HAVING rugby as part of the Olympics would help make it more commercially successful, the sport's chief executive claimed today.

A DEMONSTRATION rugby tournament may be played at Twickenham before the 2012 Olympics as part of the International Rugby Board's (IRB) latest effort to return the sport to the Games for the first time since 1924, it was reported today.

July 2 - Gordon Tietjens (pictured), the coach of New Zealand's successful rugby sevens team, has said that the sport is the perfect fit for inclusion in the Olympics.

Rugby sevens campaign to be included in the 2016 Olympics has received a boost after it was confirmed that there were no positive drugs tests at the World Cup in Dubai earlier this year.

AUGUST 10 - JOHN O'NEILL, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, said today that he is confident his sport will be readmitted to the Olympic Games in 2016.

SEPTEMBER 19 - NEW ZEALAND captain Richie McCaw (pictured) has thrown his support behind rugby union's efforts to win back its place in the Olympics after a 92-year absence.

AUGUST 22 - THE International Rugby Board (IRB) are to introduce a new rule that clubs must release players to take part in the Olympics if it is accepted on to the Games programme for 2016.

May 25 - Several more leading international rugby players, including South Africa's Jean de Villiers (pictured), have backed the sport's bid to regain its place in the 2016 Olympics after 92-year absence.

By Duncan Mackay

May 26 - Rugby is prepared to make a $20 million (£12.5 million) financial sacrifice to regain its place in the Olympics, the sport's chief exeuctive Mike Miller told insidethegames today.

April 5 - Adelaide is considering a bid to host the 2013 World Cup Rugby Sevens, the sport's leading administrator in Australia said today.

April 16 - Rugby sevens hopes of being admitted to the Olympic programme for the 2016 Games have been boosted by record television figures at the World Cup in Dubai last month.

JULY 28 - GETTING rugby sevens into the Olympics is one of the key recommendations of a new report into the future of the sport published today.

MARCH 3 - THE Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009, which start in Dubai on Thursday, has been boosted by the announcement of further television broadcast deals that will increase the global coverage of the showpiece event as it seeks to get into the 2016 Olympics.

MARCH 5 - RUGBY SEVENS campaign to get into the 2016 Olympics received another boost today when the International Rugby Players' Association (IRPA) and England's Rugby Football Union both threw their support behind the bid.

MARCH 6 - FORMER England captain Lawrence Dallaglio (pictured) has become he latest high-profile figure to back rugby sevens bid to get voted onto the Olympic programme for the 2016 Games.