Mo Farah has never been what you would call risk averse.

This, after all, was the young man who, as reported by Virgin London Marathon race director Dave Bedford, once jumped naked into the Thames off Kingston Bridge under the influence of more than one beer.

More profoundly, this was the young man who made the big decision to leave his native Somalia and start a new life in Britain, fighting his own battles at school - sometimes literally - as he struggled to pick up the language.

And Farah's career has also been characterised by leaps into unknown territory.

Six years ago he decided that, in the case of the Kenyans who continued to dominate middle distance events on the track and over the country, it was a case of "if you can't beat them, join them" and so Farah became a member of the "Kenyan household" at the runners' Teddington training base, embracing everything from frequent training to regular consumption of ugali - the glutinous, energy-giving maize porridge, which has traditionally done for East African runners what Force flakes have done for Sunny Jim.

Farah reaped his reward when his times moved down significantly, and he won 5,000 metre silver at the 2006 European Championships. But when he failed to reach the Olympic 5,000m final at the Beijing Games three years ago it was a profound shock to his career.


"I was really disappointed," he recalled this week. "I was more down than I have ever been in my career. Because the Olympics are what you train for, and they only come round every four years. But maybe it was a good thing, because it opened my eyes to what I had to do."

There followed a strong recovery, as he regained the European indoor 3,000m title in 2009 and, last year, secured the European 5,000m and 10,000m titles in Barcelona before rounding off his season by becoming the first Briton to beat 13 minutes for the shorter distance, recording 12min 57.94sec at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Zurich.

When the next Olympics arrive in London next year, this outstanding athlete is confident that he will be in a better position than he has ever been to make the most of the opportunity, having put himself back into gear following his Beijing experience and embarked upon yet another adventure by moving to Portland, Oregon in order to train with the US marathon-running legend Alberto Salazar.

Farah now rents a property just outside Portland with his wife, Tania, and six-year-old daughter, Rihanna, both of whom moved across the Atlantic to join him, and he trains at Nike's purpose-built distance running facility, with occasional trips to Utah to undertake altitude work.

"It wasn't easy making that decision, leaving everything behind," he said. "I could have been happy at home, sitting in my house with a few European medals.

"But you have to say: 'How can I improve? What can I do next?' You can't allow yourself to feel comfortable and just think everything is going to be all right.

"Over the last five months, a lot has changed. But we're settling in well. My daughter's making more friends than I am."

That last statement is questionable - particularly after Farah's performance in the Eugene Diamond League meeting last month, where, in only his third 10,000 metre race, he set a European record of 26:46.57.

So he is now looking at London 2012 with serious ambition - and before it, the impending challenge of this year's IAAF World Championships in Daegu.


"I've never been this confident in my life," he said. "I'm really actually enjoying it big-time now."

The influence of Salazar, who won three consecutive New York marathons from 1980-1982, is tangible. It was in 2007 that Farah met Salazar - who, like him, made a big decision to leave his native country to further his athletic career, leaving Cuba for the United States.

Since then, the Briton has been impressed by the performances Salazar has coaxed from athletes such as Kara Goucher, a world 10,000m bronze medallist.

"I always got on well with Alberto, and liked what he had to say about training," said Farah.

"Having him there is amazing. He gives you confidence. He makes you believe that you are one of the best in the world. All coaches tell you that, but with Alberto, it's different. He's been there, he knows everything."

While Farah's mileage remains much the same, he is spending more time in the gym lifting weights, and also in the pool, as hydro work to avoid stress injuries is a big part of the Salazar approach.

Farah, who has a three-year visa for the States, will return to Britain to compete in this summer's Aviva Series, which includes Diamond League meetings in Birmingham and London as well as the UK trials.

These will offer him a chance to measure himself against the best in the world: Tariku Bekele and Imane Merga of Ethiopia as well as the double Commonwealth champion, Moses Kipsiro of Uganda

On the subject of the forthcoming Worlds, Farah is unlikely to attempt the double he pulled off at last year's Europeans. "I think I will be concentrating on one event in Daegu, and that is almost certainly going to be the 5,000," he said.

But whether he picks the 5,000 or the 10,000 or both, there will be no easy rides in either the World Championships or the Olympics.

"Whichever event I do it's not going to be easy," he said. "But that's what it's all about. I'm looking to cover all the angles - so if it's about speed, or if it's about endurance, I can handle it."

Nobody can cover all the angles. But you have to give Farah credit for trying harder than most.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last 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. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

Close scrutiny of the British Olympic Association's 2010 accounts shows that the body deployed great ingenuity in drumming up a near 40 per cent advance in revenue, in spite of a sharp decline in funds from the much-maligned Joint Marketing Programme Agreement (JMPA).

This is the deal under which commercial sponsorship rights for the period up to and including the London 2012 Olympics have been sold to the Games Organising Committee (LOCOG).

Regular readers of insidethegames might remember the eloquence with which BOA chief executive Andy Hunt has in the past described how this agreement hems him in, leaving him "horribly constrained".

"I describe it as my hands are handcuffed behind my back," he told me.

"They are then tied with baling twine over the top of my head.

"And then I'm bound in a straightjacket, put in a metal cage and it's called the Joint Marketing Programme Agreement with LOCOG."

Well, the new accounts, viewed in near-final form, show that the BOA received - or was due - just £1.57 million ($2.53 million) in 2010 from sponsors and LOCOG in connection with the JMPA.

This compares with £3.04 million ($4.90 million) in 2009.

Happily for the BOA, the Team 2012 joint venture - aimed at raising funds for Britain's London 2012 athletes and underwritten, notably, by Visa - has stepped into the breach.

Licence fee income from this source rose last year to £2.51 million ($4.05 million), from £944,000 ($1.5 million) in 2009, compensating almost exactly for the downturn in income from the JMPA.

By way of a small further bonus, Team 2012-related management fee income of £120,000 ($194,000) - up from £50,000 ($81,000) - was also receivable in 2010.

The accounts also note that "a further £403,299 ($650,584) [2009: £720,468 ($1.1 miillion)] received from Team 2012 Limited in 2009 for development of the British Olympic Coaching Programme has been deferred to be recognised in future periods.

The BOA also benefited in 2010 from the legacy of its decision the previous year to sell LOCOG its rights to sell tickets to future Olympic Games between 2013 and 2020.

More than half of the $4.5 million ($7.3 million) from that deal was received in 2009.

But $2 million ($3.2 million) was not received until February 2010 and "as there were no obligations attached to the BOA", this income was recognised in the period in which the cash was received.

With costs increasing as the body gears up for London 2012 - where some 550 athletes, the biggest British Olympic delegation in more than a century, will represent Team GB - and no exceptional profits from property sales of the type that got them through 2009, this income from Team 2012 and forward ticket sales was vital in enabling the BOA to report a pre-tax profit of nearly £235,873 ($379,664) for last year.

The new accounts also reveal that, while the BOA's average headcount fell from 57 to 52 for the year, employee costs rose from £4.34 million ($7.01 million) to £4.76 million ($7.68 million), equivalent to more than £90,000 ($145,000) each [2009: £76,200 ($122,92)].

Included in this £4.76 million ($7.68 million) figure are "restructuring payments" to value in kind secondees of nearly £250,000 ($403,331) - up from £146,555 ($236,441) in 2009.

The accounts give no indication of how much of the BOA's increased costs are explained by the expense of sending teams to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

All told, the organisation's cost of sales climbed 15 per cent to £4.57 million ($7.37 million), with administrative expenses rising 26 per cent to £6.8 million ($10.9 million).

The BOA noted that implementation of its London 2012 operational plan included the appointment of the full delegation leadership for Team GB, along with team leaders for all 26 Olympic sports.

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 and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938

Can Sepp Blatter turn round the fortunes of FIFA like Juan Antonio Samaranch once did the International Olympic (IOC)?

To even pose this question shows how far we have come from the dark days of the Olympic Movement back in 1998.

Also, it shows how much we now need to re-evaluate the role of the Spaniard.

Indeed, we need to move away from the caricature of Samaranch being just a lackey of Franco, the Spanish dictator, who only looked after himself and had no vision of sports and left no legacy behind.

I was particularly struck by this when I recently interviewed Jacques Rogge, Samaranch's successor at his offices in Lausanne.

Our meeting took place in the shadow of the FIFA corruption crisis and with Chuck Blazer, living up to his image as an Old Testament prophet, providing damning evidence of bribery and corruption implicating Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam.

In the wake of the FIFA corruption scandal, the IOC had been heaped with universal praise for getting rid of its corruption.

So could FIFA learn from its older Olympic brother?

I reminded Rogge of that day in the IOC headquarters in Lausanne in December 1998 when events took place, not far from his office, which were to prove so dramatic.

That is when the Swiss IOC member, Marc Hodler, proved to be the most devastating whistle blower.

Coming down from an Executive Board meeting, he made all sorts of statements to the media about Olympic corruption.

Rogge, who had just been telling me of his love for cricket, paused and recalled: "We were in the middle of an Executive Board meeting.

"What we heard was Francoise Zweifel [the then IOC secretary general] whispering something into the ear of Samaranch.

"I don't know the exact wording, but that there was a press conference going on.

"Samaranch then said, 'My dear colleagues, there seems to be a press conference downstairs and we will suspend the meeting and resume later on.'

"And I remember very well, because we were on the level of Pierre de Coubertin, going to the balcony and seeing the media listening to Marc.

"I was surprised.

"Yes, of course, I was surprised.

"I had big concerns, but I did not know the extent of the damage caused."

The damage caused was extensive and the IOC was engulfed in a crisis as great, if not greater, than the one posed by the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics by the Americans and many other countries.

But, and this is significant, Rogge goes on to highlight how Samaranch (pictured below left with Blatter) reacted to the crisis.


That, he is certain, made all the difference.

"When we came back, Samaranch immediately said we have to cut to the bone, 'I make a commission and you must make proposals'," Rogge continued.

"At the same time he said, 'We have to look at the long term issues'.

"He did not speak at that time of the long term changes to the IOC because he wanted to know exactly what had happened.

"We gave him pretty quickly an overview of the whole situation.

"We had a meeting on the same day in Lausanne, downstairs in the office of François Carrard [the then IOC director general].

"A couple of days later we were called to go to New York because we had the evidence of the Salt Lake City Bidding Committee that was repatriated to the law office there.

"So we went to that, and then we had a couple of further meetings in Lausanne and gave a report to Samaranch saying these are the recommendations that we need to implement.

"And Samaranch called an extraordinary session of the IOC."

The changes took time, during which the IOC was under intense attack from Governments all over the world.

Rogge is also careful to point out that Hodler's whistle blowing cannot be compared to that of Blazer.

"In a way you cannot compare it completely to Marc Holder," he says.

"It was a different issue.

"But here you have someone from the inside saying things are not correct."

As it happens, Hodler's whistle blowing did not amount to much as it concerned alleged attempts at bribery by Italians in his own Ski Federation of which he was President and for which he had no proof, just hearsay evidence.

What enabled the IOC to act, says Rogge, was by first of all admitting that there was an issue.

"We were not in denial," he says.

"We had enough hard evidence not to be in denial.

"We had evidence because we had the accounts of the Salt Lake City Bidding Committee and we had evidence that sums had been paid to various persons."

The second thing is that, he insists: "Samaranch understood that it was not enough just to take care of the corruption, but he had the vision to see that we had to review the whole functioning of the IOC on a far broader sense.

"That has led to a number of issues like the setting up of the Athletes Commission.

"I gave a presentation to the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees within the IOC.

"It led to the Ethics Commission.

"It led to the Code of Conduct of the members, the rules of conflict of interest.

"It led to the new rules on candidate cities.

"We banned visits to the bidding city itself and considered a whole range of other issues.

"It led to the fact that candidate cities cannot play with incentives such as coaching camps or scholarships or building of infrastructure for the countries and the members.

"So all of that was something that Samaranch took a view on.

"We also decided to have total visibility on our finances, with publishing of the results, which we do every year.

"We have an external audit, we have an internal audit, we have a compliance officer.

"So, in a nutshell, Samaranch understood that we had to move from a sports club to an international organisation."

Now, you may say Rogge will say all this because he is Samaranch's anointed successor.

One of the things he said at his first press conference on taking office was how much he had learnt his sports politics from Samaranch.

But to dismiss this as just praise of pupil for a master would be wrong.

From the start, Samaranch understood that the IOC, facing mounting criticisms from Government, had to do something.

I well recall his press conference that Sunday evening, little more than 24 hours after Hodler's bombshell.

I asked him if this was one of the blackest days in the history of the Movement and he said yes, but he was optimistic the sun would come out.

And the sun did come out.

Contrast this to Blatter's first press conference after the Blazer revelations where he said, "crisis, what crisis?"

The IOC is also a different organisation to FIFA.

The IOC is made up of 115 self-elected members.

And the IOC, from its inception, has always tried its best not to behave like a collection of national representatives.


As Rogge (pictured), himself, admits, "The IOC's structure on purpose, the whole theory of Pierre de Coubertin, was that you have an IOC member in your country, but not of your country."

FIFA, in contrast, is like a United Nations General Assembly, an alliance of confederations of various nations.

They pride themselves as representing their nations and confederations at FIFA.

What is more, Confederations elect their own executive members and confederation Presidents behave like warlords.

In such a setup, a change of the type Samaranch brought about would be extremely difficult.

Observe how, in reaction to the Blazer whistle blowing, some Caribbean countries are seeing this is a conspiracy by the United States.

Blatter had provoked derision by asking Henry Kissinger to help.

But then, in the dark days of 1998, Samaranch also roped in Kissinger.

The real reason Samaranch was able to change things was that he had men on the inside who realised the IOC could not carry on as it had.

He had allies like the Canadian lawyer Dick Pound, Rogge and others who could immediately see what was wrong and what needed to be done.

Samaranch could not have done it on his own.

The question is where will Blatter find his Pound and Rogge?

Are there any in FIFA, I wonder?

