Never has the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award been so super-stocked with glorious protagonists as this year.

Perhaps the best way of indicating the embarrassment of riches upon which the Great British Public will adjudicate this weekend is the following fact: In 1997, Greg Rusedski was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year having finished runner-up in the US Open Championship; in 2012 Andy Murray, having become not just the first British male winner of a Grand Slam since 1936, but also an Olympic gold medallist at a home Games, is not favourite to win the award.

Bookmakers William Hill have Murray as merely fourth favourite to pick up the big prize at London's ExCel tomorrow at 12/1 behind  Jessica Ennis (7/1), Mo Farah (13-2) and the odds-on favourite Bradley Wiggins (2/7). Ladbrokes' odds look even less comforting for the Scotsman as Ennis's move up to second favourite with Farah at 13/2 has pushed him down to 16/1.

Glorious times indeed. (Sorry, Andy...)

Of course, the bookies are not always right. Ryan Giggs was a surprise winner in 2009 ahead of Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button and Ennis, who had won the world heptathlon title. Three years earlier Zara Phillips took the award when most people thought it was destined for golfer Darren Clarke, the 1-6 favourite.

Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer to take the London 2012 men's singles gold medal

That is the abiding fascination of the event – which way will the Great British Public jump? And if any more evidence was required of that public's variability in such matters, it has been provided this week by two surveys conducted respectively by Plusnet, the phone broadband provider, and BT.

Plusnet's study of 2,000 people to measure British pride in this year's home sporting success drew evidence that the public, while being proud of Murray (57 per cent mentioned him, seven per cent more than mentioned David Beckham) and even prouder of Wiggins (70 per cent mention) was proudest of all of Ennis, who was cited by 75 per cent of those surveyed.

(Just to make you feel better, Andy, politicians were way off the back, with just one in 10 - 11 per cent - people saying they are proud of the decision-makers in Westminster).

The BT Moments campaign, in which people were invited to vote via Twitter and the BT website, was based on the central question: What was your most memorable moment of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics?

The response was interesting - and I'm afraid there's more bad news for you here, Andy. Neither you nor Wiggins made the top 10. The top London 2012 moment voted for was Jade Jones winning Britain's first taekwondo gold and celebrating by throwing her head-gear into the air.

Greg Searle won gold with brother Johnny Searle (centre) and Gary Herbert (rigjt) of Great Britain 1992 Barcelona Games

Greenwich, I always thought, was supposed to be the venue with no legacy.

The Borough's magnificent park, I understood, was supposed to be left unaltered, as if the London 2012 equestrian competitions had never taken place there.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to be told about a report entitled, "A 2012 Legacy for Royal Greenwich".

Still more to find that it runs to 59 pages.

Part of the explanation, though only a small part, is that the Borough actually had three Olympic competition venues: the O2 (or "North Greenwich Arena", in Olympic guise) and Royal Artillery Barracks, as well as the famous park.

I was also left with the feeling that everything conceivable had been crammed in, with some inclusions having little if anything to do with Olympic legacy.

Crossrail, for example, might well be, as the report says, "London's first new railway for over 20 years".

I can even remember it being claimed, years ago, that it might be vital to a London Olympic bid's chances of success.

But, given that it is now only, in the report's words, "scheduled to become operational in 2018", I think it is stretching things to claim it as part of anyone's London 2012 legacy.

Controversy surrounded turning Greenwich Park, which is part of the Greenwich World Heritage Site, into a temporary sporting venue for London 2012

Having made those points, I must say I found the document a real eye-opener.

It is the Borough's own report and it would be interesting to know how effective local residents feel its efforts have been.

Nonetheless, I was left with a clear impression of a local administration that woke up very early to the possibilities of what the Olympic experience could be used to achieve on its territory and was able to piece together a number of worthwhile initiatives – using joined-up Government and contributions from all sorts of outside partners - as a result.

I can see how the controversy over turning the park into a temporary sports venue might have given Councillors a special motivation to ensure that Greenwich's Olympic legacy was as worthwhile as possible.

The great Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt appears favourite to take the accolade for a third time after he picked it up in 2008 and 2009. He would, of course, be a worthy winner having picked-up three gold medals at London 2012 in the 100 and 200 metres as well as the 4x100m relay to repeat his heroic feat from Beijing 2008.

Another of the leading contenders is American swimming icon Michael Phelps, who claimed six medals at London 2012 to take his overall Olympic medal tally to 22 to become the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Amongst the chasing pack are likely to be footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, tennis queen Serena Williams and another American swimmer in the form of Missy Franklin.

But one stellar athlete that I feel is likely to get overlooked for the prestigious prize is double Paralympic hand cycling champion Alex Zanardi, whose road to glory at London 2012 is far more remarkable than any other I have seen.

To quickly recap - the Italian was a top motor racing driver best known for his exploits in Formula One. He later switched to CART, where he was named Champ Racing Rookie of the Year, and had another stint at Formula One before returning to CART once again in 2000.

It was a year later, on September 15, 2001, that the accident that would define him occurred.

Racing at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz track in Germany, Zanardi was leading in the closing laps. After a late pit stop, he attempted to merge back onto the track when lost control and spun into the path of Canada's Alex Tagliani.

His car smashed into the side of Zanardi's vehicle, severing the nose of the car in a sickening collision. Upon impact, Zanardi lost both legs (one at and one above the knee) as well as nearly three-quarters of his blood volume.

It was only rapid medical intervention that saved his life and he was rushed to a nearby hospital where further portions of his legs were amputated during three hours of surgery to clean and facilitate closing the wounds.

After several days, Zanardi was fitted with two prosthetic limbs and he began an ambitious rehabilitation programme, which amazingly saw him begin racing again with the aid of hand-operated brake and accelerator controls.

In a brave move, he returned to the EuroSpeedway Lausitz track to complete the final 13 laps at the circuit that had nearly killed him in 2001 and in 2004, he returned to racing full-time, driving for the BMW Team Italy-Spain in the FIA European Touring Car Championship. A year later, he won his first World Series race since his accident and it was not long after that he decided to take up the sport of  hand-cycling to keep fit.

He proved rather good at it and decided to enter competitions. A fourth place finish at the 2007 New York City Marathon after only four weeks of training showed him that he could become a major player in the sport and he decided to set his ambitions higher; targeting a place on the Italian cycling team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Having booked his spot at the Games, the London 2012 venue for his sport was ironically announced as Brands Hatch racing circuit, where Zanardi had raced thousands of laps in his motor car.

I met up with the Italian at the racing circuit near Sevenoaks in Kent shortly before the start of the Games where he was training for the Paralympics.

