Rudi Ball’s selection to represent Nazi Germany caused uproar but a secret deal was behind his decision to participateOn Sunday an Olympic spokesperson actually put out a statement explaining that the Games’ flame in the Bird’s Nest stadium hadn’t gone out. “The flame is fine,” they said when approached by USA Today, whose photographer Rob Schumacher published a shot that suggested it was very much not. Somewhere else in the Olympic village, irony keeled over and died.I’ve had one eye on the vaguely dystopian spectacle of these Games, a hyperreal propaganda-spectacular played out, in part, on phoney snow and against the backdrop of an abandoned steel mill. The other has been reading about what IOC president Thomas Bach calls the...
Also featuring a Nicola Adams tribute, Emily Scarrat being brilliant at rugby and FA Vase scenes1) The yin and yang of goal celebrations: none more modern than this one, from Brazil, in which the Santos forward Marinho mimics a VAR check after scoring but, far away from the world of contentious technology, check out what this last-minute FA Vase equaliser means for Falmouth Town’s players and fans. The visitors, Longlevens, had been 2-0 up going into second-half stoppage time. Falmouth eventually won 3-2 after extra-time.2-1 down in injury time. Your #FAVase hopes are fading away into oblivion. You have one more chance left to try and nick a goal and take it to extra time.And this happens.ABSOLUTE. SCENES.@Falmouth_Town @swpleague @NonLeagueCrowd...
From British speed skater Elise Christie to American prodigy Nathan Chen, via Nigeria’s unlikely bobsleigh team, a unified Korean women’s ice hockey side and moreFour years have passed since Elise Christie had an Olympic silver medal ripped from her in Sochi, and for far too many sleepless nights it remained an open sore. But three world titles last year finally extinguished that pain and the brilliant Scottish short-track speed skater goes into Pyeongchang with strong chances of a medal in the 500m and 1000m. Even a podium place in the 1500m may not be beyond her. Continue reading...