Sport magazine Issue 254

Issue 254 | May 4 2012

The running man Sport finally catches up with Mo Farah

issue 254, May 4 2012 Radar 05 The beauty of BMX

If nothing else, it gives us an excuse to talk about E.T. What’s not to love about that?

07 Floyd Mayweather Jnr

Ahead of yet another title fight, we chart the highs and lows of a remarkable career

08 Football’s new old rivalry Chelsea and Liverpool are getting used to doing battle

10 Editor’s letter

Why there’s nothing wrong with Roy Hodgson for England

oFeatures this coming week

16 Mo Farah

16

The GB distance runner who is hoping for a very special year indeed – on and off the track

23 Allyson Felix Aiming her elegant American stride squarely at London 2012

31 FA Cup final The Greatest Cup Competition in the World™ comes to a climax as the Reds take on the Blues

31

34 Premier pictures Some of the best images from 20 years of the Premier League

56

extra Time

Cover image: Adam Hinton. This page: Ian Walton/Getty Images

54 Jaime Edmondson

She’s certainly not your average sport blogger

56 Entertainment A book about the Tube – pictured – that delayed us for hours

23

58 Grooming

34

The whiff of Mercedes-Benz and a bar of solid gold, er, shower gel

60 Gadgets

Gaming in 3D? Coffee at the touch of a button? The future... | May 4 2012 | 03

Radar

p07 – Must be the Money: Floyd Mayweather’s highs and lows

p08 – Reds v Blues: primary rivals meet in FA Cup final

p08 – Pick your fantasy nags

BMX appeal Rad Rides: The Best BMX Bikes of All Time by Intercity, Gavin Lucas and Stuart Robinson (Laurence King Publishing), out on May 7, £18.95

American Bicycle Association

S

hanaze Reade may be Britain’s BMX gold-medal hope for London 2012, but our hero will always remain that US-based star of the sport: E.T. Man, that little dude could make a BMX fly!

You may think we’re jesting, but seeing the film E.T. is what first inspired Chris Hoy to get on to a BMX – and from that beginning, old thunder thighs eventually rode on to Olympic glory. It’s this kind of info that you’ll find in Rad Rides, a gorgeously designed new book dedicated to the finest BMX bikes of all time.

While also providing a punchy guide to BMX disciplines and eras, the main meat of the book is dedicated to the bikes themselves. You get some super pics of iconic bikes, such as the Raleigh Tuff Burner, the Kuwahara E.T. (yes, a replica from the film), the Hoffman Evel Knievel and the racy sounding S&M Holmes. Our favourite is the bling-tastic 1985 Woody Itson’s Gold Hutch Trick Star (pictured on the right), but it’s well worth marvelling at them all for yourself. A must for design aficionados, BMX bandits and fans of small brown aliens alike.

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Radar

Money line

From the hot prospect with a million-dollar smile to the brash superstar with the million-dollar bankroll: the highs and lows of Floyd Mayweather Junior

July 1996: Olympic success The 19-year-old Mayweather becomes the first US boxer to beat a Cuban in the Olympics in 20 years, before losing a disputed 10-9 decision in the semi final. This leaves him with a bronze medal and probably something of a chip on his shoulder (both of which he still proudly possesses to this day).

February 2000: DaDDy uncOOl Fires his father as his manager, then later as trainer (replacing him with Uncle Roger) and apparently has dad evicted him from a home, owned by Junior. What a way to treat the man who proudly raised you... when he wasn’t in prison for drug trafficking, as pops was in the early/mid 1990s.

OctOber, 1998: prO breakthrOugh After just two years as a professional boxer, Floyd dominates experienced champ Genaro Hernandez to confirm his place as the world’s best super-featherweight. His dazzling skills and handsome mush see the ‘Pretty Boy’ draw comparisons with Sugar Ray Leonard.

may 2007: pay-per-view king By now a multiweight champion recognised as the best boxer in the world, ‘Money’ Mayweather moves up to light-middleweight to fight America’s golden boy, Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd wins a split decision but earns a mere $25m, compared with Oscar’s estimated $52m.

December 2007: the hitman anD him “When I retire, I’ll get Ricky Hatton to wash my clothes and cut my lawn and buckle my shoes.” Mayweather showers abuse on Britain’s ‘Hitman’ (and reveals a passion for buckled shoes) before their contest. Hatton matches Floyd verbally, but is stopped in 10 rounds in the ring.

september 2010: misses pac man A video is leaked of Floyd calling his Filipino rival Manny Pacquiao “Poochiao” and promising to “cook him up with some barbecued dog”.

He apologises, but many boxing fans accuse him of avoiding Pacquio in the ring as negotiations between the pair fail endlessly.

January 2001: his greatest win Fights fellow champ Diego Corrales, who’s accused of hitting his wife. “I want Diego because I’m doing it for all the battered women across America,” says Floyd, who scores a five-knockdown win and a victory for terrible irony. Just a year later, he pleads guilty to two counts of domestic violence.

June 2011: pretty viciOus Opponent Victor Ortiz headbutts Mayweather, causing the referee to halt the fight and dock Ortiz a point.

He tells them to box on, but turns to face the judges and, while Ortiz stares at the ref, Floyd takes the opportunity to punch Victor hard in his nonplussed face, KOing him.

December 2011: prisOn break Mayweather is sentenced to 90 days in jail for battery of an ex-girlfriend stemming from 2010. A judge later delays the sentence to allow Mayweather to fight in May 2012, due to the estimated $1bn in revenue he’ll bring to those poor, hard-up Las Vegas casinos.

Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images, Stephen Dunn/Getty Images, Tom Hauck/Allsport, Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images, Al Bello/Getty Images, John Gurzinski/AFP/ Getty Images, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via Getty Images

See p48 for our preview of Mayweather v Miguel Cotto

and several Premier League football players.

Get in the Zone is a deck of 52 ‘cards’, each with a unique, specific technique to help you stay focused, motivated and positive – removing negative thoughts and tension. Perfect to put you in the ideal mindset before that grudge tennis match against your dad, or a Sunday league tie with a team of hairy-arsed hatchet men. Just don’t blame the app if you starting eating an onion at half time.

Get in the Zone, £1.99, out now for the iPad, iPhone and iPad touch

Mind games T

he mental side of sport is crucial, but we can’t all afford to pay Paul McKenna to hypnotise us into a fearless winning machine (or, alternatively, into a bloke who eats an apple on stage thinking it’s an onion).

A more affordable alternative is this app created by top sports psychologist Sam Kotadia, who’s worked with both elite athletes

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Radar

The best of enemies

1 2

Ahead of the FA Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea, we pick out five games that define what’s become a great 21st-century football rivalry

2

Luis Garcia’s ghost goal Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 May 3 2005 Little over two months later, and the Reds gain sweet revenge in this Champions League semi final second leg at Anfield. A single ‘goal’ was enough to win it, Luis Garcia tapping in after only four minutes after Milan Baros had beaten a flapping Petr Cech to the ball. But did the ball cross the line? A furious Mourinho said no, referring to Garcia’s strike as the “ghost goal”; but it stood, and Liverpool went on to achieve the impossible against AC Milan in Istanbul, in the loopiest final of the lot.

3

Revenge at last Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2 April 30 2008 Three years on, and 12 months after the Reds had won through in a semi-final penalty

shootout, Chelsea finally achieved Champions League payback. A brace from Didier Drogba and a Frank Lampard penalty was enough to see the Blues through after extra time in a pulsating semi final second leg at the Bridge, but the real turning point of the tie came when John-Arne Riise scored a last-minute own goal in the first leg at Anfield. Chelsea went on to a first ever Champions League final, against Manchester United in Moscow. Anyone remember what happened in that one?

3

5

5

4

Goal crazy Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4 April 14 2009 A 10th Champions League meeting between the two in five seasons, and by some distance the craziest. Leading 3-1 from the first leg at Anfield, Chelsea somehow contrived to trail 2-0 within half an hour at Stamford Bridge. Half time settled the nerves, however, and the Blues scored four second-half goals to Liverpool’s two, Lampard’s 89th-minute effort finally killing off the game. This time they moved on to a semi final against Barcelona, and we’re positive no one remembers that one, either.

4

Turn to page 31 for our full preview of Saturday’s FA Cup final

Eat one, Nando Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1 February 6 2011 In one of those super twists of sporting fate, Fernando Torres’ first game for Chelsea after an acrimonious £50m move from Anfield came in a home Premier League fixture against a Liverpool team managed by Kenny Dalglish. All set up for a dream debut, then, but Torres was on the wrong end of a shuddering early shoulder-plant from Daniel Agger and rarely looked happy as his team fell to a single goal from future Blue Raul Meireles. Torres has since featured in two Chelsea home games against Liverpool, both of which have been lost.

Horse play W

hat horse racing desperately needs, we were saying the other day, is some form of construct by which you can choose horses you think are going to win certain races, and then make that choice work to your advantage in some form of points or money system. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Yes, yes, we do of course jest. We’re well aware of gambling – heck, we do it terribly most weeks – but until very recently we weren’t aware of the excellent new Fantasy Racing game devised as a partnership between the QIPCO British Champions Series, the Telegraph and the Racing Post.

08 | May 4 2012 |

Launched to coincide with the start of this year’s British Champions Series, which kicks off with the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket tomorrow, the game is absolutely free to play (bonus) and requires you to do nothing more than select the trainers, jockeys and horses you think will light up the new flat season’s biggest races. Clue: the unbeaten Frankel, to the left there, might be one of them.

Everyone’s favourite chirpy Italian Frankie Dettori is taking part, we’re taking part, and you should be taking part too. So head online now, to fantasyracing.telegraph.co.uk, and make your selections – you have until 3pm tomorrow to finalise your squad.

For our preview of this year’s 2000 Guineas, including the usual bad tip, turn to page 46

Carl Court /AFP/Getty Images, Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images, Carl De Souza/AFP/ Getty Images, Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images, Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

1

Mourinho calls for hush Liverpool 2 Chelsea 3 (aet) February 27 2005 Less than a year after flirting with an unthinkable £20m move to Stamford Bridge, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard endured the nightmare of scoring a late own goal in this Carling Cup final between the two sides.

His looped header levelled the scores after John-Arne Riise’s first-minute strike, leaving Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to politely tell the Anfield faithful to pipe the f*ck down.

Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman scored the extra-time goals that won it for Chelsea.

Radar Editor’s letter Safe pair of hands: Hodgson’s record is solid, not spectacular – and could be what England needs www.sport-magazine.co.uk @sportmaguk facebook.com/sportmagazine

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EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief: Simon Caney (7951) Deputy editor: Tony Hodson (7954) Associate editor: Nick Harper (7897) Art editor: John Mahood (7860) Deputy art editor: William Jack (7861) Subeditor: Graham Willgoss (7431) Senior writers: Sarah Shephard (7958), Alex Reid (7915) Staff writers: Mark Coughlan (7901), Amit Katwala (7914) Picture editor: Julian Wait (7961) Production manager: Tara Dixon (7963)

COMMERCIAL

The man for the job Roy Hodgson may not be Jose Mourinho, but he is a realistic choice to manage England

Editor-in-chief Simon Caney @simoncaney

took one of the most successful club managers in the world, and it wasn’t exactly a success), let’s just say I don’t think he’s the wrong man.

He’s vastly experienced. He will know what to expect from the media in this country, which will turn on him sooner or later. He possesses a sound footballing brain, and has great knowledge of the world game. Crucially, he gets the best out of ordinary teams. This is the man who took Fulham to a European final and coached Switzerland to become the number three team in the world.

Of course, there were those who thought the FA should have appointed a Mourinho or Guardiola. But to me, those people are deluded: managing England is a surefire way of making your professional stock decline. The only person who might possibly want it is a man about to retire.

Good luck, Roy. You’ll need it.

So, if selected, Dwain Chambers will go to the ball after all. So will David Millar.

The world knows they have in the past been drugs cheats. But when the BOA – rightly, in my view – banned them for life, the laughably named World Anti-Doping Agency challenged them in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

WADA has said just one thing in this matter that makes sense: that it is wrong for British athletes to be subject to different rules than other countries, who will be sending plenty of convicted cheats to compete at London 2012.

Yes, the rules should be the same, but to me that rule should be that drugs cheats are banned from competitive sport for life. And WADA should spend its energy finding those cheats, not in lengthy courtroom battles. In the unlikely event that Chambers wins an Olympic medal, would you cheer?

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Hearty thanks this week to: Anthony Noguera, Sophie Mackey Total Average Distribution: 304,700 Jul-Dec 2011

Reader comments of the week Brilliant piece ‘a lesson for football’ by @simoncaney in today’s @sportmaguk pfa take note!

@helzbelz26 Twitter

10 | May 4 2012 |

Very well written piece by @simoncaney in this morning’s Sport magazine regarding the whole Ched Evans thing and young footballers.

@simoncaney Ridiculous comment in todays @sportmaguk Sir Alex’s worst team in 20yrs?!

I assume djemba-djemba et al were world class then?

@Luke_J_117 Twitter

@jimmysatt6 Twitter

Fergie’s worst team in 20 years? That can only mean the Premier League is the worst it’s been in 20 years what with United always being first and all.

Friday’s commute to work is made that little bit more bearable thanks to #SportMagazine. Proper morning reading. Cheers @simoncaney.

Ewan, via email

@nickjasonwarner Twitter

LAUNCH OF THE YEAR

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T

he hullaballoo began early.

The news that the FA were sounding out Roy Hodgson left many people unimpressed, to say the least. They seemed to ask: is the boss of West Brom the best England can do? Meanwhile, the ’Arry apologists were comparing their man to Brian Clough, another people’s choice who never got the big job at the FA for reasons maybe not to do with football.

So, two things need addressing. The second of those is easy: Harry Redknapp is no Brian Clough. He has done an okay job at Spurs. He has not taken two down-at-heel clubs and won league titles with them. He has not won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest.

The first point, though, is trickier.

Is Hodgson really the right man to manage England? Without knowing just who the right man could possibly be (last time we

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Radar Frozen in time

12 | May 4 2012 |

If the weather forecasters are to be believed, then this summer can be cancelled before it’s even begun.

That little dousing of rain we had last week? A mere appetiser – an hors d’oeuvre, if you will – to months of rainfall that will not only be of biblical proportions, but may even get us out of this pesky drought.

So feast your eyes on this picture, cricket fans, because this is all the action you’ll witness in 2012: Worcestershire v Notts, watched on the day by six men and a dog, on a pitch that is now seven feet under water and inhabited by mermaids and chub.

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Stu Forster/Getty Images

Take a good, long look

Mo Farah

F

Fly G

For 5,000m world champion Mo Farah, 2012 is a year that started out big and then got even bigger. But it hasn’t all gone his way so far, as he tells Sport...

hUNGer PaINS That’s especially true when you consider that Bernard Lagat, Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi (the trio who kept the world 5,000m champion off the podium in Istanbul) are all likely to be on the track in London, fired up by the chance to upset the home favourite.

“I’ve got to learn from it,” says Farah of the physical 15-lap battle of Turkey that ended with his dramatic dive over the finish line, one painful hundredth of a second behind bronze-medallist Soi. “It’s good to have those kind of races, though. If I hadn’t run there, then I wouldn’t have this hunger ahead of the Olympics, and I wouldn’t want it as much – you’ve got to want it.”

That desire would, a few years ago, have seen Farah back in his spikes as soon as his flight touched down at Heathrow. But now, operating under the wizened tutelage of world-renowned coach Alberto Salazar, Farah is under strict instructions. “I wanted to get back in training straight away,” he explains.

“But my coach said to me: ‘You’ve got to be sensible – you’ve got to take a week off.’ And that’s what I did.

I listen to him, but I am one of those guys who wants to get back into it, train hard and show what I’m about.”

PLaYING The PerCeNTaGeS You’d be hard pushed to find anyone who doubts the dedication and focus of Farah. Even the notoriously tough-to-impress head coach of UK Athletics, Charles van Commenee, labelled him “the complete athlete” at the start of the year. >

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Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

o hard or Go hoMe is Mo Farah’s motto. It’s what he keeps rolling around his head when he’s hot-footing it around the dusty trails of Iten in Kenya, logging up the high altitude miles and sharpening the devastating kick of pace that has become his calling card in recent years.

“It means train hard, give your all and then you can go home, rest up and chill out with your family,” he explains to Sport when we meet on a sunny afternoon in Regent’s Park.

He’s in ‘chill out’ mood today, accompanied by six-year-old stepdaughter Rihanna – who meets Farah after any race he doesn’t win with the words “You lost! Whhhyy?” – and wife Tania, who’s expecting twins at the end of September. “It was always going to be a big year,” says Farah. “Now it’s even bigger.”

While his family’s presence brings contentment, there is a simmering sense of frustration about Farah. It’s not long since his return from Istanbul and the World Indoor Championships, where a fourth-place finish in the 3,000m meant Farah had been beaten in four consecutive races – hardly the ideal start to an Olympic year.

“I’m very disappointed,” he says. “It’s not what I wanted because I was hoping I could go out there and win it. When you get the taste of winning, you just want to keep winning – you don’t want to lose races.

But finishing fourth is not a disaster. I just have to pick myself up from it. If it was an Olympic event like the 5,000m or 10,000m, I’d be worried. But it’s not.

“It took me a few days to put it into perspective.

But, you know, as an athlete what makes you a champion is when you hate losing no matter what it is – you want to win everything. That’s the difference. That’s how I approach every race.

Whether it’s 1,500m or 3,000m, I want to win things.

So Istanbul was disappointing, but it shows you I can’t take anything for granted.”

Mo Farah

“Moving my family wasn’t easy, but you have to make sacrifices” Salazar should take at least some credit for completing the job, having introduced Farah to underwater treadmills, cryogenic chambers and air-thinning sleeping tents at his training base in Oregon. It’s this level of detail that Farah believes has contributed the extra “one to two per cent” he was looking for to take him to world level.

“It’s my home now,” says Farah of the US base to which his family uprooted in 2010, the year after he finished seventh in the 5,000m at the World Championships. The fastest European in the field, Farah knew he could make up ground on the Kenyans and Ethiopians ruling the long-distance world. So he took action. “I could have easily sat here (in London), with my family and kept doing what I was doing,” he says. “But who knows if it would have worked?

I wasn’t going to take that risk. When you start with a new coach, you’re also not guaranteed that it’s going to go well. So I still had that at the back of my mind. But to come through that is amazing. Moving my whole family there wasn’t easy, but as an athlete you have to make those sacrifices.”

