Enhanced Games president likens doping to ‘being gay 50 years ago’ July 3, 2023 Ever thought about watching a 100m race where you knew everyone was using substances to artificially enhance themselves, rather than finding out a couple of years later when a ban is issued? Well the Enhanced Games may be for you. The idea pits competitive sport alongside the world of performance enhancing drugs in an Olympics-style [...]
Ed Warner: When risk in sport is a smart choice June 29, 2023 This week columnist Ed Warner looks at risk in sport and how sometimes, such as in Bazball in cricket, it can be the smartest choice. A team of sub-10 second sprinters can be beaten to 4x100m relay gold by a quartet who have never broken that magic barrier. The trick is risk management in the [...]
Enhanced Games ‘flies in face of world-agreed system’ – former British Olympic chief June 28, 2023 Plans for a doped-up alternative to the Olympics, the Enhanced Games, “fly in the face of a world-agreed system” requested and supported by athletes, says former British Olympic chief Sir Craig Reedie. The Enhanced Games, the brainchild of London-based lawyer Aron D’Souza, has ambitions to launch as soon as next year with the promise that [...]
Inside the PTO Tour: Triathletes plotting their own path, backed by a billionaire June 26, 2023 Ibiza usually moves to the beat of its clubbing crowd but for one weekend last month it was a different Lycra-clad set working up a sweat: top triathletes, including Alistair Brownlee, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Kristian Blummenfelt. In the shadow of world-famous nightclubs like Pacha, some of the sport’s biggest names took on a 100km swim-bike-run [...]
Rafael Nadal hopes of retiring at Paris 2024 Olympics set to be scuppered by ITF rules June 18, 2023 Rafael Nadal is being denied a potential farewell at the Paris 2024 Olympics by inflexible International Tennis Federation rules that need changing, says one of the sport’s leading chiefs. Nadal, 37, has announced that he plans to retire next year and it is understood that the King of Clay had hoped to bow out on [...]
Ed Warner: What’s next for the losers in the rush to embrace sovereign wealth? June 15, 2023 City A.M. columnist Ed Warner discusses the recent LIV Golf merger, the Saudi Arabia PIF deal and what comes next for the losers in the rush to embrace sovereign wealth. Elite runners focus on every step of every run. Us mere mortals seek displacement tricks to block out the pain. And so I found myself [...]
Ed Warner: Football should offer players amnesty in wake of Ivan Toney betting ban May 25, 2023 This week Ed Warner examines what Ivan Toney’s betting ban means for football, the eye-watering cost of tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympics, and a nuanced take on the trans debate in sport. If you stick a betting company logo on a young man’s shirt, beam his image around the world for 90 minutes every [...]
Ed Warner: Taking part is all well and good, but compelling sport is about winning May 11, 2023 “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.” Really, Baron? That’s so 19th century! I’d love to hear the thoughts of a time-travelling Pierre de Coubertin in the Stade de France at Paris 2024, or perhaps in the stands at a Premier League football match, or ringside at a heavyweight [...]
Ed Warner: Demise of UK Athletics is a scandalous situation April 20, 2023 I’ve largely kept my counsel on the shambles at UK Athletics since I left in 2017 but reports that the governing body is at risk of collapse have flipped my switch. Five years encompassing five chairs and six CEOs (some permanent, others interim), unnecessary politicking, pursuit of vanity projects, timidity and simple sloppiness have laid [...]
So far, snow good: How Britain became an unlikely force in winter sports April 15, 2023 While casual skiers and snowboarders put boots back into lofts as the European snow season becomes a thing of months past, the cream of Britain’s winter sportspeople are not done in continuing a record-breaking campaign on the white stuff. A year on from a disappointing Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, where Team GB medalled only in [...]