At these tech-driven Tokyo Olympics, innovation is – as it has been for decades – a source of disquiet, but beating the odds is part of the Games’ mystiqueIn 1964, the Tokyo Olympics were dubbed the “Technology Games”. Up in the skies, satellites were used to televise all the action live for the first time. Computers abounded and spectators and TV viewers had never had it so good.Down at the events, we also saw changes. In the pool, there was now touchpad technology that meant we no longer relied on a judge’s eye to award a medal. It was still being fine-tuned but it was here to stay. In the pole vault we saw the introduction of fibreglass poles to...
Organisers have made the Games as safe as they can be – now athletes must follow the rules and embrace their opportunityNo matter who you are, or what sports you enjoy, the Olympics remains the greatest show on earth. It’s bigger than anything in football. Bigger than anything in any other sport. And, while I know there are many who don’t feel it is right that Tokyo 2020 is taking place during a global pandemic, I respectfully disagree and can’t wait for the Games to get under way.Let me try to explain why. It’s about wanting the best athletes in the world to have the opportunity to display their talents on the biggest stage of all, so they can provide...
Fairness is at the heart of sport and without separate categories for the sexes there would be no women in Olympic finalsWhat is fairness? In sport, everything. From childhood, we come to see the headstart in the playground race, the shove in the goalmouth, a rogue thumb on the egg (and spoon) as unjust, and quickly, loudly, “Oi!” object.The same sense of probity works its way up into professional sport. Sandpapering a cricket ball: not fair. Boxing with loaded gloves: not fair. Intentional misrepresentation in Paralympic classification: not fair. Colluding with betting syndicates to fix a result: not fair. Doping in sport: not fair. We classify our sports in order to pitch like against like and to keep people safe....
Beach volleyball in Rio was a riotous joy but how will it play when a city is essentially forced against its will to host the global event?You don’t get a great deal of down time as a jobbing hack at the Olympics but my schedule at the Rio Games meant the laptop lid was sometimes snapped shut by around 7pm. Ablutions at the team hotel were followed by a couple of beers in the company of any colleagues who might also have found themselves at a loose end. Thirst slaked, it was feeding time: a coronary of assorted succulent meats washed down by plonk at one of the myriad beachfront all-you-can-eat steakhouses.Exhausted, stuffed, pleasantly sozzled and with the sanctuary of...
The Olympics and Euros will likely take place in pared back form, but the overall landscape is looking a lot more like it was in 2020 than we were expecting just a month agoDo you know how many days there are until the Olympic Games get under way? Precisely 200. Imagine it. The darkness of the Tokyo skyline. A lone runner scampering up a giant staircase, torch in hand. A roar from the 60,000 fans inside Japan’s National Stadium. Then raging illumination. It will be some sight … if it happens. Meanwhile this year’s other sporting mega-event, football’s European Championship, is barely five months away, but still there remains an expectation that millions of fans will be able to travel...