Van der Burgh is an imposing champion, however, and the South African was ready for Peaty in Kazan at the outset of the 100m qualifying races.
And so, during his last days in London before leaving for Munich, and a dangerous WBC world heavyweight title bout on Saturday against the imposing champion, Vitali Klitschko, it seems natural that an interview with Chisora should cross surreal terrain.
But Santana, despite an ordinary second half, is a two-time Cy Young award winner who would make the Yankees much more imposing to the champion Red Sox.
She told us that almost any evening during the summer vacation her son was to be found at the Manhattan Chess Club, on West Sixty-fourth Street — a venerable institution, with an imposing number of champions and chess masters in its membership.
"For four years, I tried everything I knew to discourage him," she said, with a sigh, "but it was hopeless". She told us that almost any evening during the summer vacation her son was to be found at the Manhattan Chess Club, on West Sixty-fourth Street a venerable institution, with an imposing number of champions and chess masters in its membership.
In a gold medal match at the 2000 Sydney Games, Gardner scored one of the greatest Olympic upsets, defeating the Russian Aleksandr Karelin, a three-time champion so imposing that he had not lost a match in 13 years or surrendered a point in 6.
Now, there is no stand-out world champion, just an imposing list of aspirants with different belts.
But the 27-year-old Kuznetsova remains one of the game's most dangerous outsiders: a two-time Grand Slam singles champion with an imposing physique and an unusually well-stocked tool kit that includes — besides the requisite power — drop shots, sharp angles, crisp backhand slices and that increasingly rare thing, a reliable overhead.
All that was left of the former champion was his imposing stature and trademark sleeveless T-shirt, showing off a tattooed and bulging arm — a reminder that Rafael Nadal was not the first Spanish to combine raw power and athleticism on the tennis court.
Arsenal may be boosted by the return of Theo Walcott from an abdominal injury for Sunday's Premier League trip to Manchester United, where the league leaders will seek to stretch their early-season advantage over the champions to an imposing 11 points.
There's got to be something ironic about a country in the European Union, the EU being the so-called champions of privacy, imposing laws like this.
