Category: Olympics

• Daley to become first British diver to compete at five Games
• Olympic medallist came out of retirement for his young son

Tom Daley will seek to end his extraordinary career with a fifth Olympic medal this summer after being selected for Team GB’s synchronised diving squad for the Paris Games.

The 29-year-old, who only came out of retirement last July after his five-year-old son Robbie told him: “Papa, I want to see you dive at the Olympics,” will partner Noah Williams as he seeks to defend his 10-metre synchro diving title he won with Matty Lee in Tokyo.

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• Contact with ‘representatives of the aggressor states’ discouraged
• Recommendations serve to avoid possible ‘provocations’

Ukraine’s athletes have been urged by their Olympic chiefs not to have any contact with their Russian and Belarusian counterparts at the Paris Games in July and August.

Ukraine had threatened to boycott the Games after the International Olympic Committee decided Russians and Belarusians who do not openly support the invasion of Ukraine and have no army connections can compete as neutrals.

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• Swimmers were cleared of doping after positive tests
• Usada says Wada guilty of ‘failing all clean athletes’

The US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) criticised the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on Wednesday for “doubling down on half-truths” after the global body published a document outlining its handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers.

Wada has been under fire since the New York Times reported last month that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine before the Tokyo Games in 2021 but were allowed to compete after being cleared by a Chinese inquiry.

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• Fifa has concerns over running of Zambia’s football association
• Letter warns that there may be ‘grounds for the suspension’

Zambia’s women could miss out on playing at this summer’s Olympics after Fifa threatened the country’s football association with suspension amid accusations of money-laundering offences against its president and “undue influence by third parties”.

Andrew Kamanga, the FAZ president since 2016, was last week charged by Zambia’s drug enforcement commission with obtaining government funds under false pretences and being part of a conspiracy to defraud. It has been alleged that he used the money to fund trips for two associates to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast this year. The general secretary, Reuben Kamanga, was also charged, along with Madalitso Kamanga and Jairous Siame, who travelled to the tournament as part of FAZ’s support staff. All have denied the charges.

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With the Olympics just a few weeks away, waiters in Paris are apparently encouraging tips on top of the required 15% service charge. Sacré bleu!

Name: French tips.

Appearance: All over Paris, allegedly.

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• Independent prosecutor Eric Cottier appointed to review case
• In 2021 23 swimmers were cleared of doping after positive tests

The World Anti-Doping Agency has dismissed allegations that it is biased in favour of China as “damaging and baseless” and asked an independent prosecutor to review its handling of the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who were cleared of doping.

Wada said that the Swiss prosecutor, Eric Cottier, would be granted “full and unfettered access” to all its files and documents related to the case before reporting back in the next two months before the Paris Olympics.

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• Matt Hauser believes ‘no one would hesitate to jump in water’
• Paris working on cleaning up river Seine for the Olympics

There have been concerns that the Olympic triathlon might be postponed or even reduced to a duathlon because of water quality problems in the Seine but Australia’s Matt Hauser says he will gladly take the plunge at the Paris Games.

Paris has been working on cleaning up the river so that people can swim in it again, as was the case during the 1900 Olympics. But a sewer problem last summer led to the cancellation of a pre-Olympics swimming event along with the swimming legs of triathlon and Paralympics triathlon events over water quality concerns.

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Wada has defended its process as aggrieved athletes claim the anti-doping system only works if everyone is subject to same rules

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has always denied consuming ligandrol, a banned performance enhancing drug. But, when Jack was subject to an out-of-competition anti-doping test at Tobruk Pool in Cairns in 2019, she returned an adverse analytical finding. As is protocol, Jack was issued a provisional suspension, the suspension was made public and the swimmer was ultimately handed a four-year ban from the sport.

On appeal, Jack insisted that she had not knowingly taken ligandrol. She speculated that legal supplements she was taking might have been contaminated, or that she could have come into contact with the substance while using public pool facilities. But because the global anti-doping regime operates on a strict liability basis, a lack of evidence that Jack did not knowingly ingest ligandrol was insufficient.

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• Australia held to goalless draw by Qatar in final qualifying game
• Men’s team will not join Matildas at Paris Games this year

Australia’s Olympic football hopes will rest solely with the Matildas after the men’s team failed to qualify. The Olyroos were held to a goalless draw by hosts Qatar in their final group match in the Asian Under-23 Cup, which serves as the Olympic qualifying tournament, leaving them with two points and no goals from their three matches.

Australia pressed for much of the match and created a series of chances, but as in their previous matches, were unable to make those chances count. As it happened, it would not have mattered if they had. For Australia to qualify they not only needed to win but for Indonesia to lose. Instead Indonesia, who had beaten Australia 1-0, won 4-1 against Jordan.

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