LA’s mayor may have accused Donald Trump of ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ – but one man’s flames of hatred is another’s flames of desireBack in 1994, IOC member Dick Pound declared the only way Salt Lake City’s bid for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games would lose to Quebec City was because Utah’s capital had “no more rabbits to pull out of the hat”. Yup, I know – bless Dick for thinking that’s how Olympic bids are won.Working on more conventional lines, however, the Salt Lake City bid president and his senior vice-president shipped $1,200 worth of rabbits (trivia buffs may care to know that amounted to 12 rabbits) to Pound. Dick and his wife declined to accept the rabbits,...
The trip to New Zealand, despite the schedule, can restore faith and the Six Nations is shaping up nicely but with the professional era now more than 20 years old, the sport’s administrators must show conviction in the next 12 monthsThe most pertinent rugby quote of 2016, inevitably, came from Eddie Jones. “There’s only pressure when you don’t know what you’re doing,” murmured England’s head coach shortly before guiding his adopted country to their 13th Test victory of a perfect calendar year. As a short, sharp Twitter-friendly summation of how and why the Australian guru has turned English fortunes around, it was inch-perfect.What would England’s national cricket and football teams do for a milligram of Jones’s self-assurance right now? Maybe...
Judy Guinness relinquished a foil gold medal in Los Angeles by pointing out judging errors – but 84 years later her sport has been stripped of Games fundingIn the run-up to last summer’s Rio Olympics, British Fencing announced a new “brand identity” – a redesigned logo, in other words. Rendered in slanted sans-serif capitals in red and blue against a white background, the governing body’s title was now marked by three dramatic oblique slashes, as if inflicted by a duellist’s sabre. Unfortunately, however, these wounds have proved to be neither merely symbolic nor superficial. Related: UK Sport funding axe ‘catastrophic’ for badminton, says chief executive Continue reading...
There was much to feel good about in Manchester on Monday but the questions faced by cycling – the sport that most embodies the great British medal rush – after recent revelations continue to dampen the moodBritain’s triumphant Olympians and Paralympians partied beneath sunny skies as they deservedly took the acclaim of the crowds in Trafalgar Square.But during the first leg of their 48‑hour victory lap on Monday, it was not just the traditional Manchester weather that threatened to rain on Team GB’s parade but the bad vibes emanating from the structure in the east of the city that up to now has been championed as the symbol of all that is good about the great National Lottery-fuelled charge up...
Described as Tadpole by her peers and racially abused as a junior, Ennis-Hill – who retired on Thursday – rose beyond her frame to conquer the heptathlonJess Ennis-Hill had her first hangover when she was 16. She had been out at a friend’s house, acting like any other teen. Someone spilt a drink, someone else tried to clean the stain with raw bleach. It was that kind of party.When she woke the next day she pulled a pillow over her head to try to make the daylight go away. But she had to go and compete in a junior athletics meeting. She threw up once before she got into the car, and then again when she got out of it...