Inspirational Olympic Moments

Text by Dilshad D. Ali and Lilit Marcus

From: Beliefnet

What makes for an inspiring Olympic moment? Is it the years of hard work and sacrifice that culminate in a gold medal? Is it competing because you love your sport, even though it's unlikely you'll ever win? Is it suffering an injury but finishing the race? Is it overcoming a stereotype and proving something to the world? All these factors and more play a part in the great moments of Olympic history.

As we await the starting trumpet at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Beliefnet looks back at the most inspiring Olympic moments ever. Some names you'll know, some will jog your memory, and some may even surprise you.

The Jamaican Bobsled Team, Calgary, 1988
It sounded like a joke. After all, how could Jamaica, a country known for its year-round sunshine and beach culture, possibly have a team in bobsledding, an event normally won by teams from snowbound places like Switzerland and Norway? Nevertheless, during the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, the Jamaican bobsled team (Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, Samuel Clayton, and Aiden van de Mortel) and their coach (Howard Siler) held their own, winning respect and admiration from their peers.

Celebrated in the film "Cool Runnings," the snowless country managed to put together a legitimate bobsled team, and in doing so reminded the world that the Olympics aren't just about sheer athleticism--they're about drive, determination, and heart.--LM

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Sarajevo, 1984

When it comes to figure skating, it is often the women's, men's, and pairs events that draw in the big crowds during the winter games. But it was the United Kingdom's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's artistic ice dance at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo that captured the hearts and emotions of all who watched that year.

Performing to "Bolero," the pair spent the first 18 seconds of their performance kneeling on the ice, moving their bodies in sync. Though they did no major tricks or stunts, they performed an artistically breathtaking program, scoring an unprecedented 12 perfect 6.0 scores. They won the gold medal that year and inspired legions of figure skaters to mimic their style, and winter sports fans to appreciate the twin foundations of ice dancing: athleticism and beauty.-DDA

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Carbs Can Help You Lose Weight

Yasmin Fahr, Editor

January 26, 2012

From: The Daily Meal via Beliefnet

Let’s face it, carbs are delicious. Whether you’re thinking of a glorious bowl of fresh pasta or a grilled ear of corn, carbs are in more foods than you would think. The key is eating the carbs that re actually good for you and figuring out how to maintain a healthy diet that keeps you feeling good and enjoying good food.
But we all know this (or at least you do now). What many of us might not know is how carbs can actually help us lose weight. Sounds crazy and too good to be true, doesn’t it? Luckily for all of the carb lovers out there, it’s more than just real, it’s tried and true.

Capellini Andrew (photo by Beliefnet)

After a successful first book, the editors of Health magazine created The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook to help people eat well and lose weight. As Ellen Kunes, editor-in-chief of the magazine says, the book came together to provide readers with more "suggestions for entertaining, and most of all more recipes." Plus, celebrity chefs contributed recipes to help people enjoy more of the "incredible food they got to eat on the diet."

Based on creating well-balanced meals that include plenty of resistant starch to help you lose weight and keep it off, the book explains the science behind the diet and the focus on having people enjoy eating without sacrificing the foods that they love.

We were lucky enough to have Kunes explain how the diet actually works, as well as share day one of a weeklong plan that can help readers lose up to 6 pounds, all while eating delicious food. Read what she has to say below and try out day one of the plan if you don’t believe this food can actually taste good.
 
How It Works
It’s a science-based, proven weight loss plan delivered through delicious recipes and an easy-to-follow daily meal plan.  You get three meals a day — maybe French toast or a homemade muffin or a three-minute smoothie for breakfast, a club sandwich or pizza for lunch, and lasagna or pot pie for dinner — and one or two yummy snacks. You feel full and you can’t believe you are dieting. But the weight falls off naturally, because all CarbLovers recipes have been created to pack the perfect ratio of nutrients that research shows help to melt fat, curb hunger, rev your metabolism, promote good health, and get you a much flatter belly.
 
