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| pdf edition | Thursday January 31 2013 Sport
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David Beckham set to complete lucrative
move to Paris Saint-Germain
David Beckham is in Paris for a medical, and is expected to be
unveiled at a PSG press conference at 4pm on Thursday Page 2
Mario Balotelli completes £17m move to
Milan from Manchester City
Manchester City have confirmed Mario Balotelli’s move to Milan
has been completed after the striker passed a medical Page 2
Reading’s Adam Le Fondre hits late double
to stun Chelsea
Adam Le Fondre’s late double earned Reading a point and denied
Chelsea after goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard Page 2
Six Nations 2013: Randy Moss gets his San Francisco 49ers Rebecca Adlington
England confirm Billy chance to finally claim a reject Chris Culliver’s ‘announcement’ sparks
Twelvetrees will face Super Bowl ring Page 5 homophobic comments retirement speculation
Scotland Page 3 Page 7 Page 9
England’s Twenty20
Lance Armstrong hits captain Stuart Broad Ian McGeechan’s RFU Claire Squires:
out at critics, insists ‘no comes through bowling review calls for FA-style amphetamine stimulant
generation was clean’ session Page 6 national training centre ‘had role’ in runner’s
Page 4 Page 8 fatal heart attack Page 9
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396. Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
appearances and scoring 30 goals.
He told City’s website: “I will remember my brilliant team-
David Beckham set to complete mates, the manager and all the supporters. They are the best,
lucrative move to Paris Saint-Germain they were great with me and I will always have a very special
place in my heart for City, it’s a great club with a great future.
• Former England captain arrives in Paris “I thank them for all of their support of me. Maybe one day
for medical we will see each other again.”
The striker also paid tribute to Roberto Mancini, adding:
• 37-year-old chose PSG ahead of 11 other
“I said goodbye to everyone at the meal in London before the
offers game at QPR. It was a very emotional for me.
• Live: follow transfer deadline day as it “I spoke with Roberto before I went to speak to the players.
happens We spoke for some time about lots of things. He was sad, and I
was too. But it was a good conversation. I love Roberto, he has
Guardian staff and agencies
been very important for my career, and I will always thank him
for having trust and faith in me.
“Being at City was an important part of my life and career. I
needed to grow up like a player and as a person and it has been a
very good experience for me.”
Reading’s Adam Le Fondre hits late
double to stun Chelsea
Photo gallery: Wednesday night’s Premier
League games
Dominic Fifield at Madejski Stadium
David Beckham is expected to complete a move to Paris Saint-
Germain. Photograph: Beretta/Sims / Rex Features
David Beckham is expected to complete a lucrative move to
Paris Saint-Germain after choosing the Qatar-owned club ahead
of 11 rival offers.
The 37-year-old midfielder is in Paris for a medical, and
is expected to be unveiled at a press conference at 4pm on
Thursday.
The former England captain is understood to have received
offers from Europe, South America, North America, South
Africa, Russia, China and the Middle East since he left Los
Angeles Galaxy before Christmas.
Mario Balotelli completes £17m move to Reading’s Adam Le Fondre celebrates after scoring the second
goal for his side against Chelsea.
Milan from Manchester City Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images
There is to be no respite in Chelsea’s tumultuous season.
• City confirm controversial striker’s return Even games that seem to have been won with ease against
to Italy relegation-threatened opponents are being wrested from the
• Balotelli made 80 City appearances since European champions, the sense of farce that is building leaving
2010 the interim first-team manager, Rafael Benítez, alone and
increasingly exposed amid the maelstrom. Indignity is being
• Live: follow transfer deadline day as it
delivered on a match-by-match basis at present.
happens The club’s hierarchy watched on in disbelief from the
Guardian staff directors’ box here, Bruce Buck, Ron Gourlay and Michael
Emenalo blanching as the visitors caved in to the only two shots
Mario Balotelli’s turbulent Manchester City career is over after
of any potency mustered by Reading on the Chelsea goal. That
the club confirmed the controversial striker has completed his
suited trio of chairman, chief executive and technical director
move to Milan on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
have the ominous look of a firing squad about them, as so many
The initial fee is understood to be €20m (£17m), with another
previous incumbents have discovered to their cost, and they
€5m of potential add-ons depending on appearances.
were grim-faced as they exited amid the locals’ giddy delirium
The 22-year-old, who pulled out of the City squad on
on the final whistle. Benítez’s position is apparently not under
Tuesday evening before the 0-0 draw at QPR gu.com/p/3ddnb
immediate threat, with his side still five points clear of fifth, but
as the deal neared fruition, joined City in 2010, making 80
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
this was unacceptable. good banter, and wants to be the best player in training,” said
It was also unexpected. Reading may have come back the Reading manager. “Our players all have so much more to
to score three times in the last eight minutes to beat West come: that hunger and desire to improve. We haven’t played
Bromwich Albion, but they had looked spent here against a particularly well tonight but we got something: these guys have
Chelsea side who eased into a two-goal advantage without so much heart and desire.”
breaking into a sweat. They were professional rather than They retain such energy even into the latter stages. Chelsea
spectacular but the hosts were still kept at arm’s length until are not as effervescent, with this their 41st game of a morale-
three minutes from time. And then, from a position of complete sapping campaign. Benítez has overseen 20 of those in a little
authority, they disintegrated. Reading’s first goal was neatly over two months. There simply is no relief to be had at this club.
constructed, the substitute Hope Akpan clipping a neat
pass inside Gary Cahill for Adam le Fondre, free of Branislav
Ivanovic, to dispatch first time inside Ross Turnbull’s near post. Six Nations 2013: England confirm Billy
Even that should only have been a mild inconvenience, Twelvetrees will face Scotland
but Chelsea’s composure had drained. By the fifth minute of
stoppage time, Le Fondre – new to the Premier League but
whose reputation as a goal poacher is already well established
• Uncapped Gloucester centre handed
– was one of three unmarked players at the far post as Adam debut for Calcutta Cup
Federici’s free-kick prompted panic. Ivanovic and Cahill • Joe Marler back at loosehead in place of
allowed the ball to bounce, Jimmy Kébé headed across goal injured Corbisiero
and Akpan flicked on, and there was Le Fondre to volley
Press Association
back and across Turnbull to equalise. Such sloppiness will
eat away at Benítez. “Everybody had the same feeling in the
dressing-room,” said the Spaniard. “Everyone could see the
game was under control for us until the last minute. Really
disappointing.”
It says much when 87 minutes of dominance against a team
struggling to avoid a swift return to the Championship yields
only a point. Benítez pointed to their dominance – and they
were so assured – as reason for optimism, and even suggested
he could not be angry with his players for their late capitulation
given how superior they had been. “If you play bad and draw,
you can say it’s a problem,” he said. “But when you play so well,
and have the chances we had … we did a good job, a great game,
but we have to manage these little mistakes. We need to get the
result we deserve.” Billy Twelvetrees, who will play for England against
But, for all that it is only 10 days since they beat Arsenal, Scotland in their Six Nations opener, in training on Tuesday.
their current form has served up draws with Swansea and Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images
Brentford prior to this. A fortnight previously they had led
The uncapped Gloucester centre Billy Twelvetrees will make
Southampton, another of the strugglers, by two at home and
his England debut in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup game against
only drawn. The hierarchy, via Emenalo, may have impressed
Scotland after being selected in place of the injured Manu
upon Benítez the need to finish in the top four and the manager
Tuilagi.
is still on course to achieve just that, but it felt inexcusable not
Twelvetrees will become the 18th new player capped by
to have squeezed closer to Manchester City in second place
Stuart Lancaster in 13 Tests when he lines up alongside Brad
once Juan Mata’s fine finish from Fernando Torres’s perfectly
Barritt in a rejigged England midfield for the Six Nations opener.
conjured pass had edged the visitors ahead. Add to that Frank
Barritt will revert to the outside-centre role he filled on his
Lampard’s 196th goal for the club, thumped in from a corner,
own Test debut in last year’s Calcutta Cup win at Murrayfield,
and a fifth consecutive league away win was surely theirs.
with Twelvetrees operating on his inside.
Perhaps the sight of Le Fondre entering the fray immediately
Joe Marler has returned at loosehead prop in place of Alex
after that goal should have heightened the Londoners’
Corbisiero, who has been ruled out of the Six Nations with a
concentration. Instead, they dawdled and Reading prospered.
knee problem.
Brian McDermott’s side are out of the relegation zone and
Other than the two injury-enforced changes, Lancaster
showing glimpses of that irrepressible post-Christmas form that
has retained the starting line-up that laid the foundations for
has propelled them upwards over the last three years. They had
England’s record 38-21 victory over New Zealand two months
lost only one of their previous seven games in all competitions
ago. That means Tom Youngs keeps the hooker’s jersey ahead of
before this match and, even when their position felt hopeless,
the more experienced Dylan Hartley, who missed the autumn
retained the conviction that they could eke something from the
series through injury.
contest. “We got a draw against the champions of Europe when
Ben Youngs has held off the challenge from Danny Care to
we were 2-0 down with three minutes to play,” said McDermott,
keep hold of the scrum-half position and Alex Goode returned
through a smile. That summed up the drama. Le Fondre now
from a shoulder injury in time to retain the full-back berth.
boasts five goals in his last three Premier League outings, all
“We are happy to stick with the team that did so well against
cameos from the bench. “He’s a great bloke, funny and with
New Zealand, especially in light of the fact that they have all
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page 4 G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
been in good form for their clubs since then,” Lancaster said.
“There were some very tight calls, with some experienced
players coming back into contention, and I am sure the bench
Lance Armstrong hits out at critics,
will have a significant impact on the game.” insists ‘no generation was clean’
The Leicester fly-half Toby Flood, the most experienced
player in the 23-man squad with 53 caps, comes on to the bench • Armstrong goes on the offensive in new
along with the Saracens wing David Strettle. interview
Tuilagi is expected to be available for England’s second
• Riders have ‘looked for advantages’ for
Six Nations appointment, against Ireland in Dublin a week on
Sunday.
generations
Twelvetrees is not a like-for-like replacement but he has a • Attacks UCI president Pat McQuaid as
more rounded game than Tuilagi, offering a kicking game and ‘pathetic’
a presence as a second playmaker outside Farrell. The 24-year-
Guardian staff
old is also a powerful ball-carrier and defender, prompting
Gloucester’s director of rugby, Nigel Davies, to enthuse that he
is the complete package for an inside centre.
England team to play Scotland, Twickenham, 4pm
Saturday 2 February
A Goode (Saracens); C Ashton (Saracens), B Barritt
(Saracens), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester), M Brown (Harlequins);
O Farrell (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester), J Marler (Harlequins),
T Youngs (Leicester), D Cole (Leicester), J Launchbury (Wasps),
G Parling (Leicester), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw
(Harlequins, capt), B Morgan (Gloucester).
REPLACEMENTS D Hartley (Northampton), D Wilson (Bath),
M Vunipola (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), J Haskell
(Wasps), D Care (Harlequins), T Flood (Leicester), D Strettle
Lance Armstrong has attacked the UCI’s Pat McQuaid as
(Saracens).
‘pathetic’ and renewed his call for a wide-ranging truth and
reconciliation programme. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/
Reuters
Lance Armstrong has attacked the hypocrisy and “petty
bullshit” surrounding cycling’s doping scandal, saying he feels
he has been made a fall-guy for the entire sport.
Armstrong, speaking for the first time since the controversial
Oprah interview in which he admitted doping gu.com/p/3d6jk
throughout his career, insisted no previous generation of
cyclists was “exempt or clean”.
He also renewed his call for Wada, the World Anti-Doping
*
Agency, to set up a truth and reconciliation programme,
insisted that the UCI should play no part in it – branding its
president Pat McQuaid “pathetic” – and said it must be wide-
ranging: “If you are alive today and you podiumed in a GT, WC,
or Grand Tour then you should be called.”
Speaking to Cyclingnews tinyurl.com/9wj33qf , Armstrong
From Beirut to Big Brother, said: “My generation was no different than any other. The ‘help’
has evolved over the years but the fact remains that our sport
Murdoch to Millionaire, is damn hard, the Tour was invented as a stunt, and very tough
discuss the hot topics in the motherfuckers have competed for a century and all looked for
advantages.
media on not one, but two blogs “From hopping on trains 100 years ago to EPO now. No
Organ Grinder and Greenslade generation was exempt or ‘clean’. [Not that of] Merckx, not
blogs.guardian.co.uk/ Hinault, not LeMond, not Coppi, not Gimondi, not Indurain,
not Anquetil, not Bartali, and not mine.”
organgrinder/ There is no suggestion that any of those named riders took
blogs.guardian.co.uk/ performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong said he felt a truth and reconciliation commission
greenslade/ with a complete amnesty was now the only way forward for
cycling, a sport now trapped in a “state of chaos and petty
bullshit, tit for tat”.
“As much as I’m the eye of the storm this is not about one
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
man, one team, one director. This is about cycling and, to be
frank, it’s about all endurance sports. Publicly lynching one
man and his team will not solve this problem.
Randy Moss gets his chance to finally
“When I was on speaking terms with ol’ Pat McQuaid many, claim a Super Bowl ring
many months ago I said: ‘Pat, you better think bold here. A full
blown, global, TRC is our sport’s best solution.’ He wanted to San Francisco 49ers’ veteran Randy Moss
hear nothing of it. says he is the “greatest ever” wide receiver
“It’s not my place to set the parameters but I’d say that if
and hopes to finally win a Super Bowl
you are alive today and you podiumed in a GT, WC, or Grand
Tour then you should be called. Sounds ambitious but the
against the Baltimore Ravens
authorities have proven that nothing with regards to cycling is Simon Veness in New Orleans
time-barred.”
