Legends of Sport
Super work, F. So many great choices always and excellently presented. Legendary thread. 👍👍👍🤗
Finbar Patrick McGuigan MBE (born 28 February 1961) is an Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Clones, Ireland, McGuigan was nicknamed The Clones Cyclone and held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986. At regional level he also held the British and European featherweight titles between 1983 and 1985. In 1985, McGuigan became BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 2005 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
McGuigan founded, and is the current president of, the Professional Boxing Association (PBA).[1]
He is the founder and CEO of Cyclone Promotions.
McGuigan is a dual citizen of both Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Background
Barry McGuigan was born in Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland. His father was singer Pat McGuigan (died 1987). Pat McGuigan sang "Danny Boy" before several of his son's matches. This inspired the Hacienda Brothers' song "If Daddy Don't Sing Danny Boy", written by boxer and musician Chris Gaffney.[2]
As an amateur, McGuigan represented Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton in 1978 and represented Ireland at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He became a UK citizen so that he could compete for British titles.[3][4]
During his professional career, McGuigan fought at a number of venues in Ireland and Britain. He attracted an enormous following in the mid-1980s, particularly to the King's Hall in Belfast which he regularly filled to capacity. McGuigan is a Roman Catholic, and at a time when Catholics and Protestants were clashing during The Troubles, he married a Protestant, Sandra Mealiff.[5][6] As of 2010, they remain married after over three decades.[7]
McGuigan stated that the support he received from both Protestants and Catholics in Ireland was because:
"[the] shadows ran deep. And my fights felt a little like sunshine. Both sides would say: 'Leave the fighting to McGuigan.' You see, it was also entertainment – people loved to forget the Troubles a while. The fact that I wouldn't wear green, white and gold or put on a sign that said this is who I represent was powerful. It was a very mature and dangerous thing to do. I wouldn't choose sides. People appreciated that."[8]
As a non-sectarian sporting ambassador for Northern Ireland, he drew on the experience of Joey Dunlop and George Best. He and his wife have both been patrons for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.
Amateur career
McGuigan began his juvenile boxing career at the Wattlebridge Amateur Boxing Club, County Fermanagh and later moved to the Smithborough Amateur Boxing Club, County Monaghan. Under the guidance of trainers Danny McEntee and Frank Mulligan he rapidly established himself as an exceptional boxer. He won the All Ireland Amateur Championship in 1976 having defeated Martin Brereton. Notable opponents during his teenage years included Dubliner James Coughlan, whom he defeated at the age of 15, as well as Gordon McNeil (of Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne) and Eric Clarke (of Hackney, London).[citation needed]
McGuigan represented Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton 1978 and represented Ireland at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
1980 Olympic results
Barry McGuigan competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a featherweight; his record was:
- Round of 32: defeated Issack Mabushi (Tanzania) referee stopped contest in third round
- Round of 16: lost to Winfred Kabunda (Zambia) by decision, 1-4
Professional career
McGuigan began his professional boxing career on 10 May 1981, beating Selvin Bell by technical knockout (TKO) in two rounds in Dublin. After another win, he suffered his first setback, losing a hotly disputed decision to Peter Eubank (brother of Chris Eubank) over eight rounds at Corn Exchange at the Brighton Dome.[9] After his first loss, McGuigan notched up two more wins, including one over Terry Pizzarro, and then he was given a rematch with Eubank. The second time around, McGuigan prevailed, by a knockout in the eighth round.[10]
In 1982, McGuigan won eight fights, seven by knockout. One of these, however, almost destroyed his career and his life. Opposed by Young Ali, on 14 June 1982, McGuigan won by a knockout in six rounds; Ali fell into a coma from which he never recovered.[11] According to the book The Ring: Boxing The 20th Century. Ali's death affected McGuigan so much that he was not sure he wanted to carry on as a boxer. He also defeated Paul Huggins and Angelo Licata during this period. In 1983, he won four fights, earning the British Title against Vernon Penprase. This period marked his first trip to fight outside Europe (when he beat Lavon McGowan by a knockout in the first round in Chicago), before he got his first try at a European title.[citation needed]
On 16 November, Italy's Valerio Nati boxed McGuigan for the vacant European Featherweight title in Belfast. McGuigan won the crown with a knockout in the sixth round. He then became the number one featherweight challenger for the WBA. In 1984, he won six bouts, all by knockout. Among the fighters he beat were former world title challengers Jose Caba and Felipe Orozco. McGuigan also overcame contenders Paul DeVorce and Charm Chiteule, retained his British and European titles against Clyde Ruan, and held on to the latter belt against Esteban Eguia to keep alive his chances of a world title fight.[citation needed]
In 1985, McGuigan met former world featherweight champion Juan Laporte and won by a decision after ten rounds.[12] Following one more win (a defence of his European title against Farid Gallouze), McGuigan finally earned a tilt at a world title. Long-reigning WBA featherweight champion, Eusebio Pedroza of Panama, put his title on the line at Loftus Road football stadium on London. McGuigan became the champion by dropping Pedroza in round seven and winning a unanimous fifteen-round decision in a fight refereed by hall of fame referee Stanley Christodoulou. McGuigan and his wife were feted in a public reception through the streets of Belfast that attracted hundreds of thousands of well-wishers. Later that year, he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, becoming the first person not born in the United Kingdom to win the award.[13]
McGuigan made his first defences against American Bernard Taylor, who was stopped in the ninth round, and Danilo Cabrera, who was knocked out in fourteen rounds. This proved to be a controversial stoppage: the fight was ended when the challenger bent over to pick up his mouthpiece after losing it, a practice that is allowed in many countries but not in Ireland. Cabrera was not aware of this rule and the fight was stopped. Although Cabrera's corner protested the outcome, McGuigan remained the winner by a knockout. For his next defence, he went to Las Vegas in June 1986, where he faced relatively unknown Steve Cruz from Texas as a late replacement for Ramon Fernando Sosa who pulled out for having two detached retinas. It proved to be a gruelling fifteen-round title bout under a blazing late-afternoon sun and 110-degree heat in the ring.[14] McGuigan held the lead halfway through, but suffered dehydration because of the extreme heat and wilted near the end, being knocked down in rounds ten and fifteen. He eventually lost a close decision and his world belt, which he was never to reclaim. After the fight, McGuigan required hospitalisation because of his dehydrated state.[15]
After that fight McGuigan retired partly due to the death of his father in 1987. He used to say his father was his greatest inspiration and, after his death, apparently felt no reason to continue boxing.[citation needed] However, with his relationship with previous manager Barney Eastwood now at an end, McGuigan returned to the ring between 1988 and 1989, under the management of Frank Warren. He beat former world title challengers Nicky Perez and Francisco Tomas da Cruz, as well as contender Julio César Miranda, before facing former EBU featherweight champ and future WBC and WBA super featherweight challenger Jim McDonnell. McGuigan lost by TKO when a gash over his right eye, caused by a McDonnell left hook in the second round, forced the referee to stop the fight in the fourth. McGuigan then retired permanently from boxing. His record was 32 wins and 3 losses, with 28 victories by knockout.
Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the Racing Post. In earlier Racing Post polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien (no relation) took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement.
The National Hunt years
His training career started in 1944. That year, he did the Irish Cambridgeshire/Irish Cesarewitch double with Drybob (dead heat) and Good Days.[1]
In his early days Vincent O'Brien was a trainer at Churchtown of steeplechasers and hurdlers, and won the Grand National at Liverpool three times in succession, with three different horses – Early Mist in 1953, Royal Tan in 1954, and Quare Times in 1955. The greatest steeplechaser he trained was Cottage Rake, which won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times in succession (1948–1950). He later trained Knock Hard to also win the Cheltenham Gold Cup (1953). He also won the Champion Hurdle three years in succession with Hatton's Grace (1949–1951).
In 1951 he moved to and established the now famous Ballydoyle stables near Cashel in Co. Tipperary.[2]
The flat years
Soon after his third Grand National triumph, he turned his attention to flat racing, and set up his stables at Ballydoyle, near Cashel, County Tipperary. Ballymoss, owned by American businessman John McShain, was O'Brien's first top-flight flat racing horse. This colt won the Irish Derby Stakes and England's St. Leger Stakes in 1957 and France's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1958, en route to earning European Horse of the Year honours. For another American, Alice du Pont Mills, he trained the filly Glad Rags who in 1966 gave him his only win in the 1,000 Guineas Stakes. O'Brien's first Epsom Derby winner was Larkspur in 1962. His other Derby winners were Sir Ivor (1968), Nijinsky (1970), Roberto (1972), The Minstrel (1977) and finally Golden Fleece (1982). O'Brien also trained the brilliant dual Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe winner, Alleged, which triumphed in 1977 and 1978.
During the 1970s, he and owner Robert Sangster, along with O'Brien's son-in-law, John Magnier, established what became known as the Coolmore syndicate, which became a highly successful horse-racing and breeding operation, centred on Coolmore Stud in County Tipperary, and later incorporating stud farms in Kentucky and Australia. The combination of Vincent O'Brien's incredible gift for picking world class horses and John Magnier's business mind propelled Coolmore Stud to the top of the racing world, boasting greater assets than any other racing stud in Europe, the Middle East, or America. The key to the success was through use of the bloodline of a Canadian-bred horse named Northern Dancer, who had won a Kentucky Derby. One son of Northern Dancer was the British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, probably the best horse O'Brien ever trained. Nijinsky was ranked the best ever winner of the Epsom Derby by a panel of experts assembled by the Daily Telegraph in 2018.[3] He was ridden to victory at Epsom by Lester Piggott, who was associated with the Ballydoyle stable during the most successful years of the late sixties and seventies.
Other outstanding flat racehorses trained by Vincent O'Brien include: Gladness, Valoris, Pieces of Eight, Long Look, Boucher, Thatch, Lisadell, Abergwaun, Home Guard, Apalachee, Artaius, Try My Best, Cloonlara, Godswalk, Be My Guest, Marinsky, Lady Capulet, Solinus, Jaazeiro, Thatching, Monterverdi, Solford, Bluebird, Lomond, Godetia, Storm Bird, Kings Lake, Caerleon, El Prado, Woodstream, Capriciossa, Prince of Birds, Dark Lomond and College Chapel. He trained Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer) to win the Beresford Stakes, Irish 2000 Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes. Sadlers Wells went on to become the greatest ever European sire and an outstanding 'sire of sires' including Galileo, Montjeu and El Prado.
Vincent O'Brien retired from training in 1994, four years after winning the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park in New York with Royal Academy.
Aidan O'Brien was then employed by Coolmore to take over the training responsibilities of Vincent O'Brien. Unlike Vincent, who was involved in every stage of the horses' selecting, training and breeding, Aidan's role involves training whatever horses have been bought or bred for him by Coolmore. This narrow focus has allowed Aidan to produce a great number of winners from Vincent's first rate bloodline of horses, maintaining Coolmore's status as the biggest bloodstock company in the world.
In spring 1960, Vincent O'Brien was banned by the Irish Turf Club until November 1961 when after winning a minor race at the Curragh, the colt Chamour was found to have a minute amount of a substance resembling an amphetamine in his system.[4] The horse subsequently won the 1960 Irish Derby when trained by Vincent's brother, Phonsie. O’Brien fought the ban which was overturned on 27 May 1961 with O’Brien receiving a full apology. [5]
Accolades
Vincent O'Brien was voted the greatest national hunt trainer of the 20th century, and was then voted the greatest flat trainer of the 20th century.[6] In the vote for the greatest figure in the history of horseracing hosted by the Racing Post newspaper, Vincent O'Brien came first with 28% of the total vote, with his long-time stable jockey Lester Piggott placed second out of a pool of 100 contenders selected by a panel of racing experts.[6] He was awarded the honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa by the National University of Ireland, and Doctor of Science (DSc) honoris causa by the University of Ulster.[6]
In 1949, he pioneered the transportation of horses to the races by plane when he transported 3 horses to the 1949 Cheltenham festival in a converted RAF freighter aeroplane. All 3 won their races. [2]
Family
Vincent O'Brien married Jacqueline Wittenoom, from Perth, Australia, in 1951 and had five children.
O'Brien's older son, David won The Derby in 1984 with Secreto, beating his father's horse, El Gran Senor, by a short head. David, who also won the Irish and French Derbies in 1982 with Assert, is the youngest ever trainer to win an Epsom Derby, an Irish Derby, or a French Derby. However, in a decision that shocked the racing world, David suddenly retired from horse racing in 1988 following the birth of his third son, Charles.
O'Brien and his wife latterly spent half of each year in her home town of Perth, Western Australia and the remainder of the year in Ireland. He died at his Irish home in Straffan, County Kildare on 1 June 2009, aged 92. Jacqueline died in March 2016.
William Augustine Whelan (1 April 1935 – 6 February 1958), also known as Billy Whelan or Liam Whelan, was an Irish footballer and one of the eight Manchester United players who were killed in the Munich air disaster. He was 22 years old when he died.
Whelan was born in Dublin. He was one of seven children born to John and Elizabeth Whelan; his father had died in 1943, when Whelan was just eight years old. He was not a confident flyer and just before the aeroplane took off from Munich, he was heard to say: “This may be death, but I’m ready.”[citation needed]
He played Gaelic games, winning a medal for St Peter’s of Phibsboro. Dublin GAA club Naomh Fionnbarra successfully had a railway bridge situated near the place of Whelan’s birth renamed after him in 2006, while the Naomh Fionnbarra clubhouse also has Whelan’s Manchester United membership card.
Club career
Whelan began his career with Home Farm before joining Manchester United as an 18-year-old in 1953. He was capped four times for the Republic of Ireland national team, but did not score. His brother John played for Shamrock Rovers and Drumcondra F.C.
He made his first appearance for United during the 1954–55 season and quickly became a regular first team player, and went on to make 98 first-team appearances in four seasons at United, scoring 52 goals. He was United’s top scorer in the 1956–57 season, scoring 26 goals in the First Division and 33 in all competitions as United won their second successive league title and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup and FA Cup. Such was the strength of the competition in the United first team that he was soon being kept out of the side by Bobby Charlton. He travelled with the United team to Belgrade for the fateful European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade, the day before the Munich air disaster, but did not play in the game.
Legacy
On 4 February 2008, the Irish national postal body An Post issued a 55c postage stamp for the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster showing a photo of Liam Whelan.
Michael Schumacher ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers’ Championship titles (tied with Lewis Hamilton) and, at the time of his retirement from the sport in 2012, he held the records for the most wins (91), pole positions (68), and podium finishes (155)—which have since been broken by Hamilton—while he maintains the record for the most fastest laps (77), among others.
After beginning his racing career in karting, Schumacher enjoyed success in several junior single-seater series. After a one-off Formula One appearance with Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher was signed by Benetton for the rest of the 1991 season. He won his first and second drivers’ titles consecutively in 1994 and 1995. Schumacher moved to the struggling Ferrari team in 1996. During his first years at the team, Schumacher lost out on the title in the final race of the season in 1997 and 1998 and suffered a broken leg from a brake failure in 1999. He and Ferrari won five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004, including unprecedented sixth and seventh titles, breaking several records. After finishing third in 2005 and second in 2006, Schumacher retired from the sport, although he later made a brief return with Mercedes from 2010 to 2012.
Schumacher was noted for pushing his car to the very limit for sustained periods during races, a pioneering fitness regimen and ability to galvanise teams around him. He and his younger brother Ralf are the only siblings to win races in Formula One and the first siblings to finish first and second in the same race, a feat they repeated in four subsequent races. Over his career, Schumacher was involved in several controversial racing incidents. Twice, he was involved in collisions in the final race of a season that decided the title: first with Damon Hill at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, and later with Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix.
An ambassador for UNESCO, Schumacher has been involved in humanitarian projects and has donated tens of millions of dollars to charity.
In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a severe brain injury in a skiing accident. He was placed in a medically induced coma until June 2014. He left the hospital in Grenoble for further rehabilitation at the Lausanne University Hospital, before being relocated to his home to receive medical treatment and rehabilitation privately in September 2014.
Early years
Michael Schumacher was born in the West German town of Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, on 3 January 1969, to working-class parents Rolf—a bricklayer who later ran the local kart track—and Elisabeth Schumacher, who operated the track’s canteen.[1] When Schumacher was four, his father modified his pedal kart by adding a small motorcycle engine. After Michael crashed it into a lamp post in Kerpen, his parents took him to the karting track at Kerpen-Horrem, where he became the youngest member of the karting club. His father built him a kart from discarded parts and, at the age of six, Schumacher won his first club championship. To support his son’s racing, Rolf took on a second job renting and repairing karts, while his wife worked at the track’s canteen. Nevertheless, when Michael needed a new engine costing 800 DM, his parents were unable to afford it; he was able to continue racing with support from local businessmen.[2]
Regulations in Germany require a driver to be at least 14 years old to obtain a kart license. To get around this, Schumacher obtained a license in Luxembourg at the age of 12.[3] In 1983, he obtained his German license, a year after he won the German Junior Kart Championship. Schumacher joined Eurokart dealer Adolf Neubert in 1985 and by 1987, he was the German and European kart champion, then he quit school and began working as a mechanic. In 1988, he made his first step into single-seat car racing by participating in the German Formula Ford and Formula König series, winning the latter.[4]
In 1989, Schumacher signed with Willi Weber’s WTS Formula Three team. Funded by Weber, he competed in the German Formula Three series, winning the title in 1990.[3] He also won the 1990 Macau Grand Prix under controversial circumstances. He placed second behind Mika Häkkinen in the first heat, three seconds behind. At the start of the second heat, he overtook Häkkinen, who only had to finish within three seconds of Schumacher to clinch the overall win. In the closing laps, Schumacher made a mistake, allowing Häkkinen to attempt to overtake. Michael changed his line immediately before Häkkinen did the same as the latter moved to overtake, and Häkkinen crashed into the back of Schumacher’s car.[5] While Häkkinen’s race was ended, Schumacher drove to victory without a rear wing.[6]
During 1990, along with his Formula Three rivals Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger, he joined the Mercedes junior racing programme in the World Sportscar Championship. This was unusual for a young driver: most of Schumacher’s contemporaries competed in Formula 3000 on the way to Formula One. However, Weber advised Schumacher that being exposed to professional press conferences and driving powerful cars in long-distance races would help his career.[3] In the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season, Schumacher won the season finale at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a Sauber–Mercedes C11, and finished fifth in the Drivers’ Championship despite only driving in three of the nine races. He continued with the team in the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season, winning again at the final race of the season at Autopolis in Japan with a Sauber–Mercedes-Benz C291, leading to a ninth-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship. He also competed at Le Mans during that season, finishing fifth in a car shared with Wendlinger and Fritz Kreutzpointner. In 1991, he competed in one race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, finishing second.[4]
During the 1991 430 km of Nürburgring, Schumacher was involved in a serious incident with Derek Warwick. While trying to set his flying lap in qualifying, Schumacher encountered Warwick’s Jaguar on a slow lap resulting in lost time for Schumacher. As retaliation for being in his way, Schumacher swerved his Sauber into Warwick’s car, hitting the Jaguar’s nose and front wheel. Enraged by Schumacher’s attitude, Warwick drove to the pits and chased Schumacher on foot. He eventually caught up with Schumacher, and it took intervention from several mechanics and Schumacher’s teammate Jochen Mass to prevent Warwick physically assaulting Schumacher.[7]
Formula One career
”No one will ever be greater than Schumi. Michael has shaped a generation like no other, he is iconic.”
