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Reviewing the dying year from the sporting angle, on Boxing Day, hardly offers interesting reading to the aching body which is still recovering from the strenuous effects of partying, unless spicing the highlights with interesting anecdotes! Disgusting ‘roastings’, scandals, doping, notorious cheating by famous stars, managers and administrators and other shocking stories are not the best examples to emphasise the values of sport, but these shady episodes did not really mar the achievements that were registered during 2004!
It is a fact that the world of sport at top level is not much different to that of show biz. David Beckham, Peel, Mara Dona, Mark Spitz, Michael Schumacher, Carl Lewis, Matt Bond, Michael Phelps are not less known than Brad Pitt, Elvis Presley, Tom Cruise, Michael Jordan, or George Clooney while Serena and Venus Williams, Jenny Thompson, Anna Kournikova, Amy Acuff, Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci and Franziska Van Almick have as many followers are Kylie and Daanie Minogue, Sofia Loren, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Adams and the rest of the celebrities from the pop or film industries.
The darlings of the Acropolis
2004 will be remembered for the Olympic Games that were staged in the smallest capital of the smallest country ever chosen to host such a world spectacle. Despite earlier criticism, Athens offered unforgettable memories. As records fell inside and outside the best ever facilities, everyone enjoyed the spectacle amid the safest security measures that more than justified the costs, considering this was the first Olympiad after the infamous nine-eleven.
Athens 2004 had a record 300 channels broadcasting to 220 countries and the Games were viewed by 3.9billion people. No wonder that the good lady who chaired the Organizing Committee, Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki was recently presented with the ‘European Achiever of the Year’ award. These were the Games of Michael Phelps, the nineteen-year old swimmer from Baltimore who left the Greek capital with 6 golds and 2 bronzes. It was also the best moment for Hicham el Guerrouj of Morocco who took the 1,500m and 5,000m athletic events and for Kelly Holmes who won the 800m and 1500m for Great Britain, of the Australian cycling team with six gold medals, and for Birgit Fisher, 42 mother of two who won a gold and a silver in canoeing to make it eight golds and four silvers since 1980.
Eight world records were broken in swimming alone, and six in weight lifting, a sport which also saw half of the 24 athletes caught for doping offences. The doping dragnet snarled several top track athletes like Kelli White and Jim Montgomery, but the US team still headed the haul with 35 gold medals ahead of China (32) and Russia (27).
Bizarre
These were not the Games for the Greek judoka Eleni Ioannou who jumped to her death from a balcony following a tiff with her boyfriend as they were preparing to enter the Olympic village. Or for the Greek favourites Lesbos-born Kostantinos ‘Kostos’ Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, who missed their doping tests, faked a motor accident, were eventually banned from the Games, and later faced court proceedings!
Perhaps the most bizarre moment during the Olympics occurred during the marathon race when the Irish protester, Cornelius Neil Horan attacked the Brazilian front runner Vanderlei de Lima, who dropped to third place after the eventual shock, as the Italian Stefano Baldini took the lead and the gold. Horan escaped with a €3,000 fine and a suspended 12-month jail sentence.
Greece surprisingly triumphed in the European football championships, as stronger countries like Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, England and the hosts Portugal flopped. Funnily enough England’s mentor Sven Goran Ericsson, the highest paid manager in the football scene was not called by the Football Association to explain his fiasco, but because of the alleged relationship with a stunning secretary Faria Alam, 38 who, thanks to that famous guru Max Clifford won a million Stg for giving details of her sexual exploits which caused the resignation of the FA’s Chief Executive Mark Palios, while the Swede’s partner Nancy Dell’Olio, who claims she is as popular as the late Lady Di, escaped to Italy only to return and solve her love problems a few weeks later.
2004 also saw Champions Arsenal’s impressive unbeaten run of 49 matches come to an end at Old Trafford, while Jose Mario Mourinho, led Porto to dizzy heights by clinching the Champions League title only to jet to London immediately after the victory over Monaco (3-0) to sign a most lucrative contract with Roman Abramovic’s Chelsea, and predicting more personal successes, like ‘The Blues’ winning the first championship in more than half a century and their first ever success in the Champions League.
Barcelona’s Brazilian Ronaldinho took the FIFA best player award at a time when he is being investigated by a Paris Court for tax evasion and fraud when playing for Paris Saint Germain. Bridget Prinz who was once enticed to sign for Luciano Gaucci’s Perugia, won the women’s title. The Ukranian Andrej Shevchenko won the ‘Golden Ball’ award and not without reason having scored 60 goals in five seasons (118 matches) for Dinamo Kiev,102 in 164 matches for AC Milan and 26 during his performances for Ukraine.
Apart from all the individual brilliances recorded during 2004, like the umpteenth success of Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari, I pick those events which are meant to help the world’s starving children, who don’t need compassion but concrete help. The latest sports attraction which raised appreciative funds being the spectacle at the Bernabeu in Madrid organised by the two UN Ambassadors, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo whose selections, appropriately named as ‘Friends of Zidane’ under the guidance of Lippi, Deschamps and Fernandez met the ‘Friends of Ronaldo,’ under Zagallo, Periera and Scolari in an entertaining 4-4 draw which thrilled a crowd of 70,000 who raised thousands of euros for a most worthy cause. That is ‘My Event Of The Year’. In Malta it is called ‘L’Istrina’!
From the Maltese sports angle young William Chetcuti did us proud by winning the European Juniors ‘double-trap’ shooting title in Nicosia, while Alex Borg and his snooker team won the Malta Olympic Committee’s recognition for their achievements. The Basketball Women’s team also earned a creditable bronze in the Promotion Cup, while Arthur Podesta deserves special mention not only for success of the Elusive Crew but for being ever-present in the 25 editions of the Middle Sea Race. Our national football side provided the usual drab but deserve recognition because of their creditable performance against Iceland (0-0) after the 0-7 home thrashing against Sweden.
Perhaps 2004 will be best remembered by those who finally realised the true values of sport and that exercise is the best medicine.
Wishing my readers an absolutely successful and happy New Year. With all the trimmings!
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