Armstrong said any suggestion that he could benefit from
a reduced ban if he testified to Wada was “irrelevant … What
is relevant is that everyone is treated equally and fairly. We all
made the mess, let’s all fix the mess, and let’s all be punished
equally.
“When I met with [United States Anti-Doping Agency head
Travis Tygart] I told him: ‘Yes, of course, I’d love to compete
again. I’m a competitor.’ However the truth is that it is more
about equality and fairness.
“Letting some race the season then giving minor off-season
sanctions versus the death penalty [for similar offences] isn’t
fair and isn’t about ‘cleaning up cycling’. It’s about getting your
man.”
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss at the San
Armstrong added: “The UCI has no place at the table. Pat
Francisco 49ers’ session of Media Day in New Orleans,
[McQuaid] is just in constant CYA [Cover Your Ass] mode.
Louisiana, USA, 29 January 2013 ahead of Super Bowl XLVII.
Pathetic.”
Photograph: John Mabagnlo/EPA
He also told Cyclingnews how his family had reacted to the
Oprah interview, and denied protecting former doctor Michele When San Francisco trudged disconsolately off their
Ferrari with his answers. Candlestick Park field little more than a year ago, the victims of
“The [family] loved the interview. I was in Hawaii when it a 20-17 overtime upset gu.com/p/34qpz at the hands of eventual
aired but my older kids and Kristin watched both nights live. champions New York Giants, the statistics pointed to a glaring
We spoke immediately after both shows. What was said then I’ll deficiency in their offensive arsenal. Quarterback Alex Smith
keep to myself. completed just 12 of 26 passes and 11 of those completions went
“I wasn’t ‘protecting’ anyone. I was there to speak about into the hands of either a running back or tight end.
myself, my experiences, and my mistakes. No one else. I know His wide receivers caught exactly one pass – a miserable
that goes against what we have grown used to in the last few three-yarder to the otherwise-invisible Michael Crabtree – and
years in cycling but I’m only interested in owning up to my the 49ers were left to rue a supreme team effort under first-year
mistakes. I’m a big boy and I’m not in the blame game.” head coach Jim Harbaugh that came up notably short in that
one area. They could run the ball well, stop the opposition,
terrorise the opposing quarterback, kick field goals and
dominate both lines of scrimmage. But, if the other team took
Crabtree out of the game as the Giants did, there just wasn’t
anyone else able to pick up the slack.
It didn’t need a Bay Area Nostradamus to provide Harbaugh
with the way forward and it was soon clear the 49ers head
*
coach was pro-active in addressing their key need. In came New
York Giants receiver Mario Manningham in free agency while
their top pick in April’s draft was also a pass-catcher, University
of Illinois phenom A.J. Jenkins. Also newly arrived was a 35-
year-old retiree with 13 seasons under his belt and a seeming
Compare and buy penchant for self-destruction.
Use our free independent Randy Moss had outstayed his welcome at Minnesota
comparison services to switch and Oakland; been deemed surplus to requirements at New
suppliers and save money on all England; passed through the hands of three teams in 2010 (the
Patriots, Vikings and Titans) as his career went into freefall;
your household bills. and declared himself “officially retired” at the start of the 2011
guardian.co.uk/money/ season. To call the latter half of his career ‘chequered’ would be
compareandbuy to say Ernest Hemingway enjoyed the occasional tipple.
And yet the team-first 49ers were prepared to give him
another chance. The NFL-watching world looked on and waited
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
for the inevitable meltdown, to add to well-documented a vocal guy and lead by my mouth. I always wanted to lead by
incidents such as Moss walking off the field before the end of example and that’s by making plays on the field.”
the game (at Minnesota, in 2004); being fined for pretending to Those same team-mates will attest to just that. Fellow
‘moon’ the crowd at Green Bay (in 2005); admitting to smoking receiver Ted Ginn Jr insisted: “I’ve had the opportunity to work
marijuana in a TV interview (also 2005); being labelled “lazy” with him and get to know the real Randy Moss. For him to still
at Oakland (2007); and launching a withering criticism of be in this league at his age is a feat but I see how he works out
Vikings head coach Brad Childress as “unfit to coach” (his final every day, how he swims and keeps his body right. He’s not
Minnesota game in 2010). vocal, he leads by example and you just try to soak it all up.”
