The Big Read

Kate Giles' dad owns a bakery. This may explain certain things, as the founder of the award-winning British sports brand Crewroom acknowledged while assessing her company's involvement in the fabric of some of this country's top sporting events.

"I have always understood about getting ingredients right," she told insidethegames. "And never throwing anything away." It's a working definition of sustainability, which is central to the success of her burgeoning business.

By David Owen

Few sports are as deeply rooted in Olympic history as fencing.

Not only is it one of only a handful to have featured at every Summer Games of the modern era. It provided Greece, home of the Ancient Olympics, with its very first modern-era gold medal. The fencing programme at the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 - staged in the marble rotunda of the Zappeion - even included the first Olympic event to be contested by professional athletes.

By David Owen

The Boston bombings, which killed three people and injured over 260 near the finish-line of the world's oldest annual marathon on April 15, provided a sobering reminder of the vulnerability of big sports events to terror attacks.

One of the most unsettling aspects as details of the atrocity emerged was its apparent lack of sophistication, with the carnage understood to have been caused by two improvised explosive devices or pressure-cooker bombs.

A month on from the attack, what can be said about the likely repercussions for organisers of similar mass participation and sporting events? And, with sluggish economic growth putting public finances under severe strain in many countries, can anything be done to mitigate the cost and uncertainties associated with trying to maintain security at high-profile sporting occasions?

By James Crook

Badminton is a sport which uniquely has its roots in two continents. Its beginnings can be traced to mid-18th century in India, where it was created by British military officers stationed there.

The sport owes its name to Badminton House in Gloucestershire, owned by the Duke of Beaufort - although it is unclear why - and for most of its early existence it was a sport with its centre firmly in Europe.

When the International Badminton Federation - the forerunner to the current World Badminton Federation (BWF) - was formed in 1934 seven of the founding nations were from Europe. But the introduction of the sport onto the Olympic programme at Barcelona in 1992 has seen the sport's popularity in Asia explode.

Among the stalls in the booming main hall of the ExCeL Centre during Virgin London Marathon week was one espousing a rapidly growing variant of the increasingly popular sport of Making Life Brutally Difficult For Yourself – that is, obstacle racing.

You could imagine the banner over the Reebok Spartan Race stall reading: "Introduce yourself to a world of pain." Or perhaps: "Be bad to yourself. It will be worth it."

Obstacle racing is all about doing things no sane person would want to do – it is effectively a commando assault course, with all the accompanying mud, sweat and tears, with sadistic add-ons.

By Mike Rowbottom

As wrestling, singled out for potential exclusion in 2020 by the International Olympic Committee, seeks to retain its grip on the Games of which it has been a part since the ancient days, speculation is now rising within Olympic circles – or should we say rings? – over which newcomer might manage to capitalise on the chance of joining the biggest sporting show on earth when it is hosted  by Istanbul, Tokyo or Madrid.

Will karate get the gig? Tokyo would certainly be delighted at that turn of events if it was successful in its Games bid. Or will squash, now ticking more boxes than a market researcher, manage to court success at the third time of asking?

By Mike Rowbottom

There is a familiar sense of routine to the year for Craig Pickering right now as he prepares for another summer as a top class sprinter. Beyond it, however, there now lies a sense of rising excitement as this 26-year-old looks forward to resuming his other sporting life - as a member of the British Bobsleigh squad aspiring to Olympic medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Pickering, from Crawley in Sussex but now based with the Marshall Milton Keynes Athletics Club, has already achieved more than most athletes would hope for in their career.

By Duncan Mackay

If Marius Vizer was looking to pick the brains of a couple of political heavyweights to get some tips for his campaign to become the new President of SportAccord then he had the perfect opportunity during London 2012.

In what was a stunning picture opportunity for the head of the International Judo Federation (IJF), Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up at ExCeL to spend his only day at the Olympics  in London watching judo, and was accompanied by British Prime Minister David Cameron.