Sports Poets Society

Gianni Bugno was seen as the heir of the greatItalian champions of yore, and he looked a likely Tour winner. But the pressure weighed heavily on him. Procycling looks at a career that teetered on the edge of greatness Writer: William Fotheringham Procycling magazine - Issue 270 - July 2020 At the start of 1991, if followers of cycling had been asked to nominate a rider who would dominate the sport in the next five years, most would have come up with the same man. José Miguel Echavarri, long-time manager of Reynolds, would have been the exception in nominating his protégé Miguel Indurain, but ‘Miguelon’ wouldn’t have been the first name on most lips.  If the future of cycling at the start of 1991 didn’t belong to Indurain, then who? Not Greg LeMond, Stephen Roche, Pedro Delgado or Laurent Fignon. They were on the downward slide. Claudio Chiappucci, the surprise runner-up to LeMond in the 1990 Tour, was widely viewed as a one-hit wonder, and he was no spring chicken. La...

“It takes me right back to the victory stand in Mexico City  because those were the same feelings I had then. I still have those feelings,  and it’s terrible that these feelings I had then are playing out now.” Kevin D. Liles for The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/sports/tommie-smith-protest-colin-kaepernick.html Smith, whose iconic protest alongside John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics shined a light on racial inequality, talked about today’s protests, Colin Kaepernick and what needs to happen now. by Ken Belson June 13, 2020 In 1968 , Tommie Smith and John Carlos stepped to the podium at the Olympics in Mexico City to receive their medals in the 200-meter dash. Wearing black socks and no shoes to represent poverty and black gloves to signify black power and liberation, the sprinters raised their fists . The silent protest, which Smith, 76, called “a cry for freedom,” effectively ended their running careers . But it remains on...