The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Rallying: Dakar rapped over 20 million year fossil damage
- Athletics: Olympic king Bolt seals legend status
- Rugby: All Blacks cement world champion status
| Rallying: Dakar rapped over 20 million year fossil damage Posted: 14 Dec 2012 06:59 PM PST SANTIAGO: Palaeontologists have warned that the Dakar Rally, which will thunder through Peru and Chile next month, poses a serious risk to whale and dolphin fossils dating back more than 20 million years. Scientists issued their warning to highlight claims that the 2012 edition of the gruelling 8,400 kilometre endurance event had caused irreparable damage to ancient Miocene era sites in the Ica region of southern Peru. "The damage is evident in the area of Ica, where you can see the deterioration of many fossils because the vehicles drove over them," Vildoso Carlos, director of the Peruvian Institute of Palaeontology, told AFP. "We have many skeletons of large mammals, especially whales and dolphins, and the fossilized remains of invertebrates that have suffered damage due to passing vehicles. The course passed virtually over the animals." The director of Lima's Meyer Honninger palaeontology museum, Klaus Honninger, said he had informed the Dakar organisers of the damage, but claimed his complaints had been met with little interest. He also said that some drivers steer away from the official track in order to take a simpler route. The problem is compounded by hundreds of spectators who show little respect for the area's history. "They leave the desert in a terrible state," added Honninger. "I have seen people smash fossilised whale vertebrae and throw tons of garbage around. I have even found old tyres left behind by the competitors." Neither the race organisers nor the minister of culture, who are responsible for Peru's heritage, are "accepting reponsibility" for this destruction, he added. "Our position is that the organisers should find another route to avoid further deterioration of this fossil graveyard," said Honninger. The Ocucaje desert has yielded fossils of giant sharks and whales measuring up to 20 metres long and it was in the same area that Peruvian geologists discovered last February the remains of a whale believed to be 3.6 million years old. Peru's culture minister, Luis Peirano, who attended the official presentation of the 2013 Dakar Rally on Tuesday, said that the race will not compromise the country's heritage. "Peru has a rich heritage that must be protected," he said, adding that officials in every region will work with organisers to avoid any further damage. In neighbouring Chile, where the January 5-20 event will end, the authorities have worked with organisers to mark tracks, especially in the north where vehicles could damage ancient cities such as San Pedro de Atacama. "In collaboration with the organisation of the rally we have developed a route that avoids the areas identified as being at risk from the point of view of the environment and archeology," deputy secretary for sports, Gabriel Ruiz Tagle, told AFP. The 2013 Dakar Rally will feature 459 vehicles - cars, bikes, trucks and quads - and will cover 8,400km of Peru and Chile, with a stay in Argentina. - AFP |
| Athletics: Olympic king Bolt seals legend status Posted: 14 Dec 2012 06:55 PM PST PARIS: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt cemented his status as a true legend of track and field by claiming a second Olympic treble gold medal haul at the London Games. Bolt followed up his podium-topping showing in Beijing in 2008 by becoming the first sprinter to defend both the 100m and 200m. He then led home the 4x100m relay team in a world record-breaking 36.84sec to cap a pulsating nine days of track and field at the Olympic Stadium in east London. "It's what I came here to do. I'm now a legend, I'm the greatest athlete to live," said Bolt. "For 2013, the objective is to go as fast as possible and win the 100m title at the world championships in Moscow," which run between August 10-18. Rarely can there have been a week's athletics as enthralling and entertaining as that at the London Olympics. Every session at the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium was a sell-out, and the knowledgeable public helped make for an electric atmosphere, notably on the first Saturday when Britain won three gold medals in the space of 45 frenetic minutes. While Bolt stole the headlines for his sprinting prowess, David Rudisha also produced an outstanding performance on the track, although his Kenyan team endured a relatively disappointing Games. The Masai tribesman obliterated his own world record in the 800m, running 1:40.91 in the highest quality two-lap race ever seen. Last-placed Andrew Osagie's time would have won him gold in the Beijing Games by 0.88sec. Britain's gold medal rush was kicked off by poster-girl Jessica Ennis, who dominated the heptathlon. She was superseded by Mo Farah, a devout Muslim born in Somalia but a London resident since the age of eight, who galvanised a nation in the most multi-cultural of world cities when he became the seventh runner to win the 5000m-10,000m double. The sheer spectacle on the final night's action when Farah kicked for home with just over a lap of the 5000m remaining was a spine-tingling experience those in the stadium will never forget. The track and field also broke new ground when South African Oscar Pistorius became the first double amputee to race in an Olympics. He failed to qualify for the individual 400m final, but anchored his team in the 4x400m relay final, in which they finished last. The United States finished atop the athletics medals table with a total of 29 medals, comprising nine gold, 13 silver and seven bronze, for their best haul since the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Russia came in second with 18 (8-4-6) and the Bolt-inspired Jamaica in third on 12 (4-4-4). There was also a world record for American Aries Merritt in the men's 110m hurdles, the American clocking 12.80sec at the Diamond League meet in Brussels to smash the previous record of 12.87 set by Cuban Dayron Robles in June 2008. Bolt and American sprinter Allyson Felix were named the International Amateur Athletics Federation's athletes of the year. It was the fourth time in the last five years that Bolt has won the award, but the first time for Felix, who also won three golds in London, in the 200m and in both the women's relay races. The highest-profile casualty in the war on doping was Belarus shot putter Nadezhda Ostapchuk, who was stripped of her Olympic gold after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid. New Zealand's Valerie Adams was handed gold, but Ostapchuk only received a one-year ban because her coach had doctored her food without her knowledge. Four medallists from the 2004 Olympic Games were officially stripped of their medals by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC took the decision after new analysis of their dope tests taken at the Athens Games revealed traces of steroids. Ukraine's Yuri Belonog was stripped of his shot put gold, Belarus' Ivan Tikhon of his silver in the hammer, and Irina Yatchenko of Belarus and Russian Svetlana Krivelyova lost their bronze medals in the women's discus and shot put respectively. It is the second Olympic medal Tikhon has been stripped of, having had his bronze from the 2008 Games taken away also for a doping offence. Ironically, the disgraced Ostapchuk was promoted to the podium in place of Krivelyova and will receive a bronze. - AFP |
| Rugby: All Blacks cement world champion status Posted: 14 Dec 2012 06:51 PM PST PARIS: New Zealand moved smoothly from winning the World Cup on home soil to dominate 2012 despite a blip in their final match against England that will give the rest of the rugby world a glimmer of hope. Led magnificently by indefatigable captain Richie McCaw, who is now to take a sabbatical to recharge his batteries, the All Blacks won the newly-launched Rugby Championship that included Australia, South African and newcomers Argentina. The side went undefeated, with their final match against Australia an 18-18 draw. The performances of fly-half Dan Carter ensured he was named the International Rugby Board player of the year for a second time (after 2005). The Championship's inclusion of Argentina was a particular success, and the Pumas' exposure to that level of rugby can only bode well for the sport in South America as a whole. The All Blacks moved on from their three-Test summer series victory over Ireland and their successful Championship to claim three straightforward wins over Scotland, Italy and Wales in their autumn Tests. But they finally came acropper in their final match of the calendar year, England ending the world champions' 20-Test winning sequence with a famous 38-21 victory at Twickenham - it was also the Kiwis' first loss on their end-of-year northern tour in a decade. "All the boys will take a wee while to get over it but they will come back next year and this (defeat) will remind them what it's all about," said skipper McCaw. "If there's a positive out of it, that's probably not a bad thing to have next year." Another team to deliver on their World Cup promise, at least until March, were Wales, who produced a third Six Nations Grand Slam in eight years. The Welsh team saw off France 16-9 in their final match of a generally poor championship to add to victories over Ireland (23-21), Scotland (27-13), England (19-12) and Italy (24-3). But that success did not last long after a losing three-Test series in Australia in the summer followed by losses in the autumn to Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and again the Wallabies. The string of seven successive defeats meant Wales fell out of the top eight in the IRB rankings and were drawn alongside England and Australia for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. This means one of the sport's traditional powers will be knocked out before the quarter-finals, with only the top two teams from each of the four pools going through to the knockout stages. In the southern hemisphere's elite franchise competition, the Waikato Chiefs downed South Africa's Coastal Sharks 37-6 to win the Super 15, the schedule of which has been altered for the 2013 season to accommodate the nine-game schedule of the British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia in June. Australian teams will take a break from Super Rugby when the Wallabies play the Lions in three Tests on June 22, June 29 and July 6. Similarly, there will be staggered rest periods for teams from South Africa and New Zealand. European club competition saw Irish province Leinster claim a second successive European Cup title. Leinster, with full-back Rob Kearney named as European player of the year, outscored Irish rivals Ulster 42-14 in a five tries to one thrashing. Veteran France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili kicked all of his side's points as Biarritz beat French rivals Toulon 21-18 to win the second tier European Challenge Cup. In South Africa, fly-half Demetri Catrakilis kicked nine unanswered final-quarter points to guide Western Province to a shock 25-18 victory over the Sharks to win the Currie Cup final. Domestically, league table toppers Harlequins won the English Premiership with a 30-23 victory over Leicester for a first ever title. Welsh rugby great Shane Williams scored a try two minutes from time to end his stellar competitive club career with a 31-30 win over Leinster to claim the Celtic League title. Toulouse were crowned French champions for the 19th time after battling to a hard-fought, tryless 18-12 victory over Toulon in the Top 14 final at the Stade de France, ex-All Black Luke McAlister getting all the winning points. The IRB's World Sevens Series was claimed by New Zealand for the 10th time in 13 seasons, the season's top scorer and All Black playmaker Tomasi Cama taking the player-of-the-year award. - AFP |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan