Carolina Kluft takes a deep breath as she begins to explain what it is like to be the greatest female athlete of her generation, to be unbeaten for five years and still feel, like the rest of us, frazzled and sometimes vulnerable. ”I’m only human, so I definitely feel the pressure all the time,” the multiple world, Olympic and European heptathlon champion says plaintively.
For most people on Earth today, sport plays a much larger emotional part in their lives than politics. We vote every four or five years, but we follow our teams every week. The pattern of the modern year is dictated by the sporting season rather than the church calendar. Instead of Easter and Whitsun, we look forward to the Cup final, to the Open and to the Test.
The leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) has called for the nationalisation of petrochemical firm Sasol and Mittal Steel South Africa to ensure energy security. The SACP is allied to the more centrist African National Congress but political analysts say it may decide to withdraw from the coalition.
United States President George Bush insisted on Thursday that he had a winning strategy in Iraq even as a White House report said the Iraqi government had failed in its efforts to stem violence and bring about reconciliation. The 25-page report released found satisfactory progress on only eight of 18 crucial benchmarks set by Congress.
A powerful typhoon struck the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa on Friday, pounding them with torrential rains and high winds before it heads north towards the nation’s main islands. Up to 500mm of rain was expected to fall on some parts of Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu by Saturday morning.
Southern hemisphere rugby bosses pledged on Friday never again to field weakened teams in the Tri-Nations and Super 14. ”It’s fair to say that it will never happen again,” John O’Neill, chief executive of South Africa New Zealand and Australia Rugby (Sanzar) told a media briefing in Christchurch.
More than four-and-a half thousand people have applied to take part in a joint Russian-European venture in which six people will be locked inside a mock spacecraft for 520 days to simulate an expedition to Mars. Russia’s space agency is sifting through piles of applications from would-be astronauts.
The green dump truck stood out against the brown mud-brick homes and shops in the bustling market, and then in a flash everything was dust and blood and thunder. The Iraq war had just blown into one of the poorest and most isolated parts of the country, and nothing would ever be the same again.
It has been the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s view always that the South African Communist Party has more historical credibility than any other opposition party. Its positive influence on the country’s history is undeniable and its policy positions and leaders must be taken seriously. It is the future of the SACP we worry about.
The electoral campaign started ahead of schedule in Sierra Leone. It was due to start last week Tuesday, but by last Saturday the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party was already holding rallies all over the capital, Freetown. Saturday was the last day for political parties to register for the August presidential elections.