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Your support makes all the difference.Since the age of 11 Hilary Lister has only been able to move her head, eyes and mouth. Now she is two weeks into a quest to become the first quadriplegic woman to sail solo around the UK. The 36-year-old from Kent is sailing a specially adapted 20ft boat which uses a "sip and puff" system of navigation involving three straws to work the rudder and sails. "It takes the pain away," she says. "Suddenly my physical inabilities no longer matter." She hopes to raise £250,000 for her charity Hilary's Dream Trust, which helps people with disabilities to take up sailing. "It's the collisions with the hidden lobster pots that are most hazardous," she says. To follow Hilary's progress, visit www.hilarylister.com
800
Number of metres away from Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic stadium that the Chinese authorities have installed a surface-to-air missile defence system. Let's hope none of the javelins accidentally fly out of the stadium towards the military encampment.
Freakshow of the week
As the latest series of 'Heroes' comes to an end, get ready for a new breed of all-action latex merchants. Lucha Libra arrives at the Roundhouse in north London on Friday, the Mexican version of wrestling that makes Big Daddy look like your bank manager. Celebrated in the Jack Black film 'Nacho Libre', it features comic-book costumes, dwarves and cross-dressers such as Cassandro, whose weapon is the "liplock" (or snog), as well as the famous El Hijo Del Santo, who favours the flying somersault headbutt.
Good week for
Graeme Napier hit a record 16 sixes for Essex in the Twenty20 Cup... Dr Rosi Sexton, a PhD in theoretical computer science, now an ultimate fighter with Elite Xtreme Combat in the US... Charlotte Craddock, the youngest hockey player chosen to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, aged 17... Stuart Atwell, youngest Premier League referee at 25.
Bad week for
Linford Christie, scratched from list of top six British Olympians for London 2012 scratchcard... Claus Lundekvam, must pay £100,000 to relay Southampton's pitch for testimonial after it was ruined by a Bon Jovi concert... Russia's football team, offered "two beautiful chicks" for each goal they scored after quarter-finals by socialite Pyotr Listerman but fired blanks... Moustapha Sall, lost appeal against four-month ban after signing for two football clubs, St Etienne and IK Start.
Chauvinists of the week
If cross-dressing wrestlers don't float your boat, how about the transvestite darts team who won a ladies league in Ramsgate? They refused to accept the trophy, and did raise £1,300 for charity. While barriers are broken on the oche, liberal thinking has yet to reach the Palio horse race in Siena, Italy. Women from one of the most successful districts in this 800-year-old tradition issued a legal challenge because they are still not permitted to take part. Jockeys are allowed to use the whip on their horses – and other riders. Come on, ragazzi! What's wrong with women whipping each other on horseback?
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