As my colleague David Owen has already made clear, sport has provided many golden moments to light-up a largely bleak 2016. 

instance, we had the emergence of new stars like United States’ gymnast Simone Biles and 400 metres world record

Andy Murray at Wimbledon and Chris Froome at the Tour de France, as well as second place on the Rio medals

they all asked.

pizzeria close to Euston Station in London having dinner with my sister when I spotted the New York Times

we were there for approaching 45 minutes as Mutko blamed every part of the world except Russia for all

The 48 international sides invited to compete at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games have been unveiled today as The Bahamas braces itself to host the event’s largest-ever programme of team sports.

The record-breaking line-up, creating opportunities for more than 300 young athletes from right across

Bahamas, England, Fiji, Kenya, Samoa and Sri Lanka will all be going for gold in the men’s rugby sevens

These are exciting times for rugby sevens and rugby in general after a game-changing Olympic Games debut

at Rio 2016 that reached, engaged and inspired new, younger audiences in record numbers," World Rugby

aged 14 to 18 set to participate.The nation’s first-ever international multi-sport event will see 94 medals

If ever you doubted that Michael Phelps is the Greatest Of All Time (the GOAT), then Rio 2016 would have

He set one world record and three Olympic records in the individual events.

, seven world records, one Olympic record.

the medals and all the world records, and his undoubted status as the GOAT, there are three remarkable

 He may be the GOAT, but he’s not perfect.Three times he has done the wrong thing.

time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time".Eight years

In a break between contests at the European Junior Weightlifting Championships in Eilat, a two-year-old boy runs on to the competition platform and plays with the three smallest discs that weigh half a kilo, one kilo and 1.5 kilos, lifting them from the rack and trying to slide them on to a bar.

certain sports at the 2016 Olympic Games.One they missed was weightlifting, which has the worst doping record

Getty ImagesIn the week of the European Junior and Under-23 Championships, in which Russia topped the medals

It was easy to control everything in Soviet Union times.

They cannot do without Russia, without all of us [Soviet Bloc nations].

an honorary professorship in Beijing and worked closely with the Chinese team who garnered so many medals

super-heavyweight title to a list of achievements that includes Olympic and World Championship gold, and a world record

long-term target is far loftier: to become the first man in history to win more than two Olympic gold medals

 “I know that nobody has won three gold medals in super-heavyweights and that is not my aim – I

“I am always proud to win more gold medals for myself and for my country,” said Talakhadze, who has treated

established governing body for a sport that has no funding.But Enzo likes the challenge and trains 10 times

Bulgaria, who made his last attempt at 216kg to win on bodyweight from Russia’s Marchel Guydya, who made all

I spent much of my visit to Tokyo last week for the Rio 2016 debrief and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission inspection staying in a quintessentially Japanese capsule hotel.

made to stop budgets ballooning to ¥3 trillion (£22 billion/$30 billion/€26 billion) - a figure four times

Metropolitan Governments may have acquiesced on fundamentals, discussions were never harmonious and at times

they need to define Ricci Bitti’s "matrix of responsibility" before making clear decisions.For the record

problems as they arise.Rio 2016 produced some low moments but also some glorious highs including a world record

Japan won 10 out of 14 gold medals as many of their biggest international rivals remained absent post

Germany’s Tatjana Hüfner equalled the record for women’s International Luge Federation (FIL) World Cup

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d achieve this record victory in Lake Placid, of all places,

It’s all going so well at the moment, and we have a great working relationship."

It’s all really positive as we get on so well together."

FILCanada’s Kimberley McRae and Alex Gough completed the top three positions, with the duo finishing in times

successful day at a World Cup by earning gold, silver and bronze medals.Following McRae and Gough's medals

Germany's Natalie Geisenberger began her bid for a fifth consecutive overall International Luge Federation (FIL) women's World Cup title by winning the first leg of the season on home ice in Winterberg today.

year-old double Olympic gold medallist could not be caught on a day of domination for the Germans, who won all

six medals available.Geisenberger twice set a new track record en-route to her victory, with times of

 The previous best time at the course was 56.154sec which was broken by all of the top eight today

 "It was a perfect day all round, both for me and for the German team."

It all sounds very familiar.

Melbourne has a deplorable record [breaking] promises upon promises in its preparations for the Games

Then, most damning of all, he said: "More than ever the world thinks we made a mistake in giving the

By this time, it was all but impossible for the Games to be switched with little more than a year to

 "He made the job of the Organising Committee ten times harder," he said.Ron Clarke lit the Olympic

On the track, Betty Cuthbert starred with three gold medals and Shirley Strickland retained her hurdles

Zealand sprinter Liam Malone has been named as M2 magazine’s Man of the Year after he won two gold medals

while he also finished with a silver medal in the 100m.His two victories were achieved in Paralympic record

times, bettering the marks set by disgraced South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius.Malone was given

 New Zealand's Liam Malone shot to fame by winning two Paralympic gold medals at Rio 2016 ©Getty

Paralympic hero joins an illustrious list of recipients of the M2 Man of the Year award, including All

Woman of the Year.Sophie Pascoe, a nine-time Paralympic swimming champion who took home three gold medals

Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen claimed two gold medals on the second and final day of the International Swimming

Australia’s Emily Seebohm completed the top three with a time of 25.91.Hosszú, winner of three gold medals

third in 58.75.Katinka Hosszú was in imperious form once again today as she won a total of five gold medals

the 400m individual medley in 4:29.03.Fellow Hungarians Jakabos and Kapas completed the podium with times

of winning this race at all seven World Cup meetings.South Africa's Chad le Clos finished just

in the men’s 1500m freestyle.Romanchuk swam 14:15.4 to beat the previous record of 14:27.65 set in 2013

They say you always remember your first, whether it is a kiss, a canoodle or even a curry.

They were charming, dignified and welcoming, apparently determined to show that times - and their culture

happy to be greeting you".These really were a happy Olympics, especially for Britain, who collected 20 medals

-year-old record for the rarely run 300 yards.

suited in civvies, checking passes at the gate.However, entry to journalists was restricted to certain times

, not all of them convenient for our deadlines.

Among the opening remarks made by International Paralympic Committee (IPC) communications director Craig Spence at a Rio 2016 Paralympics media briefing here today was "sport is the story of the Games now".

Russia could still make their mark on Rio 2016 even without their athletes competing here.Because for all

athletes is being manipulated to boost medal chances.Woodward spoke out on the matter in The Sunday Times

swimming superstar Daniel Dias successfully begin his quest to become the greatest male Paralympian of all

as Dias strived to break his own world record, before ultimately ending up 1.37 seconds shy.If the 28

individual and relay races, he could overtake Swedish shooter Jonas Jacobsson’s total of 17 Paralympic gold medals

The Team GB brand has been a real winner across the Olympic Games, not least in the incredible performance of its athletes, but also in its winning brand marketing and digital communications strategies.

Following this success, I’m sure that all of the Home Nations will be optimistic in carrying this forward

This success belongs to all of us – and we want to carry this with us to take Team England to the Gold

Coast.Of the record 67 medals won at Rio 2016 by 130 medallists, 103 of those were English.England's

Glasgow 2014, will be looking to continue the success of Team GB at Gold Coast 2018 ©CGEWales won more medals

medals.Like Team GB, we’ve had similar Games-time success, topping the medal table an incredible seven times

Yelena Isinbayeva has officially announced her retirement from athletics, a day after being elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Russian two-time Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder had been expected to quit at

Yelena Isinbayeva won the first of her two Olympic gold medals at Athens 2004Isinbayeva, though, remains

Isinbayeva claimed she had been tested five times by foreign agencies in the last six months and passed

 "My victories are all clean, all my tests have been negative.

The President doesn't talk to me and avoids all meetings with me," she said."