London 2012 Paralympics: Why the legacy of the Games has fallen short 10 years on Ten years on from the London 2012 Paralympics, Helen Rowbotham assesses the Games’s legacy. Sport should be accessible to everyone, irrespective of race, gender, economic background or whether you are disabled or not. It’s not new to say that participation is a good thing and leaving a sporting legacy was a big part of what [...]
England’s outgoing Commonwealth chief still sees future for Games on his way 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 [...]
A green and gold decade: Australia prepares for spell as host of sport’s biggest events All eyes on Oz The sun-kissed nation of Australia is about to embark on a decade-long installation as the centre for world sport. Although it was beaten by Qatar to the rights to stage the men’s football World Cup later this year, the country is set to co-host the women’s equivalent as well as Rugby World Cups, a second [...]
Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Amanda Staveley should have waited to buy Chelsea instead March 10, 2022 I can’t help thinking that Amanda Staveley and her consortium have bought the wrong football club. Had they waited just five months they could have had Chelsea FC rather than Newcastle United. A mooted £3bn price tag may be 10 times the price paid for the Magpies, but still well within the means of Saudi [...]
Russian athletes banned from Winter Paralympics after rivals threaten boycott March 3, 2022 Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned from the Beijing Winter Paralympics after other nations, including Britain, threatened a boycott. The move represents a swift U-turn from International Olympic Committee, which had on Wednesday said they could compete as neutrals when the Games begin on Friday. It is the latest sporting sanction to hit [...]
Ed Warner: Sport needs a united front against Russia, not patchwork of policies March 3, 2022 On the opening day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the Polish wheelchair rugby team decided not to take to the court in their Euros group match against Russia in Paris. A classy move. If only others were so decisive. The leaders of world sport are already divided in their response to Vladimir Putin’s war. It [...]
Russian athletes set for Winter Paralympics ban decision March 2, 2022 Winter Paralympics organisers will decide today whether to ban Russian athletes just 48 hours before the Games are set to begin in Beijing. All Russian competitors have already arrived in China but the International Paralympic Committee is under pressure to stop them taking part in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Olympic [...]
Big Sport Quiz of 2021: How much do you remember? December 20, 2021 From teenagers sweeping to Grand Slam tennis titles to England reaching a major football final, an Olympic Games like no other and the introduction of a brand new cricket competition, it has been a hugely eventful year in sport. Off the field it has been just as transformative, with private equity and, increasingly, cryptocurrency and [...]
Ed Warner: Select committees are ultimately toothless November 25, 2021 The political pile-on has been swift. But although they secured detailed testimony on cricket racism under the cloak of parliamentary privilege, MPs show no signs of learning from the futility of their past hearings into sporting crises. It needn’t be so. I’ve had the dubious honour of appearing before three Westminster select committees down the [...]
British Paralympic chiefs hail Tokyo 2020 as a success despite fall in medal tally September 6, 2021 ParalympicsGB chef de mission Penny Briscoe has hailed Tokyo 2020 as a success for Britain despite a drop in the number of medals won. British athletes finished with 124 medals, including 41 golds, enough for second place in the table behind China and more than British athletes won at London 2012. But the Tokyo tally [...]