Two years on, his family are settled – even if Farah jokingly laments that Rihanna comes home from school speaking like a local: “I’m not sure I want to live with that for the rest of my life!” Indeed, Farah is equally unsure if the family will stay in Oregon after the Olympics. He favours a return to London (close to his beloved Arsenal), but knows the decision might be taken out of his hands. “My wife seems to like it there,” he says. “So I’m getting a bit worried!”

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images, Michael Steele/Getty Images

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE Farah was eight years old when the capital became his home. He arrived from his birthplace in wartorn Mogadishu, Somalia, to join his father, who was already working in London. Starting school with an at best basic knowledge of English, there were inevitably times when the classroom became a challenging place for a young Farah still unfamiliar with the laws of the land. “At school, you had to stand up for yourself,” he says. “I learned that a lot – you can’t just sit back and get bullied.”

Old-school types would call such an upbringing character-building. It’s hard to disagree with that summation, particularly after Farah’s forceful

18 | May 4 2012 |

Going the extra mile: Farah breaks the British record over two miles – and finishes second – in Birmingham in February

reaction to the ‘plastic Brit’ argument that was reignited by van Commenee’s naming of 100m hurdler Tiffany Porter as GB’s team captain in Istanbul. Born to an English mother and Nigerian father in Michigan, Porter competed for the US in 2007 but switched allegiance to Great Britain in 2010. This raised the ire of those who view her move as a cynical ploy by an athlete who failed to make the American squad for the 2008 Games.

One such cynic was among the British press contingent in Turkey. During a media conference held at the team’s hotel, he asked Porter to recite the first few lines of God Save the Queen – a request that later saw Farah defend his teammate, calling the line of questioning “unacceptable” and “out of order”.

“I stood up for her because, as an athlete, when you go to a championships, you just want to be able to run for and represent your country,” he says. “You don’t want to have to deal with questions like that.

‘Can you sing the national anthem?’ I’m not a singer, I didn’t come here to sing the anthem. I just thought it was totally inappropriate to where we are.

“We’re here to do well for our country, as professionals. In my opinion, it was out of order and that’s why I had to stand up and just say: ‘Look – no.’

I’ve been running [for Great Britain] for more than a decade and done more interviews in the past few years than I normally would, and not once has someone done anything like that.” >

Mo Farah

Mo’s milestones February 2009 Sets a new British 3,000m indoor record of 7:34.47, with a run described by Steve Cram as “the best performance by a male British distance runner for a generation”.

March 2009 Seals his first major track title with 3,000m gold at the European Indoor Championships in Turin.

May 2010 Wins the Bupa London 10k in a British road record time of 27:44, beating 10k world record holder Micah Kogo in the process.

THE SIMPLE LIFE The normally placid Farah is clearly still angered by the row. Time to take him to a happier place. But, for a man who spends much of the year flitting between Oregon, London and Kenya, where is that place? In training terms, there’s no hesitation in his reply.

“No question – definitely Kenya,” he says. “It’s a simple life. You eat, sleep, train and do nothing else.”

In family terms, though, life there is not quite as sweet. While his wife and daughter have, on occasion, accompanied him to the remote training base up in the mountains of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, he admits “Rihanna gets a little bit bored” with so little to occupy her. Much of his time there is spent in the company of an elite group of Kenyan runners, or fellow British athletes such as Paula Radcliffe, who are also looking to make gains from a way of life that has bred countless champions. Either way, being so far away from family for what is often months at a time can be painful.

“It’s not nice being away from your family,” Farah says. “But, if you want to do well at the Olympics, you’ve just got be strong and you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. And training there is something that has worked in the past.”

It will also stand him in good stead for life beyond London 2012 if – as many believe he will – he leaves the track behind for the longer distances on the road. “It depends what I come away from London with,” he says. “But I can’t see myself going to another Games as a track athlete.” He’s not making London Marathon organisers any promises just yet, though. And, given that Lagat will be competing at the age of 37 in London, a 33-year-old Farah could quite easily still be holding his own on the track by the time Rio 2016 rolls around.

BIGFOOT STRIKES AGAIN There is one physical challenge Farah admits has him beaten, however, despite having harboured the childhood belief that it was to be his destiny: occupying Arsenal’s right wing. “Arsene Wenger

20 | May 4 2012 |

July 2010 Farah does the 5,000m/10,000m golden double at the European Championships in Barcelona, becoming the first man in 20 years of the event to do so. said my feet were too big to be a player,” laughs Farah, a broad, face-filling grin appearing as he recounts the day earlier this year when he was invited to join his heroes in training. “It was the most exciting moment. My touch was poor, though – I haven’t played for years.”

Wenger, of course, demands pace from his players as well as a deft touch. So, was Farah tempted to take on Arsenal’s sprint superstar Theo Walcott?

“I didn’t go up against him,” he says. “But imagine us racing over 600m – that would be great. He’s quick, but I think he’d fade after 300, 400 metres.”

One last question, then: can Farah choose between winning Olympic gold in London or Arsenal winning the Premier League next season?

“Olympic Gold. No question of a doubt, because you put yourself through it, you know? Arsenal can win the league next year and the following year and the following year, but this is once in a lifetime.”

And, if he doesn’t win, he knows one little girl who won’t hesitate to ask: “Whhhyy?”

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag Mo Farah is an ambassador for the Bupa and UK Sport partnership. Over the past decade, Bupa has covered more than 29,000 treatments for Britain’s elite athletes. For more information, visit bupa.com/uksport

August 2010 At a Diamond League meeting in Zurich, Farah runs the 5,000m in 12:57.94 – smashing David Moorcroft’s 28-year-old British record of 13:00.41, and becoming the first British athlete to break the 13-minute barrier.

February 2011 Breaks the European 5,000m indoor record with a time of 13:10.60, taking 10 seconds off Nick Rose’s 29-year-old British indoor record.

March 2011 Wins his second European Indoors gold over 3,000m and sets a new British half-marathon record of 1:00:23 in New York.

June 2011 Farah wins the prestigious Prefontaine Classic 10,000m in 26:46.57, setting a new British and European record.

July 2011 At the Monaco Diamond League meeting, he sets a new British 5,000m record with a time of 12:53.11, edging out American Bernard Lagat to win.

August/September 2011 At the World Championships, Farah wins 10,000m silver and 5,000m gold, becoming the first British man to win a global title over either distance. He’s labelled “the greatest male distance runner Great Britain has ever seen” by Moorcroft.

April 2012 Farah announces he and Tania are expecting twins, tweeting: “We having TWINS!! Happy Days...!! Shabba!!!”

Credit

Antonin Thuillier/AFP/Getty Images

Sprint finish: Farah outpaces Bernard Lagat to win the 5,000m at the worlds in Daegu

Allyson Felix

Allyson Felix is not hAppy back home... that’s why it’s nice to come places like this, where the fans are really knowledgeable.”

Double trouble?

For all the status athletics enjoys as the flagship sport of the Olympics, it remains frustratingly on the margins in Felix’s native US. While recent world champions such as Jess Ennis and this week’s cover star Mo Farah become instant heroes here in Britain, their American counterparts struggle for prominence – and that even includes an all-time great such as Michael Johnson.

“Oh, he’s way bigger over here,” laughs Felix. “He can walk all around the States and be just fine...”

It’s now 16 years since the great man achieved the rare feat of 200m and 400m gold at the Atlanta Games, and a full 28 since Valerie Brisco-Hooks did the same in Los Angeles. The latter’s coach at the time was a certain Bobby Kersee – husband to the great heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and the man who will decide whether Felix attempts the same double at London this summer. >

Ian Walton/Getty Images

The 26-year-old American sprinter may be the only woman in history to own three world 200m gold medals; she may also be at the start of a season in which she could potentially win as many as four Olympic golds; and she may be sitting opposite Sport in a London hotel, smiling broadly as she sips on an early-morning orange juice. But that doesn’t mean she’s happy.

“I’m sure for any athlete, what’s most important is winning that individual gold at the Olympics,” she says. “And, for me, that’s what this year’s Games is all about. Anything less than that would be a disappointment.”

And there you have it. For all her achievements on the world stage – Felix has racked up an impressive eight gold medals in four World Championships appearances, becoming the youngest 200m world champion ever in Helsinki in 2005 – the Californian won’t be satisfied until she adds an elusive first individual Olympic title to the 4x400m gold she won as part of a victorious American team in Beijing. Such, it seems, is the enduring pull of the Games.

“Oh yeah, to me it’s definitely the biggest stage of all,” she confirms. “You really can’t duplicate it. We have the World Championships every two years, and I like that because in track and field it does give you something to push for, but then in the States no one even really notices it. It’s really not on the radar

| May 4 2012 | 23

Allyson Felix

Felix speaks with a focus and maturity that belies her relative youth. She may be only 26, but London will be her third Olympics – and, after winning silver in Athens and Beijing, she feels she’s ready to go one better in 2012.

“I was only 18 at my first Olympics, so was really just taking it all in,” she recalls. “There were no expectations. I went to the opening ceremony, stayed in the village and did a bit of sightseeing. Beijing was a little more restricted, but I still stayed in the village and did a lot of stuff. But this time around I won’t be staying in the village... and I’m glad that I already know London quite well, because I won’t be getting the chance to take advantage of the city during the Games.

There’s more focus this time around.

I’m here for a purpose, on a mission.”

“I have mixed feelings about the 400m. It’s not my favourite – no fun at all.

