Aged 39 and about to play in a record-extending sixth European Championship, Cristiano Ronaldo’s longevity at football’s highest levels almost defies belief.
Luka Modric is 38, still performing for Real Madrid and will be expected to provide the X Factor for Croatia at the Euros in Germany, which start June 14,
The best players are extending their careers for longer, despite the increased pace and intensity of the modern game.
Higher levels of fitness and stamina are being demanded of athletes, but that is being matched by ever-improving expertise in how to maximize performance.
“Sports science has had an impact on how we prepare the modern-day player in terms of diet, nutrition, lifestyle, training programs. We’ve moved out of the 80s and 90s with the increased level of professionalism,” Tony Strudwick, a sports scientist with more than three decades of experience in football, told The Associated Press.
Strudwick has held prominent roles at Manchester United, Arsenal and England and is currently director of medical at West Bromwich Albion.
He worked with Ronaldo at United when the Portugal forward first established himself as one of the best players in the world.
“He just set himself up for success,” Strudwick said. “I said four or five years ago, knowing how professional Ronaldo was, he could play up to the age of 40. That was no problem.”
With his 40th birthday in sight, Ronaldo shows no sign of being ready to quit. And with the advancement of sports science, the longevity that the likes of Ronaldo and Modric are achieving could become the norm.
ATTITUDE
It’s not so much that athletes have changed physically over the years — rather it has been a shift in mentality.
“We have seen a kind of evolution in professionalism as opposed to an evolution in genetics,” Strudwick said. “It wasn’t that players were unprofessional (in the past), they just didn’t know what they didn’t know.
“There’s a lot more scrutiny on players in terms of accountability.”
Improvements in player lifestyle is lengthening careers, with many using the services of fitness and conditioning experts to ensure they remain in prime condition even during the offseason.
Ryan Giggs took on yoga in his later years to help extend his career and allow him to play for United until he was 40.
DIET
Many top players also rely on the services of private chefs who deliver daily meals that are nutritionally balanced, while also being of restaurant quality.
That’s in addition to what’s provided by elite clubs, which have nutrition departments to help players keep food diaries and provide them with diet coaching.
In the past, some players would have pre-match meals of steak. Much has changed, with some managers banning sauces at the table.
Rod Thornley, a masseur who worked with Manchester United and England, can remember when Italian coach Fabio Capello took charge of the Three Lions.
“The first ever pre-match meal was just a massive bowl of pasta. No sauce, just pasta,” Thornley told the AP. “The lads were looking round going ‘What is this? We can’t eat this.’ And that’s all he offered. That was it.”
INJURY PREVENTION
Massage plays a role in avoiding soft tissue injury. Contemporary players will have several massages throughout the week at the training ground or at home.
“With the more exercise you do, the more tight your muscles become,” Thornley said. “You are affecting muscles, you’re affecting muscle mass, you’re affecting your buildup of tightness, your lack of elasticity in the muscle.
“It’s a huge part of keeping a player fit, keeping a player healthy, keeping them on the pitch.”
Ice baths are also used to help recovery.
MONEY
For all the ambition of players to continue as long as they can, there is also a clear financial incentive at a time when the rewards have never been higher.
It only makes sense for a player to want to extend their earning potential. Ronaldo, for instance, is reportedly paid $200 million a year playing for Al-Nassr in the Saudi League. He is the CEO of the money-making machine that is his playing career. It is something Strudwick calls the “rise of the entrepreneur” football player.
And it can apply to players much lower down the food chain than Ronaldo.
“There is a big incentive to keep your career going,” Strudwick said. “An extra five years at the back end of your career sets up the modern footballer for a very, very comfortable future.”
DRIVE
In the case of Ronaldo, a remarkable career that has seen him win five Ballon d’Or awards for the best player in the world is no accident, according to Thornley.
They worked together at United, where Ronaldo won the first of his five Champions League titles.
“Ronaldo just had that mentality where he was just wanting to be the best at everything,” Thornley said. “He wanted to be the best player in the world from the second he turned up there. He was just one of those lads that you knew he would do whatever it took to be that person, and he did and he proved it.”
Cristiano Ronaldo and Modric go to Euro 2024 showing age is no boundary for football’s modern stars
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Modric go to Euro 2024 showing age is no boundary for football’s modern stars
- The best players are extending their careers for longer, despite the increased pace and intensity of the modern game
Simone Biles and LeBron James are among athletes expected to bid ‘adieu’ to the Olympics in Paris
- Add in that Andy Murray will be retiring after the Paris Games and that Rafael Nadal may bid goodbye to tennis too
Simone Biles and LeBron James lead the list of athletes likely competing at their final Olympics.
Add in that Andy Murray will be retiring after the Paris Games and that Rafael Nadal may bid goodbye to tennis, too, and the stage is set for some emotional, high-profile goodbyes.
Here’s a look at some of the top competitors expected to say “adieu” to the Olympics — or their sport in general — in the French capital:
Simone Biles
At 27, Biles is the oldest American woman to make an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. Having returned from a two-year break last summer, Biles can add to her career haul of seven Olympic medals — four of them gold — when she competes at the Bercy Arena.
LeBron James
At 39, James is about to become the first US men’s basketball player to compete at the Olympics in three different decades. To get an idea of what stage he’s at in his career, consider this: When James and the US team opened their Olympic training camp in Las Vegas, his son, Bronny, was making his pro debut for the Los Angeles Lakers in the California Classic summer league.
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal
Murray’s goodbye to Wimbledon didn’t go the way he had hoped. The British player is hoping for a better result in the Olympic tennis competition on the red clay of Roland Garros, home of the French Open. Paris will mark Murray’s fifth Olympics, having won back-to-back singles golds in 2012 and 2016. While Murray has indicated that he plans to end his career after the Olympics, Nadal’s status is less clear. But playing the Olympics at the site where he won 14 French Opens — and where there’s a statue of him outside Court Philippe Chatrier — will be special no matter what Nadal does next. Nadal has won Olympic gold in both singles (in 2008) and doubles (in 2016) and will team up with Carlos Alcaraz for doubles in Paris.
Shelly-Anne Fraser Pryce
Jamaican sprinter Fraser-Pryce has announced that the Paris Games will be her fifth and final Olympics. The 37-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who has won eight Olympic medals, wants to spend more time with her husband and 6-year-old son, Zyon. Fraser-Pryce will run against Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100 meters.
Gianmarco Tamberi
One of the biggest showmen in track and field, the Italian high jumper Tamberi wants to go out on top by defending the gold medal that he shared with his good friend Mutaz Barshim in Tokyo. Both Tamberi and Barshim have indicated this will be their final Olympics.
Sarah Sjöström
At age 30, Swedish swimming standout Sjöström will be competing in her fifth Olympics. A winner of four medals at the Olympics, Sjöström is focusing on one individual event for Paris. She’ll race the 50-meter freestyle — an event she holds the world record in — plus three relays. Sjöström made her Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008 at the age of 14.
Tom Daley
Daley was Britain’s youngest athlete in 2008 at 14. Three years ago in Tokyo he won his first Olympic gold with partner Matty Lee in 10-meter synchronized and now he’s back for a fifth Olympics. Daley drew attention for knitting between dives in Tokyo as a way of relaxing.
Mikkel Hansen
With his shoulder-length hair and headband, the powerful left back Hansen is one of the most familiar faces in Danish sports. A three-time men’s world player of the year, a record he shares with longtime rival Nikola Karabatić, Hansen is considered one of the best handball players ever. He led Denmark to gold in Rio and then silver in Tokyo.
Teddy Riner
The French heavyweight judoka Riner is one of host France’s top medal hopes. He’s looking to add to his haul of five Olympic medals, including three gold. He’s also won a record 11 golds at worlds.
James Anderson to bowl on 1st day of his last ever test after England wins toss against West Indies
- He is due to bowl the first over at the Pavilion End under what looked like being gray skies and a slight breeze at the home of cricket
- England gave test debuts to pacer Gus Atkinson and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith
LONDON: James Anderson will get to bowl on the first day of his 188th and final test after England won the toss and chose to field first against the West Indies in the series opener at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Anderson, the most prolific fast bowler in test history with 700 wickets, was due to bowl the first over at the Pavilion End under what looked like being a morning of gray skies and a slight breeze at the home of cricket.
Both teams were announced ahead of the match.
England gave test debuts to pacer Gus Atkinson and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
For the West Indies, allrounder and former captain Jason Holder was recalled along with fellow fast bowler Jayden Seales. Opening batter Mikyle Louis will become the first man from St. Kitts and Nevis to play a test.
There will be plenty of focus on another fast bowler in Shamar Joseph, who starred against Australia in his first ever test series earlier this year.
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Lineups:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua da Silva, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales.
Riyadh is ‘fitting home’ for Esports World Cup, says Prince Faisal
RIYADH: At the official launch press conference of the Esports World Cup on Tuesday, July 2, I described it as “a defining day in esports history.”
As the inaugural event got underway over the past week, we have witnessed not just the players’ exceptional performances but also the adoring, insatiable reception of fans attending both in person and online. All of it has reiterated my belief that the launch of the Esports World Cup was truly a defining day.
