It was in elementary school that Mike Mason grew tired of the earth’s surly bonds.
And today, he’s breaking them under his own power with the best high jumpers on the planet.
Mason, who will almost certainly compete for Canada at this summer’s London Olympics, fell for the sport on his first leap.
“When I started jumping it was just natural to me,” says Mason, now 26. “From the first practice I had, one of the kids was showing me how to arch over the bar and my body was able to do that right from the start.”
But natural ability can only take a jumper so high. Raising the bar requires countless training leaps, where the concentration is on the last three steps.
“In high jump the last three steps are just so important,” he says. “And once that’s automatic, that’s what you’re working on.”
Once technique has been mastered, higher jumps are powered by the athlete’s ability to do more of them without thinking.
“When it becomes second nature, your muscles can just get a little sharper, move a little faster,” he says.
Mason, who competed at the 2008 Beijing Games, says there’s a bond between jumpers that’s missing in many track sports. A common adversary — gravity — and the lack of one-on-one competition has allowed jumpers to form a close-knit community.
“You’re competing against yourself in a sense. You have your three attempts and it really doesn’t matter what anybody else does,” Mason says.
“So you can enjoy yourself, you can joke with the other guys. It really is a good atmosphere and there are not a lot of guys that are out there to get in your head or play games out there.”
This lack of psychological harassment allows Mason to completely to empty his mind of distractions before his competition leaps.
“When it’s automatic, I clear my head and I just go, and it doesn’t really matter where the bar is at,” says Mason, who’s ranked No. 1 in Canada.
He’s been ranked as high as second in the world this year, having cleared the Olympic standard of 2.31 metres in May.
That height and rank should make Mason a legitimate podium contender in London, though he’s reluctant to look that far ahead.
“It’s hard for me to think about that right now because this season has been so amazing so far, but maybe a little bit of a surprise too,” he says. “Just getting the standard was one of my goals. I’m just focused on one step at a time.”
Mason moved to Abbotsford, B.C., this year to work under a new coach, the Polish-trained Zbigniew Szelagowicz.
The relationship is so new that Mason has yet to master his coach’s name.
“I actually can’t pronounce his first and last name. He’s just Ziggy,” he says.
Mason credits Szelagowicz with turning him around after a disappointing 2011 season, when a foot injury hampered his performances.
Mason has had few pursuits outside of higher leaps in recent years.
“Anytime I’m not at the track, I’m thinking about recovery,” he says. “If my wife wants to go shopping or into town or something, sometimes I just have to pass.”
Luckily, wife Janessa was a high-performance athlete at the University of British Columbia and can understand her husband’s focus.
“She’s very, very understanding and is very supportive,” he says.
Mason graduated in human kinetics from UBC in 2010, but is leaning towards a career in computer graphic design when his athletic career is done.
While Mason and fellow Canadian Derek Drouin have both met the Olympic qualifying mark this year, each must post a top-three showing at the national championships in June to make the Canadian team — something both are expected to easily do.
Source: www.thestar.com
East London: Right On Track - BBC News
Synopsis
BBC 2012's Community Reporters showcase the emerging talents of East London. From break dancers and fashion designers, to chefs and authors, the Community Reporters shine a light on just some of the many creative young people beginning to make waves in the area. At the same time they discuss what it is about East London that's made it such a fertile breeding ground for new talent in so many different areas; and look at the challenges people face in trying to make a name from themselves.
This documentary is one of two programmes produced by a group of 14 young people from East London on the BBC 2012 Community Reporters Scheme. Over seven weeks they were trained in all aspects of journalism, before working with the Radio 1 and 1Xtra Stories team to produce two 60 minute programmes. From generating the initial ideas and developing a structure, to recording the interviews and editing the finished content, this is all their own work.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Games chiefs order ballet name change - Daily Telegraph
"The ballet originally had the full motto as its title, but the IOC said we couldn't use it. We applied for the Inspire Mark which they begrudgingly gave us – but then they said that we had to change the title.
"I was pretty peed off, to be honest. It was absurd. The rules surrounding the Inspire programme seem to be quite nonsensical. They are handled with an across the board clumsiness.”
Mr Bintley, awarded a CBE for services to the arts in 2001, added: "You're lumped in alongside gift shops and people who want to trade off the movement, who set out to make economic gains from everything they make.
"Yet this is a serious work of art, inspired by the Olympic ideals. They are not subtle about how they handle that.
“This is a year when we are talking about the Cultural Olympiad and being part of the whole Olympic circus, yet they don't make it easy.”
Faster is a ballet, which is said to focus on the parallels between the strength and agility of sportsmen and women and dancers and is expected to win rave reviews.
Mr Bintley, 54, took over the directorship of Birmingham Royal Ballet 17 years ago from Sir Peter Wright, who became known for interpreting classical ballets for the company, including The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia and Swan Lake.
Speaking on behalf of the IOC, a spokesman for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games said the name of the ballet was agreed before the Inspire mark was awarded.
The production premieres at the Birmingham Hippodrome from June 27.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Murder hunt after Sussex victim of Jubilee attack dies - BBC News
A murder investigation has begun after the death of a 21-year-old East Sussex man found collapsed in the street following a Jubilee party.
