April 29th, 2010
Kiira Korpi is a Finnish figure skater. She was born in Tampere, Finland on 26th September 1988.she received her training from her father Rauno Korpi. In 1998 under her father’s guidance she won a bronze medal in the 1998 winter Olympics.
In 2005, she was a part of the Finnish Figure skating Championships, and there she won a silver medal. Due to that she qualified for the 2005 European Figure Skating Championships in which she stood 13th.following that she achieved quite a lot. In 2006 she stood 3rd in the Finnish Figure Skating Championships, 6th at the 2006 European Figure Skating Championships, and then went on to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics where she finished in 16th place. The Finnish skating federation considered her results of the European championships to determine the Olympic team. Though she was a minor she got selected.
After the Olympics Kiira made her senior grand prix debut. She took part in two events there and came fourth in the Finnish Figure Skating Championships in 2006.in the 2007 European figure skating championship she won a bronze medal. Due to her win she was the 2nd female from Finland to win at the European championships. During 2007-2008 season, she suffered an injury because of which she sadly had to exit from that year’s grand prix. That would have been her 1st grand prix event.
Over the years she took part in several short programs for example like in caravan(by Ikuko Kawai),Triunfal(Astor Piazzolla) Eye Patch Yo Te Quiero-from Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Robert Rodriguez), Nessun Dorma(Giacomo Puccini) which was performed by Vanessa Mae. She was also a part of “the blues collection”-fever (Elvis Presley) in 2005,”it’s oh so quiet” by Bjork and in the ABBA medley of “gimme a man after midnight”, “dancing queen” and “winner takes it all”. (2008)
In Finland her nickname is Jääprinsessa which means ice princess. She is said to be the most beautiful female figure skater by the world. As of April 2010, she was ranked 13th in the world by the International Skating Union (ISU).
Tags: European Figure Skating Championships, Figure skating Championships, Kiira Korpi, Kiira Korpi aka Jääprinsessa
Posted in Finnish figure skaters | 2 Comments »
April 26th, 2010
Karnam Malleswari is an Indian weightlifter. She was born on 1st of June in the year 1975 in Srikalukam in Andhra Pradesh, India. She practiced weightlifting in her village gymnasium at the tender age of 12. Her younger sister Krishna Kumari is also a national level weightlifter. Karnam Malleswari did her schooling from ZPPG High School in Amadalavalasa. Her father was a constable in the Railway Protection Force. Malleshwari was trained under a games project of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for special areas.
For the first time she participated in the ‘National Junior weight lifting championship and stood 1st. in the year 1992, she participated in the Asian champion ship which took place in Thailand and stood second and won three silver medals. In the world championship she won three bronze medals also. She gained worldwide recognition when she won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney. It was a huge accomplishment as she became the 1st female to win an Olympic medal. For the years 1995-1996, she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honour. She is also a recipient of the civilian honour Padma Shri in 1999.Malleswari is awarded the Arjuna Award in 1994.in the year 1995, Karnam Malleswari won the world weightlifting title in her class (54kgs) with a new record, by lifting 113.0 kg in the clean and jerk. She beat the previous record of 112 kg and won a gold medal in that particular event. She also won the 1995 Asian championship. She broke her own records in the Senior National Weightlifting Championship in 1997, and India’s first medal, a weightlifting silver, in the 1998 Asian Games.
In the year 1997, she got married at took a break from weightlifting. She returned in the year 1998 or the Bangkok Asian Games. Although, unfortunately enough she was unable to be very successful. Even at the Athens World Weightlifting championships held in the year 1999, she was unable to win a medal. There was contention over the choice of weightlifters for India’s Olympic team. With three contestants and two spots, there was criticism when Kunjarani Devi was left out. However, Malleswari’s bronze validates her selection. She currently lives in Haryana with her family.
