AUGUST 5 - AT ATHENS in 2004 the estimated 40,000 British spectators who travelled to support Team GB were one of the stories of the Olympics but there will be a lot less in Beijing, it was revealed today.

with people who were happy to travel to Germany for the 2006 championships being not so keen to go to South

Africa for the 2010 event."  

 AUGUST 18 - NIGERIA is to launch another bid to host the Commonwealth Games despite its disappointment at being beaten to host the 2014 event by Glasgow, a leading Government official said today.

Abuja hosted the All Africa Games in 2003 and the National Stadium built for that event will be the centrepiece

Ogbulafor said: "We had a similar experience [to Beijing] in Abuja towards hosting of the All Africa

Games, roads were constructed, a Games Village was built and one of the best stadiums in Africa was built

officials that with Delhi hosting the 2010 edition of the event that it will be time to stage it in Africa

Durban in South Africa have also expressed an interest in bidding.  A decision is due in 2011.

  ENGLAND, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are among eight countries announced today as bidding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

South Africa are listed among those bidding but are expected to withdraw to concentrate on the 2019 World

eight countries have also expressed interest in the 2019 tournament – Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, South

Africa, Australia, Japan and Russia.  

  ALAN STOREY (pictured), one of Britain's top distance coaches for more than 30 years, is to leave his post as the senior performance manager for endurance, UK Athletics confirmed today.

with Kate Reed, 25, an athlete he was coaching, while they were together on a funded training trip to South

Africa.  

  ALAN STOREY (pictured), one of Britain's top distance coaches for more than 30 years, is to leave his post as the senior performance manager for endurance, UK Athletics confirmed today.

with Kate Reed, 25, an athlete he was coaching, while they were together on a funded training trip to South

Africa.  

 AUGUST 7 -BRITAIN'S Sir Craig Reedie (pictured) has failed to win a seat on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board.

Also, the IOC picked Durban in South Africa over Hong Kong to hold its General Assembly in 2011, when

It will be the second IOC Session held in Africa, and first since Cairo, Egypt, in 1938.

  THE Beijing Olympics have not even taken place yet, let alone the 2012 Games, but, as insidethegames well-connected columnist DAVID OWEN reports, the race host 2016 is already hotting up

sport all over the world from dogsledding in Yukon to cricket in Chicago and football in Japan and South

Africa.

 ENGLAND will discover in December 2010 whether they have been chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) revealed today.

Valcke appeared to suggest that FIFA would favour a European host country for 2018 after it is staged in South

Africa in 2010 and Brazil.  

stadiums are ready, so there are a few European countries for sure will not have to spend as much money as South

Africa is doing or as Brazil will have to do because there is not a single, what we call, World Cup

"These will come from four confederations as Africa and South America will not have access to 2018.

 AUGUST 20 - BRITISH pair Keri-Anne Payne (pictured left) and Cassie Patten (right) won silver and bronze medals in the open-water 10km race as it made his Olympic debut at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park today.

Payne, a 20-year-old born in South Africa, came home second in 1:59.29.2 with Patten finishing in 1:59.31.0

South Africa's Natalie Du Toit, an amputee who won five gold medals at the Paralympics in 2004, finished

  THE Dutch and Belgian football associations have today agreed to establish a joint foundation to prepare their bid to co-host the 2018 World Cup finals, where they will be up against England.

South Africa will host the 2010 edition while Brazil will stage the tournament in 2014.

 ENGLAND may have had to wait a couple of days to win its first medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune but they made up for lost time today with six gold, one silver and two bronze medals and now lie in second place in the overall medals table behind host nation India.

Commonwealth Youth Games record of 18.56m with his final throw to snatch the gold medal from Stephen Brink of South

Africa.  

 JUNE 3 - MINISTER FOR TRADE & INVESTMENT Lord Digby Jones (pictured) is leading the push to encourage British companies to launch into the global sports sector.

He said: "Whether it's the World Cup in South Africa or the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, representatives

delivery of the volunteer programme which will be critical to the success of the 2010 World Cup in South

Africa, it was announced today.

The UYF was set up by the South African Government in 2001 to promote skills development, job creation

will ensure that the lessons learned will become part of the legacy of the event and benefit young South

 FRANKIE FREDERICKS (pictured), one of the greatest sprinters in history and now a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is to run for the presidency of Athletics Namibia in an effort to help shape the sport in the build-up to London 2012. 

Commission, has a dream of making Namibia, which shares borders with Angola,  Zambia, Botswana and South

Africa and has a population of 1.8 million, as successful as some of its African neighbours.  

 FRANKIE FREDERICKS (pictured), one of the greatest sprinters in history and now a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is to run for the presidency of Athletics Namibia in an effort to help shape the sport in the build-up to London 2012. 

Commission, has a dream of making Namibia, which shares borders with Angola,  Zambia, Botswana and South

Africa and has a population of 1.8 million, as successful as some of its African neighbours.