helps, with 25 Olympic medals, nearly five times the Olympian Redgrave is? More than twice the Olympian Carl Lewis [who won 10 games medals] i

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Katherine Grainger is undoubtedly a fantastic Olympian, you dont win medals in five successive Games unless you are a special athlete.But what place she takes in the pantheon of British sporting heroes, and indeed among the worlds most impressive achievers, is hard to call. How, exactly, do you measure Olympic greatness?That question arose in the aftermath of Graingers latest success, her silver-medal winning run in the womens double sculls with Victoria Thornley.The victory brought her a medal for the fifth successive Games, four of them silver and a gold from London 2012. At the age of 40, it also brought a commitment to finally quit competitive rowing and the admiration of many.Grainger has overtaken swimmer Rebecca Adlington in the medal count to claim the title of most decorated female British Olympian of the modern era. But Team GB were slightly embarrassed to find out after declaring her outright all-time leader that tennis player Kitty Godfree also won five medals in the 1920s.The owner of a PHD in criminology and current chancellor of Oxford Brookes University could claim a better record as Godfree has two bronzes among her tally, to go with two silvers and a gold. Their claims to the title, however, may well be debated until another woman wins six medals.Grainger will inevitably be mentioned in dispatches with another Briton, too: five-time Olympic gold medal-winning rower, and single bronze-medal holder Steve Redgrave, whose greatness appears to be, well, greater.But she was happy regardless of what official historians decide and was too busy celebrating to worry.Asked about sharing the mark, Grainger said: Its good company. It feels good ... Its not something you set off to do. I started off as a student and at my first Olympic Games, it was just incredibly to be selected for and to get a medal back in Sydney, which is now 16 years ago.I continued because I love this sport and being in a boat with people like Vicky: the passion and the excitement, the pressure of these big Olympic moments. Thats what drives me. By following that dream, its got me to this place but I never set out to do it.Putting her achievements into context is the job of others and another British rower, James Cracknell, who helped Redgrave win his fifth gold in the coxless fours in Sydney and finished first again in the same discipline in Athens, had a good handle on it.Is Michael Phelps, with 25 Olympic medals, nearly five times the Olympian Redgrave is? More than twice the Olympian Carl Lewis [who won 10 games medals] is? he asked. It doesnt matter. What Katherine has done is immense.At the start of the week there was a question mark over whether she and Vicky would even make the final because of their form. They won the silver by backing themselves in a way no one else backed them.Cracknell wasnt kidding. It was only in June that Grainger was not going to the Olympics. Her and Thornley had been moved from the pairs to an eight-woman team by British Rowing and it hadnt worked; when the initial squad for Rio was named, they were left out.The pair held a meeting with self-confessed straight-talking coach Paul Thompson and only when they showed their commitment to succeeding as a two-woman team were they invited to challenge in Rio.That crisis of confidence followed Graingers two-year sabbatical after 2012, a period which inevitably had an impact on her form when she returned.There was talk of tension, between the pair and between them and the coach, but on Thursday they all seemed to have been better for getting through it.There have been so many hard days in the last year or two when it [winning a medal] seemed the furthest thing from reality; that we wouldnt come away with anything, Grainger said.There was a point when we werent in an Olympic boat, we werent selected. Two months out its not the place you would want to be, so it was hard to see how to get through it.At some level, I thought it would come good, we just had to hold our nerve and keep on course. In a way it makes the results all the more sweet if youve been through the mill and come out.Sport is a very tough, intense environment to work in. Weve all said and done things that have been particularly tough along the way, but it proves what a great working relationship [we have] to come out with a result like that.Grainger and Thornley led for a large part of Thursdays race and were less than 200 metres away from winning gold at the Lagoa Stadium before being pipped at the last by the Polish pair, Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj.But somehow it didnt matter. One of Britains big medal hopes had delivered against what had been long odds just a few weeks ago, and the Team GB bandwagon was rolling on with another impressive success story on the books.I thought Katherine made a mistake by taking two years out but she has proved me wrong, said Cracknell. To come back at the back end of your 30s makes it hard to regain that kick you need in rowing. She didnt have it last year but she has this year and they put the kick in in the first half of the final to give themselves a chance.Katherine can look in the mirror and know she delivered the best she could. They raced the best race of their career together and the best of the last few years, and there is pride in watching someone from your sport perform so well.Whatever your take on measuring greatness and wherever Grainger fits in the history of British sporting achievement, her Rio rowing final performance was one to celebrate. Authentic Custom 76ers Jersey . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Custom 76ers Jersey China . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. http://www.custom76ersjersey.com/ . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. 76ers Jerseys China . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. Cheap 76ers Jerseys . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Crucial payments to fund the travel of Paralympic teams to Brazil have not been transferred, threatening the participation of some nations, the chief executive of the Paralympic movement said on Saturday.The International Paralympic Committee said the payments, which are vital for funding travel and logistics, must be sent to its members next week. The IPC is expecting around 160 countries to participate in the Paralympics but fears withdrawals if the cash isnt received.Our number one priority is that the first instalment of support grants which the organizing committee should have paid to all participating National Paralympic Committees at the end of July, are paid in the coming week, IPC chief executive Xavier Gonzalez said in a statement.These grants are vital to many countries paying for their travel to the games in Brazil. If unpaid, they seriously threaten a countrys participation at Rio 2016.We hope by early next week to have a clearer picture of the situation Rio 2016 currently finds itself in and the solutions we are trying to find, Gonzalez said.The late payments are one of the problems threatening the successful delivery of the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics by the financially-challenged Rio organizers, with sluggish ticket sales also troubling the IPC.All week we have been working closely with all parties involved to try and find solutions to the issues the Rio 2016 organizing committee currently has in order to minimize tthe potential impact on next months Paralympic Games, Gonzalez said.ddddddddddddThis has included looking at how we can bring in additional funding and making some adjustments to the scope and services provided to all stakeholders. With the games fast approaching, time is of the essence, and the organizing committee must find a resolution early next week.Asked about the IPC statement, Rio organizers said: The ongoing success of the Olympic Games makes us confident of also delivering successful Paralympic Games.But Rio Games spokesman Mario Andrada acknowledged earlier Saturday that tickets sales are well below expected levels.We tried a series of measures and it seemed that they were not effective, so we decided to finish and get done with the selling of the Olympic tickets, Andrada said. As (at) previous games, we rely on the excitement and the energy produced by the Olympic Games in order to positively influence the Paralympic tickets. That has proved to be a correct strategy.We (have) begun to see people looking for Paralympic tickets now that some of the Olympic tickets are sold out. A new marketing media and ad campaign is ready to be deployed only for Paralympic-specific tickets. Several of the games did that before.---Rob Harris can be followed at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '