Latest news with #redemption
The Australian
16 hours ago
- Sport
- The Australian
Tszyu's loyal cutman Mark Gambin ready for Fundora rematch in Vegas
Mark Gambin is going back to the scene of the crime. And it's no exaggeration that it did look like a grizzly crime scene by the time Tim Tszyu walked out of the ring a bloody mess after his razor-thin split decision defeat to Sebastian Fundora last year. Gambin was the cut man that night, and the Sydneysider received intense criticism for his inability to stem the bleeding from the worst gash seen in professional boxing last year. So if there's anyone – other than Tszyu – who could be forgiven for wanting a personal redemption arc this weekend, it's Gambin, who flew out to Las Vegas on Monday night and will once again work the corner. But Gambin's response when asked about making things right on a personal level speaks volumes. Tszyu needed a miracle to stop the bleeding. Picture:It tells you everything you need to know about why Tszyu didn't rush into making wholesale changes to his team like much of the boxing world was urging him to last year. 'I can't wait to get in there and make sure everything's right for Tim and for him to get the win,' Gambin told Code Sports. 'I just want to get in there and rip in and work hard as a team for Tim. 'That's the most exciting part about it, just getting in and getting the win for Tim.' It's not about him, it's about the fighter. Which isn't very common in the cutthroat world of professional boxing. There were some incredibly dark moments for Gambin after the first Fundora fight. As the pile on hit and he became the scapegoat for the first loss of Tszyu's career, he deleted all his social media accounts. He had originally planned on spending a few days in Vegas after the fight, but left Sin City early, driving to Los Angeles and flying out the very next day. As Tszyu prepares for his rematch with Fundora at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this weekend, Gambin still doesn't want any of the spotlight. Tszyu and Gambin have worked together for years. Picture: Supplied 'That was a tough night for him, and he would've felt it the most out of anyone,' he said. 'We all would've had our little sad times when we got home, but he would've felt it the most. 'And we all understand that too. 'He's the athlete, he's the reason we're all flying to Las Vegas.' There were calls from at home and abroad for Tszyu to immediately ditch his team following the Fundora bloodbath. But after working with the same small crew for most of his 27 fight career, making wholesale changes was never an option. Gambin missed Tszyu's defeat to Bakhram Murtazaliev when he needed an emergency appendectomy at the start of fight week and wasn't allowed to travel to Orlando. It sparked speculation that he'd been dumped from the team, but he was back on deck for Tszyu demolition of Joey Spencer in April, when he had remarkably little to do. 'It's also for me to thank him and make sure that he knows that I can cover anything he needs in that corner,' Gambin said. 'That's what I want to show him. Tim Tszyu with cutman Mark Gambin (L) and trainer Igor Goloubev (R). Picture: Supplied 'When we did Joey Spencer, I think Tim felt really good with the team around him, and we sort've just want to pay him back and make it so that he knows that we've all got his back.' As for any changes he's made, Gambin says he might need to pay for extra baggage after doubling up on everything in his fight night kit bag. 'Whatever I had before, I've now got two of,' he laughed. 'It's just about being completely ready – not that we weren't last time – but it puts it in perspective. 'If I had one packet of gauze, I've now got two packets. If I had five ampoules of adrenaline, now I've got 10. 'So my bag's getting pretty big, but I know I can do my job, mate. 'That was a freak night and it'll probably never happen again in the history of boxing. Touch wood. 'The majority of people wouldn't have stopped that cut. Actually, no one would've stopped it. 'You've just gotta cop it. I was there, no one else was there, and it was just a fountain. It wasn't a cut, it was a fountain, so it wasn't getting stopped.' Read related topics: Greens Brendan Bradford Content producer Brendan Bradford is a sports writer for CODE Sports. He primarily covers combat sports, league, union, cycling and athletics. Brendan has worked in sports media for a decade, covering world title fights, World Cups, Grand Slams and Spring Tours. @1bbradfo Brendan Bradford
Telegraph
a day ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Hannah Hampton proves England's star turn – after being told she would never play elite sport
Hannah Hampton, this European Championship belongs to you. You won it, not single-handedly, of course, but no player in this magnificent, unbreakable England side did more to earn it. If there has been a better tournament from an English goalkeeper, your memory is better than mine. Hampton, at the age of just 24, has produced something truly remarkable; undeniably special. It has been the story of the tournament, perhaps the feel-good sports story of the summer. A tale of redemption, bravery, grit and determination. England have those qualities in abundance, but it has been their goalkeeper who turned them into back-to-back European champions. How fitting that a team that has been cornered, with their backs against the wall, so many times in Switzerland and come out fighting, ended up winning a tournament because of the sheer defiance of their last line of defence. There have been so many moments it looked like England would lose only to somehow find a way to win. None of it would have been possible without Hampton. It was into the arms of her goalkeeper that manager Sarina Wiegman leapt in the wild, joyous scenes that followed their penalty shoot-out victory over Spain in Basel. She knew who had made her the first manager of an England senior team to win a tournament on foreign soil and was quick to pay tribute to the Lionesses' saviour, saying: 'Her story is remarkable, to come into the side the way she did, to make those two penalty saves in the final, it is like a fairy tale.' A player who started the Euros campaign ruefully acknowledging that there were many England fans who did not want her to be in goal, who resented her presence – those who clung to the misguided idea Mary Earps remained superior – finishes it with the thanks and praise of the nation. Hampton the Meek has become Hampton the Great. Imagine going into your first major tournament as a first-choice goalkeeper knowing you were not wanted and finishing it a national treasure. Then again, imagine being a child who was told she would never be able to play elite sport because of an eye condition that gives her a lack of depth perception in her vision. Hampton has been defying the experts her whole life. She did not give up on her dreams and now she is living it. Of all the decisions Wiegman has made this summer, it was the tough, controversial and brave call to make Hampton her No 1 that has been the most seismic. It caused acrimony and friction back in June, when Earps responded to her demotion by suddenly retiring from international football just five weeks before the tournament began. It dumped unnecessary and unwanted pressure on a young goalkeeper's shoulders; it had the potential to turn Hampton into a villain. Make a mistake and she would be vilified. Football can be cruel, especially for a goalkeeper, but when the pressure was on, Hampton delivered in the most awesome fashion. She did not just win two penalty shoot-outs for the Lionesses, making two saves against Sweden and two more in the final against Spain, she bailed them out over and over again. She made important saves at big moments. She made world-class ones too, including one in the final against Spain, tipping a powerful rising shot from Claudia Pina over the bar when England were, once again, under the pump, outplayed and in danger of crumbling. A player who has, by her own admission, battled her demons, a player who needed to grow up has done so. She has, like all of us, not always behaved impeccably. She has done some things she probably regrets, but Wiegman trusted her and has been rewarded in spectacular style. If there was not much to choose between her and Earps in terms of shot stopping, Hampton's distribution was far superior and meant England could be more direct. She already played for the best club side in England, Chelsea. She had won the Women's Super League, she had proven she could cope under scrutiny and handle pressure. If she could do it at club level, Wiegman had to see if she could do it on the international stage. We have our answer. Hampton started the summer barely known outside of women's football. She ends it as a household name. She is a woman, like all of these Lionesses, we should cherish is English. In every single knockout game, as England clung on to the tournament by their fingertips, Hampton has come up clutch. The string of saves against Sweden when England were 2-0 down and in danger of capitulation. The massive double save late on against Italy, moments before Michelle Agyemang – the other young superstar who has emerged at this tournament – scored her 97th-minute equaliser in the semi-final. As for her athleticism and composure in the penalty shoot-outs, Hampton has been incredible. It was lost amidst the drama of the Sweden shoot-out, that the leap and fingertip save to tip Sofia Jakobsson's penalty on to the post was a stunning stop. In the final against Spain, after Beth Mead had missed England's first kick, Hampton turned the shoot-out around. She saved at full stretch to deny the mighty Aitana Bonmati as well as kept out Mariona Caldentey's weaker effort. On both occasions, with her shoot-out guide taped to her arm, Hampton did a little shuffle on the goal-line as the player ran up to shoot. She feigned to dive one way, with a slight step and then went the other. It was a simple trick but, in the heat of battle and with tension in the air, it illustrated a calmness and clarity of thought. Spain fell for it. Hampton psyched them out and when Salma Paralluelo stepped up she melted, knowing she had to find the bottom corner to avoid the keeper's reach, she dragged it wide of the post. Shoot-outs are as much a psychological test as anything and Hampton won it for England. She got into the heads of the Spanish players. For someone so young, under so much pressure, to rise to the challenge in the way Hampton has at the Euros, England have found not only an elite goalkeeper, they have unearthed a player and a character who sums up everything that has made this team great.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Spain seek to erase pain of World Cup final fallout with Euro 2025 glory
