He initially refused to compete on Sundays due to his devout Christian beliefs. This decision cost him a chance to compete in the 1991 World Championships. However, in 1993, after much thinking and discussion with his father (a vicar), he changed his mind. He decided that God gave him his talent in order for him to compete in athletics.
On 2 February 2007 it was widely reported that Edwards had lost his faith in God despite him once saying "My relationship with Jesus and God is fundamental to everything I do. I have made a commitment and dedication in that relationship to serve God in every area of my life."
The "Daily Mail" described Edwards as a "man deeply troubled by the collapse of his Christian faith". It also revealed that a friend said "[Edwards] has a deep, theological comprehension of the Bible, making his spiritual meltdown even more unlikely ... They still go to church as a family" The "Daily Mail" article also quoted Edwards as saying that he is going through a difficult period in his life. A period that is deeply personal to him and his family such that he does not wish to comment on.
Edwards presented episodes of the Christian praise show Songs of Praise until 2007.
In an interview in "The Times" on 27 June 2007, Edwards said: "If there is no God, does that mean that life has no purpose? Does it mean that personal existence ends at death? They are thoughts that do my head in. One thing that I can say, however, is that even if I am unable to discover some fundamental purpose to life, this will not give me a reason to return to Christianity. Just because something is unpalatable does not mean that it is not true." Furthermore, in the interview with "The Times" he also stated "When you think about it rationally, it does seem incredibly improbable that there is a God." In the same interview he also said "I feel internally happier than at any time of my life." Edwards confirmed his rejection of Christianity in an interview on BBC Five Live Sportsweek on 29 July 2007.
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Explosion protection
Explosion protection is meant to protect buildings and other civil engineering objects against internal and external explosions. It was widely believed until recently that a building subject to an explosive attack had a chance to remain standing only if it possessed some extraordinary resistive capacity. This belief rested on the assumption that the blast load was fully beyond our control.
2007–08 UEFA Cup
The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th UEFA Cup. It is UEFA's second-level club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008. The final was played between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia. Zenit won the match 2–0, with goals from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov. It was their first UEFA Cup title. The first qualifying games were played on 19 July 2007. The main tournament began on 20 September 2007. A total of 123 football clubs took part in the tournament (including its qualifying rounds).
Each European football nation is represented by a different number of its clubs. This number depends on the UEFA coefficients. One new nation has entered their Cup winner and second-placed football team: Montenegro.
The tournament's top scorers were Pavel Pogrebnyak of Zenit St. Petersburg and Luca Toni of Bayern Munich, each with 10 goals.
The calendar from UEFA.com.
The draw was held on Friday, 29 June 2007 at 13:30 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. It was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions. The matches were played on 19 July and 2 August 2007.
!colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
!colspan="5"|Central-East region
!colspan="5"|Northern region
The draw was held on Friday, 3 August 2007 at 13:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. It was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of professional football. The matches were played on 16 August and 30 August 2007.
!colspan="5"|Southern-Mediterranean region
!colspan="5"|Central-East region
!colspan="5"|Northern region
The draw was held on Friday, 31 August 2007 at 13:00 CET in Monaco. It was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Gérard Houllier, the winning coach in the 2000–01 tournament. The matches were played on 20 September and 4 October 2007.
!colspan="5"|Group 1
!colspan="5"|Group 2
!colspan="5"|Group 3
!colspan="5"|Group 4
!colspan="5"|Group 5
!colspan="5"|Group 6
!colspan="5"|Group 7
!colspan="5"|Group 8
The draw was held on Tuesday, 9 October 2007 at 12:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. It was conducted by UEFA's director of professional football Giorgio Marchetti and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions.
Based on paragraph 6.06 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams were equal on points on completion of all the group matches, the following criteria were used to determine the rankings:
Key:
All of the rounds in the final phase are two-legged, except for the final. In the event of aggregate scores being equal after normal time in the second leg, the winning team will be that which scored more goals on their away leg: if the scores in the two matches were identical, extra time is played. The away goals rule also applies if scores are equal at the end of extra time. If there are no goals scored in extra time, the tie is decided on a penalty shoot out. The team first out of the hat in each tie plays the first leg of their tie at home, and the second leg away.
The draw for the round of 32, which was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Michele Centenaro, UEFA's head of club competitions, was held on Friday, 21 December 2007 at 13:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. The eight group winners were drawn against the eight third-placed teams, while the eight second-placed teams were drawn against the eight teams who finished third in the Champions League groups. Teams from the same group or the same country cannot be drawn together.
The first legs were played on 13 February and 14 February 2008. The second legs were played on 21 February 2008.
The draw for the Round of 16, which was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor, was also held on Friday, 21 December 2007 at 13:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. The first legs were played on 6 March 2008. The second legs were played on 12 and 13 March 2008. Unlike the previous rounds, teams from the same group or country may be drawn together from the round of 16 onwards.
The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, which was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and Denis Law, the ambassador for the final in Manchester, was held on Friday, 14 March 2008 at 14:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland. The first legs of the quarter-finals were played on 3 April and the second legs were played on 10 April 2008.
The semi-final matches were played on 24 April and 1 May 2008.
The final was contested by Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg and Scottish side Rangers on 14 May 2008 at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Zenit won the match 2–0, with goals from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov coming in the last 20 minutes of the game to give Zenit their first UEFA Cup title.
The night was marred by rioting by a minority of Rangers supporters in Manchester city centre.
The top scorers in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup are the following:
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas (born June 5, 1975 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a retired Lithuanian basketball player who played 13 seasons in the NBA. He played 12 seasons with the for the Cleveland Cavaliers and 1 season with the Miami Heat. He retired from basketball in September 2011 to spend more time with his family.
David L. Paterson
David Lord Paterson (born 1966) is an American screenwriter, actor and producer. He is the son of Katherine Paterson, the author of "Bridge to Terabithia".