It was supposed to be a one-off for London 2012 but the team will be back at Tokyo 2020. Some Scotland players are eager to be involved but only the English are really happyIt was an afterthought as England’s campaign ended at the Women’s World Cup this summer, but reaching the last four opened a door widely assumed to have closed for good seven years ago. England cannot play in the Olympic Games but their success in France means Team GB, coached by Phil Neville, will appear in Tokyo. A concept branded unsatisfactory by three of the four constituent parts will trigger further debate as the Games draw closer.The competitive anomaly is highlighted by the fact Scotland were one of...
Japanese IT giant Fujitsu is developing a 3D sensory system that will make scoring easier. But will computers ever fully replace human judges?A light blinks on the black box alerting the gymnast to begin her routine. She launches off the vault, lands and turns to salute the robotic judge. Her score is already flashing on the big screen to the Olympics crowd and to millions of viewers at home, who have followed the live scoring as the move is dissected in real time.This is not a scene from Blade Runner 2049, but a possible vision of gymnastics future as it races to include artificial intelligence in its judging system. Related: USA's Morgan Hurd wins surprise gold in all-around final at...
The young American sprinter, fresh off a record-tying seven golds at worlds, could be in position to become the face of swimming at the Tokyo OlympicsCaeleb Dressel knew the comparisons were inevitable. The 20-year-old University of Florida student had barely toweled off after capturing his seventh gold medal at last week’s world aquatics championships when he found himself cast as the heir to Michael Phelps as the face of swimming in the United States and, potentially, the world.Not only had the American sprinter become the first swimmer to win seven golds at a single worlds since Phelps in 2007, Dressel joined Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only swimmers to win seven titles at any long-course international championship. Related: Adam...
After the problems in Rio, there is more negative publicity over the venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where women cannot become full membersIt is happening again. The wave of negative publicity which preceded golf’s return to the Olympic Games may have been offset in part by the thrilling men’s finale in Rio, but another public relations disaster has not taken long to arrive. Bulletins from Tokyo, where the venue for the Games’s tournament, Kasumigaseki Country Club, operates a policy whereby women cannot become full members and cannot play on Sundays, yet again bring golf’s Olympic alliance into question, just as it does the competence of those managing it.At a time when the International Golf Federation should be using all...
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...