May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings partnership on the sand is the stuff of Olympic legend: A nearly 12 year partnership that helped elevate the sport to one of the hottest tickets at the Games.

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But Barlow noted that in this case studio marketers had to overcome audiences' unfamiliarity with the subject matter -- the 2000-year-old Chinese legend of a courageous young women who disguises herself as a man to enter the National Chinese Army in order to save her ailing father from being drafted.

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On the other end of the spectrum is 78-year old golfing legend Arnold Palmer.

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Earlier this year, the Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe, holder of nine Olympic medals made world-wide news by re-entering the pool with his sights set on London.

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The 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year's proposed New York showdown with American legend Roy Jones Jr in November will probably be his last and Calzaghe is promoting it himself.

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After a year of almost no worthwhile titles for the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was finally released.

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Wanjiru died last year from a fall in Kenya, increasing his legend and, ahead of Sunday's Olympic marathon, raising anxiety that somebody may try to repeat his tactic.

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Jazz legend Herbie Hancock saw one future of music when he was blown away by the piano skills of 14-year-old Jennifer Lin , awed by a classical maestro with full-bore improvisational chops.

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Instead, especially in Saudi Arabia, attendance at live matches is falling, soccer stadiums are in disrepair, and the national team won only one game in this year's Gulf Cup a debacle that led to the ouster of Dutch legend Frank Riijkaard as the Saudi team coach.

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