Amazing skills

They showed amazing skills in the football recently, good judges believe Annika Sorenstam is the greatest golfer who ever lived, and in athletics' European Cup the British women were promoted while the men flopped miserably.

For the first time since the competition became divisional in 1983 the men were relegated. Other than in the 100m and 200m no-one finished higher than fifth in an individual event. And this from a nation which 20 years ago boasted Coe, Ovett and Cram.

The women won nine of their 20 events, even though Paula Radcliffe followed Saturday's 3,000m win by being well beaten into second place in the 5,000m by a lady from Belarus. Had it been a Grand Prix event, said Paula, she might have dropped out, evoking memories of Athens. But she was running for the team, underlining the spirit which carried several of them to unexpected heights.

The only sport in which the girls continue to fail is tennis, as again no Britons survived to the second round at Wimbledon. It's a sad state when our main hope, Elena Baltacha, was born in Kiev.

She lost to a player ranked 51 places below her, while Kate O'Brien had the misfortune to meet Kim Clijsters and lost in 49 minutes, and the best effort came from Middlesbrough's Sarah Borwell, who took American Shenay Perry to 11-11 in a first set tie break.

Things can surely only improve given the determination of the likes of Sarah and a highly-rated Gosforth girl, Deborah Armstrong, who is to take advantage of the concentration of the best talent under an improved coaching set-up at Queen's Club.

IT'S been a while since this column was declared a Grand Prix free zone, but the Indianapolis shambles deserves a mention. The saddest part about it is that 120,000 misguided Americans turned up, expecting to see cars travelling at 200mph on the fast circuit.

Michelin couldn't guarantee the safety of their tyres at those speeds, so seven teams pulled out, leaving six cars to compete. The next saddest part is that it allowed Michael Schumacher to win just when we thought his boring domination was over.

Hopefully, Michelin's stand will persuade people that there has to be a limit to advancing technology in sport. In some respects the realisation had already dawned in Formula One, and it has also registered in the minds of many in golf.

Sport should not be about pushing back speed and distance barriers through technology. It should be a test of the sort of skill required to drive through a chicane, which was stupidly rejected as a compromise at Indianapolis.

PEOPLE often ask me what's happened to Liam Botham? Well, after leaving Newcastle Falcons to join Leeds they decided to convert him from a winger into a back row player in the 13-a-side game of Rugby League. Then two weeks ago they transferred him to Wigan.

In the days when Eddie Waring used to say: "And here we are at Cent-rraaal Park," Wigan was known only for its pier and the best Rugby League team in the land. But now it seems football has taken over.

Last Saturday Botham was switched into the centre for his second game for the club, ironically at Headingley, and Wigan lost 70-0, the biggest defeat in the club's history.

Some way Liam should have stuck to cricket, but he can't be blamed for not wishing to be forever compared with his father. Ultimately, he has also been a victim of his own versatility, but not many people get to play three different sports professionally.

AFTER spending an uncomfortable part of Sunday night on the M25 on my return from Durham's match at Arundel, followed by two days chained to a desk, I was presented on Tuesday evening with a choice I would rather not have had to make.

I was expecting to cover the cricket at Riverside yesterday, but was suddenly presented with an opportunity to play in the British Seniors' pro-am at Slaley Hall with either Sam Torrance or Mark James.

It's one of life's bitchier rules that everything happens at once. Should I choose Torrance or James, or two of England's most recent heroes, Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison, coming home to tackle the Aussies?

The choice was agonising, and I have another one to make tomorrow morning.

Do I take my place in the Saturday fourball I grace when I'm not working, or do I watch the Lions in the first Test against the All Blacks?

After the controversy surrounding the selection of Jonny Wilkinson in place of Charlotte Church's boyfriend, it's going to be fascinating to see if the gamble succeeds.

I still don't know what I'll do tomorrow, but on the grounds that it's better to partake, however badly, than to observe I opted in yesterday's case for the golf. Torrance or James? You can read all about it shortly.

Published: 24/06/2005