The instantly likeable Zanardi told me there of his Paralympic ambitions.

"Technically, I think a medal is possible," he said with a knowing smile.

"If I give everything I have and keep training as hard as I can, I think I have a chance to end up with a good result."

At the time, it seemed unlikely.

But the fairy tale miraculously came true.

Zanardi created international headlines as he two gold medals the individual H4 time trial and the individual H4 road race followed by a silver medal in the mixed H1-4 team relay.

All this he did while making his Paralympic debut at the ripe old age of 45.

I remember well Zanardi's famous pose as he lifted his racing hand cycle shortly he crossed the line. And I also remember his emotional speech after he claimed the most magnificent of victories.

"This is a great accomplishment, one of the greatest of my life," he said "I worked very hard to get here and it was great to live such an experience at 45. When you are 20, you appreciate medals. When you are 40, you appreciate what you do every day.

"I have been really lucky to experience Formula One and motor racing. I didn't realise at the time, but I do realise now what a fantastic time of my life that was. And it is great to live it again here at 45. I am a lucky person."

A lucky person yes - but more than that an inspirational person who provided the comeback of all comebacks at London 2012.

Sadly the Italian is very likely to be overlooked for the 2012 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

But how wonderful it would be, on the biggest stage, to see Zanardi clutching the famous silver trophy of which he could not be more deserving.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames

After Britain's glorious Olympic and Paralympic summer it now seems we could be in for a Winter Games of discontent. Prospects for Sochi 2014 seem to be very much as they have been since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean glided off into the sunset in the nineties. Just bits and bobs.

There isn't the likelihood of a skier or a figure skater getting anywhere near the rostrum. Even curling, in which Britain's women won the nation's first Winter Olympics gold medal in 18 years at Salt Lake City in 2002, is desperate need of a rink renaissance.

Helter-skeltering down the ice tube on the bob skeleton again looks to be the best route.

Bath's Amy Williams, who became the only British gold medallist at the last Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, has retired but at 31, the redoubtable silver-medallist of Turin 2006, Shelley Rudman is bang on form again, having just won a World Cup event in which promising teammate Lizzie Yarnold was fourth.


And Scotland's Elise Christie is currently the world number one in short track speed skating.

That's the good news. The bad is that otherwise British Skating, which still trades on the golden memories of John Curry, Robin Cousins and T and D, had all but vanished through a hole in the ice.

The days when Britons ruled the ice rinks of the world are long gone.

The perfect six appeal of T and D may to some still seem a load of old Bolero but it engrossed the nation with one of the biggest-ever television audiences for a sports event, just short of 24 million.

Previously the balletic brilliance of Curry and the sequinned skills of Cousins had seen Britain revel in a golden ice decade.

Alas, subsequently the sport has been skating on the precariously thin substance.

If confirmation of this was needed it came with the news last year that the skating academy at Nottingham's National Ice Centre, where T and D  first began their quickstep to stardom, had to stop exclusive coaching of ice dancers due to cost and a lack of top class coaches.


While sporting success often goes in cycles (Curry was Britain's first figure skating gold medallist since Jeannette Altwegg in 1952), the sport has clearly failed to build on its past achievements. Even today 50,000 youngsters follow "learn to skate" programmes every year, yet only 150 take up the sport seriously, one reason being the yearly closure of ice rinks which in  the past decade has topped double figures.

But the sad truth is that, for whatever reason, Britain's elite skaters are simply not good enough.

Lack of success has put the sport at the bottom of the pile for funding handouts from UK Sport – it no longer gets any and putative skating stars say this Catch 22 situation means they do not have the means to make the progress they need to challenge the world's best from Eastern Europe, the Far East and North America.

Lack of television exposure means that British skaters are relatively unknown to the sporting public. How many would recognise Britain's leading individual skater – or have even heard of her?

Yet 26-year-old Jenna McCorkell, from Northern Ireland, has just won a record tenth British title in 11 years. But she is unlikely to get into the top ten at the World Championships in London, Ontario, in March. She finished 14th in the last World Championships.


Equally, anonymous are Britain's top pairs skaters, Stacey Kemp and David King. Such is the shortage of quality skaters here that when they retained their national title this year they were unopposed, and have yet to acquire the scores they need to qualify for the World Championships.

As does the three times men's champion Matt Parr, 22, from Dundee.

Philadelphia-based ice dancers, Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland, who were fourth in the Europeans in one section in Sheffield earlier this year and dropped to sixth overall are probably the most promising, but they, too, have little hope of world or Olympic medals.

Yet recreational skating remains as popular as ever with school-age kids, especially at this time of year with the opening of temporary seasonal rinks in city arcades and shopping centres.

Plus the escalating popularity of ITV's Dancing on Ice, which starts a seventh series next month featuring Torvill and Dean as mentors to celebrities - among whom this time I can reveal will be a fellow Olympic gold medal winner: the 2012 featherweight boxing champion Luke Campbell, together with former world champion gymnast Beth Tweddle.

T and D say they hope the show will one day lead to Britain producing successors to themselves.


"Since Chris and I retired from competitive skating there has always been a hope that someone would follow in our footsteps to give the sport the boost it needs," Torvill, 55, told me. "The more people that take it up, the better the chance of developing potential Olympic champions. Our TV show has helped in this respect because people have seen how celebrities who can't skate finally end up looking quite good, and that encourages kids to get on the ice themselves.

"When we did the first show in our opening series people started flooding into ice rinks all over the country and in some cases they were running out of skates."

The duo won Olympic gold at Sarajevo 1984 and bronze at Lillehammer 1994 but no Briton has won an Olympic figure skating medal since.

"I guess some people would say we should lead that new generation to some extent, and we most probably would - if we were asked to," says Dean, 54.

Yet the National Ice Skating Association (NISA) has said it was open to talks with them for "a higher profile" role within skating (even though remarkably they do not hold coaching qualifications) but so far, it hasn't worked out.

Roles available to Torvill and Dean with the British programme would range from mentoring the likes of Buckland and Coomes and acting as figureheads for a drive to increase participation in the sport.


But Keith Horton, the association's general secretary has said he does not think their expertise could be easily harnessed. "We'd never turn the opportunity down, but Chris doesn't live here anymore. They'll give time if they're available but they're so extremely busy. It's a nightmare trying to get half an hour with them."

But Dean, who lives in Colorado Springs, maintains: "We are around, and we are available – it just doesn't happen." However as they are being paid £250,000 ($403,000/€310,000) for every Dancing on Ice series the priorities are obvious.

With the retirement of Scottish brother and sister act John and Sinead Kerr, youngsters Buckland and Coomes, both 22, who finished 20th on their Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010 and 16th in the Worlds, are now Britain's leading duo in an event Torvill and Dean once dominated.

They train with Russian coach Evgeny Platov, a former Olympic ice dance gold medallist, in Philadelphia, but in common with other Britons receive no Lottery funding

Governing body NISA believes Buckland and Coomes are "on track to be in the medal zone in 2018".

Alas, terrestrial television coverage of ice skating has all but frozen over, yet it was once a mainstay of winter schedules. Indeed, between 1976 and 1984 ice skaters won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award three times through Curry, Cousins and Torvill and Dean.

"It's sad to see the financial aid isn't there," says Dean. "Figure skating in the UK has peaks and troughs and we're in a trough at the moment." So, to paraphrase Noel Coward for mums of skating prodigies: Don't put your daughter on the ice, Ms Worthington...put her on the beams, the bars, a bike or even in the boxing ring.

Otherwise, she'll end up a frozen asset.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

I have visited the sorry tale of the absent Olympic sports participation legacy on numerous occasions over the last couple of years. Absent or bad strategy, undelivered promises and political finger crossing have been the key elements of the tale to date, to which we can now add barely believable data...

Last week Sport England released the latest set of Active People statistics which, somewhat surprisingly, were reported by the media without question.

Some thoughts on Euro 2020:

● Yes, a 24-team tournament is too unwieldy for most European countries to take on; but it is simplistic to suggest that this alone forced UEFA's hand, necessitating the adoption of Michel Platini's Grand Experiment – a competition spread around the great arenas of the European continent.

Turkey, pipped at the post for Euro 2016, could have coped with the expanded format and would, I'm sure, have hosted a terrific festival of football.

But having a single bidder – as, to all intents and purposes, did FIFA for the 2014 World Cup – is never ideal for the rights-holder: it all but ensures the future host holds the whip-hand in competition-related negotiations.


On this occasion, Istanbul's bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics – a bid that looks, at present, to have at least a 50:50 chance of success – posed an additional complication.

It was these two elements taken together, rather than doubts over Turkey's capacity to handle a 24-team tournament, which, I would surmise, prompted UEFA to reach the conclusion it did.

● Rather than the anointment of the solitary candidate, we now, of course, have the prospect of an exciting year-long bidding contest, starting in March, as stadia across the continent vie for a piece of the Euro 2020 action.

The process may turn out to have some similarities with the way in which communities in Platini's native France (and beyond) are chosen to play a part in the Tour de France bicycle race, whose route changes every year.

With venues expected, at present, to be selected in spring 2014, one wonders whether the process might impinge on the race to succeed Sepp Blatter, FIFA's long-standing President, in world football's top job in 2015.


For this to happen, first Platini would need to run – which I think he will; second, the stadium choices, or the whole concept of a continent-wide competition, would need to have a bearing on voting decisions.

For now, this is just another potential element to factor into an already complicated FIFA equation.

But, with other European candidates for the top job a distinct possibility and Platini vulnerable, in my opinion, to being branded the "anti big football business" candidate, I wouldn't be surprised if the structuring of Euro 2020 played some part in a campaign that will be of critical importance for the future shape of world football.

● The decision to go with a continent-wide format is fantastic news for the Football Association (FA).

The sport's oldest governing body is already set to benefit from the windfall of seeing two Champions League finals in quick succession (2011 and 2013) staged at Wembley.

The 2011 final generated additional turnover of £16 million ($26 million/€20 million) for the FA, offset by £11 million ($18 million/€14 million) of extra costs.


Now it has been handed an outstanding chance of hosting some big Euro 2020 matches – including possibly the final – as well, and hence of making further inroads into the debt-load it took on to finance Wembley in the first place.

The football authorities in France, the Euro 2016 host, also have reason to be pleased about UEFA's groundbreaking initiative.

It ostensibly gives them a chance of hosting matches in two consecutive European championships – and given the infrastructural improvements being made with Euro 2016 in mind, French stadia ought to be able to make a compelling case for being handed Euro 2020 ties.

● I have read that the multi-country format will be good for airlines.

This may be so, but it is too early to be sure.

What we may get – though I very much hope not – is a competition in which all the biggest countries get to play multiple matches at home.

● As a student of the Olympic Movement as well as football politics, I find it interesting that UEFA is spreading one of its flagship tournament's far and wide at a time when "compactness" – how close the venues are together – is held to be a virtue in Olympicland.

I have to say, I think we are a long way from a continent-wide Olympics – although it would make little odds to the vast majority of the event's sofa-bound, TV-viewing audience.


But it could provide a solution to one of the modern Olympic world's most intractable problems: identifying a viable long-term business model for Olympic Stadia.

As we know, demand for 80,000-capacity athletics arenas is extremely limited; yet the stature of football club capable of filling such a stadium week in week out on the whole doesn't want its pitch surrounded by a running track, and does want lots of posh seating for corporate entertainment purposes.

A European Olympics could see the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at (say) Wembley, with athletics entrusted to one of the established Diamond League venues, supplemented with temporary seating to augment capacity.

No, I can't see it happening either.

But I doubt UEFA will be the only sports body driven to re-think its competition formats in quite radical ways by external forces of which the anaemic European economy is just one.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

A visit to Athens this week confirmed the view that the future of London's Olympic Stadium must involve a football club. Without the presence of the round ball game the stadium which gloriously hosted the Olympic Games of 2004 would now be as much an old ruin as the Acropolis or the Parthenon.

Shabby and run down it may be, like the Greek economy, but at least it is in regular use, then Greek Super league clubs Panathinaikos and AEK sharing it on alternate weekends. Without football it would be as much a white elephant as several other now derelict venues that helped produce such a memorable Games eight years ago.

This has to be the lesson for London, which is why the mayor is wrong when he declares "the Stadium will have a future in any event" should the new deal with West Ham United not work out.

Oh no it won't, Boris.

Should that happen the Greeks have a word for it. Chaos.

The Greeks have words for many things of course, and some date back to the decrees of Ancient Greece and the birth of the original Olympic Games.

A few days spent in the sadly impoverished cradle of both the ancient and modern Games brought reflections on how far they have  come since the days when women were barred from competing in- or even watching - the Olympics.

London demonstrated this year that in almost all respects sexism, like racism, has been firmly extinguished that equality is now the Olympic buzzword.

Although not quite.

For all its attempts at modernisation the International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains largely a preserve of the rich, the venerable – and the male.

