Born in Baltimore, Maryland, hence his nickname ‘The Baltimore Bullet’, Michael Phelps made his Olympic debut in the Millenium Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. At the age of just 15 – making him the youngest man to represent the United States Olympic Swimming Team since 13-year-old Ralph Flanagan competed in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle event at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles – Phelps finished fifth in the men’s 200-metre butterfly, his only individual event.
Four years later, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps earned international acclaim after becoming the first Olympic swimmer to win eight medals, six gold and two bronze. In Athens, he fell just one short of the 32-year-old world record of seven gold medals, set by compatriot Mark Spitz at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. This is ultra dedication in action, not similar to those who frequent real money online pokies at wolfwinner looking for a big win.
However, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Phelps made Olympic history by winning eight gold medals, one in every event he entered. In the space of eight days, between August 10 and August 17, Phelps won gold medals in the men’s 400-metre individual medley, men’s 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay, men’s 200-metre freestyle, men’s 200-metre butterfly, men’s 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay, men’s 200-metre individual medley, men’s 100-metre butterfly and men’s 4 x 100-metres medley relay. Furthermore, he set world records in all bar the men’s 100-metre butterfly, in which his winning time of 50.58 seconds was, nonetheless, an Olympic record. In fact, Phelps thought he had been beaten, until he saw the result on the scoreboard, and his hundredth-of-a-second victory over Milorad ‘Milo’ Čavić prompted a protest from the Serbian delegation.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC is the hot favourite to make it Australia Open No.10 in January, despite the tennis world still being unaware whether the Serb will actually be allowed to participate in the competition.
The 34-year-old is the most successful player in the history of the event, his haul of championship successes ahead of Roger Federer and Aussie tennis legend Roy Emerson, both winning six titles. However, the insistence that no unvaccinated players will be allowed to compete has thrown the defending champion’s presence into doubt.
Djokovic has been very guarded about whether he has had the jab or not, and had highlighted his belief in people being allowed the ‘freedom of choice’. However, if he wants to play at Melbourne Park then he will have to reveal his medical status, with no-one allowed entry unless they’ve been vaccinated against Covid 19.
With the chance to move ahead of both Federer and Nadal on to 21 grand slam titles, reaching double figures in Aussie Open wins in the process, there is a clear attraction to play, especially with Federer still injured and Nadal on the comeback trail after a foot injury ruled him out of the US Open. If Nadal comes through a three-day exhibition event in Abu Dhabi this month unscathed, he is likely to target a warm-up tournament in Australia before heading to Melbourne.
Bookies have decided that if Djokovic is there then he is the player to beat, installing him as 6/4 favourite – bet £6 on the Serb and get £10 back if he wins with bet365 current welcome bonus in a free bet deal. Daniil Medvedev, who beat Djokovic in the US Open Final in September, is second favourite at 11/4, with Alex Zverev at 11/2.
The value may be further down the betting with former champion Nadal at 14/1, and up and coming Canadian star Felix Auger Aliassime available at 40/1 – Aliassime was beaten by Medvedev in the semi-final at Flushing Meadows.
At even longer odds you can get 80/1 on Andy Murray to defy his metal hip and claim a first Australian Open title; the Scot has lost five finals at Melbourne, four of those to Djokovic.
The focus, however, is on world No.1 Djokovic, and the Aussies clearly want the defending champion to line up come January, with tournament director Craig Tiley talking up the chance of the Serb making history.
“I know he wants to be here, he’d like nothing more,” said Tiley. “He doesn’t want to start the year without the opportunity to win all four Grand Slams – that’s enough motivation. So, the question is going to be: where is he at with his vaccination status?
“At the end of the day, you want to give everyone the best possible chance to get in, and to do it within the parameters which we can.”
And Tiley admitted: “Time is running out, and obviously you can get one vaccination – the Johnson & Johnson shot – but if you need a double vaccination, that window between the two vaccines is really closing.”
If Djokovic doesn’t make the event, and at present that appears a very strong possibility, then the smart money will be on either Medvedev or Zverev to claim a first Australian Open.
Medvedev will be looking to make it back-to-back slams after lifting the US Open title in September, and the world No.2 is seen as heir apparent to Djokovic at Melbourne. But he was beaten by Zverev in the recent ATP Finals event – the German’s first win over the Russian in two years – and the German will go into the Australian Open full of confidence.
Zverev, 24, has won six titles this year and an Olympics gold, but the drawback for the 24-year-old is that he is yet to win a grand slam. His best result is a beaten finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2020, going down in five sets to Dominic Thiem.
The ‘Fight of the Century’ was the second defence of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) World Heavyweight Titles by Joe Frazier, against Muhammad Ali, and took place at Madison Square Garden, New York City on March 8, 1971.
Ali, of course, had previously held the WBC and WBA titles, but was stripped of both in 1967, after refusing to be inducted into the US Army. Nevertheless, Ali remained unbeaten, with a career record of 31-0, and was still the lineal world heavyweight champion. After three years of inactivity, he had beaten Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena in late 1970 before turning his attention to Frazier, whom he predicted he would knock out in the sixth round. Frazier, 27, was two years younger than Ali and weighed in nearly 10lb lighter; he had achieved universal recognition when defeating former WBA World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis at the same venue the previous February and, having successfully defended the both titles against Bob Foster at the Cobo Arena, Detroit nine months later, entered the ring with a career record of 26-0.
Ali chose to go toe-to-toe with Frazier and the unbeaten pair fought at a furious pace throughout. The predicted sixth-round knockout never materialised; in the eleventh round, Frazier rocked Ali with two left hooks, which sent him stumbling across the ring and, in the final round, landed another, knocking him to the canvas. Ali survived the round, but referee Arthur Mercante scored the fight 8-6 in favour of Frazier, while judges Artie Aidala and Bill Recht scored 9-6 and 11-4, respectively, to hand ‘Smokin’ Joe’ a unanimous decision.
Watch The Fight of the Century