bleungberg.com

Monday, 18th August 2008 - the date when Rafael Nadal finally eclipsed Roger Federer as the greatest player on the planet - and what a way to celebrate this ascension with an Olympic title!

Well done, Rafa! And really good to see you doing so well on the hard-court season after Wimbledon. Looks like he didn’r something different during his off-season last December - something which every other top ten player could probably learn from!

Eleven days into the Games, and Bleungberg has been thoroughly enjoying the 29th Olympiad - watching upwards of 11 hours of coverage a day. As it is 20 years since Bleungberg watched his first Olympics opening ceremony from Seoul on a dreary afternoon in Hong Kong, here is a list of all his favourite Olympic memories:

1988, Seoul - The Opening Ceremony and especially the four Korean singers - two men, two women with very many coiffeured hair - miming to the official theme song, ‘Hand In Hand’. Florence Griffith-Joyner’s finger-nails and hair when crossing the line in the 100m final.

1992, Barcelona - The mascot, the arrow in the opening ceremony, and the women’s marathon.

1996, Atlanta - The windsurfing gold for Hong Kong. The BBC’s opening credits.

2000, Sydney - Steve Redgrave’s fifth gold, Jason Queally’s cycling gold, Cathy Freeman’s 400m triumph, and Marion Jones winning the 100m final.

2004, Athens - Matthew Pinsent’s fourth gold, Kelly Holmes’s surprising 800m victory, Haile Gebrselassie’s defeat in the 10000m final, Pieter van den Hoogenband beating Ian Thorpe and Michael Phelps in the 100m freestyle final, Britain’s men’s 4×100 relay final and the mixed doubles badminton final.

It’s somewhat ironic that no sooner had Liu Xiang, the face of Beijing 2008 had limped out even before his title defence had begun, his successor should be found within 24 hours on the same track.

Christine Ohuruogu - whose reputation had taken a severe battering thanks to her missing three random drugs tests between 2006 and 2007 - stormed to an incredible victory in the women’s 400m final today, thus making her the first British woman ever to win this prestigious title AND giving her a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defend the Olympic title on home soil. In fact, not just home soil but right on her door-step in East London!

The Stratford girl came back from a year’s suspension last summer to win an amazing World Championship title in Osaka - her fourth races upon her return to competitive racing.

Yet, the British public didn’t warm to her, as suspicions lingered over her ‘cleaniness’. This was particularly evident in her last-placed finish in last December’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year, during which she polled just 1% of the phone vote - miles and miles behind the ninth-placed Justin Rose (http://bleungberg.com/blog/archives/618 ) - very worrying for someone who would was always touted to be one of the main faces of London 2012.

Fast forward a year, and her incredible triumph has surely rehabilitated her status amongst the sceptical British public. If the newspapers are anything to go by (’Great Briton’, ‘Golden Girl’), then it’s a sure bet that Ohuruogu will take her place amongst the great and the good in the Olympic Stadium.

Let’s just hope she does a Cathy Freeman rather than a Liu Xiang!

A few thoughts on the Olympics so far:

1) The Opening Ceremony was fantastic….so many people…which goes to prove that if China were to go to war with anybody, they can throw body after body into the battlefield.

2) The use of the PLA soldiers to raise the Olympic flag brought back horrible memories of massacres and repression. Stiff marching and flag-raising have no place for this digital age when they want to project a positive image of China to the rest of the world.

3) Huw Edwards is not up to the job of commentating on the opening ceremony. Nor is Hazel Irvine. Let’s have Barry Davies and Clare Balding.

4) Bleungberg sat down to watch a gold-medal match of women’s team archery yesterday…but didn’t know I was watching a bunch of women until half-way through; why do Koreans and Chinese women insist on having spikey haircuts and look like a bunch of dykes?

5) Good to see the Bushes cheering on Phelps and co poolside and at the USA-China basketball match. Wonder what type of security was required for all the spectators involved? Mind you, Bush went to the wrong meet - he shouldn’t been there for the Men’s 4×100 freestyle relay: the best single-race I’ve seen in the pool for years.