Father-of-three James Harris Durkin, of Eastbourne, was discovered in Court Road, Orpington, south-east London, in the early hours of Tuesday.
The Met Police said he was taken to Royal London Hospital but later died.
Post-mortem tests on Thursday showed he died from a "deep brain bleed linked to blunt force trauma".
The Met Police have set up an incident room at Lewisham police station and appealed for witnesses.
A spokesman for the force said: "There were a number of people at the party which is in an area of adjoining residential premises.
"There were also, despite the early hours of the assault, people in the area either going to or returning from work in a part of Orpington."
Mr Harris Durkin initially travelled to Orpington from his home in Eastbourne to attend a funeral on Monday.
Officers said he then spent the evening celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with family and friends in Court Road.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Rain puts Sussex joint top - ECB
Sussex moved level on points with Warwickshire at the top of Group C in the Clydesdale Bank 40 as their clash with Derbyshire at Horsham was rained off.
The hosts had reached 111 for five after 24 overs when the drizzle became too strong, and umpires Peter Hartley and Peter Willey later abandoned the match.
The result leaves the visitors second from bottom in the group and effectively ends their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Tim Groenewald took 3-30 from eight overs to reduce Sussex to 58 for four after Derbyshire elected to field.
Joe Gatting and Michael Yardy repaired some of the damage with a stand of 44 for the fifth wicket before Gatting was out for a top score of 34.
Rain prevented a positive result result between Sussex and Derbyshire at Horsham, but put the former joint top of Group C
Matt Turner made the initial breakthrough in only the fourth over when Ed Joyce misjudged a drive and saw his off stump cartwheel out of the ground.
England all-rounder Luke Wright cracked three quick boundaries before perishing, going for a fourth, when he uppercut a delivery from Groenewald straight to David Wainwright at third man.
Chris Nash followed two balls later when a concerted lbw appeal from Groenewald was finally greeted with a raised finger to the disgust of the batsman.
Scott Styris looked rusty on his Sussex debut, having not seen any action in the recent Indian Premier League, and was next to go.
The New Zealand all-rounder grew frustrated and pulled a short ball from Groenewald down the throat of Alex Hughes at deep midwicket.
Gatting mounted a fightback by hitting Rana Naved-ul-Hasan - on his Derbyshire debut - for six over long-on and Hughes for another maximum.
His innings finally came to an end when he drove Wainwright firmly to short extra-cover where Wayne Madsen took a juggling catch at the third attempt.
Skipper Yardy had moved on to 22 and Ben Brown three when the rain - which had been falling all game - became heavier and the players were taken off.
After a further 90 minutes of solid rain the umpires decided to abandon the match.
Source: www.ecb.co.uk
London bus staff drive on towards Olympic strike - The Guardian
London bus workers are preparing to announce strike dates this week as they step up their dispute over a £500 Olympic bonus.
Thousands of bus workers at the Unite trade union have voted by a majority of more than 90% for industrial action and have warned that walkouts could take place during the Games. Unite also accused the capital's transport authority of "hypocrisy" after claiming that seven Transport for London bosses could share a £560,000 bonus payment if performance targets including a trouble-free Olympics are met.
Peter Kavanagh, Unite's regional secretary for London, said: "This is barefaced hypocrisy of the highest order. TfL chiefs on six-figure salaries are in line to earn Olympic bonuses worth 160 times more than bus workers are asking for."
TfL said the claims were "spurious and inaccurate" because the bonus scheme, which equates to a payment of £80,000 for each senior director, is not based solely on performance over the Olympics and is part of the directors' contracts.
"It is disappointing that Unite continues to push for strike action, attempting to exploit the Games spirit and add a further multimillion-pound burden to the hard-pressed fare and taxpayers of London," said Leon Daniels, TfL's director of surface transport.
Under the terms of the 1992 Trade Union Act, Unite is unable to announce strike dates during the Olympics immediately. It must take industrial action within 28 days of the strike ballot being announced, which sets a deadline of the first week of July. If drivers take industrial action before that point, they are then allowed to stretch their strike mandate into the Games between 27 July and 12 August.
Unite's strike threat is further complicated by the fact that bus operators claim they are unable to pay a bonus. The 21 bus companies that operate in London are paid a set fee by TfL and are adamant that any extra staff payment must be underwritten by the mayor's transport authority. TfL's Daniels again indicated that the organisation will not underwrite a deal. "As has always been clear, bus drivers are employed by private companies and their pay and conditions are a matter for those private companies," he said.
TfL said a £500 bonus payment equated to a "bill of £12m for no additional work".
However, Unite argues that the 20,000 bus workers it represents are entitled to a bonus after payments of £850 were secured for tube staff. Staff at Network Rail, the DLR, the London Overground line and Virgin Trains have all agreed bonuses of between £500 and £900 each.
Unite has given bus operators until the start of this week to respond to its demand. If there is no response, it is preparing to announce strike dates by the middle of the week. The conciliation service, Acas, has not been involved so far.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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