out of it so you need to realise that four points is better than none and gambling."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
His teammate Vettel, the bookmakers' favourite for victory, said his title challenge would commence in Belgium following reliability issues and incidents losing him points in past events, "We have to focus on each and every race. With 20 races or 15 races there is probably more room for mistakes – but with seven to go every single races is probably more important." Hamilton said he was confident of better pace for the rest of the season and wanted to win at Spa-Francorchamps. His teammate Button believed the next two events would be consequential for the championship but said they would better suit his McLaren.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
Some teams modified their cars for better efficiency on the track's straights. Ferrari introduced a new rear wing with less downforce on Felipe Massa's F10 car for qualifying and the race. The team also added a modified diffuser and floor to maximise the F10's performance within FIA compliance restricting the size of the car's lower surface to reduce the downforce generated. Red Bull altered the RB6's brake discs for extra ballast around the car and improved performance and McLaren installed a new front wing on Button's MP4-27 vehicle to improve airflow and downforce.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
Renault introduced a version of McLaren's F-duct tool to their R30 car activated by the driver's left hand and directed air to the main section of the rear wing instead of the flap. The team was impressed at the F-duct's performance during practice and retained the tool for the rest of the meeting. Williams introduced new front and rear wings for their FW32 cars and Force India added a new floor to their vehicles.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Background
Having driven one of its cars since the British Grand Prix three races earlier, Hispania Racing opted to retain Sakon Yamamoto in lieu of Karun Chandhok, whom the press anticipated would return to drive for the squad following the mid-season interval. Paul di Resta, Force India's reserve and test driver, did not enter the first practice session because the team wanted its race drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil to become acclimatised with a revised aerodynamic bodywork.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Practice
There were three practice sessions held in accordance with the 2010 regulations, two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and one 60-minute session on Saturday morning. Heavy rain fell on the circuit at about midnight before the first session. Although the track was wet, a decent level of grip was reported as some drivers aquaplaned when the rain briefly increased in intensity and lightning came approximately 50 minutes in; the rain abated with 20 minutes left. Alonso lapped fastest at 2 minutes, 1.223 seconds at mid-point before improving to a 2 minutes, 0.797 seconds late on. Hamilton, Renault's Robert Kubica, Vettel, Sutil, Button, Webber, Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber, Williams' Rubens Barrichello, and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher made up positions two through ten.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Practice
The second session commenced on a damp circuit which gradually dried up bar a small rain shower early on. Drivers used wet-weather tyres before switching to the dry compounds. Alonso led with the day's fastest lap, a 1-minute, 49.032 seconds, ahead of Sutil, Hamilton, Kubica, Massa, Vettel, Button, Pedro de la Rosa for Sauber, Barrichello and de la Rosa's teammate Kamui Kobayashi in positions two to ten. Due to the damp conditions, some drivers ventured off the track during the session.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Practice
Liuzzi lost control under braking for Rivage chicane but was able to return to the pit lane for a new front wing. Virgin's Timo Glock lost control of his car on a white line and crashed sideways into the barrier at Liège corner. The session was stopped for ten minutes by the stewards for a safety hazard limiting dry track running. Children were reportedly climbing the catch fence on track grounds, forcing FIA race director Charlie Whiting to drive the safety car and do an inspection. While the session restarted with four minutes left, a malfunctioning red light delayed on-track action, requiring marshals to wave a green flag to resume proceedings.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Practice
More overnight rain showers made the track damp by the start of the final session but slick tyres were used after 20 minutes. Conditions remained dry enough for drivers to go faster until a downpour fell on the circuit with 15 minutes remaining and caught out some participants. With a 1-minute, 46.106 seconds lap being almost three seconds quicker than Friday's best time, Webber led from Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Kubica, Alonso, Massa, Sutil, Williams' Nico Hülkenberg and Kobayashi.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Practice
Vettel stopped his car at the pit lane entry with his car stuck in gear due to a air box fault prompting his team to instruct him to switch off the engine as a precaution. A group of marshals moved Vettel's car into the pit lane for retrieval by his team.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was split into three parts. The first session ran for 20 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 18th or lower. The second session was 15 minutes long, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 17th. The final ten-minute session determined pole position to tenth. Cars in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the start of the race, using the set with which they set their quickest lap times. Qualifying commenced in clear weather before rain showers fell on parts of the circuit, making the surface uneven and catching some drivers out. The rain soon abated and the circuit quickly dried up before light rain fell again at the third session's end.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
Webber positioned himself for space and driving on the circuit at its driest, for his first pole position since the Turkish Grand Prix, his fifth of the season and the sixth of his career with a 1-minute, 45.778 seconds lap set late in the third session. It was the 12th time in 13 races Red Bull had pole position. Webber was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton whose first timed lap was on old soft tyres with his second on a new set of tyres before the rain fell.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
Kubica in third did not set a second timed lap in the final session because a fuel feed fault cut out his car entering the pit lane and requiring mechanics to push his car into the garage for the rest of qualifying. Errors on each of his third session laps left Vettel fourth. Button took fifth by saving a set of soft tyres despite losing time through an error at La Source turn and being circumspect at Fagnes corner. Massa, sixth, altered his rear wing for better straightline speed but had less grip in the turns halfway through the lap. Barrichello qualified seventh for his 300th Grand Prix on the hard compound tyre having depleted his soft tyre allocation in the first two sessions. Sutil, eighth, had one timed lap on one set of soft compound tyres and Hülkenberg in ninth was on worn soft tyres.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
Alonso, 10th, lost a plethora of time running wide on the damp La Source corner; he used less front wing angle and an old rear wing. Schumacher was the fastest driver not to progress to the final session in 11th. His teammate Rosberg in 12th lacked grip on a wet-weather set-up and had to slow when he came across the Toro Rosso car of Sébastien Buemi. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari slowed on the slippery turns 13 and 14 on his final timed lap and was 13th ahead of Liuzzi in 14th. Alguersari's teammate Buemi was 15th.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
Heikki Kovalainen advanced to the second session for the second time in 2010 since the Malaysian Grand Prix and qualified his Lotus 16th. Glock made no errors for 17th. Lotus' Jarno Trulli, 18th, made contact with the right-rear of Lucas di Grassi's out of control Virgin Racing vehicle at Stavelot turn. A tyre strategy error and going wide into the gravel on the wet track left Kobayashi 19th. Hispania Racing driver Bruno Senna was 20th and his teammate Yamamoto 21st following a tyre strategy error and Yamamoto being impeded by a slower car.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying
De La Rosa in 22nd lost control of the rear of his car at Rivage turn and struck the wall. Di Grassi, 23rd, set no lap time after his collision with Trulli. Vitaly Petrov lost control of his Renault on dry tyres on a damp kerb exiting Rivage corner and spun into the inside barrier backwards. The session was stopped for six minutes so that marshals could move his car off the track.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
A total of five drivers received grid penalties post-qualifying. Schumacher was demoted ten places for forcing Barrichello close to the concrete wall at the Hungarian Grand Prix. His teammate Rosberg lost five places for changing his car's gearbox to one that had not been used unused for four races. Buemi was demoted three positions because he was deemed by the race stewards to have transgressed the sporting regulations by blocking Rosberg in the second session. The stewards penalised Glock five positions for illegally blocking Yamamoto in the first session. De La Rosa incurred the loss of ten places for changing his car's engine between qualifying and the race for the ninth time in the season passing the eight maximum engine switches.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
At the pre-race drivers' briefing, Whiting and stewards' advisor Nigel Mansell told drivers if they gained positions on the first lap by using the run-off area at La Source corner as was the case with Kimi Räikkönen at the 2009 event, then they would risk receiving a penalty or they would be told off if deemed to have been forced onto it by another competitor.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Qualifying, Qualifying classification
The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The 44-lap race occurred from 14:00 local time. A 60 per cent chance of rain showers between 14:00 and 15:00 local time were forecast, and at the start, weather conditions were overcast, although some rain had fallen during the support races and there was a large build-up of rain showers to the west of Spa-Francorchamps. The air temperature was between 14 to 16 °C (57 to 61 °F) and the track temperature from 17 to 21 °C (63 to 70 °F).