Toto Wolff about Schumacher[8]
Schumacher was noted throughout his career for his ability to produce fast laps at crucial moments in a race and to push his car to the very limit for sustained periods.[9] He was also noted for his pioneering fitness regimen and ability to galvanise teams around him.[10][11] In 2003, Motor Sport author Christopher Hilton observed that a “measure of a driver’s capabilities is his performance in wet races, because the most delicate car control and sensitivity are needed”, and noted that like other great drivers, Schumacher’s record in wet conditions shows very few mistakes: up to the end of 2003, Schumacher won 17 of the 30 races in wet conditions he contested.[12] Some of Schumacher’s best performances occurred in such conditions, earning him the nicknames “Regenkönig” (rain king)[13] or “Regenmeister” (rain master),[9] even in the non-German-language media. He is also known as “the Red Baron”, because of his red Ferrari and in reference to the German Manfred von Richthofen, the famous flying ace of the First World War. Schumacher’s nicknames also include “Schumi”,[14] “Schuey”[15] and “Schu”.[16]
Schumacher is often credited with popularising Formula One in Germany, where it was formerly considered a fringe sport.[17] When Schumacher retired in 2006, three of the top ten drivers in that year’s Drivers’ standings were German, more than any other nationality. Younger German drivers, such as Sebastian Vettel, felt Schumacher was key in their becoming Formula One drivers.[18] In 2020, Vettel named Schumacher the greatest Formula One driver of all time.[19] During a large part of his Formula One career, Schumacher was the president of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association.[20] In a 2006 FIA survey, he was voted the most popular driver of the season among Formula One fans.[21] During the same year, Formula One figures such as Niki Lauda and David Coulthard hailed Schumacher as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of the sport.[22] In 2020, Schumacher was voted the most influential person in Formula One history.[23]
Jordan (1991)
Schumacher made his Formula One debut with the Irish Jordan-Ford team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, driving car number 32 as a replacement for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot. Schumacher, still a contracted Mercedes driver, was signed by Eddie Jordan after Mercedes paid Jordan $150,000 for his debut.[24]
The week before the race, Schumacher impressed Jordan designer Gary Anderson and team manager Trevor Foster during a test drive at Silverstone. Schumacher’s manager Weber assured Jordan that Schumacher knew the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit well, although in fact he had only seen it as a spectator. During the race weekend, teammate Andrea de Cesaris was meant to show Schumacher the circuit, but was held up with contract negotiations. Schumacher then learned the track on his own, by cycling around the track on a fold-up bike he brought with him.[25] He impressed the paddock by qualifying seventh. This matched the team’s season-best grid position, and Schumacher out-qualified veteran de Cesaris. Motor Sport journalist Joe Saward reported that after qualifying “clumps of German journalists were talking about ‘the best talent since Stefan Bellof’”.[26] Schumacher retired on the first lap of the race with clutch problems.[27]
Benetton (1991–1995)
Following his Belgian Grand Prix debut, and despite an agreement in principle between Jordan and Schumacher’s Mercedes management that would see the German race for the Irish team for the remainder of the season, Schumacher was engaged by Benetton-Ford for the next race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the British courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a final contract.[28]
1991–1993
Schumacher finished the 1991 season with four points out of six races. His best finish was fifth in his second race, the Italian Grand Prix, in which he finished ahead of his teammate and three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet.[29]
At the start of the 1992 season the Sauber team, planning their Formula One debut with Mercedes backing for the following year, invoked a clause in Schumacher’s contract that stated that if Mercedes entered Formula One, Schumacher would drive for them. It was eventually agreed that Schumacher would stay with Benetton; Peter Sauber stated that “[Schumacher] didn’t want to drive for us. Why would I have forced him?”.[30] The year was dominated by the Williams cars of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese, featuring powerful Renault engines, semi-automatic gearboxes and active suspension to control the car’s ride height.[31] In the “conventional” Benetton B192, Schumacher took his place on the podium for the first time, finishing third in the Mexican Grand Prix. He went on to take his first victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, in a wet race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which by 2003 he would call “far and away my favourite track”.[32] He finished third in the Drivers’ Championship in 1992 with 53 points, three points behind runner-up Patrese and three in front of Ayrton Senna.[33]
The Williams of Damon Hill and Alain Prost also dominated the 1993 season. Benetton introduced their own active suspension and traction control early in the season, last of the frontrunning teams to do so.[34] Schumacher won one race, the Portuguese Grand Prix where he beat Prost, and had nine podium finishes, but retired in seven of the other 16 races.[35] He finished the season in fourth, with 52 points.[36]
1994–1995: World Championship years
Schumacher won his first Drivers’ Championship in 1994. The season, however, was marred by the death of Senna—witnessed by Schumacher, who was directly behind Senna—and the passing of Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix, and by allegations that several teams, but most particularly Schumacher’s Benetton team, broke the sport’s technical regulations.[37][38]
Schumacher won six of the first seven races and was leading the Spanish Grand Prix, before a gearbox failure left him stuck in fifth gear for most of the race. Schumacher still finished the race in second place.[39] Following the San Marino Grand Prix, the Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren teams were investigated on suspicion of breaking the FIA-imposed ban on electronic aids. Benetton and McLaren initially refused to hand over their source code for investigation. When they did so, the FIA discovered hidden functionality in both teams’ software, but no evidence that it had been used in a race. Both teams were fined $100,000 for their initial refusal to cooperate. However, the McLaren software, which was a gearbox program that allowed automatic shifts, was deemed legal. By contrast, the Benetton software was deemed to be a form of “launch control” that would have allowed Schumacher to make perfect starts, which was explicitly outlawed by the regulations. However, there was no evidence to suggest that this software was actually used.[40]
At the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was penalised for overtaking Hill on the formation lap. He and Benetton then ignored the penalty and the subsequent black flag, which indicates that the driver must immediately return to the pits, for which he was disqualified and later given a two-race ban. Benetton blamed the incident on a communication error between the stewards and the team.[41] Schumacher was also disqualified after winning the Belgian Grand Prix after his car was found to have illegal wear on its skidblock, a measure used after the accidents at Imola to limit downforce and hence cornering speed.[42] Benetton protested that the skidblock had been damaged when Schumacher spun over a kerb, but the FIA rejected their appeal because of the pattern of wear and damage visible on the block.[43]
These incidents helped Damon Hill close the points gap, and Schumacher led by a single point going into the final race in Australia. On lap 36, Schumacher hit the guardrail on the outside of the track while leading. Hill attempted to pass, but as Schumacher’s car returned to the track there was a collision on the corner causing them both to retire.[44] As a result, Schumacher won the Drivers’ Championship, the first German to do so—Jochen Rindt was German but raced under the Austrian flag. The race stewards judged it as a racing accident and took no action against either driver but public opinion was divided over the incident and Schumacher was vilified in the British media.[45][46][47] At the FIA conference after the race, Schumacher dedicated his title to Senna.[48]
In 1995, Schumacher successfully defended his title with Benetton, which now had the same Renault engine as Williams; according to Motor Sport author Marcus Simmons, Benetton had the better team, while Williams had the superior car.[49] Schumacher accumulated 33 more points than second-placed Hill. With teammate Johnny Herbert, he took Benetton to its first Constructors’ Championship, breaking the dominance of McLaren and Williams, and became the youngest two-time World Champion in Formula One history.[50] The season was marred by several collisions with Hill, in particular an overtaking manoeuvre by Hill took them both out of the British Grand Prix on lap 45, and again on lap 23 of the Italian Grand Prix. Schumacher won 9 of the 17 races, and finished on the podium 11 times. Only once did he qualify worse than fourth; at the Belgian Grand Prix, he qualified 16th, but nevertheless went on to win the race.[51]
Ferrari (1996–2006)
In 1996, Schumacher joined Ferrari, a team that had last won the Drivers’ Championship in 1979 and the Constructors’ Championship in 1983, for a salary of $60 million over two years. He left Benetton a year before his contract with them expired; he later cited the team’s damaging actions in 1994 as his reason for opting out of his deal.[52] A year later, Schumacher lured Benetton employees Rory Byrne (designer) and Ross Brawn (technical director) to Ferrari.[53]
Ferrari had previously come close to the championship in 1982 and 1990. The team had suffered a disastrous downturn in the early 1990s, partially as its famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient V10s of its competitors. Various drivers, notably Alain Prost, had given the vehicles labels such as “truck”, “pig”, and “accident waiting to happen”.[54] Furthermore, the poor performance of the Ferrari pit crews was considered a running joke.[17] At the end of 1995, although the team had improved into a solid competitor, it was still considered inferior to front-running teams such as Benetton and Williams.[55] However, Schumacher declared the Ferrari F310 good enough to win a championship,[56] although afterwards, his teammate Eddie Irvine labelled the F310 “an awful car”, a “piece of junk”, and “almost undriveable”, while designer John Barnard admitted that the car “wasn’t very good”.[57] During winter testing, Schumacher first drove a Ferrari, their 1995 Ferrari 412 T2, and was two seconds faster than former regulars Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger had been.[58]
Schumacher, Brawn, Byrne, and Jean Todt, have been credited as turning the struggling team into the most successful team in Formula One history.[59][60] Three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart believed the transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher’s greatest feat.[61]
1996–1999[edit]
”It was not a race. It was a demonstration of brilliance.”
Stirling Moss about Schumacher at the 1996 Spanish GP[62]
Schumacher finished third in the Drivers’ Championship in 1996 and helped Ferrari to second place in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of his old team Benetton. During the season, the car had reliability problems; Schumacher did not finish in 7 of the 16 races. At the French Grand Prix, Schumacher took pole position, but suffered engine failure on the formation lap.[63] He won three races, however, more than the team’s total tally for the period from 1991 to 1995. He took his first win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he lapped the entire field up to third place in the wet.[3] Having taken the lead on lap 19, he consistently lapped five seconds faster than the rest of the field in the difficult conditions.[58] At the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher used well-timed pit-stops to fend off Williams’ Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher also took first place at Monza to win in front of the tifosi (Ferrari fans).[64]
Michael Schumacher and Villeneuve competed for the title in 1997. Villeneuve, driving the superior Williams FW19, led the championship in the early part of the season.[65] By mid-season, however, Schumacher had taken the championship lead, winning five races, and entered the season’s final Grand Prix at Jerez with a one-point advantage. Towards the end of the race, Schumacher’s Ferrari developed a coolant leak and loss of performance indicating he may not finish the race.[66] As Villeneuve approached to pass his rival on lap 48, Schumacher turned in on him but retired from the race. Villeneuve went on and scored four points to take the championship. The race stewards did not initially award any penalty, but two weeks after the race Schumacher was disqualified from the entire 1997 Drivers’ Championship after an FIA disciplinary hearing found that his “manoeuvre was an instinctive reaction and although deliberate not made with malice or premeditation, it was a serious error.”[67][68] Schumacher accepted the decision and admitted having made a mistake.[67][69] His actions were widely condemned in British, German, and Italian newspapers.[45][69]
In 1998, Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen became Schumacher’s main title rival. Häkkinen won the first two races of the season, gaining a 16-point advantage over Schumacher. Schumacher then won in Argentina and, with the Ferrari improving significantly in the second half of the season, Schumacher took six victories and had five other podium finishes. Ferrari took a 1–2 finish at the French Grand Prix, the first Ferrari 1–2 finish since 1990, and the Italian Grand Prix, which tied Schumacher with Häkkinen for the lead of the Drivers’ Championship with 80 points. Häkkinen won the Championship, however, by winning the final two races. There were two controversies during the season; at the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was leading on the last lap when he turned into the pit lane, crossed the start-finish line and stopped to serve his ten-second stop-go penalty (received for overtaking a lapped car (of Alexander Wurz) during a safety car period). There was some doubt whether this counted as serving the penalty, but, because he had crossed the finish line when he came into the pit lane, the win was valid.[70] At the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher was leading the race by 40 seconds in heavy spray, but collided with David Coulthard’s McLaren when the Scot, a lap down, slowed on the racing line in very poor visibility to let Schumacher past. His Ferrari lost a wheel but could return to the pits, although he was forced to retire. Schumacher leaped out of his car and headed to McLaren’s garage in an infuriated manner and accused Coulthard of “trying to kill him”.[71] Coulthard admitted five years later that the accident had been his mistake.[71]
In 1999, Schumacher’s efforts helped Ferrari win the Constructors’ title. He lost his chance to win the Drivers’ Championship at the British Grand Prix at the high-speed Stowe Corner; his car’s rear brake failed, sending him off the track into the barriers and resulting in a broken leg.[72] During his 98-day absence, he was replaced by Finnish driver Mika Salo. After missing six races, he made his return at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, qualifying in pole position by almost a second. He then assumed the role of second driver, assisting teammate Irvine’s bid to win the Drivers’ Championship for Ferrari.[73] In the last race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix, Häkkinen won his second consecutive title. Schumacher would later say that Häkkinen was the opponent he respected the most.[74]
2000–2004: World Championship years
Schumacher won his third World Drivers’ Championship in 2000, and his first with Ferrari, after a year-long battle with Häkkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Midway through the year, Schumacher’s chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing Häkkinen to close the gap in the standings. Häkkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the Italian Grand Prix. At the post-race press conference, after equalling the number of wins (41) won by his idol Senna, Schumacher broke into tears.[75] The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher lost the lead to Häkkinen at the start. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of Häkkinen and went on to win the race and the Drivers’ Championship.[76] Although Schumacher won more than twice as many Grands Prix as Häkkinen, BBC Sport journalist Andrew Benson stated that “the challenge from Mika Hakkinen and McLaren-Mercedes was far stronger than the raw statistics suggest” and that the Adrian Newey-designed McLaren was “the fastest car in F1 for the third straight year”. Benson also hailed Schumacher as “unquestionably the greatest driver of his era”.[77]
In 2001, Schumacher took his fourth Drivers’ title. Four other drivers won races, but none sustained a season-long challenge for the championship. Schumacher scored a record-tying nine wins and clinched the World Championship with four races yet to run. He finished the championship with 123 points, 58 ahead of runner-up Coulthard. Season highlights included the Canadian Grand Prix, where Schumacher finished second to his brother Ralf, thus scoring the first-ever 1–2 finish by brothers in Formula One;[78] and the Belgian Grand Prix, in which Schumacher scored his 52nd career win, breaking Alain Prost’s record for most career wins.[79]
In 2002, Schumacher retained his Drivers’ Championship. There was some controversy, however, at the Austrian Grand Prix. His teammate, Rubens Barrichello, was leading, but in the final metres of the race, under team orders, slowed down to allow Schumacher to win the race.[80] Although the switching of positions did not break any actual sporting or technical regulation, it angered fans and it was claimed that the team’s actions showed a lack of sportsmanship and respect to the spectators. Many argued that Schumacher did not need to be “given” wins in only the sixth race of the season, particularly given that he had already won four of the previous five Grands Prix, and that Barrichello had dominated the race weekend up to that point. At the podium ceremony, Schumacher pushed Barrichello onto the top step,[80] and for this disturbance, the Ferrari team incurred a US$1 million fine.[81] At the United States Grand Prix later that year, Schumacher returned the favour by giving Barrichello the win by the second-closest margin in Formula One history of 0.011 seconds on the finishing line.[82] Schumacher’s explanation varied between it being him “returning the favour” for Austria, or trying to engineer a formation finish—a feat derided as near-impossible in a sport where timings are taken to within a thousandth of a second.[83] After the end of the season, the FIA banned “team orders which interfere with the race result”,[84][85] but the ban was lifted for the 2011 season because the ruling was difficult to enforce.[86] In winning the Drivers’ Championship he equalled the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio of five World Championships. Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher won the title with six races remaining in the season, which is still the earliest point in the season for a driver to be crowned World Champion.[87] Schumacher broke his own record, shared with Nigel Mansell, of nine race wins in a season, by winning 11 times and finishing every race on the podium. He finished with 144 points, a record-breaking 67 points ahead of the runner-up, his teammate Barrichello. This pair finished nine of the 17 races in the first two places.[88]
Schumacher broke Fangio’s record of five World Drivers’ Championships by winning the drivers’ title for the sixth time in 2003, after a closely contested battle with his main rivals. Before the season started, the FIA introduced new regulations and a new points system to make the championship more open.[89] The biggest competition came from the McLaren-Mercedes and Williams-BMW teams. In the first race, Schumacher ran off track, and in the following two, was involved in collisions.[90][91][92] He fell 16 points behind McLaren’s Kimi Räikkönen. Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix—despite the death of his mother Elisabeth just hours before the race[93]—and the next two races, and closed within two points of Räikkönen. Aside from Schumacher’s victory in Canada and Barrichello’s victory in Britain, the mid-season was dominated by Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, who each claimed two victories. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led Montoya and Räikkönen by only one and two points, respectively. Ahead of the next race, the FIA announced changes to the way tyre widths were to be measured: this forced Michelin, supplier to Williams and McLaren among others, to rapidly redesign their tyres before the Italian Grand Prix.[94] Schumacher, running on Bridgestone tyres, won the next two races. After Montoya was penalised in the United States Grand Prix, only Schumacher and Räikkönen remained in contention for the title. At the final round, the Japanese Grand Prix, Schumacher needed only one point whilst Räikkönen needed to win. By finishing the race in eighth place, Schumacher took one point and assured his sixth World Drivers’ title, ending the season two points ahead of Räikkönen.[95]
In 2004, Schumacher won a record 12 of the first 13 races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Montoya during a safety car period. Schumacher clinched a record seventh Drivers’ title at the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished the season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up Barrichello, and set a new record of 13 race wins out of a possible 18, surpassing his previous best of 11 wins from the 2002 season.[96]
2005–2006: decline, resurgence and retirement
Rule changes for the 2005 season required tyres to last an entire race,[97] tipping the overall advantage to teams using Michelins over teams such as Ferrari that relied on Bridgestone tyres.[98] The rule changes were partly in an effort to dent Ferrari’s dominance and make the series more interesting.[17] The most notable moment of the early season for Schumacher was his battle with Renault’s Fernando Alonso in San Marino, where he started 13th and finished only 0.2 seconds behind Alonso.[99] Less than halfway through the season, Schumacher stated: “I don’t think I can count myself in this battle any more. It was like trying to fight with a blunted weapon. If your weapons are weak you don’t have a chance.”[100] Schumacher’s sole win in 2005 came at the United States Grand Prix. Before that race, the Michelin tyres were found to have significant safety issues. When no compromise between the teams and the FIA could be reached, all but the three teams using Bridgestone tyres dropped out of the race after the formation lap, leaving only six drivers on the grid.[101] Schumacher retired in 6 of the 19 races, and finished the season in third with 62 points, fewer than half the points of World Champion Alonso.[102]
2006 became the last season of Schumacher’s Ferrari career. After three races, Schumacher had just 11 points and was already 17 points behind Alonso. He won the following two races; his pole position at San Marino was his 66th, breaking Ayrton Senna’s 12-year-old record.[103] Schumacher was stripped of pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix and started the race at the back of the grid, as he stopped his car and blocked part of the circuit while Alonso was on his qualifying lap; he still managed to work his way up to fifth place on the notoriously cramped Monaco circuit. By the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth race of the season, Schumacher was 25 points behind Alonso, but he then won the following three races to reduce his disadvantage to 11. After further victories in Italy and China, Schumacher led in the championship standings for the first time during the season.[104] After his win in Italy, Ferrari issued a press release stating that Schumacher would retire from racing at the end of the 2006 season, but would continue working for the team.[105] The tifosi and the Italian press, who did not always take to Schumacher’s relatively cold public persona, displayed an affectionate response after he announced his retirement.[106]
Schumacher led the Japanese Grand Prix; with only 16 laps to go, his car suffered an engine failure for the first time since the 2000 French Grand Prix, handing Alonso the victory.[107] During the pre-race ceremonies of the season’s last race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, former football player Pelé presented a trophy to Schumacher for his achievements in Formula One.[108][109] A fuel pressure problem prevented Schumacher from completing a single lap during the third qualifying session, forcing him to start the race in tenth position.[110] Early in the race, Schumacher moved up to sixth place but suffered a puncture caused by the front wing of Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault.[111] Schumacher fell to 19th place, 70 seconds behind teammate and race leader Felipe Massa. Schumacher recovered and overtook both Fisichella and Räikkönen to secure fourth place. His performance was classified in the press as “heroic”,[112] an “utterly breath-taking drive”,[113] and a “performance that … sums up his career”.[114]
2007–2009: new roles at Ferrari
During the 2007 season, Schumacher acted as Ferrari’s adviser and Jean Todt’s ‘super assistant’.[115] Schumacher also helped Ferrari with their development programme at the Jerez circuit. He focused on testing electronics and tyres for the 2008 Formula One season.[116] During 2008, Schumacher also competed in motorcycle racing in the IDM Superbike-series, but stated that he had no intention of a second competitive career in this sport.[117] At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was seriously injured after being struck by a suspension spring during qualifying. Ferrari announced that they planned to draft in Schumacher for the European Grand Prix and subsequent Grands Prix until Massa was able to race again.[118] Schumacher tested a modified Ferrari F2007 to prepare himself as he had been unable to test the 2009 car due to testing restrictions.[119] Ferrari appealed for special permission for Schumacher to test in a 2009 spec car, but Williams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso were against this test.[120][121] In the end, Schumacher was forced to call off his return due to the severity of the neck injury he had received in a motorcycle accident earlier in the year.[122] Massa’s place was instead filled by Luca Badoer and, later, Giancarlo Fisichella.[123]
Mercedes (2010–2012)
”He played a crucial role when we re-joined F1 and was one of the people who laid the foundation for our future success. We’re extremely grateful for everything he did for us.”
Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff about Schumacher’s influence on the Mercedes team[124]
In December 2009, Schumacher announced his return to Formula One for the 2010 season alongside fellow German driver Nico Rosberg in the new Mercedes GP team.[125] Mercedes returned to the sport as a constructor for the first time since 1955. Schumacher stated that his preparations to replace the injured Massa had initiated a renewed interest in Formula One, which, combined with the opportunity to fulfil a long-held ambition to drive for Mercedes and to be working again with team principal Ross Brawn, led Schumacher to accept the offer once he was passed fit.[125][126] Schumacher signed a three-year contract, reportedly worth £20 million.[125] He turned 41 in 2010 and his prospects with Mercedes were compared with Juan Manuel Fangio, Formula One’s oldest champion who was 46 when he won his fifth title.[125]
2010: return from retirement
Schumacher finished sixth in the first race of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He finished behind teammate Rosberg in each of the first four qualifying sessions and races; former driver Stirling Moss suggested that Schumacher might be “past it”.[127] Several other former Formula One drivers thought otherwise, including former rival Damon Hill, who warned “you should never write Schumacher off”.[128] GrandPrix.com identified the inherent understeer of the Mercedes car, exacerbated by the narrower front tyres introduced for the 2010 season, as contributing to Schumacher’s difficulties.[129] Jenson Button would later claim that Mercedes’s car was designed for him, as he would initially drive for the team, and that their differing driving styles may have contributed to Schumacher’s difficulties.[130]
Mercedes upgraded their car for the Spanish Grand Prix where Schumacher finished fourth. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher finished sixth after passing Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on the final corner before the finish line when the safety car returned to the pits. Mercedes held that “the combination of the race control messages ‘Safety Car in this lap’ and ‘Track Clear’ and the green flags and lights shown by the marshals after safety car line one indicated that the race was not finishing under the safety car and all drivers were free to race.”[131] However, an FIA investigation found Schumacher guilty of breaching safety car regulations and awarded him a 20-seconds penalty, dropping him to 12th.[132] In Turkey, Schumacher qualified fifth, and finished fourth in the race, both his best results since his return. At the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Schumacher finished 15th, the lowest recorded finish in his career.[133] In Hungary, Barrichello attempted to pass Schumacher down the inside on the main straight. Schumacher closed the inside line to force Barrichello onto the outside, but Barrichello persisted on the inside at 180 mph (290 km/h) despite the close proximity of a concrete wall and Schumacher leaving him only inches to spare.[134][135] Schumacher was found guilty of dangerous driving and was demoted ten places on the grid for the following race, the Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished 7th despite starting 21st after his grid penalty. At the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Schumacher was involved in a major accident on the first lap, after Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car collided with Schumacher’s, barely missing his head.[136][137] Schumacher finished the season in ninth place with 72 points. For the first time since 1991, Schumacher finished a year without a win, pole position, podium or fastest lap.[138]
2011–2012
Schumacher’s first points of 2011 were scored in Malaysia where he finished ninth; he later came sixth in Spain and took fourth place at the Canadian Grand Prix, after running as high as second in a wet race.[139] Despite starting last in Belgium, Schumacher finished fifth. The Japanese Grand Prix saw Schumacher lead three laps during the race, marking the first time he had led a race since 2006.[140] In doing so, he became the oldest driver to lead a race since Jack Brabham in 1970.[141] Schumacher finished the season in eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship, with 76 points.[142]
He was again partnered by Rosberg at Mercedes for the 2012 season.[143] Schumacher retired from the season’s inaugural Australian Grand Prix, and scored a point in the second round in Malaysia.[144] In China, Schumacher started on the front row, but retired due to a loose wheel after a mechanic’s error during a pit stop.[145] After causing a collision with Bruno Senna in Spain, Schumacher received a five-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix. Schumacher was fastest in qualifying in Monaco but started sixth owing to his penalty.[146] He later retired from seventh place in the race.[147] At the European Grand Prix, Schumacher finished third, his only podium finish since his return to Formula One. At 43 years and 173 days, he became the oldest driver to achieve a podium since Jack Brabham’s second-place finish at the 1970 British Grand Prix. In Germany, Schumacher set the fastest lap for the 77th time in his career, and in Belgium he became the second driver in history to race in 300 Grands Prix.[148]
Schumacher’s indecision over his future plans led to him being replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2013 season.[149] In October 2012, Schumacher announced he would retire for a second time,[150] stating: “There were times in the past few months in which I didn’t want to deal with Formula One or prepare for the next Grand Prix.”[151] He concluded the season with a seventh-place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix; Schumacher placed 13th in the 2012 Drivers’ Championship.[152]
Helmet
Schumacher, in conjunction with Schuberth, helped develop the first lightweight carbon fibre reinforced polymer helmet. In 2004, a prototype was publicly tested by being driven over by a tank; it survived intact.[153] The helmet kept the driver cool by funneling directed airflow through fifty holes.[154] Schumacher’s original helmet sported the colours of the German flag and his sponsor’s decals. On the top was a blue circle with white astroids.[155] From the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix, in order to differentiate his colours from his new teammate Rubens Barrichello—whose helmet was predominantly white with a blue circle on top and a red ellipsis surrounding the visor—Schumacher changed the upper blue colour and some of the white areas to red.[156] For the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, he wore an all-red helmet that included the names of his ninety-one Grand Prix victories.[157] At the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher’s 20th anniversary in Formula One, he wore a commemorative gold-leafed helmet, which included the year of his debut and the seasons of his seven World Driver’s titles.[158] During his 300th Grand Prix appearance, at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher wore a platinum-leafed helmet with a message of his achievement.[159]
Honours
Schumacher has been honoured many times. In 1992, the German Motor Sport Federation awarded him the ONS Cup, the highest accolade in German motorsport; he also won the trophy in 1994, 1995 and 2002.[160] In 1993, he won a Bambi Sports Award and was the first racing driver to receive the Golden Steering Wheel.[161][162] In 1994 and from 2001 to 2003, Schumacher was voted European Sportsperson of the Year by the International Sports Press Association.[163] He was voted Polish Press Agency (PAP) European Sportsperson of the Year from 2001 to 2003.[164] In 1995 and from 2000 to 2002, he was named Autosport International Racing Driver of the Year.[165][166] Schumacher was voted German Sportspersonality of the Year in 1995 and 2004.[167] During the latter year, he was voted Germany’s greatest sportsperson of the 20th century, beating Birgit Fischer and Steffi Graf to the accolade.[168] For his sports achievements and his commitment to road safety, Schumacher was awarded Germany’s highest sporting accolade, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt, in 1997.[169] In 2002, for his contributions to sport and his contributions in raising awareness of child education, Schumacher was named as one of the UNESCO Champions for Sport.[170]
Schumacher won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2002 and 2004,[171] received the Marca Leylenda award in 2001,[172] was named L’Équipe Champion of Champions three times (from 2001 to 2003),[173] won the Gazzetta World Sports Award twice (2001 and 2002),[174] and won the 2003 Lorenzo Bandini Trophy.[175] In honour of Schumacher’s racing career and his efforts to improve road safety and the sport, he was awarded an FIA Gold Medal for Motor Sport in 2006.[176] The same year, ahead of his final race for Ferrari at Interlagos on 22 October, football player Pelé presented a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Schumacher.[177] A year later, in 2007, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Sport for his sporting prowess and his humanitarian record.[178] Together with Sebastian Vettel, Schumacher won the Race of Champions Nations’ Cup six times in a row for Germany, from 2007 to 2012.[179] In 2017, Schumacher was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame and Germany’s Sports Hall of Fame.[180][181] In 2020, Jean Todt honoured Schumacher with the FIA President Award, in recognition of Schumacher’s seven World Championships and the “inspiration his sporting and personal commitments brought to the world”.[182]
In Sarajevo, Schumacher has been granted honorary citizenship,[183] while the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton has renamed major city transversal street after him,[184] and earlier a large street mural has been painted in a city neighborhood of Dobrinja by a group of artists.[185] Honorary citizenship has been granted by Maranello, Modena, and Spa as well.[186][187][188] He has been appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur,[189] has been honoured with the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic,[190] and has been appointed as an ambassador of San Marino.[191] In 2008, the Swiss Football Association appointed Schumacher as the country’s ambassador for UEFA Euro 2008, hosted by Switzerland and Austria.[192] In recognition of his contribution to Formula One, the Nürburgring circuit renamed turns 9 and 10 as the “Schumacher S”, in 2007.[193] In 2014, the first corner of the Bahrain International Circuit was renamed in honour of Schumacher.[194] He received the State Prize (Staatspreis) of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2022.[195]
Personal life and philanthropy
In August 1995, Michael married Corinna Betsch.[196] They have two children, a daughter Gina-Marie (born 20 February 1997) and a son, Mick (born 22 March 1999). Schumacher has always been very protective of his private life and is known to dislike the celebrity spotlight.[196] From late 1991 until May 1996, Schumacher resided in Monaco. The family moved to a newly built mansion near Gland, Switzerland in 2007, covering an area of 650-square-metre (7,000 sq ft) with a private beach on Lake Geneva and featuring an underground garage and petrol station, with a vintage Shell fuel pump.[197] Schumacher and his wife own horse ranches in Texas and Switzerland.[198] Schumacher’s younger brother Ralf, his son Mick, his nephew David and step-brother Sebastian Stahl have also been racing drivers.[199] Ralf Schumacher competed in Formula One for ten years, starting from 1997 until the end of 2007.[1] Mick became the third Schumacher to race in Formula One, having made his debut with Haas F1 Team in the 2021 season.[200]
Before his skiing accident, his main hobbies included horse riding, motorcycle racing, sky diving, and he played football for his local team FC Echichens.[201][202] Schumacher appeared in several charity football games,[203][204] and organised games between Formula One drivers.[205] He is a supporter of 1. FC Köln, his local football club where he grew up, citing Pierre Littbarski and Harald Schumacher as his idols.[206] He is a Roman Catholic.[207]
In 2006, Schumacher had a voice role in the Disney/Pixar film Cars. His character is himself as a Ferrari F430 who visits the town of Radiator Springs to get new tires from Luigi and Guido at the recommendation of Lightning McQueen. During arrival, Luigi and Guido both faint in excitement when they see him. The French film Asterix at the Olympic Games features Schumacher in a cameo role as a chariot driver called Schumix. In 2009, Schumacher appeared on the BBC’s motoring programme Top Gear as the Stig.[208] Presenter Jeremy Clarkson hinted later in the programme that Schumacher was not the regular Stig, which the BBC subsequently confirmed. Schumacher was there because Ferrari would not allow anyone else to drive the unique black Ferrari FXX that was featured in the show.[209] In July 2021, Netflix announced the first officially approved documentary film about Schumacher—called Schumacher—which was released on 15 September 2021.[210]
Schumacher was a special ambassador to UNESCO and has donated 1.5 million euros to the organisation.[211] Additionally, he paid for the construction of a school for poor children and for area improvements in Dakar, Senegal. He supported a hospital for child victims of the siege in Sarajevo, which specialises in caring for amputees.[212] In Lima, Peru, he funded the “Palace for the Poor”, a centre for helping homeless street children obtain an education, clothing, food, medical attention, and shelter. Schumacher told F1 Magazine: “It’s great if you can use your fame and the power your fame gives you to draw attention to things that really matter”.[213] For the 2002 and 2013 European flood disasters, Schumacher donated 1 million and 500,000 euros, respectively.[214][215] He donated $10 million for aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake,[216] which surpassed that of any other sports person, most sports leagues, many worldwide corporations and even some countries.[217] From 2002 to 2006, he donated at least $50 million to various charities.[218] In 2008, he donated between $5M and $10M to the Clinton Foundation.[219]
Since his participation in an FIA European road safety campaign, as part of his punishment after the collision at the 1997 European Grand Prix, Schumacher continued to support other campaigns, such as Make Roads Safe, which is led by the FIA Foundation and calls on G8 countries and the United Nations to recognise global road deaths as a major global health issue. In 2008, Schumacher was the figurehead of an advertising campaign by Bacardi to raise awareness about responsible drinking. He featured in an advertising campaign for television, cinema and online media, supported by consumer engagements, public relations and digital media across the world.[220]
Finance and sponsorship
In 1999 and 2000, Forbes magazine listed him as the highest paid athlete in the world.[221] In 2005, Eurobusiness magazine identified Schumacher as the world’s first billionaire athlete.[222] In 2005, Forbes ranked him 17th in its “The World’s Most Powerful Celebrities” list.[223] A significant share of his income came from advertising; Deutsche Vermögensberatung paid him $8 million over three years from 1999 for wearing a 10 by 8 centimetre advertisement on his post-race cap.[224] In 2010, his personal fortune was estimated at £515 million.[225] In 2017, Forbes designated Schumacher as the athlete with the fifth highest career earnings of all-time.[226]
2013 skiing accident
On 29 December 2013, Schumacher was skiing with his 14-year-old son Mick, descending the Combe de Saulire below the Dent de Burgin above Méribel in the French Alps. While crossing an unsecured off-piste area between Piste Chamois and Piste Mauduit,[227][228] he fell and hit his head on a rock, sustaining a serious head injury despite wearing a ski helmet. According to his physicians, he would most likely have died had he not been wearing a helmet.[229] He was airlifted to Grenoble Hospital where he underwent two surgical interventions.[230] Schumacher was put into a medically induced coma because of traumatic brain injury.[231][232] By March 2014, there were small encouraging signs, and in early April he was showing moments of consciousness as he was gradually withdrawn from the medically induced coma.[233]
In June 2014, Schumacher left Grenoble Hospital for further rehabilitation at the Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.[234] In September 2014, Schumacher left the hospital and was brought back to his home for further rehabilitation.[235] Two months later, it was reported that Schumacher was “paralysed and in a wheelchair”; he “cannot speak and has memory problems”.[236] In May 2015, Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm stated that his condition was slowly improving “considering the severeness of the injury he had”.[237]
In September 2016, Felix Damm, lawyer for Schumacher, told a German court that his client “cannot walk”, in response to reports from December 2015 in German publication Die Bunte that he could walk again.[238] In July 2019, former Ferrari manager Jean Todt stated that Schumacher was making “good progress” but also “struggles to communicate”. Todt also said that Schumacher was able to watch Formula One races on television at his home.[239] In September of that year, Le Parisien reported that Schumacher had been admitted to the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou in Paris for treatment by cardiovascular surgeon Philippe Menasché, described as a “pioneer in cell surgery”. Following the treatment, which involved him receiving an anti-inflammatory stem cell perfusion, medical staff stated that Schumacher was “conscious”.[240]
Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner[4] (born Florence Delorez Griffith;[2] December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1980s she became a popular figure due to both her record-setting athleticism and eclectic personal style.
Griffith Joyner was born and raised in California. She was athletic from a young age and began running at track meets as a child. While attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she continued to compete in track and field. While still in college, she qualified for the 100 m 1980 Olympics, although she did not actually compete due to the U.S. boycott. She made her Olympic debut four years later, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100 meter sprint. She went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.
In February 1989, Griffith Joyner abruptly retired from athletics. She remained a pop culture figure through endorsement deals, acting, and designing. She died in her sleep as the result of an epileptic seizure in 1998 at the age of 38. She is buried at the El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest.
Early life
Griffith was born in Los Angeles, California, the seventh of eleven children born to Robert, an electrician, and Florence Griffith, a seamstress.[2][5] The family lived in Littlerock, California, before Florence Griffith moved with her children to the Jordan Downs public housing complex located in the Watts section of Los Angeles.[6][7]
When Griffith was in elementary school, she joined the Sugar Ray Robinson Organization, running in track meets on weekends.[7] She won the Jesse Owens National Youth Games two years in a row, at the ages of 14 and 15.[8] Griffith ran track at Jordan High School in Los Angeles.[7]
Showing an early interest in fashion, Griffith persuaded the members of the track team to wear tights with their uniforms.[8] As a high school senior in 1978, she finished sixth at the CIF California State Meet behind future teammates Alice Brown and Pam Marshall.[9] By the time she graduated from Jordan High School in 1978, she had set high-school records in sprinting and long jump.[10]
Career
Griffith attended the California State University at Northridge, and was on the track team coached by Bob Kersee.[11][12] This team, which included Brown and Jeanette Bolden,[12][13][14] won the national championship during Griffith's first year of college.[10] However, Griffith had to drop out to support her family, taking a job as a bank teller. Kersee found financial aid for her and she returned to college in 1980, this time at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where Kersee was working as a coach.[7][12]
Brown, Bolden, and Griffith qualified for the 100-meter final at the trials for the 1980 Summer Olympics (with Brown winning and Griffith finishing last in the final). Griffith also ran the 200 meters, narrowly finishing fourth, a foot out of a qualifying position.[8] However, the U.S. Government had already decided to boycott those Olympic Games mooting those results.[15] In 1983, Griffith graduated from UCLA with her bachelor's degree in psychology.[10]
Olympic runner[edit]
Griffith finished fourth in the 200-meter sprint at the first World Championship in Athletics in 1983.[16] In the next year, she qualified for the Olympics in the 200-meter distance with the second fastest time at the United States Olympic Trials, held in Los Angeles.[17] Evelyn Ashford, another UCLA alumna and early favorite to medal,[18] dropped out of the 200-meter due to injury.[17] Griffith went on to win a silver medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics.[10]
After the 1984 Olympic Games, she spent less time running.[19] Griffith continued to run part-time,[19] winning the 100-meter IAAF Grand Prix Final with the time of 11.00 seconds.[20] She did not compete at the 1985 U.S. National Championship.[21] That same year, she returned to working at a bank and styled hair and nails in her spare time.[10] She married Al Joyner, the Olympic triple jump champion of 1984, in 1987.[22]
She returned to athletics in April 1987.[23] Four months later, at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Griffith Joyner finished second in the 200-meter sprint.[24][23] Her success during the 1987 season resulted in being ranked second in Track and Field News' 1987 world rankings.[24] The 200 meters remained a stronger event for her than the 100 meters, where she was ranked seventh in the United States.[24]
Before the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, Griffith Joyner continued to work with her coach, and now husband's brother-in-law, Kersee, two days a week, but with her new husband coaching her three days a week.[25] She ran the 100 meter in 10.96-seconds at the 1987 Cologne Grand Prix Track and Field Meet, a personal best but the mark was not even in the top 40 of all time.[26][27] She continued to improve, again setting a personal best of 10.89 in the 100 meters in San Diego on June 25, 1988, but still remained shy of then American record holder Evelyn Ashford's three best times.[28] A week before the trials she ran a tune-up race in 10.99 in Santa Monica.[29]
In the first race of the quarterfinals of the U.S. Olympic Trials, she stunned her colleagues when she sprinted 100 meters in 10.49 seconds, a new world record by a margin of 0.27s over the previous record held by Evelyn Ashford.[8] Over the two-day trials, Griffith Joyner recorded the three fastest times for a woman at 100 meters: 10.49 in the quarter-final, 10.70 in the semifinal, and 10.61 in the final.[30][23] At the same Olympic trials, she also set an American record at the 200-meter distance with a time of 21.77 seconds.[31]
The 100-meter record was by far the largest improvement in the world record time since the advent of electronic timing, and still stands. This extraordinary result raised the possibility of a technical malfunction with the wind gauge which read at 0.0 m/s - a reading at odds with the windy conditions on the day, with high wind speeds being recorded in all other sprints before and after this race as well as the parallel long jump runway at the time of the Griffith Joyner performance. All scientific studies commissioned by the IAAF and independent organisations have since found there was an illegal tailwind of between 5 m/s – 7 m/s at the time. The IAAF has not annulled the result, but since 1997 the International Athletics Annual of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has listed it as "probably strongly wind assisted, but recognized as a world record."[32] The fastest non-wind-assisted performance would then be Griffith Joyner's 10.61s in the final the next day.[33] This mark was equaled by Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 2020 Olympic Final before being surpassed by Thompson-Herah at the post-Olympics Eugene Diamond League meeting in August 2021.[34] Thompson-Herah clocked 10.54 seconds, officially the second fastest time in women's 100 m history.
Following the Olympic trials, in late July 1988, Griffith Joyner left coach Kersee saying she wanted a coach able to provide more personal attention. Another contributing factor was her unhappiness with the lack of sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.[35] In addition to being her coach, Kersee was Griffith Joyner's manager, as he required all the athletes he coached to use his management services too.[35] Griffith Joyner's decision to sign with personal manager Gordon Baskin therefore necessitated the coaching change.[35][36] She left UCLA for UC Irvine with her husband serving as full-time coach.[25]
By now known to the world as "Flo-Jo", Griffith Joyner was the big favorite for the titles in the sprint events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In the 100-meter final, she ran a 10.54, beating her nearest rival to the world record, Evelyn Ashford, by 0.30 seconds. In the 200 meter semifinal, she set the world record of 21.56 seconds and then broke this record by 0.22 seconds in winning the final with a time of 21.34 seconds.[37] Like her 100-meter world record, this mark still stands.
At the same Olympics, Griffith Joyner also ran with the 4 × 100 m relay and the 4 × 400 m relay teams. Her team won the 4 × 100 m relay and finished second in the 4 × 400 m relay.[19] This was her first internationally rated 4 × 400 m relay. She left the games having won four Olympic medals, three gold and one silver.[38] At the time, her medal haul was the second most for female track and field athlete in history, behind only Fanny Blankers-Koen who won four gold medals in 1948.[38]
In February 1989, Griffith Joyner announced her retirement from racing.[36][39] She cited her new business opportunities outside of sprinting.[10][39][40] The month after announcing her retirement, she was selected as the winner of the James E. Sullivan Award of 1988 as the top amateur athlete in the United States.[41]
Comeback attempt and other activities
Griffith Joyner's success at the 1988 Olympics led to new opportunities.[36][40] In the weeks following the Olympics, she earned millions of dollars from endorsement deals, primarily in Japan. She also signed a deal with toy maker LJN Toys for a Barbie-like doll in her likeness.[36]
Among the things she did away from the track was to design the basketball uniforms for the Indiana Pacers NBA team in 1989.[10] She served as co-chair of President's Council on Physical Fitness.[19] She made a guest appearance as herself on a season 4 episode of 227, and appeared in the soap opera Santa Barbara in 1992, as "Terry Holloway", a photographer similar to Annie Leibovitz.[42][43]
In 1996, Griffith Joyner appeared on Charlie Rose and announced her comeback to competitive athletics, concentrating on the 400-meter run.[44] Her reason was that she had already set world marks in both the 100 m and 200 m events, with the 400 m world record being her goal. She trained steadily leading up to the U.S. Olympic trials in June. However, tendonitis in her right leg ended her hopes of becoming a triple-world-record holder. Al Joyner also attempted a comeback, but he was unable to compete due to an injured quadriceps muscle.[45]
Style
Beyond her running prowess, Griffith Joyner was known for her bold fashion choices.[30][46] She appeared at the World Championships in 1987 in Rome wearing a hooded speed skating body suit.[46][22] In April 1988 she started wearing a running suit with the right leg of the suit extending to the ankle and the left leg of the suit cut off, a style she called the "one-legger".[30][46][22] The running suits also had bold colors such as lime green or purple with white bikini bottoms and embellished with lightning bolts.[30]
Her nails also garnered attention for their length and designs.[30][22] Her nails were four inches long with tiger stripes at the 1988 Olympic trials before switching to fuchsia.[30] For the Olympic games themselves, she had six inch nails painted red, white, blue, and gold.[22] Although many sprinters avoided accessories which might slow them down, Griffith Joyner kept her hair long and wore jewelry while competing.[46] She designed many of her outfits herself and preferred looks which were not conventional.[46]
Allegations of performance-enhancing drug use
Florence Griffith Joyner is rarely mentioned without an invisible asterisk next to her name when the women's 100 and 200 meters comes around in Olympic year. Current runners bemoan the unreachable bench mark she set. Double Olympic 200 meter gold medalist Veronica Campbell Brown got nowhere near it, saying it was beyond her reach. Former 200 meter Olympic champion Gwen Torrence said that she "did not acknowledge those records. ... To me they don't exist and women sprinters are suffering as a result of what she did to the times in the 100 and 200."
After her record-shattering performances at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, she became an object of suspicion when she arrived at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.[47] Athletes, including Joaquim Cruz and Ben Johnson, expressed disbelief over Griffith Joyner's dramatic improvement over a short period of time.[48] Before the 1988 track and field season, her best time in the 100-meter sprint was 10.96 seconds (set in 1987). In 1988, she improved that by 0.47 seconds.[49]
Her best before 1988 at 200 meters was 21.96 seconds (also set in 1987). In 1988, she improved that by 0.62 seconds to 21.34 seconds, another time that has not been approached. Griffith Joyner attributed the change in her physique to new health programs.[50] Al Joyner replaced Bob Kersee as her coach, and he changed her training program to include more lower body strength training exercises such as squats and lunges.[51]
In a 1989 story for which he was purportedly paid $25,000,[52] Darrell Robinson, a former teammate of Griffith Joyner, claimed that he sold her 10 mL of growth hormone for $2,000 in 1988. He said Joyner told him: "if you want to make $1 million, you've got to invest some thousands."[50] Robinson claimed to have received steroids from coach Bob Kersee and said he saw Carl Lewis inject himself with drugs he believed to be testosterone.[52]
Robinson never provided any evidence for his allegations and was shunned by the athletics community, leading to the premature end of his career.[53] After the 1988 Olympics, Griffith Joyner retired from competitive track and field, just before the introduction of mandatory random drug testing in 1989.[47][54] She was repeatedly tested during competition and passed every test.[55][56]
After her death in 1998, Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic Committee's medical commission, claimed that Griffith Joyner was singled out for extra, rigorous drug testing during the 1988 Olympic Games following rumors of steroid use. De Merode told The New York Times that Manfred Donike, who was at that time considered to be the foremost expert on drugs and sports, failed to discover any banned substances during that testing.[57] The World Anti-Doping Agency was created in the 1990s, removing control of drug testing from the IOC and De Merode. De Merode later stated: "We performed all possible and imaginable analyses on her. We never found anything. There should not be the slightest suspicion."[47]
Roger Federer (German: [ˈrɔdʒər ˈfeːdərər]; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. He won 103 ATP singles titles, the second most of all time, including 20 major men's singles titles, a record eight men's singles Wimbledon titles, an Open Era joint-record five men's singles US Open titles, and a joint-record six year-end championships. In his home country, he is regarded as "the greatest and most successful" Swiss sportsperson in history.[4]
A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and former ball boy, Federer won his first major singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21.[5] Between 2003 and 2009, Federer played in 21 out of 28 major singles finals. He won three of the four majors and the ATP Finals[c] in 2004, 2006, and 2007 as well as five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three consecutive runner-up finishes to Nadal, his main rival until 2010. At age 27, he surpassed Pete Sampras' record of 14 major men's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.
Federer and Stan Wawrinka led the Switzerland Davis Cup team to their first title in 2014, following their Olympic doubles gold victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Federer also won a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. After a half-year hiatus in late 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Rafael Nadal and an eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2018 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win 20 major singles titles and shortly the oldest ATP world No. 1 at age 36. In September 2022, he retired from professional tennis following the Laver Cup.
A versatile all-court player, Federer's perceived effortlessness has made him highly popular among tennis fans. Originally lacking self-control as a junior, he transformed his on-court demeanor to become well-liked for his graciousness, winning the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 13 times. He has won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award a record five times. Outside of competing, he played an instrumental role in the creation of the Laver Cup team competition. He is also an active philanthropist. He established the Roger Federer Foundation, which targets impoverished children in southern Africa, and has raised funds in part through the Match for Africa exhibition series. He is routinely one of the top ten highest-paid athletes in any sport and ranked first among all athletes with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020.[6]
Personal life
Childhood and early life
Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland.[7][8] A member of the Federer family, his Swiss-German father, Robert Federer, is from Berneck in the canton of St. Gallen and his Afrikaner mother, Lynette Federer (née Durand), is from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa.[9] He has one sibling, his older sister, Diana,[10] the mother of twins.[11] Since Federer's mother is South African, he holds both Swiss and South African citizenship.[12] He grew up in nearby Birsfelden, Riehen, and then Münchenstein, close to the French and German borders, and speaks Swiss German, Standard German, English, and French fluently as well as functional Italian and Swedish. Swiss German is his native language.[7][13][14][15] He was a ball boy at his hometown Basel event, the Swiss Indoors in 1992 and 1993.[13][16]
Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was ruled "unsuitable" and was subsequently not required to fulfill his military obligation.[17] Instead, he served in the civil protection force and was required to pay 3% of his taxable income as an alternative.[18] Later, he revealed that he was discharged due to a chronic back problem.[19]
He grew up supporting FC Basel and the Swiss national football team.[20] He also credits his hand-eye coordination to the wide range of sports he played as a child, including badminton and basketball.[21]
Family
Federer is married to former Women's Tennis Association player Miroslava Federer (née Vavrinec), whom he met while they were both competing for Switzerland at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Usually called Mirka, she retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury.[22] They were married at Wenkenhof Villa in Riehen near Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family.[23] In 2009, she gave birth to identical twin girls.[24] They had another pair of twins in 2014, this time fraternal twin boys.[25][26] Their children were baptized in the Catholic faith by Federer's distant cousin Monsignor Urban Federer, who is the Abbot of Einsiedeln Abbey.[27]
#OTD in 1956, American tennis player Althea Gibson won the French Open, becoming the first player of colour to win a Grand Slam title. The next year she won singles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Championships, and repeated the feat in 1958. Watch: https://t.co/ru3VgX7m5G pic.twitter.com/19iBrEu1mD
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) May 25, 2018
Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title.[4] Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived", said Bob Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina [Navratilova] couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters."[5] In the early 1960s she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women's Professional Golf Tour.
At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson was often compared to Jackie Robinson. "Her road to success was a challenging one", said Billie Jean King, "but I never saw her back down."[6] "To anyone, she was an inspiration, because of what she was able to do at a time when it was enormously difficult to play tennis at all if you were Black", said former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.[7] "I am honored to have followed in such great footsteps", wrote Venus Williams. "Her accomplishments set the stage for my success, and through players like myself and Serena and many others to come, her legacy will live on."[8]
Early life and education
The loser is always a part of the problem; the winner is always a part of the answer. The loser always has an excuse; the winner always has a program. The loser says it may be possible, but it's difficult; the winner says it may be difficult, but it's possible.
—Althea Gibson, 1991[9]
Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in the town of Silver, in Clarendon County, South Carolina, to Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson, who worked as sharecroppers on a cotton farm.[10] The Great Depression hit rural southern farmers sooner than much of the rest of the country,[11] so in 1930 the family moved to Harlem, as part of the Great Migration, where Althea's three sisters and brother were born.[12] Their apartment was located on a stretch of 143rd Street (between Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue) that had been designated a Police Athletic League play area; during daylight hours it was barricaded so that neighborhood children could play organized sports.[6][13] Gibson quickly became proficient in paddle tennis, and by 1939, at the age of 12, she was the New York City women's paddle tennis champion.[14][15][16] Gibson quit school at the age of 13 and, using the boxing skills taught to her by her father, engaged in a life of what she would later refer to as "street fighting", girls basketball, and watching movies. Fearful of her father's violent behavior, after dropping out of school, she spent some time living in a Catholic protective shelter for abused children.[17]
In 1940 a group of Gibson's neighbors took up a collection to finance a junior membership and lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. At first, Gibson didn't like tennis, a sport she thought was for weak people. As she explained, "I kept wanting to fight the other player every time I started to lose a match."[17] In 1941 she entered—and won—her first tournament, the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship.[18] She won the ATA national championship in the girls' division in 1944 and 1945, and after losing in the women's final in 1946, won her first of ten straight national ATA women's titles in 1947.[19] "I knew that I was an unusual, talented girl, through the grace of God," she wrote. "I didn't need to prove that to myself. I only wanted to prove it to my opponents."[20]
Gibson's ATA success drew the attention of Walter Johnson, a Lynchburg, Virginia, physician who was active in the African American tennis community.[21] Under Johnson's patronage—he would later mentor Arthur Ashe as well—Gibson gained access to more advanced instruction and more important competitions, and later, to the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA, later known as the USTA).[22] In 1946 she moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, under the sponsorship of another physician and tennis activist, Hubert A. Eaton[23] and enrolled at the racially segregated Williston Industrial High School. In 1949 she became the first Black woman, and the second Black athlete (after Reginald Weir), to play in the USTA's National Indoor Championships, where she reached the quarter-finals.[24] Later that year she entered Florida A&M University (FAMU) on a full athletic scholarship[25] and was a member of the Beta Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[26]
Amateur career
Despite her growing reputation as an elite-level player, Gibson was effectively barred from entering the premier American tournament, the United States National Championships (now the US Open) at Forest Hills. While USTA rules officially prohibited racial or ethnic discrimination, players qualified for the Nationals by accumulating points at sanctioned tournaments, most of which were held at white-only clubs.[27] In 1950, in response to intense lobbying by ATA officials and retired champion Alice Marble—who published a scathing open letter in the magazine American Lawn Tennis[28]—Gibson became the first Black player to receive an invitation to the Nationals, where she made her Forest Hills debut a few days after her 23rd birthday.[29][30] Although she lost narrowly in the second round in a rain-delayed, three-set match to Louise Brough, the reigning Wimbledon champion and former US National winner, her participation received extensive national and international coverage.[30][31] "No Negro player, man or woman, has ever set foot on one of these courts", wrote journalist Lester Rodney at the time. "In many ways, it is even a tougher personal Jim Crow-busting assignment than was Jackie Robinson's when he first stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout."[32]
In 1951 Gibson won her first international title, the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica,[2] and later that year became one of the first Black competitors at Wimbledon, where she was defeated in the third round by Beverly Baker.[33] In 1952 she was ranked seventh nationally by the USTA.[34] In the spring of 1953 she graduated from Florida A&M and took a job teaching physical education at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri.[35] During her two years at Lincoln she became romantically involved with an Army officer whom she never named publicly,[36] and considered enlisting in the Women's Army Corps, but decided against it when the State Department sent her on a goodwill tour of Asia in 1955 to play exhibition matches with Ham Richardson, Bob Perry, and Karol Fageros.[37] Many Asians in the countries they visited—Burma, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, and Thailand—"felt an affinity to Althea as a woman of color and were delighted to see her as part of an official US delegation. With the United States grappling over the question of race, they turned to Althea for answers, or at least to get a firsthand perspective."[38] Gibson, for her part, strengthened her confidence immeasurably during the six-week tour.[39] When it was over, she remained abroad, winning 16 of 18 tournaments in Europe and Asia against many of the world's best players.[40]
In 1956, Gibson became the first African-American athlete to win a Grand Slam tournament, the French Championships singles event. She also won the doubles title, partnered with Briton Angela Buxton.[41] Later in the season she won the Wimbledon doubles championship (again with Buxton), the Italian Championships in Rome, the Indian Championships in New Delhi and the Asian championship in Ceylon.[42] She also reached the quarter-finals in singles at Wimbledon and the finals at the US Nationals, losing both to Shirley Fry.[43]
The 1957 season was, in her own words, "Althea Gibson's year".[44] In July Gibson was seeded first at Wimbledon—considered at the time the "world championship of tennis"—and defeated Darlene Hard in the finals for the singles title.[45] She was the first Black champion in the tournament's 80-year history, and the first champion to receive the trophy personally from Queen Elizabeth II.[46] "Shaking hands with the Queen of England", she said, "was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus."[47] She won the doubles championship as well, for the second year. Upon her return home Gibson became only the second Black American, after Jesse Owens, to be honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City, and Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. presented her with the Bronze Medallion, the city's highest civilian award.[48] A month later she defeated Louise Brough in straight sets to win her first US National Championship.[49] "Winning Wimbledon was wonderful", she wrote, "and it meant a lot to me. But there is nothing quite like winning the championship of your own country."[50] In all she reached the finals of eight Grand Slam events in 1957, winning the Wimbledon and US National singles titles, the Wimbledon and Australian doubles championships, and the US mixed doubles crown, and finishing second in Australian singles, US doubles, and Wimbledon mixed doubles. At season's end she broke yet another barrier as the first Black player on the US Wightman Cup team, which defeated Great Britain 6–1.[51] With Gibson winning her last 55 matches of the season, plus her first 2 matches in 1958, she won 57 matches in a row.[52]
In 1958, Gibson successfully defended her Wimbledon and US National singles titles, and won her third straight Wimbledon doubles championship, with a third different partner. She was the number-one-ranked woman in the world[53] and in the United States[54] in both 1957 and 1958, and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years, garnering over 80% of the votes in 1958.[55] She also became the first Black woman to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated[56] and Time.[57]
Professional career
In late 1958, having won 56 national and international singles and doubles titles, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. Prior to the Open Era there was no prize money at major tournaments, and direct endorsement deals were prohibited. Players were limited to meager expense allowances, strictly regulated by the USTA. "The truth, to put it bluntly, is that my finances were in heartbreaking shape", she wrote. "Being the Queen of Tennis is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown. Nor can you send the Internal Revenue Service a throne clipped to their tax forms. The landlord and grocer and tax collector are funny that way: they like cold cash ... I reign over an empty bank account, and I'm not going to fill it by playing amateur tennis."[58] Professional tours for women were still 15 years away, so her opportunities were largely limited to promotional events. In 1959 she signed to play a series of exhibition matches against Fageros before Harlem Globetrotter basketball games.[59][22] When the tour ended she won the singles and doubles titles at the Pepsi Cola World Pro Tennis Championships in Cleveland, but received only $500 in prize money.[60]
During this period, Gibson also pursued her long-held aspirations in the entertainment industry. A talented vocalist and saxophonist—and runner-up in the Apollo Theater's amateur talent contest in 1943[61]—she made her professional singing debut at W. C. Handy's 84th-birthday tribute at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1957.[62] An executive from Dot Records was impressed with her performance, and signed her to record an album of popular standards. Althea Gibson Sings was released in 1959, and Gibson performed two of its songs on The Ed Sullivan Show in May and July of that year, but sales were disappointing.[63] She appeared as a celebrity guest on the TV panel show What's My Line? and was cast as an enslaved woman in the John Ford motion picture The Horse Soldiers (1959), which was notable for her refusal to speak in the stereotypic "Negro" dialect mandated by the script.[64] She also worked as a sports commentator, appeared in print and television advertisements for various products, and increased her involvement in social issues and community activities.[65] In 1960 her first memoir, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody, written with sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald, was published.[66]
Her professional tennis career, however, was going nowhere. "When I looked around me, I saw that white tennis players, some of whom I had thrashed on the court, were picking up offers and invitations", she wrote. "Suddenly it dawned on me that my triumphs had not destroyed the racial barriers once and for all, as I had—perhaps naively—hoped. Or if I did destroy them, they had been erected behind me again."[67] She also noted that she repeatedly applied for membership in the All-England Club, based on her status as a Wimbledon champion, but was never accepted. (Her doubles partner, Angela Buxton, who was Jewish, was also repeatedly denied membership.)[68]
In 1964, at the age of 37, Gibson became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour.[69] Racial discrimination continued to be a problem: Many hotels still excluded people of color, and country club officials throughout the south—and some in the north—routinely refused to allow her to compete. When she did compete, she was often forced to dress for tournaments in her car because she was banned from the clubhouse.[70] Although she was one of the LPGA's top 50 money winners for five years, and won a car at a Dinah Shore tournament, her lifetime golf earnings never exceeded $25,000.[71]
While she broke course records during individual rounds in several tournaments, Gibson's highest ranking was 27th in 1966, and her best tournament finish was a tie for second after a three-way playoff at the 1970 Len Immke Buick Open.[72] She retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season.[73] "Althea might have been a real player of consequence had she started when she was young", said Judy Rankin. "She came along during a difficult time in golf, gained the support of a lot of people, and quietly made a difference."[74]
Personal life and final years
She married her best friend Rosemary Darben's brother William in 1965. His income helped supplement the proceeds she received through various sponsorship deals. The marriage ended in 1976.[84] In 1983 she married tennis coach Sydney Llewellyn. That marriage also ended in divorce. She had no children.[85]
In the late 1980s Gibson suffered two cerebral hemorrhages, followed by a stroke in 1992. Ongoing medical expenses left her in dire financial circumstances. She reached out to multiple tennis organizations requesting help, but none responded.[27] Former doubles partner Angela Buxton made Gibson's plight known to the tennis community, and raised nearly $1 million in donations from around the world.[86][87]
Gibson survived a heart attack in 2003, but died on September 28 that year from complications following respiratory and bladder infections. Her body was interred in the Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New Jersey, near her first husband Will Darben.[88][89]
Sir Robert Charlton CBE (born 11 October 1937-died 21st October 2023) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time,[3] he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the year he also won the Ballon d’Or. He finished second in the Ballon d’Or in 1967 and 1968. He played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts, his passing abilities from midfield and his ferocious long-range shot, as well as his fitness and stamina. He was cautioned only twice in his career; once against Argentina in the 1966 World Cup, and once in a league match against Chelsea. His elder brother Jack, who was also in the World Cup-winning team, was a former defender for Leeds United and international manager. With success at club and international level, he is one of nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d’Or.
Born in Ashington, Northumberland, Charlton made his debut for the Manchester United first-team in 1956, aged 18, and soon gained a regular place in the team, during which time he became a Football League First Division champion in 1957 then survived the Munich air disaster of February 1958 after being rescued by teammate Harry Gregg; Charlton is the last survivor of the crash from the club. After helping United to win the FA Cup in 1963 and the Football League in 1965 and 1967, he captained the team that won the European Cup in 1968, scoring two goals in the final to help them become the first English club to win the competition.
Charlton left Manchester United to become manager of Preston North End for the 1973–74 season.[4] He changed to player-manager the following season. He next accepted a post as a director with Wigan Athletic, then became a member of Manchester United’s board of directors in 1984.[5]
At international level, Charlton was named in the England squad for four World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970), though did not play in the first. At the time of his retirement from the England team in 1970 he was the nation’s most capped player, having turned out 106 times at the highest level; Bobby Moore overtook this in 1973. Charlton was the long-time record goalscorer for both Manchester United and England, and United’s long-time record appearance maker – his total of 758 matches for United took until 2008 to be beaten, when Ryan Giggs did so in that year’s Champions League final.[6] With 249 goals, he was the club’s highest all-time goalscorer for more than 40 years, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2017. He is also the third-highest goalscorer for England;[7] his record of 49 goals was beaten in 2015 by Rooney, and again by some dude from Spurs in 2022.[8]
Saturday 21st October 2023 - a sad day, but it's an inevitability that all lives comes to an end eventually. Rest in Peace, Sir Bobby Charlton