Ferrer has a glittering collection of winners medals, including five Spanish championships, the European Cup and an Olympic gold, but fears a cup final exit could also spell the end of his Euro 2000 dream.
In the few weeks prior, he had hit the links with President Barack Obama, and announced his romantic relationship with Olympic and World Cup skier Lindsey Vonn.
FORBES: Winning Doesn't Take Care Of Everything For Tiger Woods--Or Anybody Else
But there are more than 600 favelas in the city, and critics say the pacification programme only benefits areas near richer neighbourhoods popular with tourists or Olympic and World Cup venues, our correspondent adds.
Then the hard work will begin in his quest for World Cup and Olympic glory: six months on the road with the U.S. team when he hopes to fulfill his remaining ambitions in alpine racing.
Many Nigerians often claim that Kanu is Africa's most decorated footballer, with his trophy cabinet displaying medals for the Champions League, Uefa Cup, Olympic Games, six domestic championships (including two Premier League titles) as well as three FA Cups.
For despite winning the 1995 FIFA World Youth Cup and the 2008 Olympic Games with Argentina, Messi has yet to go past the quarterfinals of the World Cup -- and many commentators believe he needs to win that trophy if he is to lay claim to being the greatest footballer the world has ever seen.
CNN: Messi joins Xavi and Puyol in agreeing new Barcelona deals
Chastain went on to win another World Cup and an Olympic gold medal in her brilliant 16-year career.
Their senior team has a bright future ahead of it based upon the players on display at the London Olympics, and barring any huge surprises over the next four years they will have to be one of the favorites when their nation hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic games.
FORBES: Quantifying the Under and Over Performing Teams in the Men's Olympic Soccer Tournament
It remains to be seen whether United, or indeed any other many English club, comes under Qatari ownership in the near future but, with a World Cup and possible Olympic Games both on the horizon, the tiny gulf state is only going to grow in sporting stature and importance over the next decade.
This Commission will also look at guidelines to reduce negative social and environmental consequences of organizing mega events such as the Olympic Games, the Football World Cup or regional final competitions.
The contracts follow a major initiative last summer during the London 2012 Olympic Games to try to win contracts for UK firms around the 2016 Olympic Games and 2018 football World Cup in Russia.
That's since changed, with the pacification of dozens of Rio's "favela" hillside slums, the discovery of offshore oil deposits that have flooded the city with petrodollars and Rio's role as host for the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
In a stunning upset Sunday, Spain was sent home from the Olympics with a 1-0 loss to Honduras, eliminating one of the gold-medal favorites at the group stage and ending Spain's bid to become the first nation to hold the World Cup, European and Olympic soccer titles at the same time.
With the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games to be staged in Brazil , the South American's growing sporting prominence has been recognized with the addition of a second Brazilian tournament in Florianopolis for 2014, adding to an event which will debut in Rio de Janiero this year.
Considering that Brazil will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and recalling the US experience in organizing events of this magnitude and the interest of the US Government in sharing this experience with Brazil, the leaders welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Major Global Sporting Events, aimed at intensifying bilateral cooperation, particularly on infrastructure, safety, and security.
Also interesting to note there will be neither an Olympic event, nor any FIFA World Cup in 2013.
Perry and Getzlaf came into the NHL together and have played on the same line for nearly every game of their careers, winning the Stanley Cup in 2007 and earning Olympic gold medals for Canada together in 2010.
Brazil is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016.
The BOA's Olympic coaching programme, led by Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward, will receive "seed corn funding" from the deal.
Over the next four years the Brazilian city will be a global hub of sport as it hosts the soccer World Cup in two years and the Olympic Games in 2016.
He is a two-time US Open Champion and has won all four Grand Slam singles titles, and has victories in Davis Cup, Masters Series and an Olympic gold medal thanks to his precision and exceptional timing.
The Americans are off this summer, having qualified automatically for the 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain by winning Olympic gold.
With the Olympic qualifiers in Africa clashing with their league and cup games, several French clubs asked Fifa for a ruling earlier this week.
BBC: SPORT | Football | African | Africa snubbed by Fifa ruling
After taking silver at last year's World Championships behind New Zealand, Glover and Stanning won all three World Cup races this season and set an Olympic record in their heat.
Shiffrin, who last year became the youngest American to win a national alpine skiing championship, heads the slalom standings by 22 points from Hofl-Riesch -- the overall World Cup champion in 2011 and a double Olympic gold medalist.
Further backing from Thabo Mbeki, the leader of South Africa - the first country from the continent which will stage the Fifa World Cup - and the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, led to a few plaudits from the media.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | Abuja 'brimming with confidence'
Fourteen foreign-based players, including Julius Aghahowa, Furo Iyenemi and Gbenga Okunowo who played in the Nations Cup, are in Nigeria's present Olympic squad.
The famous Maracana football stadium, one of the largest in the world, is undergoing a total renovation expected to be completed in 2013 before it hosts the World Cup kick off in June 2014 and the Olympic opening ceremony in August 2016.
There is little data on the economic impact on Olympic cities, but Mr Baade studied what the 1994 soccer World Cup did to its nine American host cities.
Like Ghana, Nigeria has shown promise at youth level, winning U-17 World Cup titles in 1985, 1993 and 2007, and winning Olympic gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
应用推荐