Olympic Spirit

I'm sure you're all aware that there's something big going on down in London and I'm sure you're also aware that I LOVE the Olympics. And its been brilliant so far.

Happy International Women's day

Once again its International Women's Day so here at Sports Wall we'd once again like to fly the flag for feminism and salute all the wonderful women making sports great.Firstly Hope Solo- She's beautiful, she's badass and she's absolutley brilliant at what she does. The ultimate women's day girl crush.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - She's a World Junior Champion, Youth Olympics Gold medallist and she won two Grand Prix titles on her debut. And she's only 15. Phenomenal.
Eva Carneiro - You may not know they name but you would certainly recognise her if you saw her. She's the lovley lady who sits next to the manager on the Chelsea bench. She's their first team doctor you see. Again she's gorgeous but more importantly she strikes a blow for girls in a male dominated industry and is so inspirational that we all just wish we were her.
Kim Clijsters - She retired for two years then when she came back she became the first wildcard and unseeded player to win the US open. Then she defended her title the next year. Then she won the Australian Open in 2011 to become world number one. And she's the (joint) most successful mummy in tennis history.
Caster Semenya - She won the 800m gold medal at the World Athletics Championships at aged 18. But the reason that we love her and the reason she is the perfect inspirational woman for women's day is the grace and dignity with she handled what must be every girl's worst nightmare. And for coming back and proving them all wrong and winning a silver medal at the 2011 Worlds. She's a wonderful example of courage and strength and I can't think of better slogan for Women everywhere than her very own "God made me the way I am and I accept myself." Right on Caster.
Happy Women's Day to all the kick ass ladies worldwide.

World Championships!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been lucky enough to catch  plenty of the IAAF world Athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea. What a spectacular competition it was. Drama across theboard. I love big athletics events like this because there's such a massive variety of sports on show, its great to learn all the little details you didn't know before and such a wide range of athletes means you not only get some wonderful stories but you aadopt new favourites too. I invariably end up adopting lots of new people at these big events, as if I don't support enough people as it is.

A good vintage

Something unusual has happened at HQ. I've been watching Wimbledon this week and the most affecting match I've watched and the one that has moved me to blog was on the women's side of the draw. Yes you read that right, there's a wave of feminism going on here at Sports Wall. And its all because of Kimiko Date-Krumm. Mrs Date-Krumm was Venus Williams' second round opponent at SW19 this week. Normally everybody would be commenting on the fact that she is ranked number 57 in the world and Venus is a multiple Wimbledon champion. But there's something else everyone was commenting on. Kimiko Date Krumm is forty years old. She turned pro in 1989. I'll put that in context for you all, that's the year I was born. She retired in 1996 and came back in 2008. That in itself is inspiring. But watching her in the match was something else. Her athleticism was amazing and her shot making ability was absolutely sublime, her ability to change her game to suit the moment was so impressive. It was a display of proper vintage tennis. She pushed Venus Williams all the way eventually going down with a more than creditable score of 7-6, 3-6, 8-6. I hope her match was as inspiring to all the aspiring tennis players out there as it was to me. What a fantastic example she's setting for us all, Kimiko we salute you.