Urdangarin’s Ex-Business Partner Implicates the King of Negotiating in Favor of his Son-in-Law

Jorge Forteza and Pedro Perelló in 2007. Photo by Tōru Shimada.

Urdangarin’s Ex-Business Partner Implicates the King of Negotiating in Favor of his Son-in-Law
Diego Torres remitted three emails with documents to the court
The Duke says, “He has told Cristina that in principle, there won’t be any problems.”

Duke Iñaki Urdangarin affirmed in three 2007 emails that the king acted as a mediator so his son-in-law could participate in a new yachting team for the 33rd America’s Cup. The documents were remitted by Urdangarin’s ex-business partner, Diego Torres, to the Palma court which is investigating the activities of Instituto Nóos. The Ayre Project, which still has not found prosperity after that fiasco of a sporting event, was managed by Pedro Perelló and Jorge Forteza – regattists, businessmen, and friends of the princes and princesses – with the support of the Duke of Palma.

In one of these communications, dated September 30, 2007, Torres asks the duke about his “experience” in seminars about urban planning in Philadelphia and informs him that Perelló has spent “a good while on the telephone every day” to intensify his contacts with the public administrations of the Valencian Community. The following day, Urdangarin answered him form Washington, “I bring a message on behalf of the king, and it is that he has commented to Cristina, so that she could pass the message on to me, that he will get [Francisco] Camps in touch with Pedro in order to tell him about the theme of the base of the Prada. And that in principle, there will not be any problems, and they will help us get it,” said Urdangarin in allusion to the necessary installations in the port of Valencia to hold Project Ayre’s future boat.

In this same email, Urdangarin informed Torres that “there could be a little something for the foundation” and lamented that the entity’s website was not in English. “It would give a more international touch,” the Duke said, and he added that Agustín Zulueta, leader of the Desafío Español (Spanish Challenge) crew – the team that participated in the 2007 America’s Cup – “had asked Cristina to coffee to talk about something that couldn’t be discussed over the phone.” “It was mysterious, but it seemed serious and important,” he averred.

The messages about the ambitious sailing project which Torres’s lawyer, Manuel González Peeters, handed to the judge, piled up on August 9, 2007. Urdangarin then revealed a supposed encounter between King Juan Carlos and Perelló. “We arranged a meeting between the king and Pedro in order to present the project. It went very well, and apart from seeming very well put together, the king has offered all his help in finding financial assistance,” he said to Torres, to whom he added, “Enjoy the cruise.”

Later, on September 10, the husband of Princess Cristina wrote a message to Perelló which again lead with the supposed actions the king had taken to make sure the project arrived safely in harbor. “The king commented to me that one of his friends had done the negotiating we requested with Miguel Fluxa,” in allusion to the owner and president of the Iberostar group, Miguel Fluxá. “From my end, I’ve given [Fluxá] the ear of BBVA so he can give a push to Paco González,” Urdangarin explained to Perelló.

The messages also reveal certain differences over the (failed) presence of a second Spanish team at the America’s Cup. Zulueta affirmed in an October 2007 conversation that he felt “more peaceful” after speaking with “Cristina” and that he believed Perelló “will not continue sending surprising documents to our sponsors.” The tone, despite it all, is conciliatory, and he informed Urdangarin that “the Desafío Español has nothing against another Spanish team taking part, and if course, it has not acquired any right to be the only team.” This relieved “a worry on our end.”

The message sent by another of those implicated in the Nóos case, Antonio Ballabriga, chief of the corporate affairs of BBVA and friend of the Duke, confirms that Urdangarin went forward with his activity in Nóos and his business with public entities. This, despite his formal renunciation in March 2006 and after the king’s emissary, José Manuel Romero Moreno, advised him that spring to disassociate himself with the business. “As we’ve established, we’ll meet at 10 in Nóos to talk about meetings for the European Games project.”

After the 2009 America’s Cup
J.G. reporting from Barcelona and A.M. reporting from Palma

The Mallorcan regattists Pedro Perelló and Jorge Forteza conceived of a project to give Spain a second representative in the 2009 America’s Cup in Valencia. They wanted a team capable of competing to win, and for that they needed to raise at least 100 million euros. Despite their efforts, and despite the Ayre project being enrolled as a challenger by America’s Cup Management (ACM), the project did not prosper.

In 2007, Perelló won the King’s Cup for sailing with a boat named Siemens in which Prince Elena was a navegator. It was then that the regattist and shipowner tried to put together a great team in order to participate in the America’s Cup. Perelló never hid who the project’s godparents were, and he affirmed that the project counted on the active participation of Urdangarin (who was to take charge of the “social and cultural” area of the project) and the blessing of the king, as well. Duke Urdangarin retired after the project. Three years later, one of his businesses dedicated to “sports patronage” (Promorace, FL) was condemned to pay 34,000 euros for abandoning a sailing ship in the installations of the Royal Nautical Club of Palma. The judge obligated the business to “vacate the installations.”

Perelló paired up with a person who could provide more economic muscle for the project, businessman Jorge Forteza, duke of the real estate company Nova. Forteza was tthe “fourth player” that participated in the table tennis game in the palace of Marivent Urdangarin, along with regattist and ex-Director General of Sports Pepote Ballester and ex-President of the Balearic Islands Jaume Matas, who were also imputed in the Nóos case. There, Urdangarin confirmed his patronage of the Illes Balears cycling team. Nóos bought to apartments in Novaen Palma. In addition, Forteza was an intermediary for buying and selling terrain for Mallorca’s territorial program, which was investigated by the attorney general. The BMW Oracle team took the plan for the 33rd America’s Cup to court, where the project was paralyzed more than a year and a half before it was finally cleared.

Bittersweet First Victory for Darvish: Bested By Ichiro

Darvish (left) gave up four runs in his first inning; Ichiro (right) went 3-for-4 against him and is coming in to score. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Bittersweet First Victory for Darvish: Bested By Ichiro
Yomiuri Shimbun:
Kai Nishimura reporting April 10, 2012

Box Score

Did Yu Darvish “have it” during his first major league victory, like his former teammate Yuki Saito did for the Nippon Ham Fighters on his own opening day this season?

Frankly, it looked like the number one pitcher in Japanese baseball was overcome by nerves.

In the first inning, he walked the leadoff hitter, Figgins, on a fastball that was way outside. After getting an out, he faced Ichiro, the #3 hitter. On a two-and-two count, Ichiro hit a ball safely past the third baseman, getting Darvish deeper in trouble. But Darvish’s control didn’t return to him then, either; instead, he threw more bad pitches that got crushed. He even walked Kawasaki with the bases loaded to allow a fourth run in his very first inning.

Ichiro hit a double to right his next time up in the second inning, [grounded out in the fourth, and] singled in the sixth, which forced Darvish out of the game. All the hits the Mariners got on Darvish were off his two-seam fastball, the pitch that had been his lifeline in America so far. After his third exhibition game on March 19, he had said the pitch was really responding well – “it really moves, and I feel like even my teammates hate it” – and he used it most of the times he needed an out pitch. He couldn’t get a handle on it this time, though. In fact, all his pitches were a little wild.

His other great pitches, like his curve, weren’t going where he wanted them to, either, so it’s safe to say he hasn’t completely adjusted to major league ball yet. Darvish came here after relentlessly polishing his stuff in Japan. Given today’s painful experience, one is left wondering how close he is to attaining his goal of becoming the Greatest Pitcher in the World.

Mixed Reactions to Japanese Comedian Running for Cambodia in London Marathon: “He’s Disrespecting Other Athletes” vs. “He’s a Bridge Between Nations”

Mr. Hiroshi Neko poses happily after accepting a place in the Olympic marathon as a representative of Cambodia. His ribbon wishes him “congratulations.” March 26, Sumida-ku, Tokyo.

Mixed Reactions to Japanese Comedian Running for Cambodia in London Marathon: “He’s Disrespecting Other Athletes” vs. “He’s a Bridge Between Nations”
Yomiuri Shimbun: 猫さん五輪に賛否…「選手に失礼」「懸け橋に」
March 31, 2012

Mr. Hiroshi Neko (the alias of Kuniaki Takizaki), a 34-year old comedian who took Cambodian citizenship to complete for a spot in the marathon at the London Olympics, has been chosen as a member of the Cambodian team.

This has ignited controversy, with some saying he has shown great disrespect to Cambodian athletes in going as far as changing his citizenship to make the team and others saying he is a bridge between nations. Can he handle the burden of a nation’s hopes and dreams during the race itself?

“My goal is to break the world record in London.” Speaking at a press conference in Sumida-ku, Tokyo on March 26 in which he accepted a place on the Cambodian national team, Mr. Neko was so nervous that his hands shook. He usually dons a red T-shirt reading “Cat Demon” (Neko Oni) , but that day he wore a suit and tie.

He acknowledged criticism of his change of nationality, saying “I know some people have strict views about this. I’ve decided to go through with it, though, and I’m going to pursue victory all the way to the end.”

Eye-catching online criticism of Mr. Neko includes “for a comedian to play a joke on everyone by running in the Olympics is a dishonor to all the athletes who are honestly competing in the event” and “Isn’t he just trying to get attention?”

Former Olympic silver medalist Yūko Arimori (45), who plans charity marathons in Cambodia to deepen exchange with the country, tearfully said to the Yomiuri Shimbun that “it pains me to think of the young man whose spot on the team was taken by a Japanese person.” Indeed, it was Ms. Arimori who invited Neko’s primary competitor for that spot, Hem Bunting (26), to Japanese invitationals. “Cambodian runners have to build their strength inside a poor training environment. I’d prefer that someone who’s actually from there run for them.”

Japan Track and Field Association Director (and former marathoner) Toshihiko Seko (55), however, is looking forward to Mr. Neko’s performance: “My compliments go to him for winning his spot on the basis of his abilities. I would like to see him become a bridge between these two nations.”

Original:

Housing Investigates Rafael Nadal and Obliges Him to Change His Fiscal Residence

Rafael Nadal at a reception for the Davis Cup winners in Moncloa last Tuesday. Photo by Luis Sevillano.

Housing Investigates Rafael Nadal and Obliges Him to Change His Fiscal Residence
His companies paid taxes in the Basque Country though they weren’t active there
El País: Hacienda investiga a Rafael Nadal y le obliga a cambiar de domicilio fiscal
José María Irujo reporting from Madrid February 19, 2012

The match has been very long, more than two years long, and has been played inside offices and without spectators, but in the end the victory quietly went to the Tax Agency. Tennis player Rafael Nadal’s companies, which moved €56 million between 2005 and 2011, solicited a change of fiscal residence from the Basque Country to Manacor, Baleares last December 23.

Rafael Nadal’s business framework had taken advantage of fiscal residence in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa the last six years to benefit from the region’s special tax regime though neither the companies’ activities nor their management were based in the city, according to a Tax Agency source. Last December, tax inspectors and the sportsman’s fiscal assessor came to an agreement that Nadal would request a change of residence and refill Form 036, which is obligatory to complete the transfer.

The agreement also requires the sportsman to regularize his tax situation by paying the millions of euros in taxes that he had avoided, according to agency sources. The sportsman’s spokesman declined to give an exact figure and admitted that the companies have moved their residence to the Balearic Islands and “as a result of this move would not receiving the benefits foreseen under the previous tax regime.” Nadal has always maintained his personal fiscal residence in the Balearic Islands, his birthplace.

The investigation into Nadal’s companies’ fiscal residence is part of a Tax Agency program that for five years has sniffed around the hundreds of companies legally based in the Basque Country and Navarre that feign the development of management and activities there to benefit from their tax systems and which on occasion are practically nonexistent. Nadal’s companies had this profile, assure sources close to the investigation.

“The law is very clear: a company’s residence should be where its activity and management are developed. Rafael Nadal is a great sportsman and wins his money honestly, but he only went to San Sebastián to eat steaks. He was poorly advised. His companies never should have been based there,” asserted a Tax Agency source.

Nadal’s companies were established in Gipuzkoa in 2005 and 2006 and were listed as Entrepreneurial Promotion Companies (SPE). The SPE is a tax instrument created by the Basque Nationalist government for companies basd in Álava, Bizcaia, and Gipuzkoa, and it was revoked in the rest of Spain. Article 60 of the regional law establishes that SPEs are societies dedicated to entrepreneurial activities whose securities are not listed on the stock exchange. They demand a minimum business capital of three million euros and can last five years. The Gipuzkoa Housing Agency decides which companies correspond with this listing.

The taxes for these societies are minimal, on occasion less than 1%, and this has provoked an inflow of businesses which saw the Basque Country as a kind of off-shore territory or fiscal paradise. In 2010, an investigatory commission of General Assemblies recommended the SPE’s elimination, and now the Bildu government is questioning it. “It’s not an instrument that the current government likes, and we are studying what to do with it, but we will not give any more details,” responded the Gipuzkoa Housing Agency’s spokesman.

It’s estimated that some 100 companies have this fiscal privilege in Gipuzkoa. Nadal’s were in this group, various sources stated. The tennis player has not provided details about his companies, but three (Debamina, SL, Goramendi Siglo XXI, and Aspemir, SL) have business capital that is practically identical to what the Basque law requires for listing as an SPE. The businesses’ official objectives are the fomenting, promotion, and participation of companies, nearly the word-for-word legal definition of these privileged entrepreneurial promotion societies.

Debamina, SL, is the head of the group. Its primary fiscal residence was Avenida del Barcelona #4 in San Sebastián, and its only administrator was Sebastián Nadal, the player’s father. The sportsman owns 99.35% of the capital. Debamina, SL holds 100% of Aspemir, SL, which is a limited unipersonal company [it has only one stockholder] and which controls Goramendi Siglo XXI.

According to the latest calculations declared by the Commercial Registry, the total active value of Aspemir has risen to €56 million euros; this year, its total profits rose to €19,808,112, for which it has paid €10,319 in taxes. From the analysis of these figures, we can deduce that for years, and through compensation methods, the companies paid very low percentages of taxes, lower even than 1%. The Housing Department’s state corporate tax is 30%. “It’s a private subject. We’re not going to say how much we paid,” responded Nadal’s spokesman.

During their stay in the Basque Country, Nadal’s companies’ management councils included José Antonio Lopetegui Agote, a Gipuzkoan developer and the brother of Miriam Lopetegui and former Barcelona and Spain goalkeeper Julen Lopetegui. The Lopeteguis have had a long friendship with the Nadals.

Nadal’s case is similar to manufacturer José Luis Moreno’s. Tax Agency inspectors confirmed in 2008 that Miramón Mendi, SA, his principal company and the top television producer in Spain, didn’t develop any of its activities in the Basque Country. The investigation took two years and started with a visit to Paseo de Andoain #18 in San Sebastián, which figured as the company residence in which he stayed 13 years. Moreno attended to the agency’s request, regularized his payments, and moved the companies’ fiscal residence to Madrid. Now, the same agency has touched Nadal.

SPEs’ Opacity
Another Entrepreneurial Promotion Company (SPE) on the point of explosion is the fraudulent Catalonian firm Glass Costa Este Salou, whose shareholders include ex-Housing Director and ex-PNV Senator Víctor Bravo. Through this tax instrument, the company established its fiscal residence in San Sebastián though neither its activities nor its management were in the community. In 2010, an investigatory commission of General Assemblies unanimously called for the disappearance of SPEs and produced a report which concluded that this special regimen lacked transparency, facilitated debt, and opened the door to companies seeking fiscal paradises. Alava and Vizcaya, controlled by the PNV, blocked SPEs’ abolition.

Gorka Maneiro, age 36, UPyD parliamentarian and fiscal assessor, assured that the instrument has had a “long leash” that it’s “brought a lot of money to the state while deceiving the citizens. SPEs practically don’t pay taxes, and they don’t complete their objectives of stimulating business creation, either. We must abolish this special regime.”

The Lehendakari (First Minister of the Basque Government), Patxi López, stated he is in favor of revising the bonuses written into in the regional councils’ tax rules in order to bring about “just fiscal pressure”. In 2010, the incentives conceded to Guipúzcoa’s 115 SPEs cost the regional Housing Department €600 million.

Spain’s Most Successful Female Athlete: “My Parents Have Left Me With Nothing; I Don’t Speak With My Family”

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario with her parents in 1989

Spain’s Most Successful Female Athlete: “My Parents Have Left Me With Nothing; I Don’t Speak With My Family”
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario attacks her parents in her memoirs, accusing them of squandering her fortune and giving her equal treatment with her tennis-playing brothers Emilio and Javier
El País: “Mis padres me han dejado sin nada; no me hablo con mi familia”
J.J.M. reporting from Madrid February 5, 2012

“I was born into a family of tennis players, and I watched the sport ever since I was little. You may be born into something, but you have to work to keep polishing it and to become a champion. You sacrifice a lot in such a mental sport in which you have to know how to control your emotions,” says Arantxa Sánchez Vicario over the telephone from Moscow, where she has just finished her debut as coach of the Spanish women’s tennis team, which bowed to Russia 3-2 yesterday in the first round of the Federation Cup.

In 30 seconds, the ex-#1, winner of four major tournaments and four Olympic medals, has summarized the values of her whole life. In one breath, she has underlined the themes that marked a unique career: sacrifice, family, the mind, and emotions. These few phrases display the concepts at play in ¡Vamos! Memorias de una lucha, una vida y una mujer (Let’s Go! Memories of a Fight, a Life, and a Woman), her autobiography, which will be published tomorrow and which makes accusations against her family, according to the extracts published in El Mundo, which is publishing the work through La Esfera. “I don’t talk to my family,” writes the ex-player, married to businessman Pep Santacana since 2008 despite the “categorical” opposition of her family members. “They’ve left me with nothing.”

There are now two opposing books dedicated to one clan, the Sánchez Vicarios. The other is Forja de Campeones (Force of Champions), which was written by Emilio Sánchez and Marisa Vicario, the parents of Arantxa, Emilio (formerly #1 in doubles, #7 in singles, and an Olympic silver medalist), Javier (ex-#23), and Marisa; it speaks of the values that formed so many champions. The former player’s book, on the other hand, is the story of the destruction of these ties. There is a point of inflection. It occurred in 2010, when Forja was presented to the public. Arantxa did not attend: “the time had come to take off our masks and show that the myth of a united and happy Sánchez Vicario family was just that: a myth,” she writes. “My parents’ behavior has caused me a lot of suffering. In recent months, I have been through such difficult situations that there are still moments when I think I’m in a nightmare. What’s certain is that my relationship with my family doesn’t exist. How is it possible that everything I’ve obtained has disappeared, has ceased to be? (…) I’m the victim and the deceived.”

Dinero and discipline caused the rupture. “They’ve left me with nothing. I’m in debt to the Housing Department (she was condemned to pay €3.5 million in fines for paying taxes to Andorra while living in Spain), and my properties are very inferior to those of my brother Javier, for example, who has won much less than me over the course of his life. Could I accept this abuse and keep quiet? I wasn’t going to do it,” said the ex-tenista, who is 40. According to the WTA, which manages professional women’s tennis, Sánchez Vicario won about $17 million (some €12 million) during her career. The sponsorships she had during that time elevated her income to some €45 million by her count. Sources knowledgeable of the tennis world and her family are surprised by the insinuation of bankruptcy (“She has a boat, houses…”) and the elevated figure of her winnings: there are high taxes on tournament prizes (up to 35%), and Arantxa did not enjoy a large advertisement contract outside the tennis world (“like Sharapova’s style brands.”)

“My father has enjoyed full decision-making power over the management of my assets,” she said. “He has made the investments he considered opportune and administrated all my winnings. They gave me a certain amount of money every month, and I gave them a precise account statement; never for a moment did I worry enough to ask them about anything. I never doubted the way my father managed my money. Now I have nothing left,” she adds. “What happened with Housing was fatal. Establishing my residency in Andorra was my camp’s [their] decision.”

Arantxa, according to the book, which her parents’ lawyers are studying, was a girl who robbed a motorcycle to escape the tennis academy in which she was training. An adolescent whose her parents wanted her to go to bed early and leave her own birthday party. A champion weighed down by her “faithful shadow”, her mother – “for her, discipline and victory went before anything else, when sometimes what I needed most were caring words…I ended up doubting my self-worth and looking for help from psychologists to recover my self-esteem.” A tennis player who saw that her family managed everything in her life while her brother Emilio could make his own decisions from the age of 18. And a coach, finally, who yesterday only wanted to say of the Federation Cup, “I’m here because the players want me to be.”

Cyclist Contador Receives Two Years of Sanctions (Beginning Retroactively) and Stripped of 2010 Tour de France for Doping

Contador arriving at the Court for the Arbitration of Sport this month. Photo by Ruben Sprich of Reuters.

Cyclist Contador Receives Two Years of Sanctions (Beginning Retroactively) and Stripped of 2010 Tour de France for Doping
El País: Dos años de sanción para Contador
Carlos Arribas reporting from Madrid Febuary 6, 2012

Soon before noon, the secretary of the Court for the Arbitration of Sport (CAS) notified Alberto Contador that his positive test for clembuterol during the 2010 Tour de France had been considered the result of pure doping, and thus he would be punished by International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations with two years of suspension, the loss of his 2010 Tour title (the third of his victories in the grande boucle) and the second of his Giros de Italia (the one from 2011). In a separate sentence about a UCI petition, he was assessed an economic sanction of at least €2,485,000 payable to that organization.

The plaintiff had also solicited that the cyclist from Pinto (a Madrid suburb) be stripped of all his 2011 titles, including those in the Giro de Italia and the Volta a Catalunya (the second and third most important tours). This was also conceded; hence the cyclist has lost these laurels as well. The crown for the Italian race falls to Michele Scarponi, who had previously completed a sanction for his implication in Operación Puerto (Operation Mountain Pass).

This was the last stage of a process that began September 30, 2010, when the positive test was made public; the first disciplinary episode was in February 2011, exactly a year ago, when the competition committee for the Spanish Cycling Federation sided with Contador, who has always denied doping and said in his defense that the clembuterol must have come from a sirloin steak he ate July 20, the Tour’s rest day and the day he was tested.

Neither UCI or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were in agreement with the Spanish decision, and they turned to the CAS, who after a trial held November 21-24 finally sentenced in their favor. Taking the retroactive start date for the sanction as August 24, 2010, when Contador’s provisional sanction began, the 29-year old cyclist will be permitted to compete again this August 5, which means he cannot participate in this year’s Giro or Tour, but he can race in the Vuelta a España, which begins August 18. Andy Schleck, second place in the 2010 Tour, has been retroactively declared the winner.

