Not only did I realise I was completely out of place in the millionaires' playground that is Monaco (with my wallet just about stretching to a 15 euro cup of coffee) but I witnessed first-hand what is likely to be the most enticing of battles for the IAAF Presidency, a position currently occupied by Lamine Diack of Senegal.

Diack, who is now the ripe old age of 77, has been IAAF President since 1999 after he took over from Primo Nebiolo of Italy, the only IAAF President to die in office.

Diack, who had previously indicated he had entered his last four-year term as IAAF President when he was re elected in 2007, has backtracked on the decision, telling insidethegames earlier this year that he will he now stand for the position once again in Daegu next year.

This means the battle to replace the Senegalese is likely to be put on hold for at least a few more years with the two obvious candidates to replace Diack widely expected to be London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe of Britain and influential International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sergey Bubka of the Ukraine.

Morocco's Nawal El Moutawakel, the 1984 Olympic 400 metres hurdles gold medallist, is another who cannot be ruled out - in a move that would make her the organisation's first female President - but she is thought to have greater ambitions in the IOC having already served as chair of Evaluation Commissions for the selection of the host city for the Summer Olympics in 2012 and 2016.

Therefore, it would be a very wise bet to put money on either Coe or Bubka succeeding Diack to the most powerful position in world athletics.

Although either, or even both, could actually run against Diack, the two are reluctant to take on the incumbent who almost certainly has a maximum of four years left in office should - or more likely when - he retains his position.

Diack, who will be 78 by the time the election comes around, is thought to be a contender to become the President of Senegal in the near future in a move that would obviously see him vacate his role at the IAAF.

Diack too, is not thought not to be in the best of health and although he looked in good spirits in Monte Carlo, making many amusing comments in his various press conferences, a busy schedule that involves him flying around the world on a very regular basis would take its toll on anyone, let alone someone approaching their 80th birthday.

And when Diack reaches that landmark on June 7, 2013, he will also lose his IOC membership - which he has because of the fact he is IAAF President - because of new regulations that state any IOC member ceases to be a member at the end of the calendar year during which they reach the age of 80.

Diack may decide to see out his IAAF four-year term until 2015 but having lost his IOC membership, he may well decide to resign in 2013, a decision which would certainly put the cat among the pigeons and one that is already likely to have Coe and Bubka on red alert.

The reason for this is that whoever is IAAF senior vice-president in 2013 could well hold the trump card.


Bubka, the 1988 Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder, is currently the senior IAAF vice-president while Coe, who was no bad athlete himself as the only person to win Olympic title in the 1500 metre event in two consecutive Olympics, is currently one of three IAAF vice-presidents.

The IAAF senior vice-president is the position awarded to the vice-president who receives the most votes during the election period and it is not perhaps surprising that Bubka currently holds the position ahead of Coe.

After all, Bubka became an IAAF member two years before Coe did - in 2001 - and it is therefore logical that he became IAAF senior vice-president before the Englishman. Coe's first election as IAAF vice-president was in 2007, so he was also behind Bubka in that respect.

But whoever is elected senior vice-president next year, when the vote could really go down to the wire, will certainly be smiling.

Why?

Because if Diack does decide to step down as IAAF President before his four-year term ends, the senior vice-president becomes acting IAAF President.

Yes, they are only the acting President and they must still be officially elected but few would deny that being the acting President is a hell of a good place from which to launch a campaign for the role on a permanent basis. A far better place than outside the office anyway.

It may also be telling that when Nebiolo died in office in 1999, Diack was senior vice-president. He stepped up to Nebiolo's role on an "acting" basis and unsurprisingly is still in the role - obviously on a permanent basis - 11 years on.

The thing about Coe and Bubka is I find them to be remarkably similar. Not in terms of appearance or in accent, in which they could not be more different, but in terms of how they make you fully believe in what they say. Speak directly to either of them, and it is not hard to realise why they are two of the greatest athletes ever to compete such is the conviction of their comments and the evident steeliness behind their eyes.

Both too, are clearly extremely intelligent with a clear knack of obtaining powerful positions - which explains why both have such outstanding CVs. Few know what is truly going on in their brilliant minds, but one might hazard a guess.

When I asked Coe in Monte Carlo about his IAAF ambitions in the election next year, he responded: "I haven't given it a huge deal of thought as I am a little preoccupied with organising an Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012!"

A very fair and humorous point and I would expect no less from the politician who is so adept at not giving his true thoughts away.

But one would have to be very naïve to think that the brilliant Coe, the key reason why London won and will almost certainly host an outstanding the Games, does not have at least one eye on his plans after 2012. The IAAF Presidency seems to me like a logical step for a man such as Coe and it will be an additional bonus for him that it carries with it IOC membership. Many IOC members are thought to want the popular Coe in their exclusive club and the IAAF Presidency seems by far his easiest route in.

Meanwhile a similarly great politician such as Bubka, who already holds an IOC position, must also want the job one day too.

I admit that I know Bubka less than I do Coe but we met briefly at the Singapore Summer Youth Olympics in August earlier this year and I was one of four journalists holding a voice recorder to his mouth when he came out with the now famous comments about the London 2012 Olympic Stadium having to retain the athletics track that they "promised" they would.

I had been pestering Bubka to give me the comments about London most of the week and my colleagues and I were very surprised when he came out with what he did. We thought he would say next to nothing so we were a little shocked with both what he said and with how passionately he said it.

He looked me directly in the eyes during most of his words and I could see him visibly shaking. He may be a brilliant politician who makes you believe his every word but I assure you that he threw an unusual amount of force behind his comments on Saturday afternoon.

For that reason, I must disagree with Hugh Robertson, who I know told insidethegames that Bubka is "playing politics". I understand that the Sport and Olympics Minister may have seen his words as an attack on Coe in the battle for IAAF Presidency - as many I have spoken to have suggested. However, had Robertson been there in person, he may have felt differently as I and my colleagues did.


At the IAAF dinner which ended the show in Monte Carlo, I was on my way out at the end of the night when I saw Bubka standing near the door. I walked over simply to shake his hand and wish him a safe journey home.

I turned to leave when he said in his strong but very coherent Ukrainian accent: "My words to you about the London track were okay?"

"Yes," I responded. "Very good and you caused a lot of headlines in England."

"I just spoke from the heart" he replied. I was inclined to agree with him.

Rather cheekily, and with a few glasses of wine down me, I then decided to ask him: "So you will be the next IAAF President, yes?"

His stare gave little away as he responded: "I'm very happy where I am at the moment."

I didn't doubt that but a man such as Bubka, who has made a career of constantly being on top, is unlikely to want to be vice-president forever.

Anyway, he may well be happy as in the long-term race for Presidency, senior vice-presidency is perhaps pole position.

Rather ironic that all this took place in Monaco and literally overlooking perhaps the most famous Formula One race track on the planet.

They say in Monaco, pole position is key because on the narrow race track, it is near impossible to overtake the leader.

The race for IAAF Presidency may end up being just as fascinating as the legendary street race and in Daegu next year, when the IAAF unveil their President alongside their senior vice-president, we may well know who is in pole position.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames

I have worked with the British Athletes Commission (BAC) since 2005, since which we have built a tremendous working relationship.

Both on a personal and professional note I was sad to see the BAC's first chief executive officer, former Olympic rower Pete Gardner, leave the role earlier this year but, as with all change, new opportunities and relationships evolve.

After an extensive recruitment process led by chair of the board Karen Pickering, Brett Taylor was appointed as the new chief executive officer in October and has had to hit the ground running.

Just a few weeks after taking the job I have sat here today and watched as he hosted the BAC's fifth annual conference and you would have thought the guy had been in post for years.

So who is Brett Taylor?

To start with, Brett represented Northampton Saints RFC as a player and coach for 14 years working alongside luminaries such as Sir Ian McGeechan and Wayne Smith.

Under Sir Ian, Brett set up the academy at the club which, in eight years, saw 60 players progress through the system and into the 1st XV – two went on to win the World Cup.

