Superstars
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Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon. (On the original ABC version, an athlete could compete in up to seven events, but no athlete was permitted to compete in the sport(s) of his or her profession.) The idea was developed by 1948 and 1952 Olympic figure skating champion Dick Button. He shopped the idea to all three U.S. television networks, and ABC bought it as a special for the winter of 1973. The first Superstars competition was held in Rotonda West, Florida in March 1973 and was won by pole vaulter Bob Seagren. The BBC covered the competition and aired their own programme, featuring British athletes on December 31, 1973. The programme had been recorded in August 1973. The competition was captured by 400 metre hurdles Olympic champion David Hemery. Television broadcasts of the competitions were popular both in Europe and North America in the 1970s and 1980s.
Competitors participate in ten different sporting events, including a 100 yard dash, 800 metres (0.50 mi) run, obstacle course, weightlifting, bowling, rowing, tennis, basketball, bicycle racing, and swimming. The sports used have varied somewhat over time and between the European and American competitions (for example, in the first USA competition, there was no obstacle course, but there was table tennis and baseball. Points are awarded for the position in which the competitor places in each event. The competitor with the most points at the end of all ten events is declared the champion.
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[edit] Britain/Europe
David Vine, who was the first presenter of the BBC programme, said in "Vine on Vine" (ESPN Classic 2009) that "in 1975, Ron Pickering, myself, Don Revie, Billy Bremner and TV producer Barney Colehan sat in a hotel in Leeds and formulated Superstars but the BBC dismissed the idea. Then Dick Button started it in the states and the BBC bought the rights".
David Hemery, the 1968 Olympic champion in the 400 metres (0.25 mi) hurdles, won the first British Superstars in 1973. Three men each won two European Superstars championships: Swedish pole vaulter Kjell Isaksson; Dutch field hockey player Ties Kruize and British judoka Brian Jacks. One of the European competitors was Ivo Van Damme, a middle-distance runner who was killed in a road accident in 1976. British competitors included John Conteh (boxing), Tim Crooks (rowing), Keith Fielding (rugby league), Andy Ripley (rugby union), Lynn Davies (1964 Olympic long jump champion), James Hunt (racing driver), John Sherwood (track), Brian Hooper (pole vault) and Jonah Barrington (squash). For most of the duration of the run of this programme on BBC TV, the programmes' producer was Peter Hylton-Cleaver.
One of the most famous moments in the British series was when footballer Kevin Keegan injured himself by falling off his bike during the cycling event. He insisted on re-racing and secured second place in the event, before going on to win that edition of the programme. Another famous moment was the controversial use of sunflower oil by Jody Schekter to aid him in the squat thrust event.
One of the most famous competitors was Brian Jacks, a former Olympic judo medallist. Jacks was known for his record setting performances in the gym competition. He still holds the world record for dips and also for squat thrusts. Jacks won the Superstars title 4 times[citation needed] and had a computer game named after him.
In 1982, electronic scoring systems were introduced, with pressure pads for the squat thrusts. These originally ran on the Commodore VIC-20, and later on the BBC Micro. The programs were developed and the system operated by Simon Taylor.
The programme had a spin-off called The Superteams in which one memorable moment was when British athlete Gary Cook played goalkeeper in the six-a-side hockey contest without wearing a helmet, running out of the D circle and tackling an opponent.
The show returned to the BBC in 2002 with a one-off special for Sport Relief, with England rugby union star Austin Healey the winner. Du'aine Ladejo (athletics) won the 2004 events (actually filmed in 2003), with Alain Baxter (skiing) winning in 2005 (actually filmed in 2004). One notorious incident in 2003 saw boxer Wayne McCullough severely burning his feet by sliding during the squat thrust competition. This caused a change in the rules whereby the competitors must now lift their feet off the ground during this event.
The BBC Superstars used a musical theme composed by Johnny Pearson titled "Heavy Action". This piece of music later became familiar to Americans as the theme music for Monday Night Football.
On 29 April 2008 it was announced that the show would be returning on Five for the summer of 2008.[1] It was produced by TWI with eight one-hour shows. In a change of format, the competitors were split into four teams, captained by Kelly Holmes, Steve Redgrave, Roger Black and Mike Catt.
[edit] Scoring Points
After each event, the player who is ranked first gains 10 points. Then the next best ranked player gets 7, 4, 2 and then finally 1 point. These points are then totalled up.
[edit] United States
The Superstars was first broadcast by ABC Sports as a two-hour special in 1973. Bob Seagren, an Olympic pole vault gold medalist, was the first winner. However, it was heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier who nearly stole the show, almost at the cost of life and limb. In the very first event, the 50 meter swimming heats, Frazier nearly drowned, and only after he was retrieved from the pool did he admit to commentators that he didn't know how to swim. When a reporter asked him why he tried the race, Frazier replied, "How was I to know I couldn't unless I tried it?"
Spin-offs included a women's version of the show, and a Superteams version (where the two World Series and Super Bowl teams each faced off (except that the owner of the New York Yankees at the time prohibited his players from competing, so in years where the Yankees were in the World Series, their league's runner-up competed instead), with the winners competing in the finals). There were also brief runs of versions for celebrities, juniors (where each state's Department of Education was asked to nominate one high school, and those schools each sent one boy and one girl to qualifying rounds, with the final aired on TV).
The show remained popular in the 1970s, but ratings declined and the last edition produced by ABC came in 1984. NBC Sports picked up the program the next year and carried it from 1985 to 1990. ABC took the show back in 1991, and broadcast it through 1994. There was no American version for three years, then ABC revived the show in 1998 and broadcast it through 2002. CBS Sports picked up the show the next year.
In 2005, the production company Rocco's Jobbers attempted to revive the competition as a pay-per-view event. The concept was to be a competition between past champions and a crop of new, up-and-coming athletes. The event was the brainchild of 1991 Superstars champion and former pro baseball player Kelly Gruber. Gruber spent months recruiting past champions to join the 'old-timers' team, but was ultimately unsuccessful, leading Rocco's Jobbers to pull its financial commitment, resulting in the cancellation of the special. Gruber blamed his previous bad history with the production company for their hasty decision to cancel the show.
Several athletes won the event two or more times. Among them:
- Kyle Rote, Jr., football (soccer),1974, 1976, 1977
- Renaldo Nehemiah, track and field/American football, 1981-83 and 1986
- Herschel Walker, American football, 1987-88
- Willie Gault, American football, 1989-90
- Dave Johnson, decathlon, 1993-94
- Jason Sehorn, American football, 1998–2000
Speed skater Anne Henning won three straight women's competitions (1976-78). Basketball player Ann Meyers matched that feat in 1981 through 1983. Volleyball player Linda Fernandez won two straight events in 1979 and 1980.
A listing of previous American winners:
[edit] 2009 edition
On January 6, 2009, Variety reported that Juma Entertainment and Blue Entertainment Sports TV would produce a six-week series on ABC starting on June 23, 2009 featuring pairing of celebrities and athletes with one pair being eliminated each week.[2] Principal location filming took place in the Bahamas.
The participating stars are:[3]
| Place | Athlete | Celebrity |
| TBA | Kristi Leskinen | Maksim Chmerkovskiy |
| TBA | Bode Miller | Paige Hemmis |
| TBA | Lisa Leslie | David Charvet |
| TBA | Brandi Chastain | Julio Iglesias, Jr. |
| 5 | Jeff Kent | Ali Landry |
| Terrell WD 6 | Terrell Owens | Joanna Krupa |
| 7 | Robert Horry | Estella Warren |
| Dan WD | Lisa Leslie | Dan Cortese |
| Jennifer WD 8 | Jennifer Capriati | David Charvet |
[edit] Judges' Scoring summary
- indicates the team eliminated.
- indicates the teams that went to the Obstacle Course.
- indicates the team that won the rubber match.
- indicates the winning team.
- indicates the runner-up team.
- indicates the third place team.
| Couple | Place | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kristi & Maks | TBD | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | ||||
| Brandi & Julio | TBD | Safe | OC | Safe | Safe | ||||
| Bode & Paige | TBD | Safe | OC | OC | Safe | ||||
| Lisa & David | TBD | Safe | OC | OC | |||||
| Jeff & Ali | 5 | Safe | OC | ELIM | ELIM | ||||
| Terrell & Joanna | 6 | ELIM | Safe | OC | WD | ||||
| Robert & Estella | 7 | OC | ELIM | ||||||
| Lisa & Dan | Dan WD | OC | WD | ||||||
| Jennifer & David | Jennifer WD | OC | WD | ||||||
An early leaked clip showed Supermodel Joanna Krupa displeased with the performance of her teammate, Terrell Owens. This occurs in the first episode, during an elimination competition involving the obstacle course in which Mr. Owens gets tangled in the cargo net obstacle and loses a race. [4] Lisa Leslie also struggled with the cargo net obstacle to the point that she became disoriented and reversed her direction, exiting the obstacle in the wrong direction and almost racing towards an obstacle she had already completed. These two teams (Owens/Krupa v. Leslie/Cortese) then go into a final race to determine who goes home. Although Owens performed better this time, Cortese stayed close enough behind him that Krupa was unable to outrace Leslie and Owens/Krupa were the first team eliminated from the competition. Krupa continued to vent her frustration and disappointment in Owens' performance well after the race was over, stating that she expected better results from such a well-known athlete.[5] They had lost a kayak race earlier. A better performance in any of the events (the duathlon, in which they finished middle-of-the-pack, two kayak races that they lost, and two obstacle course races that they lost) would have permitted them to stay in the competition. However, there was no explanation as to why Owens/Krupa with their fourth-place finish (20 points ahead of two teams that tied for fifth place) were even in a "tiebreak" situation to begin with, and the show was also silent on what tiebreaker separated the two fifth-place teams, sending one to the obstacle course automatically while putting the other in a "rubber match" kayak race against Owens/Krupa—who clearly finished 20 points ahead of the fifth-place teams in the standings.
Along with Leslie/Cortese, Capriati/Charvet also struggled during the first round of competitions; most significant was Capriati missing the exchange of the bike between the teammates in the first event (a 1.1 mile duathlon) when she failed to spot it propped against a barricade where her partner had left it for her, and had to run nearly the entire distance of the road course.
In the second episode, a team is disbanded due to injury and Owens and Krupa are allowed back on the show to compete in their stead. Jennifer Capriati and Dan Cortese withdraw from the competition due to injury that Capriati and Cortese sustained during the show.
The hosting cast is ESPN's John Saunders, former NFL All-Pro defensive tackle Warren Sapp, and NFL sideline reporter, fitness model, and TV host Jenn Brown (an accomplished athlete in her own right, having captained the University of Florida softball team). [6]
[edit] Obstacle Course variations
The popular obstacle course was the final event of the original Superstars to determine the overall winner. The Superteams version featured the obstacle course as an earlier event. The original course had the contestants climb a 12" rope wall, run through a tubular tunnel, push a blocking sled (or traverse across monkey bars in the Women's and Superteams versions), cleanly step through a dozen tires (2 rows of 6), jump over a water hazard (rectangular pool of water), clear a 4'6" high bar, jump two sets of hurdles and cross the FINISH line. Penalty seconds were added for missing tires, stepping in the water hazard and knocking down the high bar and/or hurdles. Some athletes have shown super skills on this course by climbing the wall without using the rope and clearing the high bar like a hurdle.
For the 2009 "elimination event" version, contestants have to climb a rope wall, duck under four rope hurdles (2 sets side-by-side), cleanly step through a bungee grid, ascend and descend a large ramp, push through a large door-like block, jump two sets of hurdles, run through a cargo net and cross the FINISH line.
[edit] World
A World Superstars competition was held annually from 1977 through 1982. Bob Seagren won the initial competition followed by three straight wins for Canadian soccer player Brian Budd. Budd was not allowed to enter again because of a new rule barring anyone from competing in a Superstars competition after their third victory. South African Formula One racer Jody Scheckter won in 1981 and British pole vaulter Brian Hooper won in 1982.
[edit] Music
"Heavy Action" is the name of the theme tune written by Johnny Pearson for this televised sports competition which is often wrongly referred as "Superstars". ABC also used the song during coverage of Monday Night Football.
[edit] References
- ^ Athletes feature in new Superstars TV series Athletics Weekly, accessed 29 April 2008
- ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998086.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
- ^ Owens in new version of 'Superstars'
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz27Zmov3J8
- ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Joanna-Krupa-gives-Terrell-Owens-the-Terrell-Owe?urn=nfl,172404
- ^ http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2009/06/abc-sets-trio-to-host-supersta.php