6) Sharron Davies is highly underrated.

7) Where’s the fencing? Not on the BBC (it never is); nor Eurosport, or even TVEi.

8 ) Archery is fantastic.

9) Judo is so pure.

Andy Muray has finally made the breakthrough into the world’s elite by securing his first Masters Series title in Cinncinatti, and has risen to the world number six spot, just behind Nikolai Davydenko and David Ferrer and the big three.

Only a matter of time that Murray leapfrogs the Russian and the Spaniard to make it the big four.

Four days before the Olympics and a grenade attack kills 16 policemen during morning exercises in the volatile province of Xinjiang…

Fascinating to see the retaliatory responses by the Chinese military in the coming weeks if the terrorists were to strike the Games in Beijing!

Rafael Nadal has finally overhauled Roger Federer at the top of men’s  tennis after three years in the number two spot. No surprises there to many of us who’ve followed his progress over the past couple of months from the European clay-courts via the grass of London to the hard-courts of North America.

What is amazing though is the speed of his rise and the dramatic and sudden loss of form by Federer, who seems to be all at sea right now, with a second-round exit in Toronto, followed by a third-round loss in Cinncinatti to lesser opponents. This horrible loss of confidence by the Swiss player has been horrible to watch.

But Bleungberg remains of the opinion that his dethronement can only be good for tennis, and also for Federer himself. The pressure on him is lessened as the world number two - no longer will he be defending ranking points, chasing four-in-a-row in Melbourne or six-in-a-row at Wimbledon or whatever - though he still has the five-timer at the US Open to aim for and the small matter of an Olympic gold medal to play for before the summer’s out.

Next year, he should - hopefully - play better again, regroup, refocus, and concentrate on the only target that will matter to him: surpassing Pete Sampras’s all-time Grand Slam record of 14 wins.

He might have won the high court battle against the News of the World.

He might have survived a vote of no-confidence at an FIA emergency meeting in Paris by intimidating the lesser confederations into submission.

He might have weathered the storm after being snubbed by sheikhs and royalty at various Grand Prix events around the world.

But this has been a pyrrhic victory for evil.

To bleungberg, Max Mosley, FIA Chairman is still a dirty, filthy, wrinkly old cunt. We have nothing against his fetish for severe lashings or S&M orgies until his saggy bum bleeds like hell. However, we really do object to his arrogance and unrepentence whilst continuing to swan off around the world in his private jet, bemoaning the stress all this had caused him, as if he was the victim of a sting.

He moane incessantly d about the humiliation he has had to endure after the tabloid’s expose, and that it had caused his family considerable heartache, in particular, his devoted wife.

Well, I’m sorry, but didn’t he bring it upon himself? As a married man, he should’ve known better and been more responsibility in controlling his wrinkly penis. His reputation is in tatters, but his long-suffering wife has to suffer far worse than just the loss of dignity. This is an unforgivable betrayal for Mrs Mosley who probably wondered what his multi-millionaire husband was upto in some of the most glamorous parts of the world.

If Mrs Mosley had any senses, she should subject her randy cunt of a sick husband to conselling, and to immediately file for divorce - sue the fucker, bankrupt him, and let him rot in hell.

For the first time in Bleungberg’s life, the men’s singles final at Wimbledon became an unbearable - and often - unwatchable affair. Everyone said the 2007 final between Federer and Nadal was a memorable one though it was fairly forgettable in my opinion.

The 2008 renewal, however, was gripping from start to finish as so much was at stake for both players: Federer to win six on a trot, and Nadal to make it a unique Roland Garros-Queen’s-Wimbledon triple-crown.

Finals have a habit of being something of a damp squib and after a shockingly good fortnight of Grand Slam tennis, a terrible final would have been a horrible anti-climax.