There is no evidence that such people who can help Blatter exist in FIFA.

If they do, they have kept very quiet.

FIFA continues to behave as the IOC used to before the Hodler outburst - that it is all best kept in the family.

And until those family bonds are loosened, FIFA will not reform.

Mihir Bose is one of the world's most astute observers on politics in sport and, particularly, football. He formerly wrote for The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph and until recently was the BBC's head sports editor.

www.mihirbose.com

http://twitter.com/mihirbose

FIFA is providing the press and blogs with ample ammunition this week and continues to run the risk of imploding or perhaps rendering itself irrelevant with almost daily announcements.

In fact, the world probably feels FIFA is more a soap opera rather than a highly respected world sports governing body.

The biggest question so far I have seen is how FIFA should deal with governance issues.

In that, it is not unique and even professional bodies of mediators and arbitrators have the same problems from time to time!

I feel compelled to ask the obvious question - can FIFA really use an internal Ethics Committee for investigations which are to be unbiased and seen to be unbiased?

The involvement of impartial third party neutrals is clearly the only true legitimate way ahead and should have been the first port of call in this sporting storm.

In my eyes, it is fundamental to have a person or people who is or are impartial and independent conducting these types of investigations and which would change the perception of  football's global decision makers.

Football's world governing body has answered this criticism with a strategy to restore "faith in FIFA".

This involves FIFA President Sepp Blatter establishing a quasi-independent so called "Council of Wisdom".

So far rumoured appointments, I have read, include Henry Kissinger, the former United StatesSecretary of State, and Louis Freeh, the former FBI chief.

The latest signing this week to the Council could unfortunately ensure that FIFA is seen as farcical the world over.

The Spanish-Mexican opera singer next on the list is Plácido Domingo (pictured), known internationally for his time as one of the Three Tenors and recording the soundtrack to the 1990 World Cup, rather than his sports governance expertise.


A mediator specialising in sport would be a far more acceptable route for FIFA to follow and is the only follow through they can implement to save FIFA's face.

With football touching the lives of pretty much everyone, FIFA cannot afford to have any internal conflict on far reaching decisions such as corruption.

There is, in fact, no reason for the situation to have even been discussed externally and highlighted on quite such a high profile public platform.

Surely, such a powerful and influential body has the knowledge to employ a discreet professional mediator experienced in these matters who could confidentially execute an investigation and meetings and explore the issues and the options as part of  swift "early dispute resolution".

One issue that may need looking at as part of the mix is the continued presence of no less than four Football Associations from the United Kingdom as part of FIFA.

The old notion of airing one's dirty laundry in public is a good lesson for FIFA to learn.

It is never normally a good idea publically to flaunt flaws within a national or international regulatory body and every step must be taken to seek top flight assistance within the mediation spectrum.

FIFA does so much good, as witnessed by the recent visits of Blatter to Israel and Palestine and FIFA's work on women's football and its anti-doping programme, so it is a shame that it attracts so much unfavourable publicity.

There is no secret that the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne deals with a considerable number of mediation cases without feeling compelled to broadcast anything regarding what are private affairs and which are discussed is a mature confidential process that ensures a smooth, timely and effective mutually satisfying conclusion for all involved parties.

The same goes for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva.

With their bases in Switzerland, either would be convenient for the Zurich-based FIFA.

Alternatively, recourse could be had to the International Mediation Institute (IMI) in the Hague, which has a database of its certified mediators that are specialised in sports matters.

If FIFA actually understand that they should not be above the law nor not subject to the court of public opinion, then they may be able to re-establish their credentials, as the International Olympic Committee has done.

Michael Cover is a Barrister, Accredited Mediator and Chartered Arbitrator and Principal of Michael Cover ADR Limited. Find out more details by clicking here.

Sadly for Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, Norway's leading sprinter, his closing comments during the press conference held in Oslo's City Hall went unheeded as the media corps and the many suited and booted guests assembled turned their full attention to a lanky figure wearing a brilliant white baseball cap.

The echoing chamber buzzed with excitement as photographers gravitated towards the new arrival like water going down a plughole.

In the very space where Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa have accepted their awards, Usain Bolt was creating his own inimitable commotion.

While a Nobel Peace Prize looks a little beyond Bolt's range right now, his ambitions within the chosen domain of athletics remain huge.

And before he left the building, he gave several TV interviewers to understand that he was seriously considering playing for Manchester United at a later point in his life.

How, you wondered, would he find the time to be an astronaut as well?

Bolt has already transcended his sport.

But he is still in it.


And in a year when all his attention is being focused on retaining the world titles he won in stupendous, world record-breaking fashion two years ago, even an athlete as accomplished as this 24-year-old Jamaican has to take some steps along the way.

His next step being a 200 metres in a rainy Bislett Stadium in the latest edition of the Samsung Diamond League meetings, where his fastest rival - Ndure - was almost half a second slower than he was.

For all his stellar status, however, Bolt has begun this season looking very good rather than excellent.

Not his normal style.

Having returned to the track after an eight month absence enforced by a longstanding back injury, he arrived in Oslo having won two 100 metres races in 9.91sec.

Highly respectable, but set alongside the times already being set by two of his most eager rivals, not convincing.

Tyson Gay, who beat Bolt in Stockholm last August in what was the Jamaican's last race of the season, has already gone to the top of this year's 100m world rankings with last Sunday's time of 9.79 at a minor meeting in the United States.

On the same day, Bolt's Jamaican colleague Steve Mullings won the 100m in Eugene in 9.80.

Interesting.

Bolt maintained, quite sensibly, that he was making a gradual comeback after a long break, adding that as far as he was concerned, he wouldn't care if he lost every race leading up to the World Championships as long as he retained his titles in Daegu.

It was all about taking things step by step.

Among those witnessing his appearance was the only other man in the last 50 years to have combined winning the Olympic 100m title with breaking the world record - Donovan Bailey, the Canadian who crossed the line with a look of demented joy on his face at the 1996 Atlanta Games having stopped the clock at 9.84.

Asked earlier in the conference to assess Bolt's start to the season in comparison to his rivals, his response was considered.

"It's a start to the season," Bailey told the auditorium.

"He hasn't lost so I think it's a good start.

"I think this is partly a media thing.

"Usain spoilt us by running 9.58, so when he runs 9.91 he is expected to do more.

"He is doing that when he hasn't raced for the last eight months.

"And there are still eight weeks to go until the World Championships.

"I think he will be ready in Daegu.

"There are a lot of other guys running fast right now, like Tyson Gay and Steve Mullings.

"If you are going to get a mental edge, maybe right now is the time."

So did that mean he felt Gay and Mullings had got a mental edge now over the Olympic and world champion?

As Bailey made his way up the stairs to sample the champagne and strawberries annually provided to guests on the eve of this hallowed meeting, I checked his progress as I sought clarification.


You could almost smell the sweetness of the strawberries, almost feel the bubbles fizzing at the brim.

His face registered only a moment of frustration before he turned to the task of clarification.

"You can't go too fast too early," he told me.

"Tyson has got himself injury-free and running well, and Mullings is the new kid on the block.