For Those of You Who Think It’s Impossible to Stay Slim While Eating Carbs…
I’d say that it’s a myth that you have to give up your favorite foods to get and stay slim, and I can prove it. Because what people don’t realize is that cutting carbs hardly ever leads to permanent weight loss; most people end up gaining more weight on a low-carb plan. Scientific research cited in the book supports this. That’s why I wrote The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook. I wanted to share the evidence that a yummy, satisfying, carb-rich diet is the best way to get and stay slim for good!

Resistant Starch: Where It’s Found and What It Does Resistant starch is similar to fiber; it’s 100 percent safe and natural, and it’s found in lots of foods you have in your kitchen, like bananas, whole grains, and beans. We have a list of resistant starch foods on pages 18 and 19 in the book.
Hundreds of studies have shown resistant starch to be a natural appetite suppressant, metabolism booster, and overall health promoter. It produces fatty acids that trigger weight loss by turning on enzymes that melt fat, especially in the abdominal area, encouraging your liver to switch to a fat-burning state and boosting satiety hormones that make you get and stay full longer.
 
The Benefits of Resistant Starch
The more resistant starch you consume, the better for your health and weight. The problem is most people get too little. CarbLovers solves that problem for you. If you follow our plan, you’ll automatically be getting three times the average intake of this important fat-burning nutrient, served up in delicious recipes like our Cornflake-Crusted Chicken Tenders and Triple-Cheese Mac.

How Do Carbs Help You Lose Weight? The carbs featured in The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook actually promote weight loss. They are loaded with nutrients, fiber, and of course resistant starch, which has been proven in hundreds of studies to curb your appetite, boost your metabolism , and help you get healthier and slimmer. But it’s important to point out that certain types of carbs will make you gain weight, especially if you overdo them. This is not a plan that lets you start your day with a doughnut and then munch on chips and cookies all day!
 
The Lay Out of the Book
This is a real cookbook, so recipes are the cornerstone, but you can’t help but lose weight mixing and matching them in any order you like. In other words, if you are someone who likes mac and cheese for breakfast and eggs Benedict for dinner, CarbLovers is for you. For those who need a little more structure, we also included a 7-Day Kickstart Meal Plan, which will allow you to lose up to 6 pounds fast, without feeling hungry, and a 21-Day Immersion Plan, which adds more food — and more indulgent treats. The cool trick about the Immersion Plan is that once you will lose all the weight you want, you stay on it for good, so you never have to worry about regaining the weight you lost.
 
For Those First Starting Out…
If you are serious about weight loss and have a fair amount to lose, the Diet Plan on page 303 is the place to begin. If you are a food lover who simply wants to be healthier, I would pick the recipe that appeals to you the most and make it. I think once you try our Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce on page 130 or our Coconut Cake with 7-Minute Frosting on page 244, you’ll be hooked.

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David Beckham in Muhammad Ali's 70th Birthday

David Beckhams says...

I was honoured and lucky enough to be invited to Muhammad Ali's 70th Birthday celebrations last weekend in Las Vegas. Here's me welcoming Stevie Wonder to the stage...

Here is a shot of me meeting the great man, an honour.

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Cristiano Ronaldo Biography

Photos from Cristiano Ronaldo Site

Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Name Confusions - Usually, the name of Ronaldo, at least in soccer, was firmly tied to the Brazilian striker, as he was immensely renowned after winning almost anything a footballer could dream of winning.
However, entering a poorer period of his career at Real Madrid, Ronaldo slowly began to succumb and young Cristiano Ronaldo was there to grab the name for his own.

So, nowadays, most people will think of the young Portuguese rather than the ex-"Il Phenomeno" when hearing the name Ronaldo. (By the way, this name was given to Cristiano by his mother after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, so there's no connection between him and the Brazilian player). 

Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Youth Period
Despite being raised as a supporter of SL Benfica in his childhood, a twist of events made him join rivals Sporting Lisboa as a professional player.

His first team was a youth amateur team named Andorinha where Cristiano Ronaldo's skills attracted several professional scouts from the local Madeira teams, CS Maritimo Funchal and CD Nacional Madeira.

Cristiano Ronaldo was just 10 when taken to CD Nacional's youth team, with which he won the youth league title, giving out a substantial hand to this success. This brought him in the lights of Sporting, which, despite having lost the youth championship to Nacional, had one of the most prestigious and well equipped youth facilities in Europe. 