Not satisfied with club rugby, Brett moved on to coach the USA national team and took them to the Rugby World Cup in 2003. After developing the game in the USA, he returned to the UK in 2006 to take up the post of director of rugby at Richmond RFC and the club was promptly promoted back to the national leagues.

London Scottish appointed him director of rugby in 2008 which proceeded an unbeaten season for the club and promotion to National League 1.

This is a man who knows his rugby then!

That's not all though. When we met recently he told me about what attracted him to the BAC role.

"When the opportunity came about I was attracted to it immediately. Pete had the vision and the foresight to create such a body that is vital for athletes. The board's vision was simple - 'let's get better at what we do by making our core services elite and learn from every situation'."


Good corporate speak – some would say! I'd agree! But that's what the organisation now needs. I'm lucky enough to consider Pete Gardner a friend, (well Facebook tells me I am anyway) and I know that he has given the BAC a character, a soul and set good principles.

He did his job and he has passed the baton on to Brett to take the organisation into the next era of its development. Funding cuts have not evaded the BAC which means his first task will be to secure a sustainable revenue stream.

As a former international athlete, my somewhat biased view has always been that the BAC was an attractive sponsorship property. Brett is not so biased but he certainly strikes me as someone who will harness the values that Pete instilled into the organisation while maximising the commercial opportunities out there.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Karen Pickering, BAC chair, at the conference and she summed it up beautifully: "The BAC was Pete's baby and we were so sad to see him go. Brett brings new views and his commercial acumen is crucial at this time. He has already opened our eyes with the new projects that he has created."

It's definitely been an interesting few months at the BAC. That's what comes with change. Brett does bring something new to the organisation but values the soul and the principles already in place. I thoroughly look forward to working with him to discover new opportunities and to build our relationship.

Karim Bashir is managing director of CatchSport, an online sports promotion and consultancy business, and is a former international fencer

I am on the arduous journey to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics as a GB beach volleyball player.

I woke up a few days ago to my boyfriend Skyping me from England saying I won the award for "Most Inspirational Women's Beach Volleyball Player 2010.

"What?" was the first question I asked.

The second was "Why me?"

I was half asleep still so I checked the FIVB world tour website with news of this year's awards. It was true. I won the award, with Lucy Boulton, my partner, as runner-up.

At first, we could hardly believe it. But it was there on the screen. I suppose we're unique in that we're always smiling no matter how tough a time we're having and we always make an effort to be friends with other athletes.

I have been on this journey for four years now with Lucy, just missing the Beijing qualification in 2008. This time, as London is hosting the Games, one British team will automatically qualify and an opportunity for another one to qualify on merit. But there are three British women's pairs currently competing on the world tour. The situation is tense and competitive but we still believe we have a good shot.

Luckily, we've gained good finishes in the last two events of the season which will help us get a better draw for next year. I'm sitting here in my temporary home in Brisbane reflecting on the last two events in Sanya, China and Phuket, Thailand.

We've been to Sanya three times now and we honestly never look forward to it. It's a place where hardly anyone speaks English and the food is definitely far from the norm.

Last year Lucy and I competed in a Chinese "Fear Factor" eating competition that the American players put on. I lost in a chicken feet tie breaker against a Belgium player in the final and Lucy lost her dinner on a hog's tongue midway through the competition!

Sanya is nicknamed the Hawaii of Asia and you can see that it has palm trees, big resorts, a hot climate and beaches, but it's a completely different culture. Knowing this, we came prepared with healthy foods and supplements to maintain our energy and hydration levels.

We also brought our strength and conditioning coach, Kate Eddy, to ensure our warm-ups, recovery, fitness and nutrition were adequate and our coach Morph Bowes to do everything else including game plans, training sessions and video analysis.

Lucy and I had been training in the hot conditions of Brisbane to acclimatise and get used to the time zone (China is only two hours different from Australia) for the previous three weeks. We were ready and we got a solid finish of 17th place. But the real achievement came the following week in Thailand.

Lucy and I love Phuket. It's one of the best stops on the tour because of its beach resort atmosphere, amazing food, friendly people and cheap massages.

Kate wasn't too happy about us getting swung around and manipulated by a tiny Thai woman so we stuck with the standard western oil massage to keep us relaxed. And relaxed we were, until Lucy started feeling sick after we qualified.


She toughed it out, didn't complain, slept in her own room and woke up the next morning feeling better but worn down and low on sleep. She played great and, if anything, it was me who was letting us down against the Brazilians in the first round of the main draw.

The heat in Thailand is very humid and it really limits your oxygen intake after long rallies. We had quite a few of those against the French team in the qualifier and the two Thai teams in the main draw. The Thai teams just don't quit and what's more frustrating is that they don't even look like they're tired!

Although some might say we had a good draw, we still had to fight to get our best ever finish of 13th. We also had a close set against the Brazilian sisters who ended up finishing third and we ended the tournament losing to the Italians who came second.

So to celebrate the end of the season and our best finish, we all headed to Patong for a night out with some of the Germans and Americans. We're on a very strict diet normally with no alcohol, but Kate gave us the night off and she and Morph joined in the party.

The coaches also gave us a couple days off from training so we avoided the sun like the plague (always getting too much sun as a beach volleyball player) and did a little shopping, watched a few tournament games, and ate some yummy food.

Last year, I did an Island trip, elephant trek, monkey zoo, snorkelling and jungle tour with my boyfriend. This time, we only had two days off before we flew back to Brisbane for a five week block of off-season training with the other GB team of Mullin-Dampney.

People always ask us : "How is it to always train with the team you're in direct competition with for the host country spot?"

Well, the actual goal is to qualify both teams, so we're all just looking to improve as players and work ourselves up the rankings. We don't often compete against each other in tournaments either and we all get along really well.

Our head coach, Matt Grinlaubs, has put us in apartments where I share with Shauna Mullin and Lucy shares with Zara Dampney. It's been working out really well and we're all getting along great but it hasn't always been like that.

The year before last, there was some animosity between the two pairings because we are all such competitive people. Things got heated in training a few times and carried on off-court

Many conversations later, we all understand our competitive natures without taking things personally and feel reassured that we all want the same thing...to win!

Denise Johns is a GB beach volleyball star who was recently voted the Most Inspirational Women's Player 2010

British Volleyball is represented by davidwelchmanagement.com

I am delighted to have this opportunity to address you by means of this blog. Social media and new media in general are increasingly gaining importance in the world of communications and this is no exception for AIBA and any other federation in the Olympic Movement.

A perfect example of this was at our recent congress in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the result of the election for President was immediately announced on Twitter and even before the voting for the Executive Committee members was over we had received our first congratulatory "tweets".

At the Congress we heard numerous reports on the activities of the AIBA Commissions and the AIBA headquarters that show an enormous amount has been achieved over the past four years. But one of the first things I said when I was re-elected as president of AIBA is that we still have a lot to do.

While all but one of the continental vice-presidents were confirmed in their posts - Mr Gofur Rakhimov from Uzbekistan was elected as the new vice-president for the Asian Boxing Confederation - a total of 95 member federations voted in new Executive Committee members in a hotly-contested election that saw 54 candidates vying for 19 available seats.

The approval by the Congress delegates of the use of an electronic voting system considerably reduced the duration of the election and avoided a repeat of the lengthy scenes from Santo Domingo in 2007, which lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Congress delegates ratified three new provisional AIBA members, bringing the total number of member federations to 195. The new members are Guinea Bissau, Tanzania and Kiribati, one of the world's smallest countries by surface area.

One of the most significant topics discussed at the Congress was a new scoring system.

From the start of 2012 we will no longer show the running score in boxing competitions, so coaches will not know if their boxer is winning by a small margin and will therefore not be able to encourage them to put up a defensive guard. This will help to eradicate passive boxing and will help to improve the attractiveness of boxing for spectators.

We also had some major announcements from Kazakhstan itself, as the Government promised a significant investment in the new AIBA Boxing Academy that will become our home for training and development for boxers, coaches and officials worldwide.

Furthermore, a major Kazakh company, KSS Group, signed on as presenting sponsor for the first year of the World Series of Boxing.

