General Awareness Updates – November 2009

Sports

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee has said. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have gone to a South American country. Rio beat Madrid, Spain, in the final round while Chicago (U.S.) and Tokyo (Japan) were eliminated in earlier rounds.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, accompanied by soccer legend Pelé, advertised the benefits of a Rio games. For Rio, a major appeal was bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time. Chicago was the first city to be eliminated. The unlucky result for Chicago came just hours after the American President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, delivered personal pleas to the Olympic committee praising the virtues of their home city.

The Heads of State for the other three finalists also made personal pitches. Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia and Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pushed the case for Madrid. For Japan, its newly elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama put in a fervent plea.

Tiger Woods (right) has become the first athlete to surpass U.S.$1 billion in career earnings. The Forbes magazine estimates that golf’s top-ranked player crested the plateau when he earned U.S.$10 million for winning the FedEx Cup in September this year.

Forbes reported that Mr. Woods entered 2009 having earned $895 million since he joined the PGA Tour in 1996. Prize money, appearance fees, endorsement fees, bonuses and his golf course design business were calculated to have pushed him over U.S.$1 billion.

The magazine says former NBA great Michael Jordan and former Formula One driver Michael Schumacher, at U.S.$800 million and U.S.$700 million, respectively, are Mr. Woods’ closest competition in career earnings.

ICC Awards 2009

ICC Cricketer of the Year: Mitchell Johnson (Australia)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year: Gautam Gambhir

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year: M. S. Dhoni (left)

ICC T20 Intrnl. Performer of the Year: Tilakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka)

ICC Emerging Player of the Year: Peter Siddle (Australia)

ICC Spirit of Cricket: New Zealand

ICC Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

CRICKET

ICC Champions Trophy, South Africa

Winner: Australia

Runner-up: New Zealand

Player-of-the-tournament: Ricky Ponting (Australia)

Australia in England 2009

ODI Series Result: Australia beat England by 6-1 to win the win the seven-match series.

Player of the Series: Cameroon White (Australia)

MOTORRACING

Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

Winner: Sebastian Vettel (Germany/Red Bull-Renault)

Second: Jarno Trulli (Italy/Toyota)

Third: Lewis Hamilton (G. Britain/McLaren-Mercedes)

Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore

Winner: Lewis Hamilton (G. Britain/McLaren-Mercedes)

Second: Timo Glock (Germany/Toyota)

Third: Fernando Alonso (Spain/Renault)

TENNIS

China Open, Beijing

Men’s Singles

Winner: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Runner-up: Marin Cilic (Croatia)

Women’s Singles

Winner: Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)

Runner-up: Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)