For a moment we were worried that Tom Daley would bite off his gold medal out of sheer joy. But no, the British Olympic champion in synchronized high diving fortunately had his mouth under control after his triumph. With mouth impeccably preserved, he then said sentences after his win that were at least as touching as his previous duel with vault partner Matty Lee against rivals from China. "I feel incredibly proud to be able to say I'm a gay man and also an Olympic champion. I feel very empowered by that." Daley looked back on his coming out in 2013 and his lonely musings as a teenager. "When I was younger, I was always the one who felt alone, alone and different. I had something about me that was never going to be as good as society wanted it to be, and I hope that all the young LGBT people out there see that, no matter how alone you feel right now, that you're not alone and you can accomplish anything." That also makes the 27-year-old our Romantic Hero of the week!
Until now he was only the football star with the cool sayings - possibly Thomas Müller will soon become the patron saint of the foot care industry. The holiday photo of his damaged toes and toenails could give the profession a major boost. Not only Müller's coach Julian Nagelsmann advised Müller to show the damaged toes to a professional chiropodist. It is possible that some football fans will now have taken a closer look at their feet while showering and will apply the advice to themselves - Müller could give a whole industry a boost with his Igittibah pictures. By the way: If you google Thomas Müller and foot care, you will even find professional service providers with exactly this name. However, this is only due to the common name of the Bayern star, no one has yet tried to make a direct profit from the much-noticed Insta-story.
For us, he's like a cross between Rod Stewart, Boris Becker and Hulk - and he's the jubilation king of the week, if not the whole year. How coach Dean Boxall cheered his swimmer Ariarne Titmus' gold medal at the Olympics has become a worldwide internet hit in a short space of time. In his yellow T-shirt, the 43-year-old became the real show of the final. Perhaps the man simply opened a valve after the triumph, which was under overpressure during the preparation period. For his coach-enthusiastic swimmer Titmus - "he means everything to me" - had to work under him like no one else before "He tells me if I get better he has to push harder, so it's tough," she said in an ABC interview a couple of years ago. But the tough methods made her feel perfectly prepared, and the final run was all about "have fun" for the eventual winner. Thanks to her coach, the spectators also had fun.
We like to try and be light-hearted about the sporting world here, but for this man there is only one serious thought: namely that of deeply felt respect. Saeid Mollaei's silver medal in Tokyo completed a circle that began two years ago in Tokyo. At that time, the Iranian-born was instructed by the regime not to compete in the semifinals to avoid a final against Israeli Sagi Muki. Mollaei defied the directive but feared for his life and fled to Germany. He returned to Tokyo as Mongolia's starter. Their officials rejoiced despite the defeat of their starter in the final. The 29-year-old Mollaei, however, was not in the mood for unadulterated joy. He thinks that his parents, who continue to live in Iran, saw the fight. But he believes that they are not proud of him because he did not win the medal for Iran.
When you're suddenly the historical measure of all things in a professional league that's been around for a century and a half, you know it's not a bad season for you...What Shohei Ohtani is accomplishing in the US Baseball League MLB right now is virtually without precedent. Granted, strictly speaking, we could have put the 27-year-old Japanese player in Good News two weeks ago, or we could probably do it a month from now. Ohtani is constantly stringing together one new strong performance after another. Our current cause is that after Ohtani's most recent performance this past Monday, his team manager Joe Maddon virtually believes the decision has been made in the competition for Most Valuable Player. "People who say the decision is close - it's not. It isn't. What he's doing is so unique. It's unique even compared to anyone else to date," Maddon said after the recent home win. Meanwhile, Ohtani counts 35 home runs through the end of July. So far, there have been only four other players to hit 35 home runs - but through August. Ohtani had already caused a novelty in the traditional sport in mid-July. On the all-star team, he started as a pitcher for the American League selection and then also converted opponents' National League pitches into points with the bat as a batter, something that had never happened before. Baseball season continues through early October. Statisticians expect Ohtani to have pulverized a few more historic stats by then - we'll probably be able to tell you about them by fall at the latest.
She took a big backpack of personal strokes of fate with her to Tokyo, but slalom canoeist Ricarda Funk made it to the gold medal with great strength. Five years ago, her coach Stefan Henze died in a traffic accident at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. And now the flood disaster in her old hometown Ahrweiler destroyed the belongings of many old acquaintances. Even her old training route is completely destroyed. "It was just terrible to see all the pictures. My condolences home," the 29-year-old said shortly after her triumph in Tokyo. Funk had strong words of encouragement for her old home. "Ahrweiler is strong, together we are even stronger. I keep my fingers crossed that we will come through together." And she also feels connected to her dead coach in every training session to this day. "He's deep in my heart. He's always been along for the ride," Funk said. "And he still gives me my tips" - what a strong woman.
The final piece of good news this week is for the failure of boxing's greatest legacy fight. Heavyweight boxer Youness Balla wanted to make like boxing legend Mike Tyson in the round of 16 at the Olympics, biting off a piece of his opponent Evander Holyfield's ear in an unforgettable moment in boxing history. But as bumbling as the 22-year-old Baalla made it, he will find no place in boxing history. Baala slipped on his attempt, probably because he was wearing a mouth guard. Also, his opponent David Nyika was so sweaty that the bite attempt became a slippery slope also because of that. In the end Balla lost the fight - maybe next time he'll learn the fighting technique from Tyson instead of the biting technique.
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