Athletics

'I refuse to let them drug me': Semenya loses final appeal in Switzerland
Athletics

Switzerland's top court has ruled against two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya, dismissing her appeal of a 2019 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that upheld a rule established by the IAAF, track and field's governing body, affecting female runners who produce testosterone at levels higher than other women. The ruling likely ends Semenya's chance of defending her 2016 800m Olympic gold medal, as she has repeatedly said she

Christian Malcolm gets vote of confidence from British athletics' golden girls
Athletics

Christian Malcolm has won the support of Britain’s golden girls after bagging the top coaching job in athletics. World champions Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson were amongst the first to welcome the appointment of British athletics’ first black head coach. “New era,” tweeted Asher-Smith, before Johnson-Thompson went further to explain why the 41-year-old former sprinter’s appointment is so important. Speaking in Brussels, where she competes in two events at today’s

Confirmed: Christian Malcolm wins race to be new British athletics head coach
Athletics

Christian Malcolm spoke of a “new start” for athletics in Britain after being appointed head coach of the Olympic programme. The Welsh-born former world and European sprint medalist believes there is a “new energy and drive” in British Athletics after a troubled time for the organisation under previous management. “Words can’t describe how excited I am to have the opportunity to take this role on and be part of a

Ex-Olympic sprinter fears for BLM momentum in wake of Williams' stop-and-search
Athletics

Former Olympic sprinter Chris Lambert fears the momentum created by the Black Lives Matter movement is in danger of stalling before meaningful change can be achieved. Lambert spoke out after Team GB athlete Bianca Williams was caught up in a stop-and-search by police which she claims had her fearing for her life. Williams, 26, was returning from training with her partner – also a professional athlete – and three-month old

Salwa Eid Naser: World 400m champion suspended after four ‘whereabouts failures’
Athletics

World 400 metres champion Salwa Eid Naser was provisionally suspended for registering four “whereabouts failures”, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Sunday. The Bahrain athlete, who won gold at the World Championships in Doha last year, pleaded her innocence despite being suspended by the AIU on Friday for failing to make herself available for anti-doping tests. In an Instagram video, Naser had said she had “only missed three drug

Greg Rutherford 'can't envisage' Olympics without fans amid Tokyo 2020 doubts
Athletics

Greg Rutherford says an Olympics staged behind closed doors would “lose its edge” and be nothing like as special. Tokyo 2020 boss Toshiro Muto admits there is talk of hosting the rescheduled Games without fans and Olympic chief Thomas Bach has not ruled it out. Rutherford has sympathy for the organisers and the challenge they face in bringing athletes from 205 countries together safely during a global pandemic. But whilst

James Dasaolu: Sprinter sets sights on Tokyo Olympics after injury comeback
Athletics

Media playback is not supported on this device James Dasaolu is too modest to put it on a business card. But some of his more curious clients get there eventually. “I’ll generally just say I’m an Olympian and that is kind of it,” he told BBC Sport. “But sometimes some of them have a Google and say ‘I didn’t realise you were the second-fastest man in British history.” You could

Tokyo 2020: Lord Coe calls for Olympics postponement
Athletics

World Athletics president Lord Coe has called for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo to be postponed. In a letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, Coe says that an Olympics in July 2020 is “neither feasible or desirable” because of the coronavirus crisis. The IOC has given itself four weeks to decide on the future of the 2020 Games. Options include a delay of several months or,

Olympics chief told Tokyo 2020 must be postponed as athletes' worries grow
Athletics

It's the nightmare scenario Tokyo 2020 organisers dare not contemplate – and for which they can offer no guarantees. As calls for this summer’s Olympics in Japan to be postponed grew from background murmurs to a full-blown chorus, Indian table tennis star Sharath Kamal delivered an unplayable serve to the host nation. What happens if a single person – just one – contracts the coronavirus plague in the athletes’ village,

Olympic boss Thomas Bach admits for first time Tokyo Games may well be postponed
Athletics

Olympic chiefs admitted for the first time last night that the Tokyo Games could well be postponed – but promised they would not be cancelled. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, revealed he had written to athletes confirming a decision to delay sport’s greatest show was under consideration in the face of the coronavirus crisis. “Human lives take precedence over everything, including the staging of the Games,” he