Category Archives: Transhuman News

For over 20 years of his career, Justin Gatlin focused all his attention towards the end of a 100m sprint. He was the Olympic champion in Athens 2004, but his storied career had no dearth of controversy, as he was twice banned for doping.

He returned to his sport after completing his ban, continued to blaze through the tracks, but often fell short to a tall Jamaican sprinter called Usain Bolt who had emerged when Gatlin was away.

Yet looking back at his career, the 40-year-old, speaking virtually to Scroll.in from Bangalore where he is the ambassador for the World TCS 10K, asserted that he had no regrets and is looking fondly towards his future endeavours.

And you cant blame the American, who has won five Olympic medals (a gold, two silver and two bronze) and 10 World Championship medals (four gold and six silver), for feeling that way. He has lived through the greatest highs his sport has to offer and endured the harshest lows.

His illustrious career well describes the longevity hes enjoyed, but now that he has hung up his spikes he announced his retirement earlier this year hes ready to find another path. One that goes beyond 100 metres.

Excerpts from the interview with Scroll.in:

A few months ago you announced on social media that you were retiring. After such a long journey, why now?

I didnt want to stay in a sport feeling I was trying to squeeze water out of a rock. I wanted to be able to leave on my own accord, be able to say, my career is done, and I want to end on my own terms.

I thought it was the right move to make especially going into 2022-2023. I was already hitting 40 years. I felt great, but I think it was a time for me to move in a different direction in my life and find other passions too.

When the Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to the pandemic, was it a struggle for you to stay on with the grind for another year, prolonging the career?

Not necessarily because I had the opportunity to be able to be at multiple Olympics. I understood what it meant to be at an Olympics, I understood what it meant to win a gold medal. For me, it wasnt the pressure of the Olympics getting pushed back a year, its just a fact that I tried, I went out there and pushed as hard as I could. I had a hamstring injury going into the finals, I just couldnt make it. If I could, Id have gone out there and ran till 2023 if necessary, but it was that time for me to be able to leave the sport on my terms, and find other passions and other journeys.

Have you adjusted to retirement life? What was it like the morning after you announced your retirement knowing you dont have to go through the grind again?

I retired at the end of the season, so for me it felt like I was even till now, it feels like Im on vacation. It hasnt hit me yet that Im really not competing anymore. It feels like Ive been out of the sport for a year but I retired in February, so its only been a few months.

Im still excited about new paths, new journeys. Its brought me to India. If I was still competing, it wouldnt be feasible for me because Id be competing, in training, getting ready, the coach would be yelling at me to train more

Right now Im happy with the choice that Ive made.

What are some of the things youre looking forward to now?

Theres not a list yet, but just finding a new passion, a new adventure. Ive been doing this (sprinting) for over 20 years now, my whole adult life. I feel like Im not whole as a person because Im leaving something on the table. But I feel excited because now I can go out with friends, have fun, drink, party, not worry about standing on my legs for too long, I can go out for a walk. These are all the things you have to take into consideration when youre an elite athlete how long you stand on your feet, how much alcohol you intake, how long you stay up without getting the right amount of rest.

Now I can be able to do whatever I like to do and enjoy it. Thats going to spark some inspiration in me to find another path.

You were a part of the generation of sprinting superstars Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt. Now that everyone has retired, it seems like you all leave a void in the sprint event. Do you see it as well? Do you see another big rivalry coming up among the younger athletes?

I dont see a rivalry just yet because I think that the athletes are jockeying for position to be the elite athlete the top dog. Theyre all trying to find themselves right now. But the exciting part is you have a handful of athletes all running the same time. It makes races more exciting. You have to tune in to watch to see who is going to win. Thats something in the last couple of years, when there was me, Usain, Yohan, Asafa theres only a couple of athletes that you know is going to win the race. Now you have to watch to see who is going to win, thats whats exciting to me.

Yohan Blake had said years ago that he was born in the wrong generation. You too would have been frustrated because youre working hard, breaking the 10-second barrier, and still coming out second best to Usain Bolt.

I dont think I was born in the wrong generation. I think Im the bridge that connects generations because I raced against Maurice Green, I raced against Usain, I raced against Christian Coleman and the young guys racing now. Ive had a long stretched out career and it helped me look at track and field from a different angle and be able to say okay, this is how I need to evolve.

Along the way its given me more perspective and I have more respect for the craft now.

Outside the track, like you said you competed across generations, did you feel like the old man when you interacted with the newer generation of athletes?

You know what, I will probably say Im the poster child of being the old man in the group even though Tyson is only a couple of months younger than me. I think the fact that longevity Ive had at being at the top of my game for so long makes me the old man of the group, and I have more grey hair than the rest of them. But I take on the challenge and my mind and body is fit, I dont take age as a limitation.

With technology improving so much over the years, weve seen the new shoes being designed to shave off minutes in marathon timings. Has that made inroads in sprinting as well, and does it take away from the human element and make athletes more reliant on the technology?

I think the human element is evolving. Thats where we are as humans. Were learning from the past and trying to make the future better. With technology, I think thats the way to go. Nobody complains about faster tracks, nobody complains about better gear to wear its lighter and more streamlined. The technology for the shoes is helping athletes become more consistent across the board. I think that puts on a greater show.

Do I credit the shoe making them faster, not necessarily. But it gives them more consistency.

As the technology keeps on improving, 10 years down the line, do you think people will forget about how hard it was in your time with, say, inferior equipment?

I think well always look back and appreciate the ones that came before. I look back at Jesse Owens, who pretty much ran on cinder. He was still running very fast. He was using a small scoop or shovel to dig in the sand, he didnt have starting blocks. Being able to come from that era to the era that I was running in, is amazing to me. So the athletes in the future are going to look back and say to me, wow, you ran on rubber? You used starting blocks? Thats crazy.

Technology is always going to be the gateway for the sport to be successful.

India recently won its first gold medal in athletics at the Olympics. Do you feel that World Athletics is hoping for India to start getting bigger and better in the sport?

Absolutely. I have a lot of fans and supporters, young athletes from India who I talk to on social media who I try to give tips and inspiration. In the next couple of years youre going to see a surge of athletes coming out of India who are going to say, if its to be, why not me. Why cant I go out there and become the next best from not just my country, but the world.

Its going to take a lot, its going to take those trailblazers to take the hard path to be successful, but its going to open up the doors to the young athletes who are going to come after that.

There were some dark phases through your career when you were banned. How did you get through those, what kept pushing you?

It was a long road. I took it day by day. Day by day for four years is a long time. For me, it was discovering myself. When I was in the sport, it was a dream come true. It was a checklist Olympic gold medallist, double world champion, world record holder. And then boom, it just stopped.

I had to find who I was and at the age that I was at, I discovered that I was still a young man. As I came back to the sport I had a different perspective. When I came back I knew I had to hone in on my craft and I didnt have any time to lose because now I had to be able to work going into my 40s.

And I feel I was more successful in the second half of my career than the first part.

Because of the scandals that have taken place, is there a trust deficit in sprinting where people look at every achievement with some skepticism?

I just think its in every sport. Some sports handle it internally and some put it out in the media. I think itll always be there, thats how you keep the checks and balances of sports. At the end of the day the sport will be the sport, itll still have athletes, the fans, the young kids who want to be the next great athletes. I dont think those setbacks will determine how successful the sport will be.

Christian Coleman too had been banned from competing at the Tokyo Olympics. How does he come back from that?

He gets back on his feet by betting on himself. He knows his capabilities, he knows how successful he can be, how hard hes worked. For him its about putting that on the line. He needs to go out there and show himself and the world that he deserves to be on top of that podium. Work and discipline will show that.

With your vast experience as a sprinter, do you feel that one day youll go into coaching?

Im not going to say no to it. But to be a great coach, and in my world I strive for greatness, you have to give a piece of yourself to the athlete. What I mean by that is, youre dedicating your time and your life everyday. Youre getting up everyday as your athlete, youre going to the track everyday with your athlete. So when they win, youre happy. When they dont, youre sad because theyre sad.

Do I feel that Im in the right place emotionally and mentally to be there right now? No, maybe Ill get there in a year or two. But I find that its drawing me. When I talk to young athletes, I find myself already coaching them. Hopefully in the near future youll see me with a stopwatch in my hand.

Is there something you still miss about the grind of being an athlete?

I can tell you what I dont miss. I dont miss being sore. I dont miss being injured. I dont miss being under the hot sun, training till the point of exhaustion. What I will miss is the competition, the travelling, the culture, seeing different places, seeing my fans. Those are things Im still going to try and connect in my new journey. I want to be able to reach out and connect with my fans, and hopefully still inspire them.

In Bangalore now, youre the ambassador for a 10km event, and you were a 100m sprinter. How different does that feel?

Its a huge difference. The only way I can contribute physically is, Ill line up at the 100m mark before the finish line, Ill run the rest of the race in.

But it doesnt really matter the distance. Its about the effort, the cause. I know there are so many people out here running not just for themselves, but for a cause, and thats important.

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Justin Gatlin interview: I dont think I was born in the wrong generation - Scroll.in

Jennifer Garners character in 13 Going on 30 Jenna Rink wishes she could age more quickly. The ills of being a teenager and navigating social structures in the late-'80s are too heavy to handle and, through the power of wishful thinking and some magic dust, she gets her wish. Being 30 without the knowledge of the intervening years, however, isnt easy either. Eventually Jenna finds herself wanting to be a kid again.

Thats something many of us can probably relate to. When youre young you wish you were older, and when youre old you wish you could reclaim your youth. The secret, it turns out, isnt magic wishing dust but poop. More specifically, its the microbiota found in your digestive system.

Aime Parker from the Gut Microbes and Health Research Programme at the Quadram Institute, and colleagues, recently completed a study looking at the impacts of microbiota transplants in mice. In short, they took fecal materials from young mice and transplanted them into old mice, and vice versa, to see how their physiology was impacted. Their results were published in the journal Microbiome.

We did a transplant of fecal slurry thats spun down resulting in essentially fecal water. Its got most of the bacteria in there, as well as viruses and fungi, which we didnt specifically look at, Parker told SYFY WIRE.

The study was relatively short-lived, lasting only a few weeks, but researchers saw significant changes in the mice who received treatment. Older mice who received gut microbiota from younger counterparts experienced reversal of several age-associated deteriorations, including cognitive function and changes to the retina. In young mice who received transplants from older mice, the reverse relationship was observed. The mechanisms by which specific microbes impact the body at large arent fully understood, but researchers have a decent idea of whats happening.

Some microbe species tend to be associated with lowering inflammation or lowering obesity. They have a reputation of being the good guys. We also saw a reduction in the old mice in some microbe species which are considered pathogenic or detrimental, Parker said.

Moreover, its increasingly understood that the gut microbiome maintains open lines of communication with the brain, by way of a vast network of neurons traveling from the gut to the brain. Some microbes are capable of manufacturing neurotransmitter homologues which activate nerves in the gut before making their way throughout the body and to the brain, which is just one way microbes communicate with the rest of the body across vast biological distances.

Another potential mechanism involves metabolites the microbes produce or other microbial products which contain proteins or RNA that later get into the bloodstream, as well as impacts on the immune system driving or reducing inflammation, all of which can contribute to the collective experience of aging.

Because the study only lasted a few weeks, it isnt certain that fecal microbiota transplants have a longstanding impact on longevity, but previous studies in other animal models suggests it could. What is clear is that, at least in mice, swapping out the microbiome can extend health, if not actual lifespan.

We wanted to know if we can keep animals and ultimately people healthier for longer. Maintaining better eyesight for even a couple of extra years would be hugely beneficial, Parker said.

The research isnt yet ready for human clinical trials but human gut microbiota changes as we age, similarly to whats seen in mice. The types of microbes and their diversity decreases as we age and certain neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimers and Parkinsons exhibit different microbiota compositions than healthy controls. As uncomfortable as they might sound, fecal microbiota transplants could improve the quality of life and potentially the duration of life, if these effects are borne out in humans.

I would say, with an abundance of caution, that I wouldnt recommend anyone runs out, grabs a young person, and makes a fecal smoothie, but its not completely unreasonable to think it might be effective. We just dont know yet, Parker said.

In fact, if were patient, we might be able to avoid the microbiota transplant altogether. Researchers are hoping to identify the specific species of bacteria and the mechanisms at work in hopes of culturing just those species or developing drugs or therapies which would have the same effect.

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The secret to long life or early aging is poop? - Syfy

By Express News Service

Develop a growth mindset

It teaches the brain to prioritise learning and, hence keeps it alive. It motivates you to know more and be better.

Acceptance

Much of the turbulence of life is a result of resistance. Learn to accept, which means simply allowing for things to be the way they are. Oftentimes, people mistakeacceptance for agreement. Acceptance is not about right or wrong. It is about not resisting.

Breakfastis a must

We have heard this umpteen times. Breakfast boosts brainpower. It kick-starts metabolism and provides energy. Having breakfast reduces the risk of several illnesses.

Coffee

Author Dan Buettner, who has researched longevity hotspots of the world such as Loma Linda, California; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece and others, finds that people in these areas immerse themselves in the smaller things of life such as enjoying their morning cup of coffee. Doing so, adds years to your life.

Spend time with people

Human connections build and maintain health. Having a community of people you love and trust provides emotional care. It improves the immune system too.

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Live Long and Healthy - The New Indian Express

Wain, a wombat living in Satsukiyama Zoo in Japan, is now recognized as the oldest wombat in captivity ever.

This cute creature was rescued from his mothers pouch after a car accident in November 1989.

As of 31 January 2022, Wains age is 32 years and 86 days that is the human equivalent of over 100 years!

Ikeda City, where Satsukiyama Zoo is located, is a sister city of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

In 1990, Wain (along with two other wombats, Wonder and Tia) came to Satsukiyama Zoo as one of three goodwill ambassadors to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the two cities' sister city relationship.

The average age of wombats in the wild is around five years; this is extended to about 20 years in captivity. According to a staff Satsukiyama Zoo, Wains longevity is phenomenal.

"Although he was seen by a vet in the past a couple of times, he never got sick in the past few years. We dont know why this is, but this nature-filled and quiet environment this zoo has may have something to do with it."

Typically, Wain wakes up when a staff member opens the door, eats breakfast, walks around the field, and then naps under the sun.

He gets up again for a walk in the evening as well. He has a habit of walking around in an anticlockwise direction. The staff says Wain is very likable, coming to see the staff when they are around.

Wain eats twice a day: in the morning, he has some grass and sweet potatoes, and in the evening, he eats grass, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and apples.

Although Wain eats well, he is apparently not a big fan of carrots!

Even though he is in great health, the staff at Satsukiyama Zoo considers Wain's age.

They have already gotten rid of steps, so Wain doesnt need to climb them, and vegetables are cut into smaller pieces, so it's easier for Wain to eat.

The staff at Satsukiyama Zoo are delighted with Wains achievement.

"Wain got a lot of attention after receiving the official certificate, and we received congratulatory notes from zoos across the country. We also have more visitors to the zoo. All this tells us that Wain has achieved something extraordinary."

"Once Wain arrived at our zoo, he was part of the first successful breeding in Japan. And now, he is a Guinness World Records holder. Although Satsukiyama Zoo is the second smallest zoo in Japan, we have become a place known worldwide. Because we are a small zoo, we can look after each animal with meticulous care. We want people to come to visit our vital animals as many times as they like and it's free entry!"

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Meet the oldest wombat in the world, Wain, aged 32 - Guinness World Records

Guy Perelmuter is a Computer Engineer with a Masters in Electrical Engineering. He is also a deep tech investor through his venture capital firm, GRIDS Capital.

Below, Guy shares 5 key insights from his new book, Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution. Listen to the audio versionread by Guy himselfin the Next Big Idea App.

We should overthrow this myth that we are living in a period of change. The entire history of civilization is all about changeand, more than that, about technological change. This is what defines us as a species, and propels us forward. Change is coming faster and faster, and will likely accelerate even more.

It is not as if this is something new in our history. Progress is a relentless part of human nature. There are many technologies that will shape our world for decades to come and, because of the lightning-fast pace of their adoption, there seems to be confusion about what these technologies are and how they work.

Present Future is for anyone interested in understanding the technologies that are shaping industries, governments, and societies around the world. From a high school student to a PhD, from a trainee to a CEO, from a journalist to an engineer, from a lawyer to an athleteanyone with an interest in whats going on, how we got here, and where this path will likely take us.

What is remarkable about current technological changes is that they sit at the intersection of a set of extraordinary advances: faster microprocessors, cheaper digital storage, ubiquitous access to information, efficient algorithms, and an increasingly better understanding of the laws of nature. These ingredients, decades in the making, are key enablers of the Deep Tech Revolution.

Deep tech is where science meets technology. Its where PhDs and subject matter experts can apply their knowledge and transform it from intellectual achievements into systems, devices, prototypes, products, and methodologies. Deep tech companies are effectively building the future of the world economy, one technology at a time: robotics, biotech, nanotech, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, energy, aerospace, agrotechthe list goes on and on.

Did you know that by the end of the 19th century, electric cars accounted for one-third of the cars on US roads? Or that streaming has been around since the 1920s?

History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes, said Mark Twain, explaining how we can use the past to try anticipating the future. If we can look to the past to see our future, then we will witness extraordinary changes over the next few decades. From law to engineering, medicine to journalism, entertainment to manufacturing, economics to educationno field of knowledge will be immune to transformations in processes, models, implementations, methods, and results. The future has always been present in our lives, because pretty much everything we live with today was once a part of someone elses vision of tomorrow. Even more new jobs, careers, companies, and empires will be created. Others will disappear or evolve into something completely different. The rate at which the world is going to experience these transformations is accelerating rapidly.

What will these new technologies be? How will they impact our lives, jobs, and homes? How are governments, brands, industries, and services going to react? How can we leverage the opportunities that will present themselves and avoid obsolescence? The challenges we will face in this rapidly changing world are enormous, and no industry will get through this evolution without significant changes.

Will technology improve or impair employment prospects? Throughout the history of civilization, new technologies have precipitated a range of responses in the workplace. When modern economic science was born, a practically answerless debate also began: does technological unemployment (the shortage of jobs caused by the substitution of human labor by machines) exist? Up to now, innovation has been the catalyst for so-called creative destruction, that is, jobs are not eliminated, but rather transferred to other sectorsfor example, from the agricultural sector to the services sector.

The onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has intensified the discussion around technological unemployment, given that a broad set of new technologies have simultaneously reached many industries. The mechanization and modernization of agricultural activity sent a significant portion of the labor force from the fields to the citiesless than one-third of the worlds labor force is in the fields, and in developed countries this figure is less than 5 percent.

New technologies are enabling ideas once confined to science fiction to gradually build a more present future: integration between artificial and biological systems, learning techniques for communication between machines and their parts, and the extension of physical reality into virtual reality. The unprecedented speed and depth of this revolution stems from an auspicious confluence of factors: the increase in computer systems processing power, the falling cost of data storage units, the decreased size of equipment and sensors, and the evolution of algorithms.

I try to focus on advances that are created to address inevitabilities, such as longer life spans, population growth, increasing energy demand, and ever more complex systems. Understanding how these technologies work and their remarkable origins is critical to fully appreciate their impacts on our futures, making sure their social and environmental impacts are not lost on us.

Take energy, for example. With our growing dependence on technology, the efficient use of energy and the development of equipment to produce, store, and distribute it are critical. Ever since the First Industrial Revolution (which began in the mid-1700s with the popularization of the steam engine) society has been increasing its demand for energy, thus raising pollution levels. Studies carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have indicated a rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on the order of 40 percent over the past 250 years, mostly owing to the combustion of fossil fuels. That is one of the primary causes of the greenhouse effect, which has been increasing the planets temperature with potentially devastating effects on biodiversity and the very future of humanity.

Another great example is longevity. The organisms decay process has come to be seen as a disease itself. Rising life expectancies move trillions of dollars in research, diagnosis, medical procedures, and medicine. Longevity has taken up a prominent position in research centers, universities, and privately held companies. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in 2050 nearly 16 percent of the worlds population (about 1.5 billion people) will be 65 or older, compared with only 8 percent (525 million people) in 2010. Irrespective of country, social class, or sex, we are living longer.

Finally, consider that, according to the United Nations, the world population rose from under a billion in 1800 to 7.7 billion in 2019, while the percentage of the population living in urban settings rose from 3 percent to 55 percent. Population growth in urban centers as well as behavioral changes in society, including heightened environmental awareness and new ways of using goods, are systematically increasing demands for transformations. The nonprofit organization Population Reference Bureau estimates that by 2050 the percentage of the worlds population living in cities will grow to nearly 70 percent, with this figure reaching 75 percent in developed countries. This means a migration toward cities of nearly 1.5 billion peoplethats 50 million people per year, roughly the population of Colombia or South Korea.

Changes happen constantly, before our eyes. We dont notice the growth of our children because we see them every day, but it only takes someone who doesnt see us regularly to say, Theyve grown so much! and we are reminded of the relentless march of time. It is essential that we maintain a critical perspective and keep an eye on the developments of the exponential changes underway. These are essential abilities for us humans, who are surrounded by our own worksthe fruit of hundreds of generations of creators, dreamers, and inventors. The future is not only present. It is a present. Use it wisely.

To listen to the audio version read by author Guy Perelmuter, download the Next Big Idea App today:

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Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution - Next Big Idea Club Magazine

Australian crickets cup of grief is overflowing. The latest shocking news was former all-rounder Andrew Symondss death on Saturday night after the car he was driving crashed in Queensland. He was 46 and is survived by his wife and two young children.

Australian media quoted a police statement to say that the car went off the road around 11pm and rolled. Emergency services attempted to revive the 46-year-old driver and sole occupant. However, he died of his injuries.

Symonds played 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 14 T20Is in an eleven-year career from 1998 to 2009. Born in Birmingham, he spurned the chance to play for England and picked Australia. His numbers could have been much more, but the free-spirited player was about impact, not longevity. And he often fell afoul of cricket officialdom, ending his Australia career early.

Also Read | Harbhajan Singh remembers good friend Andrew Symonds: He was someone who I could call at 2:30 in the morning

But the man nicknamed Roy wasnt just about numbers. He was an assurance like few others, as Ricky Ponting, who led him to two ODI World Cups in 2003 and 2007, and Adam Gilchrist, who featured in both those triumphs and many more, tweeted.

If Roy shook your hand, you had his word, thats the sort of bloke he was and thats why I always wanted him on my team, Ponting, coaching Delhi Capitals in IPL, tweeted in his tribute. Gilchrist wrote: Think of your most loyal, fun, loving friend who would do anything for you. Thats Roy.

Cricket Australia described him thus: The Queenslander was a larger-than-life figure who drew a widespread fan base during his peak years for not only his hard-hitting ways but his larrikin persona.

Australian cricket has lost a third important member of its fraternity in the last couple of months. Wicket-keeping great Rod Marsh, 74, died following a heart attack in Adelaide on March 4, and within hours came the shocking news of spin legend Shane Warnes death in a Thailand resort aged just 52. Its ODI stalwart in an era in-between, Dean Jones, 59, had died in September 2020 after a massive stroke suffered in a Mumbai hotel while doing TV duties.

Symonds was a key member of Australias great sides, especially ODIs, in the 2000s. It featured Warne, Matthew Hayden, Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Gilchrist and Michael Clarke. Symondss powerful batting in the middle-order, electric fielding and a bullet throwing arm, and brisk medium-pace and off-spin all made him a great package.

Also Read | Witness reveals desperate efforts to save Andrew Symonds' life after car crash: 'My partner tried to get him out of car'

His frequent run-ins with cricket bosses meant a slow start to his Australia career. Until he announced himself on the biggest of stagesthe 2003 World Cup in southern Africa where holders Australia, reeling from Warnes doping suspension, were 86/4 against Pakistan at Johannesburg in their opening game.

Symonds, never one for caution, came in at No 6 and settled the game by smashing 143* off 123 balls. Australia finished on 310/8, and won by 82 runs. His 2007 World Cup began midway after a wrist injury, caused by putting too much into a shot. He finished on the triumphant side at Kensington, Barbados.

His defining Test innings was a racy 156 in the Boxing Day Ashes Test against England in 2006-07. He bettered that with a career-best 162 in Sydney against India in 2007-08, but the home teams win came amid acrimony. Umpire Steve Bucknor turned down a caught behind appeal early in Symondss knock with Australia in trouble. Beyond umpiring controversies, the Test will forever be remembered for the charge brought against Harbhajan Singh that he racially abused Symonds by calling him a monkey.

Harbhajan was initially handed a ban by ICC match referee Mike Proctor. But amid Harbhajans denial, Indias threat to walk off the tour if the racism tag stayed, and skipper Anil Kumble announcing that only one team had played in the spirit of the game, the player was let off with a hefty fine for using abusive language.

The two players patched when IPL was launched, with Symonds bought by now defunct Deccan Chargers for $1.35 million. He played four seasons in the league, the final season, 2011, in Mumbai Indians with Sachin Tendulkar.

Symondss Australia career rapidly declined. In 2005, he was suspended for turning up drunk ahead of the shock ODI loss to Bangladesh at Cardiff. He then chose to go fishing instead of attending a team meeting ahead of a home series against Bangladesh. He eventually left the team after a suspension for breaking team drinking rules ahead of the 2009 T20 World Cup. It painted a picture of someone tough to control, but left one wondering if he was fully understood and whether it had to do with the Australia team culture.

In IPL, he scored 974 runs at a strike rate of 129.87 with one century and five fifties. After three seasons with the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Symonds joined MI in 2011, playing 11 games and featuring in their Champions League win in 2011/12.

N Ananthanarayanan has spent almost three decades with news agencies and newspapers, reporting domestic and international sport. He has a passion for writing on cricket and athletics....view detail

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Andrew Symonds, the free-spirited Aussie all-rounder, dies in car crash - Hindustan Times