In typical Randy fashion, he had announced his comeback Running back Frank Gore added: “Him just being there for
bid in a live video chat via Ustream in February 2012 and waited the younger guys is important, helping Crabtree, A.J. and Teddy
for suitors. Most of the league kept their distance but, crucially, Ginn to be better pros. And he still made big plays this year.
one team did not. Harbaugh was mindful more of career stats When his number gets called, he shows up. That’s all we need
– 954 catches in 202 games for 14,878 yards and 153 touchdowns from him.”
– than potential career pratfalls and arranged a private workout Moss’ influence even extends to the defensive side of the
that ended in a one-year contract and 14th NFL season for the ball, where linebacker NaVorro Bowman observed: “He’s in the
Marshall University product. weight room earlier than me and almost in there longer than
To paraphrase the words of Jeremiah 13:23, could a leopard, me. That just shows the work ethic, the love he has for the
finally, change its spots? It seemed an out-on-a-limb gamble game. As a young guy, any time you get to be around him, he’s
at the time but the total lack of production from Jenkins (who always good to talk to.”
contributed one dropped catch in 37 offensive snaps) and Proof positive, perhaps, that Jeremiah’s famous words just
a season-ending knee injury to Manningham in December might lead to a different kind of spotted animal claiming this
ensured the “new” Moss still had a vital role to play as he year’s Vince Lombardi trophy?
finished the campaign with 28 catches and three touchdowns.
Crucially, there wasn’t a murmur of discontent through
the regular season, even when it became clear he was often a England’s Twenty20 captain Stuart
decoy and only a latent threat to go deep, while his appearance Broad comes through bowling session
at Super Bowl’s chaotic Media Day this week served also to
underline his reborn sense of team unity.
Of course, this being the greatest media stage of all, Moss
• Broad bowls outdoors for first time since
couldn’t resist claiming the title of “greatest ever” wide receiver bruising heel in India
in response to a question on how he views himself in the game, • Expected to take part in Saturday’s first
a response that would certainly have raised many eyebrows full practice session
in the home of Jerry Rice, who holds the record for most
Press Association
touchdowns with 197 to Randy’s 156. Rice also has three Super
Bowl rings to none held by Moss. The closest Moss came was at
Super Bowl XLII when the Patriots were beaten by the Giants.
Said Moss this week tinyurl.com/baxqnen :
“If I had two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, what would my
numbers be? I worked with one for a few years, and that was
Tom Brady. Give me Tom Brady for the next five or six years
and you’ll see what my numbers would be . . . I’m not trying
to be disrespectful, because I have love for Jerry Rice. By me
saying I’m the greatest wide receiver to ever do it, that’s just my
personal opinion . . . I don’t want to get him fired up and make
him think I’m being disrespectful. He started this, you know?”
But there is no doubting the real sense of just being happy
to be a cog in Harbaugh’s formidable machine this time around,
being a well-disciplined member of the ranks and – whisper it Stuart Broad bowls during a nets session at Eden Park.
– providing a shining example to his younger team-mates. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Moss bristles slightly that it wasn’t always thus, but he
Stuart Broad has bowled outdoors for the first time since
admitted: “At this point in my career, if I’m able to be vocal,
England’s Twenty20 captain had to leave the Test tour of India
to share a little knowledge and also to go out there and play, if
with a bruised heel six weeks ago.
that’s what it takes to win a championship, then I’m willing to
Broad had been unable to test his recovery outdoors due to
do that.
the snowy conditions at Heathrow preventing him travelling
“I’ve never been particularly vocal and this team already has
back to India during England’s one-day international series.
enough leaders in the likes of Joe Staley, Justin Smith, Patrick
The 26-year-old seamer was watched by the limited-overs
Willis and Frank Gore, but, if there is anything I’ve been able
coach, Ashley Giles, and the bowling coach, David Saker, as he
to give back to the younger guys, it’s my experience. That’s
got through five overs off his full run during the lunch interval
something I’ve taken to heart because by looking at the younger
at a domestic Plunket Shield match between Auckland and
guys and how they respond and how they look at me, it’s
Central Districts on the second square at Eden Park.
something I never would have imagined. I never wanted to be
An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman later
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page 7 G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
confirmed Broad appears to have come through his exertions, campaign aimed at creating support networks for gay, lesbian,
wearing new, specially fitted boots, with no ill-effects. bisexual and transgender teenagers – certainly did not welcome
Broad’s first opportunity for match practice on the tour of Culliver’s stance, as was made clear in a statement released by
New Zealand will come in Monday’s first Twenty20 warm-up the team on Wednesday.
fixture in Whangarei. “The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were
Before then, he is expected to take part in the tourists’ first made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris,”
full practice session on Saturday. the statement read. “There is no place for discrimination within
our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly
support the LGBT community.”
