Many things are still unclear about the Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) programme that is making its international debut here within the 2nd European Games.

This was a bid race won in the shadows.

Welcome to the last day of the "Big Bid" era for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and other major sports events.

Tucked away at the back of the Arena City shopping centre here is the Dinamo Minsk Fan House, a social space normally reserved for supporters of the Belarusian capital’s ice hockey team.

The destiny of the 2026 Winter Olympics will claim the spotlight in Lausanne this week but behind the scenes, other Olympic awards will also be decided.

Despite the efforts of some of my more sexist pals to persuade me otherwise, I have a hunch that at the rate women's sport is quick-marching towards full equality all will be equal between lads and lasses on the playing fields of most of our major sports in the foreseeable future.

We are entering an interesting period for the politics of tennis, with International Tennis Federation (ITF) President David Haggerty facing three challengers to his bid for a second term.

At Paris Charles De Gaulle airport I look behind me while checking in for the Minsk flight, and suddenly the French team are there, in their dark blue tracksuits and Olympic logo insignia. At departures two groups settle, joking and laughing in between the obligatory scanning of mobiles - boxers, and 3x3 basketball players. You can hear the excitement.

At the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session later this month, a further 10 members will become part of what has been billed as sport's most exclusive club.

In an insidethegames blog earlier this month I presented some arguments for how a sports organisation is fundamentally very different from a commercial business (and from a traditional not-for-profit organisation).  

During a two-day visit to Marseille from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the extent to which the Organising Committee is attempting to engage the French population with the Games became evident.

At the Vatican this week, Pope Francis gave his blessing to the Flame bound for the Naples 2019 Universiade.

Strictly speaking, the New Zealand men's individual pursuit record set by multiple world and Olympic rowing champion Hamish Bond in February would not have earned him a medal at the World Track Cycling Championships that took place at Pruszków in Poland a month later.

On July 2, 2015 in Tokyo, Tsunekazu Takeda, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, told me that Tokyo 2020 had already hit its ¥150 billion (£1.09 billion/$1.38 billion/€1.2 billion) domestic sponsorship target – more than five years in advance.