The IOC has the choice of Paris or Los Angeles to host the 2024 Olympic Games and both have relatively sensible proposalsWith the contest for the right to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games down to the last two contestants and nearing a final verdict, there may be several good reasons for giving Paris the right to stage the 2024 Olympics while postponing the return of the Games to Los Angeles until four years later. The most compelling of them must surely be that such a decision would put the Olympics out of the reach of Donald Trump’s sticky little fingers.The two-term limit of the recently inaugurated US president will end in 2025 – unless, that is, Trump decides...
This week’s roundup also features boxing at White Hart Lane, pizza-delivery scooter racing, bare-handed racket destruction and a pesky squirrel 1) There are own goals and there are spectacular own goals, the kind that would be goal of the month contenders if only they were at the right end of the pitch. Here’s Adrien Gulfo, from the Swiss team Pully Football, suddenly discovering his inner Marco van Basten when he least wants to. Northampton Town’s Mathias Doumbé said he “didn’t want to take any chances” when he put into his own net on the volley from 30 yards to score for Mansfield in a League Two match in 2013. It’s always worth tipping our hat to Everton’s Sandy Brown for...
Players Championship runner-up has been accused of ‘not playing to win’ at Sawgrass – but sensible strategy was the right approach in the circumstancesA fortnight ago, Ian Poulter could only have dreamed about being part of such a discussion. As it transpires, the Englishman’s runner-up finish at the Players Championship – a terrific achievement, given the context – has triggered a curious debate among analysts. The accusation is this: that Poulter was overly conservative over the closing stretch at Sawgrass where, to the extent as believed by the Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, he “clearly did not play to win”.Poulter immediately and understandably took umbrage with such sentiment. If there was ever a time to have a pop at him, this...
To many the father of one of the NBA’s top prospects is a charlatan. But he can change a business in which African Americans often fail to get a fair deal UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball had a lot invested in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery. Ball, whose court vision and playmaking ability have drawn rave reviews, is a consensus top-three pick. Getting picked by the right team in next month’s draft sets him up for a bright future although a poor fit or dysfunctional franchise could derail his career. The draft is equally important from a business standpoint, as a player’s salary for at least his first seasons is determined entirely by draft order. Related: Top NBA prospect Lonzo...
The double F1 world champion has much to learn as he prepares to make his IndyCar debut. But his team have a proven record of crossover successFrom now until this weekend, when the grid order is set for the 101st Indianapolis 500, most of the talk emanating from the track will be about practice – a discipline measured on the speed charts and through the marks on the Brickyard’s barrier walls. Of the 30-odd drivers hoping to challenge for the Borg-Warner trophy when the race goes green on 28 May, none will face more scrutiny than Fernando Alonso – who is skipping this year’s Monaco Grand Prix to try for the second stage of motorsport’s triple crown.Maybe that scrutiny is...