A few stories from September 19

Strauss-Kahn rules out French presidential run

Published by The Jewish Chronicle, 19th September  2011. Link here.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has announced that he will not run as President of France despite assault charges having been dropped against him over an alleged sexual attack in a New York hotel in May.

The Socialist Party politician said during a television interview on Sunday that he would "obviously" not be a candidate in next year's elections. He said instead that he would be spending some time on the sidelines, taking "time to reflect" on his career.

Mr Strauss-Kahn apologised for his actions concerning Nafissatou Diallo, the 32 year-old Guinean chambermaid, calling them a "moral failure".

He said he was "not proud" of his behaviour in the hotel room, but insisted there was "no violence". He also said that renewed rape accusations by French journalist Tristane Banon were "imaginary, slanderous".

But French newspapers were broadly critical of his television appearance. In Le Figaro, political opponents of Mr Strauss-Kahn described him as a "megalomaniac", while Liberation said there was a "furious desire to move on".


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Calamity strikes in world’s greatest cycle race

Published by The Day (a newspaper for schools) on Tuesday 12th July

 

The Tour de France is an astonishing feat, but as more and more riders drop out of the race with horrific injuries, should we be asking if it's worth it?

The clean snap of a bone breaking rings out as two more men fall in the scorching French sun. The rest struggle on, the strain stretching out their faces, eyes always ahead. Two more combatants will fall later that day. But this is no war, this is the Tour de France cycle race, the world's most watched annual sports event.

The latest day of racing on Sunday saw four elite athletes leave the race with serious injuries after two separate crashes – one into a barbed wire fence.

The 3,500km endurance test, created in 1903, this year sees 180 men push their bodies to the limit as they circle France. Up mountains, along 21 different stages, through adversity. Their aim? A jersey. The famous maillot jaune (yellow jersey) for the winner and green, polka-dot and white for the best sprinters, mountain climbers and young riders.

The overall victor receives £400,000 in prize money and thousands more in sponsorship deals. Probably far more valuable for winners like the world famous seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is the glory of winning what the New York Times called 'arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events'.

The founder of the Tour said his ideal race was one where only one rider made it to the finishing line in Paris. And indeed this gruelling three-week race is nigh on impossible. Throughout its 108-year history, competitors have responded by turning to drugs.

At first alcohol and ether were used to deaden pain, but the Tour soon became a hotbed of performance enhancing drugs, which are getting more sophisticated every year.

In testing the limits of human capabilities, there are casualties, and some are fatal. In 1995 an Italian cyclist crashed on a fast downhill descent and died. In 1967 Briton Tom Simpson died from a combination of amphetamine and alcohol use and heat exhaustion. Despite more advanced drug testing, drug use remains rife, the steep downhills remain on the course, and frequent accidents show that another death is not impossible.

Incredible but irrelevant?

These pro-cyclists are exploring the boundaries of what it is possible to do with the human body. With monumental self-will and years of training, some this summer will achieve fame and glory, attaining a goal most of us can't even begin to approach.

But others will fall by the wayside, breaking bones or being banned for doping. And even those that complete this punishing regime, no matter how fast, or what colour they're wearing, will still have just gone round in a circle.

		Watch the latest action at the Tour de France
		One of the men knocked off his bike by the television car is thinking of suing
		Photo gallery of the crashes so far this year. Warning, some disturbing images.
		Week one in numbers