Timing is everything.

"This event actually looks and feels like the Paralympics, but with an even larger number of spectators. This is what the sport truly deserves."

Tomorrow marks one-year since the curtain was raised for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the imposing National Stadium in Beijing.

In recent years there has been much talk about how sports administration should be more "athlete-centred" and how those who play the game should have a bigger say in how it is run.

Any head-hunting agency tasked with selecting candidates to become the next President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would need to look no further than the CV of Sebastian Newbould Coe, aka Baron Coe of Ranmore.

The Thomas Bach era has not been kind to the Olympic brand; but things could get a whole lot worse if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President persists with a course that could see Russian athletes lining up at Paris 2024, yet not Ukrainian ones.

It happened on this day, January 30, in 1924. Then again, it didn’t happen until 2006. Or rather, what happened on "this day" was clarified. Which was that Britain won curling gold at the first Winter Olympics.

Novak Djokovic called it "one of the most challenging tournaments of my life" in his post-match interview, as he cradled the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, soon after defeating Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in the men's singles Australian Open final.

Racism, corruption, domestic abuse, sexism and a possible vote of no confidence - Northern Hemisphere rugby union is in dire straits.

Sometimes in sport, there comes a moment so sublime that it becomes a part of collective culture.

The statement yesterday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that they are continuing to "explore a pathway" for Russian and Belarusian athletes' participation at Paris 2024 under a neutral banner was not new.

Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev is as Russian as a bowl of borscht.

More than nine years ago in the Buenos Aires Hilton, my eye was drawn to an interested observer on the balcony as Thomas Bach’s election as International Olympic Committee (IOC) President was announced.

For those in sport who believe in such things, yesterday’s fourth-round defeat for sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Australian Open was not a random result but down to a jinx.