Imagine a future world for weightlifting where athletes are the centre of attention on a completely different level. The walls have gone and the warm-up and back-room decisions on the next lift are out in the open, part of a vibrant show watched by thousands of spectators.

On this day in 1879, Australian fast bowler Fred Spofforth dismissed three English batsmen with consecutive deliveries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to complete Test cricket's first "hat-trick".

Unlike so many other recent International Federation elections, the one which saw Morinari Watanabe re-elected as President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) last month involved a proper contest. 

Almost 40 years after successfully defending the Olympic 1500 metres title at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Sebastian Coe flew back to that city having attended the Tokyo 2020 Games.

TrueSport - the athlete support programme run by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) - lived up to its name this week as it staged an extended discussion on Mental Wellness & The Young Athlete. Rarely can so much truth have been spoken by elite athletes.

"Communication, communication, communication" was the clear and succinct response given by Petra Sörling, the new head of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), when asked how she plans to unite what has become a fractious governing body in recent times.

Bicycles - gloriously, laboriously - are ever-present on the streets of Copenhagen. And so it seems right and fitting that one of the most cycling-friendly of cities should eventually be involved in the greatest of cycling races.

Six years after the fundamental shake-up of athletics as a world sport, aquatics is putting itself through the same process. The circumstances are very different, but the process, reaching towards greater transparency, independence and integrity, is the same. But how retrospective is it going to be?

In terms of altering itself to fit the ever-changing needs of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Canoe Federation (ICF) has been in sprint mode in recent years - but it seems, under the new Presidency of Thomas Konietzko, that future progress may be more of a slalom.

The debacle that occurred during the equestrian section of the Tokyo 2020 modern pentathlon competition was described by the man who has ruled the sport since 1993 as a "vital learning moment." And so it has proved.

Gunter Younger, the former chief of the Bavarian Police cybercrime department, has been bringing his forensic skills to bear for the last five years in the service of the World Anti-Doping Agency, for whom he is director of Intelligence and Investigations (I&I).

A look back at the final day of the 2019 Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly provides an insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the Olympic Movement in such a short period of time. 

The 30-year-old woman who caused a crash at this year’s Tour de France that left many riders seriously hurt is now facing a four-month suspended sentence, with a verdict due to be delivered on December 9.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) gathers in Greece this week to begin the second century of its existence.