How do we feel about our England men and women's teams both coming home with bronze medals from the European Championships? As you might expect, pleased but very aware that we can push on towards London from here.

Failure would have been not winning a medal. This was success: a podium finish and confirmation that we're amongst the top four teams in world.

We're there in the window of competitiveness.

For our women, it was their sixth Euro bronze in a row. To the outside world, that might look like a flat line in terms of progress. But I see something different.

When they lost to Holland in the semi-finals, they were hugely disappointed. You could see it in their body language as they dragged themselves off the pitch. They had dealt with their pool matches outstandingly well and qualified top of the group. In the semi-final they expected to play the team that qualified second from the other pool - and, extraordinarily, that turned out to be Holland, consistently one of the best women's teams in the world. I think that had an impact. On the day, our girls didn't perform. They did a bit of soul-searching in the 48 hours afterwards and I hold firm to my belief that these women are on an upward climb.

The men were simply involved in a farce in their semi-final against Germany. A pitch that couldn't support any amount of rainfall was lashed by a storm and the delay almost lasted longer than the match itself. A potentially outstanding match against the hosts was ruined by the facility. Of course, it was the same for both sides but it still made a mockery of the match. We accept the defeat, we still need to raise our game but all the evidence is that we are competitive with the best teams in Europe, which is in itself the strongest continent in the sport.

In all, the tournament demonstrated the areas of our improvement: physical conditioning, the ability to beat teams ranked above and below us, tactical awareness, technical skills. Much of these gains have come since Beijing when the women's team in particular was hit by ten retirements and I am a huge admirer of our current squad for making the difficult decision to relocate to Bisham Abbey as a group. Seven years ago they were ranked outside the world's top ten. Now they are fourth and challenging the top three. That is a huge achievement.

I was asked after the tournament if both teams need to work on their big game mentality, as neither performed to full potential in their semi-final. We have to look at everything and both men and women have full access to sports psychologists both as a group and individuals on a confidential basis. It's very different from my "psyche" experience as a player, I'm pleased to say. After Seoul in 1988 when we won the gold medal, we were told: "You must do this!" I didn't understand why I needed it. If it had been offered to us on a take it/or leave it basis I think it would have been better received.


But I do recognise the importance of mental strength and anything that can be done to fortify it. London 2012 will pitch our players into an environment they have never come across before. A 16,000 crowd versus the usual one man and dog. Huge media interest versus flying under the radar. There will be hype, expectation, nerves on a new level and we don't want any of it to come as a surprise to them. None of us have ever been part of a home Games before and we want all the athletes to have a positive Olympic experience.

There are many challenges between then and now. The greatest will be to cut the squads down - each from about 30 athletes to the 16 who will be selected as GB Olympians. The final selection date is June next year. So much will depend on fitness, form, the balance of the squad and it is certainly too soon to judge now. I've been on both ends of the process - selected for Seoul and de-selected for Barcelona - and I can tell you that it is a ruthless business. But this is a results game. Those in the mix must accept the positive/negative of selection. I have to admit, though, it took me a while to accept it. I was angry with the system and the team, but when I reflected on it later, it was probably the right decision.

Looking forward to 2012: Yes, GB can reach a podium. Both teams have the capability of winning a medal at their home games and they are doing everything possible to reach the gold standard. The margins between the top four to six nations in the world are very thin. If our teams play to their highest level they have the ability to win every match they play in the tournament.

Meanwhile, who'd be a performance director? As I said in a post-tournament interview with the BBC, the role is best described as "bloody difficult". There are so many things in the team sport environment that are interdependent. I call it "The Moving Jigsaw". It's about bringing it all together, not just for London 2012 but thinking beyond even that monumental stage to Rio four years later.

We are striving to produce a group of individuals who will walk out on to that blue Olympic pitch next August and do their best for themselves and as a team. That thought motivates me every day.

David Faulkner won 225 England and GB international caps and was part of the 1988 gold medal winning hockey squad in Seoul. He joined England Hockey as Performance Director in April 2005. 

Like moths to the light of a summer evening's patio lamp, they are attracted to the prospect of an Olympic Games bid, American cities with a real shot, others without a clue, and individuals and political grandstanders seeking sound bites and attention.

And so it is again this summer, as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) goes about its mission of repairing its fractured relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ruptured by a decade of dysfunction and the actions of individuals unworthy of the moments they were accorded.

As USOC chairman Larry Probst and chief executive Scott Blackmun crisscross the globe on a weekly basis as ambassadors of a revitalised and committed partner and friend of the IOC and the International sports community, as well as carefully addressing the sensitive topic of the USOC's share of US Olympic television rights and sponsor fees, they are forced to deal with continued pressures and sometimes baseless media reports related to future Olympic bids.

The USOC has repeatedly stated its position on any future Olympic Games bid, which is that it would not submit an American city by the September 1 deadline for the 2020 Olympic Games, and that there were no plans at this time to consider a 2022 Olympic Winter Games bid.

In accordance, the USOC notified Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Chicago, Tulsa and Dallas last week of its decision after each had expressed interest in 2020. "With such little time left, we don't believe we could pull together a winning bid that could serve the Olympic and Paralympic Movement," said USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky. That message did not, apparently, reach some in Las Vegas, and what happens there did not stay there when a Vegas group, reportedly headed by a Texas developer named Chris Milam, sent a letter to the IOC, asking the body to bypass the USOC and its decision and allow the city to enter a bid for the Games.  The IOC wasted no time in throwing cold water on the Vegas bid by letter and supporting the USOC.

Now, media reports state that a possible Denver 2022 Winter Games bid is being threatened by "an international dispute" between the USOC and the IOC over the revenues issue, following a decade-long Denver effort to secure a bid. The subject now has even unearthed former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, one of the most prominent among the attention-seeking individuals from growth-control, environmental protection and anti-spending camps who torpedoed the 1976 Denver Olympic Winter Games under the mantle "Citizens For Colorado's Future" that got a piece of legislation banning any state funds for the Games on a 1972 ballot which passed with a 60 per cent supportive vote. The IOC responded by stripping Denver of the Games and turning to Innsbruck, which staged a success story instead.

Despite the embarrassment of becoming the only city ever to turn back the Games, Denver remains a superb candidate for a time when the USOC feels it is appropriate to bid again. In fact, Denver actually bid again for the Winter Games, a story apparently lost in the vortex of media reporting and hyperventilating. On June 4, 1989, in Des Moines, the USOC selected Salt Lake City as its candidate for hosting the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. Salt Lake's competition in the final balloting was Denver, Anchorage and Reno-Tahoe. The excellent Denver bid was led by Mayor Federico Pena and television executive Roger Ogden, and included several of the ill-fated 1976 venues and a proposal of a $14 million (£9 million/€10 million) television fund-raising campaign for the USOC, which was big-time dollars at the time for the organisation.

This time around, the effort embraced environmentalists and some of the former critics in the campaign. Vail-Beaver Creek was chosen as the site for Alpine skiing and Steamboat Springs for Nordic skiing. Breckenridge was the venue for Freestyle skiing, and Denver would host ice hockey and figure skating at McNichols Arena, speed skating at Denver University, and curling at the South Suburban Ice Arena.

Ogden said at the time that Vail Associates might foot the bill for the construction costs for the luge and bobsled runs in the city, and that negotiations were underway with Denver University to possibly build and indoor speed skating arena with corporate support. In Des Moines, USOC President Robert Helmick allowed each city to make a 30-minute presentation to the USOC Executive Committee and site selection team chaired by Sandy Knapp of Indianapolis, which had made visits and inspections of each candidate city in May.

