Chess Vs Checkers

Every football player dreams to taste success at the highest level in this sport. But, very few attain it in practicality. There is one such player who had some memorable playing days with the German football. He is Paul Breitner. He was popularly called “Der Afro” due to his large curly hair.

He became a star player at a young age. He joined Bayern Munich at nineteen years of age in 1970. The next year he debuted for West Germany. Initially in his career he played as a full-back player, but later he played in midfield. He was known to have an excellent right foot shot that he used quite often with amazing results.

He was part of the West Germany team that won European Championship held in 1972. After two years they won their second title of World Cup playing as hosts. Breitner played fantastically scoring three goals in it from the defensive position. These included two long range shots against Yugoslavia and Chile besides one penalty in the final match against Holland. Bayern Munich lifted the European Cup in 1974 to make it a superb year for Breitner. At a young age of 22 years, he had won everything this sport could offer.

Paul did not participate at the next world cup in 1978 at Argentina. He had disagreements with certain players and coaching staff. He stayed out of the West Germany team for many years. He changed his thinking just before the World Cup, 1982 in Spain. Several players including Rummenigge supported him.

Breitner played a crucial midfield role in making West Germany reach the final in 1982 where Italy defeated them. Breitner scored the only goal scored by West Germany in the final. He became the third player after Pele and Vava, who scored in two finals of World Cup.

The Summer Olympics, 1948 took place at London, UK. These games took place after a gap of 12 years due to the Second World War.  London had also hosted these games in 1908. This event was called the Austerity Games because of the post-war rationing and economic climate. There were no new venues for these games. There was no Olympic Village and existing accommodation was used for housing athletes.

Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen performed superbly at these games. This 30 years old sprinter was a mother of three kids and still she bagged four gold medals.

Bob Mathias from America won the decathlon title at 17 years of age. He became the youngest male sportsperson to win a gold medal in athletics at Olympics. Veikko Huhtanen from Finland won the most number of individual medals. He excelled in the men’s category of gymnastics by winning three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

The United States greatly dominated the track an field at these games. Harrison Dillard of the United States won the gold medal in men’s 100 meters race by recording a timing of 10.3 seconds. Mel Patton again from the United States won the 200 meters men’s title with a timing of 21.1 seconds. Willie Steele also from US performed fabulously in the long jump event. He won the gold by recording a jump of 7.825 meters.

America’s Mal Whitfield won the 800 meters men’s title. Arthur Wint of Jamaica won the first Olympic gold for his nation by winning the title in men’s 400 meters race. Besides this he also came second in 800 meters event.

The United States beat France 65-21 in the final of basketball to win the gold. In the football final Sweden beat Yugoslavia 3-1 to win the gold.

There were eleven events contested in swimming including both men’s and women’s category. The United States excelled in them by winning eight gold medals. This included all the six events for men. In total they won 15 medals in swimming.

Cycling is a very challenging sport and full of adventure. Only very tough players taste success in it. Rarely, we see a cyclist setting bench mark for others to follow. Former American professional cyclist Lance Armstrong is one of them.

He is famous for winning Tour de France seven times in a row which is a record. He also survived the testicular cancer. He last represented the Team RadioShack.

He was found with the testicular cancer in 1996. His treatment of cancer included extensive chemotherapy and testicular and brain surgery. He won Tour de France from the year 1999 to 2005 consecutively. He is the only sportsperson ever to win it seven times. He broke the earlier mark of five victories shared by Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.

He was chosen for many prestigious awards during his career. In the year 2000, he was given Prince of Asturias Award. He retired in the 2005 end but came back into action in 2009. He again retired from the competitive level in cycling in February 2011.