Dein erstes Forum » fourth Olympic medal for Walsh-Jennings, w

PARIS -- In Narcos, the television drama based on the life and crimes of Pablo Escobar, the now long-dead Colombian cocaine trafficker is shown making a roaring bonfire of banknotes to keep his family warm while they are on the run. This waste in a country with grinding poverty comes across as doubly selfish and lunatic. Put to better uses, such riches could improve lives.The scene now springs to mind when thinking about Nick Kyrgios squandering his abundance of talent for tennis.Again, its the needless waste that is so infuriating. Imagine how many other people would love to have the physical gifts and youth that the 21-year-old, 14th-ranked Australian neither maximizes nor fully values.Tanking at the Shanghai Masters, his insulting lack of effort and interest in losing to Mischa Zverev, wasnt merely disrespectful to his German opponent and to paying fans, it was nauseating in its selfishness. A sports equivalent of torching dollars, the frittering away of precious assets that other, more appreciative people could put to better use.Apologists say Kyrgios deserves sympathy, that he is young and clearly struggling in tennis spotlight. The wastrel himself, in a statement of apology, explained that he was physically and mentally burned out after a long week in Tokyo and travel throughout the continent.Ugh. First-world problems.For perspective on how blessed he is, Kyrgios could visit any number of hospitals and refugee camps around the world to hear first-hand from the less fortunate how they would give their hind teeth to be healthy, to hop on planes, freely cross borders and see the world, and to earn more than $3.5 million, as Kyrgios has in four years as a pro -- in short, to fulfill their potential.Thinking of them, one realizes how mealy-mouthed the mens tour was in suspending Kyrgios from ATP tournaments for eight weeks to Jan. 15, short enough for him to return for first-round play at the Australian Open which starts the following day.Kyrgios could reduce the suspension to an even more insignificant three weeks by agreeing to accept help from a psychologist.Hardly tough love. Just more indulgence for a player who ticks all the boxes of brattishness.However, there is a lesson in this sorry saga about the relative values of pure talent versus hard work.Sports put a premium on physical attributes: height, strength, speed, quick reactions. Yet, more often than not, the most important muscle of all for sporting success is between the ears.Two successful athletes -- Andy Murray in tennis and Nico Rosberg in Formula One -- spring to mind.Neither have the pure talent of some of their top competitors.As quick as he is behind the wheel, Rosberg doesnt have quite the sublime touch of Lewis Hamilton, his teammate at Mercedes who beat him to the world title both last year and the year before.And for all his fabulous racket skills, Murray doesnt quite have the sinewy athleticism of Novak Djokovic or the seemingly effortless grace of Roger Federer -- who together have beaten him 13 of the combined 16 times he has played them at tennis Grand Slam major tournaments.But both Murray and Rosberg are hard grafters. They could, like Kyrgios, have trotted out lame excuses for giving up. They could, after their repeated career disappointments, have accepted second best.But instead these refuseniks have persevered, redoubling their efforts, to the point that both are almost within touching distance of the summit.Rosberg carries a 33-point lead over Hamilton into this weekends U.S. Grand Prix.Another victory, which would be his tenth this season compared to six so far for Hamilton, wouldnt lock up the world championship for Rosberg. But, with just three races remaining after this stop in Austin, Texas, the 31-year-old German could move significantly closer to the crowning achievement that would move him out of the shadow of Hamilton and of Rosbergs father, Keke, the world champion in 1982.Murray, long the fourth member of tennis Fab Four behind Djokovic, Federer and Rafael Nadal, has had such a standout 2016 that the 29-year-old Briton now has his sights on the No. 1 ranking that Djokovic has monopolized without interruption since July 2014.I believe I can get there, Murray said after winning the Shanghai Masters, his sixth title this year. These last few months have proved that to me.So rather than ask what tennis should be doing for Kyrgios, we should be asking Kyrgios what he is prepared to do to help himself.With the array of shots and the body for modern tennis, he could amount to something.Or to nothing. Its his choice.If he cant bothered, he should make way. Leave the stage to others who hunger for it and, more importantly, who refuse to waste away.