San Francisco 49ers reject Chris That stance will find support with at least one of the Niners’
Culliver’s homophobic comments Super Bowl opponents. The Ravens linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo is an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage
rights, and was a vocal campaigner during the build-up to its
San Francisco 49ers’ cornerback Chris legalisation in Maryland this year. Ayanbadejo was involved
Culliver sparks row with anti-gay comments in a public row with a Maryland politician who tried to gag the
at Super Bowl XLVII player gu.com/p/3aa4a .
Last week an email which Ayanbadejo had sent to fellow
Paolo Bandini in New Orleans
advocates Brian Ellner and Michael Skolnik, asking what he
could do to promote the cause during Super Bowl week, came
to the attention of the national press. In it he asked: “Is there
anything I can do for marriage equality or anti-bullying over the
next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?”
Sought for comment by the New York Times tinyurl.com/
atzqbjq , Ayanbadejo said: “It’s one of those times when you’re
really passionate and in your zone. And I got to thinking about
all kinds of things, and I thought: ‘How can we get our message
out there?’”
The opportunity to do so now might be greater than ever.
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver made anti-
gay remarks Super Bowl XLVII media day. Photograph: Mark
Humphrey/AP
The San Francisco 49ers have distanced themselves from
comments made by their cornerback Chris Culliver that gay
players would not be welcome on the team.
“I don’t do the gay guys man,” said Culliver, whose team face
the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at Super Bowl XLVII. “I don’t
do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta
get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah
… can’t be … in the locker room man. Nah”
Culliver made the comments to radio host Artie Lange
*
during the team’s Super Bowl Media Day session, but only came
to the attention of a wider audience after being picked up by
Yahoo Sports tinyurl.com/bafkj9n .
Culliver’s comments were in contrast to those made by
several of his team-mates on the same afternoon. Opinions
were sought on the subject by Lange and a number of other
reporters after the sexuality of a former 49er, offensive tackle
Kwame Harris, became public knowledge when he was charged
The Guardian digital edition
with assaulting an ex-boyfriend tinyurl.com/am972st . Read the Guardian on the web
Delanie Walker had been among those to present an
alternative viewpoint. “I don’t think so, not at all,” said the
exactly the way it was printed.
tight end when asked if Harris would have been treated any With award-winning Guardian
differently had he come out sooner. “It probably wouldn’t affect
me, but other guys might feel different … That’s him. If that’s
photography accessible from
what he’s into, that’s what he’s into. I can’t judge a person for anywhere in the world.
how he feels.”
The 49ers, who last year became the first NFL team to
guardian.co.uk/digitaledition
formally support the It Gets Better Project – an anti-bullying
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
World Cup. England Rugby needs accelerated evolution, not
revolution.”
Ian McGeechan’s RFU review calls for Meanwhile the England back-row forward Tom Wood, a
FA-style national training centre likely starter when they tackle Scotland at Twickenham on
Saturday, has warned that they cannot afford any complacency.
• New hub should emulate St George’s Park “Because we beat the All Blacks and ran in some tries doesn’t
complex mean it’s just going to happen again,” he said. “The Scots are
something of an unknown quantity with new coaches, so we’ve
• Report says it must be up and running by
got to be on our guard and ready for anything.
2016 “We’ve gone from targeting New Zealand to being the
Robert Kitson target. We have to deal with that. Scotland have already stated
they like nothing better than coming to Twickenham to spoil
our party. Just because we finished the game against New
Zealand scoring tries doesn’t mean we start against Scotland by
throwing the ball wide. The moment you become complacent
in this game you get undone.
“We have to earn the right to go wide by grinding them in the
scrum and at the breakdown and everywhere else, earning the
right to go wide and make breaks. That only comes when the
opposition get tired and disjointed. That doesn’t come in the
first few minutes.”
England probable Goode (Saracens); Ashton (Saracens),
Barritt (Saracens), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Brown
(Harlequins); Farrell (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester); Marler
(Harlequins), T Youngs (Leicester), Cole (Leicester), Launchbury
Sir Ian McGeechan’s review suggests a National Performance
(London Wasps), Parling (Leicester), Wood (Northampton),
Centre could cash in on interest generated by the 2015 Rugby
Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Morgan (Gloucester)
World Cup. Photograph: Ian Smith/Action Images
Replacements Hartley (Northampton), M Vunipola
English rugby has been urged to establish a proper national (Saracens), Wilson (Bath), Lawes (Northampton), Haskell
training centre and appoint a head of international player (London Wasps), Care (Harlequins), Flood (Leicester), Strettle
development by 2016 to improve its chances of long-term (Saracens)
success at Test level. An independent review conducted by
Sir Ian McGeechan and the former UK Sport performance
director Peter Keen also described the Rugby Football
Union’s organisational structure as too “complicated” and
recommended changes to the professional rugby department
headed by Rob Andrew.
