Best of 2022: Sir Craig Reedie lifts the lid on how London 2012 Olympics was delivered December 23, 2022 In this interview from July 2022, Sir Craig Reedie, one of the architects of the London 2012 Olympics and one of Britain’s most influential sports administrators, looks back on the Games 10 years on. If you lived through the London 2012 Olympics then you will probably remember where you were for its most spectacular or [...]
Ed Warner on the sporting year that was December 22, 2022 And so we reach the end of a year of sporting excess, or at least an excess of sport. Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Final was the calorific dessert that may well have caused you to come over all Mr Creosote, exploding under the temptation of just one more dish of must-see sporting competition. While we [...]
Beth Mead wins Sports Personality of the Year 2022 December 21, 2022 Beth Mead has been named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year at a ceremony at Media City in Salford. The footballing star beat gymnast Jessica Gadirova, curling star Eve Muirhead, snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan, cricketer Ben Stokes and athlete Jake Wightman to the annual gong. Stokes came second with Muirhead third. Lioness Mead was part [...]
Antyukh the fifth Russian track and field athlete to have 2012 gold stripped December 21, 2022 Russian athlete Natalya Antyukh has been stripped of the gold medal she won at the London 2012 Olympic Games due to historical sampling data which came out of a Moscow testing facility. The 400m hurdler – who is now 41 – is already distanced from track and field due to a four-year ban which she [...]
Sir Chris Hoy: Track Champions League can win over new fans in London November 15, 2022 Sir Chris Hoy believes the UCI Track Champions League can create new cycling fans when it returns to London next month. The five-date competition, which got its second season underway in Mallorca last weekend, features some of the world’s best riders including Britain’s Dame Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald. London’s Lee Valley VeloPark is set [...]
Ed Warner: Marathon season revives questions about unequal fight against doping September 22, 2022 The track season is behind us and athletic thoughts now turn to autumn marathons. Berlin, renowned world record course, this Sunday. London and then Chicago within a fortnight. New York at the start of November. That’s four of the six marathon majors in seven weekends, and doubtless plenty of competition among race organisers to secure [...]
Staging Hockey World Cup at Tottenham Hotspur will ‘sustain the sport for years’ September 21, 2022 England Hockey is pinning its hopes of hosting the men’s World Cup in 2026 on staging matches in bigger venues than the sport usually visits, such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The 62,000-capacity ground has been earmarked to host finals weekend if the joint bid from England and Wales is selected in early November. “This [...]
Ed Warner: Does society have a responsibility to retiring athletes? August 25, 2022 We may be just days away from seeing the last of Serena Williams in competitive tennis. The US Open, which starts next week, is marked out as the retirement party for the greatest tennis star of the modern era. At 40 years old, she’s late to step away from elite sport and does so with [...]
England’s outgoing Commonwealth chief still sees future for Games August 24, 2022 Team England’s outgoing chief executive insists there is a future for the Commonwealth Games despite debate surrounding where a multi-sport tournament rooted in Britain’s former Empire sits in the 21st century. Paul Blanchard is preparing to leave his position at the head of the team who hosted this year’s competition in Birmingham games after seven [...]
Ed Warner: Value of hosting sport found in hearts and minds as well as spreadsheets August 18, 2022 Just what does constitute a sport? Breaking – otherwise known as breakdancing – will debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics. So how about singing with a dose of choreographed body-poppery? The unlikely combination of Vladimir Putin and Sam Ryder is bringing Eurovision to the United Kingdom in 2023. Seven cities – cut from 20 – are [...]