The medals comprised three gold, one silver and two bronze with Heather Clark (Women’s Masters) and Chris Knutsen (Grand Kahunas) successfully defending their titles while Andrew Banks (Masters) won his first ISA World title. Brothers Andre and David Malherbe earned bronze in the Grand Masters and Kahunas respectively while Team South Africa took the silver medal behind Australia in the team event.

The battle for the team title went down to the last heat of the event, the Masters final, where despite Banks winning the Gold, the two Aussies finished second and third to dash SA’s hopes of a third consecutive team gold by a mere 260 points – 10456 to 10196.

An elated Banks (Port Shepstone) clinched the Masters (Over/35) title with an outstanding heat total of 17.57 out of 20, taking the lead in the final with an 8.50 and then grabbing the gold with a 9.07 that left silver medalist Brett Banister needing 8.98 while fellow Aussie Dean Hall and defending two-time champion Juan Ashton (PUR) were combo’d.

“I feel extremely happy, this is the reason why I came here,” Banks said. “This is what I was praying for, and I was not going to be happy with second place. It was a tough final and I gave it my all for my late brother, Robbie – I surf for him.”

Heather Clark (Port Shepstone) has won every heat she has entered in her two appearances in the ISA World Masters Surfing Championship. She completed a remarkable recovery from a life-threatening motor accident last October to secure her second consecutive ISA Women’s Masters (Over/35) gold medal.

In the final she scored 17.86 (a pair of 8.93 rides) that left Andrea Lopes (BRA) in second, Patricia Rossi (TAH) in third and Sandra English (AUS) in fourth. 

“It was hard because all the surfers in the final are really good and we all got waves over the 6.00 point range,” Clark said after being mobbed by her teammates on the beach. “I had support in the water, at the beach and I wanted really bad to get my second world title.”

Durban’s Chris Knutsen won his second successive Grand Kahunas (O/50) ISA World Title and third gold medal overall after winning the Kahunas division in the 2007 edition in Puerto Rico. The 53 year-old displayed smart wave selection and his customary huge manoeuvres to post the only perfect 10-point ride of the entire event in yesterday’s final.

Backing that up with an 8.5, ‘Knutto’ left Javier Huarcaya (PER) in second, Kenneth Myers (PAN) in third and Javier Gorbea (PUR) in fourth. 

“I came here trying to win a third ISA world title, a hat trick, and I managed to pull it off,” an emotional Knutsen said. “I think God gave me the waves as it was amazing to get a 10. I caught the wave and it looked like it was going to be a good one.  I just rode it the best I could and luckily it worked out well for me. I am so happy, this happens because if you really love what you do, and I love surfing, you can only get better.”

Andre Malherbe (East London) completed a gutsy run in the event, placing third in the Grand Masters (0/40) division behind three-time gold medallist Juan Ashton (PUR) and Glen Pringle (AUS) after dropping into the repecharge rounds early on and having to battle through six heats of cut-throat competition just to reach the Grand final.

Brother David Malherbe (Coffee Bay) also earned a Bronze medal, one better than his Copper medal in Puerto Rico, when he placed third in the Kahunas (O/45) final, behind Rod Baldwin, Australia’s only individual Gold medalist, and Sergio Penna (BRA).

Wayne Monk (East London) placed equal ninth overall in the Masters division, Rob Moore-Boyle finished seventh in the Grand Masters and fellow Durbanite and SA team captain Marc Wright just missed out on the final and the opportunity to defend the Kahunas title he won in Peru in 2008, placing sixth overall in Panama

The closing ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, as well as the Vice President, Minister of Tourism and Minister of Economy, who assisted ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, in awarding the medals.

Showing great interest in surfing, the President of Panama told the visiting surfers, “Tell everybody about the perfect waves we have and come here, you are more than welcome,” before ensuring the ISA President committed to bringing another international event to Panama in the summer of 2011.

