He has a developed a talent like no other. The Human Spider. Unlike the comic book character, his life is not governed by the whims of writers. When he puts his life on the line no amount of words will breathe life into him if he misplaces a hand or foot from high above a skyscraper.

It is the harshest sport on the planet. Perched high atop a tall building, with no safety harness, no ropes to prevent loss of life, there is no room for error. This is the world that French man Alain Robert inhabits. In many ways it is more like the creation of fantasy writers than the reality that each of us is familiar with.

Scaling The 7th Floor Apartment

From the tender age of 12, when he found himself locked out from his family apartment, Robert displayed a keen talent for climbing. He scaled the building making his way up to an open window on the seventh floor. Previous to this incident he had climbed cliffs and rocky outcrops, but this was the first time he ascended an urban structure. It was to ignite a passion that would go on to make him world famous.

The Obsession With Skyscrapers

His need to scale high-rise buildings was stoked initially by an invitation. He was asked to climb a building for a documentary. This led to Robert climbing Chicago’s 59-storey, 279 metre (915-foot) Citicorp Center (now known as the Citigroup Center). This was to inure an obsession that saw him conquering all of the largest skyscrapers in the world.

1994 would also see him conquer the 102-floor, 381 metre (1,250-foot) Empire State Building in New York. The following year he climbed several  buildings over 150 metres (500 feet) in London, Paris and Frankfurt.

So far he has climbed over 80 buildings throughout the world. Some of the most notable have been the 452 metre (1,483 feet) Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the 508 metre (1,667 feet) and the tallest building in the world, the 828 metre (2,716 feet) Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

His most difficult climb was undoubtedly the 443 metre (1,453-foot) Sears Tower (now renamed the Willis Tower) in Chicago. With 20 stories left to scale on the 102 floor structure a heavy mist surrounded the building and the walls where saturated with a layer moisture which was incredible slippery. Several hours later a very relieved Robert managed to reach the summit after inching his way to the top.

A Life Not Without Its Cost

Robert has had some serious accidents. Before the age of 20 he had fallen over 15 metres (50 feet) twice. The first fall resulting in fractures to his nose, his heels and his wrists. The second was more serious and led to him spending five days in a coma with more multiple fractures including his pelvis, elbow and forearms. He suffered brain swelling (cerebral edema) and vertigo – which has become permanent.

Thirteen years later a head-first fall from eight metres (26 feet) put him in another coma and required two months of hospitalisation.

The French government now classify Robert as disabled. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he revealed that he is considered to be 66 per cent disabled and that his doctor believes it to be a miracle that he can walk, let alone climb.

Anti-Authoritarian And Arrests

Being a rebel and not accepting convention plays a large part in Robert’s climbs. The fact that the majority of his ascents have been illegal has spurred him on. Authorities have reacted to his climbs by tightening security and making it much more difficult for him to climb.

He has been arrested on several occasions including once when he was charged for possession of a controlled substance in Texas during a climb of the One Houston Center. Robert strongly argued that this was a prescription drug designed to prevent epileptic seizures producing evidence to prove this. The drug charges were dropped and he was fined $2,000 for trespassing.

He was also fined $567 in Malaysia for criminal trespass after successfully scaling the Petronas Towers are two previous attempts in which he was thwarted by the authorities.

Now some of his climbs are legally sponsored so he does not face the threat of jail and prison. The scaling of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was one such sponsored climb.

A One-Of-A-Kind Remarkable Athletic

Alain Robert is incredibly slight. At no more than 1.62 metres (5’4″) and 50 kg (8 stone (112 pounds), he is not the most physically imposing. But his dedication to the craft of climbing has meant he posses some very unusual physical attributes. He can hang upside using only his arms to keep him upright for up to half an hour at a time. He can also do something that not many people on the planet can achieve – one finger pull ups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkqIG2Zbn4

At 48 years of age, whether or not Alain Robert gives up his dangerous sport in the future is unclear. Despite having a wife and children, his desire to climb remains a strong as ever. Only time will tell if the sport that he enjoys so much will claim his life or if he will eventually retire when he reaches the limits imposed by old age.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s Alain Robert Quotes: Thoughts From The Human Spider to find out what the man thinks about jail, adrenaline, climbing and perhaps, more importantly, what his wife thinks about her husband’s dangerous activities.

Highly Recommended Get The Book Through Amazon

Alain Robert’s book, With Bare: Hands: The Story Of Alain Robert, the Real-Life Spiderman is a fascinating account of his life so far. It manages to articulating place the reader right amidst the nerve-tingling adrenaline feelings that arise from Robert’s climbs.