On the eve of the Congress we were treated to a first glimpse of what the new World Series of Boxing (WSB) will look like.

The home team, the Astana Arlans, took on the Istanbulls in the first real WSB match.

The action was impressive and the organisers put on a show that will serve as an example for all WSB franchise teams in the first season.

The first matches are now only hours away and the excitement is palpable as the teams put the finishing touches to their preparations and their boxers put in their final hours of training.

For the sport of boxing, a new era is about to dawn.

C K Wu is the President of the AIBA and a member of the International Olympic Committee

I went to watch the amateur boxing last Saturday night. No, not the inaugural GB Championships in Liverpool, though I rather wish I had because by all accounts they were excellent and great value for money. Alas, I was 30 miles across the M62 in Manchester where I did indeed watch the amateur boxing: name of Audley Harrison.

For there was nothing professional about Audley's non-performance against David Haye, and value for money - whether shelled out by the 20,0000 crowd or 700,000 Sky Box Office customers - the WBA world heavyweight title fight certainly was not.

The trouble with big Audley is that, while he turned professional after winning the Olympic super-heavyweight gold medal in Sydney a decade ago, he has never really left the amateurs. He still boxes as if he is in headguard and vest. Yet this is the man who extracted £1 million of taxpayers' money out of a naive BBC for fighting hand-picked tomato cans and  now £1.5 million for a title challenge in which he threw only one half-hearted jab in three rounds. It just shows that in boxing you can fool all of the people all of the time.

Harrison's pacifism was an insult those young plucky guys - and girls -  who were punching their hearts out on Merseyside for the privilege of establishing their credentials as Britain's 2012 Olympic hopefuls.

Had the Haye-Harrison 'fight' been a horse race there would have been a stewards' inquiry: One non-trier and a favourite who announced he had bet on  himself - although the Hayemaker has now prudently denied it.

As promoter Frank Maloney murmured to me afterwards at the MEN Arena ringside: "The trouble with Audley is that he likes the fight game - he just doesn't like fighting." And I received this subsequent text from Frank Warren. "Why does everyone hate Audley Harrison? Its not as if he's ever hurt anyone."

It is a shame Harrison ever turned pro. His style was always made for the amateurs. He knew how to work the hit-and hop-it scoring system, was braver because he had the protection of a headguard and also safety-conscious referees who have been known to stop the fight at the first hint of a nosebleed. The pro game is also then hurt game, which is why Harrison, who has the height, the reach and just occasionally the punch,  has never really had the stomach for it. He fights shy of taking risks - though on  Saturday he simply didn't fight at all.

But there was no conspiracy. David Haye knew he could take Harrison out any time he wanted, and he picked the third, much to the delight of friends, family and several Sky employees who pocketed tidy sums betting on his freely-given forecast. Nothing untoward in that. Muhammad Ali did it all the time, and happily held up inferior opposition whenever he could.



Back in 1975, Ali was matched with Britain's Richard Dunn, who, like Haye, got the shot because he was European champion. But, also like Harrison, he wasn't much cop. When US television executives finally watched clips of some of his previous fights, and saw how easy he was to hit, they pressed the panic button, having sold several minutes worth of between-rounds commercials.

As the story goes they gingerly approached Ali and pleaded with him to make the fight last at least seven rounds. Ali, agreed (he'd also watched the tapes), and barely laid a glove on Dunn for three rounds, When he caught him with a couple of half-hearted shots in the fourth poor old Richard was all over the place.

At the end of the round Ali leaned over the ropes and beckoned to the TV producer at ringside: "Hey," he said, "You'd better get those commercials in quick. I can't hold this sucker up any longer." And he didn't.

No doubt Haye knew the feeling. But enough of the A-Farce. The good news for boxing is that a real pro steps into the ring on Saturday week in an attempt to refurbish the sport's image and regain the WBC world super-middleweight title. Nottingham's Carl 'The Cobra' Froch fights the German slugger Arthur Abraham, in Helsinki, and the one thing of which we can be certain is that Froch, a world amateur championships bronze medalist in 2001 (when England team-mate Haye won silver) will come out fighting. He is the consumate pro, and some of his professionalism has rubbed off on Britain's current GB squad via their common coach Rob McCracken.

Froch often spars with some of the amateur boys in Sheffield, passing on useful tips and giving them great encouragement.

As I said, in retrospect I am sorry to have missed the GB Championships, though it was good to catch up later thanks to the BBC's welcome decision to show a well-packaged programe last Sunday. The competition pitted the best amateurs from England, Scotland and Wales against GB Boxing's first choice boxers. All eleven winners were members of GB's podium or development squads, which augurs well for 2012.

Particularly pleasing was the comprehensive 23-6 victory scored by tall bantamweight Luke Campbell over Iain Weaver, who following his Commonwealth Games gold, was looking a decent bet for the Olympic team.

I have always liked the application and attitude of the 23-year-old Hull southpaw. He has the distinction of being one of the trio of British boxers to have won major international championships in recent years. Two years ago, as Britain's first European champion in almost half a century, he joined Beijing gold medalist James DeGale and Frankie Gavin, Britain's first world champion, both now pros, on amateur boxing's podium of pride. Campbell received a number of professional offers after winning his European gold but insisted: "The 2012 Olympics has been my one and only dream"

Unfortunately, he suffered a series of hand injuries and a subsequent loss of form saw him omitted from  last year's European Championships in Russia,  and although unbeaten this year he was not selected for the Delhi's Commonwealth Games. But unlike dear old Audley he bit on his gumshield and came out fighting again last weekend.

Such is Campbell's resolve that he has twice paid his own way to visit Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, where he picked up tips  from stars like Manny Pacquaio and Amir Khan who train there. "It was a great experience," he said. "I knew Amir worked with Freddie and that gave me the idea of going. Me and a friend from my boxing gym just turned up and I said, 'I'm Luke Campbell from Britain, can I stay and watch?' Freddie was great, he said, 'Yes, of course you can'. He didn't charge us anything and usually you have to pay quite a lot just to get in."

With such enterprise, Campbell - and  British amateur boxing - can enjoy a ring of confidence for 2012. As for Audley, as Simon Cowell would say to all embarrasingly hopeless acts: Thank you, we've seen enough. Kindly leave the stage.

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

Ferdie Pachecho knew. Muhammad Ali's fight doctor left the team in 1977 after the legendary boxer had retained his world title against Earnie Shavers at the age of 35. Pachecho's offence was telling Ali it was time to quit.

Ali's next fight, in February 1978, saw him lose to the good but non-legendary Leon Spinks. It was not until three years later, after a final defeat from another non-legend, Trevor Berbick, that the man later named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC finally decided to stop boxing.

There are many who believe that Ali's subsequent Parkinson's disease was exacerbated by his decision to keep on fighting, albeit that his victorious battles with Joe Frazier and George Foreman towards the end of his career involved him in a fearsome amount of punishment.

Thankfully, those who earn their living from other sports do not run the risk of serious physical harm if they misjudge the moment to step down, or away.

Haile Gebrselassie, who announced his retirement just over a week ago after pulling out of the New York Marathon, has probably still got a sore knee now. But it will no doubt get better. No amount of miles run is going to diminish this bright, funny, gentlemanly human being as he moves towards a political career that is also likely to resonate internationally as well as in Ethiopia.

Immediately plaudits arrived from around the world for a man who has always behaved with warmth and dignity as well as performing with courage and talent.

Website comments discussed his greatest achievement. Was it the four minute mile which he produced at the end of the Hengelo 5,000 metres when he set his final world record at that distance in 1998?

Was it that unforgettable side-by-side sprint all down the final straight at the Sydney Olympics two years later which eventually saw him take the 10,000m gold from that other talented and dignified figure, Paul Tergat of Kenya, by the margin of nine hundredths of a second.

Personally, I think the way he handled himself as he sought a third consecutive 10,000m title at the Athens Olympics four years later could be seen as his finest hour. Knowing that an Achilles tendon injury had crucially curtailed his preparations, he went to the front just to see if he could break clear of the young compatriot Kenenisa Bekele, who had already started to better his record times and had beaten him to the world 10,000m title in Paris the previous year.

Of course, he couldn't. And of course, he was the epitome of sportsmanship as Bekele claimed his first Olympic title.

But, as the 37-year-old double Olympic champion and marathon world record holder has since indicated, he is Having Doubts. Indeed, reports coming out of Ethiopia today indicated that the runner whom another double Olympic champion, Seb Coe, described last week as "the greatest athlete of the last 50 years and arguably the best of all time" has thought better of his emotional statement in the wake of his New York disappointment.

According to the website EthiopiaFirst.com, Gebrselassie announced that he will return to running when he gave a speech at the Great Run in Nekemte, a fundraiser for the Wollega Stadium. The report was confirmed by Ethiopian Television Sports and another website, EthioSports.com.

When, tearfully, he announced to journalists in New York: "I never thought about retirement. But for the first time, this is the day," his memory was playing him up a little. Gebrselassie's manager Jos Hermens recalled this week that after pulling out of the 2007 London marathon with breathing difficulties, the multiple world record holder had told several people that he was thinking of quitting, adding "I will never learn the marathon. I'll never make it."

As Hermens added, Gebrselassie subsequently set two more world records.

Gebrselassie is far from being the first great sportsman to misjudge the time to give it a rest. Another classic instance occurred at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Steve Redgrave, having just secured his fourth rowing gold at the age of 34 – in company with Matthew Pinsent in the coxless pair - announced to the BBC television camera: "Anyone who ever sees me go anywhere near a boat again, ever, you've got my permission to shoot me."

Four years later in Sydney Redgrave collected gold medal number five...

Redgrave took a risk in going for that final title – and had to show almost superhuman resolve to secure it as he suffered from both diabetes and colitis in the run-up to the 2000 Games.

Every now and again, we see a faultless career, pursued to its heights, relinquished at its peak, with no regretful memories of failure.

Such was Herb Elliott's career. This native of Perth broke world records for the mile and 1500m in August 1958, having won gold in that summer's Commonwealth Games 880 yards and mile.

Two years later the young man trained by the visionary Percy Cerutty – "Faster," he told Elliott as he sprinted up the sand dunes at Portsea. "It's only pain" - won the 1500m at the Rome Olympics in a world record of 3min 35.6sec.

Elliott then began a degree at Cambridge University, and retired in 1962 after winning the half mile in the match against the Amateur Athletic Association. He had broken the four-minute mile on 17 occasions, and bowed out of the sport unbeaten at either the mile or the 1500 metres.

Perfect. But Elliott was only 24. Who knows what heights he might have gone on to attain had he continued. Who knows how he might have fared at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics against Peter Snell, the Kiwi who won the 800/1500m double in Japan before retiring almost as precipitately as Elliott the following year at the age of 26?

We won't know. And that disappoints.

We always want our heroes to run that final risk, to seek one more crowning glory. And yet when – and here the experience of Ali is emblematic – they seek that final flourish beyond the years their talent allows, our memory of them is diminished by regret.

Who knows how it will turn out with Gebrselassie? If he does return, he may never win another race again. But there is a strong sentiment in favour of his continuing, and trying his luck at the London 2012 Olympics. It is hard to see any failure having a serious effect on the reputation he has already established in world sport – so why not?

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

When Hugh Robertson was appointed Minister for Sport and the Olympics in May this year, he was clear that one of his main priorities was to put in place a sports legacy plan that would use the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to boost mass sports participation in this country.

I was delighted that he handed responsibility for the development and delivery of that plan to Sport England, supported by increased National Lottery funding as a result of the Government's Lottery reforms.

Over the past five months, we have worked closely with The British Olympic Association (BOA), British Paralympic Association (BPA) and The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to develop a programme which we believe will bring the magic and inspiration of the Games to communities and individuals right across England.

We needed it to focus on the many not the few, no matter how good - or not - you are at sport, and wherever you live in the country. It also needed to create something that people could see and touch – and said clearly that something arrived because the Olympic and Paralympic Games came to London.

Earlier today, the Places People Play programme was announced by the Olympic and Paralympic stakeholders at Little Venice Sports Centre in London.

Unveiled by the Minister, the programme will bring the sporting legacy to life in communities across the country, answering London 2012's Singapore promise to inspire a new generation to play sport. In what we know are challenging times, the £135 million ($217 million) investment will be made in areas which we know will have a lasting impact on the sporting behaviours and habits of millions of people for years after the Games.

Our Places investment will transform the facilities where people play sport, making the benefits of 2012 visible in cities, towns and villages across the country. The clubs and centres that receive investment will be the only ones to carry the London 2012 Inspire mark, a permanent celebration of their role in the legacy of the Games.

Through the Inspired Facilities Fund, we will upgrade up to a thousand local sports clubs and facilities, providing much-needed investment for new roofs, floodlights, pitch drainage and many more things which we know are so important in delivering a high-quality sporting experience.

We will also protect and improve hundreds of playing fields across the country, enhancing our existing role as a statutory consultee by securing the future of many sites for a minimum of 25 years; and, through our Iconic Facilities Fund, we will invest in a number of iconic multi-sport facilities that set the standards for future facilities development - sustainable in their operations and focused upon their users.

Yet facilities are no good without people - the People strand of our programme addresses the fact that many sports tell us there is a gap for leaders at the local level - the people who organise the leagues, lead the cycle rides, take the basic training sessions and lead the running groups. Over the next two years, supported by the BOA and BPA, we will recruit, train and deploy 40,000 sports leaders as the next generation of sports volunteers, to organise and lead grassroots sporting activities, in the places and the sports which need them most.

And then all we need are the participants – to play and enjoy sport, using the inspiration of the Games to cement their sporting habit. Our Sportivate programme will provide opportunities for teenagers and young adults to receive six weeks of coaching in the sport of their choice, with the intent of guiding them into regular participation within their community.

We are also supporting the Gold Challenge – an independent initiative that will motivate over 100,000 adults to test themselves in multiple Olympic and Paralympic sports, and in doing so raise millions of pounds for charity. National governing bodies of sport will provide the opportunities to benefit from high-quality coaching and testing events.

This is a Paralympic legacy too - so we will be consulting disabled people and those who support them on how we can focus some additional investment - at least £8m - on the barriers they face when they want to play sport, as well as making sure that every element of this programme works for disabled sportsmen and women.

This is a programme which we can deliver now – and see the benefits delivered for many years after the Games. We believe that it will touch over two million people, provide over 50 million sessions of sport. It will leave behind over a thousand new or improved facilities, and 40,000 extra sports leaders – and most importantly of all it will deliver on the promise made in 2005 in Singapore.

Richard Lewis is the chairman of Sport England

You might say John Steele has had an eventful baptism as the man charged with picking up the badly scuffed oval ball after Bloodgate, the scandal which got Twickers in a twist.

But the new chief executive of the Rugby Football Union is as resolute as his name suggests, and is determined not only to refurbish the game's image but ensure it flourishes both at grass roots and international levels. Not least now that it has joined the Olympic family.

I have been an admirer of Steele's qualities as one of the prime movers and shakers in British sport since he swapped the rugby field for the chief executive's office at UK Sport in 2005. That was an inspired appointment which ended this summer when he was made the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse to take over from Francis Baron as head honcho at Twickenham.

He says it was a wrench to leave UK Sport at a critical time with the London Olympics pulse quickening.

"It was incredibly exciting to be breaking new ground with the Olympics so when I was approached about this role I did have to think hard, really hard," he told me over breakfast at rugby's HQ this week. "But actually this is my sport, a sport I am passionate about, in which I've spent my life either playing, coaching or being involved.

"It really was absolutely the right job for me but I'm looking across at the Olympic environment with a lot of interest. Slightly vested interest in a way because I spent so much time on it and I want it to be a success which I am sure it will be.

"It is good that I will continue to be in touch with the Olympics because of the involvement of rugby sevens. For me, being in Beijing was a real eye opener about the power of Olympic sport and how it reaches further than just the competition. It crosses all cultures and has a global influence.

"I think sevens will have a big impact as an Olympic sport both for men and women. You will get countries that haven't been associated with any type of rugby now getting involved - countries like China. If there's a medal available they'll bring in coaches, organise talent profiles and hothouse people in the attempt to get one."


The former Royal Artillery captain and England A fly-half, 46, who played and coached at Northampton before turning around the financial fortunes of the Saints as executive director, has returned to rugby at a time when the profile of the sport has never been higher.

He says: "This is probably the most exciting time ever for British sport with the 2012 Olympics coming up. Rugby is a sport that is always looking to extend its boundaries and this is a prime opportunity. Ok, it's sevens and not 15s, but it's a foothold in the game for a lot of countries."

Could the Olympics ever embrace the full-blown game?

"I think sevens is perfectly suited to the Olympics. It is very user friendly, there's a great atmosphere, it's quick, it's punchy. Some aspects of 15-a-side rugby can be quite complex. Sevens you can explain to someone in five minutes, even if they have never watched it before."

In his five-year stewardship of UK Sport Steele had overall responsibility for orchestrating Britain's anti-doping programme and procuring world-class events, as well as the organisation being the conduit for Lottery funding for elite sport.

It will stand him in good stead at Twickenham where, he says "there is a lot going on".

"Since I started I've been out on the road talking to people at the goalposts of the game - players, volunteers, referees, coaches. I've been down to Cornwall, Somerset, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire, Bucks, all over meeting all the constituent bodies.

"It has been a very positive first impression for me. We've got a thriving game at minis and youth level, the base of the pyramid which is very healthy. There are a lot of kids coming into and enjoying the game. Probably where we start experiencing issues is among the 16 to 24-year-olds where there is a retention problem.

"That is not specific to rugby. This probably reflects a different culture, change in attitudes from youngsters who are at a period of their lives when they are mobile, leaving the community they've been in to go into further education or employment.

"That's something we have to look at. We have to ensure we are forward thinking in terms of the different formats of rugby. It is not just about 15-a-side, three o'clock on a Saturday. There's tag, there's touch, there's sevens, women's rugby, all these different areas which we have to be aware of and develop. I think the game is in a good place at the moment but there's lots of work to be done on how we develop players, referees, coaches and volunteers.

"Getting young players into the game is a challenge for all sports but rugby does have a unique culture with the way the game is played and the camaraderie on and off the pitch. The values of the game are very strong - we can never be complacent about that, we need to preserve and develop them.

"One of the things the RFU is involved with is training police officers to become coaches who then go into the schools and the kids then see them as their coach rather than a policeman which creates a trust and is a way of using sport to break down any barriers (there are 600 of these coaches). It has been a phenomenal success."

Like all sports, rugby will be hit by a decrease in Government funding but is in a better financial position than some to absorb this.

"It is something we have to stand up and cope with, as will all sports. I think [Sports Minister] Hugh Robertson has done a very good job at managing the difficult balance between sport playing its part in what is a national issue and making sure we keep on the right path in developing Olympic and non-Olympic sports. If it had been handled differently, it would have been disastrous for sport."

While the RFU is not as dysfunctional as the body governing the round ball game, there have been problems to sort out at Twickenham, where Steele is engaged in a comprehensive review of its entire workings. No area will escape scrutiny, including the management of the England team.


But he insists Martin Johnson (pictured) will be given time, and that rugby fans are not as impatient as those in football demanding the head of under-achieving Fabio Capello.

"The England team is our shop window but as with any sport at any one moment you can't have instant success. Rugby fans have actually been very patient and they understand the need to develop sides.

"If you look at the success of 2003 [when Sir Clive Woodward's team won the World Cup], and work back from there, '99 was a pretty difficult World Cup for England. But they learned from that and the squad was then better able to deliver at key times and that resulted in the success of 2003.

"There have been some difficult years after that huge high but since 2007 a lot of players involved in 2003 exited the scene and we have a new group of players under Martin. I think, after last week they showed they are starting to gel. Things are looking positive but success can't be delivered overnight and I think the rugby fraternity do understand that.

"But what they do expect is absolute commitment when the players run out on to the pitch and I think we have that at the moment. Last Saturday against the All Blacks we had five guys who had never played at Twickenham before so I think it's developing well.

"I have a good rapport with Martin. My job is to support him - whatever he needs, I am there to help him. He is very focused and committed to creating a successful England team. But, like everyone else, including me and some of the players, he is developing in the job.

"The signs are all there that we have a good young squad and he is blooding these youngsters in a shrewd way. It's not going to be easy and you could not ask for a bigger test at the moment with the three big international games we are playing against the best countries in the world.

"We have a vibrant Premiership but internationally are ranked sixth in the world and obviously we want to be higher. No one is happy with a loss but on Saturday we showed we can compete with the world's number one team.

"I would like to see us going into next year's World Cup [in New Zealand] with the ability to compete with the rest of the world. I think this autumn should give us a good indicator as to whether this is possible."

In 2015 Steele will be doing what his opposite number at the FA would love to be doing and organising a home World Cup.

"All our business plans and hopes will be driven by us staging the World Cup. Yes it's a tournament but it's also a catalyst for change as London has shown with the Olympics. If we don't drive the business forward, we won't have the resources to further the game at grass-roots, community and international level.

"We are looking at 2015 to underpin and help us attain all of our goals."

Steele, who has 12-year-old twin daughters with athletic aspirations, is clearly a man of some fortitude, having trekked up Everest and cycled across Vietnam and Cambodia raising money for anti-racism and cancer charities. He has himself beaten throat cancer.

That oval ball seems to have landed in a safe pair of hands.

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.

I am extremely proud and privileged to be chief executive of UK Sport and even more so to be a part of the wider Olympic and Paralympic family who have joined us in St Andrews over the past three days at our annual World Class Performance Conference.

The aim of the conference is to reflect on and learn from collective experiences of the high quality individuals across different sports and environments, in order to share best practice and prepare for the challenges ahead.

The theme this year has been "Courage" - highlighting the need for tough and brave decisions, conversations and actions at this vital time in the Olympic cycle.

In advance of arriving, making the move up here to St Andrews for our tenth, and my ninth, conference was a brave decision.

But it was the right one.

These past three days more than 300 coaches, performance directors and support staff from over 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports have been able to lock themselves away, discuss key issues, and listen to different ways of thinking in a very suitable environment.

There has been a real feeling of togetherness and readiness to take on any challenges that are coming our way.

Key partners such as the BOA, BPA, the four sports institutes, Sports Coach UK were all here and helping to ensure that no stone is left unturned in our collective pursuit of excellence in the coming years.

The speakers and sessions were once again outstanding.

Truly world class.

But, for me, the most important aspect of the conference was the sharing that delegates were able to do.

The teamwork that inevitably comes from being shut away together for three days.

The discussion over coffee between two different head coaches, from two completely different sports, about a similar problem.

The dinner conversations between two performance directors, with similar goals but slightly different methods in place for getting there.

Working together has never been more important and has never been more on show than it was this week.

One thing that has been undeniably evident this week has been the feeling of excitement that is building ahead of 2012.

Olympic and Paralympic sport has had an incredible year in 2010 and we have never been better placed two years out from a Games, thanks to the hard work and determination of all our athletes, coaches and support staff.

The conference gives everyone the opportunity to share these experiences from 2010, take time out, reflect and learn.

But that doesn't mean stop, or sit still, or wait.

And I know that won't happen.

The people involved in this joint dream won't let it and there is a definite feeling here at the conference that the time is coming to deliver and we are ready for it.

I have also noticed another important feeling beginning to grow and take hold.

That is the feeling that things are in fact only just beginning.

That although we are about to start the final assent to the top of one mountain, we can also see the next peak, the next challenge.

Sochi and Glasgow 2014 are in sight and Rio 2016 is already firmly in our minds.

What we all do now will make it easier or harder for those dedicated to making those events a success in performance terms.

We have the support and will to make sure it is easier.

The road ahead is as clear as it has ever been.

We have the resources following the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, we can see the journey through to London and beyond and we now must all do everything we can to make the nation proud.

There is no reason why we can't and, having spent the last three days here in St Andrews, I can see no reason why we won't.

Liz Nicholl is the chief executive of UK Sport, the nation's high performance sports agency. For more information on UK Sport click here

While many of us throughout the UK gathered around bonfires to celebrate Guy Fawkes this past weekend, Great Britain's rowers were busy producing fireworks of their own at the World Championships on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand.

The achievement of four gold, four silver and one bronze medal, won in nine of the 14 Olympic classes, saw GB top the medal table and is Britain's best ever medal haul from a World Championships.

No less than 34 British rowers will return to the UK as World Championship medallists - a fantastic achievement and a huge boost to the athletes, with less than two years until the greatest sporting show on earth hits Dorney Lake in 2012.

Among the many outstanding performances, it was excellent to see our women rowers win two gold medals for the first time, led by the irrepressible Katherine Grainger (pictured below left) who claimed her fifth World title in the pair. It was also impressive and a remarkable feat that 38-year-old Greg Searle won his first World Championship medal since 1997.

What a story it would be if Katherine, three times an Olympic silver medallist and a member of the British Olympic Association (BOA) Athletes' Commission, is able to achieve that elusive Olympic gold in 2012; and if Greg is able to replicate his Olympic medal winning feat 20 years on from Barcelona 1992, when he first stood on top of the Olympic podium.



Greg and Katherine are examples of what can be achieved with the commitment, dedication and sheer desire to be the best that you can be, combined with the unique attraction of competing at an Olympic Games on home water.

These results serve as another demonstration of what is possible when you bring together a well managed and well funded National Governing Body, with a world class high-performance plan and coaches together with talented, determined athletes.

Last weekend also saw the first edition of track cycling's European Championships in Poland, where GB cyclists claimed seven medals, including three golds.

Jason Kenny was one of the stars for GB, completing a hat-trick of podium finishes with gold in the keirin and bronze in both the individual and team sprint. This represents a solid start to the London 2012 qualification campaign. It's a long road, and it's all about peaking at the right time, but it was also important to start well.

British Cycling Performance Director Dave Brailsford spent the beginning of last week at the 2012 Team Leaders summit we hosted at Loughborough University. During the meeting we shared our blueprint for Team GB success in 2012 and discussed the high performance, operations and logistics plans to support Team GB prior to, and during, the London Olympics.

One of the greatest outcomes of the meeting was the spirit of cooperation and collaboration among all the sports, and the willingness of consistently successful Olympic sports such as cycling, sailing and rowing to share their knowledge, best practice and Olympic experience with the sports in the room who are new to the Olympic environment, for the wider benefit of the single, unified Team GB in London in 2012.

For their part, the Team Leaders expressed their support and confidence in our planning and preparation for 2012 and welcomed our collective determination to challenge the status quo. They were particularly pleased with the introduction of the newly created Sports Engagement Managers, who will act as the first point of contact between the BOA and sports.

A busy week for the BOA continued with a meeting of the Advisory Board, followed by a National Olympic Committee meeting (NOC) on Wednesday, which was attended by Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and Olympics, who updated NOC members on the comprehensive spending review and implications for elite sport in the run up to London 2012 and shared his vision for the future sporting landscape post 2012.

Yesterday the BOA's headquarters in Charlotte Street were host to the second meeting of the BOA Athletes' Commission. Sarah Winckless and her colleagues, who among  them can draw upon the combined experience from 33 summer and winter Olympic Games, debated how best to optimise engagement with and dissemination of information to athletes and followed on from the Team Leaders discussion of topics such as social media guidance.

On the sporting front, Liverpool will this weekend host a landmark occasion for GB boxing as the first GB Amateur Boxing Championships begin, and the women's titles will be contested at the same Championships as the men. Britain boasts exciting talent across both genders so competition is expected to be intense in the fight for a place on Team GB in 2012.

Andy Hunt is the chief executive of the British Olympic Association and Team GB Chef de Mission for London 2012

When I mention Kazakhstan, a strangely familiar yet completely ludicrous figure will probably pop into your head and it is likely to be that of Borat Sagdiyev - better known simply as Borat.

Borat is the name (and indeed the film title) of a fictional Kazakhstani character outrageously portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Cohen,well-known for his equally ridiculous roles as "Ali G" and "Bruno", shows Borat to be a vulgar Kazakhstani journalist devoid of any apparent intelligence.

When I tell you that the plot involves him travelling to America to marry Pamela Anderson after watching a rerun of Baywatch and then getting involved in a naked wrestling match with another man in the middle of a luxury hotel, it's pretty much all you need to know.

The film obviously didn't provide an accurate portrayal of people from the ninth largest country in the world but other than Cohen's infamous character and the fact that the Kazakhstani football team appear to play England in major championship qualifiers on a surprisingly regular basis - and are one of England's very few "guaranteed" easy games - not too much is known of the nation in these parts.

If I told you that Kazakhstan was a currently sporting powerhouse, I would probably get as many laughs as Borat, but very soon all that could change as the country has slowly but surely began to make its move in becoming a major player.

I found this out first-hand when I recently visited the delightful city of Almaty - the former capital of Kazakhstan before Astana took over - for the 2010 International Boxing Association Congress.

I headed there without hearing one positive comment about the transcontinental country located in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, but as I landed in Almaty I soon realised that none of those I had spoken to were particularly well informed about the place.

I was immediately greeted on the ground by volunteers who were equally as friendly and fluent in English as those I had encountered at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and the Singapore Youth Olympics not too long ago.

And upon arriving at probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in, I was rather taken aback when I pulled apart my bedroom curtains to see the most picturesque of mountain ranges surrounding the elegant buildings of Almaty.

It is actually these very same snow-topped mountains that are key to Kazakhstan's future plans as it is in winter sport that the country is hoping to make its mark.

Those with a decent memory may recall the fact that Almaty actually put together a bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. It was a solid attempt to host the Games and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacque Rogge even went as far as to say that it was a very good bid, but it was implied that Almaty was not as feasibly up-to-par as the three cities eventually shortlisted - Sochi, Pyeongchang and Salzburg.

The Russian city of Scohi won the bid, while Korea's Pyeongchang is again one of the three candidate cities selected by the IOC Executive Board to host the 2018 Winter Games. They currently face stiff competition from Annecy and Munich for the honour.

Almaty though, was well-beaten in its campaign to host the 2014 Games and it was feared by some that the dream of hosting major sporting competition was over before it had even properly begun.

That scenario though, is apparently not the case as Almaty, alongside Kazakhstan's new capital Astana, has secured the right to host the 2011 Asian Winter Games.

Although neither the summer nor winter version of the Asian Games are overly publicised by the majority of the Western media, make no doubt about the scale or grandeur of them.

The Asian Summer Games, which take place in Guangzhou, China later this month, will feature 45 nations competing in 476 events across 42 sports with many of the venues larger than those at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Meanwhile the VII Winter Games in Almaty and Astana, which begin next January, will boast around 2,500 athletes competing in 69 events across 11 sports.

On top of the Government of Kazakhstan has invested $ 726 million (£450 million) in the event to go towards building state-of-the-art venues, including the fantastic multipurpose Almaty Sports Palace, where I had the great privilege of watching the first ever World Series of Boxing (WSB) contest during my trip.

A Ski Resort Centre and the Athletes' Village will absorb $480 million (£297.65 million) with transport and infrastructure also taking a large chunk. Private investors are also set to plough in over $300 million (£1.86 million) in the project meaning that overall Kazakhstan is spending over $1 billion (£620 million) as it looks to show it can host a major sporting event to a high standard.

Granted, the Asian Winter Games is no Winter Olympics, but few can deny that it is a damn good springboard to such an event.

One only need look at how the widely acclaimed Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games paved the way for a successful London 2012 Olympic bid to realise how successfully staging one major multi-sport event leads inevitably to hosting another, bigger one.

So in a nutshell, the Asian Winter Games will be an invaluable experience in hosting for the cities of Almaty and Astana and, should all go well, one that could well open the door for a bright future.

During my stay in Kazakhstan, I briefly managed to speak to the former Almaty Mayor, Imangali Tasmagambetov, a charming fellow who is a huge sports fan.

Tasmagambetov believes that Kazakhstan hosting events such as the Asian Winter Games and the 2010 International Boxing Association Congress shows it is ready to be considered a serious contender for the bigger events.

"Almaty hosting the 7th Asian Winter Games, first of all, is indicative of the growing role of Kazakhstan in the world community as an independent country," Tasmagambetov explained.

"Kazakhstan is becoming more and more recognisable owing to vast backing by our president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"I am earnestly convinced that the next Asian Games due in Almaty will demonstrate all the sporting might of Kazakhstan and allow others to see our polyethnic country and also enjoy our rich culture and history.


"We will do our best to make the Opening and Closing Ceremonies not merely memorable performances, but also striking, breathtaking and ingenious with a broad range of topics covered.

"We will also strike everyone with our sporting achievements.

"Our preparations for these Asian Games will be comprehensive."

A bold statement indeed, but you get the feeling it carries more than a hint of truth.

Kazakhstan are successful in a number of sports, not least in boxing where they boast the likes of high profile Olympic champion Bakhyt Sarsekbayev and where their WSB franchise the Astana Arlans, which is led by Sarsekbayev, one of the big hitters at the business end of the competition.

However, I feel certain it is in the winter sports that Kazakhstan will make its mark on the global stage and prove to the Western world that there is a whole lot more to it than just Borat.

So Kazakhstan to host the 2022 Winter Olympics?

That's pretty unlikely.

But Kazakhstan to host the Winter Olympics before 2042?

I'd definitely put a few quid on that.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames

I always look forward to a new IRB Sevens World Series and this year it's no different. Obviously I have had a lot of enjoyment over the years being involved - it's eight good tournaments, all of them really enjoyable, and I am really looking forward to it.

The pools were announced recently for the first event on December 3-4 in Dubai, which has to be one of my favourite places to visit, and I often get asked what I make of our pool. The truth is that you just don't know, you are going into the unknown.

I don't know what Argentina are going to be like, I don't know what the USA are going to be like and I certainly don't know how Zimbabwe are going to shape up.

It's the very first tournament where everyone is feeling out what everyone has got until you get out on the track. And I will have a new team as well so it is going to be different for all the teams, particularly on day one. After that we'll sit down and have a look at the DVDs, but we won't really know much until day two.

I'm excited too that my boys will be defending our title in Dubai. It was a great performance first up last year, one that made me really proud, and winning the Commonwealth Games has upped the ante for us.

People might see us as the team to beat and clearly we'll be going all out to win in Dubai and win the World Series, but I think the sleeping giant is Fiji this year. They weren't at the Commonwealth Games, which was a real shame for them, but they'll go quietly about their business - they play Sevens week in and week out in Fiji and I think they will bring a very good side.

Defending Series champions Samoa will be strong too, England will be good and Ben Ryan has already said to me that he'll have the same side that he took to Delhi, and then of course you mustn't forget Australia. They got better and better with every tournament last season, ended up winning one in London and made the final in Edinburgh. They also pushed us very close in Delhi, so they're also a threat, a very good team.

I get asked a lot what the secret is to winning Commonwealth Games and to be honest it's just a lot of hard work, and knowing how special the prize is if you do win. The most memorable moments in my rugby coaching career have been seeing a player being presented with a gold medal to the raising of the flag and listening to your anthem – there is nothing better than that.

It is quite sentimental but you are not just representing rugby, you are representing New Zealand at all sports. There is a little bit of added pressure, particularly after you have won the first three gold medals at the Games - Kuala Lumpur in 98, Manchester 2002 and Melbourne 2006 - and the expectation within the NZ sports team was right up there, and I had a pretty good side.

I still thought we may have to battle to win it because obviously the game of Sevens has closed dramatically over the last few years and everyone was going there with ambitions to win the gold medal, but we managed to do it, which was really pleasing.

I turned up with four former All Blacks, using Sevens perhaps to get back into the main side, which two of them did - Liam Messam and Hosea Gear (pictured) got themselves back in the All Blacks through good performances at the Games. But the other two players, Ben Smith and Zac Guildford, had never really played much Sevens outside of club level and one had played at provincial Sevens, so that was that. But they are good rugby players.



We had to work particularly hard, especially in Dubai before we went to Delhi. I had to smash them for a couple of days there because we hadn't been playing in any tournaments whatsoever. Some of the other teams had played in Darwin the week before - Australia and Samoa - so I felt we were behind the 8-ball. We worked particularly hard in 40 degrees in Dubai and I think those two days we had there was the winning of the tournament.

And the Commonwealth Games are becoming more and more relevant to us all. I was told the other day that we're now less than 70 months until the Olympics in Rio and when you put it like that you start to realise that it's not too far away in terms of a player's lifecycle.

We've had some meetings in New Zealand looking at where the players are going to come from that will play in the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. Those players are basically coming through the secondary schools now so we've got to identify them and encourage them to come into Sevens. We're also fortunate to have players like Zac Guilford and Ben Smith, who will be around in six years' time very much pushing for that Olympic team.

There's a lot of research and work to do in the next two years though. We've seen how successful Sevens is at a multisport games in the Commonwealths, not just because we've been winning but just the support, the crowd, the excitement and it's only going to get better going to Rio.

Six years isn't a long time at all and you can see the interest even now that there is in China and Asia, and it's not just men it's women too.

There's no doubt, it's all very exciting working towards the Olympics but in many respects the work's only just beginning, and Dubai is another major building block.

Gordon Tietjens has been coach of the New Zealand Sevens team for the past 17 years

Gareth Bale is Superman.

Such is the inescapable conclusion from the footballer's two blistering displays against European champions Internazionale of Milan in recent weeks and the media hype that has accompanied them.

But Bale is also Welsh.

This means that, like Ryan Giggs and Northern Ireland's George Best before him, Bale is likely to miss out on the final stages of most big international football tournaments during his career - events like the World Cup and European Championships.

And the Olympic Games.

Or is he?

My hope is that the 21-year-old's spectacular emergence since the start of the season can force the hand of those who are threatening to spoil a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and ensure that we have a proper British football team at London 2012.

I know that I have a bee in my bonnet about this.

But it truly would be one of the out-and-out highlights of these 2012 Games if a genuinely British men's football squad could take part on a one-off basis.

The obvious point of comparison - though it is far from guaranteed that their on-field performance would merit the accolade - is with the so-called US "Dream Team" which strolled to gold in the 1992 Olympic men's basketball competition in Barcelona.

At the moment - though I am far from the only one reluctant to give up on the idea - we look like being deprived of this spectacle.

The most likely scenario would see Britain represented by an all-English team - a recipe, I fear, for a low-octane tournament and more dreary goalless draws against Algeria.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) told me this week it was looking to have matters such as selection criteria resolved by early next year.

Asked in September whether he was confident there would be non-English players in the Olympic football squads, Andy Hunt, the BOA's chief executive, told me: "I would hope for all of our home nations to be represented and given the opportunity to be potentially selected, but selection will always be on merit won't it?"

On current form, Bale is probably the only non-Englishman who would indisputably grace a Great Britain First Eleven.

Scotland and Manchester United's Darren Fletcher (and even Scotland and Tottenham's Alan Hutton) might also be in the frame.

But Bale is the only certainty.

I would like him now to step back into his Superman call-box, speak out and say that, if selected, of course he would be delighted to play for a Great Britain team in the 2012 Olympics.

That might seem like a big ask for a young man of impeccable manners still in the early stages of his international football career.

But how could Welsh football administrators react?

Surely they would not drop the young winger who, pending a full recovery by Aaron Ramsey, is their only remotely world-class player and prime marketing asset?

And if they did?

Well, Wikipedia tells me that Bale was eligible, through his grandmother, to play for England.

I'm no tactical genius, but I'd say that he and Ashley Cole would make a more than presentable left-sided combination.

