Showing posts with label Nobel Peace Prize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nobel Peace Prize. Show all posts

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Sarah Young - RIP

BBC Sport 
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, founder of the Clipper Round the World yacht race, has pledged a full investigation into the death of a British crew member.

Sarah Young, 40, was washed overboard in the Pacific Ocean and is the second person to die in this year's event.

Sir Robin said everyone involved in the race was in "shock" over the death.

The investigation will focus on why she was not tethered to the yacht, Sir Robin said, adding safety was a vital part of the sailors' training.

Fellow Briton Andrew Ashman, a crew member on the same boat, died after being knocked unconscious. in September.

Despite being amateurs, both Miss Young and Mr Ashman were experienced sailors.

Miss Young was tidying the cockpit of the IchorCoal yacht after reefing the mainsail when she was knocked from her position by a wave. She fell back towards the guard wire and was swept under it by another wave.

Rescue attempts were hampered by winds of up to 40 knots and her body was recovered more by her crewmates than an hour later.

Attempts were made to resuscitate Miss Young but she did not regain consciousness. She died at about 13:44 BST on Friday.

The cause of her death is yet to be confirmed but is suspected to be drowning or exposure, organisers said.

Sir Robin, who in 1969 became the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world, told the BBC: "We've only had two fatalities in something like 4,000 people, in 10 races around the world.

"It's a shock to all of us and we want to find out exactly why it happened. Why wasn't she hooked on? This is what I've got to establish."

It was an "appalling coincidence" that two crew members from the same yacht had died, he added.

Sir Robin described Miss Young as experienced as a "very popular member of the crew, a very easy person to like".

The IchorCoal yacht, pictured, set off on the latest leg of the race on 21 March

He went on: "One of the things we really focus on in Clipper with the four weeks' training is safety.

"That is the primary consideration, the one thing we drum into all crew."

Miss Young, who was from London, was one of the sailors taking part in the entire round-the-world challenge.

The incident happened during the ninth race of the 14-stage event which started in August and covers more than 40,000 nautical miles.

Sarah Young
Sarah Young was taking part in the year-long race on the IchorCoal boat

Miss Young had already sailed more than half way round the globe, covering 20,000 nautical miles before setting off from the latest leg of the race on 21 March.

She had pulled out of part of the challenge after the death of her mother, organisers said.

Miss Young was the owner of a personal lifestyle company and prior to the Clipper Race had taken part in other expeditions, including mountaineering in Nepal. She had also run a marathon and was a qualified diving group leader.

Fellow IchorCoal crew member Eliotte Ashcroft wrote on Facebook that Miss Young was a "witty, ballsy, caring lady".

The boats are currently racing in the north Pacific, which is where Young was swept overboard

This latest stage of the race takes crews from Qingdao in China to Seattle in the United States and has 3,242 miles still to go.

The crew will now continue on their journey to Seattle.

Sir Robin said: "I should think they are in shock and will want to take it easy for a bit and I have to say I think if I was in their position I would do the same."

More than 700 crew members are participating in the 2015-16 race, which will end in London on 30 July.


Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Billy No Mates Blatter Talks Bunte


Sepp Blatter has said he feels “abandoned” by football’s governing body and will now focus on clearing his name.

Fifa’s ethics committee last week banned Blatter and the Uefa president Michel Platini from football for eight years for ethics violations. Both men immediately denied any wrongdoing and said they would appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“I now no longer fight for Fifa,” Blatter, who led Fifa for 17 years, said according to the German magazine Bunte. “They abandoned me. I am now only fighting for myself and my honour.”

Blatter had come out swinging against the ban, saying that he was sorry only that the president of Fifa was being treated as a “punching ball” and adding: “I will fight for me and I will fight for Fifa.”

The 79-year-old Swiss told Bunte that he was re-energised by the “false claims” against him. “After Christmas I will start to fight back,” Blatter said.

The inquiry by Fifa’s ethics committee began after the Swiss attorney general’s office opened criminal proceedings against Blatter over a 2m Swiss franc (£1.35m) payment to Platini in 2011.

Switzerland’s prosecutor is also investigating Fifa’s award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to Russia and to Qatar.

The ethics committee said it had not found evidence that the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, constituted a bribe, which meant the men were spared potential lifetime bans.

In the United States, prosecutors have indicted 27 current or former officials over allegations that they ran bribery schemes connected to the sale of television rights for competitions. 

These include eight former Fifa executive committee members and the current heads of both the North and South American federations.