Jacques Rogge at the opening of the Executive Board meeting in Lausanne earlier this week

A few women members now tread the corridors of power but a high heel has yet to step purposefully through the glass ceiling that covers the IOC headquarters in Lausanne.

By that I mean no woman has ever come close to being considered a candidate for the most prestigious office in world sport – the Presidency of the IOC itself.

But could this be about to change next year, when Jacques Rogge steps down after eight years in which he has overseen many commendable changes in the way Olympic sport is governed.

Who will succeed him?

The thought occurs that if Lord Coe was currently an IOC member the question might be superfluous as he surely would be as much a shoo-in as he was for the chair of the British Olympic Association (BOA) - installed by acclamation after the stupendous success of London 2012 and the personal global esteem that now engulfs him.

Next time, maybe.

Instead, while none have yet formally declared their intention to run for the election to be held at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires next September, we have mainly the usual suspects who, as they say on those TV talent show polls, are, in no particular order:

Thomas Bach, 59, long-serving vice-president, former German Olympic fencing champion and loyal henchman to Rogge, who is believed to be the strongest candidate and current favourite.

Germany's Thomas Bach is favourite to take up the IOC Presidency

Richard Carrion, 60, a Puerto Rican banker and financial expert who chairs the IOC Finance Commission.

Denis Oswald, 65, former Swiss rower well-known to London for his diligent overseeing of the 2012 Coordination Commission.

Wu Ching-kuo (aka Dr C K Wu), 66, ambitious reformist Taiwanese head of international boxing body AIBA whose latest edict is to remove the word amateur from the sport in attempt to control all aspects of boxing.

Ng Ser Miang, 63, Chinese-born Singaporean diplomat and former Olympic sailor who won plaudits for organising then 2005 IOC session where London won the 2012 bid, and hosting the successful Youth Olympics in Singapore.

All men of a certain age, and one disadvantage Messrs Carrion, Wu and Ng are that they are non-Europeans. Only one of the nine IOC presidents of the modern Games – the awful American "Slaverty" Avery Brundage- has come from outside Europe.

Denis Oswald (left) presided the IOC's Coordination Commission for London 2012

Time for a change of Continent?

Unlikely. But nowhere near as titanic a turn-up as a change of sex.

For I hear there is growing campaign to get the woman who arguably has done more than anyone for female emancipation in Olympic sport to stand for the IOC Presidency.

Nawal El Moutawakel was never shy of putting her best foot forward as a runner, pioneering the historic breakthrough when winning the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

In doing she became not only the first Moroccan but the first African, Arab and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Although she had been an accomplished runner, the victory of El Moutawakel, then a student at Iowa State University in the USA, shocked her nation.

Previously she had been verbally abused, and even spat upon as she ran barefoot through the streets of Casablanca.

But attitudes changed sharply when King Hassan telephoned his congratulations, and declared that all girls born the day of her victory were to be named in her honour.

Nawal El Moutawakelof Morocco made history in 1984 when she became the first Moroccan, African, Arab and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal

Subsequently she became a high-flying businesswoman, then Morocco's Minister for Sport and an IOC Executive Board member, perhaps best known for leading the Evaluation Commission for the 2012 Games.

Very much an Anglophile, she always carried a torch for London - literally so when running a leg of the torch relay Westminster this year.

Coe always believed she was instrumental in helping sway then decision London's way in 2005.

At 50 she remains the iconic a role model for women's sport, for which she has consistently broadened the parameters.

Fourteen years ago she organised the first Moroccan women's 10 kilometres race in Casablanca which now attracts more than 30,000 participants annually. All women. The men - husbands, brothers and neighbours - now cheer from the windows and roadsides. It is a remarkable display of sorority in a predominantly Muslim country.

Could Nawal El Moutawakel who is such a iconic a role model for women's sport, take over from Jacques Rogge?

"Sport has given me so much that whatever I give back it will never be enough," she has said

I hope El Moutawakel puts on her running shoes again – this time for the top job in global sport. Madame President.

An African head of the IOC – and a woman to boot?

Now that really would propel sport into the 21st century.

And the Greeks have a word – or two- for it, Καλὴ τύχη

That means Good, Luck.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire

Did the ball cross the line? It's a question fans have been asking ever since the 1966 FIFA World Cup final when England striker Geoff Hurst's extra time goal against Germany was dubiously yet innocently allowed to stand by the Swiss referee on the advice of his Soviet linesman.

The other more pressing question is why nothing has ever been done, in the 46 years since, to avoid countless similar occurrences of the referee getting it wrong, accidentally perhaps but often with dire consequences. But now, at last, the global clamour for goal-line technology is finally bearing fruit. Most believe it is long overdue apart from those stubborn traditionalists who blindly take the view that crucial decisions should never be helped by scientific aids.

For years, FIFA was staunchly against the use of any form of technology. Every time the issue was on the agenda at the annual meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), those advocating technology eagerly awaited the outcome, believing they had finally convinced the game's ultra-conservative lawmakers to give the concept the green light. And every year, the game's lawmakers came up with some delaying tactic, invariably that there was no foolproof system, and sent the manufacturers away to do more tweaking.

That all changed after South Africa 2010 World Cup when England – in a reversal of 1966 – were denied a clear goal against Germany. It was the moment FIFA President Sepp Blatter changed his mind. It was also the moment the often-laborious journey to introduce technology was kicked into top gear.

Now, this week, following final IFAB approval in July and six months of painstaking fine-tuning and experimentation at a series of low-key fixtures, goal-line technology is being introduced in official competition for the first time: the Club World Cup in Japan.

It cannot come soon enough and don't just take my word for it. Jérôme Valcke, FIFA's secretary general, said as much when he hailed implementation as a revolution.


Two systems are being used, both having been rigorously tested and both able to transmit to the referee within just one second whether the ball is over the line. First, there is Hawk-Eye (cameras pictured above), based on deploying quick-speed cameras in similar fashion to the system used in tennis and cricket. Then there is GoalRef, which uses magnetic sensors with a chip inserted in the ball.

The importance of the two systems working perfectly at the Club World Cup cannot be underestimated. After the tournament, FIFA will choose which of them to use at next year's Confederations Cup and then the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

Thank Goodness, the custodians of the game have finally seen sense by agreeing on a way to prevent any more blunders. Words like revolution, which Valcke used, are often over-used but this is surely one of the most pivotal rulings in terms of pulling the game we all love into the 21st century.

Before we all get carried away, it should be mentioned that goal-line technology does not come cheap. Very few leagues in the short term will be able to afford it. Each installation will cost around $250,000 (£155,000/€190,000) per club.