For England, the last World Cup final remains a kind of open wound. The mistake by Lucy Bronze that allowed Olga Carmona to score the only goal of the game; Lauren Hemp hitting the crossbar; the opportunities not taken; the surges of momentum not rewarded; the sense of a golden inheritance slipping inexorably through their fingers. For the players who remain, and for coach Sarina Wiegman, Sunday's European Championship final offers a chance for redemption. If all this is normal and regular enough, then what is perhaps more unusual is that much of the above is also true for their victorious opponents. Restitution, revenge, a chance to erase painful memories, a collective resolve that this moment will not be taken from them, the chance to secure a meaningful legacy: these will be the stakes for Spain in Basel. Winning the World Cup in 2023 was a monumental achievement immediately tarnished by the actions of their federation. This final, by contrast, feels like more of a clean slate. Spain should win. They have been the outstanding team of the tournament so far, effortlessly gifted on the ball, ruthlessly disciplined without it, adding layers of complexity to their famous passing game, defending gallantly when the situation has demanded it. There has also been a sense of quietly building momentum not just in the tournament but through the year as a whole: pieces falling into place, players becoming more and more comfortable in their roles. But as Montse Tomé's players have consistently made clear, Spain are competing for more than trophies. The bitter legal and public battles fought with their federation, the RFEF, are part of a longer struggle for recognition and equality, for respect and dignity. After all, if the greatest moment of their careers could be so cruelly taken from them, then what ultimately was the point of it? The 2023 World Cup was not the unifying moment for Spanish football that it could have been. Fifteen players had quit the national team before the tournament; three ultimately returned, and so for a squad marooned on the other side of the world, loyalties split between their present task and their absent comrades, a begrudging truce had been maintained with their disliked coach Jorge Vilda and the suits above him. It was a fragile show of unity, maintained only by their quest for a first major trophy. Once it had been secured, all hell broke loose. In hindsight, the unwanted kiss that Luis Rubiales planted on the lips of Jenni Hermoso was simply the trigger. The unresolved issues and grievances within Spanish football had lain unresolved for decades, and probably would not have been purged in any other way. The actions of Rubiales himself were egregious enough; what really hurt was the way the mechanisms of power and influence instinctively mobilised to protect him. Hermoso was urged to appear in a video publicly defending him, and after she refused, a statement insisting the kiss was consensual was written and published by the federation without her knowledge. 'While the world has seen this, attitudes like this have been part of our team's daily life for years,' she wrote on social media. When Rubiales finally resigned in an interview with Piers Morgan, having blamed 'false feminism' for the storm of protest against him, he did so not out of genuine remorse or contrition but – as he admitted – out of a desire not to hamper Spain's bid for the 2030 men's World Cup. A Spanish court found him guilty of sexual assault in February, and after ignoring an appeal from prosecutors who sought a jail sentence, fined him all of about £9,000. Has anything really changed? Rubiales is gone, as are many of the figures around him when he was at the RFEF. Vilda was sacked after the tournament, and will take charge of Morocco in Saturday's Women's Africa Cup of Nations final. But the moment they shared and the platform it could have provided: they have gone forever. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Keira Walsh was a Barcelona player at the time and saw first hand how the Lionesses effect of 2022 summarily failed to materialise in Spain in 2023. 'The way our league jumped after we won the Euros, if you compare it to Spain it probably wasn't the same,' she said this week. 'After the game there was a lot of controversy and I don't think enough spotlight on how incredibly they played.' But of course the enduring excellence of this Spanish generation is that it can always generate more opportunities. Bronze remembers playing training games at Barcelona and encountering 'like, clones and clones and clones of these amazing, technical, intelligent players'. And the 11 who will take the field against England on Sunday are the very best of them. It is not just the World Cup fallout for which Spain are trying to atone. Twelve months later they travelled to Paris as the overwhelming favourites for Olympic gold, only to be stunned 4-2 by Brazil in the semi-finals after a performance littered with defensive errors. They didn't even win bronze, Germany beating them in the third-place playoff. The goalkeeper Cata Coll was inconsolable afterwards, but here has talked about how 'life has given us a second chance'. This is a better team than 12 months ago, arguably a better team than two years ago, 'like a steamroller' as Carmona describes them, albeit with an occasional habit of getting stuck in neutral. Capitalising on these fleeting passages is England's best hope of upsetting the odds, picking their moments to attack, using their press and their physicality and their technical ability to rattle Spain off their game. And perhaps, for a country for so long indifferent to women's football, where the sport was banned until 1980, where the women's team have often been treated as an afterthought, Spain can finally enjoy their moment in the spotlight. There are big screens being erected across the country, from the Parque de Berlín in Madrid to the Plaza del Pilar in Gran Canaria. This is a team united and content again, longing above all for a chance to write their own story. *