*
The review was instigated in the wake of the RFU’s problems
in recent years and has concluded that more clarity is needed
to enhance elite performance at Twickenham. An International
Performance Department, headed by the national head coach,
Stuart Lancaster, will be created, and a new head of elite player
development is to be recruited to work with the senior and age-
grade squads, as well as the sevens and women’s teams. Eat right
To make it work, the RFU has been strongly advised to Join the Guardian’s health and
develop a National Performance Centre along similar lines
to the Football Association’s St George’s Park complex near
dieting club, Eat Right and
Burton-on-Trent. With England due to host the 2015 Rugby we’ll design you a personalised
World Cup, McGeechan and Keen believe the project should be
up and running within 12 months of the end of the tournament
healthy eating plan from just
to take advantage of any momentum. £2.99 a week. Membership
Andrew will remain employed by the RFU, with
responsibility for re-negotiating the agreement between the
includes shopping lists, menus,
clubs and the RFU, which expires in 2016. McGeechan believes expert advice and 24 hour
improved relationships between the two sides is “paramount”
if the professional game in England is to develop fully, while
support to help you achieve
Keen admitted he had been “struck by the strong values and your health and fitness goals.
culture of rugby” he had encountered. guardian.co.uk/eatright
- “What I have found compared favourably with some of
the very best practise I have observed in elite sport,” Keen
added. “Although areas for change and improvement have been
identified, momentum (is) already building towards the 2015
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
Rebecca Adlington ‘announcement’ Claire Squires: amphetamine stimulant
sparks retirement speculation ‘had role’ in runner’s fatal heart attack
• Double gold medallist poised to call it a Southwark inquest hears fit 30-year-old
day unwittingly risked her life taking legal
• Mansfield athlete critical of British supplement Jack3d which had DMAA
swimming element
Press Association Amelia Hill
Rebecca Adlington won two gold medals at the Beijing Games Claire Squires, 30, who died after taking a supplement that
and two bronze at the London 2012 Games. Photograph: Paul had the ingredient DMAA, banned by the MHRA soon after her
Childs/Action Images death. Photograph: Tim Stewart
Rebecca Adlington is poised to make a “major announcement” The unexplained death of Claire Squires, a fit and healthy 30-
on Tuesday. There has been speculation the 23-year-old double year-old, one mile from the end of the London marathon last
Olympic gold medallist from Beijing will retire from the sport in year, caught the country’s imagination. In less than a week,
the wake of the London Games. tens of thousands of people had donated so much money to her
Adlington won a pair of bronze medals last summer, two of chosen charity, the Samaritans, that her total surged from £500
only three won by British swimmers, short of their target of to more than £1m.
five. On Wednesday a coroner ruled that the most likely cause off
The Mansfield athlete has been critical of British Swimming her death was a single dose of Jack3d, a performance-enhancing
in recent months, claiming she felt “insulted” by the governing supplement that at the time was legal to buy, possess and use.
body following the review into the under-performance in That supplement, with its amphetamine-type effects, was to
London. be banned four months later by the Medicines and Healthcare
She has also hit out at the amount of time it was taking products Regulatory Agency, though the organisation had
to appoint a head coach following the departure of Dennis first received complaints about the supplement’s main active
Pursley after the Games. The body is also without a national ingredient six years before.
performance director after Michael Scott resigned after the At the inquest at Southwark coroner’s court, the coroner
review into London. PA Philip Barlow said he hoped the publicity around Squires’
death would draw attention to the dangers faced by those
who innocently endangered their health by buying even legal
*
performance enhancing products.
Simon Van Herrewege, Squires’ partner, said she had
purchased the Jack3d powder online, where it was advertised as
workout aid or a weight-loss supplement that boosted energy,
Fantasy League Classic concentration and metabolism.
Neither Squires nor Van Herrewege knew at the time that
Manage a squad of 16 players and the powder – which users added to water – contained the
a budget of £75 million. £75,000 amphetamine-like stimulant DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine),
worth of prizes to be won in weekly, which was linked to psychiatric disorders, heart attacks, strokes
monthly and overall competitions. and a death. It was also on the list of substances banned by the
World Anti-Doping Agency.
