pictured), the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has encouraged Africa

The success of the tournament has led to South Africa launching a bid for the 2020 Olympics and Diack

"But what South Africa did proved them wrong.

" Africa has hosted the World Cross Country Championships at Marrakech in 1998 and Mombassa in

"South Africa has proved to the world that we are ready and what we are waiting for is a city to

"   The earliest Africa could stage the event would be in 2017.

July 18 - Sweden's Lisa Norden won a thrilling sprint finish against Australia's world champion Emma Moffatt to claim victory in today's Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Hamburg as Ireland's Aileen Morrison made a major breakthrough to finish third.

" Rounding out the top five were Kate Roberts of South Africa in fourth and Vicky Holland of Britain

By Mike Rowbottom July 16 - Triple world record holder Usain Bolt had said he was capable of running 9.70sec in tonight’s Samsung Diamond League meeting in Paris, but he managed to beat his fellow Jamaicans Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake with a time of 9.84 on an evening when David Oliver (pictured) came within two hundredths of a second of the world 110 metres hurdles record.

far, far, too good for the rest of the field and was a magisterial winner in 1:43.50, beating South Africa

By Mike Rowbottom A group of female athletes are lying on mats by the running track attached to Tonbridge School, in Kent. They are being taken through core exercises, designed to strengthen the body, by Tonbridge’s famous favourite daughter - Kelly Holmes. Dressed in black shorts and crop top, Holmes, who turned 40 this year, still has the lean look of a competing athlete, although she insists that nowadays, with her commitments to the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and her work as President of Commonwealth Games England, she hardly gets time to train.

"It could have been the case that Kelly came over to South Africa for part of the time to get things

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 14 - David Beckham has revealed that he still harbours ambitions of playing for Britain at the London 2012 Olympics when he will be 37.

who is currently recovering from the Achilles injury that kept him out of the World Cup in South Africa

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 14 - London 2012 are to launch the first-ever Olympic and Paralympic sticker collection after confirming that Panini has become an licensee of the Games.

football collections, to pop, to TV series and toy brands, including the FIFA World Cup in South Africa

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 13 - South Africa will bid to host

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge, who met with South Africa President

Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg on Sunday, had always said that they would welcome a bid from South Africa

, especially as Africa is the only continent never to have been awarded the Games.

at [email protected] Related stories July 2010: Rogge - It is up to South Africa

- International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge claimed today that South Africa

"From the start, when South Africa were named as World Cup hosts, we all knew the country would

"This country has hosted a very successful All Africa Games [in 1999], a Rugby World Cup [in 1995

2010: South African public want us to bid for Olympics admits President June 2010: Exclusive - South Africa

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 12 - Britain's Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) are to seek an urgent meeting with London 2012 officials over proposals from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to sell some seats usually reserved for the media to the public.

seats in stadiums that were supposed to be sold-out that overshadowed the FIFA World Cup in South Africa

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 12 - A new study released today claims that if Australia is chosen to host the 2022 World Cup it will be worth $35.5 billion (£20.6 billion) for the country's economy - more than four times the amount generated by the Sydney Olympics.

Australia's bid as the campaign moves into a critical new phase following the end of the World Cup in South Africa

By Duncan Mackay British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 11 - The Olympics is a "second-class" event compared to the FIFA World Cup, Formula One President Bernie Ecclestone claimed today.

The 79-year-old admitted that the success of the World Cup in South Africa had shown him the potential

that Africa offers but he was concentrating first on establishing a race in Russia.

"Africa is limited for all the people who are involved in F1 for business, whereas Russia is wide

July 11 - South Africa's world 800 metres champion Caster Semenya is to concentrate on the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi after deciding that she will not be fit enough to be ready in time for the African Championships at the end of this month.

But Athletics South Africa (ASA) said Semenya have left out of the 42-member team for the continental

commit itself to launching a bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics even though South Africa

2010: South African public want us to bid for Olympics admits President June 2010: Exclusive - South Africa

could start 2020 Olympic bid process in August June 2010: South Africa bid for 2020 Olympics encouraged

British Sports Internet Writer of the Year July 8 - FIFA President Sepp Blatter has urged South Africa

There is a growing momentum for South Africa to put forward either Cape Town, Durban or Johannesburg

Rogge has already encouraged South Africa to put itself forward and now Blatter has joined the growing

"It is also time that Africa, specifically South Africa, organises the Olympic Games.

But it will also give South Africa the perfect opportunity to showcase a potential bid for 2020.

Blatter said: "It [the IOC Session] is the first step towards the opening of South Africa,

confident that London 2012 will not suffer the problems that has overshadowed the FIFA World Cup in South Africa