And would the presence of a genuinely British Great Britain team at the London Olympics really jeopardise the international futures of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as has been claimed?

I don't seriously think so, provided the team was a one-off to augment the sense of occasion for the 2012 Games.

And if it did start rumblings within FIFA, well the British countries would be able to draw on some powerful allies.

I don't suppose, for example, that UEFA boss Michel Platini, would be all that enthusiastic about Europe's voting strength in world football being potentially diluted by three.

OK, the Olympic football competition, which has an age limit of 23 with three over-age players permitted, is not on the level of a World Cup, or even, most would say, a European Championship.

But, I repeat, this might well be the only opportunity Bale gets to win some respectable silverware while representing his country.

He might even end up playing for the club manager under whom he has blossomed - the irrepressible Harry Redknapp.

Let's, please, not deprive him - and ourselves - of this unique opportunity.

David Owen is a specialist sports journalist who 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 at www.twitter.com/dodo938

Half time was approaching in the Arsenal-West Ham game at the Emirates last Saturday when into Frank Warren's hospitality box bounded a familiar figure, if somewhat podgier than in his fighting days.

Naseem Hamed, no less. The boxer formerly known as Prince had in tow the new Commonwealth Games light-heavyweight champion, Callum Johnson.

Blithely he announced he is to become a manager and that the 25-year-old big-hitter who won gold for Scotland is his first signing. "You can tell everyone that Naz is back in boxing," declared the former world featherweight champion.

It is eight years since the inimitable Naz last strutted his imperious stuff in the ring, from which he has never officially announced his retirement.

Has he missed boxing: "Not as much as it has missed me," he retorted with a flash of that once-familiar arrogance.

He does seem to have mellowed somewhat these days, aided no doubt by a spell in jail following a serious motoring offence and the fact that he has left his old stamping ground in Sheffield and now resides, with his family (wife and three sons) cushioned by the millions he made from boxing, on the edge of Wentworth golf course, where he plays regularly. "Boxing has lost its glamour and excitement," he tells us. "I'm going to bring it back."

Well, he has yet to get his manager's licence, but there's no doubt he will, especially as once again he has Warren in his corner as his promoter. They famously fell out in the nineties after Warren had steered him, as he did other subsequent 'deserters' Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Amir Khan, to their world titles and riches.

But Hamed has been popping up at the ringside at Warren shows of late and on Saturday it was evident that they are bosom buddies again.

I have to say that of all the boxers I have known Naz was one of the most talented but least likeable, often supercilious and demeaning of opponents and we in the media. But now he could not be friendlier, though I declined to remind him of the occasion when, in his penultimate fight, he was humiliatingly humbled in Las Vegas by the formidable Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera- his only defeat in 37 contests.

The smirks on the faces of British scribes at the painful conclusion of that 12-round drubbing indicated that the feeling of dislike was mutual. "Allah is great," he had intoned repeatedly during the build-up to the fight in March 2001. "Allah is in my corner, Allah says I cannot be beaten." As he walked into the press conference after the fight one of our number glanced up and asked: "Allah's night off was it Naz?"

He may not have heard, though if he did he was too chastened to respond. But at least he had taken his licking like a man.


And now he is is our midst again, some three stones heavier and considerably more mature. But his presence may spell danger for amateur boxing. For signing Johnson is just the start, he says. He is also likely to bag for his new stable at least one of the three Indian boxers who won gold in Delhi and you can be bet he will be eyeing the talent on view in the inaugural GB Championships in Liverpool on Friday and Saturday week.

For the moment though, he will concentrate on coaching and managing Johnson, who hails from Lincolnshire and is Scottish on his mother's side. "When I watched him on television in the Commonwealth Games and saw him knock out a guy with his left hook I leapt out of my chair," said Hamed, who predicts "he will win his first 10 fights by KO".

We will soon have a chance to see if Johnson is as good as Naz says for he makes his pro debut on Warren's bill in Glasgow on December 4, when another Scot, Ricky Burns, defends the world featherweight title Hamed himself once held for four years, successfully defending it 15 times after becoming Britain's youngest-ever world champion at 21.

It will be a blow to Rob McCracken's Team GB to lose Johnson (pictured below), who had been a member of the podium squad and looked set for a 2012 berth after his display in Delhi. But he explained: "I am 25 now and have always intended to turn professional. While I was happy with the GB set-up and have a high regard for Rob I think 2012, when I will be 27, is too old to become a professional. In any case the opportunity of being trained and managed by Naz, who is a legend to so many of us in boxing, was too good to turn down."

Someone who doesn't feel the same way – yet – is Liverpool's 26-year-old Tom Stalker, who captained England in Delhi where he too won a gold medal to add to his European silver. Last week he was awarded the Amateur Boxer of the Year trophy by the Boxing Writers' Club and admits there was a temptation to follow Johnson's route. But he has elected to stay with the amateurs until after the Games because "winning an Olympic gold medal is my dream. It would be the best feeling in the world and I'd hate to miss out on that chance".

"The Commonwealth Games and Europeans were just a taster for that. Yes, I want to turn pro but only after 2012. I'll be 28 then and at my peak. The way boxing is these days I reckon I could have seven good years as a pro."

Stalker was given a rousing reception recently at Goodison Park before the Everton-Liverpool derby. "Perhaps the Everton supporters didn't realise I am a Liverpool fan," he chuckles.

Stalker is set to star in a tournament designed to show that British amateur boxing has got talent. It will be televised by the BBC who, for the first time, will screen women's boxing as several of Britain's ladies who punch will be on show, including world championships silver medallists Nicola Adams and Savannah Marshall. It should be a tasty fistic treat at the Echo Arena, with the semi-finals on Friday and finals on Saturday (tickets available online at www.echoarena.com or 0844 8000400).

This is an intriguing and vital tournament for all 2012 contenders, plus those wanting to force their way in into head coach McCracken's reckoning. Among them is the former European featherweight champion Luke Campbell, now boxing at bantamweight, who, though not selected for Delhi, has been unbeaten this year, with impressive wins in overseas competitions. He must fend off stiff competition from current Euro silver medallist Iain Weaver and Commonwealth Games winner Sean McGoldrick.

Stalker faces a possible lively return bout with Scot Josh Taylor, who was less than pleased at losing to him in the Delhi final. Londoner Martin Ward, from Repton's production line of top class amateurs, also a likely 2012 prospect, is alongside them in the lightweight mix.


With former amateur pals turned best of enemies David Haye and Audley Harrison (also ex-Repton) hogging the world heavyweight limelight across Lancashire in Manchester on the Saturday night, it will be fascinating to see if England's new Commonwealth Games heavyweight champion Simon Vallily and super-heavyweight Anthony Joshua have what it takes to fill their boxing boots at some time in the future.

The tournament comes at a time when amateur boxing seems to have as many punch-ups outside the ring as in it. Last week saw the suspension of England women's coaches Mick Gannon and Chris Bessey by the ABA, believed to follow an incident involving an alleged drinking session during a training camp in Portsmouth.

The relationship between the ABA of England and the new umbrella body the British Amateur Boxing Association is whispered to be less than harmonious and there is the curious and convoluted ongoing spat between the ABA's chief executive, Paul King, and the head honcho of AIBA, Dr C KWu, returned to office "by acclamation" during the AIBA get-together in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the launch of the new World Boxing Series in which BABA and the ABA have decided to play no part, wisely in my view.

King, who unsuccessfully challenged Dr Wu for the AIBA Presidency, boycotted the event in Almaty, where scores of nations were absent because of unpaid sanction fees, as insidethegames reported.

One suspects that Paul King would have needed the muscle of Don King to dislodge the ambitious Dr Wu, who some say eyes the IOC Presidency eventually. The WSB is his baby, partially designed to offer young amateurs an alternative to turning pro by performing without vests and headguards and earning prize money.

Whether even Dr Wu, all mighty in Almaty, has enough clout to fend off the raiding party about to be launched by the back-in-business Naseem Hamed is an intriguing question. Somebody ring the bell.

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.