Full name	Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Date of birth	February 5, 1985
Place of birth	Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height	6.1FT - 1.85M
Playing position	Right/Left Winger

Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Sporting
Receiving first-class instruction at Sporting's Alcochete youth academy, Cristiano Ronaldo's skills quickly drew the eyes of first squad manager Ladislau Boloni, who took him to the senior team at 17 years of age, together with his youth team colleagues, Ricardo Quaresma and Hugo Viana.

Finally becoming a professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo starred in his first game against Madeira, scoring two goals and impressing the audience. But most importantly, he impressed the staff of the Under 17 Portuguese national team, who quickly added him to their squad. In the same year, the U-17 championship took place, with Cristiano Ronaldo being one of the tournament's best players, drawing the eyes of several huge European clubs, of which Liverpool and Manchester United.

However it was not until 2003 that he truly came into the attention of Manchester United's coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, when his team played a friendly match against Sporting, a game lost by the English team with 3 to 1, Cristiano Ronaldo decisively contributing to his side's success. It's supposedly then that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to sign the young winger.

Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Manchester United
After the departure of David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003, Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a replacement on the right wing and after seeing Cristiano Ronaldo's goals and skills in several matches for Sporting (including the one mentioned above, between Sporting and Manchester United) he decided he was the perfect candidate for that role and signed him on a fee of approximately 16 million euros.

As if the pressure of moving to such a big club as Manchester United, combined with the hardship of adapting to a new country, a new language and a new soccer style, Cristiano Ronaldo was also given the extra-pressure of having to wear the red number 7 shirt, formerly owned by Man U legends such as George Bet, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona or David Beckham.

Although his career is still at an early stage, Cristiano Ronaldo's skills on the wing already earned him a lot of fans throughout the World as he is widely considered the most technical player in the World at this point, in competition with FC Barcelona's Ronaldinho. However, he also attracted several boos and jeers across many stadiums, being considered a tricky player that tends to cheat and dive a lot.

Most notably, an incident at the 2006 World Cup in Germany almost ended his career at Manchester, when he encouraged the referee of the Portugal – England game to give a red card to his Man U colleague, Wayne Rooney, after an vicious foul from Rooney.

Manchester United fans told him they don't want him back in England and Real Madrid quickly tried to seize the opportunity and sign him. In the meantime, having rejected Real's offer, Cristiano Ronaldo won back the hearts of his club's fans with his sheer skills and impressive (and often decisive) goals and also made friends again with Wayne Rooney, after the World Cup incident.

This article from: http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/

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David Beckham Biography

photos from: David Beckham google+

 Known for his exceeding talent in goal scoring, David Beckham's amazing ability to get the ball to wherever he likes has made him one the most well known players in the history of soccer.

Childhood

David Beckham was born in Leytonstone, London, England on May 2, 1975. His parents are Ted (who was a kitchen fitter) and Sandra (who was a hairdresser) Beckham both of whom were rigid Manchester United fans.

As a child he was always very interested in soccer and would spend hours at a time outside playing soccer with his father in Rigeway Park in Chingford.
He schooled at Chase Lane Primary School and Chingford Foundation School. When the teachers would ask him what he wanted to do when he grew up, he would tell them that he wanted to "be a footballer". He may have received a negative feedback, but he accomplished his goal nicely.


Though his skill as a soccer player flourished in his youth, all the time he spent playing the sport caused his grades in school to keep a continual low until he finally dropped out at the age of 16.
Directly after dropping out, he went to play for Manchester United's junior team.

Manchester United

Upon entering Manchester United, David Beckham was given the number 7 shirt.
Beckham proceeded to assist Manchester in winning the FA Youth Cup, scoring in the second leg of the final, just after turning 17.

From there he went on to play his first fully professional game at the age of 18. He also received a runners-up medal in the FA Cup, Manchester coming just behind Leeds United in the final.

After some time, his Premier League debut came at last in a home game against Leeds United in the April of 1995 (though this may somewhat be contributed to the injuries of some teammates), and he was established on the Manchester United first team in the 95-96 season.