"If they were running these times and they had already run 10, 15 races then you could say they had peaked too early.

"But that's not the case."

And so now they had an edge?

No they didn't.

Not over Bolt.

Only an advantage in their own terms.

"There's no level playing field," Bailey said with his characteristic puckish grin.

"There's Usain.

"And then there's people.

"But the problem for Usain now is that the media will be looking at him every time he runs the 100 metres and saying is this going to be the time he beats 9.58?

"It could go on for years.

"And maybe he doesn't, maybe he only runs 9.61.

"But what does that matter if he wins every gold medal going?"

As he had sat on the podium, doing his PR duty, Bolt had occasionally stared up at the huge murals surrounding him.

Painted by Henrik Sørensen, and depicting Norwegian history and legend, they are entitled Administration and Festivity.

For Bolt, there is much administration – and execution, let's not forget execution – ahead, before further festivity can commence.

Having executed his press conference, he left by the main door, bumping into Ndure.

And then, as athletes like to do, literally bumping into him and knuckling his knuckles.

"Tomorrow," said the exiting champion, photographers and TV cameramen still accompanying him as if he were a pilot fish.

"Yeah, man," said Ndure.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last 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. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/rowbo1

As UK Anti-Doping's Education Manager, this week's UK Coaching Summit in Belfast has long been an important event in my calendar; during the two-day conference colleagues and I met with a number of influential figures and heard the latest developments in the coaching industry.

The importance of coaches in the world of anti-doping cannot be underestimated.

Research clearly highlights the influence that coaches have on athletes and at UK Anti-Doping we are keen to ensure this key audience is equipped to help athletes be clean and stay clean throughout their sporting career.

UK Anti-Doping's education programme has recently undergone a significant review.

We are now not just focused on athletes but also those around them.

Through joining forces with sports coach UK, we have developed Coach Clean, an exciting new e-learning programme specifically designed for level 2 coaches.

Having worked in sport for over 15 years, as a qualified teacher, sports coach, and coach education and system consultant, I personally recognise the influence coaches have on athletes.

I am hopeful Coach Clean will form part of the UKCC Level 2 Coaching qualification, which is taken up by many National Governing Bodies.

Our programme aims to provide coaches with a full understanding of anti-doping do's and don'ts, and tools that can be used to help athletes be clean and stay clean.

This is an exciting step, and a landmark in our new prevention strategy as working with key partners is essential.

We must all share the responsibility for keeping sport clean, and many coaches and partners working with us is far more effective than one organisation trying to do everything.

As an organisation, we are leading the drive for clean sport in the UK but our success depends on the engagement of all athletes, coaches, parents, support personnel and national governing bodies.

It was exciting to see how well Coach Clean was received at the summit and I'm pleased to say we received positive feedback on our new prevention direction to date.

UK Anti-Doping's commitment to the coaching industry was highlighted by chief executive Andy Parkinson's presence on the opening day.

Andy spoke frankly about the fight against those who choose to dope and how, in many cases, the athlete does not make this decision on their own.

He has challenged coaching directors and managers to recognise the responsibility and role they can play in guiding athletes in the right direction.

Coach Clean will be released on September 1, 2011 and for more information on the programme, please click here.

Amanda Batt is UK Anti-Doping's Education Manager

If this week's deal that saw NBC retain the rights to broadcast the Olympics underlined one thing, it is that the Olympic Movement's main engine of growth post-London 2012 will be the BRICs.

This acronym, coined a decade ago by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, refers to the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, whose sheer scale and pace of growth has made them increasingly crucial to the world's economic wellbeing.

The Olympic Movement has already taken one bite at this particular cherry - in the 2005-08 Olympic quadrennium when the Summer Games were held in Beijing, where domestic Chinese sponsors were a big factor behind a 30 per cent advance in overall revenues to $5.45 billion (£3.32 billion) from $4.19 billion (£2.55 billion) in the previous four-year period culminating with the Athens Olympics.

The Movement derives its revenues from five main sources: broadcasting, the so-called TOP (The Olympic Partner) worldwide sponsorship programme, "domestic" sponsorship in the markets where the Games are being held, ticketing and licensing.

Broadcasting and sponsorship are by far the biggest of these income sources.

In the present quadrennium, concluding with London 2012, my calculations suggest that the Movement's growth rate should continue at a similar heady pace, with $7 billion (£4 billion) in revenues over the 2009-12 period by no means out of the question, in spite of the global economic crisis.

This time though, the main growth engine has been broadcasting, with income from that source set to soar by nearly 50 percent to something like $3.8 billion (£2.3 billion).

And while the Movement is starting to realise more value from developing broadcast markets, including the BRIC economies, the biggest broadcast contract is with the US rights holder.

It follows, therefore, that this eye-catching hike was only made possible by a substantial advance in the US - from $1.51 billion (£919 million) for the period covering the Turin Winter Olympics and the Beijing Games to $2.2 billion (£1.34 billion) for the quadrennium bracketing Vancouver and London.

Under the deal unveiled this week, NBC, whose bid was presented by President Mark Lazarus (pictured), is "only" going to be paying $2 billion (£1.2 billion) for the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games.


So, the Movement is going to have to look elsewhere for growth.

Happily, with both the 2014 and 2016 Olympics taking place in BRIC economies, BRIC-based sponsors - and, this time around, broadcasters - are set once again to step into the breach.

Sochi 2014 has already signed domestic sponsorship deals worth more than $1 billion (£609 million) – a remarkable sum for a Winter Games.

And, though still five years away, Rio 2016 has already generated $648 million (£395 million) from just two giant sponsorship deals, with Bradesco, a Brazilian bank, and a communications consortium of Embratel and Claro.

Gazing deeper into my five-ringed crystal ball, however, I don't think that this week's events signify that growth is no longer possible for the Olympics in the US.

For one thing, the latest $4.38 billion (£2.66 billion) deal runs through until the 2020 Olympics.

This means that the US broadcasting rights will generate nearly 20 per cent more for the Movement in the 2017-20 quadrennium than in the previous four years - and eight per cent more than in 2009-12).

Perhaps more importantly, however, this week's deal covers a period when, in my view, there is unlikely to be an Olympics staged on US soil.

Next time around, particularly if we end up with another four-Games deal through to 2028, I think it would, in stark contrast, be highly likely to include a US Olympics.

All else being equal, you would expect this to boost the value of the next US broadcasting deal.

Of course, such is the pace of technological innovation that the business of the Olympics might have been transformed beyond all recognition by then.

But you see the point that I am making.

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 and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938

Having to pick yourself up off the floor is an occupational hazard in judo, which the Japanese, who invented the art of throwing someone else's weight around, like to call "the gentle way'", though in essence it is anything but.

In Britain, the sport has had more than its share of rough and tumbles, on the mat and off, but it now seems to be getting to grips with itself again after the disappointments of the last two Olympics.

Bringing the elite competitors together under one roof in Dartford in a new, £5 million ($8 million) centralised performance institute has coincided with an instant surge in results - a fistful of gold medals in World Cup events and a World Championship silver for veteran heavyweight Karina Bryant.

