David Owen: There may be blood - sports events and the collapsing oil price

Duncan Mackay
David Owen head and shouldersIn a recent meeting between the President of a sizeable energy exporter and one of world sport's foremost power brokers, the oil price, understandably, was the first topic broached – but not in the way you might expect.

"Tell me," said the President to his distinguished visitor, "What was the oil price the first time we met?"

The answer was $25 (£16/€20) a barrel and the implication, presumably, that times remained relatively good and that the rout which has seen the price of Brent crude halve to around $60 (£39/€49) in the space of six months would not panic the country into rethinking its international-status-through-sport policy.

Sports event owners, who in recent times have grown dependent on prestige-hungry oil and gas-producing states in the Gulf and Eastern Europe/Central Asia, must be hoping, as a turbulent year nears its conclusion, that such attitudes hold good into 2015.

As citizens in cuddly, affluent Western Europe, as well as vigorous, youthful democracies such as Brazil, have manifested scepticism about the local benefits of hosting big sporting events, energy producers with compliant populations have stepped into the breach, their appetites unsated.

This demand for events from the likes of Qatar, Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as China, has propped up the sector at a time when pickings might otherwise have been slim.

For all the criticism they have weathered, notably over their successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the international sports business wouldn't half miss little Qatar if it turned its back on the industry.

Fortunately, as illustrated most recently by this week's 10-year sponsorship deal with England's Goodwood racecourse, there seems no sign whatsoever of this happening.

The sports industry would suffer if the current oil crisis forced Qatar to scale back on the events its hosts, even if many of their bids have proved controversial ©Getty ImagesThe sports industry would suffer if the current oil crisis forced Qatar to scale back on the events its hosts, even if many of their bids have proved controversial ©Getty Images

Nor would I expect the use of sport as a tool of state noticeably to diminish elsewhere in the Gulf, or in energy-rich former Soviet republics, unless the oil price remains at or below present levels for an extended period.

The Gulf states, by and large, have small populations already prosperous from energy exports and bulging sovereign wealth funds well capable of tiding the region over while prices are low.

They also have zero tradition of the sort of moderate popular dissent that derailed a number of prospective and actual European Winter Olympic and Paralympic bids.

That too is true of the former Soviet republics, and while their populations are less well-off, more far-flung and rather more numerous than their Gulf counterparts, I have the strong impression that their leaders are determined and impatient nation-builders.

Nor is their room for manoeuvre restricted by the supply-side disciplines that members of the OPEC cartel might in time be required to abide by.

For a fair period at least, I suspect their inclination may be to make good the loss of revenue as a result of the price fall where possible by stepping up production.

When I visited Turkmenistan last month, far from cutting back, the projected size of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, to be staged in Ashgabat, seemed to expand almost by the hour.

I was startled to note that the part-built $5 billion (£3.5 billion/€4 billion) Olympic Complex incorporated an on-site monorail.

I do not though think that the international sports business will escape entirely unscathed from what is going on in the oil market.

Sochi 2014 showed Russia could stage world-class events but the current economic crisis there may curtail its ambitions to host future events, including the 2024 Summer Olympics ©Getty ImagesSochi 2014 showed Russia could stage world-class events but the current economic crisis there may curtail its ambitions to host future events, including the 2024 Summer Olympics ©Getty Images

There is one country where plans will, almost inevitably, need to be reassessed, and it is a biggie: Russia.

The key difference here is that the energy market is just one of at least three interrelated sources of instability, the others being sanctions in response to the situation in Ukraine/Crimea and the plunging value of the rouble.

I speculated in September that, with so many major international championships earmarked for the country in the run-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the sports sector might well find it was overexposed to the threat of a new Cold War.

So the warning signs have been there; in this context, the main impact of $60 a barrel oil could be to send these chickens winging their way home to roost a good deal earlier than expected.

Not all business interests in Russia will be hurting even if the recent hike in interest rates will hit borrowers and choke off growth: the rouble's decline means that each barrel of Russian oil yields a similar number of Russian currency units as it did in the summer; producers of dollar-denominated commodities whose dollar prices have not fallen significantly should be swimming in roubles.

But of course the price of anything imported will seem much more expensive at just the time when the country has far fewer dollars at its disposal.

I would expect, then, sports goods manufacturers selling products manufactured elsewhere to suffer a pronounced decline in demand in Russia.

And - potentially more serious for those whose businesses are related to the international sports events industry - I would expect organisers of competitions already set to take place in Russia, such as next year's World Aquatics and World Fencing Championships, to cut back as much as possible on imported goods and services.

Budgets for events like the World Fencing Championships, due to be staged in Kazan for the second consecutive year in 2015, could be affected by the Russian economic crisis ©Kazan 2014Budgets for events like the World Fencing Championships, due to be staged in Kazan for the second consecutive year in 2015, could be affected by the Russian economic crisis
©Kazan 2014

Russia is a cultured, sophisticated country with high levels of domestic experience and expertise.

So such strictures might be expected to impact it, and the events themselves, less than in most other countries, certainly those mentioned in this article.

If I were an international sports consultant, however, I don't think I would want my business plan to be too heavily reliant on Russia over the next couple of years.

Also - while trying to second-guess Russia is, as many who know it far better than me (starting with Churchill) have realised, as fraught with danger as trying to second-guess the price of oil in a year or two's time - I think we can probably kiss goodbye to any realistic prospect of a St Petersburg bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Under normal circumstances, Sochi 2014 would, in spite of its controversies, have served as an impressive stepping-stone to a Russian Summer Games bid.

It still very well might; but the chances of this being for 2024, given that such a bid must be launched next year, have I think receded significantly.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

Mike Rowbottom: Horse trading is the Olympic version of the football transfer window

Mike Rowbottom

mike rowbottom ©insidethegamesFor some it's sport. For others dogs. For yet others horses. We're talking here about what animates people.

Say "Horse & Hound" to me and I think of Hugh Grant's panic response in the film Notting Hill when he has to say what magazine he represents in order to talk to the object of his affections, film star Anna Scott, as played by Julia Roberts.

But an online story recently from the oldest equestrian magazine in the UK - it's been galloping on since 1884 - tells of a bewildering (to me) world of swapping horses as if they were football managers.

When some people think of Horse & Hound, they think of Hugh Grant in the film Notting Hill. Others think of an equestrian magazine which has been galloping on since 1884 ©Getty ImagesWhen some people think of Horse & Hound, they think of Hugh Grant in the film Notting Hill. Others think of an equestrian magazine which has been galloping on since 1884
©Getty Images

So there was this very good showjumper, name of Callahan (sired by Contendro, first Dam by the name of Flare, try and keep up), and it was one of the horses ridden by Netherlands rider Gerco Schroder, who won an Olympic silver medal in the individual event at London 2012. But not on Callahan. He did that on a horse called London.

Then Callahan, and London, and 28 other showjumpers owned by Eurocommerce Stables, had to be sold in an online auction after a Dutch court ruled on March 5 that Rabobank had the right to collect assets from the bankrupt owner.

The total for all the lots came to €11,126,151 (£8.7 million, $13.5 million). Which was apparently less than expected. Poor old Rabobank.

Within that total, London netted €8.6 million (£6.7 million, $10.5 million), and Callahan cost its new owner €180,000 (£141,000, $220,000). The new owner of Callahan was top Saudi Arabian rider Abdullah Al Sharbatly, an Olympic team bronze medallist at London 2012.

Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Al Sharbatly, on his newly purchased horse Callahan, en route to gold at this year's Asian Games in Incheon ©AFP/Getty ImagesSaudi Arabia's Abdullah Al Sharbatly, on his newly purchased horse Callahan, en route to gold at this year's Asian Games in Incheon ©AFP/Getty Images

Al Sharbatly has had a great year on Callahan, with whom he won gold at the recent Asian Games in Incheona.

But the maxim "never change a winning formula" clearly has no credence in the world of equestrianism.

Before the year is out, Al Sharbatly has got rid of his golden partner, who has been sold on to his fellow London 2012 Olympian Ahmad Hamcho. The 19-year-old Syrian rider, who is based in London, is now aiming to qualify for next year's International Equestrian Federation (FEI) World Cup finals in Las Vegas.

You could call it a gamble - but the odds would appear to be stacked in his favour given Callahan's pedigree. Indeed, the new partnership has already been successful at the Marocco Royal Tour event.

Syria's Ahmad Hamcho competing on Wonderboy at the London 2012 Olympics. He has now bought Callahan ©Sports Illustrated/Getty ImagesSyria's Ahmad Hamcho competing on Wonderboy at the London 2012 Olympics. He has now bought Callahan ©Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

All this shuffling horses about has got the horse-y set buzzing, if the Horse & Hounds Facebook conversation prompted by the article demonstrates. It seems to take some time for the idea that someone can compete in Syria and yet be based in London to sink in.

Suggestions that the horse would be kept in Syria have been discounted, as has the idea that an expensive thoroughbred show jumper would ever have less than a cosseted lifestyle. The suggestion is made that these sums paid for showjumpers represent "an obscene amount of money when third world countries are struggling to survive!"

The suggestion is quashed. "What does one have to do with the other? There's always going to be rich and poor, everywhere. So those with money, in your logic, shouldn't spend it as they see fit, out of guilt because others don't have money? This logic is flawed."

All told, a lot of sound and fury is generated. What is it about horses?

Shortly before the London 2012 Olympics got underway, I attended a news conference at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich at which Britain's three-day eventing team, including  Zara Phillips, were speaking about their looming challenge.

For the Queen's grand-daughter - who was about to emulate her parents, the Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, by competing on a horse at an Olympic Games - the occasion was clearly something of a drag.

Asked what kind of response there had been from her mother and father upon hearing of her Olympic selection, given their own Olympic history, Phillips initially refused to jump.

"Not much," she responded with a sideways look. "Mum fell off. I don't think my dad ran cross country.

"My dad's not a big talker. He's more interested in training. He comes across that way instead."

(Princess Anne, finished 24th in individual three-day event at the 1976 Montreal Games, but fell heavily on the cross country during the team event, suffering severe concussion. Captain Mark Phillips won two Olympic medals in the three-day event - team gold at Munich 1972, and team silver in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. )

It was when she was asked about Toytown, on whom she had won the world title in 2006, that the royal rider appeared to find the proceedings worthwhile.

Comparing Toytown, whom she had ridden down the finishing straight at Cheltenham the previous month bearing the Olympic Torch, to her current horse, High Kingdom, she began to express herself with freedom and enthusiasm. The latter was a "very different horse," she said, adding: "He's probably more relaxed and laid back. Toytown loved the crowd - Kingdom wouldn't be as flash on the flat, but he's a very good jumper, nippy, so hopefully the track at Greenwich will suit him.

"He definitely senses the big occasion. We work day in day out to make sure we can use it to our advantage and keep him able to give his best performance at big competitions."

Zara Phillips, riding Toytown, carries the Olympic Torch at Cheltenham in the lead-up to London 2012 ©Getty ImagesZara Phillips, riding Toytown, carries the Olympic Torch at Cheltenham in the lead-up to London 2012 ©Getty Images

Meanwhile Gerco Schroder has been blissfully reunited with London - the horse, not the city - in roundabout fashion. London was purchased at the online sale by Austrian couple Gaston and Kathrin Cook (Gaston is founder of the world-renowned firearms company Glock). Having laid out €8.6 million, these two equestrian enthusiasts - who were already sponsoring Dutch dressage, set about getting the horse back to The Netherlands and the man who had ridden it so successfully for the previous six years.

"I am so incredibly happy," Gerco said. "There really are no words to describe how I feel. That the Glock family has bought London so we can stay together is the greatest gift ever."

Shortly afterwards, the familiar pairing helped The Netherlands take team gold at the FEI World Championships in Normandy.

As they say in equestrianism – never change a winning formula...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Patrick Nally: International sport has reached a tipping point it can no longer ignore

Duncan Mackay
Patrick Nally ©ITGIt's now more than 40 years since I first worked in international sport and I have seen tremendous turbulence and significant change in the market ever since. But, quite frankly, I am not sure whether there has ever been another year like 2014 when it comes to off-field events hogging the headlines.

Earlier in the year I spoke to the FIFA Masters Alumni meeting in São Paulo ahead of the World Cup. There were few, if any, dissenting voices when I suggested that football - in common with many other sports - had reached a tipping point. 

There were a number of triggers for the discussion. First was the massive cost of the World Cup which had triggered protests on the streets of Brazil in 2013  among those who complained that the state was funding a FIFA jamboree which would earn them little or nothing and was deflecting public spending from health, education and public transport.

At much the same time the Olympic Movement was experiencing its own difficulties as a number of cities, most notably Munich and Oslo, decided not to bid to stage the 2022 Winter Games, again because of the cost.

Further down the sporting food chain other Federations continue to face up to their individual difficulties in attracting a bigger slice of the media and commercial revenues which flow to the biggest sports properties. For many of these remaining on the Olympic schedule is a funding lifeline but there are fears that lifeline may be cut in favour of alternative, more youth friendly sports.

Many Brazilians were angry at the money its country spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup, leading to several demonstrations ©Getty ImagesMany Brazilians were angry at the money its country spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup, leading to several demonstrations ©Getty Images

More recently, of course, FIFA got itself into an even bigger mess and damaged its reputation still further thanks to its inept handling of the Garcia report into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, a fiasco which forced his resignation and diminished even further an organisation which talks freely of integrity and transparency. There have been many serious allegations made about FIFA and its conduct over the years but 2014 ends in an all-time low for the organisation and its leader.

Yet there is no reason to expect that anything will change any time soon. Sepp Blatter will stand for election in May and the chances are his only opposition will come in the shape of Jérôme Champagne, an ex-diplomat and FIFA staffer who does not appear to have any kind of mandate from any of FIFA's Confederations and is thought of in some quarters simply as a stooge to make Blatter's inevitable re-election seem more palatable to the incredulous on-looking media.

Champagne is a decent man who holds the interests of football close to his heart and who says all the right things about the need for change at FIFA but he is still not a serious candidate to unseat a man who has done everything in his power to curry favour with the FIFA electorate over the years, despite saying he would not stand again.

Over at the International Olympic (IOC), new President Thomas Bach lost little time in instigating the Agenda 2020 review into all areas of the organisation and its operations which had been promised in his election manifesto. Its 40 recommendations were published in November and I think it is fair to say that few of us lost much sleep in fevered anticipation of its radical findings.

What was produced was a document which contained very few surprises but cleverly served the purpose of positioning President Bach as a man who didn't sit around and could be relied on to get things done. Much of Agenda 2020 contains promises to do things which really should have been done in any case. With the exception of a new, more consultative and possibly more permissive approach to bidding and the fascinating prospect of an Olympic TV channel, one is left to ask what it really changes.

But at least the IOC was genuinely trying to see itself through the eyes of the rest of the world and to find ways of being more relevant in a fast-changing world.

IOC President Thomas Bach has seen his reputation enhanced by the adoption of his Agenda 2020, although it contained few radical ideas ©IOCIOC President Thomas Bach has seen his reputation enhanced by the adoption of his Agenda 2020, although it contained few radical ideas ©IOC

As we go into 2015 I don't think I can remember a time when sport has been so powerful and wealthy on one hand or so disjointed and confused on the other.

Sport has to face up to the fact that with  the power that comes with massive media coverage and incredible fees from the media and commercial partners comes a new level of accountability and responsibility, not just to those who elect the members of sports bodies but to the wider world.

This is the tipping point we have reached. Those who connect with all their stakeholders including Governments, fans and the media will thrive while those who fail will find opportunities closing and popularity waning.

It may surprise some readers to learn that among the organisations with a keen interest in this subject is UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. I am delighted to be working with UNESCO to organise a follow-up meeting to the 2013 Berlin meeting of Sports Ministers from around the world which aims to go beyond the understandable introspection of the IOC's Agenda 2020 and the travails of FIFA to take a more expansive look at the relationship between sport and its key stakeholders and answer the questions;: "What has to change?  Is there a new way for sport?

The meeting will be joined by representatives of sports bodies, the media and the world of commerce to discuss issues around hosting major events. But as it is impossible to divorce event hosting from issues of governance, commerce and funding, the conversation will inevitably become far wider.

The objective is a meeting which will examine the realities of sport worldwide, including in some of the world's smaller and most impoverished countries It will be a conference which will, in part at least, look for ways of sharing the benefits of hosting sports events more broadly   and finding new ways of addressing the funding issues which currently determine outcomes.

Every stakeholder has a role to play in this process, not least sport's paymasters - the media companies and brands whose money is the lifeblood of 21st century sport.

As we go into 2015 it's worth considering the tipping point we have reached. On one side is the Doomsday scenario in which feeble, short-sighted and opaque governance combine with revulsion to doping, other forms of cheating and the vast costs involved to create a situation in which fewer outside dictatorships wants to host sports events, companies don't want to sponsor them and broadcasters see no point in paying massive rights fees because the public has become disengaged and indifferent.

That's not going to happen overnight of course which means that there is still time to address key issues and to find a "new way" for sport to remain the powerful force for the positive which it has become over the past four decades or so.

The UNESCO Conference can be seen as an important step in the right direction.

Patrick Nally is chief executive of West Nally, the company he founded with BBC sports broadcaster Peter West in the 1970s, and through which he transformed the relationship between the worlds of sports and commerce by creating the blueprint for sponsorship which generates billions for FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and other major rights owners to this day. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Alan Hubbard: One young Muslim boxer dares to dream as Khans confront radical Islamist extremism

Alan Hubbard ©ITGAs a fighter, Amir Khan has never been short of bottle, which is what in boxing they call bravery. Now the former world champion and Olympic silver medallist has demonstrated he also has both courage and class outside the ring too by becoming one of the few high profile Muslim sports personalities to put his head above the parapet and express his outrage at the shameful atrocities committed by the inhuman extremist zealots who defile his religion.

More than that, after Christmas Khan is to spend the New Year in Pakistan, the birthplace of his parents, to "send a statement" to the Taliban about his revulsion at their massacre of 132 schoolkids and several of their teachers in the North Western Province of Peshawar last week.

He realises his own life might be endangered but declares: "Talking about this stuff could be threatening for me but I must speak out and tell people that what is happening is wrong. They were innocent kids. I cannot believe how sick in the mind some people are. Have they got no brains? It has to stop.

"Some people don't walk to talk about the Taliban or other extremist groups but I'm open. I want to speak the truth."

The 28-year-old Khan has already donated the 24 carat gold thread shorts, worth around £30,000 (which he wore when producing perhaps the most scintillating performance of his 33-fight career in defeating top American welterweight Devon Alexander recently in Las Vegas) to help rebuild the army school so mercilessly desecrated by the Taliban.

He says: "I hope by going to Pakistan it will send a statement that not all Muslims are terrorists, that we despise what is happing in the name of our religion and that things like this just set the country way back."

Amir Khan sold the shorts he wore when beating Devon Alexander to raise money to help rebuild the army school in Peshawar so mercilessly desecrated by the Taliban ©Getty ImagesAmir Khan sold the shorts he wore when beating Devon Alexander to raise money to help rebuild the army school in Peshawar so mercilessly desecrated by the Taliban
©Getty Images



Khan's courage, evident from the Olympics of a decade ago in Athens when as a teenager he valiantly fought a solo battle for Britain, losing only to the Cuban Mario Kindelan, then the world's finest amateur, in the final, is to be admired.

The Pakistan atrocity has been similarly condemned by another famous sporting Khan, ex-cricketer-turned-politician Imran, who visited the school in Peshawar and called on the nation to unite "to fight the menace of terrorism".

Yet the Khans are relatively lone spokespersons among sport's Muslim community, though Muhammad Ali, worryingly hospitalised with a bout of pneumonia, has always vehemently condemned Islamic extremism and was among the first to speak out after 9/11.

But it would be good if such as double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah, the England Test cricketer Moeen Ali, who, like Amir is of Pakistani descent, and former world champion Naseem Hamed, freshly elected to boxing's Hall of Fame, also publicly stood up to be counted, alongside Muslims prominent in football, baseball, basketball and squash. As Amir says, it could make a difference.

While maniac groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS, aka the Islamic State, have yet to use sport as a vehicle for their warped ideological warfare, who is to say that one day they won't. Unless of course, Islamic State do a Kosovo and eventually become members of the International Olympic Committee!

Imran Khan is another Muslim sportsman who has spoke out about the atrocities committed by radical Islamist groups ©Getty ImagesImran Khan is another Muslim sportsman who has spoke out about the atrocities committed by radical Islamist groups ©Getty Images


Meantime, before he leaves for Pakistan, I suggest Amir Khan takes a short trip across Lancashire from his Bolton to Darwen, where a chat with a young fellow boxer would underscore his antipathy towards terrorism.

For the scars around the eyebrows of Ajmal Faizy were not inflicted in any fight, but a grim legacy of a more terrifying encounter as a 13-year-old in his native Afghanistan when he was brutally beaten and tortured by the Taliban.

How he fled that troubled land to become one of the rising stars of British boxing is a story astonishing even by the many extraordinary tales of the unexpected which inhabit the sport.

It began eight years ago in a small Afghan village near the town of Charinkar in the province Parvan, some 70 kilometres from the capital, Kabul. Faizy's family owned some arable farmland, its fertile soil producing grapes and vegetables, through which ran a small river. One day the Taliban came calling and demanded it be handed over to them.

Faizy's's father, Abdul Salam, refused. So they took him to a barn, hanged him upside down for three days and savagely beat him. He died soon after.

As the new head of the family, teenage Ajmal became the target of Taliban brutality when they
returned with a renewed demand.

Young Muslim boxer Ajmal Faizy has overcome torture from the Taliban to become a rising star in British boxing ©TwitterYoung Muslim boxer Ajmal Faizy has overcome torture from the Taliban to become a rising star in British boxing ©Twitter



Now, Faizy dispassionately recalls how they first threatened him, and then set about him with sticks and clubs. "They beat me up badly, smashing my teeth, my face and shoulder. I still have the scars," he told insidethegames.

The Taliban may have broken his bones, but not his spirit. He told them he would not allow them to take the land. "How could I? It was my family's only income and we would have had nowhere else to go."

It was when the Taliban said they would kill him when they next came back that Faizy's mother decided he must flee. She sold off part of the land - not to the Taliban but to another farmer - to raise the money to send her son to Kabul and then abroad.

In Kabul a family friend hastily arranged a plane ticket to Dubai, where Faizy was put on another flight. "I had no idea where it was going," he says. It happened to be Manchester.

On landing at Ringway, and speaking no English, he was detained while an interpreter was brought. Eventually, after an investigation into the boy's story, he was given temporary refugee status and placed with a foster family in Darwen, near Blackburn.

It was there that the next phase of his astonishing journey unfolded. Wandering through the town he walked into a local gymnasium run by well-known veteran boxing trainer Barry Higginson. Although he had never boxed he accepted Higginson's invitation to punch the bags.

Liking what he saw, the trainer, whose family have "adopted" the youngster, not only taught him how to box, but helped him learn English, which he now speaks fluently with a Lancashire burr. He was found a place at Rhyddings School in Oswaldtwistle, where he went on to get a fistful of GCSEs.

Meantime AJ, as he is now known, had also embarked on a successful amateur boxing career as a promising light-welterweight, winning all his bouts.

He has now turned pro - the first Afghan to do so - and at 21 is unbeaten in four fights, winning three by k.o.

Ajmal Faizy knows all too well the atrocious acts committed by radicalised Islamist groups, a cause that Amir Khan is fighting against in his trip to Pakistan ©TwitterAjmal Faizy knows all too well the atrocious acts committed by radicalised Islamist groups, a cause that Amir Khan is fighting against in his trip to Pakistan ©Twitter


Higginson, enthuses: "He's a terrific prospect. A natural. He boxes like a Mexican, full of grit and fire with a hell of a punch. He's exciting and there's so much to him. He's also got the right mind-set for boxing, a very tough kid. He's got a big heart, he can bang and he's in your face all the time. He's a right good lad too. Really pleasant and appreciative. I just wish I had another ten boxers like him."

His promoter, Steve Wood, sees his story as a good news tale that can benefit the sport as a whole. "Boxing sometimes gets a bad press but AJ's story is a great example of the good that can come from it," he says.

It is one that has even stirred the World Boxing Council, who recently awarded him and his trainer their WBC Champions' medal. Says President Mauricio Sulaiman: "This young man is already a champion of life by his courage and determination to overcome so many disasters."

Faizy, who has applied for British citizenship, is a volunteer worker at Age UK while studying at college to be a plumber, now has a ring nickname. They call him "The Dream".

That is because he has one. "Obviously I would love to become a world champion but more than that I want to win a Lonsdale Belt as a British champion. My trainer has told me so much about its history and prestige and winning one would mean so much because this country has been so good to me.

"My mother and sister are still in Afghanistan and I pray for them every day. With everything that's happened, boxing takes away all the stress. It was a very bad time in Afghanistan, but I'm happy now."

His is an immensely heartening story which lifts the spirits a time when all that is good in the sporting world must come out fighting, as Amir Khan has, to help overcome evil.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

Nick Butler: A review of 2014 - from Iranian volleyball arrests to Usain Bolt press conferences

Nick Butler
Nick Butler 2 1In what has been my first full calendar year at insidethegames, from a personal perspective it has been quite a 12 months.

Consisting of precisely 50 airplane flights, it ranged from the high of covering a first Olympic and Commonwealth Games, to the low of three broken laptops and the realisation - during a mountain-top funicular ride to end a two hour journey to the Sochi Cross Country and Biathlon Centre - that I was wearing my boss's identical company jacket and had thus commandeered his wallet, credit card and any means of him eating, drinking or travelling for the rest of the day...

Here are some of the other highlights in the topsy-turvy world of sport politics.

Running theme of 2014:

• A year which began so promisingly with a six-strong 2022 Olympic race soon began to falter with the withdrawal of Stockholm followed by the rapidly escalating crisis in Ukraine. But that was only the beginning, as over spring and summer we had the farce of Krakow's referendum-fuelled nightmare followed by the ever-escalating aggression of the anti-Oslo 2022 lobby, with all records for comments on insidethegames stories broken. By October we had something of a damp squib, with the two bids remaining from Almaty and Beijing low on drama and energy. Yet, you certainly couldn't have predicted how it played out this time last year, so maybe there are many more twists and turns left over coming months.

• Agenda 2020 must be the most uttered phrase in our stories this year, as the year-long reform process seems to have impacted virtually every topic. At the centre it all was International Olympic Committee boss Thomas Bach, speaking again and again about "pieces on a jigsaw" and "getting couch potatoes off the couch". The culminating Session in Monte Carlo, where all 20+20 recommendations were passed, was slightly farcical, and after spending all year writing about how Bach must be judged after it, we are now saying he must be judged again in another 12 months when the impact of some of the changes is felt. But it has certainly shaken things up, within international governing bodies and bidding cities alike.

• Although I have not covered it quite as closely as the other two, 2014 has, in a sports politics sense, been all about the drama, and sheer ridiculousness of FIFA. We had luxury watch-gifts, Presidential contest "will-he-won't-he's", and then the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 corruption allegations, and last week's resignation of chief investigator Michael Garcia. In Britain, Blatter and FIFA's reputation is now roughly on a par with Kim Jong-un. Elsewhere it remains slightly better, but some gaping unanswered questions remain. We don't expect much more to come to light in 2015, but we can certainly expect more in the way of allegations, excuses, fun and games.

Love him or hate him, Sepp Blatter has been an omnipresent figure in 2014 ©Getty ImagesLove him or hate him, Sepp Blatter has been an omnipresent figure in 2014 ©Getty Images





Best stories of 2014

• Problems with Rio 2016 preparations was something of a theme as far back as April and May, but I will always associate it with a meeting during the SportAccord Convention in Belek, where, after being initially disappointed I was stuck indoors rather than involved in a journalists versus PR consultants beach volleyball match, I witnessed the excitement of International Federation after International Federation standing up and registering their complaints. Then IOC vice-president John Coates claimed preparations were "the worst he had experienced", before virtually every day brought with it a new gripe, with pollution, security, anti-doping problems all under the microscope as well as construction delays.

• The case of British-Iranian student Goncheh Ghavami, arrested for attending a World League volleyball match in Tehran in June, before being belatedly released on bail 154 days later, became something of a hobby-horse for us at insidethegames. It certainly provoked strong opinions, in defence of Iran as well as of Ghavami, but after a shaky start, the International Volleyball Federation and its under fire President Ary S Graça - now accused of corruption during his time at the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation - gradually improved their response, and surely helped speed up her release.

British-Iranian student Ghoncheh Ghavami was another often-mentioned figure in our stories this year after being arrested for attending an FIVB World League match ©Change.orgBritish-Iranian student Ghoncheh Ghavami was another often-mentioned figure in our stories this year after being arrested for attending an FIVB World League match ©Change.org



• The question of Kosovo's Olympic inclusion has been an unofficial insidethegames campaign since well before my time, but after visiting in May for only the country's second-ever international football match, it was a crusade I like to think I took up with panache. And to our surprise, the IOC Executive Board took it up as well, and then the membership-at-large. It wasn't a decision without criticism, but for the sake of athletes and Olympic opportunities, it was the right call, and perhaps the IOC's best achievement in 2014.

Best sport of 2014

• While most people remember the Winter Olympics for the ice hockey, or maybe the downhill skiing or halfpipe snowboard, for me it was all about the tension, tactics and sheer absurdity of curling. My favourite moment was watching in a press room with most of the British press corps, as Britain skip David Murdock hit what turned out to be a brilliant winning shot, only for all the journalists to be silent for about 10 seconds before the first person realised the consequences of what had happened. 

• The best sporting atmosphere, however, came in Incheon at the Asian Games baseball final, as hosts South Korea played Taiwan. This was a notable exception to a Games that generally failed to capture the imagination of the locals, and, although I barely had the faintest idea what was going on, and never got to see a home run throughout the match, I loved my first experience a sport now set to return to the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020. 

South Korea's home baseball gold at the Asian Games was one sporting highlight of the year ©Getty ImagesSouth Korea's home baseball gold at the Asian Games was one sporting highlight of the year ©Getty Images



• There were a number of great moments at the Commonwealth Games, including some stunning finals in athletics, hockey and cycling. But - and to pick something different - a third highlight was September's Archery World Cup Final in Lausanne, a sport which, compared with curling and baseball, was blissfully easy to understand and with a scoring format guaranteeing close and tense matches. The boiling hot weather certainly helped as well.

Best places of 2014:

• It's not the safest city in the world, but there are few more beautiful, iconic, or packed full of character than Rio de Janeiro, the next Olympic host city. I doubt everything will be perfectly ready on time, and there are bound to be delays, disorganisation and general chaos, but I still think Rio 2016 could be a unique and memorable Games nonetheless.

• As the location for my first overseas trip last year, I will always have fond memories of Nanjing, but despite the blandness of the city in memory ways, the Summer Youth Olympic Games was a good combination of impeccable organisation and genuinely passionate and excited volunteers. It was different from an adult Olympics, but all rather good fun.

• It might seem a surprising choice, but during a whistlestop two-day visit to see Doha's preparations for its World Athletics Championship bid, I have to say I was wowed by the Qatari capital, and its unparalleled sports facilities. Questions still hang over many of the bids it has won, but I have no doubt Qatar will continue to stage impressive sporting events, including a certain football one in 2022.

Best press conferences of 2014:

• I wasn't actually at Tokyo 2020 press event in Sochi, but I was receiving live updates as new bid leader Yoshirō Mori was first asked why a bid supposedly showcasing a "new Japan" was headed a bunch of old men, and then why he did not speak in English. After he replied: "I don't because it's still thought of as the enemy's language", Tokyo's PR man called a premature halt on further questions. It was probably a wise move.

• But for sheer tension between the speakers, a joint-event attended by International Ice Hockey Federation President René Fasel and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman topped the bill. The best moment was when Fasel's claimed "there is nothing like an Olympic gold medal", only for Bettman to interrupt and add: "Except, perhaps, winning the Stanley Cup." If looks could have killed.

René Fasel (left) speaking alongside Gary Bettman during the Winter Olympics in Sochi was a broadly harmonious, but slightly tense, affair ©Getty ImagesRené Fasel (left) speaking alongside Gary Bettman during the Winter Olympics in Sochi was a broadly harmonious, but slightly tense, affair ©Getty Images



•  And there was the farce of Usain Bolt's press conference appearance at Glasgow 2014, as many of the Commonwealth's battle-scarred hacks turned into whimpering celebrity stalkers. "Can I have a selfie?" asked one. "Usain, will you wear a kilt?" asked another. And then we returned to business. "What are your views on Israel and Palestine," the great sprinter was asked, "and on Scottish Independence?" A journalistic low, but it certainly bemused Usain, if nothing else.

So, after all of this, what can we expect in 2015?

As well as more major events, including the Pan American and European Games, we have the climax of the 2022 race and the beginnings of a 2024 one where bidders are already emerging from all parts of the world. A pulsating International Association of Athletics Federation Presidential race is also on the cards between Messrs Coe and Bubka, but, perhaps more importantly, the sport of athletics has to face more and more doping allegations, following a scandal-packed end to 2014. It will be interesting to see what emerges, and whether 2015 does indeed live up to the drama and excitement of the last 12 months.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.

David Owen: Almaty 2022 - the Bright Road to possible Olympic victory

By David Owen

David OwenDear President Nazarbayev,

I have just returned from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Monaco, which reinforced my belief that Almaty is trailing in its race against Beijing for the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With candidature files due to be submitted next month and the final vote by IOC members scheduled for July 31 in Kuala Lumpur, time is short to make up the deficit.

Perhaps this doesn't concern you unduly.

After all, with Kazakhstan due to host both a Winter Universiade and an international Expo in 2017, your country will have other opportunities to place itself in the international spotlight.

And with the recent buffeting received by the oil price, plus attendant political uncertainties, you may feel you have other priorities.

But given the series of withdrawals by other bidders, prospective and actual, and the perceived shortcomings of your only rival's plan, it would seem a pity if Almaty did not do its utmost to capitalise on the opportunity that has somewhat unexpectedly presented itself.

I am not sure that you have had the experience of fighting a campaign while behind in the polls.

Electoral candidates in this sort of position in liberal western democracies tend to have little to lose by taking risks: if they can catch the eye, they might build some much-needed momentum; if the gambit fails, they are no worse off than when they started.

Almaty need to take risks and offer alternative dates to the IOC in order to win the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty ImagesAlmaty need to take risks and offer alternative dates to the IOC in order to win the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty Images



With the possibility of a clash between the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the Winter Olympics in January or February, I think that Almaty should be giving careful consideration to announcing that it is ready, if the IOC judges it desirable, to let the Olympics stretch - for the first time ever - into March.

While I don't know the areas where the Games would take place, others who do, along with relevant temperature/precipitation charts, suggest that the climate could accommodate such an initiative.

The gesture might well be rendered redundant; it remains hazardous in the extreme to predict what dates for the Gulf's first World Cup FIFA will eventually settle on.

In the meantime, though, it would get the sports world focusing on Almaty's bid much more closely than has so far been the case, while at the same time demonstrating to the IOC both that Kazakhstan will do its utmost to be helpful and that bid leaders are attuned to the cut and thrust of international sports politics.

If FIFA did plump for a January/February tournament, then such a sequence, with one sporting mega-event following hard on the heels of another, would still be far from ideal.

The World Cup would probably coincide, in such circumstances, with the Olympic torch relay's passage through Kazakhstan - a territory so vast, as you recently put it, that it would "tire the wings of a bird to fly over it".

But it would be much better than an out-and-out clash - particularly for the IOC and winter sports federations (IFs).

Avoiding a clash with the 2022 FIFA World Cup by offering to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in March could bring Almaty into the spotlight and increase their chances of winning the rights to host the Games ©Getty ImagesAvoiding a clash with the 2022 FIFA World Cup by offering to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in March could bring Almaty into the spotlight and increase their chances of winning the rights to host the Games ©Getty Images



Such an offer by Almaty might be greeted with reservations by the Winter Paralympic sports community, who may have concerns that an Olympic Games lasting into March might, in turn, push the Paralympics into an impractically late time-slot.

This too though could, I think, be turned to Almaty's advantage via a plan for much closer coordination of Olympic and Paralympic events.

Some Paralympic disciplines could actually be incorporated into the Olympic programme, while the remainder could be staged the following week.

Such a proposal would, once again, get people talking about Almaty and, if accepted, could justifiably be described as historic.

I don't want to mislead you: however brilliantly your bid leaders perform between now and July 31, it will be tough to triumph from the position in which I think Almaty now stands, not least because your remaining opponent is capital of the world's most populous, and one of its most powerful, countries - a city that, if it wins, would become the first in history to host both Summer and Winter Games.

But the task is not yet impossible: a bold, well-conceived and proactive strategy might yet put Kazakhstan's biggest city on The Bright Road to Olympic victory.

Yours etc.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

Mike Rowbottom: In the Age of the Selfie, digital's fickle finger sends the autograph off the pitch

Mike Rowbottom
mike rowbottom ©insidethegamesSo this press release arrives. Remove your hats if you are wearing them. Clasp your hands. Bow your heads. Apparently the autograph is dead.

"New research out from HTC reveals that one in three (31%) football fans want to leave the stadium after match day with a selfie with a footballer - the holy grail of digital memorabilia - in contrast with a decade ago where signed autographs, printed ticket stubs and match day programmes topped football fans' 'must-have' league of memorabilia."

This is the key finding in a Digital Memorabilia Report - commissioned by the company which describes itself as a "global leader in mobile innovation" - to investigate how technology has changed the way football fans collect, store and share their mementos.

The responses of 4,000 football followers throughout Europe indicate that, for 64 per cent of those questioned, the matchday experience isn't complete without smartphone pictures which can be rapidly shared on social media.

The ultimate memento for football fans - a selfie with a star. Two young women grab the goods here with Neymar during Brazil training in this year's World Cup finals ©Getty ImagesThe ultimate memento for football fans - a selfie with a star. One young woman grabs the goods here with Neymar during Brazil training in this year's World Cup finals, Funny how it's always the taker who smiles ©Getty Images

Once that mandatory selfie has been secured, 76 per cent of fans hasten to share it, with 20 per cent employing Twitter and 60 per cent placing digital mementos on Facebook/Instagram.

This being football, there is of course a league table of desirable digitalia. A selfie with a football player is the longed-for item as far as 32 per cent of respondents are concerned. A photo of an unexpected moment during the match, such as a pitch invasion or an instance of sportsmanship, nets 15 per cent approval.

Selfies with friends celebrating a goal or in front of a club emblem score 12% per cent and nine per cent respectively, while a video selfie with a football player before a match - who on earth ever captures these? - registers eight per cent approval.

"Football memorabilia exists beyond the club shop, it's personal: Personal pictures, personal videos and personal keepsakes created by the fans themselves," observes the report authored by Jim Boulton, who revels in the title of Digital Archaeologist. ("My God! Unless my eyes deceive me, I think what we have here is a Nokia 2310!")

Ancient mobile phones such as a Digital Archaeologist might covet. Some date back to 1998!! ©Getty ImagesAncient mobile phones such as a Digital Archaeologist might covet. Some date back to 1998!! ©Getty Images

But it is the technology, not the impulse, that is new.

What people are now doing at any huge gathering, whether it is an Olympics, a football match, a concert, is no more than a more fully enabled version of what people have always done through photography. "This is us next to the Eiffel Tower...and there's me on the Champs Elysees..."

The tourist impulse is in all of us as we pin ourselves to things greater, older, grander than ourselves like so many mounted butterflies. The impulse goes back much further though - to the first self portraits, or, more in the selfie-alongside-centre-of-attention mode, to painters such as Jan van Eyck, who popped in a cheeky image of himself in his Amolfini portrait of 1434, reflected in a mirror behind the two main figures. Or, in more recent years, the fleeting cameos of Alfred Hitchcock in his own films.

A detail from Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait of 1434 - one of the two figures in the mirror - the one in red - is reckoned to be the artist himself. An early selfie then. ©DeAgostini/Getty ImagesA detail from Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait of 1434 - one of the two figures in the mirror - the one in red - is reckoned to be the artist himself. An early selfie then.And there's an early Kilroy too - the inscription above the mirror reads, in Latin obviously, "Jan Van Eyck Was Here 1434"  ©DeAgostini/Getty Images

To use a little more digital terminology, we have this urge to become attachments, binding ourselves to events and historic artefacts.

Skipping back into the realm of football, I was browsing through videos of the 50 memorable FA Cup goals most obligingly collected recently by BBC Sport. Goal number 50 was Ricky Villa's glorious slalom run through the Manchester City defence en route to scoring the winner for Spurs in the 1981 replayed final.

The clip included footage of Tottenham's ludicrously youthful captain, Steve Perryman, collecting the Cup - and being joined within seconds by a young Spurs fan in a cap. The fan hugs his captain for several seconds before retreating behind the camera with the words "Sorry...sorry". He doesn't look sorry. He looks very, very happy.

As well he might, for this young man has achieved the perfect selfie a quarter of a century before the Age of the Selfie.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Steve Perryman brandishes the FA Cup in 1981. Somewhere close, a young fan awaits the moment to join him in the limelight ©Getty ImagesTottenham Hotspur captain Steve Perryman brandishes the FA Cup in 1981. Somewhere close, a young fan awaits the moment to join him in the limelight ©Getty Images

But why bother? Why this need to obtrude oneself into the heart of the action?

I'm sure our Digital Archaelogist didn't include this question in his poll: "Would you rather get a selfie with your favourite player than see your team win?" I bet that some football followers, honestly, would say yes. Always another match...

Another question that wouldn't have been asked: "Is it more important to enjoy yourself, or to be seen to be enjoying yourself?" The digital age has enabled all of us to be the stars of our own imaginary films, with life as a soundtrack.

But why bother?