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The rain showers observed in the morning's support events altered the level of grip, and tyre strategy had the potential to effect the final finishing order according to Sarah Holt of BBC Sport. Cars were allowed to be changed slightly following the FIA's declaration of a change in climatic conditions post-qualifying. Every driver bar Barrichello, Rosberg and Schumacher began on the soft compound tyre. Before the start, Massa was observed by amateur video footage posted on the internet to have transgressed sporting regulation by being slightly out of position on the grid. He was not punished since neither the marshals, teams or the automatic jump start system relayed the fact to Whiting for him to impose a jump start penalty on Massa.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
Hamilton took the lead from a slow-starting Webber into the La Source hairpin with Kubica second and Button third. Webber allowed the engine revolutions to fall too low, causing his car to go into anti-stall mode and falling to sixth. Hamilton held off Kubica on the outside in the braking zone of Les Combes turn as Button failed to pass Kubica. Sutil clung onto Webber's slipstream and overtook him on the straight for sixth before losing the place by running wide into Les Combes corner. A rain shower began to fell towards the conclusion of the first lap.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The rain shower made the back of the track damp through Blanicmont corner and the conditions caused several drivers to run wide at the Bus Stop chicane due to a loss of grip braking for the turn. Button attempted to pass Kubica on the outside but sustained left front wing damage affecting its aerodynamic balance as it became apparent several drivers could not turn into the chicane and drove onto the run-off tarmac.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
Barrichello was unable to stop his car in time in the greasy conditions despite his braking early and struck the side of Alonso's eighth-placed car. Alonso was able to make a pit stop for intermediate tyres as well as other drivers but Barrichello retired with car damage. Button followed the chicane's contours and fell behind Vettel but held off Massa by braking very late for the La Source hairpin. He thus drew to the inside of Vettel and overtook him for third.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
In the second lap, Hamilton experienced a minor loss of control of his car through Eau Rouge turn but retained the lead. Kubica used his F-duct system but ran wide onto the outside run-off area, promoting Button to second. Vettel was forced wide by the rejoining Kubica and protested over the radio. Webber passed Massa on the inside for fifth before the safety car was dispatched at lap two's conclusion, as a consequence of the first lap accident between Alonso and Barrichello as Barrichello's car was being removed from the circuit. The leaders remained on the track as three drivers lower down the order made pit stops for intermediate tyres. The rain abated on lap three as a blue sky began to appear through the clouds.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of lap three and racing resumed with Hamilton leading his teammate Button. Hamilton ran wide at the La Source hairpin and blocked his teammate Button from passing him for the lead, while Vettel used the restart to pass Kubica for third at the same hairpin. Sutil's higher straightline speed moved him past Hülkenberg for seventh to nullify an earlier illegal pass by the latter on the former at the Bus Stop chicane.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
Button's handling difficulties caused by front wing damage allowed his teammate Hamilton to pull away from the rest of the field to be 4.8 seconds ahead by lap seven. On lap six, Senna drove slowly into the pit lane to retire with rear-left suspension failure that caused him to spin.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
Vettel drew close to Button as he went faster uphill through Eau Rouge but him hitting his rev limiter on the Kemmel straight into the braking area for Les Combes corner and the effectiveness of the McLaren's F-duct system allowing for a longer gear ratio and a tailwind kept Button ahead. During lap 11, Petrov overtook Rosberg on the outside for ninth into Les Combes turn and put the latter wide. Exiting Les Combes, Schumacher passed Rosberg on the outside for tenth, with Schumacher's rear wheel and Rosberg's front wing endplate colliding.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
Light rain began to fall on lap 16. That same lap, a frustrated Vettel got a run on the conservatively breaking Button on the inside into the Bus Stop chicane. Vettel suddenly switched to the outside line and lost control of his car by hitting a bump on the damp circuit as he was unable to correct an opposite lock at high speed. He struck the sidepod of Button's car, exposing its radiator and causing Button's retirement. Vettel entered the pit lane for a replacement front wing and fell to 12th position.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The incident promoted Kubica to second and Webber to third. The stewards informed the Red Bull team the collision would be investigated and decided to impose a drive-through penalty on Vettel on the 20th lap. Vettel was informed of the penalty by his race engineer, and took it on the next lap. He rejoined in 14th place. Sutil was the first of the leaders to make a scheduled pit stop for the medium compound tyres on lap 22. Red Bull responded by calling Webber into the pit lane on the next lap, followed in turn by Kubica and Massa on lap 24. Kubica rejoined ahead of Webber and held off the latter into Les Combes turn.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
On lap 25, Hamilton made his first pit stop and retained the lead. Sutil overtook Schumacher uphill into Les Combes turn for fifth on the lap. On lap 26, Vettel overtook Liuzzi at the Bus Stop chicane but Liuzzi's right-front wing endplate punctured Vettel's left-rear tyre. Vettel was unable to enter the pit lane and had to do a full lap before stopping for the soft compound tyres and fell to 20th; Liuzzi immediately made a pit stop for a front wing replacement.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
On lap 31, Hamilton led Kubica by 11.2 seconds, who in turn, was 2.3 seconds ahead of Webber in third. As Alonso challenged Kobayashi for eighth, light rain again began to fall on lap 34. At first, the track was slightly wet and made drivers unsure when to make pit stops for wet-weather tyres. Drivers began to make pit stops for wet-weather tyres on lap 35. On that lap, Hamilton was unable to slow enough in the slippery conditions and slid into the gravel trap at Rivage corner. Hamilton made light contact with the wall but had enough traction to get himself out of the gravel and return to the track in the lead.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The first three drivers entered the pit lane at the lap's end. Kubica had a problematic pit stop: he overshot his pit box and glanced the legs of a team member because he was distracted with the switches on his steering wheel for car adjustments. Kubica's delay moved Webber to second as Hamilton retained the lead. On lap 38, the safety car was deployed for a second time because of an accident requiring marshal intervention. Alonso ran wide on the paint marking the outside kerb exiting Les Combes turn and into Malmedy corner and lost control of his car.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
He veered across the track to the inside and crashed into the tyre wall, fracturing his front-right suspension before stopping in the circuit's centre. The crash forced Alonso to retire from the race. The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of lap 40 for four laps of racing. Hamilton led Webber in second and Kubica in third. Into Les Combes turn, Rosberg overtook Kobayashi and then his teammate Schumacher on the outside for sixth by forcing him wide on the inside kerbs. Alguersuari cut the Bus Stop chicane and passed Liuzzi for tenth on lap 42.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
At the front, Hamilton crossed the finish line first to achieve his first victory at Spa-Francorchamps, his third of his season and the 14th of his career, in a time of 1 hour, 29 minutes, 4.268 seconds at an average speed of 207.509 km/h (128.940 mph). The win extended a winning streak of either the Ferrari and McLaren teams winning at Spa-Francorchamps each year since the 1999 edition. Webber followed 1.571 seconds later in second and Kubica finished in third place. Massa secured fourth, holding off Sutil in fifth.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Race
The Mercedes pair of Rosberg and Schumacher finished sixth and seventh following the team's decision to keep their drivers on track for longer and were just more than a second ahead of eighth-placed Kobayashi. Petrov was ninth and Algersuari provisionally tenth. Liuzzi came 11th with De La Rosa 12th after a late race error sent him into the gravel at Curve Paul Frere corner. Buemi was 13th with Hülkenberg 14th due to electrical problems and Vettel 15th. Kovalainen, Di Grassi, Glock, Trulli and Yamamoto were the final classified finishers.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Hamilton described it as "a very, very tough race" for himself and said the victory "absolutely" made up for two years prior, adding: "At the end it was just about nursing the car home and bringing it back in one piece. Just trying to keep a small gap between myself and Mark and try to bag those points."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
Webber said he was satisfied to finish second and agreed with the importance of scoring as many championship points as possible when race wins are not attainable: "These days it is very, very easy to come away with nothing with a small mistake from anybody, from the cockpit, pit wall or pit stops or whatever." Kubica stated he did not believe others would think Renault would be competitive in Belgium and noted their results in each of the sessions, adding: "It was a very tricky race but we’ve seen very good pace. Started third, managed to finish third, of course thanks to some bad luck and good luck, but it was a good place."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
Vettel apologised for the collision with Button that eliminated the latter from the race. He said: "Obviously it was not my intention to destroy his race or mine. I was close, I was faster than him. The moment Robert [Kubica] got close behind I knew that he could pass us on the straight because we are not the fastest on the straight. I was very close a couple of times, unfortunately never really close enough."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
Button described the crash as "a strange incident and so sad because I was fighting for second position", adding: "I defended my line about three inches on the inside and perhaps Sebastian got confused as to which direction to go... I'm guessing he [Vettel] thought I was going to pull from the left and he went on the inside. But he got a little rattled and didn't know which way to go." Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, commented on the collision: "It was not what you would expect to see in F1 – more reminiscent of junior formulae.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
A drive-through seemed a pretty light punishment to me. It was a bit of a strange mistake I have to say. I realise it was not intentional but it was a pretty strange one really." Red Bull team principal Christian Horner argued Button braked early and that the accident was unintentional while motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said Vettel could not fellow Button for longer since the latter was slower.


