Olympics

With just over 24 hours to go until the opening of the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Paralympics, the criticism of the paralympics is mounting. There are growing calls to abolish the Paralympics and integrate para-events alongside traditional events. Rio’s Paralympics games are under-resourced and under-promoted. Venues have been closed to save costs and the workforce has been downsized. These actions represent a major step backwards for para-athletes after the success of London 2012 and Beijing 2008. International Paralympic Committee President, Sir Philip Craven said; “Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games […]

For over 100 years, many athletes have strived for the Olympian glory of both summer and winter games. For the first time since the establishment of the modern Olympics, a team composed of athletes from 4 different countries will unite their strength and compete for the refugees under the Olympic flag, rather than representing their home countries. The 10 athletes were selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), out of 43 potential candidates identified last October. The selection comprised of two swimmers from Syria, five South Sudanese track and field athletes, […]

With the Rio 2016 athletics schedule kicking off in just under 5 days, there will be no Russian athletes gracing our television screens. This follows the revelation of a ‘state-sponsored doping programme’ that allegedly spanned for four years, beginning after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. After assessing the evidence, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended a blanket ban for all Russian athletes from the Olympic Games, meaning that none of the 389 Russian athletes would be allowed to take part in any of the 28 Olympic sports. However, since this […]

In 2012 Dina Asher-Smith was a ‘kit carrier’ at the London Olympic Games. Now, she’s heading to Rio as Britain’s fastest ever woman. Asher-Smith holds the British record in the 60m, 100m and 200m. Last month, she broke another record when she became the first ever Brit to win the 200m in the European Championships. And if that wasn’t enough, she helped the GB 4X100 relay team to a new British record of 41.81secs as they stormed to victory at the Anniversary games last Friday. Dina followed Asha Philip and Desiree Henry on the […]

The former UEL student is confident of an Olympic medal. At just 22, Rio will be Adam Gemili’s second Olympics. In his first, London 2012, he came within just 0.04 seconds of qualifying for the 100m final in front of a home crowd. Now, his focus will be the 200m at Rio. At his final test ahead of the Games, Gemili looked strong, racing with Bolt at the Anniversary games, in an exciting race which saw him finishing 3rd. “It’s crazy that I’m going to the Olympics again,” said Gemili, […]