Defining because Riyadh is a fitting home for the Esports World Cup, as Saudi Arabia pursues its ambitions of becoming a global hub for esports and gaming.
Defining because the world has fully woken up to the immense potential that this region — with Saudi Arabia very much at the forefront — offers the gaming and esports industry.
And defining because over the past few days I have imagined how my younger self would have felt about being given the opportunity to attend something as prestigious as the Esports World Cup in his home country. The youngsters of today do not have to imagine. It is a reality. Anything they want to do in the field of gaming and esports — professional player, coach, owner, broadcaster, lawyer, anything — is possible. There is an employment path available for any passionate gamer that wishes to pursue a career in the industry.
What child doesn’t grow up wanting to make their passion their career? I certainly did. In Saudi Arabia, now everyone can. And that’s a very powerful thing and a vital indication of not just progression but us building on the ambitions of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy.
The strategy was unveiled two years ago by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — marking the beginning of a new era where the Kingdom becomes a global hub for the gaming industry by 2030.
Importantly, the National Gaming and Esports Strategy also serves Saudi Vision 2030 objectives, which aim to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, create new job opportunities in different industries and provide world-class entertainment.
The three main objectives of the strategy are: Enhancing quality of life by improving players’ experience, providing new entertainment opportunities, and achieving an economic impact by contributing about SR50 billion — roughly $13 billion — to GDP.
Let’s break that down. That means the creation of 39,000 new job opportunities by 2030. It means the advancement of a global industry and other direct and indirectly related industries. And it means an aim to produce more than 30 competitive games in the Kingdom’s studios — and become one of the top three countries containing the highest number of professional esports players.
With 67 percent of Saudi Arabia’s population identifying as gamers, it gives us added drive to work tirelessly with our partners around the world to make the world of gaming even bigger and better. Quite simply, gamers in Saudi Arabia deserve it.
The Esports World Cup is the next step in that essential journey. Running for eight weeks until Aug. 25 at Boulevard Riyadh City, it is a global celebration of competitive excellence and esports fandom.
What makes it so magnificent for gamers is that it features a unique cross-game structure pitting the world’s top clubs and athletes against one another across 22 global competitions in 21 leading games.
With a $60 million prize pool — the largest in esports history — it truly is a competition befitting the name Esports World Cup. After all, the World Cup is the World Cup.
But more than that, the Esports World Cup defines how we want to be seen by the gaming world — it defines our status as a nation where esports is a serious business, with abundant, fulfilling and essential employment opportunities. It defines our ambition for gaming and esports to become synonymous with Saudi Arabia across the globe. And it defines my ambition to remember July 2, 2024 in the years to come as a day pivotal in making all of that happen.
Dubai to host second round of Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship
- Dozens of athletes from leading local clubs and academies to participate in No-Gi competitions on July 14
ABU DHABI: The second round of the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship will be held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Sunday, July 14, the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation has announced.
This follows the successful first round at Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, which saw significant participation across various categories.
The Dubai event is the second of five rounds in the current season, held in different emirates across the country. The final round in December in Abu Dhabi will see the crowning of the winning clubs and academies in both Gi and No-Gi categories based on a comprehensive ranking system, which awards points for participation and results in each round.
The ranking system aims to drive clubs to invest in local talent and participate with the maximum possible number of athletes in various categories throughout all five rounds of the championship.
The second round has attracted more than 1,000 participants in youth, adult, and masters categories, starting from the age of 10, to over the age of 30. The championship also marks the first participation of the U-12 category in No-Gi competitions.
Mohamed Salem Al-Dhaheri, vice chairman of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation, said: “The strong demand for participation in the second round of the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship is clear evidence of the continuous development of jiu-jitsu in the country and its increasing popularity among various segments of society.
“Adding the U-12 category in the No-Gi competitions aims to help young athletes develop their skills, improve their physical fitness, discipline and patience, and build their self-control and confidence.”
Al-Dhaheri said that the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship was an event that fostered community participation as it brought together people of all ages and skill levels from across the country, contributing to building a strong society that pursued active and healthy lifestyles.
Gleason Bertolot, coach of the UFC GYM Academy, said: “We’re thrilled to join the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship, a well-organized event with strong participation. No-Gi competitions challenge athletes to explore new techniques, focusing on agility and skill rather than traditional Gi techniques. It demands intense focus to win in matches, and we’re eager to see our athletes compete in this event.”
Khalifa Alharbi, competing in the Youth Men’s 50kg category for Baniyas Club, said: “I’m excited to compete and show my skills in the championship. We work hard to be technically strong and fit, aiming to win medals and raise our club’s ranking. I thank the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation for organizing great championships and giving us opportunities to train and compete, preparing us for regional and international events.”