But it's the principle that counts. Whenever goal-line disputes happen – and they happen all over the world whatever Michel Platini might say – they are highlighted more than any other area of the game. Why? Because they can lead to teams being eliminated from competitions, coaches getting the sack, players breaking down in tears and referees being lambasted by all and sundry. As injustices go, few are as damaging as when a perfectly good goal is ruled out after the ball has struck the woodwork. Just as appalling, of course, is the reverse, in other words when a goal is given that patently shouldn't have been.


I have enormous respect for many of Platini's forward-looking ideas. Since taking over at UEFA, he has invariably put the game first and personal ambition second: championing the role of smaller clubs, introducing financial fair play, never afraid to court controversy if he believes in something passionately.

But his opposition to goal-line technology is as misguided as it is backward. The idea that it will somehow inevitably lead to video technology in other areas of the game like offsides and penalties has no basis in fact. Platini's pet plan of employing two extra linesmen – or additional assistant referees as they are officially termed – in order to preserve the game's human aspect may be laudable but does not keep pace with modern-day needs – or with other major sports like rugby, cricket and tennis for that matter. Nor, crucially, is it given greater credence than goal-line technology by fans, players and coaches alike.

Platini has repeatedly stated he will never allow goal-line technology in UEFA competitions. That is his right. He genuinely believes his system is more beneficial to the game, more practical, cheaper and more effective. In the interests of fair play, however, there are millions who disagree.

The one point the UEFA President perhaps misses more than any is that the very body of people goal-line technology is designed to help most – the referees themselves – are by and large in favour. If they weren't, it would be a different story.

Andrew Warshaw is a former sports editor of The European, the newspaper that broke the Bosman story in the 1990s, the most significant issue to shape professional football as we know it today. Before that, he worked for the Associated Press for 13 years in Geneva and London. He is now the chief football reporter for insidethegames and insideworldfootball. Follow him on Twitter.

On my almost-daily visits to the capital, I still travel past the Olympic Park in Stratford.

But no longer is it the lively theatre that so wonderfully showcased the world's greatest athletes to all four corners of the globe; rather an almost deserted building site that harbours the London 2012 ghosts of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps.

Obviously it will soon reopen as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where we are promised it will become a vibrant new East London community. But I don't think anyone can honestly expect it to still contain the same magic that it did during this summer.

The people who made it such a marvellous spectacle are also gone to different walks of life.

Rather poignantly, I attended the 2015 Rugby World Cup draw on Monday (December 3) where Debbie Jevans, the former London 2012 Director of Sport, now serves as chief executive of the Organising Committee for the next big sporting event on English shores.

But when surrounded by the rugby media, not one reference was made to Jevans' past life at London 2012, despite her integral role in the bid for and then organisation of the 2012 Games.

But in a small corner of London this week, in SoHo Hotel, the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics was being remembered at the LOCOG annual (and last) Christmas media drinks.

Heading the cast was London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe with London 2012 chief executive Paul (now Lord) Deighton also in attendance.

As is customary for the event, Coe climbed on the table towards the end of proceedings to thank the media, surprisingly sincerely, for their contribution in making London 2012 such a success.


"It is you, asking the hard questions, that made us a better organisation," Coe said to widespread approval in the room.

He carried on in an emotional speech before humorously ending: "See you all at the British Olympic Association (BOA) soon!"

Of course Coe was referencing the fact that he is now BOA chairman, but the joke was that it seemed almost irrelevant in the context of this night.

Lance Armstrong will be top of the agenda when the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board convenes for the second of its two-day meeting in Lausanne tomorrow. They are determined to act tough and, perhaps much more importantly, be seen to be acting tough.

But they should be very, very careful about what action they decide to take because this is more than just about Armstrong, much more.

Earlier today the Executive Board suspended the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for failing to hold its forthcoming elections under the rules of the Olympic Charter.

Monday's press conference in London to air the conclusions of a weekend's brainstorming on behalf of the beleaguered sport of cycling brought together an impressive bunch of speakers on the podium, all travelling under the banner of the Change Cycling Now pressure group formed within the last month by Australian entrepreneur and businessman Jaimie Fuller.

Among those facing reporters and television cameras in the main Conference Room of the Hilton Metropole Hotel were Fuller, chairman of Skins compression sportswear manufacturers,  sports specialist Dr John Hoberman of the University of Texas, Dr Michael Ashenden, acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on blood doping, former rider Eric Boyer, now manager of the Cofidis team, campaigning journalist and former cyclist Paul Kimmage, and the only American to have won the Tour de France – now that Lance Armstrong no longer holds that honour following the latest doping scandal to have convulsed the sport this year – that is, Greg LeMond.

Kimmage revealed that there had been a plan to put out an extra seat, one which would not be occupied, to mark the fact that, despite all efforts to bring a current rider on the circuit into this urgent initiative to cleanse and revivify cycling, no one dared.

"They were all just terrified of what the repercussions might be," explained Kimmage, whom the UCI tried to sue for defamation earlier this year but who has now launched a legal riposte after a fighting fund launched for him raised over £50,000. "That isn't the sign of a healthy organisation..."


Fuller added that he had personally spoken to numerous cyclists without success. "I tried very hard to get riders engaged," he said. "The vast majority were intimidated about what could have happened to them if they stuck their head above the parapet and criticised the UCI.

"One of them said to me: 'To do what we have to do is a revolution. At times you have to be prepared to die for the revolution. But I am not quite ready to die just yet.'"

There did indeed seem something revolutionary about this gathering, and about the hastily formed Charter of the Willing which outlined what is seen as the vital need for change in four main areas as the call goes up for an independent commission to investigate the UCI and senior management, fully independent doping controls, a cultural change in the UCI and the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which would enable riders to talk frankly about the doping culture which has ravaged the sport.

It seemed as if all present could be in at the beginning of something momentous, albeit not yet fully formed. The Change Cycling group believe the position of the current UCI President, Pat McQuaid, and the Honorary President, Hein Verbruggen, are untenable given that the UCI's conduct is about to be scrutinised by an Independent Commission including Britain's 11-times Paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.

As he responded to a questioner seeking confirmation of his intention to fulfil a possible role of interim President of UCI, LeMond - perhaps slightly crazed by the 12-hour marathon discussions in which he and his colleagues had been embroiled in the previous days – was less than decisive.


"I was asked by this group here, if we were successful, that until we found a full time President would I be willing to step in as interim," LeMond said. "If we can't find anyone more qualified, I would do whatever I can to change the sport. I'm not pushing myself. But I would do whatever I could to support this group."