The first sporting director to react to the news of the sanction was Pat McQuaid. The UCI president declared that regardless of what might be thought of his organization, one of those which chose to carry on the suit in spite of the Spanish federation’s absolution, he was not happy about the decision against the Pinto rider. “This is a sad day for our sport,” McQuaid said in his statement. “Some may think of it as a victory, but that is not at all the case. There are no winners when it comes to the issue of doping: every case, irrespective of its characteristics, is always a case too many.”

For more information, see ESPN’s report.

“Your Fingers Bleed, and You Enjoy the Suffering”

Novak Djokovic (born May 22, 1987 in Belgrade) embraces Rafael Nadal (March 6, 1986, Manacor, Spain) after the match. Photo by Aaron Favila of the AP.

“Your Fingers Bleed, and You Enjoy the Suffering”
The winner and loser coincide in emphasizing the beauty and intensity of the longest final in Grand Slam history
El País: “Te sangran los dedos y disfrutas del sufrimiento”
J.J. Mateo reporting from Melbourne January 30, 2012

While the drinks were handed out in the dressing room, with bags and more bags of ice arriving to fill the baths in which the tennis players would recuperate, the Serbian Novak Djokovic melted in an emotional embrace with his girlfriend, the beautiful Jelena. The champion took off the gold medal hanging on his neck and, in a sweet gesture, put it on her. “They give the same kind in the Games,” he said to hear in Serbian, as if in the couple’s minds London 2012 were already there.

Nole [Novak's Spanish nickname, which rhymes with ole] had won his fifth major tournament, his third in succession. He was demolished. Beside him, his agent searched for the Serbian ex-basketball player Vlade Divac, who had lost his credentials [to be in the room], while techno music played in the background in anticipation of the party to come. “I’m ready for all of it,” he said, laughing, while he was directed to the fiesta with the clock already reaching four in the Australian morning: “A tennis player lives for matches like this.”

Rafael Nadal had left the dressing room before Djokovic arrived there. If the measure of a man is how he takes defeat, it’s clear that the Spaniard just not just any other man. “First of all,” he opened, with his emotions still fresh, “Congratulations to Novak and his team, who are doing something fantastic.” “This is one of the happiest defeats of my career,” continued the Mallorcan, pensive and surprisingly positive after losing the final. “I’m not trying to beat Djokovic; I’m trying to exceed myself. During this tournament, I played much better than I did in 2011. This might be the lost final that hurts the least because I did everything I could. I fought with everything I had. I ran as far as I could run. I competed with a player who, today especially, is brilliant. I took him to the limit, something I didn’t do in 2011. The passion, the hope, are here, and when someone has done everything he could, he isn’t obligated to anything more…I’m satisfied with myself. After a time in which I suffered without enjoyment, I enjoyed suffering. That is the path.”

In assessment of his play, Nadal recalls that less than a month ago, he wasn’t even practicing because his shoulder hurt; he arrived in Australia without time to work on the subtle change in the weight of his racquet head; 15 hours before his debut in Melbourne, he was crying in his room because he believed a knee injury would force him to abandon the tournament. A defeat after 5 hours and 53 minutes, after being up a break in the fifth set (4-2 and 30-15), should be a bitter pill to swallow. Nevertheless, he metabolized it in public like it was something positive and put on accent on something that is very much his: enjoying suffering.

“I absolutely agree with him,” noted Djokovic later, albeit with a face marked with strain and a cup within reach. “I’ve never felt anything like it. Everything hurts. You suffer. You try to wake up your legs. You try to push them one more point. Your fingers bleed. It’s already too much, and yet you continue, enjoying the suffering. That’s why I agree with Rafa,” he added. “To play almost six hours is incredible, simply incredible,” he said with surprise. “Hearing that it was the longest final in the history of the major tournaments [5:53] made me cry. I could have won in the fourth set, and Nadal made some serves and some incredible points. The match deserved to go longer. In the fifth set, either one of us could have one,” he continued. “I felt like my energy was dropping, but I knew that he was feeling the same thing as the time passed. I tried to maintain myself mentally. To control my emotions. When I saw I was down 2-4, I pushed my body to the limit. The two of us used all the energy in our bodies, down to the last drop. I believe that the title was decided by a little luck and a little desire. There should have been two champions,” he concluded.

