Victoria’s withdrawal as 2026 host should be a catalyst for a sustainable way of staging major tournaments and meetingsThe decision by Victoria’s government to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games issues a broader challenge to sports leaders, governments, but also athletes and citizens around the world. This crisis goes beyond the growing indifference to the purpose of the event, originally founded as the Empire Games in 1930. The Olympics faces a similar struggle with just two bids for the 2024 Summer Games, with Paris and Los Angeles awarded 2024 and 2028 respectively, and only Brisbane bidding for 2032.In the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics, at least five potential host cities, all western democracies, withdrew from the bidding process...
As the chess furore between Carlsen and Niemann rolls on, we take a look at some enduring disputes in sportNot since Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit enthralled 62 million viewers has chess captured mainstream attention to such an extent.Last month the Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, world No 1 and already the “rock star” of chess – see GQ profiles and multimillion‑pound apparel collaborations – accused the American Hans Niemann of cheating after the 19-year-old ended Carlsen’s over-the-board 53-match winning sequence. Continue reading...
The scandal surrounding Kamila Valieva raises fears the regime may end the teenager’s career before it has a chance to beginThe offensive, we are told, will take many forms. The first sign may well be a cyber-attack knocking out the power grid and internet, jamming mobile phone networks. Well-funded paramilitaries within Ukraine’s borders will be encouraged to create as much disorder as possible. There will be a blitz of propaganda, misinformation and false-flag operations. And then – finally – the blood sacrifice: the trained young men and women prepared to lay down their bodies for greater Russia.Perhaps we all got a taste of how this might play out on a much smaller scale on Thursday night. As a distraught Kamila...
This is not a problem happening just in Russia – a win-at-all-costs mentality is affecting young athletes more than everWhat price an Olympic gold medal these days? We know about the blood, sweat and tears, but the costs paid by the 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva in pursuit of the glittering prize rose exorbitantly over the past week in Beijing. The already unstable Olympic currency of values, integrity and humanity devalued further. There was almost universal horror watching Valieva’s coach, Eleni Tutberidze, in action. Her harsh questions as Valieva sought to escape the rink after her unravelling performance caused consternation. Even the fence-sitting International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, spoke out. But after the initial repudiation and disgust, her approach...
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...