The sport had targeted two medals in China but failed to reach the podium.

However, UK Sport rewarded promising results at junior and senior European and World level and didn't cut their funding, awarding them a 9.9 per cent increase in a bid to reverse their fortunes.

GB also showed strength in depth by winning nine medals at the recent British Open, finishing third on the medal table behind judo powerhouse France and the Netherlands.

Bryant won bronze at this year's European Championships while Euan Burton also finished third at the same event

So there is an upbeat tempo again about a sport which has produced 16 Olympic medals for Britain since it was introduced into the Games in 1964 - though none have been gold.

However, there is a realistic hope that a nugget or two will be unearthed at 2012.

Let's hope, too, that Sam Lowe is among them.

For hers is a an uplifting tale in days when so many elite performers are pampered and well-provided for, cushioned by ample Lottery funding which means they can concentrate on being full time athletes supported by the best equipment, coaching and substantial sponsorship.

They need to do nothing but work at achieving their goal.

Good for them.

But for every Jessica Ennis, Paula Radcliffe and Chris Hoy there is a Sam Lowe equally determined to go for gold but without the supportive wherewithal to fulfil their dream.

I encountered Sam recently at the Excel Leisure Complex in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, where, to earn a few bob to help her along the road to 2012, she was spending the evening giving a coaching class to a group young judo aspirants.

Despite being one of Britain's most outstanding judo players as a Commonwealth Games champion – and the only one in her under 78kg weight category with any chance of qualifying for the Olympics - 29-year-old Sam has no funding and is struggling to make ends meet.

She explains: "I have had terrible injury problems over the last year and because of this I have not performed at the right level to keep my standing and so have lost my funding."

But what she has not lost is heart, drive or ambition.

Instead of simply giving up, or bemoaning her lot, as so many athletes in her situation might, she is doing something about it.

She has contacted all the judo clubs in southern England, offering personalised coaching classes, demos and motivational talks.

She is also actively seeking sponsorship.

As she says: "Anyone in judo will tell you how expensive training and travelling can be on top of the cost of everyday living.

"Every penny really does count.

"Anything I can earn, however small, will help me towards the cost of being a full-time athlete which you need to be to get to the Olympics."

Sam, who won her Commonwealth Games gold in Manchester in 2002, the last time judo was included in the event, lives and trains at the famed Camberley Judo "factory" in Surrey which has produced a host of champions, including Karina Bryant.

She has a part time job in the reservations department of a hotel but says that it is difficult to do more than eight hours because of her training commitments.

"I earn £60 ($98) a week, which gives me a bit of pocket money but not enough to live on," Sam commented.

"I am not quibbling about losing the funding.

"I haven't been performing because of my injuries, so fair enough.

"Judo can put one person forward in each weight category for the Olympics and in mine I am really the only competitor available.

"It is a unique situation as I don't really have any rivals in Britain, but they can't select me if I don't attain the required standard.

"Realistically it is going to be me or no one, so I am doing quite a lot of work to raise sponsorship and unbelievably people are just donating money to help me when they read about me on Twitter.

"Some are giving £10 ($16) and that's a lot of money to me.

"I do a lot of networking and giving motivational speeches.

"I really don't have any choice but to use my initiative to raise the money if I want to get to the Olympics."

Judo is an activity where virtually no holds are barred, including the stranglehold, which, as Lord Sebastian Coe will testify, renders you unconscious rather quickly.

Coe's regular judo sparring partner was the Foreign Secretary and former Tory leader William Hague.

Sam has never had anyone quite as illustrious as Coe falling at her feet but there were are some beefy blokes hurtling over her shoulder as she demonstrated her seoi-nages and harai-goshis at her masterclass at Adrian Pearman's popular Torai-kai Judo Club in Walton.

Sam may not have the clout of David Haye, but she could probably put him on his back quicker than you can say ippon - judo-speak for a knockout.

However her resilience is being truly tested at the moment.

For after fighting back from an assortment of injuries which have included a fractured collar bone last week she underwent an operation to repair snapped knee ligaments.

This knee will keep her out of competition until December but the British Judo Association have guaranteed her access to top level events when she returns in order for her to try for Olympic qualification.

Though the rub here is that she has to pay her own entry fees, around £400 ($654)  a throw, so to speak. She estimates that should she get to London it will have cost her at least £8,000 ($13,000).

So, you see that for some Olympic wannabes, sport is by no means a land of milk and money.

The team will be named in May.

"I am very determined to get there, as this is probably my last chance at an Olympics," says Sam.

"But I'm so frustrated with these injuries.

"However these things have happened and I have got to deal with it in the best way I can.

"Being out of action like this is horrible.

"You really miss judo when you can't do it.

"OK, you can do theory, but it's not the same.

"It's worse for me because I am an active person and hate sitting still."

When things go wrong in judo it is not difficult to end up sitting on your backside but Sam has determinedly picked herself up to fight the odds.

I have a hunch that Britain may have peaked in Beijing in the gold-and-glory sports like cycling, rowing and swimming and it is the contact sports that will be pushing towards the London podium, notably boxing and taekwondo, both of which have had some sparkling results in international competition this year.

Hopefully judo too.

And if you would like to see Sam Lowe's go-it-alone endeavours rewarded, and have any ideas that might assist this worthy athlete realise her Olympic dream, she'd be happy to hear from you at [email protected].

So with a bit of luck, and a little help from her friends, 2012 can still be a case of play it again, Sam.

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.

Things are starting to get interesting down here in Weymouth and Portland.

With today marking the start of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta the venue here has changed dramatically.

The weather has also done an about turn and it looks as though summer may have come back, for a few days at least.

Anyone who has any aspiration to be racing in the Olympic Games next summer is here and for many teams, including the British, this event will be an important selection marker for the LOCOG test event in August.

My preparations have gone well. The hard work over the winter has seen some big improvements in speed and fitness which translated into some decent results in the last few regattas.

The Sail For Gold regatta will no doubt be a different challenge to most - the weather in England is never very reliable - but the last five weeks training here have helped to get an idea of the race course and it's nuances.


Like anything else the preparation is key as it gives you the confidence to go out and race knowing that you've done all you possibly can and the only thing left is to do it justice out on the race course.

The British competition will be very tough with Ed Wright and Giles Scott sailing well at the top end of the fleet. If it's windy I also wouldn't rule out Andrew Mills or Mark Andrews.

Consistency will be critical if the conditions get tricky.

Ben Ainslie is Britain's most successful Olympic sailor. In total he has won three gold medals and one silver. His next aspiration is to qualify for and bring back a historic fourth gold in the London 2012 Olympics. He is also the current 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Champion. To find out more click here.

The past, in football, is not a foreign country. It is ever present and always points the way to what is going to happen. The FIFA Congress in Zurich was a wonderful illustration of that.

What it showed was that Sepp Blatter uses the football past as if he owns it, and the English Football Association never seem to learn from history.

Sepp Blatter proved the ultimate politician, as he has done so often in the past, and the English FA, showed, once again, that the country that gave us the game still cannot work out how the modern game, particularly the modern football political game, works. The defeat inflicted on England was, in some ways, an even more shattering defeat than the one England suffered in the same hall back in December when it only got two votes for its 2018 World Cup bid.

In the end, this produced one of the great ironies of recent times. The world had come to Zurich to bury Blatter. But it left the Swiss headquarters with Blatter triumphant and the English FA buried. Indeed, the defeat suffered by England was so grievous that many were expressing real fears that the privileges the British Home Nations have - four seats in FIFA, a FIFA vice-president elected by just the British and a half share on the International Board - may now be under threat.

To appreciate how the past was a guide to this Congress, examine how Blatter orchestrated it. Let me take you back to the summer of 2001. We are in Buenos Aires for a FIFA Congress. ISL, FIFA's marketing company, has collapsed with disastrous effect on FIFA's finances. Blatter is under severe attack as a result of this and ranged against him are members of his own Executive from UEFA. It is certain that he will face a very rough ride when the Congress meets. UEFA are on the attack and have prepared their strategy carefully.

So what did Blatter do?

He took over the Congress even before it had started its formal session, made a rumbustous speech saying all was well with FIFA and even got a vote of acclamation. Meaningless as the vote was, Blatter knew what the effect of this pantomime would be. It meant he had won even before UEFA could get started. It was a masterly display of politics.

Well, something very similar happened in Zurich. Blatter did not play the showman in the way he did in Buenos Aires, or in many other places. Here, he was much more subdued. This was hardly surprising given that, as the Congress began, not only was the outside world baying for blood, but there were voices for reform within the hall.

The effect of this was very noticeable on Blatter. Blatter may have said at his press conference on Monday, "Crisis? Where is the crisis?"

But then he heard the Swiss President, Micheline Calmy-Rey, addressing the opening session on Tuesday, urging Blatter to "take seriously the many criticisms voiced about corruption" and calling for reform of its governance. Blatter had also taken note of what was said by the International Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge. Rogge had reminded the Congress, "Thirteen years ago we had to face the same ordeal regarding the Salt Lake City Games. The IOC, however, ultimately emerged a stronger organisation and from within."

Blatter knew his showman tactics of Buenos Aires were not appropriate in Zurich. However, what followed was just as politically shrewd and very likely orchestrated, but carried out very differently. After David Bernstein, the chairman of the FA, had made his plea for elections to be postponed, there followed a political theatre of the most intricate kind.

The first man to oppose England was from Haiti. Its President, Yves Jean-Bart, pulled at our heartstrings by telling us how football had helped his devastated country. He then praised Blatter for rescuing FIFA in the past, before putting the knife into England. Congo's Selemani  Omari, who followed, made it clear how England had sinned. It had brought in outsiders and their heretical views into FIFA's house and profaned its sacred family. It was clear Mbono did not like the idea of the revelations made by Lord Triesman to the Commons Select Committee. The idea of an English Lord talking about World Cup bribes to a Parliament outside the House of FIFA clearly rankled.

The attacks on England were intensified in hurt tones by Benin's Anjorin Moucharafou, who expressed surprise that his countrymen so liked English football, yet England could make such a proposal. If the logic of this was curious, it was clear he was in tune with the audience. It was at this stage that one could see how Blatter was having an impact on the Congress. Bernstein's proposal had been received with at best muted applause. Now, as Moucharafou spoke in favour of Blatter, the hall broke into thunderous applause.

The first three speakers were all black and from developing countries. Just to make sure that the anti-English rhetoric was world-wide and even extended to Europe, the next speaker was Costakis Koutsokoumnis from Cyprus. It was interesting that he was the first one to openly challenge the allegations and criticise the media. All this was neatly rounded off by Sahu Khan, President of Fiji's Football Association. He is of Indian origin and a lawyer by profession. He pontificated that, far from not holding the elections being the right course, not holding them would actually violate the statutes of FIFA. In fact, he went on to say that if elections were not held now, they could not be held until 2015, as under the rules only an ordinary Congress, meeting in the year after a World Cup, can do so. And the next World Cup was not till 2014.

So could FIFA go leaderless for this length of time? And why? Because there was only one candidate. Khan, himself, has been President of Fiji Football Association since 1985 and has often been re-elected unopposed. As he articulated that, the hall burst into thunderous applause.

Observe back in 2001 the Blatter supporters were Haiti, Jamaica, Peru and Cuba. And the motion endorsing everything Blatter was doing, and congratulating him, was proposed by a certain Ivan Slavkov, then President of the Bulgarian Football Association. Four years later he was expelled from the IOC following a BBC Panorama investigation.

It is interesting that while England drew comfort by attracting 16 other countries (one of them Vietnam by mistake), none of them spoke. Not even Scotland, which had announced it would support England. Yes, England was bold, but boldness without wisdom is reckless folly. This was the FA's charge of the Light Brigade moment.

They did not judge the mood of their fellow members, let alone understand them. England now find themselves in an unenviable position. The French may have created FIFA, but without England creating football and codifying the rules, the whole thing could never have got started. Yet now, England are now so far out of the club, that not only does no-one speak in their support, but the men who run FIFA delight in abusing them openly, as Julio Grondona did.

In recent years, the English FA have been rather good at not getting things right in FIFA. Every time they strike out on their own they get it wrong. In 1998, they deserted Lennart Johansson for Blatter, hoping this would help them get the 2006 World Cup. They failed. In 2002, Adam Crozier spoke out very strongly against Blatter at the Seoul Congress and Blatter went on to win re-election. Now this.

The need for FIFA reform is overwhelming. The FA's experience with the 2018 bid also intensified the pressure on the organisation. But the FA could learn from how the Scandinavian countries handled it. Led by Danish Football Association President, Allan Hansen (pictured), they spoke out publicly for an independent inquiry, which is also one of England's demands. However, they did it in a way which carried support and even Blatter's approval.

The fact is, whether England, and the world at large, likes it or not, Blatter is the great immovable object in football. There will be many who will doubt if his can fulfil his promises to right the ship of FIFA given how holed it appears. Such is the distrust for FIFA, some may also doubt if he really means what he says.

But then, back in 1998, it did not look as if the IOC would get its act right. It did. Now it is a model for FIFA to follow. Blatter has much to do to match his words with action. But the FA has as much, if not more to do to make sure it learns how to be a useful passenger in this FIFA ship. Constant threats to capsize it make for good theatre, but it is not an effective way of operating. More so for the country without whose inventive genius for games, this ship of football would never have been launched.

Mihir Bose is one of the world's most astute observers on politics in sport and, particularly, football. He formerly wrote for The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph and until recently was the BBC's head sports editor

www.mihirbose.com

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The 09.37 from London St Pancras International to Margate, stopping at Stratford International and pointing South East, slid out of Platform 13 as usual on Wednesday. But with an unusual mix of passengers.

The carriages – broadly grey, clinically clean – contained the great and the good of Britain's rail transport service. And in the last of them was an impressive collection of political figures and media.

The collection being the impressive bit. And the political figures. Not necessarily the media.

Here were Jeremy Hunt, the Culture and Olympics Secretary, and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, looking like a bit like schoolboys out on a trip. (Hair unruly). And here also was the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, looking very much like the master in charge of that trip. (Hair neat).

