Liukin, still glittering from her golden night in Beijing, performs in this event, along with newly crowned silver medalist and 2007 world champion Shawn Johnson and American national team gymnasts Alicia Sacramone and  Samantha Peszek.

Actress and singer/songwriter Raven Symone (That’s So Raven, Cheetah Girls) provides musical entertainment for the special show.

The cast of figure skaters is equally decorated and includes 2008 junior world silver medalist Caroline Zhang, four-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette, world junior champion and U.S. silver medalist Rachael Flatt, and Olympic silver medalist Tanith Belbin.

This grand opening event is hosted by 1968 Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming, two-time Olympic gold medalist Bart Conner and nine-time Olympic medalist Nadia Comaneci.

What else is on tap for the tube?

According to Variety, ABC just announced it has ordered a celebrity-themed revival of Superstars, an all-around sports competition that featured famous athletes competing in different sporting events to determine the best athlete in the world.

Superstars originally premiered as part of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and has aired in several forms since 1973.

ABC’s revival of the series will pair eight celebrities with a professional athlete before the teams compete against each other in various sporting events including swimming, biking, running, kayaking and other head-to-head athletic challenges.

Each week a team will be eliminated until one team is ultimately crowned the winner.

Let’s hope some female athletes are cast in the new show, which is scheduled to air this summer.  Stay tuned for updates.

In 2008 Parker was selected the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, she was the first woman in the WNBA to win both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player, she captured her first Olympic Gold Medal at the Summer Games in Beijing and last November she eloped. 

Entering a new year, Parker confirmed she has a special first to look forward to. This spring, she and husband Shelden Williams of the Sacramento Kings are expecting their first child.

And the timing works out perfectly. Parker says she will continue to work out in preparation to participate in the 2009 WNBA season which kicks off for the Sparks on June 6th. Guess she won’t be playing in Russia as expected but she’s young and there’s no reason she can’t return to play quickly.

In a letter to fans, Sparks owners Carla Christofferson and Kathy Goodman write they “are delighted to be adding a new Sparks fan.” Boy or girl, this kid should be dunking in no time (as well as perusing sponsorship offers).

Congrats CP.

Hamilton, who suffered the loss of her left arm during a Tiger Shark attack in 2003, put in an inspirational performance, beating Australian favourite Laura Enever and Hawaiian Leila Hurst to make the final.

Ado now joins the prestigious ranks of past ASP World Junior Champions Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), 22, Nicola Atherton (AUS), 22, and Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18 – all three past champions qualifying for the prestigious ASP Women’s World Tour within one season of claiming the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.

In addition to being crowned ASP World Junior Champion, Ado will also receive a guaranteed seed into the second-to-last seeded round of all ASP WQS events in 2009, giving the young natural-footer a great advantage as she vies for a position on the elite ASP Women’s World Tour in 2010.

BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIORS (WOMEN) FINAL:
1 – Pauline Ado (FRA) 13.43
2 – Bethany Hamilton (HAW) 12.47

BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIORS (WOMEN) SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Pauline Ado (FRA) 12.17 def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 10.00
SF 2: Bethany Hamilton (HAW) 11.50 def. Leila Hurst (HAW) 10.07

BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIORS (WOMEN) QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Pauline Ado (FRA) 16.33 def. Arini Mason (NZL) 11.87
QF 2: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 18.23 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 10.33
QF 3: Leila Hurst (HAW) 11.17 def. Diana Cristina (BRA) 9.23
QF 4: Bethany Hamilton (HAW) 14.83 def. Laura Enever (AUS) 12.77

Fans — whether filmmakers, jocks or spectators — have the opportunity to recreate a 30-second scene from one of two classic Disney sports films: “Remember The Titans” and “Cool Runnings.”

The winning entry will become the official trailer of this year’s sports film festival plus the grand prize winner will also receive a trip for two to New York City to attend the film festival among other prizes. Entries can be submitted now through March 7, 2009.

Tribeca/ESPN is not just looking for reenactments so here’s where you girls can get creative.  Contestants are challenged to find their own personal take on these classic sports movie moments.

Need ideas?

• Have your friends and family play the roles of the tough football players.

• Get kids to play the surly, yet inspirational coach.

• Have one person play all the roles.

• Swap genders in the roles.

• Set the scene in a different place and time.

To download script pages to both films and to submit videos, visit ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tribeca/trailer/contest

The spot features Serena Williams, Misty May Treanor & Kerri Walsh, Candace Parker,  the legendary Muhammad Ali, and a bevy of other celebrity-athletes. It’s pretty cool though you’d never know they were selling a sports drink.

This latest comes shortly after Gatorade scored with the amazing ball girl video, easily the best viral marketing campaign of 2008.

In other beverage news, Gatorade is expanding into action sports  and has announced the addition of 17-year-old snowboarder Ellery Hollingsworth to their elite team roster.