I watched each presentation and heard the Denver team address the sticky subject of what had happened in 1972 and if it might still affect the IOC voters should the USOC choose Denver again as its candidate city. In the end, Denver was eliminated on the first ballot, and Salt Lake chosen over Anchorage in the next round. Anchorage had been the USOC candidate twice before, and its officials were enraged. The USOC also stipulated that Salt Lake City would be its candidate again for 2002 if the city failed to win the 1998 Games, which is exactly what happened when Nagano won the 1998 race and Salt Lake came back to win a first-round triumph for 2002.


But here we have Lamm again today, telling the Denver Post that the city should be careful about a future bid. "The history of the Winter Olympics has been soaked in red ink," Lamm said. "But I know that those five rings are so glittery that they can distort people's judgement."

Lamm apparently does not read about the Games much these days. The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which once hoped merely to break even on a $1.3 billion (£801 million/€915 million) budget, wound up with a $101 million (£62 million/€71 million) profit, organisers said. Fraser Bullock, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Organising Committee (SLOC), said the surplus was almost double the $56 million (£35 million/€39 million) projected in April, two months after the Games ended.

A statement from the SLOC said the profit grew through unused contingency funds and cost cuts on venue restoration. There also were savings on ceremonies and litigation. The extra money helped finance US sports programs and kept the venues from the Winter Olympics in shape for training and competition. And, if my memory serves me well, when Lake Placid was having problems with snowfall ahead of the 1980 Games, representatives of Colorado and then Governor Lamm, offered to host the Olympic skiing events if no solution was found. The Lake Placid organisers implemented the first artificial snow-making effort in Games history and it went off without a hitch.

As we enjoy our summer day in Colorado, we are reminded that our state is the envied model of the nation in sports and sports business. Over one million spectators enjoyed the prestigious USA Pro Cycling Challenge last week and millions across the world saw a beautiful Rocky Mountain vista. The state's ski areas have exploded in growth and popularity, and Denver is among the best sports cities in the world. Colorado Springs is the home of the USOC and 22 of its elite sport national governing bodies. The Games will again come to America, maybe to Colorado one day in the future, and one hopes that Dick Lamm has to stand in a long line for his curling tickets.

Mike Moran was the chief spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee for a quarter century, through thirteen Games, from Lake Placid to Salt Lake City. He joined the USOC in 1978 as it left New York City for Colorado Springs. He was the Senior Communications Counselor for NYC2012, New York City's Olympic bid group from 2003-2005 and is now a media consultant

It seems odd that it should be happening in the run-up to a Games organised by Sebastian Coe, but I can't help thinking that athletics' crown as the pre-eminent Olympic sport is slipping.

Until now, the phenomenon that is Usain Bolt had covered this up.

But Daegu has afforded us a glimpse of the world without the Jamaican showman.

And for the most part, it ain't pretty.

Sure, some events have provided fine sport.

My personal favourite to date - not for the first time - has been the pole-vault.

And the amplified shhhhhhs used by the organisers to ensure quiet as sprinters prepare to get down on their blocks are a delightful idea.


But then you think that the 5.90 metres attained by gold medallist Paweł Wojciechowski (pictured) of Poland is 25cm less than the best achieved in competition by Sergey Bubka, who may end up vying with Coe to be the sport's next boss, and reality starts to seep in.

It is surely not a healthy thing that the biggest talking point after the first few days' competition in Korea has been the sport's false-start rules.

Of course, Bolt may show up in London and gouge further lumps out of the 100 and 200 metres world records he has already abused so badly.

But what if he doesn't? What then would live in the memory about the 2012 Olympic athletics competition?

Oscar Pistorius maybe? Caster Semenya?

The problem with both these "stories", tough as it is on the athletes concerned, is that debate tends to focus on the nature of fair competition, as opposed to the wonder of their athletic achievements.

Or perhaps David Rudisha will cruise to another world record in the men's 800m.

The problem with that story is that "Kenyan wins long-ish running race" is not the sort of headline that any longer sets pulses racing far beyond Nairobi.

Now turn your mind to the competition.


In the pool, you have the enticing prospect of veterans Ian Thorpe and Janet Evans on the comeback trail, as well as Michael Phelps (pictured) trying to add further to his astonishing collection of Olympic metalwork.

That and local hero Tom Daley aiming to dive for gold.

There is the return to the Olympics of women's boxing after more than a century.

And the possibility of seeing Roger Federer bow out by winning gold at Wimbledon.

From the host nation's perspective, there is the question of whether 2008's hard-won supremacy in the velodrome can be maintained - and indeed extended to the water, with both British rowing and sailing teams exhibiting immense medal-winning potential.

Olympic team sports are on an upswing too, with the basketball competition firmly established as one of the highlights of the Games and football attracting ever more attention.

The novelty of seeing British football teams take to the field should ensure that the 2012 football competition is particularly enthusiastically supported.


Even if Bolt does do the business at London, it is hard to imagine his exploits having quite the same impact as in Beijing's stunning Bird's Nest four years ago, simply because it would be a re-run of an old story.

And who will take up his mantle in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, when the alternative attractions promise to be still more compelling, with the arrival of golf and rugby sevens on the Olympic programme?

No, I sincerely believe that athletics will have to somehow raise its game if it is to remain much longer at the head of the Olympic pantheon.

I think Daegu this week is starting to make that clear.

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 and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

Hannah Mills and I have had a lot of lovely comments and congratulations since winning silver at the Olympic Test Event and although the disappointment has slightly faded it still would have been nice to have won.

Three points separated us and the Japanese girls at the end and the distance between gold and silver was about 10 metres in the medal race. In the pre start we were circling the committee boat chasing the Japanese, with about 40 seconds to go the Japanese went for another circle, we decided not to follow as we didn't think there was enough time to do that and still get a good start, as we had to keep an eye out for the Dutch. We started in the middle and they started at the boat and immediately tacked. From that initial separation they got in the first cross and we could never quite get back to them.

When Hannah and I paired up in February our goal was to qualify for the Test Event. We did that by winning silver at Skandia Sail for Gold. By winning silver at the Test Event we have surpassed our expectations for this season. However I also know from the last Olympic cycle this season means nothing in the grand scheme of things so there is no way we can sit and pat ourselves on the back at what we've done this year however much we've outperformed our goals.

Because of the strength in depth some countries have in the 470 fleet, the top 10 was actually weaker than the top 10s at some of the other Grade 1 regattas. But the medallists from Beijing 2008 are all still around, albeit sailing in different combinations, and the experienced crews amongst the fleet will know they can pick and choose which events they bring their 'A' game to and which events they might just be using as warm ups. I think it's safe to assume everyone will think they've got a lot more still to come before the Olympics.

The Test Event is a really important event for everyone in terms of the lessons that need to be learned before the Olympics, so it was a really valuable experience for us as a team. It was Hannah's first experience of being in the locked down British team environment. We live together as a team, we are very lucky as we get all our meals cooked and have all the sports science expertise and experience immediately to hand at all times in the build up to and throughout the event until everyone has finished. Some people can find that exciting, a bit daunting or unusual but it is important to get used to it, Hannah took it all in her stride like an absolute pro as I guessed she probably would.

We're back in training on September 1 and our focus becomes the ISAF World Championships in Perth in December. Our selection process is ongoing so, regardless of what we've achieved this season, we know we have to go out there and prove ourselves again against the other girls so we'll be going there to nail it!

