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The State of Women's Boxing

9/28/2014

 
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Finally had a chance to read through the excellent Al Jazeera look at women's amateur boxing in the U.S, Beautiful Brawlers'. Any true sports fan must recognize how it is very inspiring to read and hear of such dedication of athletes to pursue competitive dreams despite the obstacles. And, unfortunately, these women so often face obstacles that their males counterparts don't - lack of funding, lack of respect, lack of access to training and coaches, lack of exposure - all of which are frustratingly intertwined and probably seem never-ending. Much of that is outlined in the article.

Much of the headlines coming out of London 2012 were focused on the then great news of the fact alone that they were competing. And compete they did, winning headlines, creating drama and drawing the attention of would-be detractors. Overall, it was largely positive. Which obscures the fact that there is a lot of work to be done in equality.

On the Olympic stage, 250 men compete across 10 weight classes. On the women's side, there are only 36 fighters across three weight classes. With only those three classes compared to 10 on the competitive AIBA amateur circuit, a vast number of fighters have to decide to switch weight from their normal class in order to compete at the Games. Which, in turn, potentially causes clashes between fighters not used to their Olympic playing weight. That is certainly not a situation the men would stand for, so why would AIBA allow the women to? The IOC's pressure to cap total boxing athletes at 286 across both genders should spur pressure on AIBA to better allocate classes and gender split.

Granted, women's boxing on the global stage is a new phenomenon. But the clock is ticking, and with pressure only to intensify as the sport's popularity grows. One might not have much faith in an old bureaucracy of the IOC and the AIBA (not to mention an old boys club), but it will be interesting to see in subsequent Games how the sport will develop.

Diverse Podium At Rhythmic Worlds?

9/28/2014

 
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While Russia again topped the medal table in impressive style at the Rhythmic World Championships this week, there were a few breakthroughs from traditionally unexpected countries, in a sport notorious for long domination by Russia and Eastern Europe.

Rising star Son Yeon-Jae (KOR) won bronze in the individual hoop event, becoming the 1st Asian competitor to win an individual medal in Worlds history. (Note: North Korea, Japan, and China had all previously won medals in the Group event). Then, Israel won a silver medal in the Group club event, marking its first ever Worlds medal in any women's gymnastics event. The gold in that event went to Spain, marking the only non-Eastern European gold medalist throughout the tournament's 9 events.

Those glimpses of diversity came at a tournament in which Russia very well could have - and maybe should have - swept all possible medals, until the clubs event in the Group competition. A rare mistake there dropped them not only out of the clubs final, but out of the Group All-Around podium as well. That is a big shock for the nation that's won a Group All-Around medal the last ten times, including 5 straight golds starting in 2009. Their mistake there opened the door for Bulgaria to return to gold in the event for the 1st time since 1996.

As expected, Yana Kudryatseva provided the star-power to lead Team Russia. In winning the All-Around title, she became the youngest-ever to repeat as All-Around champion, and that after winning 4 gold and one silver in the team and individual apparatus events. Impressive hardware to go along with her 5 medals from the 2013 tournament. She led Russia to a complete sweep of their possible medals up until that Group competition, with the Team gold, gold in all individual events (including a double gold in the ball apparatus) and all individual silvers available to top the overall medal table with 12.

Having Korea and Israel make 1st-ever podium appearances, along with Spain and Italy (silver in the Group All-Around) to break up the Eastern Europe monopoly is certainly a welcome breath of fresh air in the sport. Hopefully, those competitors can continue to grow and inspire Asian and Western nations to continue fighting for a place. But in the meantime, Russia is far and away leading the charge of rhythmic, and in competition where reputation and subjectivity often gives one a strong start, is still the team to beat after their performance in Izmir. Let's see what happens over the next couple of years to Rio.

Portugal a Table Tennis Power?

9/28/2014

 
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Portugal isn't a nation one thinks of when thinking table tennis, as traditionally East Asian nations have captured the major hardware in recent years.  In fact, East Asia occupies 5 of the top 7 spots in the team world rankings. But those other two spots - at #'s 2 and 5 are held by Germany and Portugal. Their quality was on display this week in Lisbon, where Marco Freitas of Portugal lead the host team to a victory over 6x defending champion Germany in the European Team Table Tennis Championships. The world ranked #12 defeated two players in the final, including world #9 Timo Boll in the last match to close out the tournament with a 3-1 win.

The Portuguese women couldn't match the men - world #9 Germany triumphed for their second title in a row. In somewhat of an upset final there, the world #9 beat world #15 Austria in straight sets for the championship, while #7 Romania and #8 Netherlands both lost in the quarters.

But that women's competition, combined with the Portuguese men's victory, is helping lead the way for showing the rest of the world that there can quality table tennis outside of East Asia. Portugal finished in the quarterfinals at the 2012 Olympics, and on the shoulders of Freitas and his teammates, can look ahead to building on their European success in subsequent years.  As always, I'm a fan of the increasing diversity and globalization of sport, so here's hoping there's more to come from them and the rest of Europe.
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On This Date, September 28:  Konstantinos Kenteris Wins Gold

9/28/2014

 
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​He wasn't a complete outsider, but most casual track fans certainly weren't paying much attention to Konstantinos Kenteris (GRE) in the lead-up to the 200 meters at Sydney 2000. Although he was the fastest European in the event during the season, all anticipating eyes were focused on Michael Johnson (USA, the defending champion) and Maurice Greene (USA, the World Champion). When neither competed, attention was then diverted to John Capel (USA), the Olympic Trials winner and then the fastest qualifier from the semifinals. When Capel hitched his stride in the start of the final, the door was open for Kenteris, who went on to win in 20.09, the fastest time at those Olympics. His victory was somewhat substantiated with subsequent victories at the 2001 Worlds and the 2002 European Championships.

Proverbially 'never failing a doping test', Kenteris nevertheless caused many doubts of his success' legitimacy through his mysteriously missed tests and the bizarre circumstances of his withdrawal from the 2004 Games, and the subsequent confusing and seemingly never-ending courtroom dramas to understand what happened.  It's a shame, really, that this is the footnote. Aside from the potential disgrace of his possibly having won while doping, for me he also had represented a breath of fresh air to the sprinting scene. A European champion in an era of American and Caribbean domination was a welcome change for fans like me who tend to root for underdogs and unexpected winners. I'll do my best to remember that, and the glory from 2000. But it's hard.

Athlete Spotlight: Michal Kwiatkowski & Lisa Brennauer

9/28/2014

 
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Michal's Kwiatkowski's dramatic win in the men's road race capped the ICI Worlds today, but another real star of the week was Germany's Lisa Brennauer, who captured three medals overall, including golds in both the time trial events.

Brennauer, who was the 2005 World Junior Champion, impressively won the individual time trial on Tuesday by more than 18 seconds over Ukraine's Hanna Solovey. That was her second gold medal of the Championships, after team time trail as part of the Specialized-Lululemon team, just two days earlier. And then, on Saturday, Brennauer finished in second in the road race behind France's Pauline Ferrand-Prevot for a silver and her third medal. In the end, she topped the medal table above all, and seems poised to become the new face of women's cycling. 

Meanwhile, Kwiatkowski (POL) was certainly the star on the men's side, winning two medals, including gold in the finale road race in addition to a bronze in the team time trial. The road race win perhaps solidified 2014 as his coming-out party as a rising star, after his strong season, including named the Best Young Rider at September's Tour of Britain.

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