MiD DAY gives you a low down on disclosures which surprised the sporting world, just like tennis great Agassi's latest admission of using a banned substance in his playing days
MiD DAY gives you a low down onu00a0disclosuresu00a0whichu00a0surprisedu00a0theu00a0sporting world, just like tennis great Agassi's latest admission of using a banned substance in his playing days
In 1995, American diver
Greg Louganis admitted in a television interview that he was suffering from AIDS. He had the virus before competing in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games where he suffered an injury after his head hit a diving board. In his book Breaking the Surface, Louganis admitted being scared that people who gathered around his bloodied head would be in danger of contracting an infection. Louganis also displeased his legion of female admirers by admitting that he was a homosexual.
American tennis great
Arthur Ashe told the world on April 8, 1992 that he had contracted HIV during blood transfusions received during his two heart surgeries. Ashe kept it away from public knowledge since 1988. He organised a press conference when he heard that a newspaper was going to publish a report on his dreaded illness.
Tennis champion
Monica Seles admitted in her book that she suffered a grave eating disorder after her on-court stabbing in 1993. "Food became my best friend. I was lonely and I would just eat. It was my coping mechanism. Food was how I dealt with stress," she wrote in Getting A Grip, which highlighted her food addiction.
After the stabbing, Seles tried her best to get back into the game but after her usual six-hour workout, she would indulge in late-night binges. Seles won the 1996 Australian Open after her stabbing.
In 1994,
Imran Khan admitted in a book that he once used a bottle top to scratch the ball to get it to swing. It was during a match in which he represented Sussex against Hampshire in 1981. That apart, he admitted to occasionally scratching one side of the ball with his nail and lifting the seam.
Former Australia batsman
David Hookes first told the world on his radio show that Shane Warne and Mark Waugh had accepted money from a bookmaker in Sri Lanka. However, the newsbreak should be credited to journo Malcolm Conn, whose report came out in the next morning's paper in December 1998. Warne held no grudges though. When his state Victoria needed a suitable coach, the star leg-spinner pressed for Hookes' appointment in 2002. Hookes (48) was killed after a fight outside a bar in 2004.
John Wright, who coached the Indian cricket team said in his book John Wright's Indian Summers that he once grabbed Virender Sehwag's collar after the dashing batsman played a reckless shot in the 2002 NatWest Series in England. "When Sehwag wandered in, I decided it was time for a sort-out. Not realising that my exasperation levels had soared into the red zone, I went upto him, grabbed him by the collar and barked. 'What the hell's going on? How can you come back in here after playing a shot like that and unbuckle your pads as if nothing's happened', " Wright wrote.