But if this was revolution, cycling history in the making, there was no sense of it matching William Wordsworth's heady reflection in his poem The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement – "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive..."

You felt dark forces at work outside this brightly lit room. Maybe it's all the pre-publicity around for the imminent release of the Lord of the Rings follow up film, The Hobbit (a bit of reverse history if you like), but as LeMond, then Kimmage, then Boyer spoke of their recent interactions with the UCI, the world governing body seemed to take on a sinister, Sauron-like feel...

LeMond, an outspoken critic of doping in cycling who first crossed swords with Armstrong in 2001 and has come under heavy pressure to retract, shied away from the suggestion that this year's United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report, which concluded that Armstrong had been at the epicentre of "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme the sport has ever seen" was a vindication for his views.

"Vindicated?" LeMond said. "I don't know. I was incredibly sad, because I have paid a huge price, my family has paid a huge price. I have been afraid for my safety. I had a fitness company that suffered some bizarre interactions. I know I could have played along with everybody.

"A lot of people came to me and wanted to tell me stuff. At times I wish I'd never heard it and gone fishing instead. But I suppose there was a sense of relief when it came out.

"Nothing surprised me in the USADA report at all. If people had paid attention, David Walsh has written about it. Everything was there. The shocking thing was it felt so long for people to come around."


Kimmage, who lost his job at the Sunday Times in January, admitted that there had been a period of five days, after the UCI had launched their legal action against him, when he wondered whether he had wasted his time and effort.

"I did question things when got the subpoena from the UCI a couple of months ago," he said. "I had been without work since January. It starts to bite after nine months. It started to bite when I received the subpoena. I thought 'I've got to go to Switzerland now to answer these charges – and that's going to cost money.

"I said to myself: 'What did all your ranting and raving and your book do to serve the sport?' And I said to myself  'It has served nothing. It was a waste of time.' But a week later I get bike fans not only supporting me but putting their hands in their pocket and preparing to help me in that way.

"So there was a five-day period where I thought 'It's a waste of time here, what did it serve?' Then I realised it actually did do some good. The public want clean sport, they want a clean Tour de France, and that's important."

Boyer, formerly a French cyclist who won three stages of the Giro d'Italia and competed in eight Tours de France, recalled how, as President of the International Association of Professional Cycling Groups (AIGCP) he had questioned whether Armstrong had undergone the statutory six months registered on the anti-doping programme before his racing comeback in the 2009 Tour Down Under.

He claimed he was told by McQuaid that it was none of his business, and that he had ceased to be a creditable President of the AIGCP.

Jorg Jaksche, a former pro cyclist who was identified in the 2006 Operation Puerto investigation as being involved in blood doping - something he later admitted to - spoke of the way what he described as a culture of doping robbed riders of the pure joy of competing which had brought them to the sport.

"No one did it at first because he thought he could earn a lot of money," Jaksche told the press conference. "This is what was taken away from us. You had to dope or you would lose your job and your passion. It is full of doubts. We don't know what the UCI are doing. There is no movement from them, other than to protect themselves. But there is no future without being honest about the past."


Ashenden made the point strongly that he felt reconciliation, rather than recrimination, was the way forward. And that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would play the crucial role in this. He made the point that fuller detail of how this might operate could not be revealed until the group had had a chance to canvass opinion among riders.

As things stand, the idea of amnesties for cyclists admitting guilt is not something catered for by the World Anti-Doping Agency, whose Director General, David Howman, was present for some of the fervent discussion which took place over the weekend, offering what Fuller described as invaluable advice.

But that empty chair...this impassioned case still has to be made to the hearts and minds of the main body or professional riders. And indeed to the main board of WADA.

Have we reached the tipping point?

Ashenden believes the case is undisputable.

"I think that in any walk of life leaders of organisations bear responsibility for what has happened under their watch and that's what I don't see at the moment. Until they do that, the message that comes down to riders underneath is  'Well, you  know what? Let's just sit tight and maybe the whole thing will go away.'  That's not the message we need today."

It was left to LeMond, the reluctant politician, to add a final reflection.

"I would still wish Armstrong to come forward and explain. I might even shake his hand if he could do this. There was a huge effort by multiple people, and he alone could reveal that. That would be the one redeeming thing he could do for cycling. Because he has done a lot of damage to it."

So the formidable Dr C K Wu has ordered both codes of boxing to touch gloves and come out fighting, though no longer against each other.

As my colleague Tom Degun has exclusively revealed on insidethegames the International Boxing Federation, aka AIBA, which he heads, has called on all national federations around the world to delete the word "amateur" from their titles, which means the last bastion in the Olympic Games is about to fall. No more amateur boxing, simply boxing.

As far as Britain is concerned, the dictum to amend the statutes and set up pro-style programmes will be discussed by the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) and other UK national bodies, as well, as the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) in forthcoming committee meetings.

Almost certainly, they will comply, not wishing to again alienate the world governing body after repairing a previously damaged relationship and entering a franchise, the British Lionhearts, in Dr Wu's own boxing baby, the World Series of Boxing (WSB).


The A word has existed here since 1880 when the ABAE was formed. Now its removal seems both timely and logical in view of the monetary awards on offer via sponsorship, endorsements, the Lottery and WSB.

But I suspect this is another major move by Dr Wu to realise his dream of bringing all factions together in boxing under one umbrella – his.

Alas, it is a pipe dream. The established pro game won't wear it, though it has taken a body blow with the introduction of the WSB and the plan to launch the AIBA Pro Boxing tournament next autumn.

As I understand it, this will be designed as a vehicle for young pros with 15 bouts or fewer to box in full-scale professional contests under AIBA's own promotion.

WSB has a pot of prize money that they hope will dissuade top amateurs from signing with pro promoters.

Team GB's Olympic silver medallist Fred Evans has already taken advantage of this, along with talented fellow 2012 teammate Andrew Selby and a fistful of other squad members.

insidethegames has also reported that super-heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua, currently the hottest prospect in boxing, is also giving serious consideration to joining them.


I can see why. There is no doubt that that Big Josh will eventually take the dosh offered by pro promoters both here and in the US.

WSB cannot match the sort of millions being dangled in front of him – but what it can do is provide him with a lucrative apprenticeship for his pro career.

In discarding headguards and vests, boxing over six rounds under the pro's ten-point scoring system WSB offers a taste of the route taken by former British Olympic medallists Amir Khan, James DeGale and David Price.

WSB's one-year contracts can be good pro grounding, giving young boxers a decent living while they learn the pro ropes.

In this respect, it could be giving itself a black eye.

I am for anything which makes boxers a few bob, so I welcome the entry of the British gladiators into WSB, and 4-1 victories in the US and against the Italians at Celtic Manor last week, plus those Olympic triumphs, indicate that GB is close to being the most dominant fistic nation in the world.

Next up is likely to be their toughest fixture, in Kazakhstan on December 7 followed by Germany at Earls Court a week later.

Will WSB work here? Well, it may already be a big hit in Eastern Europe but I hear interest is lukewarm in the US, where "amateur" boxing is at its lowest ebb.


Then problem with whipping up interest in Britain is a lack of substantial television coverage and exposure in the national press.

It needs a more widely watched network here than ESPN if it is to capture a bigger public following.

Sadly, too, most sports editors of my acquaintance are not that bothered with amateur sport until GB starts winning medals and even then, it becomes a passing fancy when Fernando Torres misses another sitter for Chelsea.

But the essence of the latest controversial AIBA move is that its Taiwanese President wants to become the pooh-bah of boxing, taking complete control of all facets of the sport, including the professional side. The ultimate aim appears to be to allow any boxer, technically including existing world champions, to qualify for the Olympics, though there may be an age limit as in football. This is confirmed by AIBA's stated mission to "govern the sport of boxing in all its forms worldwide".

The blueprint adds: "With the launch of AIBA Pro Boxing next year AIBA national federation members will not only govern amateur boxing (now to be called Olympic boxing) but also professional boxing in their country."

Really? Good luck with that. It's a load of old punch balls,

Can you imagine the British Boxing Board of Control to stands back and allow the ABA, or whatever it is to be called, taking them over and run professional boxing?


Dr Wu is fortunate the belligerent US impresario Don King is now in his dotage otherwise he would have a real fight on his hands with his plans for world domination. As it is he can expect a few left hooks to then ribs from major promoters Golden Boy, Bob Arum and Frank Warren. So the gloves are off.

What continues to irk me is that despite blatantly professionalising amateur boxing AIBA's stubborn refusal to allow coaches associated with recognised professional boxing, notably Britain's Robert McCracken, who also mentors world super-middleweight champion Carl Froch as well as Team GB, to work in the corner.

As I have said before this is hypocritical, anachronistic nonsense, especially in the light of these latest developments. It is time AIBA recognised that they are being not unreasonable, but actually unprofessional.


Actually I can respect Dr Wu's ambition because there is no doubt that boxing needs sorting out globally, the disparate bodies in the alphabet soup of the pro game, the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBO to name but a few, having completely devalued world championships, with universal credence far removed from the days when Olympic champions such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Sugar Ray Leonard went on to  rule the ring as true and undisputed world champions  and not just holders of fragmented bits of bling.

Unfortunately, there are far too many vested interests in traditional pro boxing to make an overall umbrella body feasible.

A final thought: Could it be that 62-year-old Dr Wu, reputed to be a billionaire from construction enterprises including the establishment of Milton Keynes, is creating a platform from which he will make a bid for an even bigger prize, the Presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when Jacques Rogge steps down next year?

A would-be king of the rings, as well as the ring?

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire

So no more Olympics for Ben Ainslie. And no more Ben Ainslie for the Olympics. It's like the momentous parting of the ways which occurred when Steve Redgrave finally decided enough gold was enough.

But as was not the case with Redgrave, the 35-year-old who steps figuratively ashore as the most successful Olympic sailor of all time - with four golds and a silver in a career which began at Atlanta 1996 - has another major competitive arena in prospect. Involving boats again, naturally – but much bigger boats.

Ainslie made his long-term ambition clear in January when he launched Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), a team sponsored by JP Morgan, which is now taking part in the America's Cup World Series by way of preparation for an attempt to become the first British boat to lift the America's Cup itself.


And his official retirement today from the Games has only confirmed the hints he gave in the aftermath of his London 2012 victory, a culmination of what he called the "hardest couple of weeks" of his life. "You can never say never," he said, "but I don't think I can sail one of these again. It's killing my body so I don't think you will see me in Rio. But it's the best way to bow out at a home Olympics."

On the eve of the London 2012 Games I asked Ainslie about how he dealt with the contending demands of his Olympic and America's Cup ambitions.

"You have to be able to compartmentalise the different areas you want to focus on," he responded. "If I'm going racing the only thing I'm thinking about is that. I'm not thinking about the America's Cup or anything else that's going on in my life.

"The America's Cup is primarily all about the team, and the Finn sailing, although I have a great support team, is different. When I'm out there racing I'm alone, with full responsibility."

Twelve years ago, soon after Ainslie had won a gold medal in the Laser class at the Sydney Games and in doing so taken his revenge over Robert Scheidt, the Brazilian whose cute tactical moves in the medal race had earned him the Olympic title ahead of the Briton four years earlier in Atlanta, he took part in a mini race at the Royal Albert Dock which offered the press the opportunity to join in.


I was "crewing" on the boat skippered by another triumphant Olympian, Iain Percy, who had won the Finn class in which Ainslie now operates. The first mini-race was won by our boat, but Percy was confident there would be an immediate response in the next from the opposition boat skippered by someone he described as "the most competitive man in the world". And of course, there was.

As we spoke shortly before London 2012, I could not forbear asking Ainslie whether he concurred with his friend's sentiment. Well, he didn't disagree. But he made it clear again how mental compartments came into the process.

"I guess Iain knows me pretty well, better than most people," he replied. "I think sailing is the one thing in my life that I want to try and be the best at. There's nothing else in my life where I feel like I have to be competitive. Sailing is the one thing I want to be best at, to reach the highest level I can and to achieve things, so that's why I'm so determined to do well.

"I am competitive, but nothing like I am when I'm sailing. If someone beats me at cards, or my nephew beats me at a computer game or whatever it is, I laugh about it. I just don't like being beaten when I'm sailing, full stop."

And there, essentially, is the attitude that has got Ainslie where he is today.


He was only 19 in 1996 when Scheidt taught him that bitter lesson at the Atlanta Games – a lesson which was to prove invaluable.

The Briton lay in silver medal position before the final race, and after much pre-race manoeuvring the organisers put up the black flag - an indication that any boat jumping the start line at the next attempt would be disqualified.

"Robert was pretty cunning," Ainslie recalled. "Because he was sitting near the committee boat and must have heard them call out his sail number, that he was over the line, so he just sheeted in and started over the line with 10 seconds to go, knowing he was over it. When one goes, others go because they don't want to be given the jump. So about 20 boats went. I was among them and we all got disqualified and the net result was that Robert won the gold and I got the silver. Yes, in its way it was brilliant."