In the meantime I'm enjoying a bit of time off back home in Essex. I took part in Mersea Week with some friends in a classic Mersea Winklebrig, a type of old fishing working boat unique to the area. It was great fun racing against old friends and catching up with everyone after sailing.

Check out Team Volvo for Life's official vodcast from the Olympic Test event here.

Saskia Clark is one of Team GB's top medal hopes for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and won silver at the test event in Weymouth earlier this month alongside team mate Hannah Mills. The 470 class sailor came sixth in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and has also won gold at the ISAF World Cup in Kiel in June 2010.

Sky News called at the weekend to ask if I would give my views on Oscar Pistorius competing with able-bodied counterparts at the current World Athletics Championships and possibly next year's London Olympics.

I readily obliged, endorsing the doubts expressed in my Independent on Sunday column about the validity of his presence running on manufactured legs.

I found myself arguing with a pleasant chap from Manchester who manufactures the contentious blades similar to those used by Pistorius.

Subsequently, I have been engulfed by a storm of emails of Hurricane Irene proportions.

Some were supportive of my opinion, but most were not. They ranged from reasoned argument to near hysteria, suggesting there might be an athletics division of the more anarchic elements of the Animal Rights group.

One from someone with a distinctly South African-sounding moniker even likened me to Colonel Gaddafi.

Well, am sorry if I offended those who believe Pistorius should be an Olympian but I am by no means alone in being uneasy about his presence in Daegu - even more so should he qualify for London's Olympics.


Even Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, doyenne of Paralympians, says the South African risks undermining the equality that the Paralympic Movement has worked to achieve. "If Oscar makes the Olympics then his event shouldn't be run at the Paralympics because the Paralympics should never be a 'B' final," she says.

She also fears that the Paralympics, exactly a year away this week, might become an afterthought. "We have to put things in perspective and not let this become the Oscar show." Quite.

I am pleased Pistorius, who I have met and interviewed and found extremely engaging, completed his South Korean odyssey on his carbon fibre "Cheetah" feet without mishap to himself, or others.

He made his point, as well as a bit of history in qualifying for the 400 metre semis, where he finished last. But significantly, he was told he would have to run the 4x400 metres relay in the lane-restricted first leg so as not to endanger other runners.

His debut in Daegu leaves more questions than answers. Do the blades the double amputee wears affixed to the stumps his legs give him an added advantage over others? We still don't know, but it is interesting that he is the only 400m runner in the world who accelerates between 200 and 300m.

This surely can only be due to his machinery strapped to his limbs.

Pistorius needed a ruling from CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) to compete against able-bodied athletes. Now two of the scientists who supported his case for overturning the original IAAF ban have changed their minds and say he enjoys a substantial benefit.

Would the sport be so accommodating if he was a long jumper, high jumper or triple jumper, where those custom-built prosthetic blades surely would give him an unfair advantage with their "bounce" - as eventually, with technological advances, they may well do on the track. Think about it.


And would those able-bodied rivals who patted him on the back and said "Well done" have reacted in quite the same way had he actually beaten them?

I know there are many in sport - including some members of the IAAF and IOC - who feel deep disquiet but know theirs would not be a popular view to express publicly in these politically correct times.

But among former athletes, Michael Johnson and Roger Black have spoken of their concerns, Johnson pointing out that one advantage Pistorius may have is that he is not subject to lower leg injuries - pulled calf muscles or snapped Achilles in training or competition that can hamper able-bodied athletes.

Black makes this valid point: "What happens if he runs 44.3sec and wins an Olympic medal? I don't think it will happen because, while he is capable of running fast one-off races, it is a different thing to do it three days in a row.

"But we are talking about people's livelihoods here. When Pistorius runs, we don't know if we are watching a level playing field, and the faster he runs, the more people will believe he has an advantage."

In July, he took half a second off his personal best to run 45.07, making him 18th fastest 400m metres runner in the world. Who is to say he could not take of another half-second-or more - between now and next August when he hopes to run in the Olympics.

Pistorius is a natural-born athlete and sadly we will never know if he had the ability to run as fast on his own legs as he does on blades.

My Sky adversary suggested that by using the blades Pistorius only compensates for his physical disadvantage in order to have parity, and compete on equal terms with other athletes.

OK, does this mean that in the name of equality women should be allowed to compensate for their physical disadvantages by taking the male hormone testosterone so they can compete against men in track and field as some doubtless would wish to do?

Who is to say in this day and age they could not go to court and argue successfully that is their "human right" to be allowed to do so?

Do we really want to turn athletics into a version of Formula One with boffins and their technology being more important than the athlete?

One of my email correspondents suggested that Pistorius - and others who use similar prosthetic devices - should be allowed to compete unilaterally but their results not recorded.

It is an interesting thought but one with which able-bodied athletes at whose expense they are included in the team may not agree. Alternatively, I suppose their results could have the same asterisk that follows a wind-assisted record. But instead of wa it would be ta (technology-assisted).


There is no doubt that Pistorius deserves all the applause and every accolade going for his incredible triumph of human will, endeavour and determination, not to mention sheer guts.

But his rightful place surely is the Paralympics alongside such other admirable Paralympians like Britain's own high-achieving superstars, David Weir and Ellie Simmonds, the terrorist bomb blast victim Martine Wright, now a top sitting volleyball player and the only world number one tennis player we have had in a lifetime, 50-year-old Peter Norfolk, the wheelchair wizard aka the Quadfather.

All, like Pistorius, have wonderfully uplifting stories and will provide magical, inspirational moments. Just as Pistorius has.

So by all means, give the Blade Runner an Oscar, but not an Olympic medal.

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 Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire

It is a sign of how much times have changed in the bidding business that Madrid and Rome can perhaps be considered outsiders in the race for the 2020 Olympics.

Time was when Western Europe and the United States could count on hosting a very large proportion of the planet's biggest sports events.

But the decade following London 2012 will see a very different pattern emerge.

Post-London, the sequence of Olympics/FIFA World Cup host-nations - the ones we already know about - reads as follows: Russia, Brazil, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Qatar.

Not one West European or North American location in sight.

With the Qatari city of Doha entering the contest last week, it now looks very much like the battle for the 2020 Summer Games will be a five-cornered contest featuring Madrid, Rome, Doha, Istanbul and Tokyo.

The first thing to be said is that this is another strong, geographically-diverse field, and one that underlines, in spite of a few jitters, the Olympic Movement's recession-resistant qualities.

No great imaginative leap is needed to see any one of the quintet staging a successful Games – particularly given that Doha has got the green light to host the event, if necessary, outside the designated window of July 15-August 31.

It therefore follows that this could be a very open competition.

There are two reasons why I feel that Madrid and Rome are, as of today, among the least likely winners.

The first is the appetite displayed in recent times by the world's top sports bodies for exploring new territory.


In the past three years, China and South Africa have demonstrated that you don't have to be a traditional "old world" industrial power to have the capability to meet the onerous technical challenges involved in staging one of the globe's great sports events.

This appears to have encouraged sports decision-makers to feel they can be a touch more adventurous in their choice of hosts without exposing their organisations to undue risk.

To combat this, these two old European capitals will need to construct a really compelling narrative, explaining why it is in the Olympic Movement's best interests to revisit old pastures.

(The Winter Games were in Italy as recently as 2006, remember, while Spain hosted a Summer Olympics in 1992, although Madrid can argue it has not itself had the honour.)

