World's Bendiest Woman

Julia Günthel aka Zlata has broken world records for her flexibility

For many of us, simply bending over to touch our toes can be a difficult. But it's not a problem for the world's bendiest woman Julia Günthel aka Zlata. In fact, if she wants to touch her toes she can actually do so by twisting her legs up to her head.
Russian-born Zlata can contort herself into the most extreme poses imaginable - and has broken numerous world records for her flexibility.
The former gymnast, who is 5ft 8in, is so flexible she can cram herself into a 50cm squared box.

She said: 'Doing these poses just feels very natural to me. Sometimes it can get a bit uncomfortable if I have to hold a pose for a long time in photo shoots. 'But I think that's like anyone who sits down for a long time - their muscles get stiff.' The 27-year-old is set to show off her ability at the upcoming International Contortion Convention in Germany, where she now lives. Performers, trainers and acrobats will meet in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne, for workshops, shows and various special events with Zlata billed as the star attraction. Zlata has been contorting herself since she was four years old. After discovering how much she loved twisting herself into odd shapes, she joined an after-school circus class before turning her talent into a career. 

She said: 'As soon as I started doing it I was addicted and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.' But it wasn't always so easy as a child as many of Zlata's peers were jealous of her ability. She explained: 'In Russia being flexible is a very good thing to be because everyone is really into gymnastics. Some of the other girls didn't like how good I was.' Zlata said she has to work out rigorously every day to stay in shape and maintain her flexibility. She added: 'I don't really diet but I have to train very hard to keep my muscles in shape and to be as flexible as possible.'

Ali Dai Christmas

Ali Daei (born March 21, 1969) is an Iranian retired striker currently Coach of Perspolis FC (Pirouzi FC) Tehran. He is most noted for being the all-time leading goal scorer in international matches.
Born in Ardabil, Iran, he played for his home team Esteghlal Ardabil when he was 19, missing out an a chance to play in the J-League due to military service. Although tactically speaking, Daei is not the greatest of all Iranian footballers, his fame is attributed mostly to his goal scoring. Due to Iran’s tournament schedule, he has played very few matches for his clubs, yet he has managed to score frequently. He is one of the greatest strikers in the history of football and is ranked second in most goals in international matches. He is considered to be the finest striker in the history of the Asian game. In the 1998 World Cup Qualifying round, he was top on the charts scoring 38 goals in 56 matches. Including his famous 4 goal haul against the Korean Republic and 8 goals against Maldives Islands. His experience with world-class FC’s opened the way for other Asian players such as Nakata and Mehdi Mahdavikia. Daei was named the world’s top scorer in official international competitions by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), having scored 20 goals in competitive matches for Iran in 1996.

After playing for minor league teams: Taxirani and Bank Tejarat, he joined one of the countries greatest Premier squads Persepolis (Pirouzi). As Armenia Bielefeld joined the Bundesliga they signed a contract with Daei and his teammate Karim Bagheri. Many other Persepolis players made contracts with several different foreign clubs at the same time, yet Daei proved to be a very successful franchise. Daei was hand picked for the Bayern Munich club by legendary footballer Franz Beckenbauer, president of the club, who rated him as a world-class centre-forward (although he usually plays as striker). He made a famous four million deutschemark move from Arminia Bielefeld to the four-time European Cup winners, which was a record for Asian players at the time.

Daei became the first Asian player to feature in a Champions League match. Yet with Bayern’s 15 international players and the Iranian national team’s poor scheduling, Daei had found very little time for playing. In Germany he was known to be a true gentleman, famous for the way he treated the fans. Daei would always sign autographs to Bayern fans and was often the centre of attention, he was featured in OPEL car commercials. Amazingly he usually did manage to score when given a chance to play. Still Ali Daei was unhappy with his position in the club and decided to make a move to Hertha BSC before the end of his three year contract after Bayern won the 1999 Bundesliga. He played in the Champions League with Hertha Berlin becoming the teams best scorer in the league with 3 goals. His famous match against Chelsea gained him a lot of recognition, yet even in Hertha he was not the talk of the town, since he was only amongst one of the squad’s many successful franchises, who were to fulfill Hertha’s Bundesliga and Champions League dreams.

Dizin

The Dizin ski complex is the first ski and winter sport resort in Iran which has been officially recognized and granted the title by the International Ski Federation for its capability in administrating official and international competitions.
It gained its official title for its specific physical and technical features such as the course slope, length of the course and the place where the competitions and races are to be held, as well as amenities and other recreational facilities.
Dizin is situated on the mountains of Alborz and is 45 miles of Tehran and 50 miles of Karaj, Iran.
The installation of ski-lifts at Dizin dates back to 1348 (Iran calendar which equates to 1969) which include three telecabins, two ski-lifts, seven dish tele-skis and one Hammer tele-ski, the lowest point of the region is 2650m, while its highest point is 3600m, (which equates to 11,811 feet above the sea level.)
Dizin climatological condition offers the longest time for skiing, normally begins in November and typically runs through the end of May. Dizin ski amenities included two hotels, 19 cottages and 5 restaurants, The ski activity in Dizin complex is not confined to winter season. There are many other spring, summer and fall activities.
There are also other facilities such as tennis courts, mountain climbing, mountain biking. Ski instruction courses are offered. At the present, the Dizin ski region is administered by Iran ski federation.
The snow quality at Dizin is fantastic powder and rivals that of many European and Rocky Mountain snow areas. Dizin is just 43 miles north of the capital city of Tehran, Iran. It was first opened under the reign of the Shah of Iran in 1969.

Iranian team

Iranian men’s national volleyball team has been defeated by host Poland in the second round of the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.
On Saturday, the Poles hit the Iranian squad 3-2 in a neck-to-neck Pool E match at Atlas Arena in the central city of Lódz, the third-largest in Poland.
The Iranian volleyball team lost the first two sets 17-25 and 16-25 but came from behind to grab the next two sets 26–24 and 25–19 for the encounter to come to a draw.
The polish volleyball team demonstrated a better performance in the fifth set and managed to win it 16-14. Poland’s Wlazly Mariusz was chosen as the best player of his team by gaining 28 points and Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi was named the most influential player of the Iranian side by grabbing 15 points.
Iran blanked Argentina 3-0 (25–15, 25–23, 25–16) in its previous match in the tourney on Thursday.
Iran, which has 12 points, is currently in the fourth spot of Pool E below France (16 points), Poland (14 points), and the United States (13 points) and is followed by Serbia (9 points), Argentina (6 points), Italy (2 points) and Australia (zero point).
The Iranian volleyballers will take on Serbia in their next match of the championship at Atlas Arena on Sunday.

Vollyball

Iran played brilliantly and defeated its rival in three consecutive sets. (25-17, 25-22 and 25-14)
Iran had already raised from its pool after it had gained 8 points from its previous 4 games.
With the 3 points from this win against Puerto Rico, Iran totally gathered 11 points to become the second team in its Pool following France which has 12 points.
The Iranian team has been pitted against Italy, the US, Belgium, France and Puerto Rico in Pool D of the championship.
Iran and Puerto Rico will meet for the first time at the world championship and at a major tournament.
Iran clinched their first win against a NORCECA side at the world championship when they beat USA 3-2 on 2 September. They had lost their previous three matches.
Puerto Rico have won one of their five world championship matches against Asian teams, against China in 2006.
Iran can win three matches in a row at the world championship for the second time, after three in 1970.
The 1970 edition was also the only previous championship in which Iran managed to win four matches. They can collect their fourth win of the 2014 edition by beating Puerto Rico.
Iran have won only two of their 26 matches in straight sets. The last time was against Venezuela in 1970.
Puerto Rico ended their six-match losing streak with a win against Italy and they can now win two matches in a row for the first time since 2010, right before that six-match losing run began.
The two wins in 2010 is also the only time Puerto Rico won two matches at a single WCh.
Puerto Rico's win vs Italy was also the first time Puerto Rico won a set at these championship. Their previous set win came in a 3-1 defeat against Italy in 2010.

Blame

The leaking of hundreds of files cast new doubt on the security of popular online storage sites Monday as investigators probed for explanations of the high-profile breach.
Privacy experts joined publicists in denouncing the leaks, which flooded Web sites over the weekend with images of more than a half-dozen A-list actresses and performers.
The breach — regarded as one of the most wide-ranging involving celebrities — has spurred concerns about the security of photographs, videos and documents that millions of Americans store in popular Internet “cloud” accounts.
some photographs allegedly were obtained from a personal iCloud account, a service operated by Apple and often used to automatically store photos taken by a user’s mobile phone.
“This is a flagrant violation of privacy,” a spokeswoman said in a statement that threatened to seek prosecution not only of the hacker, but also for anyone who redistributed the photographs.
The FBI said Monday that it was looking into the leaks. An Apple spokesman said the company was “actively investigating” apparent breaches of some of its iCloud accounts, but the company did not identify which accounts may have been compromised.
“We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,” Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris told the technology Web site Recode.

Danish Player

Earlier this month, Williams was inadvertently drawn into a controversy when former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark imitated her at an exhibition in Brazil.
Wozniacki made fun of Williams' ample build by stuffing towels into her top and skirt.
Video footage went viral. Social media reactions were swift and sometimes ugly. Whoopi Goldberg brought it up on the TV program The View.
Innocent or not, some saw it as racist. How does Williams feel?
In an e-mail, the 15-time major winner said she saw no ill intent from Wozniacki "I know Caro and I would call her my friend and I don't think she (meant) anything racist by it," she wrote from the island of Mauritius off the coast of Africa, where she is training in preparation for the Australia swing.
Williams has been parodied equally irreverently by the likes of Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic. Some might see that as less offensive, since they don't directly compete across the net.
Others might see it as worse — men performing acts that could be interpreted as both sexist and racist.
Williams herself has poked fun at her physique, calling herself "bootylicious" and referring to her extra "assets."
She and Wozniacki likewise have a history — a friendly one.
The Dane was one of the few players to visit Williams in 2011 following her surgery for a hematoma in her stomach. The two have traded advice on everything from jewelry to boyfriends.

Williams explained that she hadn't seen the widely viewed video clip and didn't understand why it suddenly took on racist tones when others had done it before.
"(Roddick) and (Djokovic) do it all the time and Caro does (it) and now it's racist.??" she wrote.