Beat your nearest and dearest in a “Claire was always in the gym, where this stuff was being
friends league. widely talked about,” said van Herrewege. “She took it a couple
guardian.co.uk/fantasyleague of times [while training for the marathon] but didn’t really get
on with it. She never particularly liked it but wanted to beat
her previous marathon time [of just over four hours]. She said
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
Page 10 G24 Sport Thursday January 31 2013 11:47 GMT
she was going to take one scoop, as recommended. In her own “It’s clear there needs to be far better supervision of the so-
words, ‘if I hit a bit of a wall, I might take this drink and see if it called health foods and supplements industry so that no more
pushes me through the end of the marathon’.” tragedies like this happen again, causing other families to … go
A spokesman for the MHRA confirmed that the organisation through what we have been through this past year.”
had first received complaints about DMAA in 2006, and had The hearing was told Jack3d was still being sold on Amazon
begun banning products containing it. but that DMAA had been removed as an ingredient.
Complaints were first made about Jack3d in 2010 but after Drug danger
an appeal from one retailer it took until 2012 to get it, and all The effects of performance-enhancing stimulants on an
other products containing DMAA, properly banned. Similar athlete’s body can be profound. “If you look at 20 miles into a
rulings were made around the world, including in Canada and marathon, you will already be dehydrated and that is putting
in Australia, where a man died after buying DMAA online. It extra strain on the body and causing the heart rate to be higher,
was banned in the US, early in 2012, after two soldiers who had body temperature to be higher,” said John Brewer, professor
taken the drug, which was available at stores on military bases, of sports science at the University of Bedfordshire. “Your heart
died from cardiac arrests during fitness exercises. rate is probably 160-180 beats per minute. If you then take a
Nick Bitel, chief executive of the London marathon, said stimulant to enable you to run through the very difficult last
the medical advisory group of UK Athletics Group, which five or six miles of a marathon and to ignore many of the signals
represents all the main races in the UK, would be meeting to the body is giving out . . . you therefore artificially enable to
consider how to change the advice they gave competitors, to push yourself too hard, then you are running a grave risk of
present the risks of supplements including DMAA. doing something damaging to your body.
“It will happen,” he said. “I’m sure they will want to take Brewer added: If somebody offers you a product that they
this into account and it can happen very quickly. They meet on suggest is going to suddenly revolutionise your performance,
a very regular basis.” you can bet your bottom dollar that either everyone else will
The inquest heard that Squires may been particularly have been using it and you will already have heard about it, or
vulnerable to the drug because she may have suffered an there is something not quite right about it.”
irregular heartbeat, which was identified by Stephanie Curnoe, But he said that no amount of drug testing or regulation
a registered acupuncturist, who had given the runner an initial could prevent somone from making a personal choice to take a
consultation in 2011. banned substance. “When you see claims on supplements that
Squires didn’t mention the diagnosis to her partner or her claim they are some form of wonder product – if it seems too
family. Her GP testified that she had not consulted with him good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.”
about it.
William McKenna, a professor at the University College
London hospitals trust, who reviewed Squires’ medical records,
said he thought the irregular heartbeat was “a red herring” and
that the substance found in the blood was “an important factor
in the outcome”.
Jon van der Walt, the doctor carried out Squires’
postmortem, agreed. He said that, on the “balance of
probability” based on his own examination of Squires and on
evidence from the inquest, the cause of death had been a heart
attack caused by “extreme physical exertion complicated by
[DMAA]”.
He added: “[Squires] had taken vigorous exercise over many
years. I would regard that as a stress test: she has been able
to do all this before, therefore it is unlikely that she had fatal
*
arrhythmia.”
Andrew Kicman, head of research and development at
Kings College London, analysed a blood sample from Squires.
DMAA had been present but he said she, like others who took
legal ly available stimulants, was unlikely to have known of its
amphetamine-like properties.
“I suspect many people who take supplements like Jack3D Are you getting the best deal on
are not aware of what DMAA is,” he said. “Many performing- your mortgage?
enhancing drugs can be bought from the internet quite legally.”
After the inquest Van Herrewege said the finding had left Compare over 8500 mortgages
Squires’ family and himself “numb”. online to find the best deal for
He said: “Claire was passionately against the use of drugs
and would never, ever, have taken anything that would have you.
caused her harm or even worse risked her life. She innocently guardian.co.uk/money/
took a supplement which at the time was entirely legal, and
widely available on the high-street, and somewhat worryingly,
compareandbuy
apparently used by so many others.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012 guardian.co.uk