---John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester . See his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/john-leicester Cheap NCAA Jerseys Football . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Stitched NCAA Jerseys . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. http://www.cheapncaajerseys.net/ . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Online . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys Authentic . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The screen at the fabulous Beach Volleyball Arena shows many match statistics, including the number of aces, blocks and digs, plus top serve speeds. Unfortunately, one necessary stat is missing: just how high the repeated earthquakes caused by the fans are registering on the Richter Scale.Sitting in the upper press area and feeling the stands sway and my ears pop from the noise, I suspect it could be a 6.4. Or maybe higher. Whatever the number, it has to be higher than the famous Beast Quake caused by Seattle Seahawks fans while cheering Marshawn Lynchs touchdown run several seasons ago. The fans here are that loud.Soccer is Brazils favorite sport, but the fans at the womens medal matches Wednesday night showed their monumental passion for beach volleyball. Not only was the 12,000-seat stadium completely filled with roaring fans, there were folks sitting on the Copacabana beachs sand banks outside the security fence, straining to watch the game on the video board mounted atop the stands.Inside the stadium, the fans roared Bra-zil! Bra-zil! Bra-zil! chants, waved their arms enthusiastically when the speakers played Monster block! after a powerful block and sang along excitedly to La Bamba, Volare and other tunes. Naturally, they also were vocally supporting their own countrys teams (but occasionally cheering the opposition, too) as they tried to win bronze and then gold in Wednesday nights two matches.At one point during the bronze-medal match, the announcer shouted, When I say April! you say Ross! But when he shouted April!, the Brazilian response naturally was mostly loud boos.Not that it mattered to Americans Kerri Walsh-Jennings or April Ross. They simply drew energy from the passionate crowd while coming back for a three-set victory.It was stereotypically Brazilian, and I mean that in the best way possible, Walsh-Jennings said of the phenomenal atmosphere. The energy is just relentless, and I felt like we had a great amount of fans for us there. They appreciate good volleyball.And bear in mind, there were all these fans here even though the matches started at 10 p.m. and midnight.Why is beach volleyball so popular here??Because we have many, many beaches, Brazilian silver medalist Agatha Bednarczuk said.dddddddddddd Yes, its very important because of this. We can have many beach volleyball schools for kids. I had one school in my region, south of Rio, and we had 300 kids playing beach volleyball and beach soccer. Its in our lives.Even so, Bednarczuk said she never played in front of so many fans or where the energy level was so high. And she said that Tuesday night after she teamed with Barbara Seixas de Freitas in a semifinal victory against Walsh-Jennings and Ross. Wednesday nights matches were much louder.Unfortunately for the Brazilian fans, the volume and energy did not make enough of a difference for their country to win either medal match. In the opening match, Brazils Larissa Franca Maestrini and Talita Rocha won the first set and led 14-13 in the second when Walsh-Jennings made an incredible save by racing almost into the stands to keep the ball in play. She and Ross won the point, tied the score and rallied back to win the bronze.It was the fourth Olympic medal for Walsh-Jennings, who won gold in 2004, 2008 and 2012.When people talk about beach volleyball, they talk about Kerri Walsh, Rocha said. She is the most famous player in the world.In the gold-medal match, Bednarczuk and Seixas de Freitas lost in straight sets to the German team of Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst. As the match advanced, the fans quieted a bit, to the point where the quakes were reduced to mere tremors and the decibel level dropped to only slightly higher than a 747 during takeoff.Afterward, the Brazilian fans might have been outvoiced by the German fans during the playing of Coldplays When I Ruled the World.Or perhaps it only seemed that way to me because by then my hearing might have been severely damaged by the crowd noise. Even if my hearing is 50 percent of what it once was, I still will be able to hear the fans at Thursday nights mens gold-medal match between Brazil and Italy -- even though Ill be miles away at the track and field venue. ' ' '