There was only one, and it was Nole, a fearsome competitor and perfect communicator, a tennis player without limits who can dream of winning his own Grand Slam in the spring when he assaults Roland Garros [for the French Open], the only major he doesn’t have. Nadal left the court signing autographs, ready to devour a hot dinner waiting for him in the dressing room and leaving a word of farewell that reflects how he understands sport and life. The clock has already passed 1:30. He took the microphone before the people that packed Rod Laver Court and said, “Thank you for all the love that you have shown us and for supporting me in a match that I won’t forget, even though I lost it. I’m looking forward to returning here for many years and…continuing the fight.”

Cheerleaders Quit Team en Masse to Protest Coach’s Advances; Study of Student Deaths in Judo Accidents; 50 Year TV Program Cancelled; Youths Extort Thousands of Dollars from High Schooler by Threatening Gang Assaults

Entire Class of Cheerleaders from One of Nation’s Best High School Teams Quit in Protest of Coach’s Inappropriate Advances
Yomiuri Shimbun: チア部員に監督が不適切行為、高２全員が退部届
January 17, 2012

All ten second graders on Obihiro (Hokkaido) High School’s cheerleading team quit on January 5 because of their male coach’s inappropriate behavior, it was learned on the 16th.

The school said it did not know about the case because the supervisor was not present.

According to the prefectural education department, last December 27, a parent from the school called the prefectural government to complain that the school’s assistant principal, a male and the coach of the team, was making inappropriate advances toward a member of the team, such as calling out “Let’s get married!” to her, giving her a necklace, grabbing her hand, and touching her body. The program is very strong; it has participated in the Japan Cup two years running.

The department called the coach twice to ask him about the matter. He said “it’s true that things like that happened,” and his explanation was that “in every case, it was part of a communication strategy to encourage the students, but they took it the wrong way.” The department said “the school has now heard the details of the matter, and we have told them to respond to it appropriately.”

114 Students Died Playing Judo From 1983-2010
Yomiuri Shimbun: 中高生１１４人、柔道で死亡していた…名大調査
January 17, 2012

Fatal accidents at school judo practices are continuing. A typical accident: a student without proper training is on the receiving end of a throw; he suffers a blow to the head; finally, he does not receive proper emergency medical care.

According to Nagoya University Associate Professor of Sociology of Education Ryō Uchida, in the 28 years from 1983-2010, 114 Japanese students (39 junior high schoolers and 75 high schoolers) died from judo accidents. Junior high schoolers and first year high schoolers together made up half the total; 14 students died during class time. In addition, accidents handicapped 275 students between 1983 to 2009, three tenths of them during class time.

Of every 100,000 students who participated in judo competitions from 2000-2009, 2.376 died, which is far higher than the second highest rate on the list, basketball’s (0.371 per 100,000). The majority of deaths were caused by impact to the head. “If the neck muscles are not yet developed, then performing free exercises, standing throws, and the like is dangerous,” Dr. Uchida warned.

“Junior High School Diary” to End 50-Year Run in March
Yomiuri Shimbun: 「中学生日記」３月で終了…１９６２年から放送

NHK Nagoya announced on the 18th that the March 16 episode of “Middle School Diary” will be the program’s last.

The show will be succeeded by a show about teens working to achieve their hopes and dreams called “Teens Project Fure☆Fure” [Fure has a double meaning of "proclamation/announcement" and "hooray!"] from April.

“Middle School Diary” portrayed the daily lives of Nagoya-area junior high schoolers. It debuted in 1962 as “Jirō the Middle School Student”. According to the station, interest in the program had waned for years, and its current viewership rating is only 1%.

High School Student Repeatedly Bullied into Giving Money to Former Classmate, Claims 3 Million Yen Extorted in All
Yomiuri Shimbun: 恐喝繰り返され…高校生「３００万取られた」
January 18, 2012

The Aichi Police Department arrested three minors on the 18th for continuing to threaten a 17-year old male high school student after they had already bullied him into giving them ¥900,000 (~$11,700) in cash.

The student said about ¥3 million (~$39,000) was extorted from him in all. The police are performing a corroborative investigation.

According to the police report, the youths who were arrested were a construction worker and a part-time worker in Seto and a part-time worker in Owariasahi. From late July to September 1, the construction worker extorted ¥600,000 from the student by telling him things like “a motorcycle gang is aiming for you. You should pay them money to protect yourself” and “my father had to pay ¥1 million to speak to the gangsters behind the motorcycle gang (on your behalf).” After that, the other two youths joined the plot; the police suspect them of extorting ¥900,000 from the victim in all.

The young man from Owariasahi is also charged with verbally assaulting the student and punching him in the face in a Seto public park on September 4, leaving him injured for two weeks.