Standing alongside them, the affable figure of Dennis Hone, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Their journey was not long, in one sense. St Pancras to Stratford International, and then one more stop to Stratford – on what was the first test run of the newly completed Docklands Light Railway link down to Canning Town, linking the Olympic Park site with others such as the ExCel Centre.

But this was also a journey which had taken around six years – since Sebastian Coe's carefully calibrated plea to the International Olympic Committee yielded a big yes for the London Olympics in 2012.

Coe was already waiting at Stratford in what will be the main ticket hall.

And his short speech to mark the occasion on which the last main bit of transport infrastructure for the Games was officially designated as complete, more than a year before the Games were due to get underway, paid tribute to the strength and breadth of political cooperation which had got all of us present, literally, to this point.

The chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games went on to recall how, six years earlier, he and several others present had stood in the cold of a freezing morning on this site to greet the members of the IOC Evaluation Commission and explain to them their vision for this particular part of East London.


Just as Hammond (pictured left with Johnson) had done in his preceding speech, Coe mentioned "the naysayers" who had greeted news of London's coup with gloomy prognostications about the ability of the capital to host the Games, and, in particular, to arrange transport for the Games.

While the main part of the rail infrastructure may now be in place, there remains – as Coe, Hammond, Johnson, Hone and Hunt were all swift to point out – the matter of managing and operating transport during the period of the Games.

"Precision is absolutely essential," said Coe. "Getting the right people at the right time to the right places. We can't have a situation where Usain Bolt is held up in a transport hub."

Coe had started his speech by saying: "I like days like this."

You could understand what he meant.

But such were the circumstances of this particular day that the London 2012 chairman could not enjoy a nice clear run. There was a big fallen tree lying right across his line - the ticketing issue.

Johnson had raised laughter within the hall as he described how he had "fired up his computer" that morning, only to discover that, as far as securing tickets for the Olympics was concerned, "computer says no".

The Mayor of London, it transpired, was among those quarter of a million applicants who had been - at least initially - unsuccessful.

Johnson, working the crowd like a stand-up, switched to a riff about how the Olympic Games might have been called the Legacy Games, and London might have been called Legacy, which of course would mean having the General Legacy Council....

While Johnson did his thing, the rather strained smile his ticketing story had created on Coe's face faded into a more uncomfortable expression. The media express was heading for a platform near him any minute now...

And the media express arrived. And Coe was there to meet it with a response that was characteristically efficient, if a little defensive. No, he didn't think the 2012 ticketing system was a fiasco. No, he didn't accept that more information could and should have been available to applicants. And yes, he did want to stress that all those unsuccessful applicants would have the possibility of trying again, and would be first in line at that point.

There is still a way to go before those members of the public – and indeed those likely members of the British team such as Bradley Wiggins – who are currently angry about the arcane process of getting 2012 Olympic and Paralympic tickets will be either satisfied or mollified.

This might well turn out to be an issue which will quieten down by the end of the year, when further tickets have been yielded by the system.

But for now, Coe and his colleagues at London 2012 have promises to keep, and miles to go before they sleep. When one journey ends, another begins...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last 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

An emotional Sepp Blatter's first task after being re-elected FIFA President by a landslide will be to restore his battered reputation.

Despite his final four-year mandate being a foregone conclusion, Blatter looked genuinely moved as he re-entered the Congress hall clutching a bunch of flowers and hugging members of his family after sweeping to victory with 186 votes.

It was widely anticipated that supporters of Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Asian football chief who was Blatter's challenger until pulling out of the race on Sunday, would close ranks and abstain, following the lead of England and Scotland.

Instead, it was clear that most, if not all, of Bin Hammam's inner circle switched allegiance to Blatter since only 17 of the available votes failed to go Blatter's way.

Don't expect Blatter to rest on his laurels, however. He will know better than anyone that the eyes of the world will be on him, both in the short and long term, as he completes his final term of office which will end just short of his 80th birthday.

Earlier in the day, in his address to Congress, Blatter announced what everyone had been clamouring for: that World Cups will now be decided by FIFA's full membership rather than the all-powerful executive committee.

Likewise that all the federations, big and small, would select the members of FIFA's Ethics Committee, the body that has come in for such criticism in the wake of bin Hammam's and Jack Warner's suspension over the most explosive bribery scandal in FIFA history.

Blatter may have run FIFA since 1998 and led it through a period of unprecedented prosperity. But in recent years, the organisation's name – and Blatter's too – has been dragged through the mud after a spate of corruption allegations, the suspension of four  senior FIFA officials in the past seven months – including the recent temporary bans of Warner and Bin Hammam - and persistent rumours that Qatar bought the 2022 World Cup, which the Gulf state has strenuously denied.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart," told Blatter as he ended one of the most tension-filled Congresses of recent years, even without Bin Hammam's appearance. "We will put the ship back on the right course. We will need some time, but we shall do it."


Easier said than done. The one thing Blatter can't do is hire and fire his own Executive Committee, the very people who have caused such turmoil in recent months, highlighted by the ongoing bribery scandal in which inducements were allegedly offered to Caribbean members of FIFA.

ExCo members are elected by their individual Congresses and the sniping and backbiting, spiteful email exchanges and finger-pointing cliques that have pervaded Zurich over the last three days are indicative of just how deep some of the divisions lie.

With official after official describing June 1, 2011, as a watershed in FIFA's troubled history, pulling together the various warring factions will be no easy task. In one sense Blatter has nothing to lose but in another he has everything to lose.

After being pummelled from pillar to post, metaphorically speaking, he has no choice but to try and leaving a legacy of reform rather than revolt. "I am a happy man after these very hard weeks," he said as he closed the Congress.

"I am here to take all the criticism but we are here to go forward in transparency. We must put this ship back on course and for this we need a leader. I am willing to do this."

The question is, how far will he go to clean up a body that has plummeted to an all-time low? The next few months should provide some kind of answer.

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 insideworldfootball, our sister site

"Psst," whispered the young man thrusting a leaflet into my hand as I strolled into my local leisure centre.  "Fancy a spot of belly dancing?"

For a moment I thought he was suggesting a night out at some seedy spot in Surrey (are there any?) but it transpired I was being enticed into gyrating my somewhat ample girth inside the gym itself, where a slice of Turkish delight is among the eclectic offerings now available on the fitness menu.

Much as I could do with shedding a kilo or two (which is why I was at the gym in the first place) I politely demurred. Fat I may be. Fatima I am not.

However I learned that as well as a bit of bump and grind, there are other exotic alternatives to the treadmill and exercise bike.

Hip hop, lambada lessons and something called sambo (a martial art favoured by Vladimir Putin) are all on the fat-burning agenda alongside the more traditional activities.

And if you don't want to do anything too strenuous then you can just stand and cheer. Well, almost.

Perhaps we should not be not be raising an eyebrow to discover that cheerleading classes are also becoming the in-thing in some leisure centres, and in schools. For boys as well as girls.

Yes, pom poms, twirling batons et el.

