The real XXX Olympic Games – sexy sports women

It’s hard to pick a clear winner for the US Open but you can’t really bet against Serena Williams when it comes to the Grand Slams, she has this knack of turning it on for the big events.
She hasn’t actually performed very well since Wimbledon, I’ve watched some of her matches and she’s lacked a bit of intensity and lost to players you wouldn’t expect, but I’m sure when it comes to a Grand Slam she’ll be very focused and turn it on.
But I do think the women’s draw at the US Open is so open, it’s really up for grabs.
It will be interesting to see how Kim Clijsters does having had two years out of the game. She’s made a pretty good comeback. In Cincinnati and Toronto she proved to everyone she can play well but I’m not sure she can go all the way.

Serena Williams

It would be a great story if she did win the US Open but physically I wonder if she can play seven matches at that kind of level.
Maria Sharapova has been playing a bit better, she made the final in Toronto although looked a bit tired by the end, but now she’s got her ranking back up and is seeded 29th. I think she’ll do well but, again, seven matches is a lot.
In Toronto she scraped through a few matches and when she lost the first set against Elena Dementieva in the final she called on her coach and said her arm was getting tired. I do wonder how she will cope but it depends how she does early on. If she can win her early rounds comfortably then she can save a bit of energy.
Dinara Safina deserves her number one ranking because she’s been the most consistent player on every surface over the last year.
She’s a tough opponent but she can be up and down, and I’m not too sure that on the hard courts she’s as effective as on a clay court. I’m sure she’ll do well, but winning it – I’m not too sure.
Like her sister, Venus Williams also hasn’t performed so well since Wimbledon and obviously grass is her best surface.
On hard courts she’s had some shocking losses – the other week it was against Kateryna Bondarenko, and these are players she should be beating comfortably.

A stunning 30-yard strike from Italy’s Alessia Tuttino consigned 10-woman England to defeat in their opening match of Group C in Euro 2009.

The midfielder smashed the winner nine minutes from time as England suffered only their second defeat in 12 games.
England lost Casey Stoney when she was sent off on 28 minutes, but soon took the lead when Fara Williams converted a penalty after Karen Carney was fouled.
Italy equalised through Patrizia Panico on 56 minutes before Tuttino’s winner.
The defeat heaps extra pressure on Hope Powell’s side, who have two matches remaining in the group against Russia and Sweden.
England began brightly and went close through a long-range strike from Williams and a sharp chance for Carney on 18 minutes.
But the complexion of the match turned when Stoney was red carded for pulling the shirt of Melania Gabbiadini as the striker headed towards goal.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, England took the lead seven minutes before half-time after winger Carney was cynically bundled off the ball by two players inside the box, with Williams slotting the spot-kick past Anna Picarelli.
Italy responded after the break as Panico took advantage when Katie Chapman failed to cut out a cross to level the scores.
Tuttino’s strike was the catalyst for a late surge of England attacks, but neither Williams or Kelly Smith could find a way past Picarelli in goal.
England face Russia on Friday in Helsinki.

England: Brown, Stoney, White, Asante, Alex Scott, Chapman, Sue Smith, Williams, Jill Scott, Carney, Aluko.
Subs: Chamberlain, Johnson, Kelly Smith, Unitt, Handley, Sanderson, Westwood, Bassett, Buet, Clarke, Bardsley.

Italy: Picarelli, Tona, Gama, Schiavi, Dadda, Zorri, Tuttino, Domenichetti, Pini, Panico, Gabbiadini.
Subs: Cupido, Fuselli, Motta, Parisi, Guagni, Neboli, Vicchiarello, Manieri, Carissimi, Penzo.

Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (Germany)

Women boxers will have the chance to fight for gold at the 2012 Olympics.
International Olympic Committee chiefs voted on Thursday to lift the barrier to the last all-male summer sport.
Three women’s weight classes will be added to the Olympic programme for 2012 Games in London, with one of the 11 men’s classes dropped to make room.
“Women’s boxing has come on a tremendous amount in the last five years and it was time to include them,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Women will fight at flyweight (48-51kg), lightweight (56-60kg) and middleweight (69-75kg).
The IOC’s decision was described as “historic” by Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.

