Something From The Weekend: Lindsey Von; Richard Keys and Andy Gray; Women's tennis
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Your support makes all the difference.The Good
Lindsey Vonn
The American skier is one tough cookie. Having battled through the pain of a severe shin injury to take Olympic downhill gold last year, she claimed her sixth super-G victory of this season yesterday, despite a knee problem. "It's really swollen and it's pretty solid pain but that's part of the job. It's definitely not the worst injury I've had. It's something I can deal with," she said. Told you she was a tough cookie. Still, it helps if your trainer doubles up as the guy who sets the course. Vonn's speed coach Chip White picked the route down the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina, Italy. "I actually had no idea he was doing that," Vonn said. Yeah, but it must have helped, right?
Bad
Richard Keys and Andy Gray
The Sky Sports presenters' on-air gaffe about whether the female referee's assistant for Liverpool's win over Wolves understood the offside rule made them sound like Gary and Tony from Men Behaving Badly. "Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don't know the offside rule," said Gray. Keys replied: "Course they don't," before presumably sipping from a can of Stella and belching loudly. The whole sorry episode doesn't really chime with the network's current campaign for its forthcoming 20th anniversary in April. It is airing an advert showing the evolution of Sky Sports' brand identity over the last two decades. It's a terrible shame that the broadcaster's presenters haven't evolved as much as its logo.
The Odd
Women's tennis
The women's event at the Australian Open is proving to be entertaining on the court, with a number of shock defeats – we're looking at you, Maria Sharapova and Sam Stosur – but it's proving to be even more gripping off the court thanks to the charisma of some of the tour's big characters. After Caroline Wozniacki's claim and subsequent retraction that she'd been attacked by a kangaroo comes the straight talking of China's Li Na. The ninth seed, who has a tattoo of a rose and heart on her chest, was asked to explain the reason for her victory over eighth-seed Victoria Azarenka. "Because I'm better, so I won," she said with a smile. Oooh, sassy.
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