Bare-bones gym breeds Olympians in Philippines’ boxing capital Bago
- Eight of the 70 Filipino boxers to have made it to the Olympics got their start at the Bago City gym
- The most recent Bago Olympian, Rio 2016 light-flyweight Roger Ladon, failed to qualify for Paris leaving the city pining for a new poster boy
BAGO CITY: At a bare-bones gym in the central Philippines, children from poor families in torn shoes put on frayed head guards and get to work in pursuit of their Olympic boxing dream — and a way out of poverty.
Aged 10-18, the young boxers spar in the Bago city gymnasium after school before sleeping under the ring’s canvas at night.
Located on the island of Negros, in the sugar-growing region which has some of the country’s starkest rich-poor divides, the city of 200,000 calls itself the Philippines’ “boxing capital.”
Eight of the 70 Filipino boxers to have made it to the Olympics got their start at the Bago City gym.
Boxers there work out on peeling punching bags under the buzz of giant old electric fans straining to give some relief from the oppressive tropical heat.
The most recent Bago Olympian, Rio 2016 light-flyweight Roger Ladon, failed to qualify for Paris leaving the city pining for a new poster boy.
“Life is hard here. Job opportunities are limited,” said coach Larry Semillano, a Bago native who fought at lightweight in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
His 17 wards are mostly children of farmers, construction workers and tricycle drivers.
“To them, if they excel in it they believe they will have a better life,” said Ignacio Denila, the city government’s executive assistant for sports.
“All of them idolize (Manny) Pacquiao,” Denila told AFP, referring to the eight-weight world champion, who was also born in poverty, on the southern island of Mindanao.
“I hope to be recruited into the national team in order to join competitions and win medals abroad,” AJ Vicente, 17, one of Semillano’s current hopefuls, told AFP.
Bago lightweight Leopoldo Cantancio blazed the Olympic trail when he made it to the 1984 Los Angeles Games, reaching the round of 16. He also fought at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Bago fighters have since won one Olympic silver medal and one bronze.
Though Filipino boxers have yet to win gold, eight of the country’s 14 Olympic medals so far came from boxing — three silvers and five bronze.
Semillano believes Vicente, a right-handed flyweight who won a bronze at the Philippine national games last year, has a “70 percent” chance of eventually making it to the national team.
But “he needs to consume a lot more rice” before he can be considered for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics or Brisbane in 2032, the coach added.
“The skill is there. What we’re trying to develop now is his power,” Semillano told AFP.
AJ’s father Jose Vicente, 50, brawled for meagre prize money at village-level Bago tournaments in his youth when he was not cutting and hauling sugar cane for 10 pesos a day (17 US cents).
“Farm work is backbreaking. I do not want my son to go through the same thing,” Jose, now a handyman at a provincial hospital, told AFP at the family’s small wood and bamboo home among sugar cane fields on the city’s outskirts.
“Dad wanted to become a boxer himself. I have decided to fulfil that dream for him,” said his son, whose more than a dozen boxing medals hang proudly on the living room wall.
From the age of seven children are welcome to join the training program, said coach Semillano, who cooks for them while minding his two-year-old daughter Sydney as the young boxers do their laundry in the yard.
Last year, three Bago minors trained by Semillano qualified for the national government’s amateur boxing pool, an important next step for their Olympic ambitions.
The Bago city government-funded program was launched in the mid-1960s by a sports-oriented mayor, Ramon Torres, and bore fruit in 1992 when light-flyweight Roel Velasco won a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics.
His younger brother Mansueto Velasco went one better with a light-flyweight silver in Atlanta in 1996.
Schoolgirl Prystine Niche Cantancio is 11 years old, nicknamed Junela and a distant relative of Bago’s first Olympic boxer. She also trains at the gym, sparring against 10-year-old boys.
“I want to make my papa proud by following in his boxing footsteps,” she told AFP, referring to Junel Cantancio, a Philippines team boxer who did not make it to the Olympics.
Junela was seven when she put her collection of teddy bears in a cabinet and first pulled on boxing gloves, said her mother Lovely Christine Cantancio, who takes her daughter to practice sessions.
“She looks happy, except there are no other girls to fight,” Lovely said.
Her father retired from boxing and became a full-time soldier following a fight-related injury.
“Not all of them will be Olympians or make the national team,” said city sports official Denila.
“For me, what is important is they develop discipline, even if they do not achieve success in life.
“That’s really the purpose of sports — to develop you morally and spiritually.”