You can obtain With Bare Hands: The True Story of Alain Robert, the Real-life Spiderman here from Amazon.

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For Germany: Alain Robert: The Story Of The Human Spider.

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For France: With Bare Hands: The True Story of the Human Spider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2TJ3tU8mbo

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His story was the stuff of fairytales. A man ascends from nowhere to become internationally famous in the world of cycling. Unemployed for six months, during which time he decided to go for the one hour record, Graeme Obree was an unlikely candidate to enter cycling history.

Obree was pitted against the Olympic gold medal-winning 4km pursuit specialist, Chris Boardman. A perfectionist by nature, Boardman had a dedicated team that constantly analysed his performance. He also was backed by a well-funded operation.

Obree had none of this, just himself and his bike. Without access to computer wizardry, the Scotsman contented himself by training in the Scottish hills on a large, big gear, torturing his body to climb up steep, punishing gradients.

The Cycling Prestige Of The One Hour

Although some may cite the Tour De France or Olympic Gold medals as the peak achievements in the world of cycling. For most cyclists there is one record that sets the bar and that is the One Hour Record. The five time winner of The Tour De France and whom many consider to be the world’s greatest cyclist, Eddy Merckx, stated that the One Hour event was the toughest race of his life.

The race is quite straightforward to understand – the cyclist must travel as far as possible in one hour.

However, not many pro-cyclists are willing to enter the One Hour event as they can lose too much and their reputation and careers can end up shreds.

The Birth Of Old Faithful

Obree’s bike was completely different from anything that had gone before. He adopted a skiing position. In which his centre of gravity was further forward than on a normal bike. The bike also had no top tube, the front fork which held the front wheel only had a single blade instead of the normal two and the bearings for the bottom bracket were made from an old washing machine.

It is his radically redesigned bike that provides the best insight into Obree’s mind. Unwillingly to conform to convention, his bike was a reflection of a creative mind that sought to challenge the norms and come up with new, better ideas. He named his bicycle ‘Old Faithful‘.

The One Hour Record Attempt

Obree’s first attempt in Norway in 1993 ended in failure at one kilometre short of Francesco Moser’s record. However, Obree, had use of the track for 24 hours and he decided to attempt the record again the next morning. Staying up all night and drinking large amounts of water to keep him awake, he kept exercising and stretching his body to avoid the muscles seizing up.

That morning Obree attacked the record with tremendous determination and the 12 year record fell by the wayside as he achieved a distance of 51.596. In 1999, Moser would later admitted that he had used blood doping to help him beat Merckx’s One Hour time.

Boardman And The World Pursuit Championships

His celebrations were short-lived though as one week later Boardman would go to break his record in the Velodrome in Bordeaux.

Obree then set his sights on the World Championships in Norway. After taking the British Championships, he qualified as part of the two man team, together with Boardman. It was at the World Championships that Obree, riding his homemade bicycle, Old Faithful, that the Scot would become World Champion and break two world records in the individual four kilometre pursuit.

1994 was another good year for the cyclist as he retook the One Hour Record with a distance of 52.713 kilometres.

Conservative Authorities Ban Old Faithful’s Riding Position

The world cycling governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale, were dismayed that the world records were being broken so often and this consternation was directed at Obree and his radical bicycle and so with just one hour before the One Hour Record, Obree was told that his unique riding position was banned. Obree was disqualified from the race.

The Union Cycliste is a notoriously conservative organisation. Founded in 1900 and based in Switzerland,  in the 1930s the organisation had banned recumbent bicycles which are far more efficient than upright models.

The Union Cycliste had fretted that bike design was now becoming more important than the calibre of the rider. However, it must be noted that many competitors who set records in the One Hour event had failed drugs tests. Including Eddie Merckx who tested positive for banned substances on no less than three occasions.

Obree And The Superman

At the 1995 Individual Pursuit World Championships Obree developed a new riding position which became known as The Superman. Once again he took the honours cementing his place in cycling history. The Superman position was quickly banned by the Union Cycliste.

Attitude Towards Doping

Although Obree joined a professional team to do the prologue stage of the Tour de France, he never made the transition to professional rider.  Speaking to Alistair Campbell in the Independent, Obree stated that once he refused to take drugs he was fired. ‘it was made very obvious to me I would have to take drugs. I said no, no way, and I was sacked by my team’.

