Dein erstes Forum » give up almost a 60-point lead,

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Hows this for last-minute notice?After Pele relinquished his starring role in the opening ceremony in slightly mysterious circumstances, marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima only had an hours notice that he would carry the flame to light the Olympic cauldron on Friday.The 46-year-old de Lima told the story to a group of Brazilian sports journalists who accidentally ran into him buying beer at a gas station after the show ended in Rio de Janeiro. He was still wearing his Rio 2016 outfit.I never thought that I could be that person to light the cauldron, he said.It came 12 years after his hopes of winning Olympic gold were ended by an Irish spectator wearing a kilt, knee-socks and a beret tackling him while leading the Athens marathon. Instead of gold, he fell back to take bronze.Long since retired from top-level running, De Lima wasnt destined to be the focal point of the first Olympics in his homeland.Brazil soccer great Pele was the preferred choice of organizers to light the cauldron but left them in the lurch.Pele, 75, said Wednesday he was already committed to working for an unnamed sponsor on the day of the opening ceremony. Several of his commercial backers -- sandwich chain Subway, watchmaker Hublot and credit card company Mastercard -- are rivals of official Olympic sponsors McDonalds, Omega and Visa.Still, Pele announced he would try to adjust his travel plans to make the Maracana Stadium ceremony.And yet by Friday, the three-time World Cup winner was citing illness as the reason to relinquish the lighting honor.We had, obviously as you do on these occasions, Plan A, B, C, D, E, Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said Saturday. Pele, when we invited him, informed us that he was coming out of surgery and he needed medical approval to do that.We prepared special help for him if he needed it during the ceremony. We also decided to wait until the last moment to decide which the plan was, allowing him more time to improve his condition and to get medical authorization.But Andrada said doctors advised Pele against putting his body through the long ceremony.Pele did hold the Olympic flame two weeks ago when the torch relay traveled through Santos, the city in the outskirts of Sao Paulo where he started his football career. He never took part in the Olympics as a player.LeBron James Shoes Outlet . Terms of the deal were not immediately available. The 26-year-old finished last season with Clevelands Triple-A affiliate in Columbus after signing with the Indians in August. 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LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St.NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers were fine playing out the stretch run of the season under the old points format that crowned the champion for consistency.Performance will be just as important under the new Chase playoff format, but drivers welcome the looming urgency of the final seven races.NASCAR will inaugurate championship Chases in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck series on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway and Loudon, New Hampshire, respectively. The knockout rounds have been in place at the Sprint Cup level since 2014, but this year will be the first time all three NASCAR series will be using them at once.The 12 Xfinity drivers in the Chase view the playoff as a second chance to correct mistakes, which under the old format was challenging at best.If it was regular-season points, wed have been out a long time ago, said Darrell Bubba Wallace, whos bunched among nine competitors with 2,000 points. We get a chance to regroup here, which is always nice when you get a reset button. We just have to go out and execute now.The Xfinity and Trucks Chases consist of seven races with three elimination rounds. Xfinity winners from Kentucky, Dover and Charlotte automatically advance to the Round of Eight with the rest of the field set on points. The top four from the next round of three races move on to the season finale at Homestead, Florida.Points were reset to 2,000 with three bonus points added for each win. Erik Jones now enters Saturday nights 300-mile race at Kentucky with 2,012, six ahead of former leader Elliott Sadler and nine more than Daniel Suarrez.ddddddddddddJones earned his fourth Xfinity win last week at Chicagoland Speedway and has been eighth or better in three series starts at Kentucky.Sadler is familiar with the Chase after finishing ninth in Cups first playoff in 2004. He has also been in the Xfinity title hunt in recent years with runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2012.The 41-year-old veteran sees the Chase as a chance to finally break through even though his sizable lead over Jones has been cut after the reset for the playoffs.I think the Chase is great for our series, said Sadler, who has two wins, 10 top-five finishes and a series-best 23 top-10s. Any time you use the word playoff with any kind of fan, it brings a lot of attention and intensity to the sport.Even though we had to give up almost a 60-point lead, we understand that its really going to push us to the edge and the limit. The championship is definitely going to be well-earned.Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch won the July race at Kentucky from the pole but is focused on defending his title this weekend at New Hampshire. That leaves the 1.5-mile oval to Xfinity regulars in the playoffs only stand-alone race.Drivers seem especially eager to see what the repaved, reconfigured layout offers the second time around.Going back there, I have a better idea of what I need, said Ty Dillon, who has four top-seven runs in five Xfinity races at Kentucky. Old asphalt, new asphalt, it was always good to me. ' ' '