And of course it really is a sport, we are assured. "They are trying to get it into the Olympics, you know," said my earnest young friend offering me another leaflet.

Then I remembered a conversation I had recently at SportAccord in London when I encountered another young chap manning the stand labelled International Federation of Cheerleading (IFC).

He's a Brit who now runs the Tokyo-based Federation as its director general.

Simon Graver, 32, who gave up his job with a local council to start cheerleading for cheerleading while on a working holiday in Japan, says we would be surprised to discover just how popular it is globally, with a membership of 40 nations across five continents.


Cheerleading has a World championship coming up in Hong Kong in November with teams judged on technical ability, presentation, and above all athleticism.

"Like most people I thought it was all Dallas Cowboys, high kicks and pom poms, but there is much more to it," he insisted.

"The skills involved leave no doubt that cheerleaders are athletes by the very definition of the word. It is a sport for anyone aged six and upwards, women, men and families - we have mixed as well as all-girl teams - and it is becoming very popular in schools and colleges throughout Europe and Asia, as well the US."

Moreover it is officially recognised as a sport in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Thailand, Taiwan, Ecuador, Slovenia and Kazakhstan, though oddly not in the US, where it all began, nor yet on the UK (although as long as they don't have to fork out any funding you can bet Sport England won't take much prompting to er, pick up the baton).

Anything to help boost the participation figures which keep them in business.

Under IFC rules, routines consist of arm motions, jumps, gymnastic skills, pyramids and dancing to musical accompaniment. And, of course, plenty of high kicks, pom-pomming and baton twirling. Personally I am all for putting a bit of oomph, evend oom-pah-pah, into sport.

But playing musical cheers in the Olympics? "Why not, it's as much a sport as, say, rhythmic gymnastics," claims Simon Graver.

Or even belly dancing.

And come to that, pole dancing, which, I kid you not, is also coming soon to my sports centre - and probably yours too.

What's more, I hear there is currently a petition, doubtless orchestrated by the International Federation of Pole Dancing (well, there has to be one surely), requesting it to be included as a test event for London 2012 and subsequently elevated to full Olympic status for Rio 2016.

The argument being, (as with the cheerleaders) that it is no more absurd a sporting concept than synchronized swimming, beach volleyball and dressage. Or, dare I say it, ice dancing?

It used to be ballroom dancing seeking Olympic eligibility. Now belly dancing and pole dancing. What next? Lap dancing?

Now there's something for the opening ceremony that would make Seb smile and Bojo boggle. No doubt they'd lap it up.

Cheers to that.

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.

A week-long stay in Manchester recently saw me spend the majority of my time holed away in the cosy media centre at the BT Paralympic World Cup.

But one wet and windy morning, which to me appears to me to be the norm for Mancunians, saw me venture out of my hideaway to the rather plush and splendid surroundings at the Hilton Hotel in the city centre for what turned out to be an enlightening talk on the subject of "The Business of Women's Sport".

The event, organised by the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), was a discussion with leading female figures from the world of sport and rather a high calibre panel had been assembled to talk on the undoubtedly emotive topic.

Chaired by BBC's Tanya Arnold, the panel was made up of 11-time Paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, WSFF chief executive Sue Tibballs, Football Association Head of the National Game Kelly Simmons and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA team Mary Brock.

American Brock was actually in town for the high profile basketball match at the MEN Arena on Sunday which saw her Atlanta team storm to a 82-51 win over Great Britain's women's basketball team.

Unlike the rest of the panel, Brock was an outsider looking in at women's sport in Britain and therefore was able to offer some key insights and advice on what she thought the women's sport on these Isles could learn from America.

"I'm not saying that women's sport is the same at the same level as men's sport in America because it certainly is not," Brock stated, "but maybe we have started to buck the trend slightly with some of the things we are doing in America that I don't see here.

"I know it is not easy in the current economic climate but the Atlanta Dream and the WNBA have built their success through investing heavily in grass-roots activity - increasing participation, developing talent and heightening the game at an elite level. We do align ourselves with the men's NBA, which is one of the best leagues in the world, but we also have our own identity and that is key.

"But perhaps one of the most important things is to have role models and ambassadors for the game working endlessly to promote it through communities and the education sector. They are the ones who are going to inspire talented young girls in school to take up what is traditionally considered as sport for men. One girl we have in the WNBA who fits that role model status is Maya Moore. She was selected as first pick in the 2011 WNBA draft by the Minnesota Lynx and is a household name in the USA. But the key is to create more like her - girls seen as true sporting superstars and not just as they pinups for men."

These thoughts were backed by Tibballs who also believes Britain must learn from the American system.

"Although we've made some progress, women's sport in the UK could learn a lot from looking at how it is delivered in the States," she admitted. "The NBA have given a large amount of investment and support to the WNBA over the last 15 years and are now being rewarded with a commercially successful league, where the players are household names.

"British women's sport is still not being taken very seriously and this needs to change. Governing bodies in the UK need to consider whether they are doing all they can to ensure that their sport is delivered in a media friendly way and whether they are doing enough to create role models out of the talented sportswomen we know they have.

"The money generated can then be pumped back into the sport at a grass-roots level, as the WNBA do in the USA."


Simmons did not argue but she felt that more coverage of the sport through media channels might be the best platform for women's sport to grow.

"We have seen in women's football that coverage on major networks is a huge boost," she said. "We are delighted at the coverage of the new Women's Super League WSL will be on ESPN, but the fact the BBC will be covering the Women's World Cup during the summer is huge for us.

"Over one million tuned in when it was last on the BBC which shows how popular it is if it gets the proper exposure. We know that seeing our best players regularly on TV is a great way of inspiring girls to play and we are already seeing that the WSL is a competitive league which is already attracting more fans, viewers and sponsors. England winning the World Cup would be another huge boost for women's sport and women's football and then it comes back to making sure that there are role models from that team to inspire young girls."

However, for me, the most interesting point came from Baroness Tanni who stated that for real change in sport to happen, the pyramid structure needs to change so that old, white, upper-class males are not dictating sport to the rest.

Baroness Tanni is in rarefied territory as a female crossbench peer in the male dominated House of Lords and perhaps more so than the rest of the panel, she was able to reveal first-hand experiences from the very top of the food-chain.

"Women are still massively under-represented at the top of Sports Governing Bodies (NGBs)," she said.

"The lack of women on Boards and in senior decision making positions hinders their ability to give the appropriate support and investment to women's sport. This has improved, but not at the rate we want and need it too.

"There is a willingness to change from many NGBs, but they need to take more action to highlight the business case for women's sport and ensure adequate investment in it.

"There is a huge untapped market, just waiting for businesses and brands to capitalise on it."

And if Baroness Tanni was allowed to make one major change?

"A female Sport Minister would be nice," she said. "I think that would really start to change the dynamics of women's involvement in sport in this country if that happened."

The discussion was not quite the doom and gloom I imagined it might be as these well-positioned women agree that there is a clear way to continue to move women's sport forwards.

The realistic point though, was that this will take time as the reality is that despite the good stride forwards, true equality still appears some way off for women in sport.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames