The best and worst sports marketing campaigns of 2024 December 25, 2024 In the true Christmas spirit of judging others, I’ve looked at my favourite – and not so favourite – sports marketing campaigns of 2024. I had planned to hand out awards with categories based on the startling number of current football pundits who were in Graham Taylor’s Euro 92 England squad. The Gary Lineker Award [...]
Ed Warner: Why the anti-doping fight desperately needs a shot in the arm December 19, 2024 Confirmation that Mykhailo Mudryk has failed a routine anti-doping test must rightly trigger the usual essential caveats. Chelsea’s Ukrainian winger has only been provisionally suspended. This is simply the start of a process with the facts to be established and the outcome far from certain. What is clear is that Mudryk’s case will be another [...]
British basketball handed major boost in LA 2028 Olympic funding December 16, 2024 British basketball has received a major boost after UK Sport more than doubled its funding allocation for the LA 2028 Olympic cycle. The sport is by far the biggest beneficiary from the record overall package of £330m, which will see its funding increasing from £1.35m to £2.93m. Skateboarding, climbing, weightlifting and baseball/softball are the other [...]
Charlotte Dujardin banned for year over horse whipping controversy December 5, 2024 Former Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin has been suspended from all equestrian competition for a year after being involved in a horse whipping controversy. The Brit was was provisionally suspended by equestrian’s governing body, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports earlier this year, before the Paris 2024 Olympics after footage emerged of her appearing to whip [...]
Tennis hit by fresh doping storm as Swiatek hit with ban November 28, 2024 Tennis has been hit by another doping controversy surrounding one of its top players after Iga Swiatek was banned for testing positive for a banned substance. The Pole, the most dominant player on the women’s circuit in recent years, returned a sample containing the prohibited angina medication trimetazidine on August 12. But Swiatek, 23, only [...]
Rachel Reeves hands Team GB £344m fillip for LA 2028 Olympics October 31, 2024 Team GB’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes are set to receive the funding boost they have been calling for following yesterday’s Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has committed to giving UK Sport £86m a year, an increase of 10 per cent on the last cycle, in the lead-up to the LA 2028 Games. UK Sport CEO Sally [...]
British athletes issue stark warning to government over funding October 23, 2024 British sport could lose hundreds of elite athletes before the LA 2028 Olympics and Paralympics unless the Government increases funding for the next four-year cycle. The stark warning comes after 85 per cent of funded athletes in a new survey said they would not or might not continue competing if forced to make do with [...]
Olympic chiefs lose another sponsor as Bridgestone makes tracks October 1, 2024 Tyre maker Bridgestone has become the latest key sponsor to cut ties with the International Olympic Committee. Bridgestone said it would not be renewing its contract as a TOP partner, estimated to be worth £255m, when the deal expires at the end of the year. It follows fellow Japanese brands Toyota and Panasonic in exiting [...]
US gymnast Chiles takes bronze medal fight to Swiss court September 17, 2024 US gymnast Jordan Chiles is taking her legal fight for a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Chiles was initially ranked fifth in the final of the women’s floor event in the French capital this summer but upgraded to third after her coach requested a review of her [...]
Ugandan Olympian Cheptegei dies after being set on fire by partner September 5, 2024 Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died from injuries sustained when she was set on fire by her partner after an argument. The 33-year-old distance runner, who competed at the Paris Olympics, passed away in hospital in Kenya four days after the attack by Dickson Ndiema last weekend. Cheptegei suffered 80 per cent burns and [...]