Woman Boxing

“It will be a landmark moment come London 2012 when for the first time every sport will have women participating in it,” she said.
“There are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to men but this is a step in the right direction.
“In this country women’s boxing has come on in leaps and bounds and is growing quickly at all levels.
“London 2012 will now create the first-ever generation of boxing heroines and hopefully inspire even more women to take up the sport.”
Women’s boxing came close to being included at the 2008 Beijing Games but the IOC ruled it would not offer added value to the Olympic programme.
Fears were that the sport was not competitive in enough countries, which could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches.
But participation has since boomed with 120 international federations having female boxers. There are now nearly 600 registered female boxers in England, up from 50 in 2005.
Amanda Coulson, a three-time ABA champion and long-time trail-blazer for British women’s amateur boxing, expects the whole sport to benefit from the IOC’s decision.
“It’s fantastic news, I’m over the moon,” she said. “Women’s boxing can only progress from here – participation numbers will go through the roof, especially after 2012.

Softball will not be included in the programme for the 2016 Olympic Games as the 15 members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board decided Thursday at a meeting in Berlin. One of the seven sports in contention for the 2016 Games, softball was passed over in favor of golf and rugby as the list of possible additions was narrowed down to a final two candidates.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed by the IOC decision today as we were hoping for softball to be considered for inclusion in 2016,” said Ron Radigonda, the executive director of the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA)/USA Softball. “However, softball is still an international sport power as we have been. We have to continue to focus on the World Championships next July here in Oklahoma City and future international events. Despite today’s announcement, softball will continue and move on and work to be stronger than ever.”

Also eliminated from contention were baseball, karate, roller sports and squash.

In Copenhagen on October 9, at a meeting that will also decide the host of the 2016 Olympic Games between four candidate cities, golf and rugby are being put forward by the Executive Board for an entire vote of the IOC. Both sports must be approved by the majority of 107 IOC members in order to be added to the Olympic Programme starting with the 2016 Games.

Maria Sharapova continued her domination of fellow Russian and 10th seed Nadia Petrova with victory in round one of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Former world number one Sharapova came through 6-3 6-4 for her eighth win in nine meetings with Petrova, and third this year.
Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine beat 13th seed Marion Bartoli of France 6-4 6-3.
France’s 15th seed Amelie Mauresmo was beaten 6-2 3-6 6-1 by Fransesca Schiavone of Italy.
World number 17 Samantha Stosur of Australia and Poland’s 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska enjoyed straightforward wins, with leading names Dinara Safina and Serena and Venus Williams to play later in the week.

Maria Sharapova

Sharapova is currently ranked 49 in the world as she makes her way back after 10 months out following surgery.
The 22-year-old broke Petrova in game five as she eased through the first set and, after dropping serve at the start of the second, reeled off four games in a row.
Sharapova failed to serve out the match at 5-3 but made amends immediately by breaking back and finally clinching victory on her third match point.
“She had an opportunity to make the match 5-5 in the second and it was good that I finished it in two,” said Sharapova.
“I think we know each other’s game very well, I have a pretty solid game plan when I play her and the main thing is execution.
“If I do what I have in mind, I’m going to win the match.”
She added: “Coming back trying to get use to the situation again, you just hope you move forward and get better and better every match. That’s my goal right now.
“Obviously when I come into a tournament I want to win it but the mindset is to focus on every match.”

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8206406.stm

The 2010 Games will be the best covered in Winter Olympic history, judging by the overwhelming interest in a media centre for unaccredited journalists, says B.C.’s minister for the Games.

“In all, media at the centre will reach more than 500 million viewers a day,” said Mary McNeil, the provincial minister of state for the Olympics, referring to the $2.5-million government-funded B.C. International Media Centre.

The centre, with 1,300 spots, is still tiny compared to the International Broadcast Centre and the Main Media Centre for 10,000 accredited broadcast, print and Internet-based journalists. Their work at the waterfront Vancouver Convention Centre, built for nearly $900 million, is expected to attract as many as three billion worldwide television viewers.

But the centre for unaccredited journalists, which in past Olympics has been a poor sister to the official media centre, has been overwhelmed with requests and every inch of available space is booked.

More than 24 news agencies and television broadcasters are setting up in the new centre, which will temporarily take over the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business at Robson Square. They’ve been lured by abundant space, central location to downtown events, the provision of high-value standup camera positions and at-cost high-speed transmission facilities.

ESPN, ABC, Fox News, Associated Press TV, British Press Association and several Asian news agencies have all said they will set up newsrooms at the centre.

It will also serve as the base for reporters representing more than 400 newspapers, said McNeil.