ISA President Fernando Aguerre closed the event by saying, “I want to thank the Panamanian people, the government and the private sector for their commitment with this sport. This is the most exciting part of the event, the medals ceremony, but it is also the part when we remember everything, the rainy days, the wind, the great waves, the broken boards, and the emotions. We want to let all the Panamanians know that we leave your country with our hearts filled with great memories.” 
 
The ISA World Masters Surfing Championship will be held again next year in a soon to be announced location.

2010 ISA World Masters Surfing Championships results, Santa Catalina, Panama

Team Medallists

Gold: Australia – 10456 points
, Silver: South Africa – 10196 points, 
Bronze: Brazil – 8770 points
, Copper: Puerto Rico – 8684 points

Masters

Gold: Andrew Banks (RSA)
, Silver: Brett Bannister (AUS)
, Bronze: Dean Hall (AUS)
, Copper: Juan Ashton (PUR)

Grand Masters

Gold: Juan Ashton (PUR)
, Silver: Glen Pringle (AUS)
, Bronze: Andre Malherbe (RSA), 
Copper: Ricardo Villanueva (PUR)

Kahunas

Gold: Rod Baldwin (AUS)
, Silver: Sergio Penna (BRA)
, Bronze: David Malherbe (RSA), 
Copper: Martín Jerí (PER)

Grand Kahunas

Gold: Chris Knutsen (RSA)
, Silver: Javier Huarcaya (PER)
, Bronze: Kenneth Myers (PAN), 
Copper: Javier Gorbea (PUR)

Women Masters

Gold: Heather Clark (RSA)
, Silver: Andrea Lopes (BRA)
, Bronze: Patricia Rossi (TAH)
, Copper: Sandra English (AUS)

Final Team Standings:
 1  AUSTRALIA
, 2  SOUTH AFRICA
, 3  BRAZIL, 
4  PUERTO RICO
, 5  PERU
, 6  VENEZUELA
, 7  ARGENTINA, 
8  FRANCE, 
9  PANAMA
, 10  COSTA RICA
, 11  MEXICO
, 12  ITALY
, 13  URUGUAY
, 14  REP DOMINICAN
, 15  JAMAICA
, 16  NEW ZEALAND, 
17  GUATEMALA
, 18  TAHITI
, 19  EL SALVADOR
, 20  GERMANY
, 21 IRELAND

Manager Ricky Simms says in an e-mail that the world-record holder in the 100 and 200 metres has been examined by a doctor in Germany and the back problem “restricts his ability to generate power in his stride.”

Simms says that racing “in this condition could risk injury” to Bolt’s legs. Simms also says an MRI exam showed that a previous Achilles’ tendon injury is healed.

Bolt will have treatment to loosen his back and then rest, skipping IAAF Diamond League track meets in Zurich and Brussels.

The announcement comes just four days after Bolt lost to Tyson Gay in the 100m at the DF Galan meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on Friday night.

“I’m always just happy with a gold medal,” the Jamaican sprint star said. “If we go there and nobody breaks a record, I’ll always have the record and there’s no worries for me.”

Sapa reports that at Beijing in 2008, he smashed the world record in both the 100 and 200 and celebrated in style – shooting that fake bow and arrow into the sky before the race, dancing after the finish line and turning the Bird’s Nest into his own private playground. He improved on his 100-metre record last year at the world championships. It currently stands at 9.58 seconds and he thinks he can go lower.

“I always say that probably 9.4 is possible,” Bolt said. “I hope I can be the one to get there because I work very hard and I want nothing but to be the best.”

To be a “legend,” though, he doesn’t believe he’ll have to set another record in London. He’ll merely have to win.

“I don’t think I’m a legend now,” he said. “A lot of people have done it one time. If I can double, few people in the world can say they’re double Olympic gold medalists. I want to be one of those few people.”

Carl Lewis is the only male runner to repeat 100m wins at the Olympics.

