Paralympic athlete Marieke Vervoort has ended her own life by euthanasia at the age of 40, after her incurable degenerative muscle disease left her in constant pain and suffering seizures, paralysis and insomnia.
Euthanasia is legal in Vervoort’s home country of Belgium. The wheelchair sprinter won gold and silver medals at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Eleanor Oldroyd paid tribute to Vervoort and said: “When I heard Marieke Vervoort had died, I felt deeply sad - for her loving family, her many friends and her fans around the world.
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“She was a remarkable champion, on and off the track. She was outrageously funny and full of life, but I’ve never had such frank conversations about death with anyone.
“Somehow, though, those conversations weren’t depressing; she had accepted her time on earth would be shorter than many, but she was determined to wring every last drop of fun out of it that she could.”
2. Mourinho linked with Dortmund
German newspaper Bild reports that Jose Mourinho is being linked with Borussia Dortmund.
The Daily Mail, citing the Bild story, says Dortmund are in “regular contact” with Mourinho, who has been out of work since being sacked by Manchester United last December.
Portuguese Mourinho is “already learning” German, the Mail says, and is keen to return to football management.
Current Dortmund coach Lucien Favre is safe for now but the Bundesliga giants are “keen to look at the bigger picture”.
2. Moriarty: red would have been the end of me
Ross Moriarty admits that he feared being sent-off in Wales’s 20-19 victory over France at the Rugby World Cup last weekend.
In the quarter-final clash Moriarty saw yellow for a high tackle on France’s Gael Fickou. He stayed on the pitch and went on to score the match-winning try.
“I was just thinking, ‘please, please don’t be a red’,” said Moriarty. “That was definitely a big moment. I had been on for only 90 seconds and I was thinking to myself, ‘If he gives me a red card, this is the end of me’.
“It was a mistimed tackle. I closed my eyes and thought he was going to run round me, but he stopped and ducked under me.”
According to reports in Spain Read Madrid are lining up a January move for Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. The Polish captain scored twice for Bayern in last night’s 3-2 Champions League win at Olympiakos. The 31-year-old has now scored 21 goals in 17 games for club and country this season.
5. El Clasico set for 18 December
ESPN reports that the El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be rescheduled for 18 December. The La Liga clash was supposed to be played this weekend but unrest in Catalonia has forced the postponement.
6. Alonso hits out at Hamilton
Fernando Alonso has criticised Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton for his Instagram post urging people to save the environment by going vegan.
Two-time title winner Alonso told Spanish radio station Cope: “I think I would keep my eating habits to myself. I would never release a message like Lewis. You can’t send out a message on one day, and on the next day do the opposite.
“We all know the lifestyle that Lewis has, and that Formula 1 drivers take 200 planes a year. You can’t then say ‘don’t eat meat’.”
7. Nationals win game one of 2019 World Series
The Washington Nationals have taken a 1-0 lead in Major League Baseball’s World Series after beating the Houston Astros 5-4 in game one. The best-of-seven series continues tomorrow with game two in Houston (1.07am start UK time).
8. Clippers beat Lakers in the battle of LA
Los Angeles Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-102 in their NBA regular season opener last night. Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points for the Clippers, who face the Golden State Warriors next on Friday (3.30am start UK time).
Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold (virus) and centre-half Joel Matip (knee) will miss the match in Belgium tonight.
Chelsea travel to Amsterdam to face last season’s semi-finalists Ajax and boss Frank Lampard will be without N’Golo Kante, Ross Barkley, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.
The Sky Blues thrashed Atalanta 5-1 at the Etihad with Raheem Sterling scoring a hat-trick, while Harry Kane and Son Heung-min both scored twice as Tottenham put their early season woes behind them with a 5-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade.
Kylian Mbappe came on as a second-half substitute for Paris Saint-Germain and scored a hat-trick in the French side’s 5-0 win at Club Bruges.
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