Offtopic/fun » they also are prone to thinking too hard about kicks. Wh

Before the race, the four U.S. women in the 400 freestyle relay at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games caucused to visualize the perfect swim.?They calculated the times it would take each of them to stay with or surge past the East Germans who had been clobbering them by body lengths in events often decided by fingertips.?They?convinced themselves that their brains could override artificially induced brawn. It was the final event of the meet -- and they were driven by pride and a good amount of anger.Each swimmer executed in the way she had imagined. Incandescent talent Shirley Babashoff swam the anchor leg and they prevailed.The Last Gold, a documentary that will be shown in select theaters on July 11, focuses on the meaning of a race that took place 40 years ago but?couldnt?be more relevant today.?Like most sports movies, the dramatic narrative hinges on an inspirational moment.?Yet this film is suffused with sadness.?Now ranging in age from 55 to 61, the American swimmers still feel cheated of peak moments and unrecognized in any form by the International Olympic Committee, which years ago turned down a U.S. request to upgrade or award new medals and revise the record books.?The East German women who won all but two of 13 swimming gold medals in 1976 -- and their contemporaries in other sports -- lost in the long run. ?Thousands were trapped in a communist system and subject to secret police surveillance. Some were doped before they even hit puberty. As adults, many developed health issues, including cancer and reproductive problems, or had children with birth defects.Olympic sports officials in unified Germany paid compensation to a group of affected athletes in 2002 and recently announced plans for a second fund.Babashoff and teammates Jill Sterkel and Wendy Boglioli reunited at the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Nebraska, in late June and met with reporters to promote the film. (Kim Peyton, who led off the U.S. relay in the lane next to East German superstar Kornelia Ender, died at age 29 of an inoperable brain tumor.)They found themselves talking as much about the present as the past. The fact that Russia has this whole systematic [sports doping] -- it doesnt surprise me, said an animated, vivacious Boglioli, who works as a motivational speaker. It was just a matter of time, because theres no consequences. She finished behind two East Germans in the 100-meter butterfly.Boglioli then referred to the current legal dispute over whether Russian track and field athletes should compete at the Rio Games in August. This idea that theyre going to appeal, and maybe we should let them go and maybe we shouldnt, and oh, that wont look good if theyre not there, and what should we do about that? No, she said. They cheated, and its done, and they dont get to go. Said Sterkel, the former womens swim coach at the University of Texas: Had people stepped up 40 years ago, maybe we wouldnt be here now. Doping culture migrated and took root elsewhere rather than being eradicated, Sterkel said, and she thinks there should be no statute of limitations. They let that message go, and its just a bad lesson that cheaters might prosper sometimes, she said.The swimmers spoke from a place of pain and authority. Sterkel was just 15 years old in Montreal. Peyton and Babashoff were 19, and Boglioli was 21. Drug testing was in its infancy. The Olympics were celebrated as a venue for pure, amateur competition. In the movie, the women described the demoralizing feeling of being beaten before they dived in, their training and drive trumped by chemistry.Babashoff, who had been a candidate for multiple gold medals but collected four silvers instead, voiced suspicions about her bulked-up rivals. She got ripped for it, which taught me to keep my mouth shut, Sterkel said, echoing the reluctance of todays athletes to point fingers in the absence of positive tests.In Omaha, Babashoff sat back and let her teammates do most of the talking. Her memoir, Making Waves, was released this month.A longtime letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in her native Southern California, Babashoff retains a competitors edge to her voice when she talks about 1976. I just feel like some of them, the East German women, still feel like we were taking steroids too, she said. Theyre just kind of overly brainwashed. Stubborn on saying that we deserved what we worked for, and thats the only thing that kind of gets me upset.The Last Gold, which was produced by the sports national governing body, USA Swimming, also illuminates the stories of several East German athletes. Boglioli expressed sympathy for those who were most deeply affected. Thats just horrific what these women went through, she said. I cant even imagine. I have medals, Ive got my health, I have healthy kids and grandkids -- and they dont have that.I look at an International Olympic Committee that is about the welfare, not only fair play, but protecting the athletes, and they failed to protect these women victims.Much of the footage in the movie looks antique: soldiers patrolling the Berlin Wall, swimmers tugging at tank suits in the starting blocks, scoreboards bereft of color and the cringe-worthy loud yellow blazers worn by ABC commentators Curt Gowdy and Donna de Varona. The grossly inflated physiques of the young East German athletes are jaw-dropping. Doping is harder to read at a glance now.However, the themes that surfaced in the pools and on the playing fields of the 1970s have proved durable and insidious. Coercion, dummy labs and state involvement are embedded in the doping DNA of many modern Russian athletes, just as they were the East Germans. Medals lost in the moment take years to make their way to the right hands, or never change hands at all.I dont want to compare what we went through to the things theyve had to deal with, Sterkel said. They are the true victims, but in some situations, there are victims on both sides.Many current athletes will relate.??The Last Gold will be shown in select theaters on July 11. A portion of the proceeds goes to the USA Swimming Foundation.?Go to thelastgold.com for more information.?China NFL Jerseys . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. https://www.cheapnfljerseysjustwholesale.com/cheap-nhl-jerseys . 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 Jerseys . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. The Spokane goaltender finished with 28 saves, including a Brandon Fushimi penalty shot in the second period that would have tied the game 1-1. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less.The idea was to put some excitement into NFL extra points. On Sunday, it became unwise to head to the fridge when the kickers came in.A dozen times in Week 11, those 1-pointers became no-pointers. Blame the swirling winds. Blame the suspect blocking. Blame sloppy holding.Or point fingers at the toes of Mike Nugent and Robbie Gould, who each missed a pair of PATs. Not to mention Stephen Gostkowski and Steven Hauschka. Connor Barth and Kai Forbath. Matt Prater and Cody Parkey. And Jason Myers, who failed on seven extra points last season -- yep, seven -- and still kept his job with the Jaguars.It just drives me crazy to have a poor performance that contributes to a loss, said Nugent, whose Bengals fell 16-12 to Buffalo. Had he made both extra points, a field goal late in the game could have won it for Cincinnati.Thats the second time thats happened this year, that Ive contributed enormously to a loss. If I did what I was brought here to do, wed have two less losses, in my opinion.Several kickers noted they were compensating for the wind, particularly the Giants Gould and the Bears Barth, who coincidentally replaced the veteran Gould in Chicago this season. Kicking in the Meadowlands has never been a picnic, and conditions figure to get worse there and in many other NFL cities as the schedule moves along.But one of the main reasons for bringing in veteran kickers -- Myers is in his second pro season, Hopkins and Parkey their third, but the rest are pretty seasoned NFLers -- is their ability to handle such challenges, mentally and physically.They failed in record numbers Sunday.The first one I hit was where I was hitting them in pregame, Gould said. I thought I made it and it went outside the left upright. The second one I just didnt hit a good ball. Today was tough, but I have to make them.His coach, Ben McAdoo, was giving Gould the benefit of the doubt.It was a tough day to kick the football, McAdoo admitted, also knowing it was his decision to bring in Gould after the Giants waived Josh Brown in October following revelations about his abusive behavior toward his former wife.Well go back, well look at it, well talk about everything. The wind obviouslly was a factor every time you had a play in the kicking game today.ddddddddddddThat was not the case in Detroit. Ford Field is indoors, yet Prater and Myers had misses.So whats going on when a two-time All-Pro such as Gostkowski misses three PATs in the last five games? Or Hauschka has an extra-point kick blocked in successive games?Not to mention perhaps the play of the year last weekend, when Denver ran back a blocked extra point against New Orleans for a defensive 2-point conversion that won the game?A 33-yard kick should be automatic for virtually every NFL kicker, yet we know, 12 times over on Sunday, that is not true.Among the factors contributing are pressure, over-analysis, poor mechanics, weak blocking and, well, bad luck.Before last year, when the new rule placed the ball at the 15 for extra-point kicks, little thought or preparation was needed for such chip shots. Now, kickers -- and holders, snappers and blockers -- do need to think about the kicks. But they dont get a whole bunch of extra practices on them.Kickers traditionally are a quirky bunch. That isnt necessarily a bad thing; just look at how successful Sebastian Janikowski has been for the Raiders.But they also are prone to thinking too hard about kicks. Why else would opposing coaches try to ice them?Bad weather, particularly slippery surfaces and wind, have a huge effect. A wet ball is much harder to boot accurately, as well as more difficult to snap and hold. Uncertain footing plagues kickers legs and psyches.As for the wind, thats the enemy of everyone but defenders on a football team.So those excuses sometimes work, though, again, not in the friendly kicking confines of a dome.The biggest issue for kickers comes when they get in a rut. Unlike other positions that require deep knowledge of a playbook, kickers and punters are much more on their own. When placekickers cant find the middle of the uprights, they usually find themselves on their own and off the roster.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL. ' ' '