41.   JUDO To U.S. players, the National Ladder Championships is the competition of last resort.

42.   Last year, she was undefeated until Heike Drechsler of Germany beat her in the long jump in the last competition of the year.

43.   Lev Vinocour is remarkably relaxed for someone in the biggest piano competition of his life.

44.   Kwan is entering the biggest competition of her career coaching herself, choosing her music and devising her own programs.

45.   One could argue that they are the most pressure-packed competitions of the golf season.

46.   One particularly scandalous Sunday night program on a nationwide channel run by the financial tycoon Boris Berezovsky has accused the competition of murder and attempted assassination.

47.   Our endorsements of McCain and Gore apply only to the nomination competitions of their parties.

48.   Planning for a state dinner even involves couture, she said, recalling a fashion competition of sorts between the first lady and the empress of Iran.

49.   Quite an attractive package, though it lands smack dab in the middle of some fierce competition of both the domestic and import variety.

50.   Researchers are finding an unexpected potency from deliberate practice in world-class competitions of all kinds, including chess matches, musical recitals and sporting events.