Dragon

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, said that the issue of ensuring the safety of Russian athletes at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is critically important, which was also noted by the Russian Foreign Ministry. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its comments always says that the issue of security is critical in this situation. The same was discussed at the board of the Ministry of Sports. Neither the national federation, nor government services, nor the national Olympic committee, which is cut off from the process by these recommendations, will deal with this,” TASS quotes Pozdnyakov as saying. This sounds a lot like what the USSR said before the 1984 Games. Using athlete safety concerns to justify pulling out of the Games

Earps is a strong favourite in the betting for this.

Interesting news that Josh Tarling is training with the GB pursuit team with a view to possibly doubling up on road and track in Paris.

European judo champion Gemma Howell has retired

The People's Republic of the Celtic Nations have won these championships.

A long time ago I wrote an article on the worst Winter Olympic country of all time https://olympstats.com/2014/02/04/its-not-the-winning-its-the-taking-part-that-counts/

Had surgery in the autumn, will probably miss all this season. Also Laura Deas (skeleton) will miss this winter due to pregnancy

Sailor Hamish Hardie, one of the last survivors of the British team from the 1948 Olympics, died this month at the age of 95

Is there a list of these 11 qualifiers anywhere?

Very much the #2 Briton on the Euro Cup circuit last season...

I could see a compromise where a Haudenosaunee team would play a ceremonial game to start off the tournament

In the first round of the shoot out 13 year old Shaun Liu won his first round match against Ishpreet Singh Chadha of India. The youngest player ever to win a match on the world snooker tour

Obviously this is a complete non-starter of an idea because of the precedent it would set if the Iroquois could compete independently. If them then why not Catalunya?, why not Euskadi? Brittany, Corsica, Occitania, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Scotland, Wales, the Falkland Islands/Malvinas, Tibet? Quebec, the Navajo nation, Somaliland, Western Sahara? etc,etc,etc

Breaking news. Lake Placid has put forth an offer to host sliding sports for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to take place in Italy, where organizers are struggling to provide a venue for bobsled, luge and skeleton racing. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced the bid after its quarterly meeting Thursday, only two days after the chief of the Milan-Cortina Games said it is possible the hosts could come up with a new proposal to build a track.

Sports Journalists Awards 2023 (the second most important awards of the year Sportsman of the Year 1 Chris Broad (cricket) 2 Josh Kerr (athletics) 3 Frankie Dettori (horse racing) Sportswoman of the Year 1 Mary Earps (football) 2 Katarina Johnson-Thompson (athletics) 3 Tammy Beaumont (cricket) Team of the Year 1 Manchester City Men (football) 2 England Women (football) 3 European Ryder Cup team (golf) Junior Sportsman/woman of the Year (officially "Breakthrough athlete of the the year") Men - Harry Brooke (cricket) Women - Emma Finucane (cycling) Paralympic Sportsman/woman of the Year Men - Neil Fachie / Matt Rotherham (cycling) Women - Ellie Challis (swimming) SJA chairman's award (Coach of the Year) Emma Hayes (Chelsea women football) Pat Besford Award (single performance of the Year) Zharnel Hughes For breaking the GB 100m record Spirit of Sport Award (outstanding service to British sport) Eve Muirhead curling

I quite like the idea of with some games in Southern and

On to the 2035 Rugby World Cup and four countries are interested in hosting.

I doubt this will last long but, at the moment, are above in the men's team standings at both the Alpine and Nordic World Cups.

From "People Daily" (Kenya) The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has published the latest list of athletes who have been banned for doping and non-doping violations. The Kenyan athletes banned are Brenda Chebet, Agnes Mumbua, Mathew Sawe, Zena Chemutai, Hannah Wairimu, Cynthia Kendi, and Eliud Kibet. Mumbua, Kibet, and Sawe have been sanctioned for four years, and their ban will expire in 2026. Wairimu, Kendi, and Brenda have been banned each for three years while Chemutai's ban will run for one year. Chebet, 19, is the youngest of the athletes on the latest list and has shown signs of a promising future given how she has performed in the previous assignments. At the African Championship held in Mauritius last year, she finished fourth in the 1500m before a six-place finish in the 800m final.

Probably shouldn't post this but on YouTube there's a gymnastics based set of ads for Trojan Condoms that is quite memorable...

Roger Black, silver medalist 1996 in advert for Instant Noodles. Bizarrely, after this, the other man in the advert has twice been nominated for an Oscar