The year in blogging & other stuff.

The FIFA 2010 World Cup is over & it’s time to look at what happened during this month of competition. South Africa have been outstanding hosts & really, kudos to them for being the pride of Africa!

So here ends the English Premier League season 2009-2010…

A review of 2009.

So finally, the 2008-2009 season is over for Man Utd with a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League final. Barcelona managed a historic treble just like Man Utd did 10 years ago.

Manchester United just needed 1 point to win, & they did exactly that by holding Arsenal to a 0-0 draw, winning their 3rd consecutive & record 11th Premier League title… & the 18th Premiership title, equalling Liverpool's record. ;)

Manchester United have won their second trophy of the season by beating Tottenham in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley.

Stephan Buckland has won the 200m IAAF World Athletics Final at Stuttgart!

Yeah, it's unbelievable that the Olympics are already over! But throughout these 2 weeks we've witnessed history being made - whether it is through the impressive display of Chinese athletes, the incredible 8-gold-medal feat of Phelps, the fastest man running the fastest ever 100m & of course the bronze medal won by the Mauritian Magician!

I'll start with Bruno Julie getting the Bronze medal by reaching the semifinals where he lost to Yankiel Alarcon.

& in the Bantamweight final, the Cuban lost hugely (16-6) to the Mongolian boxer Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan. The Cuban boxer was so disappointed, he ran away after receiving his medal, avoiding the photoshoot!

As for Bruno Jolie, he received a hero’s welcome back home! :D (more here on L’Express) Pics from Le Matinal & L’Express.

Beijing Pics from LeDefiMedia.info

I doubt you'd find a celebration more enthusiastic than Michael Phelps hulk-like screaming! But it wasn't winning the 4x100m Freestyle Relay that justified it but Jason Lezak's incredible performance.
The USA were 2nd behind France & Jason Lezak swam the fastest ever 100m in 46.06s to beat France's 100m specialist Alain Bernard (who won the 100m freestyle final later in 47.51s). Watch the video here.

Michael Phelps demonstrated his real superhuman strength in his 7th final, the 100m Butterfly.
At the 50m turnaround, he was at the 7th position & everyone thought that he would never be able to come back. But against all odds he managed to beat the Serbian by 1/100th of a second - that's faster than you can blink. Check the slow-motion replay & you'd be amazed at how close that was! & there's also the speed you can see those arms move (in slow-motion!). Just INCREDIBLE! Watch the video here.

Usain Bolt - however arrogant he may be... it's impossible to overlook how hard he had to train to become so invincible. Most athletes with long legs aren't fast, but Bolt is an exception - he was so quick over 100m that he ran the last 10m casually & still broke the world record. Watch the video here.
For 200m, Bolt knew complacency wouldn't do - he really needed to put it all his efforts to break Michael Johnson's 1996 world record - & he did, running as if his legs were on fire! Watch the video here.

Rafael Nadal completed a historic treble by winning the Roland Garros, Wimbledon & now the Olympics to finally get the world's No. 1 position & the end of Roger Federer's reign.

However, the Olympics wasn't without controversy. Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian dropped his bronze medal in the ring to protest against refereeing.

But the most unfortunate was the kick received by the referee from Taekwondo fighter Angel Valodia Matos. The Cuban was protesting against his disqualification for taking more than 1 minute for treatment. & due to this Taekwondo has been put on the black list.

The closing ceremony was less glitzy compared to the magnificent opening ceremony, but again the Bird's Nest saw a blend of mass synchronization & cutting-edge technology.

The Olympic flag was handed over to London who will host the next games in 2012. London 2012 Organising Committee had brought along their own double-decker "transformer" bus & stars like David Beckham, Leona Lewis & Jimmy Page.

There's no way London will be able to surpass Beijing - they can't spend infinitely & the horrible magenta London 2012 logo has already striked controversy. You don't need a much vivid imagination to figure out what that logo depicts (apart from the 2012 i.e.). Check out here how the Beijing logo was made!

The original logo, provoked seizures in epilepsy patients due to its psychedelic colours. Forget the logo, just check out the site!

So now, goodbye Beijing! See you all in 2 years at Vancouver for the Winter Olympics!