My main thing is the 200m” “I learned a lot from doing both at the worlds last year,” she says. In 2010, her first season competing over both distances, Felix went almost unbeaten, carrying all before her as she ran away with Diamond League titles at both distances. At the worlds in Daegu last year, however, things didn’t go so smoothly – she won silver, coming a close second to Amantle Montsho, in the 400m before trailing home a disappointing third behind old rival Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 200m.

“I think doing both definitely compromised my chance for gold in the 200m,” she admits.

“I feel like I wasn’t where I normally am with my speed for that and, because the 400m came first, I was definitely a little bit fresher for that. It was close, but hopefully this year, going back to that speed base in my training, I’ll fare better. I expect us to make a final decision right before the US trials, and Bobby is training me to handle both. I have mixed feelings about the 400m – it’s not my favourite, no fun at all – but my main thing is the 200m and Bobby knows that. As long as he has me ready for that, I’m good to go.”

24 | May 4 2012 |

Chicken legs Standing in Felix’s way on the path to 200m gold in the summer is the usual mix of Jamaican and American speedsters, with Campbell-Brown and world 100m champion Carmelita Jeter both likely to feature in London. Both fit the sprinting stereotype of short, muscular powerhouses – in direct contrast to the taller, willowy Felix, whose style acts as a throwback to the days of Carl Lewis, and whose slighter physique earned her the high-school nickname ‘Chicken Legs’.

Combined number of years since the world records were set in Allyson Felix’s respective 200m and 400m events. Her 400m personal best of 49.59s, set when winning World silver in Daegu last year, is almost a full two seconds slower than the world record Marita Koch set in October 1985

Women’s problems Sadly for the girls, however, Bolt’s recordbreaking antics in men’s sprinting seem unlikely to be repeated in the women’s sphere. Of 10 track events in women’s athletics, only three of the current world records hail from this century; no fewer than five, including the world bests in both of Felix’s events, were set in the 1980s – and most of them look largely insurmountable.

“It’s frustrating, you know, especially when you look at the men’s events and see that world records are getting broken quite a bit,” says Felix. “I wish we were in a place like that, but our records just seem to be so far under [the current times] that we’re just not in touch with them. Going into a race thinking about a world record just doesn’t seem realistic right now.”

Felix is understandably diplomatic when it comes to the integrity of such records – “you watch coverage of the day the 100m world record was set [by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988], and everyone would say it was a little windy” – but remains committed to the sport despite the ongoing blight of doping.

“I think it would be very naive to think that no one is doing it,” she admits. “It is a great shame, to know that while I’m out there every day killing myself, someone could be doing it the wrong way. It does get you down sometimes, but you have to remind yourself of the purpose behind what we do and the love you have for the sport.

“A lot of people get consumed with this idea of winning, and not being able to live with themselves if they can’t, but there is so much more to life than track for me. It calms me to know that there is a higher power out there than just running track, and my faith will always be the driving force of my life and who I am. When the time comes, I can be okay walking away from the sport.”

Not before claiming the Olympic gold she so desperately craves, however. Then, finally, Allyson Felix can be truly happy.

Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

“I’m very aware of that [the contrast] every time I get on the start line,” she smiles.

“But I like it, you know? I get to go talk to girls about embracing their bodies, and being comfortable with themselves. I pride myself on being very strong – just as strong as my counterparts – but that’s just not my body type. And I do think there’s something graceful and elegant about a more fluid [running] motion. I enjoy that.”

Felix also enjoys the added attention that another long-legged sprinter has brought to athletics. “Usain has brought so much more excitement to it,” she says. “He has this great personality and he makes it all fun and games. It’s cool that he can do that and run world records, because I don’t know anyone else who could be so light-hearted and still get down to business. [Laughs] It’s almost sickening, you know? I mean, how can he get away with that? It’s been great, though – and in the States too. I think most people over there could recognise him now...”

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Mark Hunter

Leaving LA

After winning gold in Beijing with partner Zac Purchase, British rower Mark Hunter moved to Los Angeles to coach the female rowers at UCLA. But, he tells Sport, the lure of a home Olympics was enough for him to leave his ladies behind…

What was it that convinced you to come back, then?

“My boss was an ex-Olympian on the American team. She retired after getting a silver medal in Barcelona, but came back for her home Games in Atlanta and told me not to miss a home Games because it’s incredible. But I’d sold everything because I just didn’t want to row. For nine months I had no ambition to go out rowing.

“I enjoyed coaching it, but I would do everything possible – basketball, beach volleyball, football, skiing – before actually rowing myself. But then I just came back to reality, really, and started thinking that to miss a home Olympics would just be suicidal.

So that was it. I got myself another boat and a pair of blades.”

28 | May 4 2012 |

After nine months away, did you have any fears you might have lost it?

“Yeah, totally. Any retired athlete who comes back will say you have all those doubts in your head. Can I get back to where I was?

Can I be as good? Can I perform like I did?

And that takes time. It doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s in there, but you have to bring it back to the surface and use that inner desire and ambition to be successful again.

That took a lot of time.”

Physically, how hard was it to go back to training full time?

“Unbearable. I remember being in my apartment out there when I started trying to do two sessions a day. I couldn’t move. I was just curled up in tears sometimes thinking: ‘How the hell am I going to do this? What have I done thinking I can come back?’ But you’ve got all those years of training behind you, and over time those things get reignited and the muscle memory starts to kick in.”

You and Zac Purchase were huge favourites heading into Beijing. Did that affect you?

“It was nerve-racking because we’d gone from winning bronze at the worlds a year before to winning the World Cup series without losing a race. We’d been hiding away, but all of a sudden there were interviews and media – it changed massively.

But I think us being the only crew in the world to remain unbeaten and then winning the [gold medal in the lightweight double

skulls at the] Olympics just showed how good we really were, because so many crews who had won the World Cup series in the past had failed to win at the Olympics.

It’s good training for us going into this year.

As long as we’re left alone to get on with it, we have a great history of performing at the big events.”

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

Sunday Samsung Rowing World Cup 1 Belgrade, Serbia, BBC Red Button 9.40am

British Airways, the official airline of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is proud to support Mark Hunter by flying him around the world as part of his training and racing schedule as he prepares for London 2012

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After coming home with a gold medal in 2008, did you think that was your Olympic career completed?

“I’d been rowing for 16 years by then, and given so much that I thought I deserved a break. And before we went to Beijing I got a job coaching at UCLA, which was just incredible. The campus surrounded by Beverly Hills and Bel Air was just... well, it was insane. I turned up and it was clear blue sky, sunshine every morning. I coached the girls’ team from scratch and thoroughly enjoyed it. Women athletes are very different to male athletes, so I had to kind of get the psychology of coaching a female athlete, too.”

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The FA Cup final

Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Ready for battle

Carling Cup winners and Champions League finalists they may be, but Liverpool and Chelsea have eyes for the FA Cup alone this weekend, with victory set to gloss over indifferent league seasons.

Ahead of the 131st cup final, we asked the fans to give us the lowdown from each camp

| May 4 2012 | 31

The FA Cup final

1

In the blue corner

Fa Cup final: Chelsea v liverpool Live from 5.15pm on ESPN. Coverage starts at 8am

Martin Rowe for cfcnet.co.uk

2

The season so far Tomorrow is not only the FA Cup final, but it is also, coincidentally, the eve of the nine-week anniversary of Andre Villas-Boas’ sacking. This in itself is a reason for Chelsea fans to be delighted that we will be contesting the final against one of our modern cup rivals, Liverpool, in an attempt to lift the trophy for a seventh time.

The 2011-12 campaign has been a turbulent one in SW6, after the failed AVB ‘project’ and the departure of the man for whom Chelsea paid FC Porto so handsomely. The resolute defence we had prided ourselves on was unrecognisable under Villas-Boas, and the expected title challenge soon became a struggle to finish in the top four. Chelsea legend Roberto Di Matteo was promptly placed in charge of the first team until the end of the season, and has done an absolutely outstanding job, culminating (so far) in the monumental victory over Barcelona.

3

The FA Cup Winning the FA Cup would serve as a reminder to English football that a club that had been so widely criticised earlier in the season is still very much a force to be reckoned with, and will enthuse the supporters as we creep ever closer to the inevitable rebuilding of what has been a fantastic squad. The FA Cup has graced the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet more than any other prize and, as we go in search of further glory, the omens for us are positive.

Chelsea were the last team to win the FA Cup at the old Wembley, and were the first side to etch its name on the trophy when the stadium reopened in 2007. In fact, Chelsea have won all six of their FA Cup ties at the new Wembley, and it’s fair to say that it has become something of a second home for our club.

Di Matteo is something of a good luck charm for Chelsea in FA Cup finals, with two triumphs from two appearances as a player as recently as 2000 (picture 1) and before that in 1997 (2). Meanwhile, Didier Drogba has seven goals from seven Wembley appearances, and has lifted the cup after scoring the winner in his previous 5 final appearance against Portsmouth in 2010 (3), and the equaliser in the 2009 victory over Everton (4).

The Champions League final place is booked but, while a shot at Roman Abramovich’s Holy Grail might be prioritised, the desire of the supporters to see the FA Cup draped in blue ribbons once again should not be underestimated.

