You are in:
Sports - August 2009
How about that Usain Bolt, eh? Actually, despite his utterly astonishing performances in the World Championships in Berlin (the best in recent memory by far), Bolt wasn't the most talked-about athlete there; that surely has to be Caster Semenya, the South African athlete who has been unfortunately singled out and humiliated with questions about whether she can run as a woman. Surely the governing body of athletics has the maturity and common sense to do an investigation without the whole world finding out?
After all, they managed to test A and B samples in athletes and don't utter a word about them until they know for certain the athlete has taken a banned substance. But Caster? No, they can't manage that at all, and this unfortunate young athlete is the subject of countless column inches across the world. Happily, her country is united behind her. I certainly hope jobs are lost over the handling of this at the IAAF, as it has emerged that word of her 'gender test' came out because a fax was sent to the wrong person.
Oh, and whatever Puma are paying Usain Bolt - it's not enough. I've written here about the crazy money wasted on footballers before, but this is one athlete that transcends sport. If it ever emerges that he is a drug cheat, I will be absolutely gutted - I think everyone, everywhere would be too. My heart, though, says he's clean - and just the most amazing athlete we're ever likely to see.
Whew. This issue, Paul Clapham and Zöe Foster combine to round-up the latest and greatest product in our Indoor Sports feature, which includes darts, snooker and table tennis. We speak to the people behind Cleatskins, Clapham pops up again to speak to hummel and the brand profile is with Skins, discussing the present and future of compression base layers.
It's a pretty varied issue, but as ever we want to hear your thoughts and ideas - not least because we're making some big, big changes to SGB in the next couple of months...
Enough of my burble. Enjoy the issue.
Jon Bruford, Editor
01584 877177