As an unsuccessful candidate in both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games contests, the Spanish capital will be able to play the persistence card that was part of Pyeongchang's winning hand in the 2018 Winter Olympics race.

The technical qualities of its bid will, once again, be outstanding and it has a growing fund of global sporting superstars on which to draw.

But can it unearth that elusive X-factor?

It is worth bearing in mind too that, this time, it must soldier on without the inimitable presence of Juan Antonio Samaranch senior, the former long-time President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who died in April 2010.

Rome - Summer Games host in 1960 and runner-up in the 2004 race won by Athens – faces, to my mind, a similar challenge.

As it seeks to concoct a winning story-line, however, it will have some of the most experienced minds in the IOC to draw on: Franco Carraro, Ottavio Cinquanta and, last but in no way least, Mario Pescante are all IOC members of at least 15 years' standing.

IOC President Jacques Rogge will also have spent much time in the city in his long stint as President of the European Olympic Committees, though the Belgian will, of course, remain scrupulously neutral throughout the two-year contest that is about to get under way.

The second reason why I think the Italian and Spanish candidates are up against it as things stand at the moment is the European financial crisis.

As I write this, concerns about public-sector debt-levels in a number of European countries, including Spain and Italy, continue to spook the markets and to cast a shadow over the Euro, the currency used in much of the European Union.

While some might think it absurd to allow current problems to influence the choice of host for a party that doesn't happen for another nine years, detailed plans must be laid, and financial guarantees given, far in advance of that.

Though it may be that Europe's present malaise will be forgotten long before the decisive vote in the 2020 contest, scheduled for September 2013 in Buenos Aires, if that vote were happening today, I think Rome and Madrid's chances would be severely hampered.

As for the other three runners, Doha, another unsuccessful candidate for 2016, will be a formidable contender.

It would be little surprise if it were the best-resourced bid; it may well also benefit from the advice of Mike Lee, the London-based PR guru who played a part in each of the last two successful Summer Olympics bids.


A Doha victory would also repeat a pattern that has emerged in recent times of countries hosting a World Cup and an Olympic Games in quick succession: both Brazil and Russia will be doing this over the next seven years.

This seems a pragmatic approach in terms of maximising the use of new infrastructure generally required by the host of any sports mega-event and preventing herds of the dreaded "white elephants".

That said, I think the Doha Olympic bid may have to work hard to ensure that the controversy overhanging the 2018-22 World Cup bidding process does not affect its prospects.

IOC members will also be aware that they will probably have another opportunity to take their flagship event to the Middle East in 2024, should they so choose, following Dubai's recent suggestions that they are minded to bid for that event.

Istanbul, a huge city, straddling two continents, in a spectacular setting, has a fantastic story to tell.

It also has a history of repeated Olympic bids.

But it probably has the most to do of any of the five candidates to convince the IOC's technocrats that it really can cope with the multifarious technical requirements of staging a Games.

Transport and security plans would, I think, be particularly closely scrutinised, and, based on a visit last year, I think the Atatürk Olympic Stadium and surrounding area would need a lot of work to serve as the centrepiece of an Olympic Games in close to a decade's time.

Turkey, though, is a significant and fast-developing economy of exactly the type that international sports administrators have been turning to with ever more frequency in recent years.


If its technical bid is up to scratch, Istanbul 2020 could take a lot of beating.

Tokyo, which hosted the Games in 1964, faces some of the same "old world" issues as Madrid and Rome.

It may also lose votes as a consequence of the 2018 Winter Games, as we now know, going to South Korea.

In my opinion, though, the city learnt more from its unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Games than any of its other defeated rivals.

Partly because of that, it can expect to have some influential IOC voices in its corner this time.

Though it sounds callous, the devastating earthquake suffered by the country this year could, if handled the right way, help to give a Tokyo bid extra emotional purchase.

Bid leaders might also be well-advised to find a role for Hiroshima, which was keen to bid until earlier this year.

In a city as crowded as Tokyo, however, the actual Games plan – where, for example, the Olympic Village can be located, how visitors and participants will get from A to B, that sort of thing – will inevitably require particular attention.

All in all, I think that Tokyo's bid might require the most skilful stitching together of any of the five candidates.

But, in the hands of the right tailor, it may surprise a few people.

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 and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed by clicking here.

There's a fantastic buzz in the air at the moment.

It's now exactly One Year to Go until the start of the Paralympic Games and I can really feel that everyone is getting excited about the Games coming to London.

The Paralympic Games are the second largest sporting event in the world in scale and size and it's very exciting to think that in exactly 12 months' time, we will be welcoming the superstars of the Paralympic world to come and compete in London.

I can't wait to see them in action and, with Britain being a sport-mad nation, I know that the British public will really get behind our Paralympic athletes. The GB team came second in the medals table in Beijing, which is a fantastic position to head into in a home Games.

As a former Paralympian, I know what GB athletes must be thinking and going through at the moment. Over the next 12 months, their complete focus will be on training and preparation for the Games, getting ready for that one moment in the summer of 2012 when they will need to pull out the performance of their lives.

I, for one, can't wait to experience world-class performance in world class venues across our city.

It's going to be an extraordinary summer of sport and with the Paralympic Games; the public has a chance to see sport like never before.

The Paralympic Games will offer unique passion, drama and emotion and quite simply, they can't be missed. Tickets go on sale on September 9 until 26, so don't miss your opportunity to apply for a piece of history.

To find out more click here.

Chris Holmes is the Director of Paralympic Integration for the London 2012 Organising Committee. He won nine Paralympic gold medals at four Paralympic Games including six at Barcelona in 1992, a feat never equalled by another British Paralympian. He was awarded an MBE for services to British sport in 1992. He is also a Patron of "Help for Heroes'"and a Patron of the British Paralympic Association (BPA)

This week rowers around the world have been putting in their final preparations for the start of their London Olympic regatta qualification at a small picturesque lake at Bled in Slovenia where the World Rowing Championships start on Saturday (August 28).

The recent celebration of the one year countdown to London 2012 wasn't lost on many who are aspiring to compete there.

It will be a great event; London organisers are well prepared and will do it and the UK proud. The anticipation and expectation is building, the running of the test events and the first sporting event at Olympic Park are testament to the proximity of the Games. Teams, International federations and LOCOG will all be reviewing these events and planning accordingly for fair fields of play, spectator requirements, communications, transport and accommodation.

For the athletes and teams that will compete there is one particular pressing hurdle they will all have to overcome and that is qualification for the Games. The athletes and teams need to earn their place at the Games before the athletes can be selected into the Olympic team. Some times this goes hand in hand but often the selection trials will see the athletes further tested closer to the Games.

Each sport has its own qualification process but since 1992 the Olympic Games has been limited to roughly 10,000 athletes. There will be 550 rowers competing in London and this coming week 70 per cent of the available places to nations will be granted from the results gained from the World Championships. The remaining places are filled through continental regattas and a final summer qualification regatta in 2012.

The advantage to the teams who qualify first is that their pathway is clear, planning and training can proceed with the aim of peaking for the Olympics. For those who don't uncertainty follows as hard questions are asked about the viability of success both in the qualification process and what realistic chances they have at the Games if they make it.

Rowing World Championships are held annually and through the Olympiad the standard builds to the pre-Olympic year's "qualification" Championships. The racing is ferocious not just for the medals and finals but more importantly the qualification places that come from the results. Five hundredth of a second was one of the qualifying margins for one of the GB Beijing crews in 2007.

