It is quite a feat if you stop to think about it.

It was something of a shock when it dawned on me that I should now be "celebrating" - if that is a word we are allowed to use in these dark days by our ramshackle leaders - my 65th year in journalism.

The image of the black-gloved, raised fists protest by 200 metres medallists Tommie Smith, Peter Norman and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics has assumed iconic status.

On Saturday (December 12), as part of the virtual Congress of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), elections were held for the new President of the organisation. Most delegates from 155 countries participating in the vote elected the secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF), Umar Kremlev, as the new head of AIBA. 

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) declaration this week that it will not sanction athletes for demonstrating at the Olympics and Paralympics has reopened discussion regarding Rule 50, which had been largely dormant in recent months.

With significant positive developments concerning the COVID-19 vaccine coming in recent weeks, we can all be quietly optimistic of a slow and steady return to some sort of normality.

Earlier this week, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach made the dramatic announcement of sanctions against those who run Olympic sport in Belarus.

We are on the eve of a historic Presidential election at the International Boxing Association (AIBA). 

Many of us thought it might never happen, but on Saturday (December 12) the International Boxing Association (AIBA) will finally elect a new President.

And so, after much palaver, the main takeaways regarding the Paris 2024 sports programme boil down to this: breakdancing is in; cross-country running isn't.

Thankfully we are nearing the end of what Her Majesty might call the world’s "annus horribilis." The cavalry are coming over the hill, needles poised and maybe, just maybe soon after we enter 2021 we can start getting back to the the old normal.

There was some irony on Saturday (December 5) in the fact that the Female World Athlete of the Year award went to a competitor whose event, the triple jump, would have been relegated from the top tier of the sport’s annual programme in 2020 had coronavirus not thrown all sporting plans into disarray.

Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report titled "’They’re Chasing Us Away from Sport’ - Human Rights Violations in Sex Testing of Elite Women Athletes”".

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was just quizzed on current concerns related to the intense schedule facing players, amid a backlog of fixtures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.