Bolt Chosen World Athlete Of The Year

Prince Albert II of Monaco, Russian pole vaulter and female World Athlete of the Year Yelena Isinbayeva, Jamaican triple-Olympic medalist Usain Bolt and IAAF President Lamine Diack at the IAAF World Athletics Gala where the Caribbean sprint star took the title of male World Athlete of the Year.

 

Jamaican sprint sensation Usain Bolt has been named male World Athlete of the Year.

The Olympic triple medalist was declared the winner of this year’s award last night, when Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva also beat out his compatriots Veronica Campbell-Brown and Melaine Walker to take the award for female World Athlete of the Year. It was the third time for her, after also taking the title in 2004 and 2005.

A dapper Bolt, who captivated the attention of the sporting world with his Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold medals, each with a World record performance said he felt very honoured.

“I have a motto that anything is possible. But this really is such an honour,” he said. “Just to be included with every great name in the sport is wonderful. I’ll try to do it year after year.”

He received US$100,000 along with the trophy.

Cuba’s Dayron Robles, who took the gold in the men’s 110-metres hurdles at the Olympics, also received an award for Male Performance of the Year.

Source: Caribbean 360

3 Golds, 3 World Records, Bolt & Asafa Mash It Up In 4×100 Relay Final

Photo credit – International Herald Tribute

37.10 secs became the new world record when the Jamaican team powered their way down to the finish line in the 4x100m relay this morning, as Asafa Powell anchor home the Jamaician leg to a blistering gold medal finsh, smashing a previous record of 37.40 set in 1992 Barcelona by 0.30 secs.

Said Bolt  to BBC, “I asked the guys for it and they said ‘yes, we’re going out there to do it’.

“I’m just happy and grateful because we worked hard for it.

Once again as predicted  it was a 1,2 finsh for the Caribbean [like the 100m final]  with Trinidad winning the silver medal as Richard Thompson was the man to bring his team home in 37.11 secs.

Strong favourites Jamaica however ruined their gold medal chances in the women 4x100m relay final when the bungle baton exchange beween Simpson and Stewart denied Veronica Campbell-Brown her chance and their country a gold medal victory. Russia won the race.

• SHOCKING –  What’s Wrong With The Americans? Eliminated From Both Relays!!!
• Ground Provisions Not Steriods Won The Day

Jamaicans Ecstatic On Bolt Victory

 

 

 

 

SHOCKING – What’s Going On With The Americans? Eliminated From Both Relays!!!

Photo credit – BBC

Americans athletes are both out of the men & women 4x100m relays. In what was shaping up to be a Jamaica,Trinidad and America showdown for gold will now see the two Caribbean countries battle it out for a gold medal finish with a lesser stiff competition. The Americans dropped the baton in the qualifying heat between Patton handing over and Gay taking it. Williams and Edwards also fouled up like their male counterparts, eliminating themselves entirely from the finals.

Jamaicans Large And In Charge – Ground Provisions Not Steriods Won The Day

The international media are in a frenzy. The Caribbean and to a larger extent Jamaica have become a hotbed of media reports as Jamaica continue it dominance on the Olympic stage. Caribbean media personnel are being hounded for interviews with phones ringing off the hooks as journalists jostle for feedback on Caribbean athletes.

Photo Credit – BBC Sports

AND HERE’S WHY

Usain “Lighting” Bolt a sure favourite to win the 200m sprint double broke the world record & Olympic record in a record time of 19.30  erasing Michael Johnson mark of 19.32. Usain Bolt became the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 Los Angles to win gold both in the 100m & 200m final during live coverage this morning.  Once again the Caribbean came in 1, 2 just like the 100m dash when Netherlands Antilles Churandy Martina came second with 19.82. American Spearman capturing bronze got the shock of his life when told he was disqualified for running out of lane.

BUT IT DID NOT STOP THERE

A few mins later Jamaica Melane Walker won the 400m hurdles finals! In a time of 52.64 secs sending the Caribbean region in jubilation once again. Sunday it was gold [Shelly-Ann Fraser], silver and bronze for Jamaica in the women 100m dash.  Now everyone wants to know what it is the Jamaicans are doing different!

• Ready Set BOLT And A New Record

What’s So Great With Women Beating Each Other?

