Entertainment articles

Tragedy at the Tour de France

Fabio Casartelli, like many young cyclists, dreamed of achieving infamy in the Tour de France. Unfortunately, in an unprecedented bike crash, Casartelli lost his life and remains only the third rider to ever die during the Tour de France race.

Fabio Casartelli was born in Como, Italy in August of 1970. Throughout his amateur cycling career, he showed a lot of potential, most notably with his win of a gold medal in the road race event of the 1992 Olympic Games. He finished one second ahead of the Netherlands’ Erik Dekker, who went on to win four stages of the Tour de France in his own career.

The first Tour de France Casartelli competed in was in 1993, although Casartelli didn’t accomplish much in his debut. For the 1995 Tour de France, Team Motorola selected Casartelli to competed in the race, and Casartelli was hoping to improve upon his first appearance in the legendary race.

Casartelli was in the 15th stage of the 1995 Tour de France when he was suddenly involved in a crash with several other riders. The crash occurred during the descent on the Col de Portet d’Aspet in the Pyrenees. During the crash, Casartelli struck his head on the concrete blocks that lined the roadway, immediately causing him to lose consciousness. Sadly, Casartelli didn’t make it to the hospital, as he stopped breathing during the helicopter flight and couldn’t be resuscitated.

After Casartelli’s tragic death, there was some speculation that his life could have been saved, had he been wearing a bicycle helmet at the time of the accident. However, the senior doctor of the Tour de France, Gerard Porte, refuted such claims, as he said that the helmet would not have covered the area of Casartelli’s head where he received the damage that led to his death.

If anything positive could be taken from Casartelli’s untimely death, it was the way the riders participating in the 1995 Tour de France came together after the tragic crash. In tribute to Fabio Casartelli, his comrades in Team Motorola finished the next stage as a unit, crossing the finish line together. The rest of the pack finished right after, riding slowly in a show of respect to their fallen peer.

Fabio Casartelli left behind a wife and an infant son, and cyclists and the Tour de France officials themselves made sure they weren’t forgotten. A fund was established for Casartelli’s family, and all of the riders who received money for their participation and performances in the “tribute” stage donated their prize money to the fund. The Tour de France organizers matched the amount donated to the fund, and many individuals also pitched in to help do their part and help Casartelli’s family.

Fabio Casartelli’s death also helped to accomplish stricter helmet regulations for Tour de France riders. Over time, helmet rules have consistently been strengthened, and now riders can be fined for not wearing their helmets during any portion of the Tour de France. Even if Casartelli’s death couldn’t have been prevented by the use of a helmet, the fact that helmet use has become more widespread and required by race organizations means that his death was not in vain.

The thought of a sportsman like Fabio Casartelli losing his life in the midst of a competition is a dreadful one indeed. While there’s no guarantee that a tragedy like what happened to Casartelli won’t ever happen again, it’s important to know that precautions are being taken to keep such things from happening, and that Casartelli has not and will not be forgotten.

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Dancing or Playing the Judges – You Decide

On every episode of Dancing with the Stars celebrities and their professional dance partners all take the stage and grace the audience with a short dance. The actual dance is frequently nothing at all to do with the actual scores that are handed out by the judges. However, it is also extremely important to realize that while the judges do play a large part of determining who wins the show, and even who goes home each week there are several instances where the viewers themselves will have a much larger impact on how the show proceeds.

In general terms it is typically widely accepted that the show is based heavily upon appearances. Both the appearance of the celebrity and also the appearance of the professional dancer. It is very seldom that anyone actually makes it through the competition by looking sloppy, uncoordinated and even badly organized. If you are looking to ensure that you are well pulled together and are actually appropriately scored then it is critical that the contestants actually look the parts that they are trying to play. For many this means stepping out of their comfort zone and wearing clothing that they normally would never wear.

In order to actually put together the true package needed to win the show it is very much necessary to take the time to pull together a great routine that is complete with perfect timing, great dancing skills, audience draw and even a great costume. Someone is just not going to look as pulled together if they select the wrong costume. There is no denying this at all, but if you do not take the time to actually select a good costume you could quickly find yourself leaving the show simply because the costume took too much attention away from the actual dancing.

In order to really move past the small details and determine if the judges really do decide the show based on actual dancing skills it is important to watch a season from start to finish. There has been speculation for a very long time that the judges are not very concerned with the actual dancing. This has been further proven by the lack of fairness that judge Mary Ann Inaba often shows to contestants. However, while the show continues to plug along, there are times when it is noticeable that the actual dancing is the primary concern of the judges.

For most viewers it is extremely frustrating only having a partial impact on which contestants stay and which go. The judges having at least some impact on which contestants are permitted to stay is intended to ensure that the competition stays focused on dancing skills, however it does still occasionally fall to the side in the event that some contestants are more favored by the judges and even the viewers than others who are more talented. While the show has struggled to ensure that it is fairly judged there is still an uncertainness whether the actual dancing or the whim of the judges makes a greater difference in who will actually win.

Pulling your favorite star out of the crowd and giving them the boost needed to win is not just based on actual votes. It is still required that contestants at least attempt to completely master the dances that they are trying to compete with. This goes a long way towards helping contestants be absolutely certain that they are winning based upon their actual dancing skills, rather than just popularity but as many arguments have occurred, it is still undetermined just how effective this actually is. Many feel that the dancers whom are actually more talented are actually penalized by the judges in terms of a contestant that is more favored, such as the case with Melanie Brown and her partner on five. However, while the debates continue to rage on, there are still several theories that are discussed and the show marches on for a new season after each one ends, further increasing the popularity.
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