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
After reviewing video evidence and the change in the weather, the race stewards imposed no penalty or a caution for the first lap collision between Alonso and Barrichello, which they deemed "a racing incident". Barrichello said he was sorry to have hit Alonso and called it downheartening for the Williams team: "We've had such a positive weekend that a good result would have been a nice conclusion." Describing his race as the first of seven "finals", Alonso commented: "we will have to make up the ground lost today somewhere else."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
Schumacher gained 14 positions from 21st to 7th, commenting: "Honestly I lost the overview of where I was at certain moments. Because I wasn’t following the pit wall in terms of position, I was watching the weather all the time. And all the time I was quite busy with the steering wheel!"


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
The stewards added 20 seconds to Alguersuari's overall race time in lieu of a drive-through penalty after deeming him to have illegally cut the Bus Stop chicane to pass Liuzzi for tenth on lap 42. The penalty demoted Alguersuari to 13th and elevated Liuzzi to the final points-scoring place of 10th. The FIA opened an investigation into how Massa began just ahead of his grid slot without the error being detected in time. Massa said his short stature prevented him from observing the lines well: "I was a little bit outside, and that was it."


2010 Belgian Grand Prix, Post-race
The result returned Hamilton atop World Drivers' Championship with 182 points. Webber fell to second with 179 points as his teammate Vettel remained third with 151 points. With a respective 147 and 141 points, Button and Alonso were fourth and fifth. McLaren with 329 points lowered Red Bull's (330) World Constructors' Championship lead to one point. With 250 points, Ferrari were third with Mercedes with 146 points and Renault with 123 points fourth and fifth with six races left in the season.


2010 Belgian Super Cup
The 2010 Belgian Super Cup was a football match that was played on 23 July 2010, between league winners Anderlecht and cup winners Gent. In a match with several chances for both teams, only Anderlecht managed to score once through Kouyaté. This meant the ninth Super Cup title for Anderlecht and left Gent still looking for their first win.


2010 Belgian federal election
Elections for the Federal Parliament were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010, during the midst of the 2007-11 Belgian political crisis. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) from the government the King dissolved the legislature and called new elections. The New Flemish Alliance, led by Bart De Wever, emerged as the plurality party with 27 seats, just one more than the francophone Socialist Party, led by Elio Di Rupo, which was the largest party in the Wallonia region and Brussels. It took a world record 541 days until a government was formed, resulting in a government led by Di Rupo.


2010 Belgian federal election
Yves Leterme served as the caretaker prime minister of the country for the period that it had no official government.


2010 Belgian federal election, Background, Fall of the government
Following a continued lack of agreement over how to resolve the conflict over the electoral arrondissement of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, the liberal Open VLD left the government on 22 April 2010, continuing the 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis. Prime Minister Yves Leterme (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams, CD&V) immediately offered his resignation to King Albert II, who accepted it on 26 April 2010. Following the elections held on 13 June, there were fears that coalition-building may take so long that Belgium's presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts on 1 July 2010, might have to start under a caretaker government.


2010 Belgian federal election, Background, Constitutionality of elections
According to a statement by the Flemish President of the Constitutional Court, Marc Bossuyt, the elections might be ruled unconstitutional unless the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde arrondissement is split up beforehand. On 4 May, all but one Flemish judge-president of the 13 Flemish Courts of First Instance wrote a collective letter, saying that the elections cannot be held with the current electoral districts and that a return to the previous electoral arrondissements is necessary. In contrast, Ghislain Londers, the president of the Court of Cassation declared that all judges are obliged to cooperate with the electoral process. Before the judges' letters, former president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Herman De Croo stated that no court could prevent the elections from taking place.


2010 Belgian federal election, Background, Importance of elections
The international media saw the election as crucial to determine the future of the country, even though it was admitted that devolution would not happen immediately.


2010 Belgian federal election, Date
The parliament was dissolved by Declaration of Revision of the Constitution on 7 May 2010 and elections were called by royal order of the same day. The period with rules and limits on campaign spending (sperperiode), which normally runs three months prior to election day, started that day.


2010 Belgian federal election, Date
Voting occurred on Sunday 13 June 2010 between 08:00 and 13:00 in polling stations with paper ballots, and between 08:00 and 15:00 in those with electronic voting.


2010 Belgian federal election, Date
The newly elected parliament was to convene on 6 July 2010.


2010 Belgian federal election, Parties, Flemish parties (Dutch speaking)
These Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.


2010 Belgian federal election, Parties, Walloon parties (French speaking)
These Francophone parties fielded candidates in the region of Wallonia and in the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.


2010 Belgian federal election, Candidates
Leterme stepped aside on 28 April 2010 and was replaced as leader of CD&V by Marianne Thyssen.


2010 Belgian federal election, Polls
As of May 26, it appeared that the major development in the election was the surge in popularity of the N-VA in Flanders. Led by Bart De Wever, it supports eventual independence for Flanders, and an immediate switch from a federal Belgium to a confederal Belgium. The N-VA replaces the CD&V of outgoing PM Yves Leterme as the most popular party in Flanders. This development opens the question of how the francophone parties might react to forming a government with an openly sovereigntist, but politically centrist party if they do win a plurality of votes in Flanders. It appeared that the N-VA had attracted some popularity from the ethnic nationalist party, Vlaams Belang.


2010 Belgian federal election, Results
After polls showed the N-VA receiving 29% of votes in their region, media interpreted the election as a "victory for Flemish independence". The following tables contain percentages on the national level (i.e. the result of N-VA is 17.4% on the national level, while it is 27.8% on the regional level).


2010 Belgian federal election, Government formation
On possible coalitions, election winner Bart De Wever announced he would seek negotiations with the Francophone Socialist Party. The Socialist Party leader Elio di Rupo was tapped to become the next Prime Minister, because the socialist parties emerged as the largest "party family" in the elections, and because the New Flemish Alliance lacks a Francophone counterpart.


2010 Belgian federal election, Government formation
Philip Blenkinsop of Reuters stated that the win of the New Flemish Alliance could have negative effects because "Belgium can ill afford drawn-out coalition talks because it has a large debt and any policy paralysis could make the country vulnerable on financial markets that are closely watching a sovereign debt crisis."


2010 Belgian federal election, Government formation
Coalition formation continued for a record-breaking 541 days, with a government under Elio De Rupo eventually being formed on 6 December 2011 after agreement was reached on the 2012 budget. The Di Rupo I Government includes the Liberal, Socialist and Christian Democratic parties from both Flanders and Wallonia. The government excludes the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Greens of Groen and Ecolo, the right of Vlaams Belang, the Lijst Dedecker and the People's Party.


2010 Belgian federal election, Government formation
N-VA's absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, means the government coalition lacks a majority in the Dutch language group. It is the first time that the Belgian prime minister has been openly gay and the world's first male openly gay head of government Belgium is thus the second European country to have a homosexual prime minister, after Iceland (Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir). Elio Di Rupo is the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first Walloon prime minister since 1974.


2010 Belmont Stakes
The 2010 Belmont Stakes was the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes. The race took place on June 5, 2010, and was won by Drosselmeyer, who was ridden by jockey Mike Smith and trained by Bill Mott. It was televised in the United States on the ABC television network.


2010 Belmont Stakes
As the final jewel in the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the race was run without the elusive championship at stake due to 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver's loss in the Preakness Stakes. Both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners did not run in the race. Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth, but was disqualified and placed last due to losing the eight pound handicapping weight on the backstretch.


2010 Beni-Ilmane earthquakes
The 2010 Beni-Ilmane earthquakes began 14 May at 12:29:22 UTC, when a M5.3 strike-slip earthquake occurred in Northern Algeria. With a maximum EMS-98 intensity of VII (Damaging), it was the first in a sequence of three shocks that affected the Bouïra Province over a ten-day period. Two people were killed, forty-three were injured, and some structural damage was reported.


2010 Bergen International Film Festival
The 2010 Bergen International Film Festival was arranged in Bergen, Norway 20th-27 October 2010, and was the 11th edition of the festival. It featured over 150 feature films and documentaries, and had an attendance over 45,000, both numbers a new record for the festival.


2010 Bergen International Film Festival, Important screenings
For the first time, both the opening and the closing film was a Norwegian production.


2010 Bergen International Film Festival, Films in competition, Checkpoints - In competition
The Checkpoints program have existed since 2007, and is a special program focusing on human rights. In 2010, for the first time, there was declared a winner of the program by a jury led by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. The prize money, 50,000 NOK, is awarded to the people the documentary portrays and their cause, not the filmmakers.


2010 Bergen International Film Festival, Films in competition, Scandinavias Best Music Video
This competition program was arranged for the first time in 2010. Music videos from both 2009 and 2010 was eligible, and the videos was nominated by a jury, instead of filmmakers applying for admission, like in the short film program.


2010 Berlin Marathon
The 37th Berlin Marathon took place on Sunday 26 September 2010 on the streets of Berlin, Germany. The competition was sponsored by German retailer real,- and it was the third World Marathon Major of the year, as well as being an IAAF Gold Label Road Race. A total of 35,227 runners started the race and 34,225 of those managed to complete the 42.195 km marathon distance (comprising 26,726 men and 7,499 women). Patrick Makau was the winner of men's marathon while Aberu Kebede took the women's title.


2010 Berlin Marathon
Severin Widmer and Giovanna Turchiarelli were the respective winners of the men's and women's in-line skating races.


2010 Berlin Marathon, Elite marathon race
Headlining the elite men's race were three Kenyan runners: Patrick Makau, Geoffrey Mutai and Eliud Kiptanui. Makau and Mutai had recorded the fifth and eighth fastest times ever, respectively, at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier that year. Kiptanui had impressed with a sub-2:06 clocking to win the Prague Marathon that May, in only his second outing over the distance. Germany's own Sabrina Mockenhaupt was among the contenders for the women's elite race, as were Ethiopian runners Bezunesh Bekele and Aberu Kebede, and Tomo Morimoto of Japan.


2010 Berlin Marathon, Elite marathon race
Heavy rain throughout the race put an end to any hopes that Haile Gebrselassie's world record mark from the 2008 edition would be improved. Makau and Mutai were neck-and-neck in the final stretch towards the Brandenburg Gate, which served as the race finishing point. Makau pulled away to win the race by a margin of two seconds over Mutai. Ethiopian Bazu Worku was fifteen seconds behind Mutai and took third place with a personal best time.


2010 Berlin Marathon, Elite marathon race
Aberu Kebede and Bezunesh Bekele were dominant in the women's race and had built up a sizeable lead over the rest of the field by the half-way point. Aberu surged ahead further and won the race with a minute to spare over second-placed Bezunesh. Over a minute behind her, Morimoto was the third to cross the line while Mockenhaupt took a second off her previous personal best for fourth position.


2010 Berlin Marathon, Elite marathon race
Although it was the first time in 20 years that the Berlin Marathon was affected by rain, the men's race saw the top three finishers run under two hours and six minutes – a first for the competition renowned for its fast, flat course. The top three runners of each race received points for the World Marathon Majors, with first taking 25 points, second earning 15 points and third gaining 10 points. The points earned at the Berlin Marathon had little overall effect on the series rankings as all points-scorers remained outside of the top four and had little chance of earning further points before the close of the 2009–10 competition at the 2010 New York City Marathon two months later.


2010 Berlin Marathon, Elite marathon race
The podium finishers each earned a portion of the race prize pot: €40,000 for first, €20,000 for second, and prizes of €17,500 and €15,000 for the men's and women's third placers, respectively. The top three men also earned a significant time bonus of €30,000 for completing the distance in under two hours and six minutes, while women's winner Aberu Kebede received a bonus of €15,000 for her finishing time.


2010 Bern Open
The 2010 Bern Open is a curling tournament that will be held at the Bern Curling Club in Bern, Switzerland from October 22-24, as a part of the World Curling Tour. 32 teams will be playing in a triple-knockout format to qualify for 8 quarterfinal spots.


2010 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team
The 2010 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team represented Bethune-Cookman University as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) during the 2010 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Wildcats were led by first-year head coach Brian Jenkins and played their home games at Municipal Stadium. They finished the season 10–2 overall and 7–1 in MEAC play, sharing the conference title with South Carolina State. Bethune–Cookman was invited to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where they received a first-round bye before losing to New Hampshire in the second round.


2010 Bexley London Borough Council election
Elections for Bexley Council were held on 6 May 2010. The 2010 General Election and other local elections took place on the same day.


2010 Bexley London Borough Council election
In London council elections the entire council is elected every four years, opposed to some local elections where one councillor is elected every year for three of the four years.


2010 Bhutan A-Division
The 2010 season of the Bhutanese A-Division was the sixteenth recorded season of top-flight football in Bhutan. The league was won by Yeedzin, their second title.


2010 Bhutan A-Division, League table
Teams played each other on a home and away basis, there does not appear to have been any relegation in 2010 as Nangpa FC still featured in the A-Division in the next season.


2010 Bhutan A-Division, League table
Note 1: Choden FC are Bhutan national U-19 team. Note 2: Nangpa FC also known as Ngangpa FC.


2010 Bhutan A-Division, Results
Note 1: The notion of home and away fixtures in the A-Division is moot as all games are played at Changlimithang Stadium. As such, for the purpose of this table, the first result chronologically has been deemed that team's "home" game and the second the "away" game.


2010 Big 12 Championship Game
The 2010 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 4, 2010, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It determined the 2010 champions of the Big 12 Conference. The game, the fifteenth edition of the Big 12 Championship, featured Oklahoma, champions of the South division, and Nebraska, champions of the North division. Sponsored by soft drink brand Dr Pepper, the game is officially known as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.


2010 Big 12 Championship Game, Previous season
The 2009 Big 12 Championship Game featured Nebraska, champions of the North division against Texas, champions of the South division. The game was the third championship tilt between the Cornhuskers and Longhorns. Unranked Texas upset No. 3 Nebraska 37–27 in the inaugural Big 12 title game in St. Louis, while No. 2 Nebraska beat No. 12 Texas 22–6 in 1999 in San Antonio. Texas was victorious by a score of 13–12, winning their third Big 12 Conference championship.


2010 Big 12 Championship Game, 2010 conference realignment impact
From 2009 through 2013, the Big 12 Championship Game was scheduled to be played at the venue now known as AT&T Stadium. During June 2010, however, Nebraska and Colorado announced that they would leave the Big 12 for other conferences in 2011. Because then-current NCAA rules required that a conference have 12 members in order to stage a football championship game that was exempt from the organization's limits on regular-season games, it was announced on September 30, 2010, that the Big 12 would no longer have a conference championship game, starting with the 2011 football season.


2010 Big 12 Championship Game, Return of championship game in 2017
Following a January 2016 NCAA rule change that allows FBS conferences to conduct football championship games regardless of their membership numbers, the Big 12 announced that the championship game would be reinstated in 2017.


2010 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2010 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament is held at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, OK from May 26th to May 30th, 2010. This is the fifth year the conference uses the round robin tournament setup. The winners of each group at the end of the round robin face each other in a one-game match for the championship. The  Texas A&M Aggies defeated the Baylor Bears 5-3 to win the championship.


2010 Big 12 Conference Softball Tournament
The 2010 Big 12 Conference Softball tournament was held at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, OK from May 15 through May 16, 2010. Oklahoma won their fourth conference tournament and earned the Big 12 Conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament.


2010 Big 12 Conference Softball Tournament
Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech received bids to the NCAA tournament. Missouri would go on to play in the 2010 Women's College World Series.


2010 Big 12 Conference Softball Tournament
After the 2010 season, the Big 12 would discontinue to the softball conference tournament. It would not return until 2017.


2010 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was the 2010 edition of the Big 12 Conference's championship tournament. It was held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City from March 11 until March 14, 2010. Texas A&M, as the Tournament Champion, received an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.


2010 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
Nebraska finished the 2009-10 regular season undefeated, but lost in the semifinals to eventual tournament champion Texas A&M. Nebraska was the one seed in the tournament and received a first round bye, along with the other top four seeds. The tournament ran simultaneously with the 2010 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament.


2010 Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2010 Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big 12 Conference held from November 3 to 7, 2010. The 7-match tournament was held at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio, TX with a combined attendance of 3,362. The 8-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Oklahoma State Cowgirls defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the championship match to win their 3rd conference tournament.


2010 Big 12 Conference football season
The 2010 Big 12 Conference football season is the 15th season for the Big 12, as part of the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was also the final season in the conference for Colorado and Nebraska as Colorado moved to the Pac-12 and Nebraska transferred to the Big Ten the following season.


2010 Big 12 Conference football season, Preseason, Media Poll
Ranked by total points, first place votes shown in parenthesis.


2010 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship was the 2010 edition of the Big 12 Conference's championship tournament held at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 10 until March 13, 2010. It was won by top-seeded Kansas. The all-tournament team consisted of Kansas' Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, Kansas State's Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, and Texas A&M's Donald Sloan.


2010 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeding
The Tournament consisted of a 12 team single-elimination tournament with the top 4 seeds receiving a bye.


2010 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, Tournament bracket
Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime. Rankings reflect AP Poll for the week of 3/8/2010.


2010 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2010 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament was held from May 23 to May 27, 2010 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida. It was an eight-team double elimination tournament. The winner, St. John's, received a bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2010 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The top eight teams in the Big East were seeded one through eight based on their regular season finish, using conference winning percentage only.


2010 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament, All-Tournament Team, Jack Kaiser Award
Kyle Hansen was the winner of the 2010 Jack Kaiser Award. Hansen was a pitcher for St. John's.


2010 Big East Conference football season
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2010 Big East Conference football season
The 2010 Big East football season was the NCAA football season of the Big East Conference. Conference members began regular-season play on September 2, but did not begin conference play until October 8; the regular season continued through December 4. Following the regular season, six conference teams played in bowl games; although the bowl season concluded with the BCS National Championship Game on January 10, 2011, the last date on which a Big East team played was January 8, when Pittsburgh defeated Kentucky in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama.


2010 Big East Conference football season
The conference consists of 8 football members:  Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, and West Virginia.


2010 Big East Conference football season
The Big East title race came down to the last minute of the final game of the season on December 4 between UConn and South Florida. West Virginia and Pitt had claimed shares of the conference title with wins earlier that day. A UConn win would leave the Huskies tied with WVU and Pitt for the title, but UConn would claim the automatic Big East BCS berth by virtue of victories over both schools. A field goal in the last minute gave the Huskies a 19–16 win and their first-ever trip to a BCS game.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Previous season
Cincinnati (12–1) was the Big East champions and received the conference's automatic bid into the BCS and went to the Sugar Bowl, losing to SEC runner-up Florida, 51–24.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Previous season
Five other Big East teams went to bowl games in 2010, finishing bowl play with a record of 4–2 as a conference. Rutgers (9–4) beat Central Florida 45–24 in the St. Petersburg Bowl. Pittsburgh (10–3) defeated North Carolina 19–17 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. West Virginia (9–4) lost to Florida State 33–21 in the Konica-Minolta Gator Bowl. South Florida (8–5) beat Northern Illinois 27–3 in the International Bowl. And, Connecticut (8–5) beat South Carolina 20–7 in the Papajohns.com Bowl. The only two teams not to go to a bowl game were Louisville (4–8) and Syracuse (4–8).


2010 Big East Conference football season, Preseason, Coaching changes
Three teams have new head coaches for the 2010 season. Charlie Strong replaces Steve Kragthorpe at Louisville, Butch Jones replaces Brian Kelly at Cincinnati, and Skip Holtz replaces Jim Leavitt at South Florida.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Preseason, Preseason poll
The 2010 Big East Preseason Poll was announced at the Big East Media Day in Newport, RI on August 3. Pittsburgh was chosen as the favorite to win the conference.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Preseason, Award watch lists
The following Big East players listed below have been named to the preseason award watch lists.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Regular season
Rankings reflect that of the AP poll for that week until week eight when the BCS rankings will be used.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Regular season, Week Fourteen
Last week's results set up a wild final week in the Big East, with three teams—UConn, WVU, and Pitt—still in contention for the league's BCS berth, and a possibility that as many as five teams (the three aforementioned teams plus South Florida and Syracuse) could claim a share of the conference title. The conference noted in a November 29 press release, "There could be an outright winner, three different two-way ties, a three-way tie, or even a five-way tie for the title."


2010 Big East Conference football season, Regular season, Week Fourteen
Under Big East rules, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head results. In a multi-team tie, the first tiebreaker is record in games between the teams involved in the tie.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Regular season, Week Fourteen
With Pitt and WVU both winning, they assured themselves a share of the Big East title. The BCS berth came down to the UConn-South Florida game, which itself went down to the final minute. Dave Teggart's 52-yard field goal, the longest of his career, with 17 seconds remaining gave the Huskies their first-ever BCS berth.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Awards and honors, Big East Conference Awards
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Big East Conference football coaches.


2010 Big East Conference football season, Awards and honors, Big East Conference Awards
Todman, who became the second Connecticut running back to win the award in three years, was the unanimous choice for Offensive Player of the Year. He was the first unanimous winner of the award since Gino Torretta in 1992. Sheard marked the third consecutive year, and fourth time in five years, that a Pittsburgh player has won the defensive player award.


2010 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place in March 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 60–58 in the tournament finals to receive the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament. It was West Virginia's first Big East Tournament championship. This was the second Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings played first round games, while teams 5 through 8 received byes to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.


2010 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament took place in March 2010 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The winner will receive the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament. This was the second consecutive year Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. The teams finishing 9 through 16 in the regular season standings played first round games, while teams 5 through 8 received byes to the second round. The top 4 teams during the regular season received double-byes to the quarterfinals.


2010 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament
During the tournament, top-ranked Connecticut broke its own NCAA record for consecutive wins. The Huskies extended their streak to a record-setting 71 with a 59–44 win over Notre Dame in the semifinals. The Huskies went on to win the tournament with a 60–32 pasting of West Virginia.


2010 Big League World Series
The 2010 Big League World Series took place from July 28 - August 4 in Easley, South Carolina, United States. San Juan,  Puerto Rico defeated Thousand Oaks,  California in the championship game.


2010 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big Sky Men's Basketball Tournament was played from March 6 to March 10. The First Round of the tournament was held at the higher seed's home arena, and the semi-finals and championship were held at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah, which is the home of regular season champion Weber State. The top 6 teams from regular season play qualified and the top 2 teams received a bye to the semi-finals. The tournament was won by Montana and they received an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. As regular season champions who failed to win the tournament Weber State received an automatic bid to the 2010 NIT.


2010 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2010 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament  was the postseason baseball tournament for the Big South Conference, held from May 25–29, 2010 at Winthrop Ballpark, home field of Winthrop in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The top eight teams participated in the double-elimination tournament. The champion, Coastal Carolina, won the title for the eleventh time, and earned an invitation to the 2010 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2010 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament, Format
The top eight finishers from the round-robin regular season qualified for the tournament. The teams were seeded one through eight based on conference winning percentage. The bottom seeds played a single elimination play-in round, with the two winners joining the top four seeds in a six team double-elimination tournament.


2010 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament, Format
High Point forfeited several games due to the use of an ineligible player. The standings template at right reflects the results after the forfeits, while the table below shows the results of games played in order to accurately reflect seeding.


2010 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament, All-Tournament Team, Most Valuable Player
Daniel Bowman was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Bowman was an outfielder for Coastal Carolina.


2010 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big South Men's Basketball Tournament was played for March 2, 4, 6, 2010 on campus sites. The semifinal round was be televised on ESPNU and the finals on ESPN2.


2010 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
The top eight eligible men's basketball teams in the Big South Conference receive a berth in the conference tournament. After the 18 game conference season, teams are seeded by conference record. Since the Winthrop Eagles won the tournament, they received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Also, the #1 seed Coastal Carolina Chanticleers received an automatic bid to the NIT.


2010 Big Ten Baseball Tournament
The 2010 Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio from May 23 through 26. Minnesota won their ninth tournament championship and earned the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2010 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, Regular season results
The top six teams (based on conference results) from the conference earn invites to the tournament.


2010 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, Format
The 2010 tournament was a 6-team double-elimination tournament. The top two seeds received a single bye into the semifinals (2nd Round). The 1 seed played the lowest seeded Round 1 winner, while the 2 seed played the highest seeded Round 1 winner.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season
The 2010 Big Ten Conference football season was the 115th season for the Big Ten. The conference started its season on Thursday, September 2, as conference member Minnesota traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to face Middle Tennessee, and Ohio State hosted the Thundering Herd of Marshall. The conference’s other 9 teams began their respective 2010 season of NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) competition on Saturday, September 4. It was also the final season for the conference before the Nebraska Cornhuskers joined the conference from the Big 12 the following season.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Preseason
After a 2010 NFL Draft, which saw 34 Big Ten athletes selected, 12 2009 first-team All-Big Ten selections, 8 second-team selections and 33 honorable mention selections returned for the 2010 season. The Big Ten held the 2010 Football Media Days and 39th annual Kickoff Luncheon on Monday and Tuesday, August 2–3.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Schedules
In a given year, each Big Ten team will play eight of the other Big Ten teams. Thus for any given team in a given year, there are two others which will not be competed against. Below is the breakdown of each team and its two "no-plays" for 2010:


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Rankings
In Weeks 3 and 4, the Big Ten had six teams ranked in both polls for the first time since September 13, 2004.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Season, Homecoming games
On September 25, Joe Paterno became the fifth head coach to earn 150 victories as a member of the Big Ten Conference. On October 9, Jim Tressel became the first Big Ten head coach to earn 100 victories in his first ten seasons, surpassing Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr who achieved the milestone in their 11th seasons and he did so in the third fewest games (121), behind Schembechler and Fielding Yost (119) and ahead of Henry Williams (123). (The wins for the 2010 season were later vacated.) On November 6, Paterno became the first FBS coach to total 400 career wins.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Attendance
Week 3 attendance (September 18) set an all-time Big Ten single-day attendance record with an average of 78,844. All eight games had crowds of over 50,000; Michigan State (78,411), Wisconsin (81,332), Ohio State (105,075) and Michigan (110,187) had sellouts; and 100,610 patrons were in attendance for Penn State. It surpassed the September 3, 2005 eight-game single-day average of 76,475. On October 9, the Big Ten set a five-game attendance record of 88,034, surpassing the 87,620, set on October 28, 1995. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin all hosted sellouts.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Awards
HONORABLE MENTION: ILLINOIS: Jeff Allen, Nate Bussey, Trulon Henry, Graham Pocic, Tavon Wilson; INDIANA: Damarlo Belcher, James Brewer, Mitch Ewald; IOWA: Christian Ballard, Mike Daniels, Adam Robinson, Ryan Donahue; MICHIGAN: Denard Robinson, Stephen Schilling; MICHIGAN STATE: Edwin Baker, Kirk Cousins, Mark Dell, Joel Foreman, Charlie Gantt, Marcus Hyde, Jerel Worthy; MINNESOTA: D.J. Burris; NORTHWESTERN: Drake Dunsmore, Jeremy Ebert, Brian Peters; OHIO STATE: Devin Barclay, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor, John Simon; PENN STATE: Quinn Barham, Chris Colasanti, D'Anton Lynn, Derek Moye; PURDUE: Ricardo Allen, Dwayne Beckford, Carson Wiggs; WISCONSIN: Montee Ball, Niles Brinkley, Antonio Fenelus, Peter Konz, Bill Nagy, Blake Sorensen, Mike Taylor, Ricky Wagner, Philip Welch, James White, Kevin Zeitler.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Awards
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honorees: Tavon Wilson, ILL; Tyler Replogle, IND; Ricky Stanzi, IOWA; Mark Moundros, MICH; Kirk Cousins, MSU; Jon Hoese, MINN; Corbin Bryant, NU; Bryant Browning, OSU; Brett Brackett, PSU; Ryan Kerrigan, PUR; Scott Tolzien, WIS.


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Awards
# Second team reduced by one due to additional first-team honoree


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Awards
HONORABLE MENTION: ILLINOIS: Nate Bussey, Derek Dimke, Trulon Henry, Graham Pocic, Tavon Wilson; INDIANA: Ted Bolser, Ben Chappell, Damarlo Belcher, James Brewer, Tyler Replogle; IOWA: Christian Ballard, Mike Daniels, Brett Greenwood, Jeremiha Hunter, Micah Hyde, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Marvin McNutt, Allen Reisner, Adam Robinson, Ryan Donahue; MICHIGAN:


2010 Big Ten Conference football season, Awards
Jordan Kovacs, Mike Martin, Stephen Schilling; MICHIGAN STATE: Johnny Adams, Kirk Cousins, B.J. Cunningham, Mark Dell, Joel Foreman, Trenton Robinson, Chris L. Rucker, Jerel Worthy, D.J. Young; MINNESOTA: D.J. Burris, Troy Stoudermire, Gary Tinsley; NORTHWESTERN: Corbin Bryant, Drake Dunsmore, Jordan Mabin, Al Netter; OHIO STATE: Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor, John Simon; PENN STATE: Drew Astorino, Quinn Barham, Chris Colasanti, D'Anton Lynn, Derek Moye, Ollie Ogbu, Evan Royster, Devon Still, Collin Wagner; PURDUE: Kyle Adams, Peters Drey, Dennis Kelly, Ken Plue, Cody Webster, Carson Wiggs; WISCONSIN: Montee Ball, Aaron Henry, Peter Konz, Blake Sorensen, Mike Taylor, Scott Tolzien, Ricky Wagner, Philip Welch, Kevin Zeitler.


2010 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament was played between March 11 through March 14 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the 12th annual Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament. The championship was won by Ohio State who defeated Minnesota in the championship game. As a result, Ohio State received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The win marked Ohio State's third tournament championship (one prior championship has been vacated).


2010 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All Big Ten schools played in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season. The top five teams received a first round bye.


2010 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2010 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament was the 20th edition of the tournament. It determined the Big Ten Conference's automatic berth into the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The tournament was held at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. The number 3 seeded Michigan defeated the number 4 seeded Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game 4 to 1 to win their first tournament championship.


2010 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2010 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place on March 10–13, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena in Anaheim, California. The winner of the tournament was UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos received the conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.


2010 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
The top two seed received byes into the semifinals. Seeds 3 and 4 received byes into the quarterfinals.


2010 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Television
The first round and quarterfinals games were broadcast online via BigWest.TV. The semifinals were broadcast on ESPNU and the championship game was broadcast on ESPN2.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
The Bihar legislative assembly election, 2010 was held in six phases over a period of one month starting from 21 October until 20 November in all 243 constituencies of Bihar, India. The election is conducted to elect the government in Bihar for a five-year term. The votes were scheduled to be counted on 24 November.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background
The Janata Dal (United) was the largest party in the Bihar legislative assembly after the 2005 election, and ruled along with the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of the National Democratic Alliance. The incumbent chief minister was Nitish Kumar.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background
This election also followed a surprise defeat by the once ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal in the 2009 Indian general election.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase I
47 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Harlakhi, Benipatti, Khajauli, Babubarhi, Bisfi, Madhubani, Rajnagar (SC), Jhanjharpur, Phulparas, Laukaha, Nirmali, Pipra, Supaul, Triveniganj (SC), Chhatapur, Narpatganj, Raniganj (SC), Forbesganj, Araria, Jokihat, Sikti, Bahadurganj, Thakurganj, Kishanganj, Kochadhaman, Amour, Baisi, Kasba, Banmankhi (SC), Rupauli, Dhamdaha, Purnia, Katihar, Kadwa, Balrampur, Pranpur, Manihari (ST), Barari, Korha (SC), Alamnagar, Bihariganj, Singheshwar (SC), Madhepura, Sonbarsha (SC), Saharsa


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase I
The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 15:00:Simri, Bakhtiarpur, Mahishi


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase II
45 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Sheohar, Riga, Bathnaha (SC), Parihar, Sursand, Bajpatti, Sitamarhi, Runnisaidpur, Belsand, Kusheshwar Asthan (SC), Gaura Bauram, Benipur, Alinagar, Darbhanga Rural, Darbhanga, Hayaghat, Bahadurpur, Keoti, Jale, Gaighat, Aurai, Bochaha (SC), sakra (SC), Kurhani, Muzaffarpur, Kanti, Baruraj, Kalyanpur (SC), Warisnagar, Samastipur, Ujiarpur, Morwa, Sarairanjan, Mohiuddinnagar, Bibhutipur, Rosera (SC), Hasanpur, Narkatia, Pipra, Madhuban, Chiraia, Dhaka


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase II
Arun Singh will Win Dhaka legislative assembly election in 2015


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase III
48 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Narkatiaganj, Bagaha, Lauriya, Nautan, Chanpatia, Bettiah, Sikta, Raxaul, Sugauli, Harsidhi (SC), Govindganj, Kesaria, Kalyanpur, Motihari, Baikunthpur, Barauli, Gopalganj, Shahpur Patti,Kuchaikote, Bhorey (SC), Hathua, Siwan, Ziradei, Darauli (SC), Raghunathpur, Daraundha, Barharia, Goriakothi, Maharajganj, Ekma, Manjhi, Baniapur, Taraiya, Marhaura, Chapra, Garkha (SC), Amnour, Parsa, Sonepur, Hajipur, Lalganj, Vaishali, Mahua, Raja Pakar (SC), MahnarThe following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 15:00:Valmiki Nagar, Ramnagar (SC), Raghopur, Patepur (SC)


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase IV
42 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Cheria Bariarpur, Bachhwara, Teghra, Matihani, Sahebpur Kamal, Begusarai, Bakhri (SC), Khagaria, Beldaur, Parbatta, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bihpur, Gopalpur, Pirpainti (SC), Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur, Sultanganj, Nathnagar, Mokama, Barh, Bakhtiarpur, Digha, Bankipur, Kumhrar, Patna Sahib, Fatuha, Danapur, Maner, Amarpur, Dhauraiya (SC), Banka


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase IV
The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 15:30:Alauli (SC), Suryagarha, Tarapur, Jamalpur, Katoria (ST), Belhar, Sikandra (SC), Jamui, Jhajha, Chakai


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase IV
The Banka Lok Sabha seat was also chosen in a by-election following the death of Digvijay Singh.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase V
35 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Agiaon (SC), Tarari, Jagdishpur, Shahpur, Hisua, Nawada, Warsaliganj, Gaya Town, Belaganj, Atri, Wazirganj, Sheikhpura, Barbigha, Asthawan, Biharsharif, Rajgir (SC), Islampur, Hilsa, Nalanda, Harnaut,


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase V
The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 15:00:Rajauli (SC), Gobindpur, Arwal, Kurtha, Jehanabad, Ghosi, Makhdumpur (SC), Bodh Gaya (SC), Phulwari (SC), Masaurhi (SC), Paliganj, Bikram


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase VI
26 seats were voted for. The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 17:00:Brahampur, Buxar, Dumraon, Rajpur (SC), Ramgarh, Mohania (SC), Kargahar, Nokha, Obra, Aurangabad


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule, Phase VI
The following constituencies would vote from 7:00 to 15:00:Bhabua, Chainpur, Chenari (SC), Sasaram, Dinara, Dehri, Karakat, Goh, Nabinagar, Kutumba (SC), Rafiganj, Gurua, Sherghati, Imamganj (SC), Barachatti (SC), Tikari


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties, Candidate issues
Some key candidates were the NDA Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary, an RJD leader Shakil Ahmed Khan who was competing with JDU's Vinod Yadav, JDU Chhedi Paswan against RJD's Niranjan Ram, a former Union minister Kanti Singh against the BJP incumbent Rameshwar Prasad, Awadesh Narain Singh against RJD's Iliyas Hussain and Anil Kumar against RJD's Bagi Kumar Verma.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties, Candidate issues
The final round's important race was that of a senior RJD leader Jagdanand Singh's son Sudhakar Singh, who was a candidate for the BJP against the RJD's Ambika Yadav. Singh campaigned against his son saying: "Sudhakar is my biological son but Ambika is my political heir." The JDU's Mahabali Singh's son Dharmendra also contested for the opposition RJD. Other family affairs were the JDU's Sushil Singh's older brother Sunil Singh, who was competing for the RJD.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Campaign
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said his party has nothing in common with its coalition partner the BJP, and that the decision not to have the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi campaign in Bihar was made by the BJP alone and not him after a rift over Modi's earlier visit and the return of funds from Gujarat for relief work following the 2008 Bihar flood. He also said there was no possibility of having an alliance with the INC.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Campaign
The BJP attacked the INC and its former allies, saying they would lose the election because "There is nothing but [a] NDA wave perceptible in Bihar and Nitish Kumar will once against return to power with [a] two-thirds majority." Their coalition partner and CM Kumar also attacked the INC as being responsible for Bihar's "backwardness."


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Campaign
The JDU's Sharad Yadav attacked the INC's General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who was campaigning for the party's Bihar campaign: "What does Rahul Gandhi know about politics? Somebody wrote on the paper and gave it to you and you read it out. We are an unfortunate country. He should be thrown into the Ganga." He also blamed Gandhi for "indulging in dynastic politics."


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Campaign
Gandhi also controversially said that "Aapki Congress party gareebon ki party hai, aapki party hai. "["Your Congress party is the party of the poor, your party."]


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Poll
The media suggested that the ruling NDA was likely to have a slight increase in seats from the previous election. The NDA previously won just one seat in Buxar but looked to make bigger gains in this election from the district with the JDU's Dawood Ali facing the JDS' Dadan Pahalwan. The constituencies of Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, and Gaya were expected to tilt towards the NDA.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Poll
The opposition RJD-LJP alliance was expected to benefit from the "anti-incumbency factor" against such NDA candidates as Choudhary, Chhedi Paswan, and Awadhesh Narain Singh.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Controversy
Following the BJP's issuance of tickets for the election, its Bihar president, C.P. Thakur, was summoned to the party's national headquarters to explain his decision. He had not opted to campaign during the elections and resigned from his post in the party after his son, Vivek Thakur, was not given representation on the party ticket.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Controversy
A low turnout was expected in the Naxal-affected districts, according to the election commission. This followed a Naxal boycott call in several districts. The first five phases saw an average of 52% voter turnout. The final phase recorded 51% despite concerns that it would have a low turnout and be a "real test if the 'Nitish factor'" worked following CM Nitish Kumar's appeal: "Good voter turnout alone is the point to ponder in this phase. Crowd presence at several meetings had been a good indicator though."


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Controversy, Violence
Two days before the second phase of voting naxals triggered a land mine in Sheohar district killing six policemen. As a result, the district's voting centers would close 2 hours earlier. The attack was seen as a resurgence in Naxal activity after a lull due to its timing during an election. Though the Naxals had called for a boycott of the polls, the second phase ended largely unscathed.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Controversy, Violence
On the fourth phase of voting more bombs were set off. In the morning Naxals were responsible for a bomb blast near a bridge on the Chakai-Jamui road in the Batia jungle. Later on "anti-social elements" set off another bomb in the Danapur assembly constituency wounding 2 people. On the eve of the fifth phase of voting, the naxals called for a 24-hour bandh. During the bandh, security services attempted to defuse a bomb planted by the naxals, however 2 bomb disposal personnel were killed.


2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Controversy, Violence
Days before the final phase of voting a naxal boycott was enforced with a bombing of a bridge and another attack that killed near the Chenari assembly constituency, which was due to vote during the final phase. On the final day of voting 1 person was killed and 2 were injured when bomb exploded in a cinema hall, 2 others were also killed trying to defuse a bomb.