In Rocky's footsteps

Ever since the first Rocky film, fans have been running up the most famous steps in America in homage to their boxing hero. And their stories are just as inspirational as that of their idol, Sarfraz Manzoor discovers

Tuesday January 23, 2007 The Guardian

Mehdi Jabrane had dreamed of making the pilgrimage. Born to a Moroccan Muslim father with a drink problem and a French Catholic mother, 25-year-old Jabrane grew up in France in a housing project for immigrant workers. His parents divorced when he was 16. "Because I never used to talk with my father," he says, "I always tried unconsciously to find a paternal figure."

And then one night this lost soul saw the film Rocky. "I was shocked," he says, "because a guy from nowhere made an incredible thing, becoming the world champion, a thing he never dreamed because it was so far from his reality." Jabrane became obsessed with the film and one scene in particular: the boxing hero running up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Jabrane knew he had to run the steps himself. In 1998, after four months mopping floors, he had the money to fly to the US and emulate his idol. Freshly inspired, he returned home and began to turn his life around. The high school dropout got a degree and a job with a pharmaceutical firm. These days, whenever the motivation slips he returns to Philadelphia to run the Rocky steps. "I feel great, untouchable, proud," he says.

Jabrane is not the only Rocky disciple to make the pilgrimage. Fans have been re-enacting the famous scene ever since the release of the original, Oscar-winning Rocky film back in 1976. Michael Vitez, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has seen them almost every day of the 22 years he has been in the city. "Everybody who lives here sees people do this," he says. "It always struck me how happy they are when they reach the top. I knew in my gut that I would find great stories there."

Vitez was so intrigued by who these people were and what compelled them to make the journey to Philadelphia that he and photographer Tom Gralish spent a year outside the Museum of Art listening to their stories. "We were purists," Vitez says. "We didn't want to interfere with their experience. I called it following the Star Trek Non-Interference Directive. I didn't want to interfere with the Rocky moment until it was over. We'd just hang and wait and then we'd approach them."

Fifty-two of Vitez's interviews have now been brought together in a new book, Rocky Stories.

During the end sequence of the new Rocky film, Rocky Balboa, Stallone acknowledges the power of that myth. As the credits roll we see footage of ordinary men, women and children running up the steps - among them Vitez and Gralish.

Send us your Rocky Footage and be featured on isporty TV!

Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps, by Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish, is published by Paul Dry Books, price £11.90.

Celebrity fit club

They are some of the best-selling DVDs on the market, but beyond the vaguely famous faces and the thumping music, are celebrity home fitness regimes actually any good? The Guardian's writers to put them to the test.

Latinasize with Lilia Kopylova from Strictly Come Dancing, £17.99

Lilia promises that if you do her exercises you will "lose weight without realising it" so that you can wear "all those dresses with all those stones on them". It's an incentive. What follows, though, is a miserable experience. We begin with the least rigorous warm-up imaginable followed by 10 minutes each of salsa, rumba, cha-cha, samba and jive. It is very dull and my heart rate went up only briefly, doing the jive, which appeared to be the only dance that Lilia enjoyed. Lilia has no connection with the background dancers and there is no banter, just awkwardness. And the camera manages to cut away from her whenever she does a complicated step, so it is tricky to follow. If you love the TV programme, or want to learn basic steps, you might like a look. But if you want to get fit, have a dance down the disco instead. Katharine Viner

For more reviews click here

Snow Land to for 14 winter sports to be built in East Anglia

Opposition mounts to plan for £350m ski dome housing 14 winter sports

It has been called Center Parcs on Ice; the 21st century solution to winter sports in the era of global warming amid dire predictions that climate change will spell doom for many traditional ski resorts. But a giant indoor complex in the heart of East Anglia, complete with specially manufactured snow, is not pleasing everyone.

SnOasis, a £350m project to create a snow dome in Suffolk, would include the world's largest indoor ski slope and facilities for 14 different winter sports. Read the full article here.

Briton claims 3,600-mile world record

British skateboarder David Cornthwaite yesterday claimed the world skateboarding record after completing a five-month, 3,618-mile journey across Australia. The previous record, of 3,001 miles, was set by US skater, Jack Smith, in 2003.

The greenest games ever - Tony Blair

Exactly 2012 days from today, the London Olympic games will get under way. I know that the opening ceremony on July 27 2012 will spark the same sense of excitement and joy that erupted across the country when we heard that, against all the odds, London's bid had been successful. Everything leads to, and culminates in, a glorious festival of sport for Olympians and Paralympians. But it cannot end there. The enduring success of the games is measured in the years that follow, not in the time it takes for them to take place.

The 2012 games will be a catalyst for one of the most extensive urban and environmental regeneration programmes ever seen in the UK. The new Olympic Park under construction in the Lower Lea Valley will revive one of the most deprived areas in the country. Thousands of jobs will be created. Transport links will be transformed. Thousands of homes for key workers will be built. Parts of the landscape that have been wasteland will spring to life.

It is probably the case that the title of greenest games ever belongs to ancient Athens. But we can aspire to be the greenest games of the modern era. We will use sustainable building methods, renewable energy and low-emission transport, all with the purpose of reducing the carbon footprint.

We can be as confident about this as we can about the progress of the whole construction. London is further ahead at this stage in its preparations than any previous host city, as the International Olympic Committee itself said last year. In the nature of construction of this complexity, there will be obstacles that it is not yet possible to foresee. There will always be pessimists who claim every setback is a catastrophe. The same people no doubt said that even to bid was a waste of time. I am glad we ignored the doom-mongers then, and we will ignore them now.

That said, I fully understand the focus on the cost of the games. The Olympic Delivery Authority will be publishing its budget in the coming weeks. Financial planning remains ahead of Sydney, which submitted its budget two years before the games, and of Beijing, which waited four years after winning the bid to publish its budget.

The buildings will be there in time. The investment will be made. That is non-negotiable. With the focus shifting to the hard work of delivery, milestones like today provide a chance to reflect on just what the games will mean for Britain. London won a nail-biting contest because our bid was ambitious and inspirational. In particular, there was an unprecedented focus on the games' legacy - the long-term benefits for local communities, the environment, the economy and sport.

What is also certain is that the games will focus the entire world's attention on London and the UK. More Countries will participate at the London games in 2012 than there are members of the UN. We will gain hugely from demonstrating to the world just what an outward-looking, dynamic, diverse and tolerant city and country London and Britain now are.

During the next 2,012 days we have the opportunity to send out a clear message to the world about British values. Staging the Olympic games in London, home to 200 different ethnic groups representing every faith and religion, will send a powerful message about tolerance and cultural understanding.

So the Olympic games are an extra-ordinary opportunity. We are privileged to have been given this chance and we must now strive together to make the most of it, for the benefit of future generations.

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