4

6

Liverpool Annoyingly, two of the more painful defeats of AVB’s reign were both at home to our Wembley opponents, as they beat us in the league and knocked us out of the Carling Cup. We weren’t really considered rivals with Liverpool until the past decade or so, but shortly after Jose Mourinho became Chelsea manager we were drawn against them in numerous Champions League ties, including the pool stage one year. The sides have also met frequently in domestic cup competitions, but it is the European eliminations at the hands of Rafa Benitez and his team that have stuck in the memory of Chelsea fans, especially that ghost goal (5) and the fact that they went on to win the Champions League many of us felt would have been ours that season. The intensity of the fixture is sure to add an extra dimension to the FA Cup final this year.

3rd round

4th round

5th round

5th round replay

Quarter Final

Semi Final

Chelsea 4-0 Portsmouth

QPR 0-1 Chelsea

Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham

Birmingham 0-2 Chelsea

Chelsea 5-2 Leicester

Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea

32 | May 4 2012 |

route to t

the Final

1 2

In the red corner Matt Ladson, editor at thisisanfield.com The season so far Liverpool’s season has been, on the whole, underwhelming. To be so far off the season’s aim of a top-four finish and almost certain to finish lower in the league than last season, means it’s arguable as to whether progress has been made. The performances and style of play have been much improved, but the lack of a cutting edge in attack has been staggering – the failure to solve this has been most worrying.

The FA Cup 3

Winning the FA Cup can perhaps save our season, or at least add a silver lining to it. Two trophies would offset the lack of progress in the league and provide the winning mentality that has been so desperately lacking of late – and obviously it’s nice to get to another final and be challenging to win trophies. We have a rich heritage in this competition and Kenny has shown his intent in the cups this season by playing full-strength teams. We’ve been itching to get to the new Wembley, so three times in three months isn’t bad.

As a player, Kenny Dalglish’s only FA Cup victory came in the 1986 final with Everton (when Dalglish was player manager – picture 1). As a manager, he won it in 1989 – again against the Toffees, in the post-Hillsborough final that saw two extra-time goals from Ian Rush win the tie in dramatic fashion (2).

Our more recent final appearances have both come at the Millennium Stadium. Cardiff proved a happy hunting ground with victories over Arsenal in 2001, thanks to 4 two late Michael Owen goals (3), and West Ham in 2006 (4), with the game eventually decided on penalties after the most thrilling final in recent memory finished 3-3 after extra time – and Steven Gerrard wouldn’t take no for an answer.

5

This season’s final adds another chapter to the rivalry between Liverpool and Chelsea, which has had its fair share of interesting encounters over the past decade.

The appointments of Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2004 signalled the start of their rivalry (6) – with the two sides meeting in the League Cup final and Champions League semi final in that first season alone. It was superb to have the edge over Mourinho’s men in Europe because you could see how much it wound up Jose. Benitez had the tactical nous to beat them, despite their riches. I can’t actually believe Mourinho still talks about Luis Garcia’s goal seven years later. Had it not been given, we’d have happily taken a penalty and Petr Cech being sent off in the first five minutes anyway.

More recently, the transfer of Fernando Torres added another edge to the rivalry and, with Chelsea taking Liverpool’s place in the top four of late, it’s fair to say we’ve got a bit of history.

Dalglish will be keen to ensure his side provides a positive end to the season; his teamtalk could quite easily consist purely of bringing up the behaviour of a section of Chelsea supporters at their semi final with Tottenham (5). To say that their actions have stoked the fire of this rivalry again would be an understatement, and it should be more than enough to give the Liverpool players the motivation required to overcome the new old enemy.

Semi Final

Quarter Final

5th round

4th round

3rd round

Liverpool 2-1 Everton

Liverpool 2-1 Stoke

Liverpool 6-1 Brighton

Liverpool 2-1 Man Utd

Liverpool 5-1 Oldham

| 33

All pictures Getty Images

Chelsea

It’s all kIckIng of to celebrate two decades of the Premier league, Barclays have plundered the image vaults for the Barclays 20 seasons Photography awards. one overall image will be chosen this month, selected from a shortlist of 12, whittled down from the billions shot since 1992. ahead of the grand reveal, we present the 14 images that caught our eye from the best photographer shortlist...

34 | May 4 2012 |

ff

Premier League in Pictures

Clockwise from above: Brian Clough makes his Premier League exit, down and out on the final day of the very first Premier League season, May 1993. (Mark Leech/Offside Sports Photography)

Professor Wenger loses his rag and his overcoat in October 2009, on one of those rare occasions when he did actually see something.

(Robin Jones/The Digital South)

The greatest Dane: Peter Schmeichel goes horizontal to take the ball against Ian Rush and Liverpool in March 1994.

(Darren Walsh/Action Images)

Phil Brown gives his infamous team talk at Manchester City in 2008, threatening his team with an acapella rendition of Sloop John B. (Ian Hodgson/Daily Mail)

Dennis Bergkamp cuts through Manchester City’s rearguard in October 2000, but who the hell is that defender on the right?

(Graham Chadwick/Daily Mail)

Matt Elliott and Gerry Taggart prepare to decapitate Niall Quinn in October 2000, while Darren Eadie and Kevin Phillips play being teapots.

(Bradley Ormersher/The Times)

| 35

Premier League in Pictures

Clockwise from top: Mark Schwarzer is powerless to stop Jason Roberts’ howitzer at Craven Cottage in March 2009.

(Graham Chadwick/Daily Mail) Thierry Henry, in familiar pose, celebrates one of his 176 Premier League goals – this time against Middlesbrough in August 2001.

(Graham Chadwick/Daily Mail) The shadows are more interesting than the game as Wolves and Aston Villa lock horns in March 2011.

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) Martin Keown offers heartfelt commiserations after Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss ensures Arsenal remain invincible in 2003.

(Mark Robinson/The Sun) 36 | May 4 2012 |

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Premier League in Pictures

Top to bottom: Steve Bruce leads the remonstrations as Manchester United turn their noses up at referee Dermot Gallagher’s decision in a 3-1 defeat at Elland Road in December 1995.

(Clive Brunskill /Allsport) Old Trafford falls silent and United’s sponsor and badge fall off as both sides of Manchester remember the victims of the Munich air disaster in February 2008.

(Bradley Ormersher/The Times) Rain, rain, go away: a sodden Avram Grant wonders how long he’s got before his next fat payoff, at Fratton Park in November 2009 (though he actually resigned the following May, after taking Pompey to the FA Cup final). (Robin Jones/The Digital South) John Arne Riise and Tim Cahill cut through a Scouse pea-souper to contest possession in February 2007. (Ian Hodgson/Daily Mail)

38 | May 4 2012 |

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84 Days to go

Focus 2012

Taekwondo THE VENUE Another ExCel Centre Olympic event, taekwondo will take place in one of the centre’s four huge halls.

THE EVENT The national sport of South Korea, taekwondo made its Olympic debut as a demonstration event in Seoul in 1988 – but it wasn’t until Sydney 2000 that it became a full-blooded Olympic sport, joining judo as one of only two Asian martial arts in the Games.

Although taekwondo can be translated as ‘the way of the foot and fist’, the emphasis is on kicking. Roundhouse (flying kicks), axe kicks (heel drops to the head), skip kicks (kicking leg swapped in mid-air) and lottery kicks (spinning hook) are all utilised as competitors attempt to land as many blows as possible on their opponent’s ‘strike zone’.

Taekwondo competitors wear a helmet and protective vest, arm, groin and shin guards over their all white ‘dobok’ uniform, and get down to business on an 8m x 8m court for three rounds that each last two minutes.

If points are level after three rounds, a sudden-death round determines the winner.

In London there will be eight gold medals up for grabs, with four weight categories for men and four for women. All will be looking to land punches and kicks with ‘sufficient force’ to spark the electronic scoring system into action. London will be the first Games to use

40 | May 4 2012 |

the ‘Daedo’ system, which uses sensors placed in the players’ body armour and socks to try and eliminate judging errors.

Punches to the head are illegal, although a flying kick to the head is not, winning a player three points – two more than a punch or kick to the torso, which is worth only one. Points can be taken away from players who grab, hold or push, and those who attack with the knee or below the waist. Faking injury is also illegal in taekwondo, presumably to prevent fighters ‘playing dead’ before utilising the element of surprise to floor their opponent.

Which is a shame, because that sounds rather entertaining.

TEAM GB’S PROGRESS “We have some athletes who are really performing at the moment,” says GB Taekwondo performance director Gary Hall. “The team as a whole are pushing the performance boundaries, and we can’t really ask for any more than that. If you don’t get turned on by what is happening over the next four months, then you are in the wrong game. Everybody is working really hard to give the performances that can deliver the Olympic medals they deserve.”

TAEKWONDO AT LONDON 2012 DATES August 8-11 CAPACITY 6,000-10,000 HOW TO GET THERE DLR, Park and Ride

GB hopeful

Aaron Cook

AGE IN 2012 21 MEDAL RECORD European Championships gold 2010, World Junior Championships gold 2008

Winning gold at the German Open aged just 16 marked Cook out as a standout talent in the world of taekwondo. Qualifying for the Beijing Games a year later was still a surprise, however, as 17-year-old Cook became the sport’s youngest ever player to represent Britain at an Olympics.

It was to end in tears, though, after a narrow semi-final defeat left him fighting home favourite Zhu Guo for a bronze medal.

A series of blows landed by Cook were seemingly missed by judges, leaving the Chinese player with bronze and Cook in bits.

“I can’t believe the scorin,” he said. “I had the right tactics. I’d have been five to six points ahead in any other taekwondo fight.” Since then, Cook has become one of the favourites for gold in 2012, with victory at the US Open and the Olympic test event last year.

KEY EVENTS BEFORE LONDON 2012 European Taekwondo Championships May 3-6, Manchester

Paul Gilham/Getty Images, Michael Regan/Getty Images for British Airways

Punches! Flying kicks! Taekwondo is a high-risk sport with high entertainment value – and GB medal hopes

7 Days OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

The 2011 staging of the Giro d’Italia was marred by the tragic death of Leopard Trek’s Wouter Weylandt, who crashed on a high-speed descent of the Passo del Bocco during the event’s third stage. The Belgian’s was the first death in 25 years at the Giro, and had a likely hand in what has been termed a “more human route” for this year’s 21-stage race.

And that starts tomorrow, with an 8.7km individual time trial in, perhaps surprisingly, the Danish city of Herning. It is not, however, the Giro de Denmark, and the race does eventually move into Italy after three days, with the first week set to favour sprint specialists such as Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish. Last year, the Manxman won two sprint stages and held the race leader’s Pink Jersey after his former team HTC Highroad had taken the opening time trial. But, after

42 | May 4 2012 |

Stage 12, Cavendish left to prepare for the Tour de France, thus avoiding the consecutive mountain stages later in the competition.

A new race director has come in for 2012, however, and with him a new philosophy for the Giro. “We will take care of the riders, because we want them in top shape all the time,” says the new man in charge, Michele Acquarone. “There will be shorter transfers and the stages will be more balanced. The Giro is a tough race – it has to be, it’s in our DNA – but we will be balanced, which means after a tough stage, riders will be able to recover with an easier stage.”

This year’s race comes to a close on Sunday May 27, with a 31.5km individual time trial in Milan – the 2011 version of which was won by Garmin rider David Millar. A fractured collarbone while racing in Belgium in March has interrupted the start of Millar’s season, but he’ll be keen to find his fitness in time for the 95th edition of one of cycling’s most prestigious races.

Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images

Saturday > CyCLING | GIRO D’ITALIA | HERNING-MILAN | BRITISH EUROSPORT 2.30PM

MAYHIGHLIGHTS 4–MAY 10 » Premier League: Newcastle v Man City » p44 » Tennis: Madrid Open » p46 » Rugby Union: Wasps v Newcastle » p48 » Golf: The Players Championship » p50 » Best of the Rest » p50

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Around the grounds

Feeling blue Roberto Mancini, his brain possibly muddled by all the mind games, still thinks Manchester United are favourites for the title, despite Man City’s derby-day win. Maybe he’s approaching things the right way – in the aftermath of The Most Important Game In Premier League History™, it’s easy to forget that City do actually still need to win their two remaining games to ensure they take the title – starting with a tricky visit to the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday lunchtime.

Newcastle’s rechristened stadium has become something of a fortress since the name change – they’ve lost just two home games all season, and none in 2012. After losing 4-0 at Wigan, however, Alan Pardew will be keen for his side to reassert their European credentials with a couple of games left of what’s been a remarkable season for the Magpies. City’s away form hasn’t been great – they’ve won just four of eight on the road – but they haven’t lost to Newcastle since 2005 and will take confidence from Monday, despite their manager’s reluctance to label them champions-elect.

Their main problem is likely to be scoring goals – Newcastle have kept four consecutive clean sheets at home and have one of the

44 | May 4 2012 |

Touching distance: all Nasri best home defensive records in the league, thanks to a solid back four and Tim Krul, who (above) and Kompany (below) need do is win. Easy, right? has frustrated many sides this season.

City won the reverse fixture 3-1 in November, but struggled to create chances, and they will need to be wary of Newcastle’s rampant attack – particularly Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba. As a team, the Magpies like to take long shots, with 48 per cent of their attempts coming from range. This might not worry a shot-stopper such as Joe Hart, but it should. City have let in 20 per cent of their goals conceded from outside the box.

While they hope for a City slip, Man Utd welcome Swansea to Old Trafford for the first time in 30 years on Sunday. The league leadership has changed 11 times during the course of this remarkable season. Is there time for one more twist?

If both teams win their remaining matches, Manchester United must make up a goal-difference deficit of nine goals to pip City to the title

aston Villa v Tottenham Villa Park, sunday 2pm Bolton v West Brom Reebok stadium, sunday 2pm Fulham v Sunderland craven cottage, sunday 2pm QPR v Stoke Loftus Road, sunday 2pm Wolves v Everton Molineux, sunday 2pm

Saturday ArsenAl v norwich | emirAtes stAdium | 12.45pm

1. Robin van Persie With Chelsea 90 minutes away from stealing next season’s final Champions League spot, the race for third place is heating up. Arsenal’s lead has been narrowed in recent weeks, but Arsene Wenger still knows that two wins will be enough. That challenge begins at home to Norwich, whose players have all but laid their towels on the beach having secured next season’s top-flight status.

After one win in their past six, the Canaries won’t be travelling with much hope.

That said, RVP has gone a bit quiet recently. Two goals in eight games is hardly a drought (don’t get us started), but having fired in nine in his previous eight league games, it’s certainly a fallow period. Others should be sharing that responsibility by now, but there’s only one player the fans will be looking to for goals come Saturday afternoon.

Monday BlAckBurn v wigAn | ewood pArk | 8pm sky sports 1

2. Steve Kean While relegation is something to get upset about, it’s the fight that Blackburn seem to lack that will really be getting to the Ewood Park faithful. Last week’s defeat to Tottenham, a side that was coming off the back of three straight defeats, saw Blackburn fail to register one shot at goal – the first time a top-flight side has failed to do so since 2004. That is an unforgivable stat at

the best of times, let alone when you’re three games from the drop.

A win over Wigan on Monday might give them a glimmer of hope, but then Wigan seem to be doing exactly what Rovers are not – fighting for their lives. Recent wins over Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle have seen the Latics pull themselves out of the relegation zone, and another here will all but secure their safety – while probably relegating Steve Kean’s men, for whom it really is now or never.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images, Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images, Graham Stuart/AFP/GettyImages, Michael Regan/Getty Images, Adrian Dennis/AFP/GettyImages

A big week for...

7 Days Saturday hOrse racing | QipcO 2000 guineas | newMarkeT | channel 4/racing uk 3.10pM

Monday > Tennis | MuTua Madrid Open | park Manzanares | sky spOrTs 3 12pM (MOnday), BriTish eurOspOrT 10aM (Tuesday)

Colour change

If there’s one certainty about this year’s 2000 Guineas, which looks set to take place on a soggy Newmarket track on Saturday, it’s that whichever horse comes out on top will have one hell of a job emulating the performance put in by last year’s winner.

Twelve months ago, the unbeaten three-year-old colt Frankel, trained by racing legend Sir Henry Cecil and ridden by quiet Irishman Tom Queally, destroyed his field with a virtuoso display of speed, strength and extravagant front-running that fair blew away the watching world. He remains unbeaten to this day, of course, his place in the sport’s pantheon of all-time greats assured even if he never races again.

No pressure on this season’s crop of precocious three-year-olds, then, as they take to Newmarket’s famed Rowley Mile for this year’s 2000 Guineas – the first of the flat 46 | May 4 2012 |

Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images, Julian Finney/Getty Images

Following Frankel

season’s five Classics, and race one of 35 in the 2012 QIPCO British Champions Series. The recent spell of wet weather hasn’t affected the Suffolk track as much as other parts of the country, but those of you looking for a likely winner would still do well to concentrate on horses guaranteed to stay the full mile of the Guineas trip.

That brings into play the longstanding antepost favourite for the race, Aidan O'Brien’s unbeaten Camelot (above). His taciturn trainer had yet to confirm his star for the race at the time of writing, but he was an outstanding two-year-old and would have to go close if fully tuned up for the race.

Also worth nothing is Born to Sea, a half-brother to the brilliant 2009 winner Sea the Stars who represents the same canny trainer, John Oxx. But our choice is trained here in England by the veteran Richard Hannon, and it is Trumpet Major; the three-year-old returned to action with a mighty impressive win over course and distance last month, and is amazingly still available at around 10/1. That is great each-way value right there, readers.

The world’s best tennis players have it tough.

They are constantly travelling to places such as Monte carlo, dubai and rome, pushing their bodies to the limit – and now they have to contend with blue clay. sponsors of the aTp and wTa-combined event in Madrid quite like the colour blue, so have scrapped the traditional red clay (seen here) in favour of a bright blue surface they have presumably pinched from the smurfs.

The players, however, are not overly impressed. “Madrid is the only tournament you are playing with high altitude,” said rafael nadal in the build-up. “and then now you are putting a different colour of clay.” world number one novak djokovic is equally perturbed. “as far as i know, nobody agreed,” he added. “i never played on blue clay. rafa didn’t. roger [Federer] didn’t. if you don’t have the top players agreeing on that, it doesn’t make sense for me.” nadal’s defeat to djokovic in last year’s Madrid final was his first on clay in almost two years, and the spaniard will be looking for revenge – but the higher altitude of the venue means the ball moves faster than nadal likes. as such, djokovic, andy Murray and Federer – playing his first tournament since the Miami Masters in March – will look to take advantage. in the women’s draw, defending champ petra kvitova could face a challenge from wildcard entry Venus williams. The american spent six months away from the tour battling sjogren’s syndrome – an auto-immune disease that many believed would force the 31-year-old to end her career. But she returned at Miami in March and has shown glimpses of the talent that has won her seven grand slam singles titles. she will surely have picked an outfit to complement the blue, too.

7 Days Saturday rugBy union | aViVa PreMiershiP: wasPs v newCastle | adaMs Park | esPn ClassiC 2PM the northern side, however, as they need to win by a clear 24-point margin (or win with a try bonus point and deny Wasps a losing bonus point) in order to stay up.

Having relied on Jimmy Gopperth’s boot to help them through the season, they’ll have to go for tries tomorrow – and that’s not their biggest strength.

Whether the winner of the Championship will pass the Premiership’s qualification rules is another matter altogether; for now, victory (or at least losing by a certain amount) is the priority.

Elsewhere in the Aviva Premiership, the final playoff place looks to be Northampton’s after last week’s victory over Exeter. The Saints just need to see off Worcester at home to secure their place in the top four. Harlequins, Leicester and Saracens are all still battling to book a home semi final, meanwhile, with Quins and the Tigers leading the way. Leicester and Sarries are at home to Bath and Exeter respectively, so anything less than a win for each would be a huge shock. With Conor O’Shea’s men top of the pile going into tomorrow’s games, though, Saracens will be relying on their London rivals slipping up at Sale to open the door to a home semi final.

Winner stays on How has it come to this? Two-time Heineken Cup winners and six-time Premiership champions Wasps are used to important games at the business end of the season, but the men from Adams Park will be in new territory when they host Newcastle Falcons tomorrow.

And that new territory has ‘relegation decider’ written on the welcome mat.

The good news for the former European heavyweights is that the odds are stacked in their favour – thanks largely to Bath’s Sam Vesty, whose incredible (and doomed) showboating a fortnight ago earned Wasps a surprise losing bonus point.

That result means Wasps go into the game with Newcastle knowing that defeat could still see them stay up – which is handy, considering they have lost 12 of their past 14 league outings.

The Falcons, meanwhile, have been a force rejuvenated under Gary Gold, winning two and drawing one of their past five. It could be too little, too late for

Saturday Boxing | Miguel Cotto v Floyd Mayweather Jnr | MgM grand, las Vegas | Boxnation

48 | May 4 2012 |

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images, Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Still May day

Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto is a strong, heavy-handed, elite-level boxer-puncher who’s nearly four years younger and naturally bigger than his opponent this weekend. Still, you’ll be hard pushed to find anyone tipping him to win. First, because his rival, Floyd Mayweather Jnr (on the left), has a store of talent almost as gargantuan as his ego. And second, because there are concerns as to how much the 31-year-old Cotto has left.

In 2008, he was beaten for the first time: a gruelling 11-round knockout to the now disgraced Antonio Margarito (who almost entered his next fight with a plaster of Paris-like substance on his hand wraps). The following year, Cotto (right) endured a 12th-round knockout at the fists of Manny Pacquiao. He’s recovered well, winning three fights in a row, including a revenge victory over Margarito, but there are questions as to how much lasting damage those losses did.

The intrigue here really lies in the weight. Cotto drained himself to 145lb to face Pacquiao, but this match-up takes place at 154lb. It’s only Mayweather’s second fight at lightmiddleweight – and he didn’t look particularly comfortable at this weight when he beat Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. Still, the careful Money May is unlikely to have handed his opponent such an advantage without being confident that he’ll be able to master him. He’s talked Cotto up in the pre-fight build-up, and boxers normally criticise opponents they fear and praise those they are confident of beating. There’s no doubt that this contest (live only on BoxNation) is an intriguing, competitive fight; but there’s also little doubt which man will have his hand raised at the end.

7 Days Thursday > Golf | The Players ChamPionshiP | TPC aT sawGrass, florida | sky sPorTs 2 6Pm

Big money Players

BEsT OF ThE rEsT

FrIday

CriCkeT CB40: surrey v somerset, kia oval, sky sports 4 3pm CriCkeT iPl: Chennai super kings v deccanChargers,Chennai,iTV43pm

Saturday

Sunday

fooTBall sPl: rangers v motherwell, ibrox, sky sports 2 12.45pm

moTorsPorT world superbikes round 4, monza, italy, British eurosport 2 9.15am

ruGBy union aviva Premiership: northampton v worcester, franklin’s Gardens, sky sports 1 2pm

fooTBall sPl: dundee v Celtic, dens Park, sky sports 4 12.45pm

fooTBall Championship Playoff semi final 1st leg: Blackpool v Birmingham, Bloomfield road, sky sports 1 7.45pm

ruGBy leaGue super league: hull fC v leeds, kC stadium, sky sports 2 7.45pm

CriCkeT CB40: yorkshire v kent, headingley, sky sports 2 1.30pm

ruGBy leaGue super league: wigan v hull kr, dw stadium, sky sports 2 8pm

fooTBall mls: la Galaxy v new york red Bulls, home depot Center, esPn 1am

moTorsPorT motoGP round 3, estoril, Portugal, British eurosport 2 6pm

50 | May 4 2012 |

Golf wells fargo Championship day 4, Quail hollow Club, north Carolina, sky sports 3 6pm

fooTBall sPl: hibernian v dunfermline,easterroad,esPn7pm

Monday

CriCkeT lV= County Championship: sussex v lancashire, County Ground, sky sports 2 11am

moTorsPorT British superbikes round 3, oulton Park, British eurosport 2 12.30pm

WedneSday

ruGBy leaGue super league: Castleford v widnes, Probiz Coliseum, sky sports 1 2.05pm

fooTBall Championship Playoff semi final 2nd leg: Birmingham v Blackpool, st andrew’s, sky sports 1 7.45pm

fooTBall Championship Playoff semi final 2nd leg: west ham v Cardiff, upton Park, sky sports 1 4.30pm

fooTBall uefa under 17 Champs: Germany v france, ŠrC stožice, British eurosport 6.30pm

thurSday

Scott Halleran/Getty Images for MetLife Blimp

It was always the dream of the organisers of the Players Championship for it to become the fifth major – so much so, in fact, that they even started calling it just that.

But it never happened – not officially, at least – and along came the world Golf Championships to bundle the tournament even further down golf’s pecking order. last year, when two of the world’s top three players – rory mcilroy and lee westwood – declined to play, the dream of the Players Championship to be a marquee tournament of the PGa Tour seemed finally dead. and yet, it may be premature to write it off as just another event. This year, mcilroy and westwood are back, the former having been world number one until he was deposed (again) by luke donald last week. The total prize fund is $9.5m, of which the winner bags a staggering $1.7m – and there’s not another tournament on the

schedule that can offer those sort of riches (by way of comparison, Bubba watson banked a trifling $1.4m for his masters win at augusta last month).

Plus, the Players has the advantage of returning year in, year out to the same recognisable, iconic TPC at sawgrass course – most notable for its terrifying par-3 17th (pictured). it’s a short hole, but to an island green over water. it requires a mere 9-iron tee shot, but not so long ago Bob Tway took a 12 here. The course is tough: Tiger woods, even in his pomp, failed to overrun it and has just one victory here. what the Players needs, badly, is for some world-class players to win it. Through the 1990s, every one of the champions here was a major winner bar one (Jodie mudd in 1990). But, in the past four years, they have been joined by the likes of sergio Garcia, henrik stenson, Tim Clark and, last year, kJ Choi. admirable golfers, but not quite major men. maybe they just sum up the Players Championship.

Realise your potential by helping children realise theirs. Teach in today’s primary schools.

As a primary school teacher you are responsible for shaping young minds and laying the foundations for their future. The rewards for primary teaching start immediately and you could receive a £9k* bursary to train. What’s more, primary school teachers are on the same pay scales as secondary teachers with their salaries rising by an average of around 30% after the first four years.

To find out more search ‘teaching primary’ or call 0800 389 2500.

Rewarding Challenging Teaching

*Conditions apply. See education.gov.uk/teacconditions for full details.

P60 Feel like you’re in a really posh Starbucks – in the comfort of your own home

Extra time Kit

Making the most of your time and money

Tickets to the gun show

1

2

3

4

5

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Look after your guns, or at least make them look bigger, with this collection.

They don’t do much for a beer belly, mind Balance Short Sleeve 1 New Compression+ Tee NB’s base layer is a perfect training companion thanks to the special panels across the chest and shoulders, which aid muscle compression and increase oxygen flow. Plus, the red lines make it look all pretty. £45 | shopnewbalance.co.uk

2 Nike Pro Combat Core Tight Mock

With the Nike tick ensuring a quality product, you can’t go too far wrong with this top, available in black, red or blue. Dri-FIT fabric keeps you dry and supported, while the neck adds to the cold weather protection. £25 | nikestore.com

Uglies Graphic Cold 3 Canterbury Long Sleeve Base Layer Everyone knows rugby players love a bit of pink, so this is sure to go down well. Designed to keep you warm, the top wicks away sweat to conserve energy that would otherwise be used to maintain your core temperature. £37 | shop.canterbury.com

Supernova 4 Adidas Sequence Long Sleeve Tee The Supernova Sequence top features ventilated areas to reduce sweat, while the polyester/elastane fabric allows for a flexible feel that minimises resistance. £32 | adidas.com/running

Virtual Body 5 Mizuno Compression Long Sleeve A unique insulation fabric allows the Mizuno body compression top to generate heat from your excess sweat, thus protecting the body from cold temperatures. Or British summertime, if you will. £40 | mizuno.co.uk

6 Asics Inner Muscle S/S Top

Also available in black, Asics’ offering boasts stretchable tech to allow increased movement. Most importantly, it supports the shoulders – meaning a smooth upper arm lift and a loose shoulder joint. £40 | asics.co.uk

52 | May 4 2012 |

SUUNTO AMBIT You could call it a watch, but that hardly seems fair. Altitude, location, speed, heart rate, weather conditions – it’s all at your fingertips. And with latest software, yovu can upgrade your watch to inspire your next adventure.

