John Pennel

John Thomas Pennel (July 25, 1940 – September 26, 1993) was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.
Career.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Pennel started pole vaulting at his father's farm with an old television aerial. At Coral Gables High School, where he was a member of both the gymnastics and the track and field teams, he cleared 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) at the age of 15. Improving steadily under the coaching of Ed Injachock he improved to 3.80 m in 1958 and in 1959 he ranked 8th among American schoolboys with 4.14 m (13 ft 7 in). At one time he also held the Dade County (Florida) record for climbing a 20-foot rope in 4.2 seconds.
In 1959 Pennel went to Northeast Louisiana State College (NLSC) on a track scholarship and continued to improve, clearing 4.32 m (14 ft 2 in) in 1959, and then his big breakthrough came at a meet at Chattanooga on March 19, 1960. Off a dirt runway and using a borrowed aluminium pole he cleared 4.58 m, just a quarter of an inch over fifteen feet and a national record for a college freshman. Unable to reproduce that sort of form outdoors his best for the remainder of the season was 4.39 m (14 ft. 5"). He cleared 4.47 m (14 ft 8 in) in 1961 before switching to the new fiberglass poles and within a very few months began to reap the benefits; on the last day of the year he went over fifteen feet again (4.61 m) in New Orleans and improved to 4.67 m (15 ft. 4") indoors on January 12, 1962, but again failed to repeat his form outdoors that season.
Early in 1963, by which time he is being coached by Bob Groseclose, he cleared sixteen feet in training but was turned down by meeting promoters on the grounds that he wasn't good enough. He travelled to Toronto to prove himself and in his only major indoor meet of the season cleared 4.75 m (15 ft. 7¼") for second place. Outdoors, he started off with 4.80 m (15 ft. 9") and the following week, on March 23, 1963, the man who was not good enough for an indoor meet exceeded the existing world record of 4.94 m with a 4.95 m (16 ft 3") jump at home in Memphis. He did it again the following month with a 4.98 m jump, but neither mark was ratified as a world record. Nineteen-year-old Brian Sternberg had the honor of being the world's first 5.00-metre vaulter in Philadelphia on April 27, 1963. Interviewed afterwards he said,
"I don't expect the record to stand a long time", and he was right. Just four days later Pennel surpassed the record with a 5.05 m (16 ft 6¾") leap at Monroe, Louisiana, but, again, his mark was not ratified.
Again at Monroe on May 4, 4.88 m (16 ft 0 in) was enough for first place but on the same day at San Jose American Jeff Chase vaulted 8.74 m (28 ft 8 in); not to worry, they were vaulting for distance, not height. The following weekend decathlete and future world record holder Yang Chuan-kwang became the first man to vault sixteen feet and lose, being beaten by Ron Morris at a meet in Fresno, California. By the end of the month of May there were no less than ten men worldwide over sixteen feet and eight of them were Americans; the other "foreigner" was the Finnish athlete Pentti Nikula, who held the world record Sternberg had broken in April, and Sternberg had equalled Pennel's "world record" at the Modesto relays on May 25. But this was not ratified as a world record. However, Sternberg got his second and final world record at Compton, California on June 7, clearing 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in), and found 5.00 m (16 ft. 4¾") enough to take the NCAA at Albuquerque the following week with Cruz, Cramer, Hansen and Watson in that order all on 4.82 m (15 ft. 9¾"), and strangely he also found 4.98 m (16 ft. 4") sufficient to take the AAU title in
St. Louis a week later with Pennel back in sixth place on 4.80m (15 ft. 9"), (the same weekend that Bob Hayes ran the first legal 9.1 s 100 yards).
Despite his poor showing in recent weeks Pennel was selected to join the squad that toured Europe that summer, so on Friday July 13 while Ron Hill was busy breaking the Commonwealth 10,000 m record Pennel was at the White City Stadium in London qualifying for the AAA Championships, which he did with ease. The following day he came back for what Mel Watman called a "superlative display" of
pole vaulting. Entering the competition at 4.46 m (14 ft. 7½") he cleared first time but needed three tries at 4.57 m (15 ft. 0"), clearing on the third try by "at least eighteen inches". Further attempts were hampered by the three-mile track race being in progress so he had to time his run-up, which started on the track, quite carefully. He cleared both 4.72 m (15 ft. 6") and 4.87 m (16 ft. 0") first time. His first two attempts at the new world record 5.10m (16 ft. 8¾") were aborted as he mis-timed his approach, but on the third try he planted firmly and sailed over. But, again, the mark was not ratified as a world record. He had three attempts at 5.19 m (17ft. 0¼") but they didn't come to anything. By now there were thirteen men over sixteen feet and the race was to be the first over seventeen feet. Tragically, Sternberg was no longer in the race. On June 29 while practising a double-back somersault with a twist on the trampoline at college, something he had done hundreds of times before, he landed hard on his neck and was paralysed from the neck down. When told of Pennel's new "world record" the modest Sternberg, who turned 20 just eleven days before his accident said, "I really think it's great about Pennel. He's the most deserving of all of us to represent the United States at Moscow. I don't know of anybody who has tried harder and put more into vaulting than Pennel."
The Americans won the match in Moscow by a mere five points, which "Athletics Weekly" reported as a "disaster", and Pennel came second in the vault behind Uelses with both of them well below their best. But in Warsaw they "crushed" Poland and Pennel was described as the "star
performer" in duplicating his White City world record height, though a language difficulty meant he actually thought he was attempting a new record height of 5.14 m (16 ft. 10¼"). Nikula (the only European so far over 16 feet) failed to impress at the Finnish Championships in Helsinki on July 17, clearing only 4.85 m (15ft. 11") but on July 25 at Karhula the American Ron Morriss set a personal best of 4.92 m (16 ft. 1¾") and three days later at Haapavesi he improved again to 5.00 m (16 ft. 4¾") Then on August 9 the German Wolfgang Reinhardt joined the sixteen-foot club in winning the West German
Championships at Augsburg.
Back in London on August 5, Pennel finally set a mark that would be ratified as a world record, improving on Sternberg's 5.08 m. He improved the world record, this time clearing 5.13 m (16 ft. 10") and a few days later on August 25 Morris, still in Finland but now at Mikkeli, moved to third on the all-time list with a vault 5.02 m (16 ft. 5¾"). The previous day, however, at Coral Gables, Florida, using a pole he had borrowed from fellow vaulter Fred Hansen back in March, Pennel had cleared 5.20 m (17ft. 0¾") at his first attempt and just eighteen months after the world's first 16-foot vault he became the world's first 17-foot pole vaulter. The world would have to wait seven years before anyone cleared 18 feet (5.48 m).
Following those amazing performances, Pennel was asked to appear on the popular television game show, To Tell The Truth. On the September 9, 1963 episode, Pennel scored against the celebrity panel (Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Earl Wrightson, and Kitty Carlisle), and immediately donated his winnings to the "Brian Sternberg Hospital Fund". On February 27, 1965 he appeared on the popular panel show "Whats My Line" not as an athlete, but rather as a wine salesman, a career he had just taken up. He nearly stumped the panel, but Bennett Cerf guessed his line at the last moment. Sternberg, a University of Washington pole vaulter, was injured during practice in an accident that left him a quadriplegic. In April 1964, Pennel was awarded the 1963 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, and was favored to capture the gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Unfortunately, he suffered a back injury six weeks before the Games and finished 11th, with a height of 15–5. American teammate Fred Hansen set an Olympic record with a vault of 16–8¾ and won the gold medal.
In 1967, Pennel was featured as Bachelor Number Three on the popular television show, The Dating Game, episode 67 008, during the second set. Also featured, as Bachelor Number Two, was Burt Reynolds. Pennel was chosen as the favorite by the Bachelorette, who was a gymnast. https://youtu.be/Gcaa0Qw7CmM?t=793
After the Olympics, Hansen vaulted an unratified 17–3¾, and Bob Seagren set the mark at 17–5 two years later. Following Seagren's performance, Pennel reclaimed the record at 17–6 (5.34 m) in 1966, his third ratified world record. Pennel was favored to win an Olympic gold in Mexico City in 1968, but he finished fifth. He cleared 5.40 m on his second attempt, and this would be enough for a medal, but his pole passed under the bar, which was illegal at the time; the rule was abolished next year.
In 1969, Pennel set his fourth and final world record, 17–10¼ (5.44 m). A series of injuries led him to retire from competition in 1970.
After his pole vaulting career, Pennel moved to Glendale, California, and worked in sales for Italian Swiss Colony wines as well as marketing for Adidas and other companies. He also appeared in television commercials.
In the early 1990s, he was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer and died at age 53.
Hall of Fame.
Pennel was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2004.


Lee Chong Wei

Datuk Lee Chong Wei (born 21 October 1982) is a former Malaysian badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fourth Malaysian player after Rashid Sidek, Roslin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler who has held the number one ranking for more than a year.
Lee is a triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, and the sixth Malaysian to win an Olympic medal. He won his first silver medal in 2008, also the first time a Malaysian had reached the finals in the men's singles event. This achievement earned him the title Datuk, and led to then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak describing him as national hero. He repeated the achievement twice more in 2012 and 2016, thus making him the most successful Malaysian Olympian in history.
On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after struggling to return to full fitness following a nose cancer diagnosis. He was appointed as Malaysia's chef de mission for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Personal life.
Lee was born in Bagan Serai, Perak, into a Malaysian Chinese family, to Lee Ah Chai and Khor Kim Choi. In his early years, he favoured basketball, however his mother soon banned him from the game due to the searing heat of the outdoor basketball court. Lee began to learn badminton at the age of 11, when his father, who liked to play the game, brought him to the badminton hall. He attracted the attention of local coach Teh Peng Huat, who asked Lee's father if he could take him as a student. After receiving his father's consent, Teh began to train Lee after school. Discovered by Misbun Sidek, he was drafted into the national squad in 2000 when he was seventeen years old.
Lee received RM 300,000 on 21 August 2008, as a reward for his silver medal effort in the 2008 Olympic Games. Also, he received RM 3,000 a month as a lifetime pension beginning in August 2008. He was appointed as the UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassador in February 2009.
He was in a relationship with Wong Mew Choo, his teammate. In 2009, Lee and Wong announced they are no longer together during the 2009 World Championships in Hyderabad, India. However, Lee announced his reconciliation with Mew Choo after winning a silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics. They were married on 9 November 2012, and have two children, Kingston and Terrance, who were born in April 2013 and July 2015 respectively.
On 16 March 2011, Lee received Permodalan Nasional Berhad shares worth RM100,000 from Najib Tun Razak soon after his triumph in the All England Open. He was appointed as KDU University College ambassador on 31 July 2011. Lee's autobiography "Dare to be a Champion" was officially published on 18 January 2012.
Career.
2002–2007.
Lee picked up only one minor title during the 2002 and 2003 seasons. He reached his first final of a major tournament at the 2003 Malaysia Open where he was defeated by Chen Hong of China. Lee then secured two titles in 2004, the Malaysia Open and the Chinese Taipei Open. Lee gained a spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In his first Olympic appearance, Lee defeated Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the first round. His journey ended in the second round when he was defeated by Chen Hong. Lee scored another two titles in 2005, his second Malaysia Open title and the Denmark Open. Lee won a bronze in his first appearance in the world meet, the 2005 World Championships after losing to eventual winner Taufik Hidayat in the semi-final.
Lee won three titles out of six finals in 2006. He was crowned as the winner of the Swiss Open, Asian Badminton Championships and his third Malaysia Open title. He also reached the final of the Chinese Taipei Open, Macau Open and Hong Kong Open. In the Malaysia Open, Lee fought back from 13–20 down in the rubber match and scored eight match points against Lin Dan, and finally won the game with a score of 23–21 to secure the title. Lee won Malaysia's two gold medals in the badminton event for 2006 Commonwealth Games, in both the men's singles and mixed team events. Lee reached the top spot twice in the Badminton World Federation's world rankings in 2006, and he participated in the World Championships as top seed. However, he was upset by Bao Chunlai of China in the quarter-final despite Lee winning at their previous meeting. The match was also marred by two controversial line calls that were not in favour of Lee.
During the 2007 season, Lee failed to reach the final of the Malaysia Open for the first time in five years. He also suffered an early exit in five competitions afterward. Later on that season he took the Indonesia Open crown, his first title since the 2006 Malaysia Open after reuniting with former coach Misbun Sidek from Li Mao. His performance at the second half of the year was solid, as he achieved three titles in the Philippines Open, the Japan Open, and the French Open. He also managed to reach the final of the China Open and Hong Kong Open, despite his knee injury haunting him on both occasions. Lee won all matches he played in the Sudirman Cup in June, despite Malaysia finishing just fifth in the tournament. Lee's low point of the year was in the World Championships, despite the tournament being held in front of his home crowd and his solid performance during the second half of the year, he was defeated in the third round by Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Lee criticised the chief coach, Yap Kim Hock for treating him indifferently and putting pressure on him before the world championships. While the chief of Badminton Association of Malaysia, Datuk Nadzmi Mohd Salleh encouraged Lee and the chief coach, Yap Kim Hock to improve their relationship.
2008.
Lee kicked off 2008 with success, capturing his fourth Malaysia Open title in five years. However, Lee only captured one other title that year, the Singapore Open, which was the final tournament in his pre-Olympic preparations. Other tournaments he took part in were th Korea Open; the All England Open; the Swiss Open; the Badminton Asia Championships; and Thomas Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia where Lee helped Malaysia advance to the semi-final. In the semi-final he defeated Lin Dan to give Malaysia a 1–0 lead in its clash with defending champion China, but Malaysia eventually lost 2–3 due to the defeat of its first doubles team in the vital final match.
In the 2008 Olympic Games, Lee was given a bye in the first round. He cruised to straight game victories over Ronald Susilo in the second round, Kęstutis Navickas in the third round, and Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals Lee Hyun-il gave him a tough fight, but eventually Lee was able to beat the South Korean and reach the final. However, it was a one-sided final, as Lee was completely outplayed by Lin Dan and salvaged only 20 points, losing 12–21, 8–21. He came second place overall.
Lee participated in several tournaments after the Olympic Games without capturing a title. He advanced to the finals of the Japan Open, the Macau Open and the China Open, but lost to Sony Dwi Kuncoro, Taufik Hidayat, and Lin Dan respectively. In the French Open Lee was eliminated in the semi-finals. His coach, Misbun Sidek, cited the pressure of being ranked world number one to explain Lee's recent failure to capture a title.
Lee ended his last Super Series tournament of the year, the Hong Kong Open, with a sudden withdrawal due to a knee injury, conceding a walkover to Germany's Marc Zwiebler. His last minute withdrawal led to the Chinese media tagging him as the "weakest world number one". The Chinese media speculated that three factors had hampered Lee's performance since the Olympic Games: the stress of the Olympic final, a phobia of Lin Dan due to his lopsided Olympic defeat at Lin's hands, and (echoing Misbun Sidek's conjecture) the pressure of being the world number one.
Despite Lee's difficulties in international play, he recorded his seventh consecutive victory at the National Badminton Grand Prix Final in Kedah on 12 December 2008, thus breaking the record of six consecutive titles set by Misbun Sidek. Lee ended the year with a title in the Super Series Masters Finals. However, Lin Dan and China's other top players did not compete, their association citing injuries and fatigue.
2009.
Lee Chong Wei started the 2009 season with his fifth Malaysia Open title. He failed to secure his first Korea Open and All England Open title despite marching into the final. However, he secured his second title of the year in the Swiss Open which was held in Basel, defeating Lin Dan in straight sets and marking his first win in the finals against the Chinese opponent outside home turf.
Next, Lee was defeated by Chen Long of China in the India Open. Lee claimed he lost because of food poisoning and insisted that authorities improve the conditions before the World Championships. In May, Lee helped Malaysia reach the semi-finals of the Sudirman Cup, the first in national history, despite his unbeaten record in the tournament being blown out by Lin Dan. He won another two titles in June, the Indonesia Open and the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, despite failing to defend his Singapore Open title when he was taken by Nguyen Tien Minh in the second round.
Lee kicked off the second half of the season with defeat by Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the world meets, but went on to win the Macau Open in August. He reached the semi-final in the China Masters, but once again failed to beat his all time rival Lin Dan. Then, Lee participated in the Japan Open. He only managed to reach the second round of the Open, before winning the Hong Kong Open in November. His inconsistency saw him tumble down in the first round of the China Open. In December, Lee defended his Super Series Masters Finals title, which saw the competition played without the top badminton players in the world.
2010.
Lee started the year with the title in all events he took part, his first treble in the Super Series titles. He gained his first ever Korea Open crown, sixth Malaysia Open, and defeated Kenichi Tago to win the oldest and prestigious badminton championship in the world, the All England Open, his first since he took part in 2004.
Lee participated in the Thomas Cup in his home ground. He managed to defeat Kenichi Tago and take the first point, despite Malaysia's eventual loss (2–3) to Japan. In the quarter-finals, he beat Peter Gade, thus helping to secure Malaysia's place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals against China, Lee was defeated by Lin Dan, which ended his 18-match unbeaten record since the start of the year.
In June, Lee participated in the Singapore Open losing in the quarter-finals. However, Lee bounced back winning the Indonesia Open, Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold in July, and Macau Open in August. In late August, Lee suffered a shock exit in another attempt for the World Championships, but was beaten by Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals. Misbun cited that the loss was due to the back injury he picked up after the match against Rajiv Ouseph in the third round. On 26 September, Lee beat his archrival Lin Dan in the Japan Open, the only title not taken by Chinese players in the tournament.
In October, he helped Malaysia to beat India to defend the gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games mixed team event, then he successfully defended his gold medal once again in the singles event a few days later. The following month he won a silver medal at the Asian Games. Despite beating reigning World Champion Chen Jin in the semi-final, Lee once again tasted defeat at the hands of his rival, Lin Dan, in the final. At season's end, he won his second consecutive Hong Kong Open title, and third consecutive Super Series Master Finals title, where the tournament was held in January 2011.
2011.
In January, Lee won his seventh Malaysia Open title by defeating Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia in the final. However, he failed to defend the Korea Open title, the world's first ever million-dollar badminton tournament, after being beaten by Lin Dan from China in three games. In March, Lee cruised into the final of the All England Open for the third consecutive time and retained his title successfully with a convincing straight games victory over Lin Dan, and was praised by prime minister Najib Tun Razak.
On Labour Day, he won his first ever India Open, and also his third consecutive Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title a week later. Despite the fact that Lee won all the matches he played during the Sudirman Cup, Malaysia's journey ended in quarterfinals, after being beaten by South Korea 2–3. In late June, he won the Indonesia Open, becoming the first non-Indonesian player to complete the hat-trick in the tournament.
Lee's hopes of becoming the first Malaysian to win gold in the World Championships were dashed after defeat by Lin Dan in the final. Lee led for most of the match but lost two important match points in the rubber game. In September, Lee also failed to defend his Japan Open crown after losing to China's rising star Chen Long. In October, he lost to Chen Long again in his bid for his second Denmark Open title. He won the French Open a week later. This was followed by triple semi-finals exit in the Hong Kong Open, the China Open, and the Super Series Master Finals.
2012.
Lee started the Olympic year with the first Super Series tournament of the season, the Korea Open. In a repeat of the previous year's final, he avenged his loss to Lin Dan by defeating him in three sets. A week later, he captured his fifth straight and eighth Malaysia Open title, thus equalling the number of home titles held by Wong Peng Soon who won them between 1940 and 1953.
In March, Lee lost in the All England Open when he bowed out in the second game after receiving medical help on three occasions. This also dashed Lee's hopes of becoming the first man to win three successive All England Open titles. In April, he was defeated by South Korean Shon Wan-ho in the final of the India Open, but retained his Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title for the fourth time in a row in May. Lee was out for three to four weeks after suffering an ankle injury during the Thomas Cup Group C tie against Denmark.
Lee returned to the court for the first time after recovering from his injury to play in the London Olympic Games. He closely beat Ville Lång of Finland in rubber games for the first round, and blamed pressure for the close defeat. In the second round, he eased to a victory against Indonesia's Simon Santoso, before beating Kashyap Parupalli of India in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, he beat Chen Long of China in straight sets despite early predictions that Chen would be difficult to beat, and set up a repeat of 2008's final against Lin Dan. This was the second meeting in the Wembley Arena for both players after the 2011 World Championships. Lee led the match after winning the first game but Lin brought it to the rubber games. Despite leading for most of the time in the third game, Lin managed to level the point and edge him narrowly by 21–19, forcing Lee to settle for silver once more. BBC Sport analyst Gail Emms said, "You couldn't have asked for any more from Lee Chong Wei." This epic episode was documented in an academic article entitled "Silver lining in winning silver: an exploratory study of supporters’ reactions and coping on the social media towards Lee Chong Wei's London Olympics defeat".
He won the Japan Open and Denmark Open on his return since the London Olympic Games, but lost in the final of the Hong Kong Open, only a few days after his marriage. Lee ended the year with a loss in the opening match of the Super Series Master Finals and subsequently pulled out of tournament due to a thigh injury.
2013.
Lee took the Korea Open title for the third time. A week later, he captured his ninth Malaysia Open title, which broke the record of eight titles previously held by Wong Peng Soon. Lee then lost in the final of the All England Open to Chen Long. Lee said he was disappointed with his performance during the tournament, despite marching into the final.
In April, he lost in the semi-finals of the Australia Open to the young Chinese player Tian Houwei. He then won his second India Open title and fifth Indonesia Open. In August, Lee marched into the final of the World Championships, but his hopes were once again dashed in a repeat of his 2011 final and 2010 Asian Games defeats against Lin Dan. He suffered leg cramps late into the third game. After attempting to continue, he had to retire and was subsequently stretchered to hospital.
After the World Championships Lee participated in four Super Series tournaments. First, he took the Japan Open title for the fourth time. Then he lost in the final of the Denmark Open and semifinal of the French Open, and triumphed again in the Hong Kong Open.
Lee won a record fourth Masters Finals title, the season ending Super Series tournament.
2014.
In January, Lee lost in the final of Korea Open to Chen Long, his fourth straight defeat by the Chinese. He recorded his tenth Malaysia Open title a week later. Soon after the triumph, he announced it would be his last Malaysia Open outing, as he would assess his condition after the Asian Games and might retire if the results were not good.
However, his form improved and he won his third All England Open and India Open titles, although he was beaten by Simon Santoso in final of the Singapore Open. In the Thomas Cup, Lee won every match he played. Malaysia reached the finals, but lost to Japan with a score of 3–2.
In June, he won the Japan Open for the third consecutive year and fifth time overall. He then lost in the semifinals of the Indonesia Open, ending his hopes of nine straight Super Series finals. Due to a serious hamstring injury, Lee withdrew from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in July, also ending his hopes of being the first men's singles shuttler to win 3 back-to-back gold medals at the games.
Lee resumed play in August where he finished second for the third time at the World Championships, losing to Chen Long of China in straight sets. He again lost to Chen in the semifinals of Asian Games team competition, and to Lin Dan in the semifinals of the singles event a few days later.
Doping.
In October 2014, local media reported that the Badminton Association of Malaysia confirmed that one of the nation's top shuttlers tested positive for dexamethasone after urine samples were taken during the World Championships in late August. The identity of the shuttler was not revealed but was widely believed to be Lee Chong Wei. Dexamethasone is not a performance-enhancing drug but a commonly administered anti-inflammatory corticosteroid that is not illegal when used off-season for injury rehabilitation, but deemed illegal if discovered in an athlete's body during competition.
On 5 November 2014, Lee flew to Norway to witness the testing of his "B" sample at the Oslo University Hospital after the "A" sample had already tested positive in October. The results were announced on 8 November 2014 by a Malaysian sports official who confirmed that the "B" sample had tested positive as well. He declined to identify the player but confirmed to The Associated Press that it was Lee.
On 11 November 2014, the Badminton World Federation confirmed that Lee was temporarily suspended from competing due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation. The hearing was held on 11 April 2015 in Amsterdam.
On 27 April 2015, it was announced that Lee had been handed a backdated eight-month ban for his anti-doping rule violation. The panel was convinced that Lee had no intent to cheat and allowed him to resume his career by 1 May 2015. Lee was stripped of his silver medal from the 2014 World Championships but allowed to keep his two bronze medals from the 2014 Asian Games.
2015.
The Sudirman Cup was Lee's first tournament after serving the eight-month suspension for a doping violation. He went on to win all three matches he played in the tournament. He then took back to back titles by winning the US Open and Canada Open. Lee again had to settle for second place at the World Championships as he lost to Chen Long in the final.
After the World Championships, Lee endured three early round exits. First, in the second round of the Japan Open, followed by the qualifying rounds of the Korea Open, and then in the second round of Denmark Open.
After three early round losses, Lee bounced back to win the French Open, followed by his first ever China Open title, thus making him the first ever men's singles shuttler to have won all Super Series titles. The following week, Lee won the Hong Kong Open. However Lee did not qualify for the Super Series Finals, ending the year with three back-to-back titles.
2016.
In January, Lee won his fifth Malaysia Masters title. In March, Lee lost in the first round of All England Open, and also in the second round of the India Open. In April, Lee won his 11th Malaysia Open title, then followed by his second Badminton Asia Championships title. At the Thomas Cup in May, Malaysia lost to eventual winners Denmark in the semi-finals despite Lee winning all the matches he contested in the tournament. In June, Lee won his 6th and record-equaling Indonesia Open title, becoming the third shuttler and first non-Indonesian to win the title six times. He was set to play in the Australian Open, but withdrew due to a muscle injury.
On 5 August 2016, Lee led the Malaysia contingent during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. In the men's singles competition he made it to the final, defeating his longtime rival Lin Dan in the semifinals in a dominating performance. However, he was defeated by Chen Long in the final, his third successive defeat in the final of the Olympic Games.
In September, Lee won his sixth Japan Open title. Since then, Lee has failed to win any tournament he participated in: he was defeated in the third round of the Denmark Open, pulled out from the French Open due to a hamstring injury, and ended the year with a group stage exit in the Super Series Finals.
2017.
He started 2017 season with his fourth win in All England Open. He nearly missed out on the tournament after tearing the medial collateral ligament during a training session at the new Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM), this caused his feud with technical director Morten Frost, as Frost was not receptive to his complaint, asking for the slippery mats to be replaced. Lee lost to Lin Dan for two consecutive tournaments, the first in the final of Malaysia Open, and the second in semifinals of Badminton Asia Championships.
In May, Lee won all the matches he contested during the Sudirman Cup. A month after, he lost in the second round of Indonesia Open. In August, Lee was upset by Brice Leverdez in the first round of the World Championships, soon after, he apologises to Malaysians for his defeat in his Twitter account but received some touching reply from the fans.
In September, he lost in his 100th career final, the Japan Open. He was knocked off in the early rounds of next three Super Series tournament, second round of Denmark Open, first round of French Open, and quarter-finals of the China Open. He won the Hong Kong Open title, only his second title this year.
He ended the year with lost in the final of Super Series Finals.
2018.
Lee won his fifth Commonwealth Games gold medal in April, and settled for silver in the mixed team event.
He failed to win any World Tour titles in first half of the year. He bowed out in the first round of Malaysia Masters, a tournament which he claimed he did not intend to participate in, third round of All England Open, and semi-finals of Badminton Asia Championships.
In the team event, Lee managed to win all his matches, in both the Badminton Asia Team Championships and Thomas Cup. Malaysia reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals in the respective events.
In July 2018, Lee extended his own record at the Malaysia Open, taking a 12th title in his 14th final, and reached the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open. A week before the World Championships, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) announced that Lee would not be able to take part in the championships and also the Asian Games as he has to undergo treatment for a respiratory-related disorder. His participation in these two tournaments was in doubt even before the announcement after media reported that he was absent from the training. He was diagnosed with early stage of nasopharynx cancer and received treatment in Taiwan.
Retirement.
On 13 June 2019, Lee announced his retirement after almost a year since he was diagnosed with nose cancer and failed to return to competition despite dropping several hints that he would make a return in early 2019. This ended his 19-year-long international badminton career. The retirement came under his doctor's advice to avoid high-intensity training to avoid a relapse of his cancer.
Members of the media and players alike paid tribute to him after the announcement. His career-long rival, Lin Dan, wrote on Sina Weibo that he now has to "head into battle alone, as he no longer has a companion anymore (独自上场没人陪我了)", and shared a song titled "Don't Cry, Friend" (朋友别哭).
Awards.
Below is the list of awards won by Lee. Lee also won the lifetime athlete award in 2016.
Honours.
Lee was conferred with a Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN), which carried the title Datuk by Governor of Penang, Abdul Rahman Abbas on 30 August 2008 following his achievement in 2008 Olympic Games. Prior to this, he has been awarded the Ahli Mangku Negara (AMN) in 2006. On 6 June 2009, Lee received the Darjah Bakti (DB) award, from Mizan Zainal Abidin, in conjunction with the Birthday of Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
On 5 July 2012, Lee was conferred the rank of Lieutenant commander (Honorary) of the Royal Malaysian Navy Volunteer Reserve Unit. On 7 October 2016, Lee was promoted to the rank of honorary Commander of the Royal Malaysian Navy Volunteer Reserve Unit in recognition of his success at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. On 15 October 2016, Lee was made a recipient of Darjah Cemerlang Seri Melaka (DCSM) carrying the title of "Datuk Wira" from Malacca Governor Mohd Khalil Yaakob. In September 2017, he was conferred Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN), which carries the title Datuk, by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Muhammad V.
In popular culture.
In December 2017, the first trailer for his biopic movie was released. Entitled "Lee Chong Wei", the biopic premiered on 9 March 2018 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, and was released nationwide on 15 March 2018.


NBA G League Finals Most Valuable Player Award

The NBA G League Finals Most Valuable Player is an annual award given by the NBA G League since 2015, when the competition was known as the NBA Development League (D-League), to the best performing player of the championship series. Elliot Williams of the Santa Cruz Warriors was named the inaugural winner of the award after leading the Warriors to a 2–0 Finals series victory over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in 2015.


Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh Phogat (born 25 August 1994) is an Indian wrestler who comes from a successful family of wrestlers, with her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, being international wrestlers and Commonwealth Games medalists as well.
She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win Gold in both Commonwealth and Asian games. Phogat has become the First Indian Athlete to be Nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards to be held on February 18, 2019.
Personal life and family.
Vinesh is the daughter of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat's younger brother Rajpal and cousin of wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari. Both her cousins have won gold in 55 kg category in Commonwealth Games.
In allowing her cousins and herself to pursue competitive wrestling, her father and uncle had to deal with immense pressure and opposition from the community in their village in Haryana. They were adjudged as going against the morals and values of their community. Her cousin, Ritu Phogat, too is an international level wrestler and has won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
On 13 December 2018, she married her long-time boyfriend and fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee of Bakhta Khera village of Jind district, who is a two times gold medalist in the national championship. The couple knew each other since 2011 and both work for the Indian Railways where they met and fell in love.
Career.
2013 Asian Wrestling Championships.
In 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, India, Vinesh won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 52 kg category, winning 3:0 in the bronze medal bout through the repechage round to Tho-Kaew Sriprapa of Thailand.
In the first round, Vinesh won 3:1 against Nanami Irie of Japan. She then lost 1:3 in the quarter-finals to Tatyana Amanzhol of Kazakhstan who qualified for the final thus qualifying the Indian grappler for the repechage round.
2013 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.
In an exclusive tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Vinesh finished second and won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category, losing in the final round to Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria.
2014 Commonwealth Games.
Vinesh represented India in the women's freestyle 48 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and won the gold medal.
In the quarter-finals, Vinesh faced Rosemary Nweke of Nigeria and beat her 5–0. Her semi-finals opponent was Jasmine Mian of Canada whom she beat 4–1. In the gold medal bout, she faced home favourite Yana Rattigan of England and won the gold medal, beating her 3–1.
2014 Asian Games.
At 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, Vinesh won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.
In the Round of 16, Vinesh faced Yongmi Pak from the People's Republic of Korea and beat her 3:1. Her quarter-finals opponent was Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan whom she overcame easily with a 5:0 scoreline. She lost 1:3 in the semi-finals to Eri Tosaka of Japan but qualified for the bronze medal bout and beat Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia to win 10-0 easily after referee stopped the bout (classification points 4:0).
2015–2017.
At the 2015 Asian Championships in Doha, Phogat won the silver medal in her category after losing the final to Yuki Irie of Japan. In the qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics held in Istanbul, she won in the final round beating Polish wrestler Iwona Matkowska, and qualified for the Olympics in the process.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Vinesh reached the Quarter Finals and lost to Sun Yanan of China owing to a knee injury.
2018 Gold Coast CommonWealth Games.
Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal in women's 50 kg freestyle wrestling at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
2018 Asian Games.
Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and became first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in the Asian Games. Phogat beat Japan's Yuki Irie in Women's 50 kg Freestyle Wrestling gold medal match 6–2.
2019 Asian Wrestling Championships.
Vinesh won the bronze medal in 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships by defeating World Championships bronze medallist Qianyu Pang of China.
2019 Yasar Dogu International.
Phogat won gold in the 2019 Yasar Dogu International by defeating Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia.
2019 Poland Open wrestling tournament.
Vinesh Phogat bagged her third consecutive gold in women's 53 kg category after winning the Poland Open wrestling tournament in Warsaw.
2019 World Wrestling Championships.
Vinesh Phogat bagged a maiden World Championship medal in the women's 53 kg category after pinning Maria Prevolaraki in the Bronze medal match. She became the first Indian wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by virtue of her top six finish.
2020 season
In January 2020, Phogat won gold in Rome Ranking Series, defeating Luisa Elizabeth Valverde (4-0).
2021 season
2021 Outstanding Ukrainian Wrestlers and Coaches Memorial tournament.
Vinesh Phogat defeated 2017 world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskay to win the gold medal in February 2021 at the tournament held in Kiev.
Vinesh opened up a 4-0 lead in the 53kg final with a throw which she initiated with a left-leg attack but Kaladzinskay made it 4-4 with her brilliant move.
Vinesh took the break leading 6-4, adding to her score with a takedown, 10 seconds before the break.
The Belarusian put pressure on the Indian with another four-point throw but with 25 seconds to go, Vinesh's move fetched her four more points for a 10-8 lead. She got into a position from where she pinned Kaladzinskay to ensure herself a gold.
Since the coronavirus halted all competitions in 2020, it was the first competition for Vinesh in 2021, who is the only Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for the Tokyo Games.
2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event.
Vinesh Phogat won her second gold medal in as many weeks with a dominant win in the event and reclaimed the top rank in the her category.
Vinesh blanked Canada’s Diana Mary Helen Weicker 4-0 where she scored all her points in the first period and held on to her lead in the second to ensure a top-of-the-podium finish.
The Indian had entered the event as world number three but is back to world number one by jumping 14 points. The Canadian was ranked as low as 40 before the tournament but is now just behind Vinesh at number two.
Vinesh did not concede a single point at this tournament, winning two of her three bouts by pinning her rivals while getting injury walkouts in the other two in the eight-woman field.
International Competition.
Asian Games.
!Year
!Competition
!Venue
!Event
!Rank
!Opponent
!Result


Hickok Belt

The S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award, known as the Hickok Belt, is a trophy that was awarded from 1950 to 1976 (27 years) to the top professional athlete of the year in the United States, and then re-established in 2012. It was created by Ray and Alan Hickok in honor of their father, Stephen Rae Hickok, who had died unexpectedly in 1945 and had founded the Hickok Manufacturing Company of Rochester, New York, which made belts—hence the choice of a belt for the trophy.
The trophy was an alligator-skin belt with a solid-gold buckle, an encrusted 4-carat (800 mg) diamond, and 26 gem chips. It was valued at over $10,000 in the currency of the time (US$90,000 to $140,000 in 2011 dollars) and its presentation was a major event in sporting news of the day.
For the first 21 years, from 1950 to 1970, it was awarded in Rochester at the annual Rochester Press-Radio Club dinner (and continues today). After the Hickok company was taken over by the Tandy Corporation, the award was presented in larger cities such as Chicago or New York. The last award was made in 1976.
In 2010, Tony Liccione, the president of the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame, announced plans to reinstate the Hickok Belt starting in 2012. The mold for the belt starting in 1951 (the first belt in 1950 misspelled Hickok's name as "Ray") was found and planned to be used again. Liccione invited the 18 surviving belt winners (except O.J. Simpson, who at the time was incarcerated in Nevada) to the Comeback Dinner, which was held on October 16, 2011 at St. John Fisher College.
Since being re-established in 2012, the award has been based on a vote by the National Sports Media Association; however, there have been no public award ceremonies or belt presentations. A 20-member panel chooses one athlete each month, with the twelve monthly winners being eligible for the award at the end of the calendar year. Of the awards given since 2012, two have been presented to LeBron James and two to Patrick Mahomes.


Sandeep Chaudhary

Sandeep Chaudhary (born 10 April 1996) is an Indian Javelin thrower who competes in Javelin throw (F44 Category). He represented India at the 2018 Asian Para Games Indonesia where he won a Gold Medal setting a New WORLD RECORD (60.01). In 2019 he participated in the Paris Grand Prix (GOLD), the Italian Grand Prix (GOLD -new world record 65.80).
He has also been a part of Indian para javelin team for Rio Paralympics where he stood overall 4th.
He hails from Gurgaon, Haryana. He completed his graduation from Hansraj College (DELHI UNIVERSITY).
He is the only Single Indian Para Athlete who Achieved all World Records as He is the games record holder.


David Steele (cricketer)

David Stanley Steele (born 29 September 1941) is an English former international cricketer. Tony Greig picked him for England in 1975 when he was close to retirement from county cricket for Northamptonshire.
Steele, who was born in Bradeley, Stoke-on-Trent, was a middle-order batsman. In his eight Test matches, he played against fast bowlers including Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson for Australia; and Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Wayne Daniel and Vanburn Holder for the West Indies. His arrival followed a period of great difficulty for the national team mired in a difficult 1975 Ashes series. It led to the phrase, coined by Clive Taylor of The Sun, that he was like a "bank clerk who went to war".
He was appointed as county captain of Derbyshire in 1979 but resigned after six weeks. He played for the club from 1979 to 1981.
Life and career.
Making his debut against Australia at Lord's in 1975, he got lost in the pavilion as he went out to bat. Steele went down one too many flights of stairs and found himself in the basement toilets. He managed to make the field of play without becoming the first Test batsman to be timed out. Once he did arrive at the crease, fast bowler Jeff Thomson gave him a typically Australian welcome. Eyeing Steele's prematurely greying hair at 33, Thomson asked: "Bloody hell, who've we got here, Groucho Marx?"
That summer, however, Steele scored 50, 45, 73, 92, 39 and 66 against the Australians in his trademark staunch, courageous and steady manner. When presenting Steele his cap in the dressing room before his debut, captain Tony Greig felt tears fall on his hand and considered that "Here was a man who would fight for me to the death". His ability to stand up to hostile fast bowling, which other batsmen had struggled to cope with, and attack with the hook shot, raised morale among his teammates and spectators alike.
In the following year, he commenced against the even more fearsome fast bowling attack of the West Indies by scoring a century at Trent Bridge. Oddly, he was overlooked for that winter's tour to India based on the theory that he could not play spin bowlers. He duly returned to county cricket and finished his career back at Northampton in 1984 having scored over 22,000 runs, of which 673 came in Tests.
Steele was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1975, and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1976.


Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal (, born 17 March 1990) is an Indian professional badminton singles player. A former world no. 1, she has won over 24 international titles, which includes eleven Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in the 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world no. 1 ranking, thereby becoming the only female player from India and overall the second Indian player – after Prakash Padukone – to achieve this feat. She has represented India three times in the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in her second appearance.
Nehwal has achieved several milestones in badminton for India. She is the only Indian to have won at least one medal in every BWF major individual event, namely the Olympics, the BWF World Championships, and the BWF World Junior Championships. She is the first Indian badminton player to have won an Olympic medal, the first Indian to have reached the final of the BWF World Championships, along with being the only Indian to have won the BWF World Junior Championships or. In 2006, Nehwal became the first Indian female and the youngest Asian to win a 4-star tournament. She also has the distinction of being the first Indian to win a Super Series title. In the 2014 Uber Cup, she captained the Indian team and remained undefeated, helping India to win bronze medal. It was India's first medal in any BWF major team event. Nehwal became the first Indian to win two singles gold medals (2010 and 2018) in Commonwealth Games.
Considered one of the most successful Indian sportspersons, she is credited for increasing the popularity of badminton in India. In 2016, the Government of India (GoI) conferred the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – on her. Previously, the nation's top two sporting honours, namely the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award, were also conferred on her by the Government of India. Nehwal is a philanthropist and was ranked 18th on the list of most charitable athletes.
Early life.
Saina Nehwal, the daughter of Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal, was born in Hisar. She has only one sibling, an elder sister named Chandranshu Nehwal. Her father, who has a PhD in agricultural science, worked at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. She completed her first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar. She finished 12th grade from the St. Ann's College for Women, Hyderabad.
When her father was promoted and transferred from Haryana to Hyderabad, she took up badminton at the age of eight to express herself as she did not know the local language well enough to socialise with other kids. Her parents played badminton for a number of years. Her mother, Usha Rani, was a state level badminton player in Haryana. Nehwal took up badminton to fulfill her mother's dream of becoming a national level badminton player, while her sister played volleyball. Her father, who was among the top players in the university circuit, used his provident fund to invest in good badminton training for her. After moving to Hyderabad in 1998, she was enrolled in a karate class by her parents, which she continued for a year and earned a brown belt. She started eating non-vegetarian food in 2005 while in China.
Career.
2006–2007.
In 2006, Nehwal became the under-19 national champion and created history by winning the "Asian Satellite Badminton tournament" (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first player to do so. In May 2006, at age 16, she became the first Indian woman and the youngest player from Asia to win a 4-star tournament – the Philippines Open. Entering the tournament as the 86th seed, she went on to stun several top seeded players including the then world number two Xu Huaiwen before defeating Julia Wong Pei Xian of Malaysia for the title.
Few months after she entered the International Badminton Circuit, Nehwal participated at the World Championships where she lost to Jiang Yanjiao of China. The same year Nehwal reached the final of 2006 BWF World Junior Championships where she lost a hard-fought match against top seed Chinese Wang Yihan. She also competed at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
In 2007 At a very young age of 17, Nehwal went on to take part at the All England, where she challenged experienced Wang Chen in the Round 2, but went down in 3 games 21–17, 13–21, 16–21. She represented India at the Sudirman Cup in Scotland in 2007. At the 2007 BWF World Championships, she won her opening matches against Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland and 13th seed Juliane Schenk of Germany, but lost the next round to French Pi Hongyan with score 13–21, 17–21. She was the finalist at the Indian International challenge in 2007 where she lost to Kanako Yonekura in 2 games.
2008.
Two years after losing the final to Wang Yihan, she became first Indian to win World Junior Badminton Championships by defeating ninth seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato 21–9, 21–18. She participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she was unseeded. She began her fight with a win against Russian Ella Diehl (2–0) in Round 1 & Ukrainian Larisa Griga (2–0) in 2nd round. She became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals when she upset reigning Asian Games champion no. four seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller. In the quarter-finals Nehwal lost a 3-gamer to world number 16 Maria Kristin Yulianti. Nehwal was leading 11–3 in the decider but couldn't hold on against her opponent and lost the match with 28–26, 14–21, 15–21 scoreline.
In September 2008, she won the Chinese Taipei Open 2008 beating Lydia Cheah Li Ya of Malaysia 21–8, 21–19. She was also a semifinalist at the China Masters Superseries after she beat reigning World Champion Zhu Lin in quarterfinals. Nehwal was named "The Most Promising Player" by the Badminton World Federtion in 2008. She qualified for the season ending Superseries Finals which consists of most consistent players of the year. She defeated Pi Hongyan and Wong Mew Choo in early rounds. She lost to Tine Baun in Round 3. She entered semifinals but lost to Wang Chen with scores 21–15, 14–21, 16–21.
2009.
In June, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title, the most prominent badminton series of the world by winning the Indonesia Open. She beat Chinese Wang Lin in the final 12–21, 21–18, 21–9. Nehwal on winning the tournament said, "I had been longing to win a super series tournament since my quarter final appearance at the Olympics". She is at par with the likes of Prakash Padukone and her mentor Pullela Gopichand who both won the all England championships which are of similar status to the super series.
In August 2009, she reached to the quarterfinals of the World Championships, losing to the second seed Wang Lin. She qualified for the season ending Superseries Finals in December, where she lost the opening match to Wong Mew Choo (Eventual Champion) but won the next two group matches against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk & Canada's Charmaine Reid. She again reached the semifinals of this tournament but went down, this time to Germany's Juliane Schenk. She won India Grand Prix tournament later in the year, defeating compatriot Aditi Mutatkar in the final with scores 21–17, 21–13.
2010.
She became the first Indian woman to reach the semi finals of All England before losing to eventual champion Tine Rasmussen. Top seeded Nehwal reached the semifinals of Asian Championships, losing out to unseeded eventual champion Li Xuerui of China, settling for bronze medal. Her coach Pullela Gopichand advised her not exert too much pressure on herself due to the overwhelming home crowd support.
Nehwal won the 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold, beating Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in the final and thus justifying her billing as top seed in the tournament. Nehwal, again seeded no.1, won the Singapore Open Super Series 2010, by beating qualifier Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in the final of the Singapore Open 21–18, 21–15 having defeated World Champion Lu Lan earlier in the semifinal. Nehwal reached a career high of world no. 3 in the women's singles badminton world rankings on 24 June 2010.
She defended her Indonesia Open title in three tough games against Sayaka Sato, 21–19, 13–21, 21–11. This was her third super series title and her third successive title following wins at Indian open & Singapore Super series. On 15 July 2010, with 64791.26 points, Nehwal reached a career high world ranking of No. 2 only behind Wang Yihan of China. 2nd seed Nehwal, a tournament favourite, crashed out of the 2010 BWF World Championships in Paris after losing to 4th ranked Chinese Wang Shixian in straight sets 8–21, 14–21.
As on 27 September 2010, Nehwal dropped to No. 7 ranking after giving a miss to 2010 China Masters Super Series and 2010 Japan Super Series due to her preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Top seed Nehwal won the gold medal in the Women's Singles badminton event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. after beating Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 19–21, 23–21, 21–13. After her win Nehwal said, "when I was a match-point down, it was like a shock. It was a big match and winning it means a lot to me. Even many years from now, those present here will always remember how Saina won the gold. It is a proud feeling". Nehwal confirmed her participation for the 2010 Hong Kong Super Series after a gap of more than five months since her win in the 2010 Indonesia Super Series in June 2010. On 12 December 2010, she defeated Wang Shixian 15–21, 21–16, 21–17 in the final of the 2010 Hong Kong Super Series to win her fourth career Super Series title.
2011.
2nd seeded Nehwal beat Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea 21–13, 21–14 to win the Swiss Open title. Nehwal faltered after a good start as she lost to the then world number three Wang Xin of China in the finals to finish runner-up in the 2011 Malaysian Open tournament. She was a part of Indian Team in the 2011 BWF Double Star Sudirman Cup mixed team who managed to reach the quarterfinals of this elite mixed team event for the first time ever, as India managed to beat Thailand 3–2, even when Nehwal lost her tie against Ratchanok Intanon. In the quarterfinals against China, Nehwal put up her best performance and beat the then world number two Wang Xin with 21–15, 21–11, but still the Chinese managed to move into the semi finals with a 3–1 win over India.
In attempt to record a third straight win at the Indonesian Open, she reached the finals once more where she lost to Wang Yihan of China to finish as runner-up, on 26 June. Nehwal crashed out of the 2011 World Championship as she lost 15–21, 10–21 to Wang Xin. Nehwal, who reached the quarterfinals in the last two editions of the event, had to be content with yet another last-eight finish. During the season ending tournament 2011 BWF Super Series Masters Finals in Liuzhou in December, Nehwal won her all group matches against Bae Yeon-ju, Sayaka Sato and Wang Xin and once again reached the semifinals. She created history by becoming the first Indian singles player to reach the final after defeating World No. 5 Tine Baun of Denmark scoring 21–17, 21–18 win. She lost the final 21–18, 13–21, 13–21 against the World No. 1 Wang Yihan in a contest lasting over an hour.
2012.
Nehwal successfully defended her Swiss Open Title by defeating Wang Shixian 21–19, 21–16 on 18 March 2012, a day after she turned 22 years old. On 10 June 2012, she defeated Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon 19–21, 21–15, 21–10, to lift the Thailand Open title. On 17 June 2012, Nehwal won the 3rd consecutive Indonesia Open by defeating Li Xuerui, a player who was on 30 match winning streak with most dominant performance in the season so far with scores 13–21, 22–20, 21–19.
At the London Olympics, Nehwal was seeded 4th in the Draw. In the Group stage she defeated Swiss Sabrina Jaquet (2–0) & Belgian Lianne Tan both in straight games. She reached the knockout phase where she defeated Dutch Yao Jie with scores 21–14, 21–16. She then faced Tine Baun, the no. 5 seed whom she defeated with 21–15, 22–20 scoreline. She afterwards advanced to semifinals where she lost to top seed Wang Yihan in two straight games 13–21, 13–21. On 4 August 2012, she won the bronze medal when Wang Xin retired from the match after an injury at 18–21, 0–1.
On 21 October 2012, she won the Denmark Open after defeating Germany's Juliane Schenk. Nehwal successfully entered the finals of French Open, but she lost against Minatsu Mitani in straight sets. She participated at the season ending Superseries Finals. In the group stage, she lost to Tine Baun (1–2), won against Juliane Schenk (2–0) & lost the 3rd match to Ratchanok Intanon (0–2).
She reached the semifinals but lost a well contested match to Li Xuerui of 3 games, 20–22, 21–7, 13–21.
2013–2014.
Nehwal reached the semifinal of All England also but was defeated by 3-time World Junior Champion Ratchanok Intanon. She has yet another quarterfinal finish at the World Championships, after going down to Korean Bae Yeon-ju with score 21–23, 9–21. She qualified for the season ending Superseries finals held at Kualalumpur where she lost to Minatsu Mitani and Li Xuerui, but won the last group match against Bae Yeon-ju in 3 games. However, she failed to progress to the semifinals.
On 26 January 2014, Nehwal defeated World Championship bronze medalist P.V. Sindhu 21–14, 21–17 to win the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold Tournament. In the final of 2014 Australian Super Series on 29 June 2014, Nehwal defeated Spain's Carolina Marin 21–18, 21–11 to win the title. She withdrew from 2014 Commonwealth Games due to fitness Issue & injury problems she carried during Australian Open. She lost in the quarterfinals of World Championships again, this time to Li Xuerui. She was the quarter-finalist at the Asian Games as well, where she lost to Wang Yihan. She became the first Indian player to win the China Open by beating Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21–12, 22–20 in the final. She contested at the Superseries Finals and won all of her group matches against top seed Wang Shixian (2–0), Bae Yeon-ju (2–1) & Sung Ji-hyun (2–0).
She reached the semifinals once more, but lost to eventual champion Tai Tzu-ying with scores 21–11, 13–21, 9–21.
2015.
Defending champion Nehwal won the Syed Modi International by defeating Carolina Marín in the final. She became the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the finals of the All England, but lost to Marín in the final. On 29 March 2015, Nehwal won her maiden women's singles title at the India Open, by beating Ratchanok Intanon. This assured her of becoming World number 1 when the latest BWF rankings were released on 2 April. With this, she became the first Indian player to achieve this feat in Women's category.
At the World Championship held in Jakarta, Nehwal was seeded 2nd. She defeated Cheung Ngan Yi & Sayaka Takahashi in early rounds & reached the quarterfinals where she faced Chinese Wang Yihan. She was able to beat her in 3 games 21–15, 19–21, 21–19; thus assured herself of first ever medal at the World Championships. She beat home hope Lindaweni Fanetri in semifinal & created history by becoming First Ever player from India to contest World badminton championship finals. She settled for the silver after going down to Carolina Marín in final.
Defending champion Nehwal fought hard before going down to Li Xuerui in the final of the China Open. She took part at the Season Ending Championships where she lost against Tai Tzu-ying & Nozomi Okuhara (Eventual winner) but won against Carolina Marín, a player she struggled to beat in the whole year, in one of the group matches. However she failed to reach the knockout phase.
2016.
Nehwal dealt with injuries in early 2016 but she eventually recovered. She reached the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships after defeating the third seed Wang Shixian but settled for bronze medal, after losing to Wang Yihan 16–21, 14–21. At the Australian Super Series, Nehwal went into the finals after beating Ratchanok Intanon in quarters & Wang Yihan in semifinals. She defeated China's Sun Yu in the final by 11–21, 21–14, 21–19.
Making her third appearance at the Olympics, Nehwal, the fifth seed, won her opening match against the unseeded Lohaynny Vicente in straight games. However, she lost her second match against the world no. 61 from Ukraine Marija Ulitina by 18–21, 19–21, thereby making an exit at the group stage. Her coach cited the week-old knee injury for her below par performance. She was appointed as a member of IOC Athletes' Commission in October. She was also chosen as an Integrity Ambassador in BWF's Campaign – "I am Badminton" in December to promote clean and fair play in the sport.
2017.
Nehwal went on to win Malaysia Masters by defeating Pornpawee Chochuwong with score 22–20, 22–20. She couldn't do well much of the year due to injury; she was still recovering. She was seeded 12th in the World Championship at Glasgow. She ousted Sabrina Jaquet in Round 1. She beat 2nd seed Sung Ji-hyun in Round of 16 and reached quarterfinals for 7th straight time. She had to dug deep into her reservoir to eke out a 21–19, 18–21, 21–15 win over world No. 31 Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the quarterfinal. However, she lost the semifinal to eventual winner Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, thus won the bronze medal. She then won the 82nd national badminton championship by beating P. V. Sindhu in the final.
2018.
Nehwal reached the finals of the 2018 Indonesia Masters. En route to the finals she beat 3 seeded players Chen Yufei, P.V. Sindhu and Ratchanok Intanon. However she attained second best after losing the final to Tai Tzu-ying. She won her second gold in Commonwealth Games women's singles after beating P. V. Sindhu in the final and eventually led the Indian team to another gold medal in the Mixed Team event. She then clinched a bronze in the Asian Championships which was her third medal in the tournament altogether, as she went down fighting to the defending champion Tai Tzu Ying. At the 2018 World Championships, Nehwal was seeded 10th. She outgunned Turkish Aliye Demirbag & advanced to next round. She further ousted 4th seed Ratchanok Intanon and reached World Championships quarter-final for record 8th straight time. She lost tamely to Carolina Marín there, in an unexpectedly lop-sided clash.
Nehwal was unseeded at the 2018 Asian Games. She defeated Iran's Sorayya Aghaei in round of 32 and Indonesia's Fitriani in second round both in straight games. She then won the quarterfinal, after making a stunning comeback against 4th seeded Ratchanok Intanon, when she was 3–12 down in Game 1 but eventually won it in 2 games thus made it to the semifinals. She made history by winning the first medal for India in Badminton after a long wait of 36 years. She lost to Tai Tzu Ying in the semifinal, winning a bronze medal. She achieved a rare feat by winning medals from the quintet of badminton tournaments – the Olympics, the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Championships and the Asian Games.
At 2018 Denmark Open, Nehwal was unseeded. She defeated Hongkonger Cheung Ngan Yi scoring 20–22, 21–17, 24–22 in her favour. She then defeated 2 tough Japanese opponents in successive rounds; beating Akane Yamaguchi & Nozomi Okuhara. After an easy win against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in semifinal, she met her arch-rival and the no.1 seed Tai Tzu-ying. In the past 16 meetings Tai had won 11 and Nehwal wanted to break that jinx but couldn't managed and went down by 13–21, 21–13, 6–21. Nehwal went into the finals of Syed Modi Badminton Super 300 tournament but lost to Han Yue of China.
2019.
She won her first BWF Super 500 title, the Indonesia Masters, against Carolina Marín, after the latter retired from the court injured. Defending her national championship title in Guwahati, Assam, Nehwal refused to play her singles match citing poor playing surface, and went on to win the National Championship by defeating
top seed P. V. Sindhu with 21–18, 21–15.This was her 4th National title. Her incredible consistent record at the World Championships came to an end after she lost to Mia Blichfeldt in pre-quarterfinal in 3 hard fought games 21–15, 25–27, 12–21.
Achievements.
Olympic Games.
"Women's singles"
BWF World Championships.
"Women's singles"
Commonwealth Games.
"Women's singles"
Asian Games.
"Women's singles"
Asian Championships.
"Women's singles"
BWF World Junior Championships.
"Girls' singles"
Commonwealth Youth Games.
"Girls' singles"
BWF World Tour (1 title, 3 runners-up).
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.
"Women's singles"
BWF Superseries (10 titles, 5 runners-up).
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year.
"Women's singles"
BWF Grand Prix (10 titles, 1 runner-up).
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.
"Women's singles"
BWF International Challenge/Series/Satellite (2 titles, 1 runner-up).
"Women's singles"
Record against selected opponents.
Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 18 January 2021.
Personal life.
Nehwal and her family speak the Haryanvi language at home. She is a fan of Shah Rukh Khan and Mahesh Babu. She is in the process of opening a badminton academy in her native state of Haryana.
She married a fellow badminton player, Parupalli Kashyap in a private ceremony on 14 December 2018.
Politics.
Nehwal joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi on 29 January 2020 in the presence of party's national general secretary Arun Singh. Her sister Abu Chandranshu Nehwal also joined the party. She was quoted as saying "Narendra Modi is working hard for the country, and has always inspired me."
Accolades.
Endorsements.
In 2002, sports brand Yonex offered to sponsor Nehwal's kit. As her status and rankings improved, the number of sponsorships also increased. In 2004, Bharat Petroleum signed the rising star. She is one of the athletes supported by Olympic Gold Quest. She endorses Commune Builder, Edelweiss Group, Emami, Fortune Cooking Oil, Godrej No Marks, Herbalife Nutrition, Huawei Honor smartphone. Indian Overseas Bank, Iodex, NECC, Sahara Group, Star Sports, Top Ramen Noodles, Vaseline and Yonex.
Nehwal signed an endorsement deal worth Rs. 400 million with the popular sports management firm Rhiti Sports in 2012. However, she severed this deal in 2013 and signed up with KWAN entertainment and marketing solutions for an undisclosed sum. She has a dedicated sporting range with the multinational sports goods manufacturer Yonex, 4% of the profits of which goes to her.
In popular culture.
Nehwal has been invited on popular Indian television shows as a guest including "Satyamev Jayate", "Comedy Nights with Kapil", "The Kapil Sharma Show, Sam Jam"
Her autobiography, "Playing to Win: My Life On and Off Court", was released in 2012.
As of 2021, a biopic on her, titled "Saina", directed by Amol Gupte with actress Parineeti Chopra playing the title role, was released on 26 March.
Legacy.
Saina Nehwal Institute of Agricultural Technology, Training & Education at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is named after her.


Paula Radcliffe

Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Marathon winner. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the Women's World Marathon Record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei.
Radcliffe is a former world champion in the marathon, half marathon and cross country. She has also been European champion over 10,000 metres and in cross country. On the track, Radcliffe won the 10,000 metres silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and was the 2002 Commonwealth champion at 5000 metres. She represented Great Britain at the Olympics in four consecutive games (1996 to 2008), although she never won an Olympic medal.
Her running has earned her a number of accolades including the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Laureus World Comeback of the Year, IAAF World Athlete of the Year, AIMS World Athlete of the Year (three times) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). She has also been nominated for World Sportswoman of the year on several occasions. In 2010, she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.
She ended her competitive running career at the 2015 London Marathon.
Early life.
Radcliffe was born on 17 December 1973 in Davenham near Northwich, Cheshire. Her family then moved to nearby Barnton where she attended Little Leigh Primary School. Despite suffering from asthma and anaemia, she took up running at the age of seven, influenced by her father who was a keen amateur marathon runner and joined Frodsham Athletic Club. Her family later moved to Kingsley.
When Radcliffe was aged 12, the family moved to Oakley, Bedfordshire and she became a member of Bedford & County Athletics Club. Her joining the club coincided with a talented and dedicated coach, Alex Stanton, building the women's and girls' sections into one of the strongest in the country, in spite of Bedford's relatively small size.
Radcliffe's father became club vice-chairman and her mother, a fun-runner, managed the women's cross-country team. Her first race at a national level came as a 12-year-old in 1986 when she placed 299th out of around 600 in the girls' race of the English Schools Cross Country Championships. She finished fourth in the same race one year later.
Radcliffe attended Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College. She went on to study French, German and economics at Loughborough University, gaining a first-class honours degree in modern European studies.
Running career.
Radcliffe's father was a keen marathon runner as a young man. He took up the hobby again in an attempt to lose weight after giving up smoking. Despite suffering from asthma Radcliffe took up running at the age of seven. In 1992 Radcliffe discovered that she suffers from anaemia. Radcliffe was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma at the age of 14 after blacking out whilst training. During her father's training jogs in the woods Radcliffe and her brother would often run with him for a mile or two. Radcliffe attended Frodsham Athletic Club until the age of nine, Radcliffe became a member of Bedford & County Athletics Club, when they moved to Oakley. There she was coached by Alex Stanton, who still fulfilled that role in her professional career. Stanton started to coach Radcliffe at the age of 12 after his wife Rosemary spotted her talent. At the age of 10 Radcliffe, accompanied by her father, watched Ingrid Kristiansen run in the London Marathon, inspiring her to become an athlete. Her first race at a national level came as a 12-year-old in 1986, when she placed 299th in the English Schools Cross Country Championships. In 1991 Radcliffe won the English Schools 1500 metres title.
1992–1996.
 At the 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Radcliffe, took the Junior title, beating Wang Junxia and Gete Wami in Boston, after recovering from a bad asthma attack in the weeks beforehand. Radcliffe then went to the Junior track World championships and finished fourth in the 3,000 metres. In her first senior race, in Durham at the start of 1993, Radcliffe finished second to Olympic Champion Derartu Tulu. At the age of 19 Radcliffe finished in seventh place at the 1993 World Championships. Radcliffe claimed back to back World Cross Challenge wins at Durham and Mallusk to start the 1994 season. Radcliffe missed the World Cross Country Championships with a foot injury. Radcliffe was initially misdiagnosed with the injury which forced her to miss all of 1994 and thought about quitting as the injury would not get better. At the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo in 1995 Radcliffe outkicked Tulu to run the third fastest time by a British woman for the 5,000 metres. At the World championships, Radcliffe qualified comfortably for the final of the 5,000 metres, where she finished fifth. At the 1996 Securicor Games Radcliffe ran the 5,000 metres finishing second. The Olympic Games saw Radcliffe finished fifth in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe rounded off 1996 by finishing third in a cross country race in Durham.
1997–2000.
1997 saw Radcliffe split Wami and Tulu, and win the silver medal at the 1997 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Radcliffe became the first woman to defend the Fifth Avenue Mile title. In the 1997 World Championships, Radcliffe finished in 4th place over the 5,000 metres. Wami again outsprinted Radcliffe in her final race of 1997, in the Brussels cross country event. Radcliffe had dropped out of Durham's cross country race with flu at the start of 1998, but bounced back to finish third in Dublin. At the 1998 edition of the World Cross Country, Radcliffe again won the silver medal. Radcliffe set a new world best for on the road around Balmoral Castle. At the European Cup Radcliffe, captaining the team, won the 5,000 metres and finished second in the 1500 metres. Radcliffe set the pace in the 10,000 metres at the European Championships, but finished fifth. Radcliffe, who was suffering from a virus, took some time off, before returning to the cross country discipline, where she won her first senior title by taking the European Long course race. 1998 finished with a fourth-place finish in Brussels.
Radcliffe started 1999 by finishing fourth in Durham. At the World Cross Country championships, Radcliffe finished with the bronze medal. Radcliffe then ran the seventh fastest 10,000 metres ever at the European 10,000 metres challenge. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe took two seconds off her own British record in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe took the silver at the World Championships behind finishing behind Wami in the 10,000 metres. Radcliffe and Loruope found themselves at the front and tried to get rid of Wami but failed as the Ethiopian took the title. At the Berlin Golden league meeting, Radcliffe finished eighth in the 5,000 metres. Radcliffe then ran the second fastest half marathon by a British woman, finishing third on her debut at the distance at the Great North Run, despite getting into a tangle with a spectator.
Starting 2000, Radcliffe won the Stormont Cross Country race for a third time. Radcliffe then finished fourth in Durham. Radcliffe then sustained a knee injury. For the European Cup, Radcliffe joined a host of other British athletes by pulled out injured. However, Radcliffe soon returned to the track for the first time since March after a virus, a knee operation and a calf muscle tear had kept her out; to race over 1,500 metres in Barcelona. In her first race since the World Cross Country, Radcliffe finished 11th. At the London Grand Prix, Radcliffe finished second, one second outside of her British record, in only her second track race of the season. At the Weltklasse Zürich IAAF Golden League meeting Radcliffe competed in the 3,000 metres and finished in fourth place. At the UK trials won the 5,000 metres title. The British Grand Prix saw Radcliffe race over 3000 metres, where once again she finished third. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Radcliffe finished sixth in her 10,000 metres heat to qualify for the final. In the final Radcliffe set a new British record, but crossed the line in fourth and was highly disappointed to miss out on a medal. Radcliffe returned to action by winning the BUPA Ireland five-mile race. At the Great North Run, Radcliffe ran a new European record for the half marathon, as she won the race in a time of 67 minutes and 7 seconds. Radcliffe was then selected for the 2000 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Mexico. Radcliffe won her first World title, despite suffering a panic attack when her nose tape, designed to help her breathe, fell off halfway round. The good run of form came to an end, when she turned her attention to the Cross Country events and finished third in Brussels. Radcliffe confirmed that her last race of the year would be the Great North Cross Country. There Radcliffe defeated Tulu by seventy-five seconds, in eight inches of snow.
She won back-to-back titles in the 2000 and 2001 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, winning a third title in 2003.
Cross country champion.
On 24 March, Radcliffe won the Ostend, Belgium-held World Cross Country Championships 2001 title in a time of 27:49.
Held in March in Dublin, Radcliffe defended her title in the Women's Long Race when she won the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for a second year. She won in 26:46.
Marathon world record.
In 2002, Radcliffe made the move up to the marathon, a decision that immediately paid off with victory at her debut in that year's London Marathon on 14 April 2002 in a world's best time for a women's only race (2:18:55). Her time was the second quickest in women's marathon history behind the world record of 2:18:47 set by Catherine Ndereba, of Kenya, in Chicago.
Later that year, Radcliffe set a world record time of 2:17:18 in the Chicago Marathon on 13 October 2002, breaking the previous record by a minute and a half.
She was awarded an MBE in June 2002. She said: "It means a great deal to me, it's a great honour and it really tops off an amazing year. To come here and receive this and to meet the Queen at the end of it just finishes it off perfectly."
Later the same year, she became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, making her the first woman in over a decade to be honoured with the accolade. Paula thanked her husband Gary Lough, her coach Alex Stanton and her physio, Gerard Hartmann.
Further world records.
Radcliffe set her last women's marathon world record during the 2003 London Marathon in April, with a time of 2:15:25. The performance is one of the highest of score's values in terms of the IAAF World ranking points.
Radcliffe is the former world record holder for the women's road 10k in a time of 30 minutes and 21 seconds, which she set on 23 February 2003 in the World's Best 10K in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Radcliffe won the 2004 New York City Marathon in a time of 2:23:10, beating Kenya's Susan Chepkemei.
2004 Athens Olympics.
Radcliffe did not compete in the London Marathon in 2004, but was the favourite to win a gold medal in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens. However, she suffered an injury to her leg just two weeks prior to the event and had to use a high dose of anti-inflammatory drugs. This had an adverse effect on her stomach, hindering food absorption. She ended up withdrawing from the race after . Five days later she started in the 10,000 metres but, still suffering from the effects of the marathon, retired with eight laps remaining. Radcliffe said "You go through bad stages in a marathon, but never as bad as that", "I've never before not been able to finish and I'm desperately trying to find a reason for what happened", "I just feel numb – this is something I worked so hard for."
Regarded as Great Britain's best gold medal hope in athletics, her withdrawal made headlines in the UK, with editorial stances ranging from support to negativity, with some newspapers deriding Radcliffe for 'quitting', rather than going on to finish the race. Television pictures showed Radcliffe in a clearly distressed state after dropping out of the marathon, being comforted by two friends from her early running days.
2005: Marathon World Champion.
At the 2005 London Marathon, Radcliffe won with a time of 2:17:42, a world's best time for a women's only race by over a minute. The race is remembered for a notorious moment towards the end when Radcliffe, hindered by runner's diarrhea and in need for a toilet break, stopped and defecated on the side of the road in view of the crowd and TV cameras which broadcast the incident live. After the race, she apologised to viewers and explained what happened, "I was losing time because I was having stomach cramps and I thought 'I just need to go and I'll be fine'. ... I didn't really want to resort to that in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Basically I needed to go. I started feeling it between 15 and and probably carried on too long before stopping. I must have eaten too much beforehand". In November 2006, the incident was voted "top running moment in history" in the UK from a choice of ten "unforgettable moments".
On 14 August 2005 at the World Championships held in Helsinki she won Britain's only gold medal when she took the marathon title, dominating the race and setting a championship record time of 2:20:57. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya finished in second place, more than a minute behind. Radcliffe said: "It pretty much went according to plan. If somebody had been with me at the end I think I could have pushed it up a bit more." She and three other British runners were also awarded third place in the team competition.
Family and autobiography.
Radcliffe took a break through the 2006 season owing to injuries and in July announced that she was expecting her first child. Her comeback was further delayed in 2007 as a result of a stress fracture in her lower back.
Radcliffe chose not to defend her world marathon crown in 2007, in order to undertake further rehabilitation, but insisted she wanted to compete in the next two Olympics. She made her return to competitive running on 30 September 2007, taking part in the BUPA Great North Run in the UK on Tyneside. This was her first race in almost two years. Radcliffe finished second behind US runner Kara Goucher.
Radcliffe made her marathon return at the New York City Marathon on 4 November 2007 which she won with an official time of 2:23:09.
Radcliffe released an autobiography in 2004, "Paula: My Story So Far".
2008–09: Beijing Olympics and fitness problems.
Radcliffe withdrew from the 2008 London Marathon due to a foot injury. Shortly after the London Marathon, it was also revealed that Radcliffe was suffering from an injury to her hip, preventing her from running. Originally thought to be a muscular problem, scans later revealed it was a stress fracture to her femur. Radcliffe won the 2008 Great South Run in 51 minutes 11 seconds, 11 seconds off of Sonia O' Sullivan's course record. In May, Radcliffe broke her left leg.
Radcliffe managed to get to fitness level for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but cramped during the marathon to the point where she had to stop running and stretch. She resumed the race and finished in 23rd place overall.
Radcliffe won the 2008 New York City Marathon, making it her third victory at the competition with a time of 2:23:56. Russian Lyudmila Petrova came in second, and American Kara Goucher took third.
Following the New York Marathon, Radcliffe suffered more injury setbacks: she had to withdraw from the 2009 London Marathon due to a fractured toe. In March that year, she had a bunion removed which doctors believed was the root cause of her other injuries at that time. She did not run competitively for almost 10 months, but made herself available for inclusion in the 2009 British team for the World Championships in Athletics. She announced that the New York City Half Marathon would be a testing ground for her fitness before the competition.
Radcliffe went on to win the New York City Half Marathon in 1:09:45, two seconds off the course record. However, after this she pulled out of the World Championships as she felt unfit, and she missed the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham due to a bout of tonsillitis. She returned to action at the 2009 New York City Marathon but failed to notch her third consecutive victory, instead fading to fourth place with knee problems.
2011 onwards.
Following a 19-month layoff that included the birth of her second child, she returned to action at the Bupa London , where she finished 3rd, 55 seconds behind the winner, Jo Pavey. Radcliffe called the performance "a bit of a disaster", and indicated she was suffering from a tear in one of the discs of her back.
She set the 2011 Berlin Marathon as her comeback venue to try for an Olympic qualifying time. She came third in the race with a time of 2:23:46 hours – getting the Olympic standard and the fourth fastest time by a European that year. She was dissatisfied, however, saying: "I'm not particularly happy, either with my time or my place. I came here wanting to win". She used the 2012 Vienna Half Marathon to gauge her fitness and the race was set up as a battle between her and Haile Gebrselassie, with Radcliffe receiving a head start of 7:52 minutes (the difference between the two athletes' personal bests). She did not perform well and was comfortably beaten by the Ethiopian, while she crossed the line after 72:03 minutes.
Radcliffe pulled out of London 2012 Olympics because of a foot injury.
In January 2015, Radcliffe announced that she had decided to end her marathon career on 26 April 2015 by competing in the 2015 London Marathon. She finished in 2:36:55.
Anti-doping activity.
Radcliffe has frequently made high-profile condemnations of the use of performance-enhancing drugs in athletics. Radcliffe and teammate Hayley Tullett caused controversy when, in the heats of the 5,000 metres at the 2001 World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, they held up a sign protesting against the reinstatement of Russian athlete Olga Yegorova after Yegorova had tested positive for the banned substance EPO. The sign was made by Radcliffe's husband and read 'EPO Cheats Out'. It was eventually taken off them by the stadium officials, but not before it was streamed around the world. After Radcliffe and Tullett's initial protest, teammates Kathy Butler and Hayley Yelling – who both missed out on a place in the final – protested alongside coaches Mark Rowland and Alan Storey, wearing Radcliffe masks and holding up banners with mocking slogans including one which read 'Free Paula'. Radcliffe vowed to continue her fight against drugs in sport after her high-profile actions in Edmonton. Since the 1999 European Cup, Radcliffe wears a red ribbon when competing to show her support for blood testing as a method of catching drug cheats.
Radcliffe has advocated a system where first time offenders are banned for four years and any future offence for life. However, she felt that in cases like that of Christine Ohuruogu, who missed three out-of-competition drugs tests, that she should be allowed to compete in the Olympics, as the BOA does not allow anyone who has served a doping ban to compete. However, when Ohuruogu admitted to not trying to get to the tests, Radcliffe expressed her disappointment and hoped that it was a lesson learned. When Marion Jones admitted to steroid use, Radcliffe stated that it was good for the sport that Jones was caught and that they had to keep testing and that people being caught is a big deterrent to would-be cheats.
Doping allegations.
Reflecting upon the skepticism created by incidents of doping, she said "You have to accept the situation...it would be great if we could win the battle against doping and have testing that was 100 per-cent reliable, but I don't think that will happen in my competitive career." She has previously asked for the results of a blood test taken at the London Marathon to be made public, saying that she had "absolutely no objection to my test being released".
In 2015, in the wake of revelations of widespread doping in athletics, Radcliffe said that, unlike some other prominent British athletes, she would not be releasing her blood-test history, and discouraged other athletes from doing so. She was later indirectly identified as a suspected doper by MP Jesse Norman during a parliamentary inquiry into blood doping. In response, Radcliffe issued a statement in which she "categorically denied" cheating in any form and said she has "nothing to hide". Shortly afterwards, her three suspect test results were leaked, though Radcliffe still refused to release her complete blood-test history. In late November 2015, the IAAF declared that the accusations were "based on the gross misinterpretation of incomplete data". The UK Anti Doping Agency, having received Radcliffe's blood test history via the IAAF, stated that "UKAD has come to the same conclusion as the IAAF review that there is no case to answer". It is likely that the first suspicious off-score was caused by faulty equipment. The third suspicious off-score was the direct result of an altitude training trip in Kenya with Mo Farah and other British athletes.
Personal life.
Radcliffe was born to Peter and Pat Radcliffe and is the grandniece of 1920 Olympic silver medallist Charlotte Radcliffe. Radcliffe met her husband Gary Lough, a former Northern Irish 1,500 m runner, when he was her lodger at Loughborough University. The pair married in 2001. She gave birth to her first child, daughter Isla, in 2007. Her second child, a son, Raphael, was born in 2010. The family resides in Monte Carlo.


Barry Davis (wrestler)

Barry Alan Davis (born September 17, 1961) is an Olympic silver medalist, a World bronze and silver medalist, and a Pan American Games gold medalist in freestyle wrestling. From 1994 until 2018, he served as head wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin.
Early life.
Davis was born in Bloomfield, Iowa to Elmer and Carol Davis, and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He credits the support and work ethic of his parents as contributing to his drive to succeed in athletics. Davis attended Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, where he was a three-time state wrestling champion (the second individual from the Cedar Rapids metro area to achieve that distinction), and earned a career prep record of 102-6-1.
College career.
At the University of Iowa, Davis wrestled on coach Dan Gable's team. During his college career, Davis was a four time NCAA Division I All-American, and a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion . He was named NCAA Outstanding Wrestler in 1985, and was also named the Big Ten Athlete of the Year that same year. Barry Davis' career record at Iowa was 162-9-1. As of 2020, he continues to hold University of Iowa records for season victories (46 in 1982), and career victories (162).
International competition.
Davis was champion in freestyle wrestling (125.4 lb) at the 1983 Pan American Games, and a member of the 1983 U.S. World wrestling team. In 1984, he took a redshirt year from college athletics, to compete on the 1984 U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestling team, winning a silver medal at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Davis competed in the World championships again in 1986 and 1987, earning a bronze medal and a silver, respectively. In 1988 he was once more a member of the U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestling team, but did not earn a medal.
Coaching career.
Barry Davis served as graduate assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1986–1987, and was an assistant coach from 1988–1992. In 1992, he attempted a to make his third U.S. Olympic team, but did not achieve a place on the team. Davis had been head wrestling coach at the University of Wisconsin since 1994. On March 5, 2018, Davis announced that he would resign as head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers at the end of the 2017-18 season.
Davis was married to Nan Doak in 1986. Nan also attended University of Iowa where she was a six-time All-American in track and field and cross country prior to becoming a United States national champion in the marathon.