Exclusive: Olympian Matt Richards launches sports-tech platform Sponza Sport Business Double Olympic champion swimmer Matt Richards has launched a new business that will help thousands of athletes find commercial backers. Sponza, Richards told City AM, has raised a six-figure sum at a seven-figure valuation ahead of its launch this week. The sports tech platform will allow athletes to connect with brands, with the aim of [...]
Ben Proud’s Enhanced Games switch puts pressure IOC to use its $5bn Sport Business Rather than wondering why Ben Proud would sign up for the Enhanced Games, it is better to ask why he wouldn’t. The British swimmer’s commitment to the competition with an “anything goes” attitude to performance-enhancing drugs is a wake-up call for the Olympic movement. Money, as ever, lies at the heart of the matter. Proud [...]
Enhanced Games: Brit Ben Proud joins so-called Doping Olympics Sport British Olympian Ben Proud could have his UK Sport funding cut after choosing to join the Enhanced Games. The rebel competition, known by many as the Doping Olympics, will allow the Paris 2024 silver medal winner to take any measure of performance enhancing substances in pursuit of victory. The controversial competition has filed a $800m [...]
Olympic swimmers to take on length of Thames in sewage protest August 29, 2025 Olympic-level swimmers are set to navigate the length of the Thames next week in a bid to highlight calls for better protection from pollution of the UK’s waterways, lakes and seas. Eight elite swimmers are taking part in the non-stop relay, which will begin at the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire on Monday and [...]
The River Thames is London’s largest public space. So why don’t we use it? July 23, 2025 The River Thames is London's largest public space, so why aren't we using it, asks Chris Romer-Lee as he calls to make the river swimmable.
The discrete joy of guerrilla swimming in the Thames July 22, 2025 Guerilla swimmers are defying the authorities to go swimming in the Thames – don’t listen to the gloomsters telling you it’s not safe, says James Bethell Swooshing down the Thames past the pubs and bridges on the powerful tides in the warm summer water is utter bliss. We met at a pub for some chat, [...]
Paris 2024 Olympic medals to be replaced after they flake and rust January 21, 2025 Red-faced Olympics chiefs have pledged to replace defective medals from the Paris 2024 Games after more than 100 athletes complained that they have begun to flake and rust. Just days after the closing ceremony, disgruntled athletes began sharing pictures of their damaged medals on social media and demanding they be replaced. American skateboarder Nyjah Huston [...]
Messi and LeBron beaten to top spot in athlete marketability rankings October 22, 2024 US gymnast Simone Biles has beaten LeBron James and Lionel Messi to be named the most marketable athlete in the world by sports industry experts. Real Madrid and Brazil footballer Vinicius Jr is second, followed by NBA legend James, women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark and Messi in the list published by SportsPro magazine. Biles, who [...]
Ed Warner: My 10 sports for a slimmed down Commonwealth Games October 3, 2024 The self-styled ‘friendly games’ are no longer quite so friendless: it appears Glasgow will indeed host a slimmed-down edition of the Commonwealth Games in 2026, although still we await official confirmation. The trouble is that 20 into 10 won’t go, and boxing’s political turmoil is holding up a decision on which sports will be left [...]
Pond life: The politics of Hampstead Heath’s swimming ponds August 27, 2024 Hampstead Heath's ponds are a wild swimming utopia, but politics bubble beneath the surface, writes Anna Moloney.