Cycling is a sport that has being dominated by doping virtually since its inception. There are very few winners of the Tour de France who have emerged unscathed from both drug allegations and positive test results. Many cycling commentators and former competitors such as Floyd Landis and Paul Kimmage believe that is impossible to win the competition if you are clean.

The Woman Behind The Man

Obree had unwavering support in his wife, Anne. A nurse, she provided the incentive and the encouragement for Graeme to go out and pursue his dream of being a cycling record-holder. She was also the stabilising influence on her husband as he dealt with clinical depression and troubling issues.

The Darkside Of Graeme Obree

Graeme Obree, despite his glorious successes, was a tortured soul. Severely bullied as a child, he suffered from clinical depression and bipolar disorder. He would often go from cyclothymic bouts of euphoria to spiralling lows.

At his lowest point, he tried to commit suicide by hanging himself after his brother, Gordon, had died in a car accident. Fortunately, he was spotted by a woman who found him unconscious in a barn. Previous to this as a teenager he had tried to asphyxiate himself using gas but his father, like the woman, found him and saved him.

Driven by fear and a lack of worth it was cycling that afforded him some semblance of balance and normality. But it would also lead onto obsession – which in part helped him to become a cycling phenomenon.

In 2011, Grame Obree in an interview with the Scottish Sun came out that he was gay and that his suppression of this fact had contributed to the lowest points in his life. He is now divorced from his wife Ann.

The Impact Of The Flying Scotsman

Not only did Obree recast the mould of the One Hour event he became a sensation. An amateur cyclist, who refused to settle for convention, Obree not only competed with professional cyclists, he dominated them. He proved that intelligence and determination counted far more than money, sophisticated computer technology and experience.

Obree is the proof of a world in which dreams do come true, a world in which people, with enough dedication and correct application can excel in any field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MWojw1BFs

Highly Recommended Get The Book Through Amazon

Check out Yellow Magpie’s review of The Flying Scotsman Film Review: A Movie Which Creates It Own Cycling Story for a cinematic insight into Obree. You may also like to read The Humble Bike: Serving Us Well Into The Future to look at the what bicycles and cycling mean to people.

Graeme Obree’s Flying Scotsman: Cycling To Triumph Through My Darkest Hours is a highly entertaining and informative read from the cyclist. It provides a much deeper insight into Obree than the film and documents his tragic past with school bullies, indifferent teachers and his dangerous association with alcohol.

You can obtain Flying Scotsman : Cycling to Triumph Through My Darkest Hours
here from Amazon.

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Genius, unbeatable, maestro, these are words that are sometimes idly bandied about. Often the people who are given these labels are undeserving of such accolades. Dr Marion Tinsley is not one of those people.

Checkers King

The true King of Draughts (or checkers), Marion Tinsley dominated the sport in a manner that scarcely seems possible.

His competitive record speaks for itself. From 1955 to 1958 he was World Checkers Champion. After that period he became disillusioned with competition and withdrew from playing championship matches for 17 years.

The Return Of A Champion

Tinsley returned to the Checkers Championship in 1975 and continued where he had left off dominating opponents once more.

What is truly remarkable about Tinsley was that he only lost an amazing seven games throughout his entire career, having not lost a single championship match.

Tinsley Versus Chinook: Man versus Machine

Chinook was the brainchild of Jonathan Schaeffer, a Professor who specialises in artificial intelligence. Schaeffer had been a national master in Chess during his early 20′s. During the 1960′s it was widely reported that a computer programmer had mathematically solved the game of draughts. But this was mere myth-making and the truth was far from the tabloid spin that surrounded this news.

Upon discovering the truth Schaeffer set out to solve the game of checkers and pit his programme and team of programmers against the best draughts player, Tinsley.

The Battle

In 1992 Tinsley, having retired from competition (as he had been forbidden by both the American Checkers Federation and the English Draughts Association from competing against the Chinook programme), took on Chinook in The Man versus Machine World Championship. Chinook beat Tinsley in two games, but Tinsley won the match, having won four games with 33 draws.

One of the most remarkable incidents about the match was that Tinsley told Schaeffer ‘You’re going to regret that’ after Chinook made a move. 26 moves later, Tinsley won the match. A flabbergasted Schaeffer looked back into the database and discovered that Tinsley picked the only strategy that could have defeated Chinook from that point.

The Rematch

In 1994 Tinsley once more took on Chinook in a rematch. After six games, his health forced him to retire from the match. Seven months later he died of pancreatic cancer.

Tinsley was a one-off, an analytic genius, a checkers and draughts ambassador, even against Chinook he remained undefeated. It is reported that Marion maintained that he had the ability to visualise up to 150 moves in advance. Tinsley’s legacy in checkers and draughts in ensured, and so will his place in the history of artificial intelligence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aku4Zi_Mzq0

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Basketball is a game that, when played well, requires enormous skill. Great players appear to make everything look simple and easy. Intricate dribbling, great shooting and two-handed reverse dunks are explained by tremendous talent and great genetics.

However, the truth is that all good players put in a tremendous amount of time developing these aspects of their game. This was especially true of ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich, basketball’s first superstar, and the ultimate showman.

When he graced the basketball court the ball seemed to become an extension of his hands. In a time where complicated moves were actively discouraged, Pete Maravich broke the mould. Reverse, behind-the-back passes were his forte and seemingly every shot took upon an air of dramatic disbelief.

‘Pistol’ Pete The Showman

In truth, Pistol Pete Maravich introduced basketball fans to real-life drama. Pete straddled two worlds, the old world of basketball as a pure sporting endeavour and the newer world of professionalism where basketball was not merely sport but also entertainment. Pistol Pete attracted a huge following becoming the game’s first true superstar. For this reason alone, Pete Maravich epitomised the future direction of all sports.

Early Life

Pete Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1947, to Helen and Press Maravich.

Press had been a guard with the Youngstown Bears and Pittsburgh Ironmen and would go on to become a professional coach. Under his father, Pete learned the fundamentals of basketball. However, under Press, Pete would also take with him unwanted emotional baggage.

A dedicated player, Maravich spent long hours practicing on his own. As a result, he developed incredible ball control, shooting skills and passing ability.

High School Basketball

Pete went to Daniel High School in South Carolina. It was at Daniel that he earned the nickname ‘Pistol’ because of his style of shooting. He threw the ball from his hip resembling a gun-slinger.

During his stay at Daniel High School, Pete participated in Daniel’s first basketball game against an all-black school.

However, Pete left Daniel moving to Needham B. Broughton High School as a consequence of his father joining the coaching staff at North Carolina State.

College Basketball And Unmatched NCAA Records

At Louisiana State University, Pete Maravich would go down in NCAA history as college basketball’s greatest shooter.

Unable to play as a first-year student under NCAA rules, Maravich during the 1966-67 season scored 43.6 points for the freshers. Finally allowed to play for the senior team, Maravich would go on to break virtually every scoring record in the NCAA. He averaged 43.8, 44.2 and 44.5 points per game in his final three seasons.

Pete attracted huge crowds throughout his college career. Known for his flamboyant plays and dramatic shooting, Pistol Pete’s final college action was to shot a half-court shot. Before the ball even reached the rim, he was on his way to the locker room, arms held high in victory, supremely confident that he had made the shot. Needless to say, the ball swooshed the net.

Maravich holds nearly all scoring records in the NCAA. Here are some stats from nba.com:

• Most career points (3,667).
• Highest career scoring average (44.2 points per game).
• Most field goals made (1,387).
• Most field goals attempted (3,166).
• Most career 50-point games (28).
• Most points scored in a single season (1,381).
• Highest scoring average in a single season (44.5 points per game).

It must be noted that Maravich did all the above without the aid of three-point baskets. According to Wikipedia, former basketball head coach of LSU, Dale Brown, noted every shot that Pete Maravich took in college basketball and calculated that Pete would have made an average of 13 three-point shots per game.

If he played under current regulations with the three-point arc set at 5.8 metres (19-foot 9 inches) from the rim, he would have averaged 57 points per game.

NBA Career

Maravich went to the Atlanta Hawks as third pick in the 1970 NBA draft. However, his arrival was not welcomed by some of the Hawk’s veterans who resented his large $1.9-million contract. In his first season, Maravich posted an average of 23.2 points per game.

In his second season, he averaged 19.3 points per game after missing 16 matches, although he raised his level of play to score 27.7 points per game in the play-offs.

In the 1972-73 season he received his first All-Star call up and made the All-NBA Second Team by averaging 26.1 points per game.

His fourth and final season with Atlanta coincided with ‘Pistol’ averaging his highest points per game (27.7) yet, but his team’s worst performance (35 wins out of 82 games).

Under a dictatorial coach, who tried to control the way ‘Pistol’ Pete played, Maravich needed to escape in order for his game to thrive.

New Beginnings: The New Orleans Jazz

The arrival of a new team in the NBA, the New Orleans Jazz, marked Maravich’s departure from the Atlanta Hawks. As a Jazz player, Maravich scored a modest 21.5 points per game and averaged 6.2 assists per game in his first season. However, his shooting percentage was a career worst 41.9 per cent (.419).

His second season at the Jazz saw his performances increase and he scored an average of 25.9 points per game.

Maravich’s play was full of incredible moves and each game was real-life theatre. The 1976-77 season was Maravich’s finest hour. Leading the NBA with 31.1 points per game, he scored 40 points or more 13 times.

In a match against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977, Maravich scored what has only recently been pushed outside of the top ten NBA all-time best single-game totals with a massive 68 points. This helped to earn him a place on the All-NBA First Team for the second successive year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UTust5oFW4

After dramatically injuring his knew with a three-quarter court behind-the-knees mid-air pass, together with separate knee surgery and tendinitis in another knee, he made only 50 appearances. However, he still managed to score a highly impressive 27 points per game.

Constant knee problems meant that Maravich’s game was suffering. Although he still managed to reach 22.6 points per game the following season, he was not the player who once so eloquently graced the court. His game had stalled and moves that were once completed in a blink of an eye took a lot longer.

After playing just 16 games and unhappy about his lack of game time, Maravich parted ways with what had now become the Utah Jazz in the 1979-80 season. As a free agent, he sought out one last opportunity to play the game he dearly loved.

Boston Celtics

Pete Maravich moved to the Boston Celtics in 1980. There, together with a promising rookie called Larry Bird, Maravich contributed with 11.5 points per game in 26 outings for the Celtics from the bench.

During the 1979-1980 season, the NBA decided to finally implement three-point shots in a move that was long overdue. Pete shot ten from 15 of his shots, recording an impressive 66 per cent (.667) return from beyond the arc.

Recognition

In his ten year NBA stint, Pistol Pete played 658 games, scoring 15,948 points. He had a career average of 5.4 assists per game while averaging 24.2 points per game throughout his career.

Although he had a rather acromonious end to his career at the Utah Jazz, his jersey number was retired by the Jazz franchise in 1985.

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in May, 1987, at the relatively young age of 39.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5-J2Spj7kg

Unjust Criticism

Pete Maravich has often been accused of not being a team player. Even while he posted such huge numbers at LSU, the team’s record was quite an ordinary 49 wins and 35 losses.

However, it must be noted that prior to Maravich’s arrival, the team’s record was three wins from 23 games.

Maravich also attracted criticism for not winning anything during his NBA career. Because of this, he is sometimes perceived as not being a team player.

However, the truth of the matter is that none of the teams he was with had the necessary talent to win the championship. Michael Jordan never won anything until he was surrounded by Scottie Pippen, Horrace Grant and Denis Rodman.

King Of Horse

Pete Maravich had a huge repertoire of shots, and a seemingly endless basketball imagination. His willingness to try new shots and new moves made him ideal for H-O-R-S-E and the trick shots it required. All of these attributes made him near impossible to beat in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9JLJunoxlc

The ‘Secret’ To His Basketball Success

As with a lot of people who excel at any discipline, talent is often mentioned as a defining factor in making them ultra successful at what they do. This is a misnomer and does the person in question an injustice.

‘But the thing is, almost nothing in life is as easy as it looks.’ Hugh Laurie

If players, including Pete Maravich, just relied on their talent alone they would not have gotten far. The great Michael Jordan found that even his natural abilities, as a high school player, were not good enough to make the school’s team unless he combined them with a strong work ethic.

Pete Maravich was the epitome of this philosophy. He would spend countless hours practicing on his own in basketball courts. Repeating shots over and over, he became an incredibly accurate shooter. Practicing dribbling skills and drills designed to aid the development of better ball control, would make him the player he would become. He even practiced dribbling and shooting the ball blind-folded.

In fact, just before Pete Maravich went to bed he would practice his follow-through with a basketball so that he got the correct backwards rotation on the ball.

All of this work payed huge dividends for Pete at court-time. Not only had he an incredible array of shot-selection and moves to out-fox the opposing defense, he had great vision and could spot passes that scarcely seemed on.

All the practice taking almost impossible shots also paid off for Pete and the danger he posed to opposing teams was that he could score from anywhere. No matter who was guarding him, ‘Pistol’ Pete had a move and a shot selection to put the ball in the basket.

A Troubled Life

Our constant lionisation of successful figures has the effect of making people seem unreal. We turn our contemporaries into heroic figures, supermen, things that they are not. We do this because we are frightened by ourselves, our own reality, our extraordinary ordinariness. Thus we need idylls to aspires toward. Often these idylls are found in the form of people we mythicise.

The difference between Pete Maravich and other successful players is that his human frailties are known.

His mother had problems with alcohol and battled mental illness. She committed suicide in 1974 devastating Pete in the process.

Although it could be argued that his father was responsible for making ‘Pistol’ Pete the player he was, he was also partly responsible for his son’s inability to enjoy both basketball and life. Continuously berating his son’s basketball performances and building his son up to be the next great basketball player put huge pressure on Pete. Pressure that would take a long time to shrug off.

After his career ended, Pete went in search of meaning in his life. Although he had already begun this process during his college years, finding refuge in alcohol, he began to look more intensely and in other more productive places.

Ufology, macrobiotics, and vegetarianism, amongst others, were studied by Pete as he strove to be at peace.

However, a life-changing moment occurred when he heard a voice telling him to ‘Be strong and lift thine own heart.’ Pete changed his life after having this ephiphany and became a Christian.

Death

While playing a pick basketball game of 3-on-3, Pete Maravich had a heart attack. The subsequent autopsy revealed that Pete had a rare congenital heart defect. He was missing the left coronary artery. As a result his right coronary artery had been compensating and was hugely enlarged.

‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich was a tremendous athlete who never should have been able to do the things he did. He should not have been able to play basketball, never mind post NCAA and NBA records.

In one of the most intriguing aspects of Pete Maravich’s death, and something which ultimately came back to haunt him, he stated to a reporter that ‘I don’t want to spend ten years in the NBA and then die of a heart attack aged 40.’

Pete Maravich left behind his wife, Jackie, and two sons, Jaeson and Josh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aDy8BqEuyE

Recommended

Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich is a marvellous book that explores in detail Maravich’s life both on and off the court. In particular it charts the tumultuous patriarchal relationship between father and son. A stimulating and absorbing read, the author Mark Kriegel puts to bed the lies and untruths associated with fame and the price that is paid to be great at any discipline.

For those wishing to understand the fundamentals of basketball, Pistol Pete’s Homework Basketball is the only resource. His encyclopedic knowledge of the fundamentals of basketball far outstrips anyone else’s. It is a must have for any aspiring player.

Check out Yellow Magpie’s ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich Quotes: The Game Of Life And Basketball to find out what the man thought about stardom and read his self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Figure skating is a supreme sport. A marriage of raw athleticism with delicate poise and gracious movements, it is truly a spectator’s event. Undoubtedly, two of the leading candidates for male figure skating have been the Russians, Evgeni Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin.

Together they have changed the course of the sport and reached new heights that will prove difficult for future skaters to reach. However, while their relationship with one another is now cordial it was not always the case.

Prodigious Beginnings

The older of the two, by nearly three years, Yagudin was born in March 18, 1980, while Plushenko was born in November 3, 1982. Both men were prodigious talents who first experienced the joy of skating on ice at the young age of four. Yagudin went on to win the World Junior Figure Skating Championships at the age of 16, while Plushenko went two years better, winning the same competition at the tender age of 14.

Both skaters were taken under the wing of renowned ice-skating trainer, Alexei Mishin. However, this relationship would later emerge to create the conflict and animosity that would come to public attention.

Yagudin’s Path To Glory

1998 was the year that saw Yagudin win his first big title, the European Figure Skating Championships, beating rival Plushenko into second place. In 1999, no longer tolerant of a fractious relationship, Yagudin left Mishin for good and went to the United States to train under famous coach, Tatiana Tarasova. That same year he lost the Russian National crown to Plushenko. The following year he would go on to win the World Skating Championships.

However, 2001 was to be the nadir of his career and he would end up losing to Plushenko in every competition the two were entered.

Nevertheless, he persevered through his bad patch and 2002 would be a bountiful year. Winning every competition, Yagudin proceeded to achieve the highlight of his career winning the Olympic title in Salt Lake City in record-breaking fashion, becoming the first skater to be given four perfect 6.0′s for presentation in his long programme. Later that year, he would become the first skater to receive a perfect 6.0 for required elements and six perfect 6.0′s for presentation.

However, this was to prove to be the zenith of his career as he had been skating with a problematic hip, a birth defect, and as a result was forced to retire from competition.

2002 Winter Olympics Short Programme ‘Winter’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEfR4dQ8wAw

Plushenko’s Path To Mastery

At the 2002 Olympics, Plushenko finished second to Yagudin. However, shortly afterwards Yagudin retired from competition. This paved the way for Plushenko to win all before him.

He would go on to win all competitions, finishing second on just two occasions as he swept to consequent World Championships and Gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

In 2006, Plushenko announced that he would be taking a break from competition to recuperate from previous injuries.

After a gap of over two years, and worried about the stated of Russian Ice Skating, Plushenko returned to competition winning the Russian and the European Championships setting a world record score along the way.

2006 Torino Winter Olympics ‘Tosca’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ieMEfklmuI

Glittering Records

Plushenko has one of the most adorned careers of any athletic or performer. Eight-times winner of the Russian Championships, seven-times winner of the Cup of Russia, six-times winner of the European Championships,-three times winner of the World Championships, Olympic Gold and Silver medal Winner.

Likewise Yagudin’s record, while not quite as successful, is steeped in success, four-times winner of the World Championships, three-times winner of the European Championships, and Olympic Gold medalist. The only competition that eluded Yagudin has been the Russian Championships.

Tenuous Relationship

Yagudin and Plushenko had a fraught relationship with one another. Competing against one another and trying to gain the attention of their coach, Mishin, probably did not help matters. However, in a world in which only winners are rewarded and runner ups are quickly forgotten, perhaps it was inevitable that the two would not become close friends. Instead, a rivalry born out of proximity and the competitive nature of the two men would cast a shadow on the two competitors.

The situation was exacerbated by coach Mishin who proclaimed Plushenko to be the better of the two skaters thus almost ensuring Yagudin’s departure.

However their rivalry also played its part in making the two better skaters. The competition between the two sparked the other to perform better and better as each tried to outdo his rival.

Without Yagudin, it is arguable, Plushenko would not have achieved the dizzying heights he is famous for and vice versa, without Plushenko, Yagudin would not have had half the level of success that he has attained.

Both men are now fathers. Plushenko has a son with former wife Maria Ermak and, as of September 2009, is married to Yana Rudkovskaya. Yagudin has a daughter with pairs Olympic Figure Skating Champion Tatiana Totmianina.

Perhaps fatherhood, and the fact that two are no longer competing against one another, has lead to a healthier relationship between the two.

Technical Accomplishments

One of the most techincally gifted skaters the world has ever known, Plushenko was the first skater to perform a quad toe loop-tripe toe loop-double loop jump and the first to land a 4-3-3 combination. He is also one of the few male skaters to perform a Biellmann Spin, as most men lack the necessary flexibility.

Yagudin is known for his incredible footwork and choreography. He also has the ability to melt his performances so that the viewer sees music as a living entity.

Yagudin 2002 Exhibition ‘Overcome’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHxBvJgKLgA

Plushenko 2001 Exhibition ‘Sex Bomb’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA9ruHmCDgI

Check out Yellow Magpie’s Evgeni Plushenko Quotes: Words From A Revolutionary Skater to see what the man thinks about winning, competition and his fans.

Related posts:

1. Ennio Morricone: The Greatest Composer The World Has Ever Known
2. About The Greatest Jugglers: The Art Of Making The Difficult Seem Seductively Simple

Serena Williams was born on September 26, 1981, into the tough neighbourhood of Compton, Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard and Oracene Williams. The youngest of five daughters. Serena’s father had long been a tennis fan and he resolved to teach all his children how to play the game. However, only Serena and her sister Venus took a keen interest in playing.

Early Life

When Serena was still a child, the family moved to live in Los Angeles, and later when she was nine years old they moved to West Palm Beach where she attended the academy of Rick Macci.

While Serena and Venus received tuition from Macci they were educated at home by their father.  They then enrolled in Driftwood Academy which was a private high school in Lake Park Florida.

At the age of 14, Serena turned professional making her debut in October 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Vanier, Quebec, Canada.  However, she lost in under an hour to a virtual unknown. Her father Richard, who was not without his critics, offered Serena constant encouragement and her game thrived and improved dramatically.

Under her father’s advice, Serena took the year off in 1996 and instead concentrated on training and developing her game.

Professional Calling

Her first professional WTA match was in Moscow in 1997. Disappointingly, Serena crashed out in the first round. But things were about to change for Serena and she qualified for a tournament in Chicago. It was in Chicago, Serena faced the world’s number seven seed, Mary Pierce. There she staged a major upset, beating Pierce in straight sets.

This advanced her into the quarter finals, where her opponent was fourth seed Monica Seles. Again Serena defeated Seles in what was a massive victory for her. The win, saw her ranking shoot from 304 to 102 in the world.

By the following year Serna had risen to number 21 in the world and reached the semi-finals of a tournament in Sydney, Australia, where she beat third-ranked Lindsay Davenport. Expectations were high when she went into the Australian Open, but in the second round her older sister Venus was her opponent and Venus emerged victorious.

In 1999, Serena won the Paris Indoor Tournament when she beat Amelie Mauresmo. She followed up this victory by winning the India Wells, beating off Lindsey Davenport, Mary Pierce and Steffi Graf. However, once again she was beaten by her sister Venus in the finals of a tournament in Miami.

Grand Slam Success

Her most important victory that year was in the U.S. Open, where she reached the finals by seeing off, Monica Seles, Lindsey Davenport and finally Martina Hingis. This was her first Grand Slam tournament, making her the lowest seeded player to ever win the title.  Her only remaining challenge was to beat her sister Venus, something she did later that year in the Grand Slam Cup.

Just as her star was in the ascendant, Serena began to be plagued with injuries forcing her to pull out of many tournaments Finally she decided to take time off to heal and by June 2000 she was back healthier and fitter than she had ever been.

She qualified for Wimbledon, but once again in the semi finals she faced her sister Venus, who won 6-2, 7-6.  However she did win the doubles at Wimbledon and the doubles at the Summer Olympics in Australia that same year, each time with her sister Venus as her partner.

2001 brought a less than auspicious start for Serena. In Sydney she lost to Martina Hingis and in the Australian Open, Hingis beat her once again. But with her sister Venus at her side, the dynamic duo won the Australian Open doubles.

Once again ill-health forced her out of tournaments, including the Paris, Scottsdale, Charleston, and Madrid tournaments.

But she came back to win the Canadian Open beating number three Jennifer Capriati. But her sister Venus once again defeated her in the final of the U.S. Open.

In 2002, she was on top of her game and went on to win the Italian and French Open where for the first time she beat her sister in a Grand Slam, giving her a rating of number 2 in the world. She defeated Venus again when they met in the 2002 final at Wimbledon, making her the number one female tennis player in the world.

2002-2003 saw Serena dominating the courts, defeating Venus yet again in the U.S. Open. She won numerous other tournaments becoming one of only four women to hold Four Grand Slam Titles at one time. But Belgian woman, Justine Henin-Hardenne, ended her winning streak in the Charleston tournament finals, ending Serena’s tour de force of 21 match wins.

Back To Her Glorious Best

Toward the end of 2003, she was defeated once again by Henin-Hardenne, in the semi-finals of the French Open. During the match she was constantly heckled by the partisan crowd. Many believed the match was the beginning of the end for Serena, however she proved them wrong when she came back with a vengeance to win over Venus in Wimbledon.

Since then Serena Williams has won 22 Grand Slam titles, and is ranked number two in the world. She beat her sister Venus in Wimbledon again this year 2009. She has also won two Olympic Gold Medals and has earned more prize money than any other female athlete in history.

Outside Of Tennis

However Tennis is not her only love, she also enjoys acting and has appeared in shows such as NBC’s Law and Order and ABC’s My Wife and Kids. She has also appeared on numerous talk shows.

Both Serena and Venus are Jehovah’s Witnesses. As a result, they do not vote in elections or get involved in politics. Consequently, neither voted in the 2008 US elections.

Serena has a keen interest in fashion and designs her own clothes. Her designs are called Aneres, which is her own name spelled backwards. She is hoping to sell her clothing range in boutiques in Los Angeles and Miami.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlH0bLgMZtg

Further Reading

On the Line is an autobiography chronicling Serena’s life. Although highly sanitised, nonetheless it offers a fascinating insight into how Serena perceives the world, herself and her family.

Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach for the Williams Sisters is written by her former coach and shows an altogether different perspective from that of Serena’s. The book portrays her father, Richard in a rather less sympathetic manner than On the Line does and is a fascinating and highly recommended read.

Amazon.co.uk
For people living in Ireland or the United Kingdom, you can access On the Line and Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach for the Williams Sisters here.

Amazon.ca
For those who live in Canada, you can obtain On the Line and Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach for the Williams Sisters from here.

Amazon.de
For Germany: On the Line and Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach for the Williams Sisters.

Amazon.fr
For France: On the Line and Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach for the Williams Sisters.

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