The Independent - Olympics RSS Feed

£6m for after-school Olympic sport clubs

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:17:34 GMT

Teenagers will get the chance to try out Olympic and Paralympic sports through a £6 million network of after-school clubs, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw announced today.

Disability sport to get £10m funding rise, says minister

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Disability sport is to get a £10m boost from Sport England, the Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said at the weekend.

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson: Champion of the track, of women and the disabled

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson was on a train to London from her home in a small village near Darlington when we spoke to arrange this interview. She usually is these days. "Have wheelchair, will travel" has always been her maxim.

Amy takes ice dream with a 'pinch of salt'

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Riding triumphantly through her home city in an open-top bus with thousands cheering all the way may not be quite as hazardous as hurtling headlong down a deadly refrigerated ice tube high in the Rockies at 90mph but for Britain's new sporting sweetheart it was even more exhilarating.

Williams home after 'amazing' Vancouver triumph

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Amy Williams arrived back in London last night admitting her gold medal at the Vancouver Games felt "absolutely amazing".

The Big Question: What lessons do the Vancouver Games offer for London 2012?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Why are we asking this now?

The 2010 Winter Olympics, staged in Vancouver, Canada, have just ended, and the next Olympics, albeit a Summer Games, will be staged in London in two years' time, running from 27 July to 12 August 2012.

James Lawton: From Canada's iceman comes a lesson for Capello's troubled troops

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Among the baggage being taken home from the 21st Winter Olympics is at least one imperishable item.

Medvedev furious at Olympic failure

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Russian Olympic officials to resign or be fired yesterday and demanded drastic changes to training procedures after a poor showing at the Winter Games dented national pride.

James Lawton: From Canada's iceman comes a lesson for Capello's troubled troops

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Among the baggage being taken home from the 21st Winter Olympics is at least one imperishable item.

Drinks on Obama as Canada take gold medal

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:01:41 GMT

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper will toast a successful Vancouver Winter Olympics with a crate of beer courtesy of the White House.

James Lawton: Canadian gold standard lights way for London

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Lord Sebastian Coe, who knows all about Olympic pressure, is flying home from the Winter Games with an unequivocal message for every British athlete facing the challenge of London 2012.

Ice Hockey: Crosby delivers on the dream

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

For weeks Sidney Crosby had been carrying the weight of speculation that he may be Canada's greatest ever ice hockey player. He is not that, at least not yet at the age of 22, but the big man from a little harbour town in Nova Scotia can certainly now accept an interim award.

Dom Joly: Skis or board? Let the Wu-Tang decide

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Last time we spoke I was all about snowboard cross ... that is soooooooo last week, dude. Now, it's all about ... ski cross – "OMG it's even better". I loved snowboard cross because it was a new sport that was actually great to watch. Ski cross however, takes it to another level. Four skiers line up in a small cabin under a big tree while members of their Olympic team shout random things at them. The Americans have a guy with a big moustache whose entire job seems to be just screaming stuff at any team member about to do something. He loves to use their full name – in case they've forgotten it when they get to the bottom and are asked by inquisitive media. On the Downhill he could be seen at his finest– "Go Bode Miller, time to shine."

Winter Olympics in Brief: Razzoli follows the Tomba tradition to take gold for Italy

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Giuliano Razzoli gave Italy its first gold medal of the Vancouver Games with victory in the men's slalom. Razzoli, making his Olympics debut, led after the first leg and clinched gold with a combined time of one minute 39.32 seconds to become the first Italian man to win an Alpine medal since Alberto Tomba in 1994. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic took the silver 0.16sec back and the bronze went to Sweden's Andre Myhrer, 0.44sec adrift. Austria's Benjamin Raich, the defending champion, was fourth but the American Bode Miller lost his chance of becoming the first man to win four Alpine medals at the same Olympics when he straddled the fifth gate in Saturday's foggy conditions. "It's a dream, I worked a long time for this day. It's incredible," said Razzoli.

Canadian gold standard lights way for London

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Lord Sebastian Coe, who knows all about Olympic pressure, is flying home from the Winter Games with an unequivocal message for every British athlete facing the challenge of London 2012.

Martin hails golden 'dream'

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Kevin Martin's curlers, snowboarder Jasey Jay Anderson and the speed skating team pursuit trio of Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky and Denny Morrison all won gold for Canada on the last weekend of the Games to ensure Vancouver will be remembered fondly by the host nation.

Revealed: Britain's Olympic triumph

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

The London Olympic Games in 2012 are expected to come in at up to £500m under budget, despite the financial problems that have beleaguered the sporting jamboree.

Stand by for an ice storm in Vancouver

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

The classic showdown is on. Canada survived a late fightback by giantkilling Slovakia to win 3-2 and book a gold medal match against the US tonight. It will mark the second time in three Winter Games the North American rivals have clashed for the gold medal that hockey mad Canadians covet more than any other.

Sport on TV: Curlers simply swept aside as Paula writes her name in snow

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

They should call it toe-curling. As if the crawling pace of the play isn't bad enough – and that business of setting up a "guard" so that the next man can just knock it away seems especially absurd; what sort of guard is that? – Great Britain's (or rather Scotland's) women were off kilter from the start and the men, the world champions and favourites, were beaten by a bunch of kids. Swedes 7 Neeps 6.

London Games worry over funding

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

The London Games still has "plenty of hurdles to jump" amid continued concern over the potential need to use the contingency fund and the legacy of sections of the Olympic Park.

Winter Olympics notebook: Canadian women say sorry for celebrations

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Ice Hockey: Canada's women's team have issued an apology following their over-zealous celebrations after their 2-0 victory against the United States in the gold medal match.

Redgrave out to play Williams gold card

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Britain's greatest Olympian, Sir Steve Redgrave, had a message of defiance on a morning when the team's yield of one gold medal from these 21st Winter Games severely threatened chances of improved financial support for the next challenge in Russia in 2014.

James Lawton: Canada driven by Tigerish desire to succeed in struggle on the ice

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

At a time when England's football team is rent by the repercussions of a bad case of the sweet life going wrong, you can only marvel, so far at least, at the ferociously single-minded approach of Canada's ice hockey men.

British medal hopes crash to earth

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Suddenly the glory of Amy Williams' skeleton gold looked, well, skeletal as Britain's Winter Olympics slid away on what had looked the most promising of the ice.

James Lawton: Canadians dream of grand finale

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:01 GMT

There might be a disgruntled muskrat somewhere deep in Manitoba or Saskatchewan but the rest of Canada has rarely been quite so exultantly at peace with itself.