   The International Boxing Association’s [AIBA] executive committee plans to bring a proposal to the International Olympic committee [IOC] to introduce women’s boxing to the London 2012 Olympic games.

Our own Joyce Bowen, committee chairperson of the AIBA’s women’s committee supports it wholeheartedly.

“We have every opportunity to get in there,” said Bowen, of Barbados. “We’re looking forward to it. The time has been there for a long while. We were just waiting, but we’ve been ready long enough.”

Personally the idea of women in a boxing ring beating each other around doesn’t appeal to me. As a matter of fact I was very dismayed when Muhammad Ali’s daughter took up the sport to follow in her father’s footsteps. A pretty thing like she. I noticed during my online reading that BMX cycling and women’s steeplechase were introduced into this year’s summer games. You know what I would like to see, some good ‘ole fashioned tug-o-war. That was one of de earlier events. I would enjoyed that. Maybe someone somewhere could stir up enough interest in the sport and get it once again on the IOC palate.

FULL STORY

Olympians Continues to Keep Bajan Flag Flying High

UPDATED

FULL STORY

UPDATED

Ryan Brathawaite booked a place in the semifinals 110m hurdles clocking a time of 13.44 secs in his quaterfinal round.

Photo credit - IAAF 

Ryan Brathwaithe place second in his 110m hurdles heat qualifying for the quarterfinal round. Clocking a time of 13.38 secs & setting a new national record, the semifinalist of the 2007 World Championships will be looking forward to a repeat performance as he sets his eyes on the semifinals and hopefully advanced the finals.

FULL RESULTS

In other related news

Bajan lone sailor Gregory Douglas competing in a one man dinghy/single handle or the Laser class saw his best performance in race 5, placing 30th overall out of a field of 43 competitors the most in Olympic history. The dinghy simple enough for beginners is still the boat of choice for some of the world’s best sailors for its pure design and performance. So far 9 out of 11 races have been completed.

FULL RESULTS

Ready Set BOLT And A New World Record

Photo credit – BBC

Jubilation broke out across the Caribbean this morning [during live coverage] when Usain “lighting” Bolt  became the fastest man in the world clocking a time of 9.69 in the 100m dash 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Eclipsing his previous record by 0.03 secs. Winning the gold medal for Jamaica and placing the Caribbean in the Olympic history books. It was an anticipated  race featuring 6 Caribbean athletes for the first time in Olympic history  in the 100m dash. Trinidadian Richard Thompson [above in red] took the silver medal. Jamaican Asafa Powell came fourth.

More Than Just Fun And Games Experts Warn About Surveillance in Beijing

   British and American intelligence agencies are warning that the Chinese Communist Party is using the Olympic Games as a goldmine for gathering intelligence, extortion and commercial secrets.

Athletes, officials and traveling fans from Britain and the US were advised about the level of privacy and security they should expect during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but the reality could be chilling. On June 29, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback revealed documents he obtained from several large hotel chains, which were issued by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Public Security Bureau. The documents demanded that Beijing hotels install invasive Internet communication monitoring tools, or face fines and the loss their operating licenses within China.

One of the documents said, “In order to ensure the smooth opening of Olympic in Beijing and the Expo in Shanghai in 2010, safeguard the security of Internet network and the information thereon in the hotels … it is required that your company install and run the Security Management System.”

According to ABC News investigations, a major international hotel chain was asked to install monitoring devices in rooms to allow CCP security agents to spy on guests. The hotel chain revealed the information to the ABC after being promised the condition of anonymity. This chain has hotels in many of the Olympic host cities, and said that they would install the devices if pressured. Former Sydney Chinese Consulate employee Chen Yonglin said that the CCP’s extremist surveillance tactics are actually more common than many people realize and started when the Games were awarded to China in 2001. Mr Chen defected from the consulate and the Chinese Communist Party in 2005.

“As soon as Beijing won the bidding for the Olympic Games they started to install security facilities, especially since more petitioners had come to Beijing to appeal,” he said.

“So they installed cameras everywhere in the street, especially at major tourist sites and public areas, and even around all the public amenities. They have used all technologies to monitor [people] and operate the monitoring systems,” he said. Mr Chen said that the CCP mobilized approximately 200,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the Games.

The soldiers have temporarily been disguised as uniformed and plain-clothes policeman and are deployed throughout Beijing. He also mentioned that the CCP’s justification for heightened security, that is, warnings of terrorist attacks against the games, is actually a façade.

“Their authority is actually very weak in controlling, so it has mobilized over 200,000 military forces for security of the Olympic Games,” he said. “It escalated its propaganda [campaign], and began warning of terrorist attacks. In actuality if there is any terrorist attack it’s all targeting the corrupted Chinese officials and the government, rather than against the Games.”

British intelligence chiefs John Evans of M15 and John Scarlet of M16 issued warnings to official in July about China’s “honey trap” missions. They said China Secret Intelligence Service had trained more than 1000 of their most attractive female agents to seduce and lure businessmen and officials back to hotel rooms where sensitive documents and electronics could be stolen. They suggested that the Chinese regime could use the event itself as a form of extortion, because it would be recorded by hidden surveillance equipment. Their briefing, which identified several Beijing hotels as high-risk locations fitted with surveillance software and cameras, also warned that the “honey trap” operations would target British athletes as they celebrate in Beijing nightclubs. Officials were also warned that hotel staff could be working as spies for the CCP’s security service. Hotel staff could use a variety of excuses to enter foreigners’ rooms up to five times a day and steal sensitive information.

“That’s natural. In China they use all the ways they can to… for the Chinese officials and businesses they have no ethics at all, and they can do anything when it comes to reaching their goals,” Mr Chen said.

He said the CCP has launched a massive financial initiative to incite Chinese citizens to turn in both domestic and foreign protestors.

In several suburbs, people are paid for any information regarding protests. Each person who reports a petitioner is paid 100 Yuan, and any report against any protest is paid. Mr Chen said that they want to control dissent throughout the entirety of Beijing, from the downtown area to the suburbs. Chen also said that the CCP has actually spent a remarkable amount of money above and beyond $500 billion Yuan (approx. $73 billion USD) reportedly spent on the Games, much of which has been used on these various surveillance and epilogue tactics.

“This is a massive campaign, a massive operation. They’ve spent a huge amount of money, more than the number they claim. It’s more than $43 billion U.S. dollars, more than that.”

Source – P.Inow.com

Asafa Powell: Jamaica Olympians Over Tested

Jamaican track star Asafa Powell has claimed that he and other Jamaican competitors at the Beijing Olympics are being over tested for drugs.

The athlete, who until May held the world record for the fastest 100 metres, said he feared loss of blood from testing could affect his performance.
 
“About two days ago, I got pretty upset because since I’ve been here, they have tested me four times, and took blood, a lot of blood,” Powell said during a meeting with reporters as Nike’s downtown headquarters in Beijing. “They are taking so much blood that we are going to be very weak for the finals of the 100 metres.”
 
Participants in the 2008 Olympics will be the most tested in history, particularly the sprinters. This is the result of a slew of doping revelations that saw several top athletes being stripped of their medals.
 
“They’re saying they’re doing about 4,000 tests,” said Powell. “It’s just very difficult to catch everyone, but I hope they can do it and make this Olympics clean.”

Olympic drug-testing includes the examination of blood and urine.
 
But according to the Associated Press, Powell is one of about 10 track and field athletes participating in a previously unreported voluntary anti-doping programme, hence the numerous tests.
 
Powell and fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt on Monday checked into the Olympics Village ahead of their 100-metre heats on Friday. The two are set to face off in the highly anticipated race, while America’s Tyson Gay is being touted by the United States media as the spoiler.

Source – Caribbean 360.com

Congratulations Bradley Ally

   Bradley Alley swimming in his semifinal 200 IM Medley in Beijing Thursday placed 4th in Heat 2 today. Bradley clocked a time of 1.59.53 a few secs slower than his previous mark of 1.58.51. Critical secs that stopped him from qualifying for the finals. 

His time of 1.59.53 saw him placing ninth overall narrowly missing out of the top eight for the finals. Nevertheless with a new national record and going where no Caribbean swimmer has gone before we say thank you. 

FULL RESULTS

In other related news

Caribbean eyes are focused on Jamaica taking the title of the world’s fastest man. As a matter of fact let me be so bold to say 1+ 2. That is gold & silver. So when a friend told me he heard [Asafa] Powell on the radio [interview] stating he had 4 blood tests and there are still more to be taken I say Wuh? Powell went on to say words to the effect that with all these blood tests that are being taken from him he will be too weak to run a race. Hmmm. Do I hear conspiracy?

• YES! Bradley Ally Qualify 200m IM Semifinals Beats Michael Phelps

21 Edicts From The Chinese Government’s Propoganda Unit

 

The Sidney Morning Herald  reports that the Chinese Government have issued  a 21 point plan to their editors and journalists ordering them to ignore hot international topics and any issues that may reflect negatively on the Olympic Games.

They are:

1. The telecast of sports events will be live [but] in case of emergencies, no print is allowed to report on it.

2. From August 1, most of the previously accessible overseas websites will be unblocked. No coverage is allowed on this development. There’s also no need to use stories published overseas on this matter and [website] operators should not provide any superlinks on their pages.

3. Be careful with religious and ethnic subjects.

4. Don’t make fuss about foreign leaders at the opening ceremony, especially in relation to seat arrangements or their private lives.

5. We have to put special emphasis on ethnic equality. Any perceived racist terms as “black athlete” or “white athlete” is not allowed. During the official telecast, we can refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei”. In ordinary times, refer to Taiwanese athletes as “those from the precious island Taiwan…..” In case of any pro Taiwan-independence related incident inside the venue, you shall follow restrictions listed in item 1.

6. For those ethnic Chinese coaches and athletes who come back to Beijing to compete on behalf of other countries, don’t play up their “patriotism” since that could backfire with their adopted countries.

7. As for the Pro-Tibetan independence and East Turkistan movements, no coverage is allowed. There’s also no need to make fuss about our anti-terrorism efforts.

8. All food saftey issues, such as cancer-causing mineral water, is off-limits.

9. In regard to the three protest parks, no interviews and coverage is allowed.

10. No fuss about the rehearsals on August 2,5. No negative comments about the opening ceremony.

11.No mention of the Lai Changxing case.

12.No mention of those who illegally enter China.

13.On international matters, follow the official line. For instance, follow the official propaganda line on the North Korean nuclear issue; be objective when it comes to the Middle East issue and play it down as much as possible; no fuss about the Darfur question; No fuss about UN reform; be careful with Cuba. If any emergency occurs, please report to the foreign ministry.

14. If anything related to territorial dispute happens, make no fuss about it. Play down the Myanmar issue; play down the Takeshima island dispute.

15. Regarding diplomatic ties between China and certain nations, don’t do interviews on your own and don’t use online stories. Instead, adopt Xinhua stories only. Particularly on the Doha round negotiation, US elections, China-Iran co-operation, China-Aussie co-operation, China-Zimbabwe co-operation, China-Paraguay co-operation.

16.Be very careful with TV ratings, only use domestic body’s figures. Play it down when  rating goes down.

17. In case of an emergency involving foreign tourists, please follow the official line. If there’s no official line, stay away from it.

18. Re possible subway accidents in the capital, please follow the official line.

19.Be positive on security measures.

20. Be very careful with stock market coverage during the Games.

21.Properly handle coverage of the Chinese sports delegation:

A.don’t criticise the selection process

B.don’t overhype gold medals; don’t issue predictions on gold medal numbers; don’t make fuss about  cash rewards for athletes.

C.don’t make a fuss about isolated misconducts by athletes.

D.enforce the publicity of our anti-doping measures.

E. put emphasis on  government efforts to secure the retirement life of atheletes.

F. keep a cool head on the Chinese performance. Be prepared for possible fluctations in the medal race.

G. refrain from publishing opinion pieces at odds with the official propangada line of the Chinese delegation

YES! Bradley Ally Qualify 200m IM Semifinals Beats Michael Phelps

     Bradley Ally, Barbados medal swimming hopeful wrote his name in the history books becoming the first Caribbean swimmer to advanced to the semifinals in the 200m IM medley in Beijing Wednesday. Clocking a of time of 1.58.51, Bradley also made history by winning ahead of American Michael Phelps [11 careers gold medals and counting]  who clocked a time of 1.58.65.

Trinidadian Nicholas Bovell another strong favourite fail to make it in the top sixteen for the 200m IM medley semifinals.

Results

1. USA – Ryan Lochte -1.58.15
2. HUN – Laszio Cseh – 1.58.29
3. BRA -  Thiago Pereira – 1.58.41
4. JPN -   Ken Takakuwa – 1.58.51
5. BAR -  Bradley Ally – 1.58.57
6. USA -  Michael  Phelps – 1.58.65

FULL RESULTS 

• Ally Places Third In Heat 2 of 400 IM ….Still Misses Out On Finals

Ally Places Third In Heat 2 of 400 IM….Still Misses Out On Finals

Top Barbados swimmer Bradley Ally placed third in Heat 2 of the Men’s 400M IM in a time of 4:14.01 behind Hungarian Laszlo Cseh (4:09.26) and Italian Alessio Boggiatto (4:10.68). However, he is out of the medal runnings as only the top eight swimmers have moved on to the next round.

Ally is now ranked tenth in the world which is a great improvement over his 2004 performance when he finished down the line in the thirties. The word from the Manager of the team Mr. Haresh Gopwani in Beijing, is that Ally is very upbeat about his performance and has boosted the spirits of the entire Barbados swim team.

Mr. Gopwani stated that in speaking with Ally after the race he reported that his performance over the last four years has been one of consistency and his strategy is to fine tune his balance with swimming and academics. He reported that he felt much better after this race compared with the Pan American games. His recovery on this occasion was much faster and he is pleased with his programme over the last four years.

An analysis of his splits over the four strokes of the IM showed improvement in all and especially in the breaststroke leg, an aspect which had dogged his performance previously. His reaction time was fast off the blocks, turns were crisp and clean and ended with a fast finish to the wall. Bradley completed his preparation for Beijing at a swim camp in Manila where he worked with the Anthony Nesty, another Caribbean Olympian. Ally is of the firm belief that more financial support would have produced even a better result as more access to fine tuning programmes could have been afforded.

Andrei Cross was also unsuccessful in the Men’s 100M Breaststroke, finishing seventh in Heat 3 and fifty-fifth overall in a time of 1:04.57. Puerto Rican Daniel Velez won in 1:01.80, Sandeep Sejwal of India was second in 1:02.19 and Genaro Prono of Paraguay was third in 1:02.32. However, this heat was so slow that none of the top swimmers qualified for todays second round.

Cross was in fine spirits just before his race in the 100 M breaststroke. He was however nursing a bit of pain in the shoulder and some discomfort in the lower back but which did not affect training. He too had a fast reaction time off the blocks swimming in lane eight of Heat 3 to post 1:04.57, not an improvement over his seed time but not too far off his best time.

Training with the swim team at Bath University, Cross had experienced some coaching problems prior to the Olympics when he lost the Coach who was responsible for his development shortly before the Olympics. He trained for a short stint in Switzerland and had attended an Olympic camp in Singapore.

The next Olympic test for the swim team comes in the 100 M freestyle event which takes place on August 12 with Terrence Haynes in the 100 M freestyle. Haynes showed much improvement in this event coming into Beijing where he had bettered his time enough to post a new Barbados open men’s record.

Source – Barbados Advocate

Barbadians Snubbed By CBC/NBC Delayed Olympic Opening Ceremony – CMC Broadcast Live And Direct

Size does matter. Not in Barbados case though.

Many viewers relaxing patiently in fronts of their TV sets waiting to see the  Barbados Olympic team march in before their eyes among the 204 countries and regions during the Beijing opening ceremony were left disappointed when NBC interrupted their broadcast for a commercial break at the very same time that Barbados was introduced to billions around the world! Returning to the broadcast, NBC highlighted the countries that viewers would have missed. Not only were we insulted once but twice when NBC showed a blur of the Bajan team. I say insulted because throughout the night countries parading during commercials breaks upon return to live feed were in some cases highlighted for a full 4 secs!!!. Judging from the high number of clicks on our article “Bajan Team Makes Official Entry Into Bird’s Nest Stadium”  Bajans weren’t pleased one bit!

Caribbean Media Corporation carried the live feed of the Olympic opening ceremony, 8am local time, Friday morning. Affiliated stations had the choice to carry it live or tape delayed. CBC choose to bring a NBC tape delayed version last night because of contractual arrangements and once again the pride of Barbados suffered as a result. It did not get the spotlight it deserves. Below is the picture of the Bajan team once again in their Madras check waistcoasts  waving the Bajan Flag proudly.

In other related news

The Caricom field overall comprises 5 athletes from Antigua/Barbuda, 22 from Bahamas, 8 from Barbados, 4 from Belize, 6 from Bermuda, 4 from the Cayman Islands, 9 from Grenada, 4 from Guyana, 4 from St.Kitts and Nevis, 4 from St .Lucia, 2 from St.Vincent  and 30 from Trinidad and Tobago.

Source – Caribbean World News

For heat results of the 400m individual medley -Bradley Ally – Heat 2 and 100m breast stroke – Andre Cross – Heat 3. Click here and here.

Bajan Olympic Team Makes Official Entry Into Bird’s Nest Stadium

The Barbados team making its entry into the Olympic Stadium as part of the Athlete Parade. The island of Greece enter first. China will follow last.

Photo credit: en.beijing2008.cn/

08/08/08 – Let The Games [2008 Beijing Olympic Games] Begin

       

In a few hours time, Barbadians like millions around the world will watch the largest sporting event on earth  taking place in China. Host to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Games. Predicting overcast skies come Friday night for the nearly 4 hr opening ceremony  featuring 15,000 performers and 29,000 fireworks but no rain, Chinese officials would well do against any cloudy invasion of smog, fog and other og’s obscuring ones view whether live & direct or through camera’s lenses.

For the cold hard facts are despite China human rights records to the number of restrictions place on visitors alike, the Olympics would always be a drawing card for the rich and poor, bond and free. [Until the initial excitement wears off and one can't wait for it to end].

Olympic Village – Credit: Zhang Guojun/Xinhua 

Over 16,000 athletes, coaches and their entourage [including Barbados] from over 200 countries and regions have descended on the Olympic Village, [their home for the next 17 days]. Divided into 3 sections: [1] international, [2] residential, [3] operations, its features a main restaurant feeding 5000 people, apartments, fire station, tea houses, coffee shops, barber shops, leisure and exercise quarters, post office, clinic, library, entertainment center and shops. Canadian Press  reports that athletes are being housed under tight security. An army helicopter buzzed overhead, and the perimeter is encased with razor-wire fencing and soldiers that stand at attention.

37 different venues in 6 co-host cities besides Beijing will showcased the greatest sport competition over the next few days. Co-host cities are: Qingdao – [sailing], Hong Kong – [equestrian], Tiangjin - [football], Shanghai – [football] and Qinhuangdoa – [football]. All eyes rest on our Olympic team making exceptional performances with the region highest medals coming from Jamaica- [Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell], Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago.

Barbados had its flag raising ceremony on Wednesday. Unfortunately no mention of it was placed on the Barbados Olympic Association’s website. Why? Difficulties getting info from out of China. Reason? Internet blockage. Yet I found links on the web on Jamaica and Cuba’s flag raising ceremonies. This outside the Caribbean area! I searched CMC [Caribbean Media Corporation] website. Their lastest news article on the Olympics[Aug 6th 08] is the same one printed today by the Nation. Isn’t CMC the official broadcaster of the Olympic Games in this part of the world? Isn’t the Barbados Olympic Association the official website of the Beijing Games? There’s is no reason in this mighty age of internet technology that a platform couldn’t have been created to allow athletes to blog on their experiences and send photos too. Some will make it through and just wouldn’t. And to think each member of the association have their email addresses online. All avenues ought to have been explored. Unfortunately no one thought about it according to the caller I [my wife] spoke too on the line. Hopefully a situation like this will be rectified come 2012. 

Opening Ceremony -  Friday 08/08/08 – 8pm [ Tape Delay]?

C.M.C [Caribbean Media Corporation] will carry live feeds from 6am – 10am and 10pm to 1am.

Enjoy.

Douglas Is Youngest Sailor In His Class At Beijing Olympics

  Gregory Douglas, at eighteen years old, is the only sailor representing Barbados at the 2008 Olympic Games. The sailing events are being held in the coastal city of Qindgao, where a magnificent sailing facility has been built for the games.

The sailors are challenged by the difficult conditions in Qingdao. The test events held at the site have shown that they will have to contend with light and variable winds, along with sometimes strong currents. Douglas, along with most sailors, has been following a preparation strategy that includes losing weight to improve his light wind performance.

400 sailors will be competing in 11 classes at Qingdao, with Douglas competing in the Laser class, which will see 42 countries represented. The leading sailors in the Laser hail from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and Canada. The current world champion is Tom Slingsby of Australia who has dominated the class over the past two years.

Since arriving in Qingdao on July 28, Douglas has been training with his coach Luis Chiapparro, a two time Olympian for Uruguay, along with his training partners at the event, Alejandro Foglia of Uruguay and Thomas Barrows of the US Virgin Islands.

They are following a daily program of sailing at the competition location to acclimatise to local wind, wave and current conditions, as well as maintaining their physical training routines. Douglas is the youngest sailor in the Laser class. He began sailing at the age of eight years with the Barbados Sailing Associations sail training programme.

He has represented Barbados at two ISAF Youth World Championships and most recently at the 2008 Laser World Championships in Australia with the assistance of the Barbados Olympic Association.

He commented that, My training regime is going very well. I am very comfortable with these sailing conditions and the heat here in Qingdao. I am still at the stage in my career where I can make major improvements in results through the excellent experience I am gaining by sailing against the very best in the world. I am no longer intimidated by these older competitors.

Source – Barbados Advocate 

• Barbadian Olympian Mention On International News Site
• Do Chinese Restaurants Serve Animals Penises To Bajan?

Barbados Fast Becoming A Known Hideout For Crooks

Source – Crunch Gear 

 

Readers may be aware of an international scam that have defrauded thousands of dollars of hard earned monies out of peoples’ pockets for the upcoming Beijing Olympics leaving thousands if not millions of people without an Olympic seat. I am still trying to assess that information.

Apparently because for an international sport event one always purchased tickets online from a legitimate website and before you do, one verified first with the host country’s committee and website in charge of said event. Google ranking have nothing whatsoever to do with legitimacy. These slick operators have available technology at hand, maybe a couple of tech savvy guys and operate undetected. These scammers set up fake websites link to legitimate website[s], overselling non existence tickets.  Only to be told to buyers later that no tickets are available or already sold out. Of course getting a refund will be a hassle since your payment went in the hands of crooks and not legitimate operators.  As is the case with  Terry Shepherd. A British scammer. Mr Gamble an Australia private investigator has been tracking this schemer for years. Have a fat dossier on his nefarious deeds, informed police and was ignored. Now the scammer is believed to have fled to Barbados. Based here since 2003. With all that cash Terry Shepherd must be living up big in one of those high condominiums on the West Coast. Or perhaps in a gated community where local officers don’t have the balls to perceed beyond the gate. Barbados seems to be the first destination of choice on crooks/criminals minds when fleeing from apprehension. Now that will surely put Barbados on the top of international law enforcement lists of known countries where  crooks/criminals hide out.

• Beijing Scammer An Expert, Says Investigator
• Olympic Ticket Scammer 49yo Londer Investigator
• Ticket Trickster Not In Barbados

 

  

 

 

Barbados Olympian Mention On International News Site

    

Barbadian swimmer Bradley Ally is elated at the opportunity of representing his country Barbados. Ally is one of eight persons qualified for the Aug 8th 2008 Beijing Olympics [ if my calculations are correct it would be Friday morning here in Bim, Friday night in Beijing. I stand corrected of course] selected by the Barbados Olympic Association.

Ally was also chosen to carry the national flag into China Olympic Stadium. Better known as Bird’s Nest. Telegraph newssite quoted Bradley Ally in typical Bajan non-flustered tone.

“It’s a great feeling to be here,” said swimmer Bradley Ally, competing for Barbados, as he strolled past the village bank. “Not many people have this opportunity, so you have to give it your very best.”

The full squad is: Swimmers- Bradley Ally, Andrei Cross, Martyn Forde, Terrence Haynes; Track & field- Andrew Hinds, Jade Bailey, Ryan Brathwaite; and Sailing- Gregory Douglas. Cammie Burke is the Chef de Mission. For an analysis of the team click here.

• Do Chinese Serve Animals Penises To Bajans?
• Tiny Nations Enjoy Extra Buzz in Beijing
• 8 On Team To Beijing
• Ally The Flag Man
• The Video You Weren’t Supposed To See
• Ten Day Countdown To 2008 Olympics Games Chinese Police Increases Crackdown On “Hostile Forces”