Four years later in Sydney the positions were reversed, and a couple of abandoned starts meant Scheidt was forewarned about the Briton's tactics. But he still couldn't stop him. Ainslie managed to get into a perfect spoiling position a matter of seconds before the start, and he soon isolated the Brazilian as the rest of the fleet sailed away, blocking his wind and weaving across his path. There was apparently plenty being said between the two boats.

In the end, Scheidt broke clear after ramming the Briton's boat, and then set off to try to catch the distant race ahead. Scheidt almost made it, taking advantage of a huge wind shift, but with Ainslie desperately catching up to see if more action was required, the Brazilian was penalised and the gold was secure with the Briton.

Bryn Vaile, who won gold for Britain with Michael McIntyre in the Star Class at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, has had close hand experience of the nitty-gritty of competitive action on the water for 30 years as a sailor and national selector.


"You can effectively stop an opponent by sitting in their wind," says Vaile. "It is called covering. It was originally introduced as a defensive measure, but what someone like Ben does is use it as an aggressive tactic. It's aggressive covering, if you like. You use the rules aggressively, rather than defensively.

"It's similar to the kind of manoeuvring you can get in Formula One. There are times when Ben's objective is to manoeuvre things so that he gets to cross the line ahead of a particular opponent.

"When Ben went to his first Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, the Brazilian, Robert Scheidt, made sure he got gold and Ben got silver by using that tactic. Ben didn't forget that. And when they were at the Sydney Olympics four years later, Ben replied in kind – and did it better.

"Ben's friend Iain Percy, who has won Olympic titles himself, describes him as 'the most competitive man in the world', and I know what he means. There is something of Ayrton Senna, or Michael Schumacher, in him."

That is, greatness.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames.

In terms of the host city for 2020, just Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo now stand in what is certainly not the greatest bid race in the history of the Games. One need only look back to the enthralling 2012 race featuring Paris, Madrid, Moscow, New York and ultimate victors London to draw that conclusion.

But on the other hand, there are eight completely different sports battling it out for the right to appear at either Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo in 2020.

They are baseball, climbing, karate, roller sport, softball, squash, wakeboard and wushu.

There are however, just seven bids after baseball and softball recently confirmed an unprecedented joint bid for the Olympics, making the race perhaps even more entertaining.

Like the unveiling of the 2020 host city, the announcement of which sport will appear at the Games will be made at the all-important International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires in September next year.

By that time, each bidding sport would have faced extreme scrutiny in their various attempts become part of the greatest sporting event on the planet.

As well as submitting endless bid documents and undertaking numerous presentations, each sport will have had one of their major Championships evaluated by the IOC.

In terms of the Evaluation events, karate was perhaps the sport that got lucky.

Of the eight, it was the only sport where the IOC attended its premier competition as the inspection team turned up for the 2012 World Karate Championships in Paris.

The World Karate Championships are held every two years, and given that the sport is not on the Olympic programme, there is no bigger karate competition for the world's elite.

I must admit that I am not a complete expert in karate.

After several years as a participant, I gave up the sport around the age of six shortly after receiving a hugely painful kick to the nose from a much older child (although I'm assured that in today's karate, children are not so woefully mismatched as I was).

Before heading to Paris, I was fully aware that karate was an internationally popular sport but I was still a little taken aback when I arrived at the magnificent Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy to find a sell-out 16,000 capacity crowd creating a deafening atmosphere at the 2012 World Karate Championships. It is the first time I have sampled such an electric atmosphere since London 2012 and whenever a French athlete emerged, the arena was simply rocking.

The media interest in the event was also huge with around 300 journalists and 17 television stations in attendance.

Meanwhile the action out in the centre saw around 1,000 karatekas from 114 countries competing.

The standard was simply phenomenal as the athletes fought with blistering speed and skill.

It was a superb show and one certain to impress the IOC inspectors in attendance.

But I couldn't help but feel that karate faces an obvious hurdle in their 2020 bid, which is, incidentally, their third consecutive bid to make the Olympic programme.

That hurdle is the fact that there are already three combat sports on the Olympic programme.

They are boxing, taekwondo and wrestling.

Could this hurt karate?

No, according to World Karate Federation (WFK) President Antonio Espinós.

"We have never thought that there were too many combat sports at the Olympics," the colourful Spaniard told me on the side-lines of the Championships.

"More importantly, we never got the perception from the IOC that there are too many combat sports.

"In the Olympics and the Olympic Movement, there is a place for everybody.

"There are obviously several combat sports at the Olympics but that is because people all around the world like combat sports and participate in them.

"That is certainly not a bad thing for karate.

"This is now our third bid in a row to become an Olympic sport and we believe this will be the successful one.

"We have been learning from the Olympic Movement during former bids and this has allowed us to improve the WKF and karate, as we are showing the IOC here."

Later in his closing press conference, Espinós responded to another of my questions by declaring that the competition "was the greatest World Championships in history".

"There is no way that the IOC cannot be impressed by this," he added.

"The athletes, the crowd and the facility have been truly outstanding and this is obviously very good for our Olympic bid."

I discovered shortly before speaking to Espinós that each of the bidding sports is having its major Championships accessed by just two IOC inspectors, one of who is a member of the IOC Olympic Programme Commission and one of who is a member the IOC director general's office.

For the 2012 World Karate Championships, IOC Olympic Programme Commission member Mike Fennell and project officer at the IOC director general's office Pierre Fratter-Bardy.

Following the 2012 World Karate Championships, Fennell and Fratter-Bardy will compile a report which will be carefully reviewed by the IOC alongside the reports from the other bidding sports next month.

In the bidding process, eight different members of the IOC Olympic Programme Commission are attending the eight Evaluation Championships to help compile the full report.

This is because the IOC Olympic Programme Commission is responsible for reviewing and analysing the programme of sports, disciplines and events, as well as the number of athletes in each sport, for the Olympic Games.

Interestingly, Fratter-Bardy told me that no final decision has been made on how many of the bidding sports will still be in the race by the time we get to Buenos Aires in September 2013.

Rumours are growing the shortlist will again be shortlisted, meaning that there could be just four, three or even two sports for the full IOC membership to vote on for inclusion at the 2020 Olympics. Alternatively, all eight could remain.

And perhaps more than one of the bidding sports could be included in 2020 depending on how many sports the IOC decide to drop from the current Olympic programme.

Only as 2013 arrives will we start getting a clear picture of how things are panning out.

But if the Evaluation events are anything to go by, karate certainly has a fighting chance of making the 2020 Olympics.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames