Bryan Fogel’s docu-thriller dissects Russia’s drug-driven corruption of Olympics and challenges belief in world athletics that anti-doping drives are winningOf all the remarkable scenes in Icarus, a new docu-thriller that forensically carries out a portmortem on how Russia corrupted the London 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi through the eyes of its chief protagonist, one moment lingers longest – the reaction of leading anti-doping figures when the film’s director, Bryan Fogel, hits them with the grand reveal.“This is the spreadsheet of every single Russian athlete on the state‑mandated protocol,” he tells them at a meeting in Los Angeles in May last year. “What every single athlete was taking in London, including their sample numbers and collection.” Related:...
World Para Athletics Championships begin at 2012 Paralympic venue, with Kadeena Cox and Abdellatif Baka among those changing the conversationAlmost five years since London 2012 introduced the wider public to the delights of disability sport, the city’s world-class athletics venue is the setting for what is being lauded as another major push in the right direction for the Paralympic movement. When the World Para Athletics Championships begin at the London Stadium on Friday morning, the memories of Jonnie Peacock’s lightning runs, David Weir’s awesome endurance and Hannah Cockroft’s unstoppable charges for the line will come flooding back, inducing a warm glow of nostalgia and hope for the stories that will be written over the next 10 days of competition.Great Britain’s...
The meagre crowds at UK Athletics trials suggest the sport desperately needs a boost. Can the next wave of British stars provide it in London?A tale of two cities. The best of times, and the worst of times.First – Ostrava on a molten Wednesday night for two hours of athletics’ greatest hits. Usain Bolt wins the 100m and spends an hour smiling for selfies; Wayde van Niekerk shatters the 300m world record; David Rudisha suffers a shock 1,000m defeat; Mo Farah gallops away to another 10,000m victory to booming bellows of “Mo! Mo!”. Fireworks off the track and on it. A sellout 30,000 crowd, thirsty and delirious, lapped it up. Related: Dina Asher-Smith limps back into frame for world championships...
This week’s roundup also features a 44-year-old goalkeeper’s last-gasp goal, a Russian Cup final brawl and some Giro d’Italia memories1) Roma legend Francesco Totti finally confirmed his retirement this week at the age of 40 and after 600 appearances for the Serie A club. Here’s a look back at the 24 years between his first and last games for Roma. While you can feast on his best goals here. He did it for Italy on plenty of occasions, too, notably at Euro 2000 and in moments at the triumphant 2006 World Cup. He also featured in his share of naff adverts as well, mind.2) The first grand tour of the cycling season, the Giro d’Italia, gets under way this weekend...
Jonathan Edwards and Paula Radcliffe are among those who will have longstanding records wiped under new rules but is it window-dressing?When Lionel Messi slaloms away from three, four, five players, before dabbing a shot past the keeper with the cool nonchalance of a movie star stubbing out a cigarette, millions of jaws go into freefall. It is the same when Ronnie O’Sullivan machine-guns around a snooker table, or Roger Federer whips his wrist to slap a scudding cross-court winner. Their genius makes us giddy.Yet when a track and field star produces something equally extraordinary, our inner detective moves to high alert. We have been duped, deceived and played for fools so many times now that a world record no longer...