Armstrong interview on CNN, Sept 24, 2008
Lance Armstrong Returns to Competitive Cycling
After several days of waiting for the press release and details of his return to competitive cycling. I watched Armstrong interviewed by CNN's Kiran Chetry (watch video above).
Armstrong's Preparation
Lance mentioned, he is riding his bike and hitting the gym. He plans to take off the gym sessions come January to concentrate on biking. Aware of his age by the time the 2009 Tour comes at almost 38 years of age, he said he has "snapped" back mentally and motivated to sacrifice what is required to be competitive.
Main Goal
Armstrong said his aim is to give hope to patients undergoing cancer treatments. He also mentioned raising money to educate everyone about the disease. When asked about the presidential election, where Armstrong is seen supporting John McCain. He said "Well, there are a lot of things that the future president needs to do. I think the president needs to focus on the continuum of the disease all the way from prevention to end of life."
Both presidential candidate pledged to increase support for cancer institutions. Obama even pledged to double the funding at the National Cancer Institute.
Armstrong's 2009 TdF Return, Interview on CNN
Armstrong is Coming Back for the 2009 Tour de France
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Lance Armstrong is coming for the 2009 Tour de France. Yes, you read that right! Lance Armstrong is coming back from a 3 year retirement to bid for an eight Tour de France championship.
According to vanityfair.com, Lance Armstrong said, "I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden," Armstrong said in a statement, while in an exclusive interview posted on vanityfair.com the 36-year-old cyclist says he has his sights set firmly on the Tour de France in 2009.
"I am going back to professional cycling. I'm going to try to win an eighth Tour de France," Armstrong told Vanity Fair.
Armstrong now 36 years of age and will turn 37 on September 18 is typically old for another grueling Tour. The oldest winner of the Tour was Firmin Lambot, at age 36 in 1922. But the sport has evolved. The training and the bike is totally different. The sport is more competitive than ever.
Lance Armstrong's comeback is said to be for cancer awareness and doubters who could not believe that the cyclist never doped. The sport is known for its illegal performance enhancing drugs the past few decades. Armstrong is said to be hiring a video crew to document his trainings.
Details of the said comeback such as a team and schedule—will be announced Sept. 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.
Wow! This is something. I'm a road cyclist. I tried to to compete last year after months of training and stopped riding for a couple of months. Guess what? I totally lost the endurance to run even on such short distance its totally different.
Manny Pacquiao (Pacman) - Oscar De La Hoya (The Golden Boy) Fight on December 6
Manny "the Pacman" Pacquiao, the current WBC Lightweight (135 lb, 61.2 kg) champion will meet "The Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya, on December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. De La Hoya, 35 is said to be considering this fight "the grand finale" of a successful boxing career.
TALE OF THE TAPE
The fight will take place at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, Pacquiao will move up two weight classes. De La Hoya will come down to 147, a weight he has not fought at since 2001. The most notable advantage for De La Hoya are his reach at plus 4 inches and height which Pacquiao is giving another 4 inches. Pacquiao is at his peak at 29 years old and De La Hoya 35, many considers a downhill age for the sport.
Manny Pacquiao is considered the best fighter in boxing today and is tagged the mythical "Pound-for-Pound" best boxer. De La Hoya was also branded the same "Pound-for-Pound" king in his prime.
WHAT THE BOXER'S THINK
De La Hoya was quoted "Manny Pacquiao is considered the best fighter in boxing today and I always want to fight the best," De La Hoya said. "I am glad we were able to make this fight happen because while Pacquiao is at the pinnacle of his success and has defeated all of the top fighters he has faced, I am going to show the world that it stops with me. Dec. 6 can't get here soon enough."
Pacquiao said, the icon of his native Philippines, "This is my greatest challenge. When I take that walk to the ring to fight Oscar, I will carry all the people of the Philippines -- the entire country -- on my shoulders. I promise I will fight with all of my heart and that I will give everything I have. Like my trainer Freddie Roach says, I have what it takes to win the biggest fight of my life."
THE ODDS
MGM Grand oddsmakers opened the fight surprisingly close with De La Hoya as an 8-to-5 favorite.
Let's all wait and see...
Roger Federer - Tennis God
Roger Federer has won twelve Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, five Wimbledon, four US Open), four Tennis Masters Cup titles, and fourteen ATP Masters Series titles.
Career Highlights
Federer has won 55 of 76 finals during his career, for a winning percentage of 72.3 percent. This compares to 72.7 percent by Pete Sampras, 71.3 percent by John McEnroe, and 70.5 percent by Bjorn Borg. Making him the highly favorite to win when he enters a championship match.
From 2004 through 2006, Federer had the best three-year match and tournament winning percentages since the inception of the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings in 1973. Federer won 94.3 percent of his singles matches (247-15) and 69.4 percent of the singles tournaments he entered (34 titles in 49 tournaments, including eight of twelve Grand Slam tournaments). The three-year match winning percentage record was previously owned by Ivan Lendl, who won 92.1 percent of his singles matches from 1985 through 1987. Federer has since extended the record to four years, again besting Ivan Lendl and was very close to establishing the new mark for the best 5 consecutive seasons ever in the history of tennis.
By 2005, Federer had won singles and doubles titles on all four surfaces: hardcourt, clay, carpet, and grass. (Singles: Sydney 2002 (hard), Hamburg 2002 (clay), Milan 2001 (carpet), and Halle 2003 (grass); Doubles: Rotterdam 2001 (hard), Gstaad 2001 (clay), Moscow 2002 (carpet), and Halle 2005 (grass).
Federer equalled Sampras's open era record of 10 tournaments won on grass when he won the Gerry Weber Open in Halle in 2008.
Federer won 31 consecutive sets beginning with his Tennis Masters Cup round robin match against Andy Roddick on November 14, 2006, and ending with his first round match against Kristian Pless at the Dubai Tennis Championships on February 26, 2007
On October 27, 2007, Federer recorded his 544th career victory, which saw him overtake Carlos Moya (543) as the most active match wins leader on the ATP circuit.
As of July 2008, Federer has won singles tournaments in 17 different countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, People's Republic of China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
Roger Federer is still an active professional Tennis player at his peak at 27 years old and currently ranked number 2 in points only to Rafael Nadal at this time. He is now considered to be the greatest Tennis player of all time.
Tiger Woods - "The Greatest Closer in History"
Professional Career
After announcing the famous line "Hello World," Tiger Woods turned professional in August 1996 and singed multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with Nike and Titleist. The world was not disappointed after and so are his sponsors.
Dubbed as "the greatest closer in history." Tiger Woods currently holds 65 PGA Tour titles. He's third on the most number of PGA Tour wins in history next to Jack Nicklaus collecting 73 and Sam Snead with 82 as a professional. Tiger, is only 32 years old and still young based on history for golfers before retiring. Tiger Woods is expected to break the most number in the near future.
Notable Wins
-PGA Tour wins (65)
-European Tour wins (7)
-Other professional wins (17)
Most Endorsed Athlete
Woods singed numerous endorsements with General Motors, Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture and in 2000, he signed a 5-year, $105 million contract extension from Nike, the largest ever endorsement deal ever signed by any athlete in history.
Michael Jordan - The Greatest Baller Ever
Michael Jordan is nick named "Air Jordan" and "His Airness" due to his gravity defying Basketball dunks, stunts and game winning shots. He is considered to be the greatest Basketball player in history.
Two Three-peats
Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to 6 NBA Finals championships from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998 earning him six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) award with five regular season MVP awards. He is also the leagues leading scorer with the record of 10 times.
Olympic Medal
Michael Jordan also played on two Olympic gold medal teams for the U.S. in the 1994 and 2002 Olympics.
Lance Armstrong - 7-Time TDF Champion
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France with a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 to 2005. Tour de France is considered to be the most demanding sport in terms of physical endurance. Usually about 2,500 kms in 23 days over 21 stages with each stage running over 100kms and about 6hrs to finish.
Early Career
Lance Armstrong is not just another sports prodigy. He started his career as a triathlete and was the number one ranked in the 19 and under age group. At a tender age of 16, Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became the national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at age 18 and 19, respectively.
In 1991 Lance Armstrong won the the U.S. amateur championship in bike racing. It soon became clear that his greatest talent was found, in bicycle racing.
In 1993, Armstrong captured his first Tour de France stage victory.
A Cancer Survivor
On October 2, 1996, Lance Armstrong was found to have a testicular cancer and it had already spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain. He underwent surgery on his brain tumors and had his diseased testicle removed.
The Comeback
After he was treated, Armstrong returned to competitive cycling and finished 4th in the Tour of Spain in 1998. In 1999, he won his first Tour de France until 2005. A record braking seven consecutive years and considered to be the greatest cyclist of all time.
Lance Armstrong, became active in helping and giving hope to thousands of people undergoing cancer treatment and he was also the founder of Livestrong Foundation. He was then considered the "greatest sportsman of all time."
Michael Phelps - 8 Gold Medals in a Single Olympic
A New World Record
What a way to start off a blog. Winning a record of 8 gold medals in a single Olympic. Michael Phelps has surpassed Mark Spitz's 7 gold medals. Truly an amazing feat that will be in the pages of the sports almanac and record books for a long time or probably forever and he is now in a league of his own.
Physique
Micheal Phelps stands 6 feet 4 inches tall, has incredibly long arms span of 6 feet 7 inches! He was definitely born to re-write the swimming records history and we may never come across with such an athlete in our life time.
Summary
(Michael Phelp's 2008 Beijing Olympics Record)
August 10 400 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 4:03.84
August 11 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:08.24
August 12 200 m freestyle Gold Medal, World Record 1:42.96
August 13 200 m butterfly Gold Medal, World Record 1:52.03
August 13 4 x 200 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 6:58.56
August 15 200 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 1:54.23
August 16 100 m butterfly Gold Medal, Olympic Record 50.58
August 17 4 x 100 m medley relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:29.34