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Redemption and restitution: Both England and Spain look to exorcise ghosts in the Euro 2025 final
For England , the last Women's World Cup final remains a kind of open wound. The mistake by Lucy Bronze that allowed Spain's Olga Carmona to score the only goal of the game; Lauren Hemp hitting the crossbar; the opportunities not taken; the surges of momentum not rewarded; the sense of a golden inheritance slipping inexorably through their fingers. For the players who remain, and for coach Sarina Wiegman, Sunday's European Championship final offers a chance for redemption. If all this is normal and regular enough, then what is perhaps more unusual is that much of the above is also true for their victorious opponents. Restitution, revenge, a chance to erase painful memories, a collective resolve that this moment will not be taken from them, the chance to secure a meaningful legacy: these will be the stakes for Spain in Basle, Switzerland. Winning the World Cup in 2023 was a monumental achievement for them, but was immediately tarnished by the actions of their federation. This final, by contrast, feels like more of a clean slate. READ MORE Spain should win. They have been the outstanding team of the tournament so far, effortlessly gifted on the ball, ruthlessly disciplined without it, adding layers of complexity to their famous passing game, defending gallantly when the situation has demanded it. There has also been a sense of quietly building momentum to them, not just in the tournament itself but through the year as a whole: pieces falling into place, players becoming more comfortable in their roles. But as Montse Tomé's players have consistently made clear, Spain are competing for more than trophies. The bitter legal and public battles fought with their federation, the RFEF, are part of a longer struggle for recognition and equality, for respect and dignity. After all, if the greatest moment of their careers could be so cruelly taken from them, then what ultimately was the point of it? Alexia Putellas, Cristina Martin-Prieto, Alba Redondo and Olga Carmona of Spain celebrate beating Germany in the semi-final. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Getty The 2023 World Cup was not the unifying moment for Spanish football that it could have been. For the players in New Zealand, marooned on the other side of the world, split between those who had chosen to play and those who had chosen to step away, a begrudging truce had been maintained with their disliked coach Jorge Vilda and the suits above him. It was a fragile show of unity, maintained only by their quest for a first major trophy. Once it had been secured, all hell broke loose. In hindsight, the unwanted kiss that Luis Rubiales , then Spanish FA president, planted on the lips of Jenni Hermoso was simply the trigger. The unresolved issues and grievances within Spanish football had lain unresolved for decades, and probably would not have been purged in any other way. The actions of Rubiales himself were egregious enough; what really hurt was the way the mechanisms of power and influence instinctively mobilised to protect him. Hermoso was urged to appear in a video publicly defending him; after she refused, a statement insisting the kiss was consensual was written and published by the federation without her knowledge. 'While the world has seen this, attitudes like this have been part of our team's daily life for years,' she wrote on social media. When Rubiales finally resigned in an interview with Piers Morgan, having blamed 'false feminism' for the storm of protest against him, he did so not out of genuine remorse or contrition but – as he admitted – out of a desire not to hamper Spain's bid for the 2030 men's World Cup. A Spanish court found him guilty of sexual assault in February and, after ignoring an appeal from prosecutors who sought a jail sentence, fined him €10,800. Luis Rubiales, then Spanish FA president, after Spain's Women's World Cup final victory in 2023. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA Has anything really changed? Rubiales is gone, as are many of the figures around him when he was at the RFEF. Vilda was sacked after the tournament, but will take charge of Morocco in Saturday's Women's Africa Cup of Nations final. But the moment they shared and the platform it could have provided has gone forever. Keira Walsh was a Barcelona player at the time and saw first hand how the Lionesses effect of 2022 summarily failed to materialise in Spain in 2023. 'The way our league jumped after we won the Euros, if you compare it to Spain it probably wasn't the same,' she said this week. 'After the game there was a lot of controversy and I don't think enough spotlight on how incredibly they played.' But of course the enduring excellence of this Spanish generation is that it can always generate more opportunities. Bronze remembers playing training games at Barcelona and countering 'like, clones and clones and clones of these amazing, technical, intelligent players'. And the 11 who will take the field against England on Sunday are the very best of them. It is not just the World Cup fallout for which Spain are trying to atone. Twelve months later they travelled to Paris as the overwhelming favourites for Olympic gold, only to be stunned 4-2 by Brazil in the semi-finals after a performance littered with defensive errors. They didn't even win bronze, Germany beating them in the third-place playoff. Goalkeeper Cata Coll was inconsolable afterwards, but here has talked about how 'life has given us a second chance'. This is a better team than 12 months ago, arguably a better team than two years ago, 'like a steamroller' as Carmona describes them, albeit with an occasional habit of getting stuck in neutral. Capitalising on these fleeting passages is England's best hope of upsetting the odds, picking their moments to attack, using their press, their physicality and their technical ability to rattle Spain off their game. And perhaps for a country for so long indifferent to women's football, where the sport was banned until 1980, where the women's team have often been treated as an afterthought, Spain can finally enjoy their moment in the spotlight. There are big screens being erected across the country from the Parque de Berlin in Madrid to the Plaza del Pilar in Gran Canaria. This is a team united and content again, longing above all for a chance to write their own story. – Guardian
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
"Damn, David Robinson got that monkey off his back" - Mitch Richmond thought he would never get a chance to redeem himself after the 1988 Olympics loss
"Damn, David Robinson got that monkey off his back" - Mitch Richmond thought he would never get a chance to redeem himself after the 1988 Olympics loss originally appeared on Basketball Network. Hall of Famer Mitch Richmond was one of the members of the last all-amateur U.S. men's basketball team to compete in the summer Olympic Games in 1988. That team failed to win the gold medal in Seoul and settled for the bronze. Although he won NBA Rookie of the Year honors the following year, Richmond carried the stigma of that defeat as he began his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors. As the years went by, Mitch began to think he'd never get a shot at redemption, especially with NBA stars dominating the national team and making a second opportunity feel out of reach. But in an unexpected twist of fate, Richmond got the call to play for the 1996 version of the Dream Team in the Atlanta Olympics and won the gold medal. Looking back, he talked about how sweet that route to redemption was. "It was a monkey off my back," said Richmond. "Cuz I never thought I'd have an opportunity to get back to the Olympics. So I watched David Robinson, who was on that team with me in '88, get a gold medal. He was on the '92 team, the Dream Team. And I'm like, 'Damn, David Robinson got that monkey off his back.' Man, he got the gold medal. So I never thought I'd have an opportunity." It was almost impossible to get a second crack David Robinson was arguably the best player on Richmond's 1988 Olympic team. And after winning Rookie of the Year honors for the San Antonio Spurs in 1990, The Admiral quickly became one of the top centers in the NBA and earned one of the 12 coveted spots on the original Dream Team, which demolished the opposition in Barcelona and brought back the gold to U.S. soil. While Richmond blossomed into a six-time NBA All-Star after he was traded to the Sacramento Kings in 1991, he did not gain enough superstar status to make the 1992 Dream Team. And with plenty of young talent entering the league every year, it was almost impossible to get a second crack at playing for the U.S. team. Yet, somehow, it happened for Mitch. "I think I was the last selection in '96 and had an opportunity to win the gold," added Richmond. "We had Charles Barkley, Pippen, Gary Payton, Stockton, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Olajuwon, Karl Malone, and Reggie Miller." Jordan lobbied for Richmond's inclusion in the 1996 Dream Team While Richmond had a case to make the team as he was an All-Star and All-NBA second team member in 1995, his Olympic runback got a huge boost when the GOAT, Michael Jordan himself, lobbied for his inclusion on the team. USA Basketball was courting Jordan to return in 1996 along with Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Robinson. But instead of saying yes, Mike made a pitch for Mitch. "You know, I would pick Mitch Richmond for that extra spot on the Olympic team," said MJ. "Give him a chance to redeem himself after '88. I love Mitch like a brother. He deserves an opportunity to get a gold…I may be biased a little bit." On April 12, 1996, USA Basketball awarded the final two spots on the 1996 U.S. Team to Barkley and Richmond. Mitch went on to average 9.6 points per game in the tournament and ranked second behind Reggie Miller on the team in 3-pointers made. They walloped Serbia and Montenegro 95-69 in the gold medal game, and the monkey that grew to become a gorilla as time passed was finally off Mitch's story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
