Back in the 1990s, following the collapse of the and the fall of communism, there was much talk of a peace dividend. We all know what happened to that.
But, perhaps, it is time to speak of an Olympic dividend.
What do I mean by Olympic dividend? I mean Britain staging major international sporting events and Britain doing well in them.
This weekend's events in Manchester where and which also made the media sit up and take notice, has made me think that we are seeing the first part of that Olympic dividend. The cyclists in Manchester last weekend paid us a very bankable dividend on both counts. Both parts of this dividend cheque are important.
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Haron Lorgat, the South African accountant and former convenor of selectors of , is now the frontrunner to become the next chief executive of the in
This follows He had been offered a three-year appointment paying slightly more than the $700,000 a year that Speed earns.
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Whether hold the 2009 is likely to be decided in the middle of April.
Highly placed (ICC) sources have told me that by the 15 April they will decide what to do should the refuse to grant a visa to the head of Zimbabwean cricket to visit London for the annual ICC meeting to be held at in June.
Chingoka was refused a visa when the hearings on the Australian umpire took place last autumn.
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Morgan Andersen, former director of the Norwegian club , has been convicted of forging a contract with , the player who became embroiled in a transfer row between and .
The court case in may have no bearing on Mikel’s status as a player, and did not concern either Manchester United or Chelsea, but it shines a light on the often mysterious and dark ways in which young African players end up in .
The case has always generated great interest in Norway as well as bemusement as to why there is little interest in in a matter involving a Premier League player whose moves first to Manchester United and then Chelsea sparked great controversy and no little amount of transfer fees.
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There is no appetite in the Olympic movement for any sort of boycotts or sanctions against over its handling of the Tibet issue.
But there is worry that should the protests get out of hand and the Chinese react with the savagery that marked the protests in back in 1989, then events could get out of control.
Senior figures in the have told me that they are watching the events over Tibet with great interest and concern but believe this is an issue for politicians.
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Much has been said about referee Steve Bennett and his for dissent.
However, no-one has considered that on the morning of the match Bennett got a very public ticking off by his boss . How much did this colour his refereeing of the Manchester United versus Liverpool clash?
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An interesting tale reaches me on the joint meeting of the European sports ministers and European Olympic committees that came out unanimously against a boycott of the .
The meeting took place in on Monday and I am told that on Sunday night the 27 presidents of the European Olympic committees made it clear that any talk of Tibet or a boycott of the Olympics was not on their agenda and they would not want it on the joint declaration.
The two groups first met separately and the Olympic chiefs did not discuss .
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, probably the greatest sports writer of all time, once wrote that if everything about England was destroyed except for the laws of cricket, English society could be recreated.
Much has changed since then but one thing that has remained constant is that cricket is intrinsically English.
As put it, our abiding picture is of an English village scene on a summer's day when, as the light fails, a ball hit for four kills a rabbit on the boundary.
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, the retiring chief executive of the International Cricket Council, has submitted a paper to his ICC board warning them that the sport has become dysfunctional.
I understand that in this paper, which will be discussed by cricket's top brass in Dubai this weekend, he also expresses his unhappiness at what he regards as the failure of the cricketing nations to give any leadership to world cricket.
Cricket's disarray is well-documented. The World Cup was a disaster, as Speed has himself .
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to rumble on with news that Tom Hicks and Dubai Investment Capital (DIC) may be prepared to adapt their position in order to accommodate each other. This could lead to DIC buying 49% of the club with Hicks taking 1% from his co-owner George Gillett in order to take controlling interest.
I understand the deal being discussed between Gillett and DIC for his Liverpool shares would involve Dubai paying him Β£60m in cash, which would represent a profit of Β£40m on his cash investment.
Liverpool's two co-owners invested Β£20m each into the club only a few weeks ago - amazingly the only cash investment they have made. The rest of the recently refinanced funding package is in the form of letters of credit and personal guarantees.
The two Americans are believed to have each guaranteed Β£90m. The rest of the funding package, that has recently been refinanced, is in the form of letters of credit and personal guarantees given by Gillett and Hicks.
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The news that to its American owners is essentially a replay of a take-over game that Reds fans, and the world, thought was done and dusted a year ago.
I believe we have barely reached half-time in this replayed encounter and it may take weeks if not months to finish but it is worth considering how DIC is now trying to pay back the Americans in the same way that the Americans, and in particular Gillett, stung DIC just over a year ago.
Then DIC, having thought it had got Liverpool, was thwarted almost in injury time by George Gillett in partnership with Tom Hicks.
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Next summer could see the final steps which would prove that India rules the cricketing world and even England, which invented the game, would have to face up to its economic power.
If the proposals currently being discussed are accepted then the English cricket season, which traditionally begins in early April, will be put back to enable English cricketers to take part in the of matches. But not only will the season start later but once it starts more overseas players will take part as opposed to the present restriction of one per county.
This will make English domestic cricket much more of an international gathering of players as opposed to county teams supplemented by a solitary overseas player as at present.
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