Available now.

Fulfill your Ambition at www.suunto.com

54 | May 4 2012 |

W

hen Sport discovered that Playboy Bunny and former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Jaime Edmondson used to be a police officer, we found ourselves asking just one question: good cop or bad cop?

Going on Edmondson’s Twitter feed, she was almost certainly the latter. For she pulls no punches – particularly when it comes to the recent NFL Draft, accusing the NY Jets of being “pussy-ish” and “looking to win the Miss Congeniality award” after @nyjets congratulated other teams on their picks.

With opinions like that, she should write a sports blog. Happily, she does – Playboy’s Play-by-Play(mate), on which she ruminates on, among other things, the NFL, ice hockey, golf and baseball. Which brings us nicely on to her other half – Evan Longoria.

That’s Evan with an ‘n’, just to confirm. He’s a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. That sentence without the ‘n’ opens a door into a world that’s too much for our tiny minds to handle.

Better to forget all about it and stick on a film instead.

Police Academy 4, anyone?

Police academy phwoar

Extra time Jaime Edmondson

Lickerishltd/Josh Ryan

| 55

Extra time Entertainment

Tubular bulls

GAmE

Going underground with a new book, a WWII sniper game hits the mark and The Cribs unleash their brazen bull BOOK

Underground Overground Andrew Martin

EXHiBiTiON

Sniper Elite V2 (PC/PS3/Xbox 360) After all the modern combat games of late, isn’t it refreshing to get back to some good old WWII action, where your sole objective is to put metal bullets through the brains of a few Nazis? In fact, with Sniper Elite V2’s X-Ray Kill Cam, you can actually do just that. Accurate shots are shown in graphic detail

DVD

as your victim briefly turns into a Skeletor look-a-like on impact, demonstrating exactly what your bullet does to his insides. There’s more to this tactical shooter than gory gimmicks, however, such as realistic ballistics, superb attention to detail and varied missions. It’s a direct hit, appropriately enough.

music

War Horse

Picasso Prints: The Vollard Suite Acclaimed etchings by the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso go on display, for free, from this week at the British Museum. Featuring in Picasso’s ‘visual diary’ are many appearances by his muse and model, Marie-Therese Walter (you know Pablo was tapping that ass) and a Minotaur, which apparently became central to his personal mythology. Alongside the collection, the museum has also placed other etchings and artwork that inspired and influenced Picasso. Top scribbling.

56 | May 4 2012 |

Steven Spielberg delivers a meaty, if slightly saccharine, treat with this war epic.

David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch and Emily Watson are among a top British cast, but the story centres around an heroic horse in the midst of WWI. Still, safer there than at the Grand National. Out on Monday.

music In the Belly of the Brazen Bull The Cribs

Standing at the Sky’s Edge Richard Hawley Not content as Britain’s coolest current musician, Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley channels late-era Johnny Cash (the world’s coolest dead musician) on his new album. His sepulchral vocals mesh with some terrific, churning guitars for a moody rock sound. Hawley calls it his “angry album”, but Seek It shows he still has the tender touch too. Mr Hawley: we like you when you’re angry.

It’s odd that The Cribs are often named a cult UK band, when their repertoire is mainly radio-friendly threeminute indie-rock songs. Not that we’re complaining; the boys have a great way with a hook and a fuzzy riff.

Judging by the two early releases from Monday’s new album, they haven’t lost their touch. Good.

Rosie Greenway/Getty Images, Succession Picasso/DACS 2011

Subtitled A Passenger’s History of the Tube, this new book is less about the fun of being pressed up against a stranger’s armpit and more a witty social history of London’s underground. Which, did you know, is actually 55 per cent overground. Alongside the Tube trivia and a delve into the network’s past (the original designers were as oddball as you might imagine), the author also relates several personal stories, including an attempt to visit every station in a single day. Ideal commuter reading.

“THE BEST OF THE LOT” ★★★★ DAILY STAR SUNDAY

ANDY LEA, DAILY STAR SUNDAY

★★★★★ FRESHLY SQUEEZED, CHANNEL 4

★★★★★ MAGIC FM

★★★★ NUTS

Save the best piece for last

IN CINEMAS NOW American Pie Trilogy Out Now On Blu-ray™ #americanpiereunion

Extra time Grooming

smell the three points

the fragrance

£48 for 75ml, £61 for 120ml

With the first men’s fragrance from a brand better known for its wheels

Mercedes-Benz Eau de Toilette The famous three-pointed star of Mercedes-Benz has long been associated with top-quality precision engineering, but the luxury German brand has travelled somewhat outside its comfort zone with this, a first foray into the competitive world of men’s fragrances.

As last week’s three-page special in this very magazine would suggest, they’re up against a vast number of long-established names that have produced more scents than Mercedes-Benz have had Bratwurst lunches.

That said, this is a perfectly respectable first effort. Top notes of Calabrian bergamot and mandarin orange give way to an aquatic heart and woody base notes combining cedar, vetiver and patchouli, the result of which is an icily fresh scent that actually borders on the medicinal.

Which may not be precisely what master perfumer Olivier Cresp wants to hear about his latest creation, but we’ve said plenty worse on this page in recent times. And we do rather like the bottle: simple, sleek and functional, just like your average Sport journalist. harrods.com

the shower gel

the range

Paco Rabanne 1 Million Kingsize Shower Gel 600ml

Right Guard Xtreme Cool

You know that feeling you get first thing in the morning, when you want to head into the shower with every other person in the entire world, but don’t have enough gel to go round?

Well, now you can bid that feeling a fond farewell – because, with this recently released giant from Paco Rabanne, you will be able to keep the whole world cleaner than you could ever imagine. For ever.

Whether you’ll actually like it or not depends totally on how much you rate the fragrance with which it’s imbued – because, let’s face it, once you open it you’re going to be stuck with it for at least a year.

For our part, we rather like it.

Now all we need do is save up the £37.50 required to buy it... and the couple of hundred quid needed to hire a van in which to get it home. selfridges.com 58 | May 4 2012 |

£37.50

You can barely pause to scratch your own arse without someone launching a new deodorant, and the latest to interrupt our simian grooming regime is Right Guard.

Their new Xtreme Cool range (l-r: roll-on, stick, aerosol and shower gel) may lack an ‘e’, but it features an air-conditioning effect designed to provide a long-lasting cooling

sensation on the skin. With summer on the way, a reliable alternative to your office’s temperamental air con.

Available nationwide

£2.51 £2.29

£1.99 £2.29

C ett elli GehT121©02012 The Gillette Company.

MANY ROADS LEAD TO THE MEDAL, BUT ALL BEGIN WITH A GREAT START. SIR CHRIS HOY, 4X OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST

NOTHING BEATS A GREAT START. facebook.com/GilletteUK

Extra time Gadgets

Seeing double

PlayStation 3 3D Display Bundle Three-dimensional gaming is here, and (for once) we’re not talking about Buckaroo. This 24” 3DTV comes bundled with two pairs of glasses and a couple of games. The most intriguing feature is SimulView, which splits the image so two players can play on one screen without needing to use splitscreen, so they each get the full picture. Cracking.

This week’s top gadget will add depth to your gaming experience.

Though it probably won’t work that well for Space Invaders

£449 | playstation.com

Pentax Optio WG-2 If, like us, your first thought on seeing this camera was “what the hell is this monstrosity?”... well, shame on you. It may not be as pretty as sleeker offerings, but it packs a powerful photographic punch with a 16MP sensor and full HD video.

It’s been rigorously tested in all sorts of filthy conditions, from -10°C to 4ft underwater, and can withstand weights of up to 100kg. You’d look a sight worse after that punishment, too. £280 | pentax.co.uk

HP Envy 14-3000EA Spectre Ultrabook

Marvel Collector’s Edition iPhone 4 Cases

This machine laughs in the dour face of compromise, taking the lightweight and sleek form factor of a netbook, while grabbing greedy handfuls of processing power and graphics ability. It’s a refreshing approach, and one that we feel should be extended to other areas of the technology world. Who says your phone can’t have a milkshake dispenser? Free your world!

£22 | firebox.com

As any Avengers Assemble fan will know, Captain America’s shield is made from an experimental alloy of steel and vibranium – rendering it virtually indestructible. Sadly, these comic-inspired cases won’t protect your phone from heavy artillery fire, but they will prevent bumps and scratches.

£1,200 | pcworld.co.uk

Lattissima+

If, like Sport, you’re a broken shell of a man when you wake up in the morning, then this coffee machine with easy ‘one-touch’ operation might help. It doesn’t for us, but that’s because our mental state has nothing to do with caffeine addiction. We’ve seen things. Terrible things. £229 | nespresso.com

60 | May 4 2012 |