This time last week the UK was subjected to a heatwave that saw temperatures rise to 36C, this week we are back to the wind and rain that is more characteristic of an English "summer". Perhaps that's why I've chosen to share a more sombre and negative post tonight that rather than celebrating the best and brightest that sports has to offer looks instead at some of it's biggest flops and failures.
Jonathan Woodgate - Football
From ball boy at home club Middlesborough to big money signing for Real Madrid at the height of the galactico era, it was an incredible rise for England centre-back Jonathan Woodgate if not somewhat unexpected. He was actually injured when he completed his transfer to Real and so had to wait over a year before finally making his debut. They say good things come to those who wait, well if that is the case then Woodgate must be the exception that proves the rule. Coming on as a substitute Woodgate scored an absolute blinder of an own goal, a diving header that rifled into the back of the net. He then followed that up with a 2nd yellow card that meant a debut that was 561 days in the making ended within 40mins.
Woodgate would eventually go on to establish himself as a decent player at Real Madrid albeit that his career continued to blighted by injuries that would never see him fulfil his true potential at the highest level.
Yuji Ide - F1
It perhaps won't come as much of a surprise to learn that not just anyone is allowed to hop inside an F1 car and drive around a winding circuit at 200mph with 20+ other racers in close attendance. In order to drive for an F1 team a driver must earn and maintain an FIA super license. In the history of the sport not more than 500 individuals have held such a license and only 1 of them, Yuji Ide, has had it revoked. Ide was signed in 2006 by the Super Aguri, a new Japanese racing team run by a combination of Suzuki and Honda that was keen to show Japan's racing credentials. To this end, they signed 2 Japanese drivers including the relative unknown Ide.
Things didn't start well for Yuji Ide as he set by far the slowest qualifying times and failed to finish in the opening 3 GPs of the 2006 season. He had already developed a reputation as an erratic driver when in his 4th race in Imola things went from bad to worse. Ide who was surely by now sick of starting every race in dead last position decided to take matters into his own hands and attempted a bold overtaking manoeuvre on Dutchman Christijan Alber on the first lap. The move went spectacularly wrong as Ide slammed into the side of Alber's car sending it rolling over several times into the dirt. Albers was fortunately unhurt but the FIA had seen enough and took the unprecedented step of revoking the Japanese driver's license effectively ending his F1 career.
Audley Harrison - Boxing
Much was expected of Audley Harrison following his gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Buoyed by that success and public expectations, Harrison immediately went professional and signed a £1million deal with the BBC to show his first fights as a pro-boxer. However, the public quickly turned against Harrison as the opponents that he had chosen for himself included a private investigator, a night-club bouncer, a factory worker and a pub landlord. They weren't fair fights and despite posting a career record of 17-0 at one stage, Harrison had lost the backing of fans as well as the respect of many within the sport, leading to him gaining the nickname of "Fraudley".
Of course, when the big fights did finally come around Harrison was completely unprepared. He barely laid a glove on David Haye as he was booed in and out of the ring in a fight for the WBA Heavyweight title that he lost in 3 rounds. Having agreed to appear on celebrity dance show Strictly Come Dancing it looked as though the much-maligned Harrison would call it a day but in 2013 he returned to fight David Price in a contest for the British Heavyweight title. Harrison lasted just 80 seconds before Price knocked him out but worse was to come as he refused to retire and stepped into the ring against the undefeated Deontay Wilder who finished the fight by TKO in just 70 seconds.
Robert Dee - Tennis
Another athlete who was quite clearly out of his depth at the highest level but refused to acknowledge such a fact was young British tennis player Robert Dee. Between 2005 and 2007, Dee endured 54 straight-set defeats in a row on the ATP World Tour leading to multiple newspapers dubbing him 'The World's Worst Tennis Player'. However, Dee decided not take such an insult lying down and sent out letters to all media firms who had run with the title demanding that they apologise and pay him compensation for defamation of character and potential lost earnings. As a result, he received over 30 apologies as well as significant payouts which would have gone some way to covering the costs of maintaining his unsuccessful tour career.
Dee published the full list of apologies and compensation figures on his website
Dee finally broke his losing streak with a straight sets win over unranked 17-year-old Arzhang Derakshani. He would finish his ATP tour career in 2010 with an overall record of 4 wins and 67 defeats.
Ashton Turner - Cricket
A more recent addition to the list is Australia's Ashton Turner who managed to string together a series of 5 ducks in a row while playing T20 cricket earlier this year. After a couple of promising performances for the national team, Turner was being talked about as a possible candidate for a World Cup spot but that dream ended very quickly following this dramatic loss of form.
The run was made all the worse by the fact that his last 3 innings in that sequence which were also his first 3 career innings in the high profile Indian Premier League all ended as golden ducks. Perhaps unsurprisingly Turner was dropped from the next match but he did return later in the tournament to make blistering 3 not out from 7 balls and help RR over the line against SRH. That innings also helped him avoid bettering Ajit Agakar's record of 5 ducks in a row (Test Cricket).