So with the prize clearly at stake, the first Olympic test is upon us and with the knowledge of what must be done, rowers from around the world will be preparing for the fight of their sporting lives. It will be a great feast of competition at so many levels that in so many events Olympian proportions of courage, fitness and skill will be required so that they even have the opportunity to see the Olympic flame burning in London

Paul Thompson the chief coach of Britain's women and lightweight squads. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games he coached the women's quaduple scull to a silver medal

The banners are flourishing at the roadside, all the way into downtown Daegu. A picture of Usain Bolt alongside a picture of Asafa Powell, and a single question: "Who's faster?"

Alas, the question is answered. Even if Bolt decides to do his Gully Creeper dance from gun to tape, he will be faster; his friend, team-mate and rival is out of the World Championship 100 metres, all ambition of finally earning the global gold to set alongside his world records ended by a groin injury.

It's sad. Speaking on the eve of the Samsung Diamond League meeting in London earlier this month, Powell was clearly viewing Daegu as his best opportunity to add a global title to his global times, and his words were backed by the world listings for 2011 which showed him top of the pile on 9.78sec, a full tenth of a second ahead of the double world and Olympic champion's best this year.

Other than winning the Commonwealth title in 2006 – narrowly – this amiable and laconic resident of Kingston has not earned any international championship gold since setting his first world record of 9.77 in 2005, having finished fifth at the 2008 Olympics and earned bronze medals at the last two World Championships.

Powell, who will turn 29 in November, hinted that he felt he only had a limited opportunity to create a happy ending for that narrative of frustration, a narrative that continued last year as he began in scintillating form only to have to drop out early with hamstring and back problems.

"First I'm glad that I am healthy and able to finish my season," he said. "I've been running well so far and I have posted some great times."

He added, with one of his wide smiles: "Great for me – not 9.58, but – it's good. And I'm really confident. I've really been thinking about the World Championships. I don't have much time, and I don't want to miss my chances again."


But Powell also sounded a warning note: "It's the last competition before the World Championships so everyone is being very cautious. We all want to get out of this being healthy."

As things turned out, he didn't run in London. He did not want to risk exacerbating the groin strain he had incurred the previous week while competing in Budapest.

But three weeks down the line, that caution has proved fruitless. Powell has ruled himself out of the individual event, although he holds out a faint hope of contributing to the sprint relay at the end of the Championships.

That decision, clearly, was unavoidable. But the manner in which the news leaked out here - in the course of a press conference jointly organised by Puma and the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the Daeduk Cultural Centre - was a masterpiece of mismanagement.

An event that ended in farce had begun as a circus, as hundreds of reporters and camera crews had filed – past two puzzlingly pointless bouncers – into the Dream Hall, an auditorium which had been chosen deliberately for its capacity ahead of what was likely to be the biggest pre-Championship draw for the world's media, with all Jamaica's top sprinters due to appear at some point.

Such gatherings, particularly when they are organised by shoe companies, always involve a complicit deal as far as the press is concerned.

For the majority of those seated, the key objective was to hear what Bolt and his main rival had to say for themselves about a meeting which promised to be one of the highlights of the World Championships.

Before that could happen, they would hear from others a little lower down the draw card.

And before that could happen, they would hear from Alfred "Frano" Francis, Executive Member of the JAAA and Puma Ambassador, and Grace Jackson, JAAA vice-president, on the subject of What Makes Jamaicans Run So Fast? And watch not one, but two videos, projected on a screen which descended towards the heads of those on stage with terrifying speed but thankfully passed just behind them.

And before that could happen, they would hear from Howard Aris, President of the JAAA, on the History of Jamaican athletics.

And before that could happen, they would hear from the pleasant but nervous young lady operating as moderator about all these things that what would be happening before the thing they had actually turned up for started happening.

Time passed.

The microphones were working only intermittently, so much of what Mr Aris had to say about the genesis of Jamaican sprinting went unheard.

There were still technical problems when Francis and Jackson took part in their awkward three-hander discussion with the increasingly fraught MC. Francis, clad in the black, green and gold of Jamaica and sporting a beanie hat, looked particularly uncomfortable as he hunched and shifted on one of the two couches on stage, both strewn with cushions of similarly themed colours.

If you wanted to sum the whole thing up, the term "strenuously relaxed" would probably cover it.

Francis looked even more ill at ease when our MC observed artlessly: "You wear a lot of hats in the world of running," a comment which drew a rumble of cruel laughter from scribes becoming ever more aware of their looming deadlines.

There followed an uninformative interlude with Jamaica's two pre-eminent 400m hurdlers, world and Olympic champion Melaine Walker  - "Melaine, that is the right spelling isn't it? Love that name" – and her close rival Kaliese Spencer.

Walker's microphone wasn't working. Then it was, but she wasn't using it. I caught a couple of phrases. I gathered she was "focused" for the forthcoming competition. There was much embarrassed laughter, and then it was all over.

Time passed.


Now we were getting to the business end of the schedule with the appearance of the three other Jamaican men due to run the 100 metres along with the defending champion, who was to be the coup de theatre – Nesta Carter, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell.

But Asafa was not there. Instead, there was Michael Frater. Story.

"Asafa couldn't be here today," our MC trilled, before engaging the first of three very sheepish looking athletes in her own probing style. "Michael, can I ask you first – what are you hoping for from these Championships?"

Again, technical issues - I believe that is the phrase – made it difficult to make out much of the responses. But it did seem as if Frater had said something like this: "I didn't come here expecting to run the 100m, but unfortunately Asafa couldn't make it."

By now there was an unmistakeable buzz in the auditorium. Puma, the Jamaica AAA and our beleaguered MC had officially lost the dressing room. The agenda was being set by the audience.

One reporter - me, in fact – asked if Powell was fit. Startled, the moderator replied that she could not answer that question. I pointed out that I was not asking her, but the three athletes sitting in front of her who had been training with Powell. There was no answer.

Another reporter rose to ask if Frater had actually said what he appeared to have said. Again, three increasingly uneasy and silent athletes sat rigidly on their comfy sofa.

Eventually a journalist from a Jamaican TV company insisted that someone from team management simply state whether Powell was in or out.

There was a commotion, before Jackson responded that the technical committee was still meeting so there was no decision to be announced. "I can't comment," she said. "I'm not aware of that."

Now it was the world champion's turn to be put on the spot. With many-tongued rumour flying through the city – thankyou Twitter – a female Norwegian journalist asked what Bolt had to say about the fact that it was "99 per cent sure" that Powell was out of the 100m.

What was he supposed to do?


"Asafa is out?" Bolt asked, craning back in what you could only suppose was an attempt to get a steer on this one from an onlooking official. "That's the first I'm hearing about that. I can't really answer that question. I saw Asafa yesterday so I don't know."

It takes quite something to turn the arrival of Usain Bolt into a distraction from the main event, but on this occasion it was achieved.

All in all, a PR nightmare in the Dream Room.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

In little over a week, I'll be making my way to Sheffield for the sixth Sainsbury's UK School Games. This year, the Games will see over 1,600 elite young athletes competing over four days in the multi sport event across 12 sports, disability events in five sports and demonstration events in three. There are two new sports this year including wheelchair basketball and women's rugby sevens.

The Games is delivered by the Youth Sport Trust and is the only multi sport event of this scale where athletes are able to experience an environment similar to a major sporting event like the Commonwealth Games. There's even Opening and Closing Ceremonies and an Athletes Village. The success of the event has been made possible with the support of the Legacy Trust UK, Sainsbury's and a host of other partners – including Sport England, which has invested National Lottery funding this year to support the inclusion of the two new sports and the expansion of the existing sports to include disability events.