Two of the youths have confessed to the charges: “We went after him because his family is rich. We used the money to go out and have fun.” The Owariasahi youth admitted punching the student but denied the money was extorted, saying it was merely the repayment of a loan.

Every time the student was threatened, he took money out of the family account and handed over the cash; eventually the family realized what was happening when they made withdrawals of their own. The construction worker was acquainted with the student because he attended and then dropped out of the same high school. The two other youths were his buddies.

Original/原稿::

Olympic Gold Medal-Winning Judo Player Masato Uchishiba Suspected of Sexual Harassment

The Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare was quite close to my former home; I knew students and a professor there, and it had a couple of the biggest billboards at the train station I used. Despite this judoka’s fame, I’d never heard his name before I read this story, so he might have come to the university after I left the country.

Olympic Gold Medal-Winning Judo Player Masato Uchishiba Suspected of Sexual Harassment
Yomiuri Shimbun: 柔道金メダルの内柴正人コーチにセクハラの疑い
November 8, 2011

Masato Uchishiba (age 33), who won the gold medals in judo for the men’s under 66 kg division at the Athens and Beijing Olympics, is suspected of sexually harassing a member of the girls’ judo team he was coaching at Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare, where he was a visiting lecturer, leading the university to establish an investigative committee, it was learned on the 8th.

The university has indefinitely relieved Mr. Uchishiba of his duties.

According to the university secretariat, after the suspected victim reported to the university that Mr. Uchishiba sexually harassed her outside of school at the end of September, the school formed a fact-finding committee at the beginning of October. This committee is still investigating.

Original/原稿:

My Facebook Wall: October 2011

Friends’ prompts and responses are written in italics.

10/1: Baseball game results are so random that the best teams only win 60% of the time, and the league needs a 154-162 game schedule to determine who the best are. The odds of any team winning a best-of-7 and especially a best-of-5 playoff series are nearly 50/50. There’s no way to know who’ll win the World Series, but congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies for being the best team over the long run this season.
10/6: ‎4×4 graph showing how the ECB, Greece, the Market, and Germany see themselves and each other
10/8: Today in my head I have been debating the merits of removing the 35-year age minimum on running for president. I’m flattered, but I don’t think I have enough life experience to do the job well yet! They should allow newly graduated law school students. Their bodies may only be 27, but their souls are 50.
10/11: in terms of football, it’s a good year not to be in indiana. week after week of heartbreak… Don’t be sad! Losing is like winning if it brings us the next Peyton! Besides, Notre Dame is still part of Indiana, and they’re playing better now.
10/13: Every story about this royal wedding is heartwarming. I can only link one, so here’s a piece that describes the ceremony.
10/14: NBA games are being canceled because the team owners want to radically turn the collective bargaining agreement in their favor. They say the cost of doing business is now untenable. If that were true, however, the teams’ net worths would be plummeting, not soaring. The general public is only saying “a pox on both your houses” because the players aren’t representing themselves coherently. Their best advocate is a fan whose contributions to the cause were unsolicited. Fortunately, that fan is Malcolm Gladwell.
10/14: The train jerked and I fell into an old man. So I’m going to watch Transformers 3 tonight as penance.  Still preferable to “the old man jerked and I fell into a train”
10/17: Strange Day Jobs of Authors Before They Were Famous
10/17: I’m looking forward to the new “Footloose”. I’m a member of the very demographic they’re aiming for: no, not women who loved the original movie when it came out in 1984; rather, their children, who heard the soundtrack in the car when their mothers went out to do errands year after year afterward.
10/20: My fellow Americans, the time has come to ask yourselves what you are going to be for Halloween.
10/21: ‎”I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” I heard this Romans excerpt at Mass this morning, but I didn’t really understand them until I took to the basketball court this afternoon for the first time in 2 years. I had a great time despite losing the struggle against my bad basketball habits, so I’ll be back on the court next Friday!
10/25: ‎2007/09/06: Colts 41, Saints 10. 2010/02/07: Saints 31, Colts 17. 2011/10/23: Saints 62, Colts 7. 2013/11/03: Saints ???, Colts ?
10/27: Levante pulls off the impossible in Spain’s La Liga
10/29: Once again, baseball’s postseason champion is the team which had the worst record going in. At least it was exciting!
10/30: Germany just found a lot of money between its sofa cushions.
10/31: Yesterday I read the following in a Japanese novel: people talk about ‘drinking tea’, but that’s a misnomer. If you’re doing it right, by the time the tea has washed around your mouth so you can fully enjoy the flavor, there is no liquid left to swallow. (Natsume Soseki, 草枕)