Bolt is also looking beyond 2012, when he would consider competing in the long jump for a change of pace. Earlier this year, he said he might have to do something else “because people are probably tired of seeing me.”

People getting tired of Usain Bolt? Hardly seems possible.

“I think definitely they can if you win all the time,” he said. “The reason people enjoy seeing me is because I’m different from other athletes. It’s fun to watch me. If I keep that up, they probably won’t get bored. If I just win, win, win like a normal athlete and don’t make it fun, they probably will.”

One way Bolt is keeping things fresh is by changing his racewear for each of this year’s Diamond League meetings in Europe. An artist in each city is designing a new singlet for him to wear.

“People really enjoy it and it’s something to look forward to,” he said. “It’s something new. I think people like it. I’m the one who does things like this that no one else will do.”

Bolt is scheduled to face Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell in the 100m for the first time this year at a meeting next week in Stockholm.

This after the Surfing South Africa (SSA) Board of Directors ratified the selection of the team. The South African team’s preparations, training and attendance at the ISA World Surfing Games will be supported by a R300 000 grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).

The NLDTF have supported all the South African teams to have competed in the ISA World Junior Championships, ISA World Surfing Games and ISA World Masters Championships.

The SA team consists of four men, two women, two male longboarders, two coaches and a manager.

The top seed in the men’s team is current South African champion and former World Tour campaigner Greg Emslie of East London. He’s joined by 2002 ISA world junior champion Warwick Wright of Cape Town, SA Championship finalist Chad du Toit of Durban and new cap Casey Grant of Scottburgh, who recently finished runner-up to Jordy Smith in the Mr Price Pro Ballito.

For the second year in a row, Llewellyn Whittaker of Mossel Bay is the non-travelling reserve, having lost in a tiebreak in the final heat of selection trials held in Cape Town on 17 July.

The women’s team members are Melkbosstrand surfers Chantelle Rautenbach, the 2009 Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour (PST) champion, and Stacey Guy who placed third in the Mr Price Women’s Pro Ballito in early July.

Although Guy has represented South Africa as a junior and captained the South African Under-23 team in the ISA Aloha Cup in 2006, this is her first cap in the national team. Bianca Buitendag of George is the non-travelling reserve.

Joining two-time ISA World longboard champion Matthew Moir of Tokai in the team is new cap Brad Weare of Durban. Moir and Weare finished first and second in the South African Longboard Championships in Jeffreys Bay in May this year.

Experienced Mike Sheppard of Mossel Bay has been appointed team manager and he’ll be supported by legendary coach Graham Hynes of Cape St Francis and David Malherbe of Coffee Bay.

Sheppard was the manager of the 2008 and 2009 SA teams, Hynes has been coaching surfers and national surfing teams for over 40 years and Malherbe is a Level 2 ISA coach and a member of the SA Masters team that will compete in the ISA World Masters Championships in Panama in August.

Cyril Nel of East London has been appointed by the ISA as a head judge for the event and Johno Hutchison of Ballito is on the international judging panel.

Surfing South Africa is recognised by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the International Surfing Association (ISA) as the official governing body for the sport of surfriding in South Africa. Six provincial organisations and three national associations are affiliated to Surfing South Africa which coordinates and manages all aspects of surfriding from grass roots level through to the selection of national teams.

The former South African netball captain played for SA between 1994 and 1999, before emigrating to New Zealand in 2000 and currently represents her adopted country at the highest level.

Sport 24 reports that Van Dyk, who at 1.90-metres stands almost as tall as the Bok backrow, said that although she remained a loyal All Blacks supporter it was an “absolute honour” to present the jerseys.

“When I got the call asking me to be here I immediately said yes. It’s very special for me to be here.

Instead of giving advice she shared a few anecdotes from her career spanning over 20 years and 175 international matches to date.

She told the team: “You are the best in your country and have achieved so much – what more can I say to you guys to motivate you. You know what you have to do. Good luck for the game”.

Sapa reports that an amount of R8 000 was stolen from gymnast JP Engelbrecht’s hotel room, but a short upper cut from coach Chris Botha left a would be mugger cold on a toilet floor in Poland’s second biggest city.

“I asked someone in a shopping centre where the toilet as and he ‘kindly’ offered to show me the way.

“However, as we reached the toilet at the end of a long passage, the good Samaritan, or shall a say good Pole, suddenly hit me in the face and grabbed my money bag,” Botha said.

Botha said it must have been his Boksburg instinct, but he hit the mugger with a short right to the chin and he dropped to the floor.

“As I was not sure whether there were some of his friend’s around, I broke all Usain Bolt’s sprint records to get out of here,” Both said.

The top acro gymnastics event gets on the way with the Opening Ceremony Friday night and World Age Group championships on Saturday.

Albert, 52, has ruled the tiny Mediterranean principality since succeeding his father Rainier III in July 2005.

Wittstock was a school teacher and is a former Commonwealth 100 metres backstroke champion.

BBC sport reports that the Jamaican athlete has withdrawn from the Diamond League meeting in New York on 12 June because of an inflamed Achilles tendon.

The world and Olympic champion was due to face American Tyson Gay at the meeting in a 100-metre showdown between the world’s two fastest men.

But in a statement by event organisers, Bolt said he had developed stiffness in the tendon last week.

He has been advised to take a two-to-three week break by a doctor.

The meet, which will be held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, is the fifth of 14 stops on the Diamond League circuit.

Bolt narrowly failed to break Michael Johnson’s world record in the 300m at the IAAF World Challenge in Ostrava last week.

Nebraska-based South African middle-distance ace Peter van der Westhuizen is expected to run the 1500m at the New York meeting.

 The Jamaican sprinter’s brown and blue race singlet will bear the same graphics as the Africa Unity Kit – the World’s first continental football kit – which many PUMA-sponsored African football teams have been wearing to show solidarity for the continent of Africa.

The debut of this unique singlet follows on the heels of International Biodiversity Day, which is celebrated on May 22nd. 

“Football is one of my favourite sports and I’m looking forward to watching the World Cup. Last year I had a chance to meet Samuel Eto’o and some of the other African footballers. It’s an honour to wear the same colours during the Shanghai meet that PUMA’s African football teams have been wearing. This is one way that I can cheer them on from afar. Whether we play football or run track, we’re all united as proud athletes representing our countries,” Bolt said.

Bolt will also wear the new PUMA Lava Spike shoe which incorporates the technology that helped him shatter the 100m and 200m world records in Berlin last year. One of the lightest sprint spikes, the new lava flow design represents the power at the Earth’s core.

Bolt will also be showing his support for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity – a United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) initiative which generates awareness of habitat and species conservation.

In January 2010 PUMA and UNEP launched the Africa Unity Kit, the world’s first continental football kit and proceeds from the sale of the replica fanwear help fund biodiversity programmes in Africa.

The Africa Unity Kit has been recognized as the official third kit for PUMA’s 13 sponsored African teams, four of which have qualified for World Cup (Cameroon, Algeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast). The brown and blue kit colours represent the African soil and sky – and the shade of brown was custom created by mixing soil samples from four African nations.

Bolt’s race on Sunday  is highly anticipated as it marks his first race of the 2010 IAAF Diamond League season. 

Visit www.puma.com/running for more information about PUMA and Usain Bolt.

Johnson won the 1988 Olympic 100 metres title but was stripped of his gold medal and world-record time after he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol, reports Reuters.

Francis told a national inquiry that he introduced Johnson to steroids and was banned from coaching by Athletics Canada.

He trained several of Canada’s top athletes before the ban and afterward also worked briefly with disgraced US sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

A Canadian sprint champion himself, Francis was considered a leading expert on sprinting despite his association with steroid use.

He died in a Toronto hospital.