Post by Taxigirl on Dec 30, 2004 10:49:38 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/4129133.stm
Footballers Zinedine Zidane and Filippo Inzaghi and top Swedish skiier Ingemar Stenmark were among those sport stars caught up in Asia's quake catastrophe.
Real Madrid's Zidane was on Reunion Island off Madagascar and unharmed, while AC Milan's Inzaghi was without electricity and water in the Maldives.
But Stenmark had to run for his life when a giant wave hit his Thai beach.
"The water from one wave disappeared, but then it came back with terrifying speed," he told the Swedish media.
Twice Olympic champion Stenmark was holidaying with friends in Khok Kloi, about 50km from Phuket - the popular tourist spot which has been seriously affected by earthquake-driven tidal waves sweeping the region.
He and his girlfriend Christina Sylvan were not injured, while Sylvan's father Bo was hurt, but not seriously.
Several Italian soccer players in the Maldives were trying to make their way home, it was reported.
AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini and Juventus defender Gianluca Zambrotta managed to fly back to Italy, while Alessandro Nesta and Cristian Brocchi were also in the Indian Ocean beach resort.
And football's world governing body Fifa announced on Monday that all flags at its headquarters were being flown at half mast following the world's most powerful quake in four decades.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter, acknowledging "untold grief and bereavement", has also sent letters to the presidents of the football federations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Maldives, Malaysia and Burma.
Gaute Larsen, assistant coach of top Norwegian side Odd Grenland, was caught by a wave in Phuket.
"That was a near-death experience and very dramatic," he told Norway newspaper, Verdens Gang, "We were lucky.
"We were washed away for 300-400m until we ended up in the town centre and swam in to a ledge," he said.
"We saw cars being slammed into walls and people being carried away by the currents. I don't know how many of those we saw survived."
Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said he was "lucky to be alive" after narrowly missing one of the tsunamis that killed 11,000 people in his home country.
Muralitharan, who is recovering from shoulder surgery in Sri Lanka while his teammates tour New Zealand, had been visiting Galle minutes before the city was devastated by tidal waves.
"I missed the wave by 20 minutes," Muralitharan told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"I had only just left Galle, so I am very lucky to be alive," he said.
Footballers Zinedine Zidane and Filippo Inzaghi and top Swedish skiier Ingemar Stenmark were among those sport stars caught up in Asia's quake catastrophe.
Real Madrid's Zidane was on Reunion Island off Madagascar and unharmed, while AC Milan's Inzaghi was without electricity and water in the Maldives.
But Stenmark had to run for his life when a giant wave hit his Thai beach.
"The water from one wave disappeared, but then it came back with terrifying speed," he told the Swedish media.
Twice Olympic champion Stenmark was holidaying with friends in Khok Kloi, about 50km from Phuket - the popular tourist spot which has been seriously affected by earthquake-driven tidal waves sweeping the region.
He and his girlfriend Christina Sylvan were not injured, while Sylvan's father Bo was hurt, but not seriously.
Several Italian soccer players in the Maldives were trying to make their way home, it was reported.
AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini and Juventus defender Gianluca Zambrotta managed to fly back to Italy, while Alessandro Nesta and Cristian Brocchi were also in the Indian Ocean beach resort.
And football's world governing body Fifa announced on Monday that all flags at its headquarters were being flown at half mast following the world's most powerful quake in four decades.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter, acknowledging "untold grief and bereavement", has also sent letters to the presidents of the football federations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Maldives, Malaysia and Burma.
Gaute Larsen, assistant coach of top Norwegian side Odd Grenland, was caught by a wave in Phuket.
"That was a near-death experience and very dramatic," he told Norway newspaper, Verdens Gang, "We were lucky.
"We were washed away for 300-400m until we ended up in the town centre and swam in to a ledge," he said.
"We saw cars being slammed into walls and people being carried away by the currents. I don't know how many of those we saw survived."
Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said he was "lucky to be alive" after narrowly missing one of the tsunamis that killed 11,000 people in his home country.
Muralitharan, who is recovering from shoulder surgery in Sri Lanka while his teammates tour New Zealand, had been visiting Galle minutes before the city was devastated by tidal waves.
"I missed the wave by 20 minutes," Muralitharan told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"I had only just left Galle, so I am very lucky to be alive," he said.