The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, are a major international sports and cultural festival to be celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The host city of the Games will be announced at the 121st IOC Session (which will also be the 13th Olympic Congress) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held in the same city and organized by the same committee.
The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games was officially launched on 16 May 2007. The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each applicant city by 14 January 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on 4 June 2008: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo (which already hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics.) The IOC did not promote Doha to the Candidature phase, despite scoring higher than selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro due to their intent of hosting the Olympics in October, outside of the IOC’s sporting calendar. Prague and Baku also failed to make the cut.

Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco will head the 10 member Evaluation Commission, having also chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids. The commission will make on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They will issue a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members one month before elections; the final selection will be made by the 115 voting members of the IOC membership on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

There are many restrictions barring the bidding cities communicating with or influencing directly the 115 voting members. Cities can’t invite any IOC members to visit them and they can’t send them anything that can be construed as a gift. However, bidding cities invest large sums in their PR and media programmes in an attempt to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support, support from specialist sports media and general international media. Jon Tibbs, a consultant on the Tokyo bid, was recently quoted as saying “Ultimately, you are communicating with just 115 people and each one has influencers and pressure groups but you are still speaking to no more than about 1,500 people, perhaps 5,000 in the broadest sense. It is not just about getting ads out there but it is about a targeted and very carefully planned campaign.”

Based on the design which city would you pick?

2016 olympic games candidate

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova’s bid to reach the third round of the Aegon Classic was delayed by rain on Wednesday, with the former Wimbledon champion leading American teenager Alexa Glatch 6-3, 5-4 before a downpour halted play.
Sharapova twice held match point but was unable to close out and play was suspended for the day with 19-year-old Glatch holding an advantage point on her own service game.
Sharapova is playing only her third tournament since being sidelined for 10 months with a shoulder injury. She had to work hard to contain a promising young player on the verge of the top 100, who mixed slice and topspin well and looked to be growing in confidence.
Glatch saved one match point at 30-40 with a first serve that caused Sharapova to block the ball back long, and another with an ace.
Sharapova had led 4-2 in the second set, when she produced an indifferent service game and allowed Glatch to break back.
However, there was enough match time on Wednesday for India’s Sania Mirza to beat 11th-seeded Briton Anne Keothavong 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Mirza won seven of the first eight games, which triggered an uncharacteristic moment of fury from her opponent. Keothavong launched a ball in anger out of the centre court stadium and gained a conduct warning for ball abuse.

Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981 in Newport Beach, California), is an Olympic-level swimmer and model from the United States of America. Beard participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2008 Summer Olympics, capturing a total of seven medals, the most recent in the 2004 games. She held the world number one ranking of 200 meter breaststrokes in 2003. In U.S. competition, Beard won three 200 meter breaststroke, three 100 meter breaststroke, and two 200 meter individual medley US National titles.

Amanda Beard

Her modeling work has included appearances in FHM, the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and she posed nude for the July 2007 issue of Playboy magazine.
She is a spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, and enjoys interior decorating. Both of her sisters, Leah and Taryn, are swimmers. Amanda placed eighth in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Celebrity car race in 2006.
In November 2007, Beard made her first television commercial for GoDaddy entitled “Shock“. It featured her “flashing” the seven Olympic medals she won from 1996-2004. Mark Spitz made a cameo appearance.
In April 2008, she joined Fox Network’s popular sports talk program, The Best Damn Sports Show Period as a correspondent, covering major sporting events.
In 2008, Beard participated in an anti-fur campaign for the organization PETA. She was photographed nude in front of an American Flag. The flag in that photograph is hung incorrectly according the the United States Flag Code with the blue field to the upper right

Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva will compete at the London Grand Prix as a final preparation for the defence of her world title.
Russian Isinbayeva has signed up to compete at Crystal Palace on 24 and 25 July, when sprint star Usain Bolt will also be in action.
“I want to make sure I am in good shape and at my best there,” she said.
“It will be my last proper competition before heading out to Berlin, so I want to know I’m in the best possible form.”
Isinbayeva, who turned 27 on Wednesday, has won the London event in each of the last six years, setting a new world record mark on three occasions.
She won her second Olympic gold medal last year in Beijing with a clearance of 5.05m – her 14th outdoor world record – and she has since raised her best indoor mark.
“I’ve set three world records there already so I know it is a place where I can perform well, and hopefully this year will be no different,” said Isinbayeva.
“I’ve set 26 world records so far, and I still feel I can get even better, so hopefully I will give everyone plenty to cheer.
“My coach and I have selected five events I want to compete at this summer as I prepare to defend my World Championship title in August, so every meet will be really significant.”

source: news.bbc.co.uk