By David OwenElectricity, like ballet and ancient Greek, has always been a bit of a mystery to me.I had fondly imagined that if you wanted to stage a sports event in an unconventional location you simply shipped in the infrastructure, attached a standard 13-amp plug (you know, the brown wire is live; the blue one is neutral – the stuff even I know) and trained an extension lead to the nearest electrical socket.Apparently it is a bit more complicated than that.

described as "a hat-trick of major events" – the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South

Africa and the 2010 Asian Games."

investing £20 million ($31 million/€24 million) in a new manufacturing site (pictured) in Dumbarton, south

By David OwenElectricity, like ballet and ancient Greek, has always been a bit of a mystery to me.I had fondly imagined that if you wanted to stage a sports event in an unconventional location you simply shipped in the infrastructure, attached a standard 13-amp plug (you know, the brown wire is live; the blue one is neutral – the stuff even I know) and trained an extension lead to the nearest electrical socket.Apparently it is a bit more complicated than that.

described as "a hat-trick of major events" – the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South

Africa and the 2010 Asian Games."

investing £20 million ($31 million/€24 million) in a new manufacturing site (pictured) in Dumbarton, south

By David GoldJanuary 3 - Athletics Tanzania is battling financial constraints in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games with secretary general Suleiman Nyambui (pictured) complaining that they have no plan for a pre-Games camp.

they joined the African boycott in protest over a tour by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team to South

Africa, which was banned at the time.That robbed the country of arguably its best-ever chance of an

By Andrew WarshawDecember 28 - FIFA has been ordered by a Swiss court to release documents that could pave the way to finally naming high-ranking officials who allegedly took millions of dollars in kickbacks from World Cup broadcast deals.

controversial  head of the 2014 World Cup Organising Committee; Nicolas Leoz, boss of CONMEBOL, the South

is "incorruptible" claims former England 2018 bid adviserDecember 2011: IOC have "disrespected" Africa

Paralympic Games gold medalist Marc Woods is finalising his preparations for the Centenary Race to the South

year-old, won 12 Paralympics medals across five Games from 1988 to 2004 and left the UK for Cape Town, South

Africa, with team-mate James Mark on Monday (December 14) – 100 years to the day the Norwegian explorer

Roald Amundsen beat Robert Falcton Scott in their race to the South Pole – to prepare for their challenge.Woods

By Duncan Mackay December 12 - International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Bernard Lapasset has been re-elected for a second consecutive term by members of the IRB Council at a meeting in Los Angeles today.

today.Lapasset then inflicted further humiliation on Beaumont when he used his casting vote to elect South

Africa Rugby Union (SARU) chairman Oregan Hoskins as the new vice-chairman.Hoskins had been tied

By David GoldDecember 12 - The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has moved to clarify a dispute between Malaysia and Spain by insisting that the latter's men's team has not been awarded a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games as of yet, and were still competing in an Olympic qualifying tournament next year.

South Africa had opted not to take up their Olympics slot as they wanted their men's and women's teams

Straits Times, the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) alleged that a private deal between Spain and South

Africa would see the Spanish compete at the Olympics while the African champions took their place in

Africa have to formally write to both them and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if they wish

Africa claim hockey spots at London 2012 Olympics 

By Tom DegunDecember 10 - New Zealand defeated hosts South Africa in dramatic fashion with the final

play of the match to win the Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens in what was round three of the HSBC

The reigning Series champions won a thrilling final 31-26 in front of 30,000 fans to claim the first South

Africa Sevens title to be played at a new home in Port Elizabeth.In doing so, they have drawn level

with Fiji on 51 points at the top of the World Series with South Africa in third on 48 and England just

South Africa played really well but it was great for my new young guys to come on and provide something

To beat South Africa on their ground is great for us."

By Tom DegunDecember 9 - The French city of Lyon has today been announced as the host of the 2013 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Athletics Championships.

officials from 118 countries with the likes of the four-time Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius of South

Africa set to compete."

By David GoldDecember 6 - A late, late header from Bordeaux's Andre Biyogho Poko was enough to give Gabon a shock 1-0 win over Senegal and a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament, making them the first African nation to qualify.

week.Having lost their opening game to Egypt, Gabon were heading out of the tournament when trailing to South

Africa in their second group match, but a late equaliser kept them in the hunt.Despite then playing

Morocco and Nigeria overshadows African Olympic qualifiersOctober 2011: Urgent talks sought as South

Africa try to qualify for London 2012 

President Jacques Rogge), FIFA President de nos jours and IOC member, is confiding that he will depart from South

Africa with a blueprint of the IOC ethics machinery in his briefcase.Just as it seemed that the IOC

By David GoldDecember 5 - Four African teams remain in the hunt for a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament, with Senegal facing Gabon and Egypt taking on hosts Morocco in the crucial semi-finals.

Gabon stunned the Ivory Coast 3-1 to make it to the last four, finishing second to Egypt, who beat South

Africa 2-0.The semi-finals will be played tomorrow and Wednesday (December 7) in Tangier and Marrakech

Morocco and Nigeria overshadows African Olympic qualifiersOctober 2011: Urgent talks sought as South

Africa try to qualify for London 2012October 2011:  Morocco set to host London 2012 Olympic qualifiers

By Tom DegunDecember 2 - USA Rugby chief executive Nigel Melville (pictured) has revealed that the United States are currently discussing a bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which would also see Canada host games in the competition.

first time.The competition has previous been staged in Oceania three times, Europe three times and South

Africa once in 1995.The event will go back to Europe for a fourth time in 2015 when England stage the

By Tom DegunDecember 2 - Remaining tickets for the London 2012 Paralympic Games are set to go back on sale on a first come, first served basis at exactly 1pm today.

are those at the Olympic Stadium on September 6 when reigning Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius of South

Africa and reigning World Champion Jerome Singleton of America are set to clash in the T44 100 metres

By Tom DegunDecember 2 - Remaining tickets for the London 2012 Paralympic Games are set to go back on sale on a first come, first served basis at exactly 1pm today.

are those at the Olympic Stadium on September 6 when reigning Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius of South

Africa and reigning World Champion Jerome Singleton of America are set to clash in the T44 100-metre