August 2021

1) Tokyo eye-candy: Australian swimming coach Dean Boxall loses control entirely after Ariarne Titmus beats Katie Ledecky to 400m freestyle gold. Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi are deadlocked in the men’s high jump final, so an official explains what happens next, but nope. Instead: “History, bro” for the rivals and firm friends. Sifan Hassan

Have you been podiuming this week? Depending on your point of view, this is either winning a medal (and so stepping on to the podium) at the Olympics, or it is jumping up and down and shouting hoarsely into an uncaring gale that “podium is not a verb”. In ancient Rome the podium was the

The first time US sprinter Ronnie Baker tried to grab the baton, he found himself holding a handful of Fred Kerley’s jersey. The second time, Baker missed. By the third try, Kerley was side-by-side with Baker, practically using both hands to shovel the stick into his teammate’s palm. The names might change, but the results

Galal Yafai will fight for an Olympic gold medal on Saturday after a thrilling flyweight semi-final victory over Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan at the Kokugikan Arena. “It’s insane, its like a dream,” Yafai told the BBC after a bout that left his opponent distraught. It was an explosive fight that Yafai began with an adrenal

I accept that the Olympic Games leave some people cold. There are those who don’t like sports at all. There are those who are scornful about some activities that now qualify as Olympic sports. Then there are those who insist it is all a waste of money, those who think it’s been poisoned by drugs

Gable Steveson stunned Rio Games champion Taha Akgul of Turkey in the quarter-finals of the men’s freestyle super heavyweight category on Thursday, the US wrestler advancing with an 8-0 victory. Steveson led 2-0 at the end of the first period with a takedown. He went 4-0 up after the break with a double leg takedown

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, whose Olympic heptathlon dreams ended when she tore a calf muscle while in medal contention, says that refusing to get in a wheelchair despite being in huge pain was a last gesture of defiance after a tough year. The world champion said she believed she could still win a medal despite missing six

Meet the new Olympic men’s shot podium. Same as the old one. Ryan Crouser (US) gold. Joe Kovacs (US) silver. Tomas Walsh (NZ) bronze. It was the first time in the 125-year history of the Olympics the podium was the same in an individual event with the same athletes in the same spots for consecutive

Matt Walls won gold in the Olympic men’s omnium to deliver Great Britain’s first title in the velodrome of these Games. The 23-year-old rode smartly throughout the four-discipline event to win with a comfortable final margin of 24 points from Campbell Stewart of New Zealand. Walls, who won the opening scratch race, went into the