Year-on-year, the Games has provided opportunities to the UK's top young athletes and after this year's event, a staggering 10,000 competitors, will have taken part since 2006. Hundreds of volunteers, officials and coaches give their free time to support these athletes and without them, let's face it, the Games would just not happen. When the final match is played on September 4, over 2,000 volunteers and officials will have supported the Games since its inception.

There have been a lot of highlights for me over past six years, but each year there is always one thing that stands out and that's the opportunity that these youngsters get to live and breathe a major sporting event. The multi sport aspect is truly remarkable and certainly simulates what it's like competing in a major event and the challenges that come with it. I would have jumped at the opportunity if this was around when I was younger.

It can be a learning rollercoaster for some; being exposed to such large crowds, the pressures of media attendance, the disappointment of no medals, poor performance, but these factors are all true to any major sporting event.

Lots of athletes have been disappointed if they didn't go on to win, but that's what it's all about. You aren't going to win every time and it's important that these youngsters experience this in order to develop and grow stronger. The most important aspect is that these talented athletes can use the Games experience to catapult them to success in major sporting events. They see it as a platform to succeed in the elite sport arena, when it really does matter, with medals at stake. Competition between athletes is so important to their development and is the most valuable asset of a young athletes make up. The buzz and excitement among medals winners is really special and it's these moments that encourage and motivate the young athletes to follow their dreams.

Another highlight is the tremendous support available in the background, like former athletes like me who are there to support the young stars and an entire raft of young volunteers and coaches who give their time to support others to succeed in their sport.


Last year in Newcastle, the atmosphere at the volleyball games was incredible; the energy of the players, the crowds getting behind their respective teams and the close matches, made it a spectacular event to feel part of.

It has been great to see the very best young people in the country competing and some that have taken part in the Games have gone on to represent their country at national and international level.  Paralympic gold medal winning swimmer, Ellie Simmonds competed at the very first Games in Glasgow in 2006, before catapulting to national and international success.  Her story is a great example of what young athletes can achieve through consistent hard work and determination and how the Sainsbury's UK School Games was the platform to her elite recognition.

The Games has played host to a number of GB stars that have gone onto achieve great success. Nineteen-year-old international gymnast, Reiss Beckford won gold in 2006 at the Games and went onto to win silver in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.  Reiss is now competing in worldwide and national gymnastic competitions, whilst training for the London 2012 Olympics.  Swimming star Emma Wilkins won gold at the 2007 UK School Games and recently competed for Great Britain in the World Championship team at Shanghai.  Both Reiss and Emma are real life examples of how the Games have acted as a catalyst for the nation's top young athletes.

In my role as Youth Sport Trust ambassador, I visit schools across the country ensuring that young people are inspired to get involved with the event. A lot of the work I do is focussed around talking to young people of all abilities and encouraging them to take part in sport, whether it's picking up a racket for the first time or perfecting a 100 metres sprint. Wherever I am, I'm consistently trying to get young people to see how taking part in sport can improve social skills like increased confidence and team work. At such an exciting time for sport it is more important than ever to get young people engaged and help them to realise how it can positively impact their lives.

Jason Gardener is a School Sport Ambassador for the Youth Sport Trust. The highlight of his career came when he won Olympic gold as part of the British 4x100m relay quartet at the Athens Games in 2004. Other achievements include a gold medal over 60m at the 2004 World Indoor Championships and a hat-trick of 60m European Indoors Championships title, as well as being made an MBE in 2005.  This year's Sainsbury's UK School Games are taking place in Sheffield from September 1 until 4. For more information on the event and to buy tickets, click here. 

Although he says "rugby is still my sport, it is in my bones " there is no doubt that Sir Clive Woodward has fallen deeply in love with the Olympics. Just how much he is hooked was clearly evident when we spoke after he had given an entertaining Q and A session to the Sports Journalists Association recently, confirming beyond doubt his commitment to his role with the British Olympic Association (BOA) until 2012, despite the much-mooted opportunity of returning to his alma mater at Twickenham.

But once the Games are done and dusted, what next the for the former World Cup-conquering England rugby coach whose philosophy has always been summed up by the simple one word title of his autobiography "Winning"?

Yes, he admitted he will re-evaluate his position, which most tend to think might lead to him reconsidering the job of the Rugby Football Union's performance director - though certainly another dangled carrot, that of chief executive ("not my skill set at all.").

A return to the ball game may appear likely, but could he have Twickers in a twist?

For that ball game my not necessarily be of the oval variety. Woodward confesses a lingering passion for the other brand of football and revealed to me that he was on the brink of becoming the manager of a league club before accepting his Olympic mentoring role. "I had a year with Southampton working with Harry Redknapp and George Burley and it was wonderful," he says. "A priceless experience. I learned so much. I love the game.

"Later I was approached by two clubs in the lower divisions to become their manager before the offer from Colin Moynihan [BOA chairman]. Not a day goes by when I wonder what might have happened had I taken a job in football. I was ready to go but I chose the Olympics only because they were in London."

Woodward says he misses the "buzz" of the changing room and one suspects a renewed offer from football – of either variety - this time next year could be favourablv received.

I have even heard it suggested that he might combine his task as Deputy Chef de Mission for Team GB at 2012 with a mentoring role to the British men's and women's football teams, though should he eventually return to rugby, surely no-one is better equipped to be in charge of the GB rugby sevens team on the sport's Olympic debut in Rio.

All sorts of possibilities open up for 55-year-old Woodward after 2012, though at the moment he is scheduled to be Britain's Chef de Mission for the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Romania the following year.

He once told me intriguingly: "Perhaps after 2012 I could be a performance director for an Olympic sport. I'd think seriously about that."

When I first interviewed Sir Clive after he took up the controversial BOA appointment at a reputed annual salary of £300,00 five years ago, he said he had been ''bowled over" by what he had observed from Olympic sports and their participants. He remains in awe.

"When you see the athletes and what they put into it you just go' 'Wow!' They are fantastic.

"It knocks me out when I see what people like Paula Radcliffe, Jessica Ennis and Mark Cavendish put themselves through.

"You have to be someone very special to be an Olympic athlete. Winning a gold medal in the Olympics surely has to be then hardest thing in sport.

"There hasn't been a single Olympic sport I have come across that hasn't got real talent."


He says he was "quite happy" to be watching the beach volleyball test event when England's rugby team were losing to Wales, a result he says was a wake-up call. "But England are in good shape to make a big impact in the World Cup."

He flies to New Zealand next month, taking two weeks off from his day job as the BOA's director of elite performance to watch the tournament, picking the All Blacks and Australia to contest the final.

However he reckons England can get there "but they have got to win every game. I don't think that there's been a team which has lost a game on the way and won the World Cup."

He says there are parallels with mentoring rugby players and Olympic athletes. "In some ways what I do is very similar to what I was doing before, for dealing with someone like Jonny Wilkinson is really no different to working with an Olympic athlete. The fundamentals are basically the same, they all want to be winners.

"In working with the athletes themselves I think what I achieved in rugby helps as it gives me a certain amount of kudos. But once you get past that initial respect, you've then got to deliver back help by them by understanding what they want and how they want to do it, even if it doesn't fit the norm."

Rugby people tell you of Woodward's win-or-bust ruthlessness, his vibrant imagination and bullish forthrightness, characteristics once unfamiliar to the thankfully vanishing breed Olympic blazerati.