What do you think of the latest spot?

January 5, 2009

The Australian Open kicks off January 19th and we hope to see Maria Sharapova defend her title after months of rehab for a bum shoulder. She recently pulled out of Hong Kong – a popular tune-up tourney for the AO but claims she’ll be ready for Melbourne.

Although Sharapova won’t be competing, a number of other players will be in Hong Kong including Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic and Sania Mirza each representing their region in team play.

World number one Jelena Jankovic should be feeling good - she just received her own star in the sky called JJ. It’s shining in the SC2 Hercules constellation of North polar region and was acquired by her sponsor Knjaz Milos and its brand Aqua Viva water who wanted to show how much they admire her.  JJ, as you remember, ended 2008 with the top ranking despite the fact that she didn’t win a Grand Slam title last year.

Also prepping for the Australian Open is top seed Ana Ivanovic who made her eagerly anticipated debut on Pat Rafter Arena for the first night session ever at the Queensland Tennis Centre. She’s been training in Australia for a couple of weeks but got off to a shakey start barely making it through the first round of the Brisbane International. Ivanovic reached the Australian Open final last season and held the No. 1 ranking for part of the year. In other first round Brisbane play, former world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo narrowly beat Jelena Dokic 7-6 (9) 7-6 (5).

Who else is on the radar this Grand Slam season? Well this just may be the year for Dinara Safina. A break-out player of 2008, the Russian Safina ended the season at a career high WTA rank of #3. When she’s on, she’s unstoppable and when she’s not, she’s liable to either self-destruct or play some of the biggest come-back points you’ve ever seen.

Before the Australian Open begins, Safina is teaming up with her equally vitriolic brother, Marat Safin, for mixed doubles at Australia’s Hopman Cup. The dynamic brother-sister duo got off to a winning start downing Italy 2-1 on Sunday’s Session 2.

So, with all this activity, don’t despair that the holiday season is over. With tennis time here, there’s lots more happiness and good cheer.

Watch Shalane’s workout below, and go to FloTrack.com for more:

Most Motivational Workout of 2008

But her training partners and her coach knew. Harper trains in LA under legendary coach Bob Kersee with an all-star group that includes gold medalist Joanna Hayes, double world-champ Michelle Perry and NCAA Champ and record-holder Ginnie Powell. These athletes not only pushed the young star in training but mentored her as she prepared to compete on the biggest stage of her life: the Olympics. She also received advice from Kersee’s wife and Olympic Championship heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who told her to take the Olympics one race at a time.

Harper didn’t even have a new pair of spikes and was using tattered ones from her collegiate days at UCLA as she saddled up to the starting blocks at practice alongside her training partners who had shoes specially made for them, even monogrammed with their initials. Perry gave Harper an extra pair of spikes one day–the only pair she had left without her initials. “For me, it was intimidating and motivating to come to practice to not be sponsored and see everybody with new stuff,” said Harper, “I was just waiting for my time to come.”

And it did, during one of the closest finals ever in the event. Harper had to wait to see the results on the big screen before she knew she had done it. Harper then pointed at herself in astonishment, a gesture that she said had a higher meaning.

“Second is good and third is good, but God chose me to finish first,” Harper said. “I was questioning ‘Why me?’ Making the team told me that God was listening and when I won the Olympics it showed me God can do anything, if you put your faith into it.”

December 30, 2008

The New York Times web site even has a feature about skateboarders capitalizing on the mortgage crisis by finding, draining, and skating pools of houses that are in foreclosure.

California officials estimate that there are tens of thousands of abandoned pools in the state, with as many as 5,000 in places like Sacramento County, where a building boom in the capital’s suburbs has gone bust.

Now, we’re not recommending that you trespass and/or take advantage of these deserted pools. Just pointing out the silver lining.  Happy New Year.

December 30, 2008

The three-time Grand Slam champion, who hasn’t played since the first week of August when she pulled out of an event in Montreal, revealed via her Website that after 10 weeks of rehab in Arizona the pain in her shoulder remained and she underwent “minor arthroscopic surgery” in October to fix the problem.

The ninth-ranked Sharapova says that she is now pain-free but only began hitting 16 days ago. Although she is back playing, Sharapova feels she has not done sufficient training to compete at a high level. She has subsequently pulled out of the JB Group Classic exhibition event in Tokyo, scheduled to be held January 7-10, 2009.

“It’s with much disappointment that I have to withdraw from Hong Kong,” said Sharapova in a statement released by the tournament.

“I’ve been using this event for the last five years to get ready for the new season, in fact Hong Kong has been successful in preparing me for the Australian Open.”

The 21-year old Sharapova confirmed that she did not expect the injury to hamper her chances of defending her Australian Open crown.

 After waiting months for her return to the court, let’s hope that’s not the case. See you in Melbourne?