Having sat through some pretty dull finals down the years - the Hewiit-Nalbadian match in 2002 springs to mind - it looked a distinct possibility with Nadal racing through the opening two-and-a-quarter sets before the rain came to the rescue of Federer, followed by a late resurgence before an unforgettable conclusion at 9.15pm in near darkness.

Great finals stick in my mind - the 2000 and 2001 versions were pretty damn good - but nothing compared to 2008’s 4h48m epic.

Federer will now have to regroup and re-focus his energy on his two remaining targets this summer: the Olympics and the US Open. He had told his critics who had predicted his demise to back off until after the summer, and frankly, so much will be riding on Flushing Meadows now.

Nadal has a habit of underperforming in the second half of the season - in fact, it tails right off the moment Wimbledon finishes as his fragile kneecaps succumb to the hard court season in the US and Canada.

We sincerely hope that he will be fit and ready for the challenge as he will now be gunning for his third consecutive Grand Slam. Federer will be gunning for his fifth title in New York, and still chasing Pete Sampras’s all-time record of 14 Slam victories to the Swiss’s 12. The number 1 status is at stake, as is Federer’s future in tennis (perhaps). So much will be riding on the final come Sunday night on the 7th September.

The next year will be very interesting for those of us who follow this wonderful sport. Will Federer win any of the Slams in the next year? If and when he loses his number 1 ranking, the pressure will be off him at Wimbledon, and on Nadal at both Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Federer could well still be in hunt for Sampras’s record but definitely not as intense as now. It could well be wise for Federer to concentrate solely on Roland Garros next year, and claim to become the fifth men ever to have won on all four surfaces.

A few final thoughts:

1) Much has been said about both men breaking or equalling Bjorn Borg’s record this year. Bleungberg was three months old when Borg won his fifth title in 1980. And it’s taken 28 years for two men to come along to equal what ONE man had achieved. Borg’s record is simply awesome.

2) Spain -how does this country produce so many magnificent champions in so many sports? Football, formula one, cycling and, of course, tennis - long before Nadal was even born.

3) The BBC is putting celebrity ahead of quality by pairing Andrew Castle and Tim Henman up for this year’s final. Henman - whiny, nasaly and bland - is no match for Boris Becker or Jimmy Connors. Meanwhile, Castle is not as authoritative as his many more-experienced colleagues and should not have been behind the mic for the final.

Bleungberg doesn’t really care what happens on the track in F1 - it’s far too boring to our liking. But we’ve been fascinated by recent development off the track - not least FIA Chairman Max Mosley’s kinky Nazi-themed bondage session with some German-speaking prostitutes.

In the past few days, we were very taken by the addition of Abu Dhabi to the F1 calendar - much to the chargrin of the all-conquering, egotistical Doha who must now share the spotlight with a fellow sheikh in motor-racing’s premier competition. Fresh from being overlooked for the candidancy to host the 2016 Olympics, Doha now has the 2018 World Cup in site in its bid to overgun/out-do/ outshine/ outperform Dubai as the premier destination in the Middle-East.

Anyway, we digress.

Bleungberg also likes what F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone has done in bullying tracks around the world into submission. Singapor’s race will be held under flood-lights; Melbourne was threatened by losing its race to Sydney if it didn’t stage the race at night time, and Ecclestone almost got his wish with the race dee to start three hours later at 5pm local time - as a compromise - in order to capitalise on bigger race audience in the Far East and more importantly, Europe.

In addition, the race calendar has been lengthened to 19 races in 2009, with more races in newer tracks such as Shanghai and Istanbul replacing traiditonal circuits such as Monza and Magny-Cours. Just today, Silverstone is to lose the Grand Prix to rival Donnington from 2010, despite spending upwards of £30m in upgrading its circuit over the past few years. It would seem though that wasn’t enough for Ecclestone, who despite his tiny frame which wouldn’t look out of place in a jockey weighing room, continues to wield extraordinary power over the sport.

Horse racing wants to replicate F1’s riches by having its own champions league-style series. I reckon they’d need someone like Ecclestone in charge to get them out of the financial quagmire!

No one does it better than lil’ Bernie!