But he can also be charming and disarming, as UK Sport the government-backed agency responsible for lottery funding and high performance sport, finally discovered, overcoming their initial wariness about his involvement in what they regarded as their patch by inviting him into their tent, including him the Mission 2012 performance panel which will monitor the progress of all Olympic and Paralympic sports in the run-up to the London Games.

Woodward has always been left field, and is nothing if not innovative. So it seems his mission is one of coordinator, not enforcer. "Exactly, and it is a role I really enjoy." This is reflected in his association with amateur boxing, in which he has a particular interest.

In common with the rest of us he is highly critical of AIBA's seemingly obstructive ban on pro-linked coaches like GB's Rob McCracken.

"It is a devastating blow," he says. "You need the guy you've been working with all along in your corner when it matters. I think it is quite wrong, and very unfair."

Woodward sees 2012 as "the biggest challenge if my life because of the importance to the country," adding. "There are so many good things happening in lour sport at the moment, from England's cricketers proving themselves the best in the world to some terrific results from our prospective Olympians, particularly in some of the successful test events, which have proved we were right to give sports whose Olympic potential was questioned a place in the Games.

"In these past few weeks it has been down to sport to give us that feel-good factor and put a smile back on the face of the nation."

Woodward has had his critics - and still does - but the man knows how to get results from potential high achievers and there can be no question of his absolute commitment to the Olympic cause, or his affinity with those on the shop floor.

"The thing I've learned in sport," he says, "is that while you can bullshit the administrators, the coaches, and sometimes even the public, you can't bullshit the athletes. And once I get my teeth into something, I don't let it go."

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 Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire

It is one of the most memorable sporting images to come out of the Beijing Olympics - a face-on shot of two tired, triumphant oarsmen in a boat, the nearest with arms outstretched, the furthest with arms raised further into the air, with the angles of all four arms being complemented by those of the discarded blades of their boat. The whole effect is of some kind of two-headed, joyful bird.

It was, of course, that picture of Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase moments after they had secured the lightweight double sculls gold medal.


Looking again Purchase, mouth agape in a mix of joy and exhaustion, index fingers pointing skywards, it is hard to think that, earlier this year, that same Olympic champion found it hard to get out of bed.

After finishing a rather lacklustre fourth with Hunter in the Munich World Cup race at the end of May, the Oxford-based athlete succumbed to viral fatigue, with his energy levels falling to the point where the idea of competing, or even training, was out of the question. Rest was prescribed - and Purchase wasn't arguing.

"The worst part of it was not having the enthusiasm," he recalled as he stood on alongside the British training course at Caversham during a media day to mark the naming of the team for the World Championships, which start in Bled, Slovenia later this month.

"Waking up in the morning and thinking 'You know what? I think I could do with another five or six hours of sleep.' It's a challenge to get through that sort of thing, but the important thing is to do it at your own rate and make sure that everything is always on your own terms."

Hunter, too, has had his travails this year with an arm injury, which put him out of competition for several weeks, and he raced at the Lucerne World Cup in July with stand-in partner Adam Freeman-Pask.

Now, however, both men are undergoing what Hunter laughingly calls "hell" at the British team's preparation training camp in Breisach, Germany as they concentrate every speck of energy and resolve they have on retaining the world title they won in New Zealand last year.

"It's obviously been a challenging season so far from my side," Purchase said. "I think Mark has found certain aspects of it difficult as well. But between the two of us we've learned a lot and I think we will be a better crew and a more knowledgeable crew than we were going into the World Championships last year.

"I've deliberately missed World Cups through my viral fatigue. I've chosen to miss out to make sure my training is on track. I probably could have been in a position to race in the World Cup, but my main objective was to race in the World Championships rather than muddle through World Cups.

"The important thing has been to progress at the right level, not to try and come back too fast or too slowly. It's always a fine line to try and juggle and manage. But we've hit the nail spot this time round so I'm really excited to draw a line under the World Cups and look forward to Bled."


Those championships, which run from August 28-September 4, will also offer a challenge mingling excitement and trepidation for the pair of Andy Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed, both Olympic champions in the four at the Beijing Games, who have found it impossible so far to better the New Zealand pairing of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who will defend their title knowing they have beaten the British world number two pair on all 13 of their meetings so far.

Fourteenth time lucky? Triggs Hodge and Reed, temperamentally unsuited to the idea of losing, are hoping so.

Meanwhile, Sam Scowen and her new partner in the double scull, Army Captain Nick Beighton, will hope to establish themselves as Paralympic contenders by achieving a podium finish in Bled.

Scowen, who finished fifth in the adaptive TA mixed double scull with James Roberts at the 2009 World Championships but was without a partner last year, said winning bronze with Beighton in their first outing, at the Munich World Cup in may, had opened up exciting possibilities.

She and Beighton, who lost both legs after stepping on an explosive device in Afghanistan in 2009, had just seven weeks together in training before their international debut in Germany.

"It was our very first competition. We hoped to come fifth or fourth, so to finish third was a real boost," she said.

"We will be looking for the same kind of performance in Bled - the French and Ukraine crews are strong, but we feel we will be faster than we were in Munich after we have done a couple of weeks hard training before the worlds.

"And if we keep improving we could be in gold position next year."


Beighton, too, is looking forwards with optimism, even if his take is a little more measured.

"We're in the mix," he said. "There are still a good five or six countries out there who are in that same ball park. France and the Ukraine obviously are up there, Australia weren't too far behind us at the World Cup, and we have still got China and Brazil to come in who are going to be competitive, and the USA have just selected a new double who clocked good time at their trials.

"So there are a good six teams there all within not very many seconds of each other, so we know that we can't be complacent. But we know that we are competitive. And that's encouraging."

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

The first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896 were not open to women. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the father of the Modern Olympic Games said their inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect."

By 1900, 11 women were allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time in lawn tennis and golf.

The participation of women in the Olympic Movement at all levels has changed considerably since that time.

The IOC has pressed for more women's involvement at the Olympic Games, in cooperation with the respective International Sports Federations (IFs) and the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs), and urged more women to take leadership positions in sports administration.

At the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, a world record was set in the participation of women. There were 4,746 female athletes out of the 11,196 total Olympians competing, or more than 42 per cent. At the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last summer, 46 per cent of the athletes were girls.

With the IOC's continuing efforts, for the first time it appears that the London Games in 2012 will have an equal number of men and women athletes giving their best across all the Olympic sports. The addition of women's boxing to the 2012 Olympic Games in London marks the first time in history that women will compete in every sport that men do.

Yet, even current IOC President Jacques Rogge recognises that despite the numerous accomplishments of women in sport, there are still many things left to be done. That's why the IOC recently kicked off the registration process for the fifth IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, which is scheduled February 16-18, 2012, in Los Angeles. The event is being jointly organised by the IOC, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. The theme is "Together Stronger: The Future of Sport." The IOC is calling on all stakeholders, both women and men, "to work together to remove some of the barriers to gender equality in sport that still exist".

The IOC has made women's participation in sporting activities one of its major concerns since the early 1980s. The IOC also started to work on women's involvement at leadership levels in sport in 1981 under the initiative of former President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who wanted to have more women co-opted as IOC members.

While the participation of women in the Olympics has steadily increased, the record of women in leadership positions has not.

The number of women competing has grown from 11.5 per cent of athletes in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome to 23 per cent in 1984 in Los Angeles to 38 per cent in 2000 in Sydney and then to a record 42 per cent in the 2008 Beijing Games.

Meanwhile, under Samaranch in 1981 the IOC had 16 women out of 107 members. Today, that total is 15 women out of 135 members. Out of the USOC's 11-member Board of Directors only three are women. The USOC's 58-member Executive Committee has 21 female members.

In 2007, the Olympic Charter was amended to include, for the first time in history, an explicit reference to the need for work in this area:

"The IOC encourages and supports the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women." - Rule 2, paragraph 7, Olympic Charter in force as of July 7, 2007

The IOC encourages more women to take on greater roles in sports organisations and has different programs in place to equip them with the skills and tools to lead. Customised seminars and training programmes help women move into sports administration and other leadership positions. Furthermore, the IOC offers financial support to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in the developing world for projects that promote equality on the field of play and in sports administration.

The IOC's World Conference on Women and Sport, which takes place every four years, is an important platform to assess the progress made and prioritize future action. The last conference held in Jordan in 2008 attracted more than 600 participants from 116 countries and concluded with a strong action plan, the success of which will also be assessed in Los Angeles.

Two key recommendations from the 2008 predominantly female conference participants:

The IOC Women and Sport Commission should make it mandatory for all NOCs to have women on their executive bodies.The IOC should strongly encourage men in decision-making positions to participate in women and sport forums and it should require that delegations attending policy-making forums are gender-based.

The IOC has received the message and has gotten it right. With the upcoming 2012 Women and Sport conference on the horizon, its leadership is emphasizing that only by all men and women working together can the future of sport and the Olympic Movement grow stronger.

To read more about IOC efforts to increase women's participation and leadership roles click here. 

Duwayne Escobedo has had a long career in journalism and has worked as a political consultant. He currently serves as the Director of Communications at the United States Sports Academy where he is also the editor of The Sport Journal, the world's largest online, peer-reviewed journal of sport. Read it online by clicking here.  For more information on programmes offered at the Academy please go click here.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Well, we all know about him, don't we? He was the Frenchman who invented the Olympic Games, which are not about winning, but taking part.

It's broadly true. But, as with so many other broadly held beliefs, it's not exactly true.

Let's take the bit about not winning but taking part first. As Janie Hampton's recently published London Olympics 1908 and 1948 (Shire Publications, £6.99) makes clear, the words which formed the Olympic motto - displayed on the scoreboard of the old Wembley stadium during the latter Games - were not de Coubertin's own, although he was the one who brought them into the Olympic arena.

This happened on the day of the event which, above all others, characterises the 1908 London Olympics – the marathon race in which the collapsing figure of Dorando Pietri (pictured) was helped to complete his final, agonising 300 yards and thus to finish ahead of the American who, quite rightly, took the gold medal after completing the course unaided, Johnny Hayes.

Hampton reports that Hayes, whose victory was only confirmed after a protest from his team officials, was subsequently carried round the stadium on a table by a group of his fellow US competitors – indeed this forms one of the many fascinating pictures included in the Hampton book. She also reports that this unofficial parade was ignored by the crowd, "who felt Pietri was the true winner, having so valiantly tried to win".

After the delirious Pietri had been taken to hospital, false rumours circulated that he had died, prompting yet more ill feeling. "Anglo-American relations reached their lowest point for over 100 years," Hampton writes.

The marathon incident was but one of several involving the sensibilities of the hosts and the American team which was to win more than half of the track and field events.

There had already been controversy over the fact that the US team had been the only ones in the Opening Ceremony not to dip their flag to King Edward VII, and further Anglo-American friction had occurred in a 400 metres race run without lanes, where US athlete John Carpenter caused boos to ring out around White City as he appeared to move out across the track to prevent Britain's Wyndham Halswelle from overtaking him and assuming the lead.

Carpenter, disqualified for blocking and elbowing, boycotted the re-run, along with his two American colleagues, and the unhappy Halswelle claimed gold by running round the track as fast as he could, all by himself.

The onlooking de Coubertin, who had promoted the Olympics as a means of uniting nations, was reported to have remarked: "I just could not understand Sullivan's attitude here; he shared his team's frenzy and did nothing to calm them down."

So it was in this unhelpful atmosphere that de Coubertin reminded his friends on the evening of the marathon of the words which had been spoken a few days before by the Bishop of Pennysylvania in a sermon at St Paul's Cathedral during the ceremony in honour of competing athletes: "The important thing in Olympics is not so much winning as taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."

Fine words – not de Coubertin's, but brilliantly appropriated and utilised by him.

This was something at which the visionary Frenchman, as Catherine Beale's recently published Born Out of Wenlock - William Penny Brookes and the British origins of the modern Olympics (Derby Books Publishing) makes clear.

Beale's painstakingly detailed history of the annual Games which were established by Brookes in the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock in 1850, and which have continued, with sporadic gaps, until the present day, offers every twist and turn in the life of an Englishman whose vision was at least the equal of the man generally credited with prompting the modern Olympics.

She fills her boots on the visit which de Coubertin, then 27, paid to the 81-year-old Brookes and his fellow Gamesmen in October 1890.

Ever the showman, Brookes contrived an autumnal version of the Games which normally occurred in July, and on the day of de Coubertin's visit there were seven events, all of which took place in steady rain.

Beale has all the detail. Thus we learn that part of the spectacle which took place in front of the damp Frenchman was the tent-pegging event in which Corporal Dickin was judged by Sgt-Major Bosher to have beaten Corporal Convey.

There are times when Beale's devotion to detail feels a little like that of a proud parent, but there is no denying the depth of research in what broadens out into a social sporting history of the late 19th century, with its abiding belief in the concept of muscular Christianity.

Thus we learn how personable and pleasant the young Frenchman was on the day as his elderly host, who had striven for so many years to broaden his idea into an international context, proudly showed him every aspect of his own "Olympian Games".

"In Coubertin," Beale writes, "had he found a man to take forward, in parallel, his Olympian dream?"

Well yes he had. But as Beale wryly notes, there was not too much made of the fact that it was an Olympian dream belonging to anyone other than Baron Pierre de Coubertin (pictured, sitting left, with members of the first International Olympic Committee).

Beale notes that, up until his visit to Britain, de Coubertin "had never publicly uttered the words 'Olympic Games' except in derision"; but less than two years later "he had decided to revive international Olympic Games, and within four years he had founded the International Olympic Committee."

While de Coubertin did credit Brookes for his work when he wrote of his visit to Much Wenlock in 1890, as Beale points out, his description has been popularly misunderstood for a number of years. While it credited Brookes with the resuscitation of the Olympic Games, the translation missed the significance of the French word 'y' – meaning 'there'. In other words, de Coubertin was only crediting Brookes with setting up an Olympic style event in Shropshire.

Beale goes on to write of the way in which de Coubertin (whose statue is pictured at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta) appeared not to be keeping Brookes au fait with his developing Olympic project.

"Why did Coubertin not share his great dream with Brookes, if only to make the old man happy, or at least out of courtesy?" she writes. "And if Coubertin was experiencing such a dark night of loneliness in conjuring up support for his idea, it is curious to wonder why he did not recruit Brookes to the cause .......

"Perhaps Coubertin was fearful of losing control (and credit for the idea) to the elder statesman?"

Once it became clear that the modern Olympics were to become a reality in Athens, however, Beale notes the Brookes was anything but grudging.

"Ever practical," she writes, "he advised Coubertin to get wealthy Greeks in England to contribute to the costs of the Games."

Sadly, Brookes died, aged 86, just 17 weeks before the 1896 Olympics got underway.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here