Also, in the 95-96 season, Manchester United had three major athletes (Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, and Andrei Kanchelskis) leave the club on transfers. However, Manchester manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, decided that instead of buying great players from other clubs, he would just bring in youth players and let them have a chance to be great.

This decision brought much criticism, and when Manchester kicked off with a 3-1 defeat in Aston Villa, the criticism increased. However, Manchester went on to win the next five games and people began to hold back on the negativity.

David Beckham's Usual position was right midfield, and this was the position in which he gained fame for his incredible passes and long shots.

 During the 1998 World Cup, he played in every one of England's qualifying games and scored in many important matches. He was thrown out of the tournament, however, for violent conduct in a match against Argentina.

Eventually, England forgave his misbehavior, and decided to allow Beckham to play as team captain of the national team (a position which he kept for the 2002 and 2006 world cups).

During that time, Beckham married Spice Girl, Victoria Adams (Posh Spice). Though he had already been a large celebrity in England, his marriage to a celebrity such as Victoria brought the attention of the press. Soon the two were major influences on society.

On one occasion during he 1999 season, not long after his first son, Brooklyn, was born, Beckham requested a day off training to tend to his son who was now sick. He received permission, but his wife was seen at a London Fashion Week event that same day. When manager Alex Ferguson heard of this, he fined Beckham £50,000, which was about $80,000 at the time (this was the maximum amount that he could charge for this incident). This caused a tension between the two men.

In 2003 Ferguson kicked a ball at Beckham while in the changing room, causing a cut that required stitches.

Real Madrid

Manchester United had already been keen to sell David Beckham, when he signed a four year on July 1, 2003 contract with Real Madrid, having a transfer fee of about £25 million (though Manchester had at first wished to sell him to FC Barcelona).

When he arrived to play for Madrid, he requested the number 7 jersey. However, it was already taken so, being a fan of the famous basketball player, Michael Jordon, he went with the number 23.

 Though Beckham played impressively for the 2003 season,. the team struggled and fell far short of the expectations.

Beckham was thrown out of the game on three different occasions over the next two seasons.
The first was a foul on Wales player, Ben Thatcher, which he admitted to be intentional. He had been injured enough that he was sure of missing the next England match, so he decided to foul Thatcher in order to be expelled from the match in which he would not play anyway. He also stated that this was "a mistake" and he apologized.

The next incident was a game in which he received a yellow card and was seen sarcastically applauding the referee. This caused another yellow card which expelled him from the remainder of the game and suspended him from the next (though this decision was overruled two days later).

The third time was when he was sent off of a match against Getafe CF in the December of 2005.
Beckham continued to be one of Real Madrid's top players until he signed over to Los Angeles Galaxy (a Major League Soccer club) in July of 2007, after spending most of the second half of the 2007 season injured (appearing only 5 times with only 2 starts in the second half).

Los Angeles Galaxy

When LA Galaxy took David Beckham on, they offered him a contract worth $250 million, making him one of the highest paid players in the history of soccer.

Once he was a part of LA Galaxy, he decided to keep the number 23 Jersey.
He quickly became team captain and his talents became a vital part of the LA Galaxy team.

Not long into the first season, he received an injury in his ankle. The MRI showed that he had a bad sprain and would not be playing for six weeks.

He returned to the game in time to play the last home match of the season.
LA Galaxy was soon eliminated.

At the end of 2008, David Beckham's success in the England national team hinted that he might be going back to Europe.

It was soon announced that he would be playing for Milan on a loan. This would begin on January 7, 2009.
However, he made it known that he would by no means be leaving MLS and stated that he planned to return in time for the 2009 season.

Nevertheless, by February 4 David Beckham expressed his desire to make a permanent transfer to Milan. Yet, Milan failed to meet Galaxy's demands, but they did manage to get an extension on the loan.
He was to return to LA in July and finish the rest of the MLS season.

Milan soon managed to get a second loan for January of 2010.

Beckham returned to Milan in time to assist the team in 5-2 victory on January 6, 2010. He has performed extremely well for the team so far.

 This article from: http://www.history-of-soccer.org

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