Relatedness Need Satisfaction. Back in 1953, getting the signature of Stanley Matthews was sufficient to assuage this ©Getty ImagesRelatedness Need Satisfaction. Back in 1953, getting the signature of Stanley Matthews was sufficient to assuage this ©Getty Images

Psychologists, naturally enough, have been all over this question.

"The negative view of the selfie is as a narcissistic or cynical manoeuvre," says Dr Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist at the Oxford Internet Institute. "You take a picture of yourself in a place in order to enhance the esteem you earn from others in some way, to have a positive experience rub off and impress an imagined audience."

Przybylski goes on to say that this activity "feeds into one of the deepest, most fundamental aspects of human nature, something called Relatedness Need Satisfaction - the need to belong."

So is this what it all comes down to?

No man is an island, as Jon Bon Jovi did sing. We're all one big tectonic plate now, for better or worse. Whoopee.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Daniel Etchells: Bowling may be viewed as boring but the world governing body is eager to get it soaring

Daniel Etchells
Daniel Etchells ©ITGWhen asked by insidethegames about bowling's level of appeal to new audiences, Kevin Dornberger, President of the sport's world governing body, likened it to taking a friend to watch their first professional golf tournament...but arriving two days early to see the players prepare on the driving range.

Although it may have been a round about way of saying it, the point behind Dornberger's analogy was clear; individual competitions at bowling tournaments take too long to reach the moments that matter and therefore, don't lend themselves to generating interest in the sport.

At major international competitions, where a significant number of bowlers are playing at the same time and the winners are often determined by cumulative scores, not finals, it's hard for spectators to get emotionally involved because nobody knows the winners until the whole day's competition is over.

Having bowled since the age of eight, had a 40-year-plus competitive career and rolled 16 perfect 300 games, Dornberger said it took him a long time to admit that bowling, in his eyes, had become boring.

"It took 15 years of travelling and watching international championships, World Championships and getting over the boxes that we all contain ourselves in, because of our backgrounds, and listening to other people's point of views who weren't in the same box," he told insidethegames during the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships (WBMC) in Abu Dhabi, which concluded on Sunday (December 14).

"It finally occurred to me that we'd done what we'd done for a very long time. Our rules go back to 1895, virtually without change. We're taking a hard look at the scoring rules, as well as the scoring systems and certainly the format."

The press room at the Khalifa International Bowling Centre in Zayed Sports City provided a great view of the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships action ©ITGThe press room at the Khalifa International Bowling Centre in Zayed Sports City provided a great view of the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships action ©ITG






Dornberger went on to say it's "time to take a serious look at what we can do differently", and there's no doubt World Bowling is doing just that as it aims to secure Olympic inclusion for its tenpin format.

The announcement on Monday (December 15) that World Bowling will be relocating its headquarters early next year from Arlington, Texas, in the United States to Lausanne, the Olympic capital in Switzerland, came hot on the heels of other recent developments.

This included the rebranding of the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA), the trial of a simplified scoring system and an increase in bowling's social media presence.

The establishment of World Bowling - an amalgamation of the WTBA, the two ninepin federations, and the umbrella organisation, the International Federation of Bowlers - encompassed the launch of a new logo inspired by the Olympic colours, and although Dornberger insisted this was the idea of a professional designer, he agrees that it made sense in line with the sport's ambition. 

Further evidence of this ambition was seen at the World Bowling Tour men's and women's finals in Las Vegas last month, when a new match-play style scoring system was trialled with an emphasis on winning frames and reducing the length of time and complexity of scoring required to complete a two-player match.

In keeping with Dornberger's golf analogy, the system mirrors that of the Ryder Cup in a best-of-12-frames format with the intention of making the sport more attractive and easier to understand for casual bowling fans, the news media and the competitors.

Bowling is undergoing a radical makeover as the sport tries to make itself more attractive internationally and to younger audiences ©World BowlingBowling is undergoing a radical makeover as the sport tries to make itself more attractive internationally and to younger audiences ©World Bowling

The 2014 WBMC at the Khalifa International Bowling Centre in Zayed Sports City, can certainly be counted as a great success in terms of its organisation and execution but having been there to witness the concluding weekend, I came to understand the issues facing the sport more clearly.

While the final of the team competition between eventual winners South Korea and the US generated a commendable atmosphere and sense of occasion on Saturday night (December 13), the fact that the tournament started at 9am the previous day spoke volumes about the time-related concerns.   

It also seemed rather odd that the masters competition, which to my surprise is considered much less prestigious than the team competition despite its glamorous title, was held on the final day of the Championships.

A sense of climax was lacking after South Korea's Kang Hee Won beat the US' Mike Fagan in the final, which begged the question why the competition was scheduled to bring down the curtain on the Championships and also whether it was even necessary in the first place.

With singles, doubles and trios competitions also featuring at the Championships, it's evident why World Bowling is keen to look at the format of events and presumably trim them down to get rid of any dead wood.

This is just a small part of the ongoing process of assessing the positive and negative aspects of the sport and condensing it into an attractive package that will appeal to the masses.

Kevin Dornberger, the President of World Bowling, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships ©World BowlingKevin Dornberger, the President of World Bowling, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 World Bowling Men's Championships ©World Bowling





When speaking to Dornberger, it didn't strike me that he's infatuated by the idea of achieving Olympic inclusion for tenpin bowling, but he's unquestionably set on making the sport as attractive and entertaining as it can be in the hope that that will prove to be enough to put it on the biggest stage of them all.

Joining the 50-plus international sports organisations based in Lausanne can surely do nothing but good for World Bowling and providing the organisations sticks to its philosophy of being open to change, regardless of the impact on tradition.

There's no reason why bowling can't make the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) shortlist of sports for the 2024 Olympic Games, which is expected to be drawn up in the latter half of next year.

The outcome of the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform process has further boosted the likelihood of success as proposals to consider a more flexible sports programme were passed unanimously by the IOC at its Session in Monte Carlo last week.

The opportunity is there for all sports with Olympic aspirations and we'll have to wait and see if bowling can seize the initiative and take one of the most coveted steps that the world of sport has to offer.

If it manages to do so, Dornberger may well have to devise a new analogy.  

Daniel Etchells is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Alan Hubbard: Hollywood cashing in on sports greatest success stories

Alan HubbardBeen to the movies lately? If so, the odds are that you have seen something that has a sports theme, or at least is sports-related.

For increasingly sport is the buzzword for the blockbusters of the silver screen, as the number of recent or upcoming releases testify.

Perhaps it is the pure drama, intrigue, occasional beauty laced with violence and a whiff of corruption and scandal that makes sport such an attractive genre for Hollywood - or Pinewood.

You could argue that it has been so since the nine-minute chariot race in Ben Hur, as portrayed by Charlton Heston in 1959, became one of cinema's most famous sequences

The number of sporting flicks runs into hundreds. Readily springing to mind are Chariots of Fire, Field of Dreams, Seabiscuit, Slap Shot, Cool Runnings and numerous boxing epics ranging from The Harder They Fall to Rocky 1-5 via Somebody Up There Likes Me, Body and Soul, Champ, Miliion Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man, Raging Bull, and Grudge Match.

Over the past two years almost a dozen films featuring sports from boxing and running to motor racing and wrestling have been big box office here and in the United States.

These include Unbroken, a chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini an Olympic wrestler who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War 1; Foxcatcher, a taut biographical drama based on the real life murder in 1996 of Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Dave Schultz by coach John du Pont, and Rush, which depicts the 1970's Formula 1 rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

Sport related movies have become huge box office hits with the likes of Rocky Balboa stealing the limelight on numerous occasions ©Getty Images Sport related movies have become huge box office hits with the likes of Rocky Balboa stealing the limelight on numerous occasions ©Getty Images



There is hardly a sport, or a famous sporting incident, that has not been dramatised for the big screen.

Which is why we should not be surprised to discover there is to be a re-make of The Eagle Has Landed.

The original, made in 1976 starred Michael Caine and was based on the Jack Higgins novel  about a wartime German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill.

However this Eagle is not Churchill, but one Eddie Edwards, the tail-end-Charlie of ski jumping who became a global superstar for finishing last in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Producer Matthew Vaughn says the idea is to make a film about not-so-Fast Eddie in the context of the musical Billy Elliot and Cool Runnings, the true but unlikely story of the Jamaican bobsled team.

Several actors are said to be in talks to play the Cheltenham plaster who much to the discomfort of the British Olympic Association, remains the most unlikely sporting icon of our time.

Among those who might portray the Eagle who dared to dream is Daniel Kaluuya - who, oddly, is black. Ah well, that's showbiz for you.

Edwards' personal choice is said to be Rupert Grint, who, after starring in the Harry Potter epics, appeared in the 2012 anti-war film Into The White, which seems rather appropriate.

Filming is due to begin in Germany and Austria in March and Garry Barlow  is in negotiations about writing a theme song. Maybe he could revive Take That's Jump, or alternatively We All Fall Down.

A movie is soon to be made on British Olympic hero Eddie the Eagle who won the hearts of the British public after coming last at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary ©Getty ImagesA movie is soon to be made on British Olympic hero Eddie the Eagle who won the hearts of the British public after coming last at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary ©Getty Images



We also hear that Sylvester Stallone is to bring Rocky out of retirement in another new movie. He won't back in the ring but training the grandson of Apollo Creed, his first foe.

One of the opponents of young Adonis Creed will be played by the British cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, from Liverpool, and another by current World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward, the last American to win an Olympic boxing gold medal in 2004.

Rocky is not for real of course, But Muhammad Ali certainly is,which brings me to the best boxing movie I have seen in years.

It is not the first film about Ali, and surely won't be the last, but it is by far the best.

Called I Am Ali, it paints a wonderfully informative portrait of the life and times of the standout sporting showman of all time..

Ali is now in the dreadfully restrictive grip of Parkinson's, so the film relies on personal video clips and recordings of his very voluble past, providing a magnificent insight into the world's greatest-ever sports personality and what made him the man he was-and still is.

It revealed many things that even those of us fortunate enough to have followed him around the world never knew. The private side of a very public persona.

It is not so much Ali the ringmaster but what went on behind the circus

This is a man who lit up so many lives but led such a complicated and controversial one himself. We all knew of his philandering yet somehow he still managed to be a loving family man despite serial bouts of infidelity.

I Am Ali, a movie depicting the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, brings in depth interviews from Ali's daughters Maryum (left) and Hana (right) ©Getty ImagesI Am Ali, a movie depicting the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, brings in depth interviews from Ali's daughters Maryum (left) and Hana (right) ©Getty Images



The film shows touching moments with his daughters when they were tots and interviews with them now, as well as his only son Muhammad jnr. They talk movingly of their father's tenderness and how he is coping with the greatest fight of his life.

"My father has a lot of sides," confides daughter Maryum. "You hear about the fights but you don't hear that much about family or what they mean to him."

His daughters say Ali, now 72 and living in Phoenix Arizona where the air is clean, the weather balmy and visitors are few, laughs at reports that he is on his deathbed.  "He enjoys his llfe and is clear-minded," says Maryum. "He still loves being talked about. "He doesn't have dementia, is not bedridden and is not in physical pain. He is exactly the same person inside as he has always been.

"He is up every day watching westerns or Elvis movies or those about himself. He just loves to watch himself."

For those of us who loved watching him, I Am Ali, which is also available on Blu-Ray, DFD and Digital Download, brings back so many delightful memories of following that circus as he shook up the world.

One of my favourite moments came in Dublin when we flew to interview him before a fight only to be met at the hotel by his trainer, the late Angelo Dundee, who apologetically informed us that Ali was flu stricken and had retired to his room where he was being treated by a doctor. "Hell, Angie," we said. " We only needed to talk with him for a few minutes.

"No chance," replied Dundee. "He never talks to anyone for less than an hour!"

He called Ali's room and grinned." The champ says to go on up."

We did, and emerged some hour and a half later, notebooks bulging.

What a star - and one that will always outshine any movie ever made about him.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

Nick Butler: Agenda 2020 - light on substance but good rhetoric

Nick Butler
Nick ButlerIf Rome's surprisingly definitive confirmation of its bid for the 2024 Olympics this morning is anything to go by, as well as the announcement of the United States contender due tomorrow, then the unanimous acceptance of the Agenda 2020 reform process in Monte Carlo has been taken as a breath of fresh air reverberating throughout most of the Olympic Movement.

Writing on the eve of the beginning of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session last week, I was skeptical of how much difference Agenda 2020 would actually make, because, with the exception of the recommendation for an Olympic TV channel, the proposals were neither radical nor concrete, definite changes.

Having seen all 40 ideas being steamrolled through, despite the many questions from members, with the two times IOC President Thomas Bach mistakenly saw someone raise their hand the closest we came to any possible dissent - for the record, it turned out to be the hair of Russia's Alexander Popov and the pen of Indonesia's Rita Subowo - I am less convinced than ever about the merits of the process.

Writing after the conclusion of day one of the Session, my colleague David Owen observed how the process was less a "revolutionary" change and more a first step in a longer reform process of which the IOC now has the opportunity to proceed with, but will not necessarily do so.

The 40 Agenda 2020 recommendations were unanimously accepted by the IOC membership in Monte Carlo ©Getty ImagesThe 40 Agenda 2020 recommendations were unanimously accepted by the IOC membership in Monte Carlo ©Getty Images



This is undoubtedly true, but on another hand, the process was groundbreaking simply because of the subsequent reaction.

As predicted, there was little interest in the wider world, with many journalists attending the Session seemingly more motivated by the latest raft of athletics doping allegations than Agenda 2020. But within Olympic circles, the reaction so far has been akin to a sea-change, with boundless potential for change and innovation.

With regard to bidding cities, the change potentially allowing more events to be held outside bidding cities has caused the biggest interest. When unveiling the Rome bid this morning, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi claimed the bid will take advantage of pre-existing facilities outside the capital, in Florence, Naples and Sardinia perhaps, in order to permit a "controlled" and sustainable bid.

In a similar vein, Hungarian Olympic Committee President Zsolt Borkai has also enthusiastically embraced the possibility of a Budapest bid, which could also include events farther afield in places like Debrecen, Szeged and Győr.

"The Agenda 2020 programme is a great and historic opportunity for us and other smaller cities, countries which are not easily able to bid under the previous system," he said. "Difficulties of providing infrastructure and subsequent use of the facilities goes away following the Agenda 2020 changes."

Other problems, such as the firm opposition expressed by Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlós when the bid was first muted in September, seem to have evaporated in a puff of Monte Carlo-reform-tinged smoke. Audacious joint bids are also already being talked about, however unlikely, with a Los Angeles and San Francisco partnership and a Dubai and Abu Dhabi alliance two unlikely possibilities. 

Rome's bid, outlined by CONI President Giovanni Malago and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi this morning, is one of many bids being considered following Agenda 2020 ©Getty ImagesRome's bid, outlined by CONI President Giovanni Malago and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi this morning, is one of many bids being considered following Agenda 2020
©Getty Images





But, judging by the number of questions on this issue from IOC members, expressing concerns on issues ranging from potential travel expenses and logistical pressure from small nations, I would be surprised if these ideas come to much.

Indeed, the stories about the IOC wanting sliding sports at Pyeonchang 2018 to be shifted outside South Korea, which emerged during the Session but have since been swiftly dismissed by patriotic Korean officials, can be taken a mischievous red herring more than a realistic proposal.

The same ambiguity is present when we turn our attention to sports on the programme. When the head of the relevant Working Group, Italy's Franco Carraro, fielded questions on the changes, he answered in such a way that everyone was left even more confused and in the dark than beforehand,

It even brought a rather wonderful line of "I may be being a bit thick here..." from Princess Anne, something you don't hear from a Royal Family member very often.

But there were murmurings afterwards that Carraro was being deliberately vague, and not giving much away to keep everyone on their toes so any future changes, ironed out behind closed doors in private meetings no doubt, remain possible.

Yet sport after sport has since circulated press releases expressing their happiness and joy with the proposals, and outlining potential room for manoeuvre as a consequence. Just today, there have been calls for mixed team archery at Tokyo 2020, along with the possible pioneering of relay and head-to-head races in flatwater canoeing.

Mixed team events in many others sports, from synchronised swimming to triathlon via table tennis, have also been muted. Others have come out definitively to protect under-fire events, such as athletics after the tantalising suggestion of IOC stalwart Dick Pound that the triple jump could be under threat.

Others still, including surfing and bowling as well as baseball and softball, have taken the Session as an opportunity to knock harder at the door of possible inclusion at some point in the future.

Sports, such as archery today, are falling over themselves to suggest new mixed team formats, something highlighted during Agenda 2020 as a positive step towards gender equality ©Getty ImagesSports, such as archery today, are falling over themselves to suggest new mixed team formats, something highlighted during Agenda 2020 as a positive step towards gender equality ©Getty Images



So, you could argue that Bach has produced a political master-class.

Although the changes do not in reality signify that much, the aura of change is far greater. Comparisons can be made with the distinction between the British Labour Party of the 1980s and the 1990s and the "New" Labour of Tony Blair, a change in rhetoric more than reality but one that resonated hugely with the public.

Agenda 2020 was indeed a classic political process in every way: right down to the individuals involved. Bach the President, with power and influence ostensibly greater than ever, the likes of Carraro and Bidding reforms Group chair John Coates the cabinet hunting dogs, sent out to deliver a message. And Pound, whose call for the 2022 Olympic race to be restarted was perhaps the Session's only break from the script, the backbench stalwart kept on the outside but an experienced and respected voice nonetheless.

But, neither can we heap too much praise on Bach at this stage. As Owen observed, and as New Labour ultimately found out to its cost, if change is promised it must happen eventually.

Yet if what was wanted was a proverbial kick-up-the-back side to reinvigorate enthusiasm among international federations and potential bidding cities alike, early signs are that it has had the desired effect.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.

David Owen: Blatter extends his lead as IOC’s top Tweeter

David OwenWhat with Richard Peterkin's sheep and Claudia Bokel's coconut, this week's 127th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Monte Carlo was a bit of a moment in the brief history of IOC members and Twitter.

So it seemed an appropriate juncture to update the table of IOC members with the most Twitter followers that we first published in January.

While the medium still seems only to be used by around 30 of the 104 IOC members, nearly all of these have significantly increased their follower numbers during 2014, suggesting that it is slowly getting bedded in at sport's most powerful club.

In terms of those who have amassed followers at the fastest rate this year, two IOC members stand out from the crowd.

One is Sergey Bubka, the former pole-vault champion, expected soon to enter the race for the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The Ukrainian's following has soared by nearly 300 percent since our last snapshot, to over 5,000.

This still leaves him trailing in the wake of his probable future electoral rival, Sebastian Coe, by this particular yardstick: the Briton's tally of close to 91,000 followers would put him in the bronze medal position on our IOC Twitter podium, except that he is not yet an IOC member.

Sepp Blatter is still the undisputed "King of Twitter" at the IOC with his followers increasing by 500 per cent since the start of the year ©TwitterSepp Blatter is still the undisputed "King of Twitter" at the IOC with his followers increasing by 500 per cent since the start of the year ©Getty Images



Even Bubka's rate of progress, however, pales in comparison to the IOC's undisputed Twitter maestro, FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Since January, the Swiss septuagenarian's tally of followers has exploded from just over 500,000 to 2.71 million - a jump of well over 500 percent.

The head of world football's much-criticised governing body now has ten times more followers than the next most popular IOC member on Twitter, Angela Ruggiero, a former ice-hockey player from the United States.

So much for social media being the exclusive preserve of the young.

Another ice-hockey player, Hayley Wickenheiser of Canada, who became an IOC member this year, is the highest new entry in our chart, coming in at Number 5 with just under 41,000 followers.

Richard Peterkin's wit and humour during the IOC Session in Monte Carlo this week helped him break into the IOC's list of 20 top Tweeters ©TwitterRichard Peterkin's wit and humour during the IOC Session in Monte Carlo this week helped him break into the IOC's list of 20 top Tweeters ©Twitter

The Saint Lucian IOC member Peterkin's wit and humour during the Monaco Session have helped him edge into the chart at Number 20 with 258 followers.

This puts him just 15 in front of Nicole Hoevertsz, a former synchronised swimmer from Aruba, another Caribbean island.

The full table, based on readings taken on December 11, is as follows (previous ranking and number of followers in brackets).

Top 20

1. (1) Joseph Blatter Switzerland 2.71 million (511,989)
2. (2) Angela Ruggiero United States 248,000 (247,019)
3. (3) Mikaela Cojuangco Jaworski Philippines  84,900 (80,740)
4. (4) Gerardo Werthein Argentina 84,000 (65,167)
5. (-) Hayley Wickenheiser Canada 40,900 (n/a)
6. (5) Stefan Holm Sweden 39,500 (32,749)
7. (7) Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 27,300 (16,967)
8. (6) Tony Estanguet France  21,700 (19,073)
9. (8) Camiel Eurlings Netherlands 8,419 (5,999)
10. (11) Sergey Bubka Ukraine 5,013 (1,277)
11. (9) Sheikh Tamim Qatar 4,965 (3,545)
12. (10) Alexander Zhukov Russia 2,512 (2,180)
13. (12) Claudia Bokel Germany 1,992 (1,171)
14. (-) Prince Feisal Jordan 1,661 (n/a)
15. (13) James Tomkins Australia 1,160 (875)
16. (14) Barbara Kendall New Zealand 946 (722)
17. (15) Marisol Casado Spain  919 (607)
18. (16) Danka Barteková  Slovakia  511 (275)
19. (17) Pál Schmitt  Hungary 260 (248)
20. (-) Richard Peterkin Saint Lucia 258 (n/a)

It will be noted that a very wide geographic range is covered by this Twitter elite and that eight of the Top 20 are women.

One wonders how many followers Blatter will have accumulated by the time he retires as a full IOC member in two years' time.

His lead is so vast that he seems extremely likely to bow out at the very top.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

Mike Rowbottom: All bets are off - let the Speculation Games begin...

Mike Rowbottom
mike rowbottom ©insidethegamesSo the 28-sport cap no longer fits - and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) isn't wearing it any more. From the 2020 Olympics onwards the summer Games will involve no more than 10,500 athletes and 310 events. Let the Speculation Games begin...

The characteristically mischievous/illuminating comment of Canada's senior IOC member Dick Pound in the wake of Monday's Agenda 2020 session in Monaco, in which he hinted that race walking, synchronised swimming and triple jump could be for the high jump as far as future Olympics were concerned, has prompted a fair amount of what my late Uncle Eddie would describe as discombobulation in sporting circles.

Straight off the bat - and while on that subject, of course, baseball and softball now fancy their chances of getting onto the roster at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, where their sports are hugely popular - Lord Sebastian Coe - whose own cap now lies in the ring for the International Association of Athletics Federations Presidency - responded to Pound's comment by saying that triple jump was "a sacrosanct sport in track and field".

Senior IOC member Dick Pound has stirred speculation over which Olympic events might be for the high jump - or the triple jump - in future years ©Getty ImagesSenior IOC member Dick Pound has stirred speculation over which Olympic events might be for the high jump - or the triple jump - in future years ©Getty Images

Coe also defended race-walking but conceded there will now be pressure on athletics, as well as other major Olympic sports such as swimming and gymnastics, to trim down their own programmes to accommodate a range of potentially groovy new attractions.

"There are roughly 10,500 athletes in an Olympics and we take roughly 2,200 - a fifth of all competitors and 47 different disciplines. Does that mean track and field needs to be vigilant about protecting its events then the answer is almost certainly, 'Yes it will'" Coe added.

Meanwhile the reverberations of the potential Olympic shift are apparent on Twitter.

Katharine Merry, Britain's 400 metres Olympic bronze medallist at Sydney 2000, tweeted:  "heard several things 2day that have made me go 'u are kidding me?' inc the crazy IOC idea to potentially remove athletic Olympic events!"

Christian Taylor, the Olympic triple jump champion from the United States who is the very model of a role model athlete, tweeted: "I'm hearing rumors that the Triple Jump may be taken out of the Olympics by 2020.Is there any truth to this? @JDE66 @MikeConleySr @iocmedia"
Taylor's mind was put at rest by no less a figure than the Briton who won world and Olympic triple jump titles and still holds the world record of 18.29 metres, Jonathan Edwards.

"it was an off the cuff comment by someone who should no better! I wouldn't worry pal. Hope alls well" tweeted Edwards, to which Taylor replied: "wow. Thank you for that, sir.my heart dropped when I saw this".

Are we seriously supposing that the Olympic titles won by Edwards and Taylor, in 2000 and 2012 respectively, will take their place in the annals along other discontinued Olympic events such as the standing high jump or the 56-pound weight throw?

Christian Taylor, the London 2012 triple jump champion, tweeted that his "heart dropped" when he saw reports that his event might be dropped from future Games but was later reassured by world record holder and Sydney 2000 gold medallist Jonathan Edwards ©Getty Images
Christian Taylor, the London 2012 triple jump champion, tweeted that his "heart dropped" when he saw reports that his event might be dropped from future Games but was later reassured by world record holder and Sydney 2000 gold medallist Jonathan Edwards
©Getty Images

Perhaps not. But perhaps - if a report in the Australian newspaper The Age is to be believed, it might be the 10,000m that joins the discontinued list. Or the 200m.

Michael Gleeson's piece quotes the experienced athletics administrator Brian Roe, a senior international technical official at the Olympics and IAAF World Championships, who comments: "There was a gathering over dinner in Europe recently of senior athletics people who are very significant in influencing policy matters and I was present. The IOC clearly has a view to reduce the number of those competing in athletics events and options were raised for how to do that and clearly there was a strong view that the 10,000, 200, one race walk and shot put were the most at risk. The triple jump was the least of those five."

So what are the options for the triple jump? Perhaps it could follow the lead set by modern pentathlon by transforming itself into the double jump...

Earlier this year I wrote a spoof piece for the insidethegames magazine produced for the SportAccord Convention in Belek, Turkey, envisaging the state of the Olympics 30 years hence.

Two years after the 2042 Doha Winter Games, at which the hosts made good on their promise to create endless supplies of snow for their man-made courses despite temperatures rising to 30 degrees or more in the late afternoon, organisers of the 2044 Murmansk Summer Games have vowed to nullify sub-zero temperatures with a multi-million rouble system of gas-fired central heating units supplied and co-ordinated by sponsors Gazprom - and modern pentathlon is undergoing its latest reincarnation to remain within the Olympic fold.

Stock car racing - a future element for modern pentathlon to consider? ©Getty ImagesStock car racing - a future element for modern pentathlon to consider? ©Getty Images

"The sport's ruling body has successfully resisted a series of calls to replace its equestrian element with quad biking, stock car racing or Grand Theft Auto. But the Union International de Pentathlon Moderne has regretfully had to condense its events still further in order to satisfy the demands of a worldwide TV audience with ever-decreasing levels of concentration.

"Thus Murmansk will see competitors fencing on horseback while wading through the shallow end of a swimming pool before attempting to shoot each other with laser pistols – three 'hits' received will spell an exit from the competition - as they race en masse towards the podium over a 400-metres long course on which they run the risk of being randomly battered to the ground by 'Ancient Olympians' wielding giant clubs based on those recovered from the site of the original Games. Including advertising breaks, the whole event will start and finish in less than half an hour."

Ridiculous, eh?

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Roald Bradstock: Inspirational Cheats

Roald Bradstock Inspiration is an integral part of sports: inspiring stories, inspirational performances and inspirational athletes.

Cheating, unfortunately, is another, albeit less savory, aspect of the sporting world.

But how can two such polar opposites come together to inspire us? It's not possible, is it?

Well, you might be surprised but it is not only possible but it happens all the time.  We are just not aware of it when it is happening.  Sometimes it takes years, even decades until we find out the truth that our inspiration was based on deception and lies.

When we watch a magician we know we are going to be tricked and lied to. They perform something that cannot be real and yet they get us to believe it is. They do it out in the open were we can see, or think we can see. Really good magicians can execute flawless acts to create the perfect illusion using human psychology, sleight of hand and a host of other tricks and skills.

In sports we are not expecting to be tricked, duped and conned. We take things at face value as reality but sometimes it is not. It's ironic that in this age of "reality" TV, what's real is becoming harder and harder to distinguish. We want and need to believe that what we are actually witnessing in real time is not a carefully prepared, staged and choreographed illusion created to entertain and inspire us but is real.

Audiences watch sport with an expectation of realism, a concept that becomes lost when athletes dope and cheat ©Getty ImagesAudiences watch sport with an expectation of realism, a concept that becomes lost when athletes dope and cheat ©Getty Images



What is unique about sports is the outcome is not known or guaranteed. We need to believe that what we see in sport is honest and not predetermined.

As I get older I am becoming more cynical about what I see and what I am told. The little voice in my head is getting louder and more vocal about what I might actually be witnessing.

As I get older I must also be getting more forgetful because it was only very recently I realized the extent of how many "Inspirational Cheats" there have been in my life and that have affected my life. Most of them I have never met or spoken to but they are still part of my life and life experiences.

On my journey to become an Olympic athlete I looked to inspiring athletes and accomplishments to inspire and motivate me. Now as an Olympic artist I continue to look to the world of sports for inspiring subject matter for my art. 

As I was cataloguing my work this past year I noticed there are a significant number of pieces in my collection on athletes that were later caught for taking drugs. These artworks are a reminder to me of the impact that these people had on me and many others before they were caught. These artworks document my interests, influences and inspirations throughout my life. These people inspired me at the time I created the pieces - that's why I choose them as the subject matter. When I look at them, even now, I can remember how I felt and what I was thinking when I made them.

When athletes get "busted" they lose our adoration and respect, in addition to all their endorsements deals and lucrative speaking engagements. History is changed, the results and record books are rewritten and medals are returned. But the one thing that cannot be altered is the effect, the impact, those "Inspirational Cheats" had on our lives. We watched these people from the stands and from our living rooms and a few of us actually competed alongside them.  We witnessed their accomplishments unfold in real time, we reacted and rejoiced and we became inspired. That cannot be undone.

Prior to being busted for doping, athletes, such as Ben Johnson, can be huge inspirations to the world, both sporting and non-sporting ©RoaldBradstockPrior to being busted for doping, athletes, such as Ben Johnson, can be huge inspirations to the world, both sporting and non-sporting ©RoaldBradstock



These Inspirational cheats could have inspired us to take up a sport, to expect more of ourselves physically, emotionally in a sport or any number of life's pursuits from the work place, to volunteering to a taking up a hobby. Who knows how many people could have been touched and how they were changed from their experiences.

What these athletes did was obviously wrong and for that they ultimately paid the price. But as the history books are rewritten our history and experiences cannot be undone. Gone are the cheers, adulation and respect for these athletes but maybe not the effect, the impact and possibly the long lasting changes to our lives.

Inspirational Cheats unfortunately will be permanent fixture in the sports world. That is not going to change. It is just part of the sporting landscape and human makeup. My only comment is that when these people get caught I wish they would just "fess" up and admit their guilt and short comings. Now while that would not fall into the category of being "inspiring" it sure would be a refreshing change.

Roald Bradstock represented Britain in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and in 1996 was an alternate for the United States Olympic team. Bradstock competed in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 United States Olympic Trials. He has now switched his allegiance back to Britain. In addition to being an Olympic athlete, Bradstock is also an Olympic artist dubbed "The Olympic Picasso"

Alan Hubbard: Russian doping allegations juice up race for IAAF President

Alan HubbardTwenty years ago Sebastian Coe was sitting in the stands at Victoria's Centennial Stadium, the track and field venue for the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, when the news came through that Diane Modahl, a delightful British athlete who seemed to epitomise all that was good in the sport, had failed a drugs test and was being sent home.

Visibly shocked Coe shook his head in disbelief and sighed: "If Diane Modahl is on drugs then there is no hope for athletics."

As it happened, Modahl, 28-year-old Olympian who was the reigning Commonwealth Games 800 metres champion, was eventually exonerated following a ban and a lengthy appeal process. It transpired that there had been serious flaws in the testing procedure and her sample had actually 'mimicked' a positive reading for the performance-enhancing drug testosterone. The popular Mancunian always maintained: "I have never taken any banned substance."

No doubt the now Lord Coe had a sense of déjà vu last week as he declared his candidacy for the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) amid an approaching tsunami of shame which threatens to swamp his sport.

If the Russians really are operating a state-sponsored doping programme in collusion with corrupt coaches and administrator, including one within the IAAF itself purportedly bribed to cover up a positive test, as a German TV documentary alleges, then once again he must be wondering if there is any hope for athletics.

Alas, unlike the Modahl case, this seems unlikely to prove a false alarm.

A German TV documentary rocked the sporting world last week after delivering allegations of systematic doping in Russia ©ADRA German TV documentary rocked the sporting world last week after delivering allegations of systematic doping in Russia ©ADR



If charges that 99 per cent of the Russian Olympic team are involved in doping, with the active assistance of the Putin Government, are true, can there really be any viable future for such a disfigured sport?

Coe's initial reticence to comment on the subject has drawn criticism but this does not mean the double Olympic gold medallist is running scared of facing up to the situation realistically; though a subsequent observation from him in Monaco at the historic International Olympic Committee (IOC) session was disappointingly anodyne.

"They are very serious allegations," he said ."The very fact that the allegations are in the public domain means that they are serious. So, we have to be very clear that this is a very, very difficult time for our sport."

Moreover, he appeared to have been beaten to the punch by the man in the opposite corner in the forthcoming scrap to become athletics' main man.

Sergey Bubka, a somewhat late convert to the anti-drugs campaign, could not have been quicker off the mark to score points in the opening round.

"I am deeply shocked and understand that we need to act quickly and transparently now in order to protect the integrity of our sport," stated the Monaco-based Ukrainian, like Coe an IAAF vice-president.

"Very serious allegations have been made in the German (ARD/WDR) documentary involving such a large number of athletes and officials.

"I believe in a zero tolerance policy against doping and we have to consistently and relentlessly fight against what is the biggest threat to sport in the 21st Century.

"We have to educate and guide athletes at a very young age about the dangers and the risks of doping. No athlete thinks about doping when they are at the start of their careers. We should fight the criminal networks, which make millions on doping and we should punish also doctors, judges, coaches, managers and others if they are involved in doping and corruption.

"This is not an easy task due to different laws in different countries. But without fighting the whole network, one cannot win the fight against doping...What we ultimately need to achieve is a total conviction by the athletes and their entourages that clean competition is the only option for the future of sport."

Sergey Bubka was hot out the blocks in the fight against doping following the German TV documentary into systematic doping in Russia ©Getty ImagesSergey Bubka was hot out the blocks in the fight against doping following the German TV documentary into systematic doping in Russia ©Getty Images



Some observers suggested that this is the sort of fighting talk we should have heard sooner from Coe. But in fairness to Seb, there is nothing Bubka has said that Coe himself has not been saying for years.

For almost as long as I have known him he has been on doping's case, even advocating banning entire nations from competition should their athletes repeatedly transgress.

While the gloves may be off in the big fight with Bubka, Coe, who I believe would be the ideal figurehead for world athletics, insists it is no grudge match.

"Sergey and I go back a long away and will remain friends irrespective of the outcome," he tells us.

However Coe's familiarity with the hustings as a former parliamentarian should have told him that his wily old pal would turn this into political punch-up at the first opportunity, which is perhaps why he should have got his retaliation in first.

Aware that drugs would be such a major issue, it is a pity that Coe's otherwise compelling election manifesto address devotes less than 100 words to the subject of increasing anti-doping resources "in the battle for our sport's integrity."

Coe must re-mount his soap-box soon if he is not be be gazumped by the former world record- breaking pole vault czar who still craftily knows how to raise the bar to his own advantage.

The fact that there is a worldwide conception that top level success in athletics is now determined more by the syringe than the stopwatch is the most crucial matter Coe has to publicly address.

Seb Coe must no readdress the issue of doping in sport as he fights to become the next President of the IAAF ©Getty ImagesSeb Coe must no readdress the issue of doping in sport as he fights to become the next President of the IAAF ©Getty Images



Of course he will know that athletics is by no means alone in having a leading role in sport's dope opera.

There is hardly a major a sporting discipline left that the chemists haven't juiced up, from cycling to weightlifting via tennis and boxing.

You have only to glance at the bulging biceps and tree-trunk thighs of those modern mammoths in both codes of rugby to know that it hasn't all been done by press-ups. And as for America's NFL-well, don't even go there!

Doping may appear to be rampant in Russia - now there's a surprise - as it is suspected in several other countries whose athletes consistently produce eyebrow-raising performances.

But the suggestion that officials can be bribed to allow doped athletes to buck the system becomes the ultimate obscenity.

So no more pussyfooting please. Time to call the cops.

Yet Britain's Sir Craig Reedie, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says he is "completely opposed to the criminalisation of athletes." So, apparently, is the UK anti-doping body, whose interim chief executive Nicole Sapstead declares there is "no appetite" here to illegalise doping, adding: "I don't think there is a need for dawn raids and smashing down doors."

Why not, if this is what it takes to clean up sport and make a sceptical world believe in it again.

Otherwise the cheats will always be one pace ahead of the game

The Germans propose three-year jail terms for those caught using and supplying performance-enhancing drugs. Other nations must follow, and it would be heartening to hear such strictures loudly endorsed by Lord Coe - preferably before the bandwagoning Bubka does!

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

David Owen: Will the IOC now grasp its opportunity for change?

Duncan Mackay
David Owen head and shouldersInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach put it best in his dense, almost 30 minute address to the Opening Ceremony of this 127th IOC Session in Monte Carlo on Sunday.

"The success of today gives you only the opportunity to drive the change for tomorrow," Bach said.

Having witnessed the process as IOC members overwhelmingly voted through a succession of Agenda 2020 reform recommendations, it seems to me clear that that is exactly what they have done: given themselves the opportunity to drive change for tomorrow.

Whether, and how, they actually grasp this opportunity is another matter entirely.

On the two meatiest areas covered in morning proceedings of the Session's first full day - the bidding process and the sporting programme - while there was, it seems, not a single vote cast against, there were a total of 26 questions from IOC members, some of them quite pointed.

This suggests to me that while the vast majority of members support the general direction of travel, there remains plenty of scope for opposition to kick in once the principles approved in Monaco have started to generate specific proposals.

Agenda 2020 has led to a number of sweeping changes in the Olympic Movement but there real impact will only become apparent over the coming years ©IOCAgenda 2020 has led to a number of sweeping changes in the Olympic Movement but there real impact will only become apparent over the coming years ©IOC

If, for example, I were a prospective bid leader contemplating a geographically dispersed bid in the interests of cost savings and sustainability, I would be distinctly nervous about the reservations expressed relating to dilution of the Olympic Village's unique atmosphere and to the increased costs that a far-flung Olympic project might entail for small National Olympic Committees (NOCs) which are ill-equipped to bear them.

Just because the rules regarding regional or multinational bids have now changed, in other words, it doesn't mean that members will necessarily be inclined to vote for them.

Similarly, regarding the sporting programme - an issue on which the Movement has shown a remarkable aptitude for tying itself up in the most inextricable knots in recent years - there remains a large amount of confusion.

And I mean in the minds of Olympic decision-makers, let alone the rest of us poor wretches.

The basic idea - of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each individual event when determining the Olympic programme, and of setting limits that prevent the size of the Summer Games from escalating out of control while making it easier for new sports to be included - appears sound enough.

What remains, for now, as clear as mud - and I have tested this on a number of diligent, well plugged-in IOC members - is the ejection mechanism for events deemed no longer able to cut the Olympic mustard.

This might be by design: a clear explanation of the process via which events are expelled into the Olympic wilderness might have provoked a blizzard of queries that would, in turn, have bogged down the entire Agenda 2020 process.

It suggests, though, that what has been accomplished today may just be the easy part.

The IOC has a reputation for being a conservative organisation and usually only proposes change if it is certain it will be successful ©IOCThe IOC has a reputation for being a conservative organisation and usually only proposes change if it is certain it will be successful ©IOC

What will be the reaction once established Olympic sports start to be hit with proposals for real reductions in their respective programmes, be they of events, or of the number of athletes accepted for participation in events?

The contrast with the clarity and detail of information provided after lunch on the proposed new Olympic Channel - much the most adventurous innovation approved by the Session - was quite striking.

More than one hundred new staff required (106 to be precise), a Madrid base, projected costs over the first seven years, including contingency, of €490 million.

Here was a real sense of a well-thought-through project, and of course the membership approved it unanimously.

None of this was particularly surprising; as I have written before, politics is the art of the possible and the IOC has prospered over a long period by being conservative.

It does not tend to shake things up unless it is pretty darn sure the result will constitute an improvement.

Former IOC marketing director Michael Payne claims he spoke to Thomas Bach about an Olympic TV Channel 15 years ago ©TwitterFormer IOC marketing director Michael Payne claims he spoke to Thomas Bach about an Olympic TV Channel 15 years ago ©Twitter

The idea of something akin to an Olympic Channel was first raised, I understand, as long ago as the early 1990s, but was not deemed a viable concept in those far off pre-digital days.

Bach and his colleagues have done remarkably well, all things considered, to bring this raft of proposals to a conclusion little more than a year after he assumed office.

But, the channel apart, it still leaves me wondering how much, fundamentally, is going to change in Agenda 2020's wake.

Will these reforms help to engender a rush of bidders, and bidders prepared to stay the course, for the 2026 Winter Games?

How different will the 2024 Summer Games sporting programme really be from Rio 2016 – and, critically, will any changes have a meaningful impact in boosting the number of young viewers and grass-roots participants?

We shall have to wait and see, but it seems to me that the 40 measures do relatively little to address one of the big structural problems affecting the Movement: that the cost-benefit equation for hosting the Winter Games is not attractive enough for bidders because large areas of the globe are not much interested in them.

"Today is decision day," said Bach at the outset of Monday's proceedings.

"This is a great, great step forward," he added more than six hours later, at 3.45pm, as the Olympic Channel recommendation sailed through.

He is right on both counts.

I persist in thinking, however, that with the exception of recommendation 19 (to launch the channel), revolution day this was not.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.