Tags: Indian weightlifter, Karnam Malleswari, Sports Authority of India (SAI)
Posted in Female Weightlifeters | 1 Comment »
April 23rd, 2010
Chemmy Alcott is the current female British number one Alpine skier. She is an all-round racer, competing in the Downhill, Super G, Classic Combined/Super Combined, Giant Slalom and Slalom events. Her real name is Chimene Mary Alcott She was born in Middlesex; Greater London on 10th July 1982.It is said that Chemmy was named after Sophia Loren’s character from a movie called El Cid.She started skiing at the tender age of 18 months! At the age of just three she took part in her 1st race.
She became a member of the “British Junior Alpine team” in 1993 after she won the Etoile D’Or French Village Ski Championship. In 1995 she won the “Sunday times Junior Sportswoman of the Year award”.For her training every year she went to New Zealand every summer between the ages of 11 to 19.At the age of 12 she had an accident where she broke her neck and still has some minor problems regarding that, till date.
Alcott made her FIS race debut in August 1997 in a Giant Slalom event at Coronet Peak, Zealand. She won a silver medal there. In 1998 she returned to Australia winning many championships. The following winter Alcott won Silver (Super G) and Bronze (Giant Slalom) medals at the 1999 European Youth Olympics in Štrbské Pleso, Slovaki.In a Giant Slalom race in Lienz, Austria, she made her world cup debut. At the 2001 Junior World Championships, Alcott finished 8th in the Slalom event on her way to 5th in the overall classification. Her 1st world cup qualification by finishing 27th in a Giant Slalom event in Innsbruck, Austria. Chemmy remained within the top 30 during the years 2003-2004.in the world cup season. One of her other achievements were during the Torino winter games where she finished 11th,(best Olympic performance by any British since 1968);She was also the winner of 4 titles at the British alpine championship. She won the Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom events.
But due to her several injuries, and surgeries her game had to suffer a lot. Many a times she couldn’t participate because of her injuries. During her injury lay-off at the start of the 2008/2009 World Cup season, Alcott joined Matt Chilton in the British Eurosport commentary box as guest commentator for several of the women’s World Cup events. Alcott has previously appeared on Channel 4’s World Cup Skiing programme, with a regular feature called Fit to Ski, in which she demonstrated different exercise techniques.
She was a part of the June 2008 climb of Mount Kilimanjaro along with fellow ski racers Julia Mancuso and Lauren Ross and her boyfriend. She today lives in Hove, Sussex with her boyfriend.
Tags: Alpine skier, Chemmy Alcott, Ski Championship
Posted in Alpine ski girls, Ski girls | 2 Comments »
April 22nd, 2010
Carmen Schäfer is a professional Swiss curler. She was born on January the 8th in the year 1981.she was born in Davos, Switzerland.
As a junior she had a successful career from the very start. She was the alternate on the Swiss team which was being skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni) that won the 1999 World Junior Championships, but she did not play any games. Skipped the Swiss team at the 2000 and 2001 World Juniors, finishing fourth and winning the bronze medal respectively. She lost to the U.S. team during the bronze medal game in the year 2000.the scores were 8-5.but soon enough, in the year 2001, during the bronze medal game again she beat Moe Meguro’s Japanese team and won a bronze the scores were 5-4. In 2007, Schäfer joined Mirjam Ott’s team. They finished in the fourth place at the Championships in 2008; they once again defeated Meguro’s team in the bronze medal game at the Championship. earlier they were unfortunately defeated by the Japanese with a score of 3-4.in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, her team, (which was) again skipped by Mirjam Ott, finished a disappointing fourth place, as Ott’s touch completely deserted her late in the semi-final and bronze medal matches. She has also played in the Continental Cup of Curling in the year 2008.In the world junior championships; she won gold at the 1999 Östersund, and bronze at the 2001 Ogden. In 2008 Vernon she won a bronze medal under the world championships and in the European championship she won gold at the 2008 Örnsköldsvik and silver at the 2009 Aberdeen.
Apart from her profession she enjoys several other hobbies like dancing, cycling, jogging, and photography. She has a pierced tongue. Currently she lives in Switzerland with her family.
Tags: Carmen Schäfer, Swiss curler
Posted in Curling girls | 2 Comments »
April 21st, 2010
Billie Jean Moffitt King is a former tennis player from the USA. She is the founder of the women’s tennis association and the world team tennis association along with her husband Lawrence King. Billie jean was born in on November 22nd, 1943 in California. She belonged to a conservative family. Her father was a fireman and her mother a housekeeper. Her younger brother randy Moffitt is a professional baseball player.
Billie jean attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. After graduating she attended Angeles. She married Lawrence king in 1965 in long beach, California but they got divorced in 1987 after Billie jean realized that she was interested in women.
In august 2009, she was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her work advocating for the rights of women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community. She made an appearance in the popular sitcom “ugly betty” and is a friend of Elton john.
Billie jean learnt playing tennis professionally on the public courts of Long Beach, California. She made her grand slam debut in 1959 at the age of 15 at the U.S. Championship. In the same year she also played the four of what is called the “Eastern Grass Court Circuit”. King was coached by Alice Marble, winner of 18 grand slam titles. She won her 1st adult tournament title at the Philadelphia and District Women’s Grass Court Championships, defeating Karen Hantze. But following that in South Africa she lost 4 significant matches. King first gained international recognition in 1961 when she won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon in her first attempt while partnering Karen Hantze.She was only 17 years old. In 1961 she won the Pennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships for the first time. When she played the Wightman Cup for the first time, she defeated Ann Hayden Jones but lost to Janes. In 1967 King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships, defeating Maria Bueno in the finals. In early 1968, King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour. But she had a knee injury towards the end of the year. She did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year. King said that it took eight months (May 1969) for her knee to recover completely from the surgery.
Before the start of the open era in 1968, King earned US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at Los Angeles State College when not playing in major tennis tournaments. King won 129 singles titles, and her career prize money totaled US$1,966,487. She received numerous awards, honors and tributes over all these years.
In total she has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Today she lives in Chicago and New York with her partner Illana Kloss.
Tags: Billie Jean Moffitt, Grand Slam, world team tennis association
Posted in Tennis players | 4 Comments »
February 1st, 2010
Allison Baver is a professional short track speed skater. She was born on September 11, 1980 in Salt Lake City, Utah. When she transferred to short track. She made her self a make shift pair of skates with old inline boots with a blade attached. In 2000, she finally got a pair of short track skates. Her family got her a pair of custom boots for Christmas.
Allison did inline skating for 8 years. She started short track skating. After watching the 1998 Olympics she got interested in short track skating. She finally joined the national programme in 1999; after making the switch from inline to short track, Baver moved to the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich., in September 2000. She returned to the training center the following year, after which she qualified for the 2002 U.S. Olympic team. She lived at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs until 2007, when she moved to Salt Lake City, the home of U.S. Speedskating. Since 2002, Baver has been one of America’s best female short-track skaters.
In 2003 she graduated from Penn state. Later on she got an MBA in an online business program through Ellis College at the New York Institute of Technology and also is considering law school. She lived at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs until 2007, when she moved to Salt Lake City, the home of U.S. Speedskating. Allison was the U.S. national champion in 2006-07 and also finished eighth overall at the 2007 World Championships. In 2007, she suffered a neck injury due to which she couldn’t continue, but a few months later she came back into the competition. She continued her success in 2008-09, when she was sixth overall in the 1500m World Cup standings, despite breaking her leg late in the season. At the second-to-last World Cup event of the 2008-09 seasons, she collided with a team-mate (Katherine Reutter) she fractured her leg and had to immediately rushed to the hospital. She missed the rest of the season and spent time in Colorado Springs rehabbing and preparing for the pre-Olympic season.
On February 25, 2007, Baver won her first U.S. National Championship. In the 2010 winter Olympics, in the 3000 m relay, Baver’s U.S. team finished fourth but were awarded the bronze medal after one of the teams was disqualified for an infraction. Her hobbies are dancing, photography, cheerleading, etc. She also enjoys shopping and doing yoga. She currently lives in Utah.
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »