There was a peculiar atmosphere at the Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, as we gathered on Monday to witness the lodging of Durban's bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

This was down only in small measure to the quirky grandeur of the décor, featuring inter alia a collection of Dutch and Flemish 17th century oil paintings, some featuring winter sports, and a sign in the gents warning that "whosoever eats and drinks in this hall with his hat on shall forfeit six pence or ride the wooden horse".

It boiled down to this: the event was supposed to be the ceremonial equivalent of the firing of a starting pistol, or the ringing of the bell denoting the final lap; yet, owing to the surprise withdrawal last month of Edmonton, Durban's expected rival, this was the starting pistol for a one horse race.

In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that the occasion felt drained of dramatic tension.

The lack of opposition is one of a number of reasons why it is valid to feel a measure of apprehension as this city beside the Indian Ocean sets out along the path that will in all likelihood lead it in seven years' time to be the first African Commonwealth Games host.

Without the leverage afforded by a choice of cities, after all, will the event owner have the negotiating clout to insist on standards that will help the city show itself to best advantage when the international spotlight falls upon it?

With so many other spending priorities, will the South African Government, seeing the prize almost in the bag, be tempted to restrict its own commitments to the bare minimum?

I wonder too if the project will be able to stay insulated from political tensions, national and local, which I sense, albeit from afar and with no more than the most superficial notion of what is driving them, are starting to build.

There was plenty of colour as Durban launched their bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games but a sense of drama is lacking iafter the withdrawal of Edmonton ©CGF

I was also left cold by how overtly the bid is already playing the Nelson Mandela card: the Opening Ceremony, we were told, is targeted for July 18, the great man's birthday; a thin, eight-page summary began with the "Sport has the power to change the world" quotation.

Yes, he was the greatest statesman of my lifetime, but if you try too assiduously to wrap yourself in Mandela's aura, you are looking backwards, not ahead.

One thing, however, I feel very little apprehension about is this city's capacity to cope with the project.

This is partly because, as I have written in the past, its central, beach-front zone - where most Commonwealth Games action would take place - is particularly well mapped out for big sporting events.

And it is partly because - and this is what I really wanted to write about - the Games plan leaves the city with remarkably little in terms of preparatory work to do, given that they have a seven-year lead-time.

With the accident-prone 2022 Winter Olympic race and Agenda 2020 and the subsequent re-think of Tokyo 2020's venue plans, we have been spending an awful lot of time in recent months thinking and writing about sustainability and the importance of avoiding new-build unless there is a long-term, preferably inspirational, justification.

Well, this must be, by a margin, the most sustainable multi-Games plan I have ever seen; so much so that I would be tempted to sell it (to some audiences) as ideal for these parsimonious, straitened times.

I think I am right in saying that the only new sports venue required would be for shooting, at Bluff Military Base.

The overall budget, at some ZAR6 billion (£332.5 million/$511.7 million/€456.4 million), includes ZAR1.5 billion (£83 million/$128 million/€114 million) for the Games Village, which would become housing units, and well over a further ZAR1 billion (£55.5 million/$85 million/€76 million) for preparing the home team.

There are other venues which, I suspect, would require quite extensive renovation: such as the beach-front Rachel Finlayson swimming pool, which I was told was tidal and is listed as salt water and unheated, and perhaps the exhibition centre.

But these sites have already shown that they have a demonstrable public utility.

If you are wondering, incidentally, (as I was) about Rachel Finlayson, she was a swimming coach, known as Ma Fin, who accompanied the South African team to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

The Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, gives Durban a head start in its preparations for the 2022 Commonwealth Games ©Getty Images

What has made this almost minimalist plan possible - apart from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which led to construction of the magnificent but hugely extravagant Moses Mabhida Stadium - is the flexibility of the Commonwealth Games sports programme; this has just 10 core sports and four core Para-sports, with hosts topping these up with a few more from an optional list.

Such a system enables cities such as Durban to tailor the content of the Games, in large measure, to facilities they already have and hence to steer clear of constructing costly specialist venues such as a canoe slalom course or, in Durban's case, a velodrome that they clearly think would be tough to justify.

Yes, no track cycling for the first time at a Commonwealth Games since 1930 would be a pity; then again, velodromes seem to have been popping up like mushrooms lately, from Toronto to Ashgabat.

Durban's construction-light multi-games plan makes me wonder, in turn, whether, if the current spending-averse mood persists, the International Olympic Committee might not itself need to consider allowing Olympic host-cities more discretion in the sports they sign up to stage.

Agenda 2020 does permit Organising Committees to propose one or more additional, one-off events.

But there is nowhere near the flexibility offered by the Commonwealth Games Federation, and this has contributed in the past to some of those dreaded Olympic white elephants.

It might also be argued that, with every sport under the sun these days having its own world championship - which was certainly not the case in Baron de Coubertin's time - it is no longer really necessary for every Olympic Games to attempt to be quite so comprehensive in scope.

In all likelihood, the current, rather grumpy, public mood will turn out to be cyclical and the world will move on before such notions need seriously to be entertained.

Association of African of National Olympic Committees President Lassana Palenfo does not believe his continent is yet ready to host the Olympic Games ©Getty Images

As I sat down to write this, however, my eye was caught by the headline of an article by an International Sporting Press Association (AIPS) young reporter, Timothy Olobulu.

This piece quoted Lassana Palenfo, respected President of the African National Olympic Committees Association (ANOCA), as suggesting it was "almost impossible" for an African city successfully to host almost 30 different sports and tens of thousands of athletes, media professionals and spectators.

"You cannot have people dying of hunger and you host the Olympics," he was quoted as saying.

Indeed you cannot; but, hard as life is, there are nonetheless many African nations which are not so afflicted.

A more flexible sports programme would help make the dream less remote - as Durban 2022 may be about to show us.

One of the best bits of news in the sporting world this week was the confirmation that Britain's Kelly Sotherton had been reunited with the heptathlon gold medal she won at the 2006 Commonwealth Games following a burglary at her Sutton Coldfield home last month.

West Midlands Police reported the medal, along with another of her golds from the English Schools Championships, had been found in a postbox on Tuesday afternoon - a day after the theft had been featured on BBC's Crimewatch programme.

The random and prosaic nature of the discovery struck a distant echo with the unlikely events four months before the 1966 World Cup finals.

On that occasion the Jules Rimet trophy, which had been stolen from an exhibition at Westminster City Hall, was discovered wrapped in newspaper under a suburban garden hedge in Beulah Hill, South Norwood, by a black and white collie dog called Pickles while he was being walked by his owner, David Corbett.

Pickles finds himself the centre of attention after discovering the stolen Jules Rimet trophy four months before the 1966 World Cup finals were due to start in England
©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A year later, the impulsive Pickles - who earned his owner a £6,000 reward and was invited to England's subsequent celebration banquet - died after choking on his lead while chasing a cat. But that is another story, and a very sad one too...

"I told my boss and we decided the best thing was to take them straight to the police station and hand them in," said the Sutton Coldfield postman, Martyne Siviter,

"It is definitely one of the most unusual items I have found in a postbox and I am just pleased that Kelly will have her treasured gold medal back in her hands again," he said.

Sotherton herself tweeted: "What a great result!" And she added in a statement:

"I'm over the moon. Crimewatch seemed to appeal to someone's better nature.

"It must have been a bit of a shock for the postie but I'm glad it was put somewhere safe and can't wait to get my hands on it again."

It was good to hear such enthusiasm about the medal from Sotherton. She certainly didn't seem overwhelmed by it when I spoke to her along with other media members in the aftermath of her Commonwealth victory in Melbourne.

Kelly Sotherton has been reunited with the heptathlon gold medal she won at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, following its theft, even though she was not thrilled by her win at the time, it seemed ©Getty Images

Asked to describe what it felt like to be a gold medallist, a dejected Sotherton concluded glumly: "It's better than being the Midland Counties shot putt champion, which I was a few weeks ago."

The reason for Sotherton's dejection, two years after winning bronze at the Athens Olympics, was that she had underperformed on the second day, having spent most of the competition with her left calf strapped.

Although she had consolidated her lead with the first of her second-day events, the long jump - her old speciality - the then 29-year-old Birchfield Harrier had endured a dismal competition in the event that had cost her a medal at the previous year's World Championships, the javelin.

Not only did she fall eight metres shy of her not particularly good personal best with an effort of 32.04 metres, she also hurt her rib in doing so.

"I threw 33 metres in the snow before leaving Britain," she said. "I am never going to win medals in global championships throwing like this. I may as well give everyone 200 points at the start of the day."

She attempted to conclude with a flourish in the 800 metres. But after setting off fast, she struggled home fourth, one place ahead of her 20-year-old team-mate, eventual bronze medallist Jessica Ennis, for a winning total of 6,396 points which left her 98 points clear of Australia's Kylie Wheeler.

"I wanted to win at least one individual event here," Sotherton said. "But in the end I felt dead."

She added: "I've had a s***e day. I've let myself and everyone else down."

In truth, Sotherton should have had two golds that day - the second for uncomfortable honesty.

But then this athlete has always spoken her mind. Earlier in 2006 she and fellow long jumper Jade Johnson had to be separated by security guards after a row at the World Indoor trials in Sheffield.

One the eve of the Melbourne Games, she had disclosed that her nickname for the her relatively diminuitive British rival, Ennis, was "Tadpole". Ennis was polite about it - but clearly unamused.

Tadpoles, of course, grow up to be frogs; or even leapfrogs. But that is another story, and a very happy one too...

Sotherton's home Twitter page features a picture of herself collapsed in exhaustion on the track after completing the final 800m event in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Kelly Sotherton celebrates after winning a heptathlon bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics only for her coach Charles van Commenee to later reduce her to tears when he called her "a wimp" for not getting the silver ©Getty Images

On that occasion, this most self-critical of athletes was ill-served by her coach, Charles van Commenee, who reduced her to tears in full view of some British media as he accused her of being "a wimp" for not pushing harder to get the silver he believed she should have had.

On that occasion, the man who was to take over the British team for the London 2012 Olympics was effectively Charles van Curmudgeonly.

Sotherton, sadly, was unfit to contest those home Olympics. She was specialising in the 400m by that time, but picked up an injury.

Come to think of it, she was one of the few British athletes to suggest that it would be a bad idea for London to bid for the 2012 Games. Wrong, as it turned out - but you have to say, fair play for honesty. Sotherton has never been one to go with the crowd.

Illogical it may be, but such memories made me particularly glad that her unhappy story had had a happy ending - or at least, a partial happy ending. Apparently there are other medals still missing. Let's hope they don't include her Athens bronze.

Sotherton is only the latest in a long line of unfortunate sporting figures to have had the tangible rewards for their endeavours stolen. Some stories have ended happily; some not.

Soon after those London 2012 Games, two British Olympians had bronze medals taken after they had attended a Buckingham Palace reception. Hockey player Hannah Macleod and rowing eight member Alex Partridge were among athletes who had gone on to a London nightclub, Mahiki, and their medals were taken from their Olympic blazers after they had left them on their chairs while they went onto the dancefloor.

Alex Partridge (centre) en route to winning an Olympic bronze in the men's eight at the London 2012 Games, a medal stolen soon afterwards and which has yet to be reclaimed ©AFP/Getty Images

Macleod's medal was posted back anonymously to England Hockey's HQ a few days later. But Partridge, who was due to be in the British four at the Athens 2004 Games but had to pull out at the eleventh hour with a collapsed lung - Ed Coode replaced him to win gold with Matt Pinsent, James Cracknell and Steve Williams in a boat emblazoned with Partridge's name - has yet to be reunited with his London medal.

"It effectively represents 12 years of my life and it's not just my life, it's my family's life, and I'm probably never going to be able to experience that again or have a medal to show for it," he told Sky News at the time.

Another Briton awaiting the return of a precious Olympic medal - in this case a gold - is Rhona Howie, formerly Rhona Martin, who skipped her team to a curling victory at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games which made a huge media splash at the time.

Martin's medal was among several precious curling items stolen last April from Dumfries Museum.

Rhona Martin pictured during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, where she skipped the British rink to victory in the women's curling. But her medal was stolen from a museum last year and has yet to be recovered ©AFP/Getty Images

Like Sotherton, Martin also featured on BBC's Crimewatch, and earlier this year it was reported that three men had been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with the theft. But Martin remains without her "irreplaceable" medal.

"I believed it was part of Scotland, not just mine," she said. "I thought all the visits to schools would be worthwhile if it inspired one child to try to make a dream come true.

"Now that is the one thing I do not have. I am devastated. It was hand-finished, irreplaceable. The children loved wearing it, got a huge thrill from it."

Last year another Olympic curling champion, Brad Jacobs - who skipped Canada to victory at Sochi 2014  - had a specially made Olympic ring stolen from his motel room while he was in Boyle, Alberta, to promote a charity golf tournament. No sign of that so far either.

But there are happier tales to tell in this domain.

In 2013, Demetrius Pinder had the Olympic gold medal he had won as part of the Bahamas 4x400m relay team at the London 2012 Games stolen from his pickup truck at a Bradenton apartment complex.

(A pickup truck? What?)

The medal was later returned to him by police after they had arrested a 22-year-old in connection with its theft.

"It feels as if I'm back on the podium again," said Pinder, who added that he would keep the medal safe thereafter, only taking it out on special occasions.

John Konrads of Australia picture after winning the 1500m freestyle at the 1960 Rome Olympics. His gold was one of several medals stolen in 1985, but they all came to light after being discovered in a shoebox for sale on eBay in 2009 ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Never mind the oddity of a football World Cup played around Christmas-time in a Muslim country, what will become of the one scheduled for Russia four years earlier in 2018 should President Vladimir Putin decide to do a Hitler and invade Poland?  Or any other former satellite nation now fearing a similarly dire situation to that in Ukraine?

On the surface the question may seem an over-dramatisation of the escalating rumblings around the Baltic region but should you read between the diplomatic lines it becomes a relevant one.

So much so that the possibility of a boycott is firmly back on sport's international agenda.

Governments of several western countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as the European Commission, are believed to be seriously considering whether to advocate the implementation of the B-word if Russia doesn't rein back on its apparent path towards expansionism.

Interestingly at a three-way discussion panel organised by the Sports Journalists Association in Westminster last week none of the speakers - Conservative Sports Minister Helen Grant, her Labour shadow Clive Efford and the Liberal Democrats John Leech - were prepared to rule out a future Government of any political hue requesting the Football Association to pull out of the World Cup if Putin doesn't mend his ways.

All hedged their bets as to whether this might happen while declaring, naturally, that the final decision should be left to the FA itself.

Suddenly an air of déjà vu descended, with Efford pointedly recalling the Moscow Olympics of 1980 when, with Russian troops in Afghanistan - as indeed are some now in the Crimea - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher urged the British Olympic Association to follow the United States and West Germany snub the Games.

Deteriorating relations between Russia and western nations like Great Britain could raise the possibility of a boycott of Russia 2018 ©Getty Images



Although sailing, hockey and equestrian meekly succumbed under the weight of her swinging handbag, the BOA, bravely led by a formidable chairman in ex-FA chief Sir Denis Follows, did not. Neither did defiant luminaries including Sebastian Coe and Colin Moynihan, both later to become Tory MPs and peers, and in Moynihan's case Thatcher's Sports Minister.

Boycotts, argued Coe, have no place in sport and they never work. By and large it is a sentiment with which most agree though I do believe that one conclusively prised open the developing crack in the wall  of South Africa's odious Apartheid.

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called the boycott idea "a very potent political and symbolic sanction," adding, "If there's one thing that Vladimir Putin cares about, as far as I can see, it's his sense of status".

And the Spanish newspaper El País has reported  that the European Commission was considering recommending a boycott of 2018 as part of extended sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Clearly Sepp Blatter, for all his power and self-glorification, has been, along with his fellow desperados on the FIFA Executive Board, seriously short in lessons in geopolitics.

If he wins the FIFA Presidential election in May, Russia 2018 is poised to be the central challenge of Sepp Blatter's fifth term as FIFA President ©AFP/Getty Images



He now admits: "There are already some voices coming out about 2018 talking about a boycott. A boycott in sport never has had any benefit. Let us wait and see the geopolitical situation. FIFA shall not intervene with politics. But for the time being, we are working with Russia."

Assuming he is still ensconced in his presidential palace in Zurich after FIFA's May election, Blatter surely will need to be rather more forceful in dealing with Putin.

Not only over Vlad's apparent warmongering but a number of other matters concerning Russian football, among them the need to prioritise the eradication of racism.

He says he has already expressed FIFA's concern to Putin about this but  cases have escalated recently, including unsavoury incidents in the Champions League.

Then there are technical issues whether Russia are already in breach of  regulations with three teams from newly-annexed Crimea, Yalta, Simferopol and Sevastopol, now  playing in Russia's regionalised Second Division. UEFA rules bar teams belonging to one recognised national federation from participating in another's competitions, although there are exceptions in Great Britain for Welsh teams.

Another controversy which could see the English FA, understandbly piqued after losing out to Russia, joining any Government call for a boycotts  their dissatisfaction  with the report in November 2014 which cleared both Russia and Qatar of corruption in the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Although awaiting thee full release of the Garcia Report, the FA chairman Greg Dyke has called for a re-investigation of the claims, while his predecessor David Bernstein is on record urging European nations to boycott Russia unless, FIFA undergoes serious reform.

"England on its own cannot influence this - one country can't do it," he has said."If we tried to do something like that we'd be laughed at. I think England within UEFA undoubtedly have the power to influence FIFA, but to do so they would have to consider withdrawing from the next World Cup, unless proper reform - which he intimated included  Blatter not standing for a fifth term - is carried out.

"If I was at the FA now, I would do everything I could to encourage other nations within UEFA and there are some who would definitely be on side, others maybe not - to take this line. At some stage you have to walk the talk, stop talking and do something."

On top of all this we now have the growing turmoil in Russia's internal politics typified last weekend by the gunning down close to the Kremlin of one of Putin's principal opponents, Boris Nemtsov, who has openly opposed Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine and annexation  of Crimea.

Boris Nemtsov's death has triggered a huge response across Russia ©AFP/Getty Images



The following mass rally of support for that view suggests Putin may yet have the skids under him before 2018 materialises.

But the big question remains: Will FIFA's folly in initially awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in the stifling heat of an Arabian summer and the subsequent fixture chaos in Europe with the inevitable switch to a climatically more amenable time of year now be compounded by having to re-examine the placing of the 2018 tournament?

Losing Russia's status as World Cup hosts would not only be a crippling blow to Putin's pride, but one that could be politically terminal in the malevolent theatre of Kremlin politics.

Which is why the B-word could be a vital weapon before the final whistle is blown in this treacherous game of political football.

Alan Hubbard is a 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 Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

It may be passing unnoticed in much of the world but large pockets of the planet have been transfixed over recent weeks by the ongoing Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

In particular, by the incredible feast of top class hitting we have seen from the likes of South Africa's AB De Villiers and the West Indies Chris Gayle, two of the most swashbuckling sporting specimens on the planet, in any sport.

But a chance to continue the global expansion and popularity of the game are hardly being helped by the International Cricket Council's decision to reduce the number of teams from 14 to 10 by the time the next World Cup rolls around in England and Wales in 2019.

The decision was made predominantly to reduce the length of the tournament and avoid the kind of mismatches seen in the past, where minnows have been invariably beaten out of sight by the world's finest. Yet, this has generally not been the case over the last two weeks, and the so called "minnow" teams, who do not play in the traditional five-day Test format of the game, have not only held their own but have been involved in many of the most entertaining matches so far.

We have seen shocks, most notably when lowly Ireland edged out the West Indies, a composite team consisting of players from the cricket-mad Caribbean Islands and Guyana which won the first two editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979. There have also been thrillingly close clashes between these minnows, with Ireland defeating United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan overcoming Scotland in painfully tight, topsy-turvy and nail-biting fashion.

There would surely must be better ways of reducing the length of the competition than by sacrificing the added spice that these four countries have produced.

Ireland have been responsible for two of the best matches of the Cricket World Cup so far ©Getty Images

Britain's most decorated Paralympic athlete, Dame Sarah Storey, lies flat on her back, exhausted, after completing her women's UCI hour record attempt at the Lee Valley Velopark, the home of track cycling at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

By contrast, a standing ovation was taking place in the crowd, with the applause both a mix of admiration of the 11-time Paralympic gold medallist and an appreciation of her efforts in completing the gruelling and brutal event.

Storey was attempting to beat the existing record of 46.065 kilometres set by Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of The Netherlands back in 2003. With the record set in the altitude of Mexico City, it was always going to prove a difficult ask. Despite falling short of the distance by posting 45.502km for the hour, the 37-year-old can add her name to the list of elite cyclists that have continued the renaissance of cycling's historic event.

I have to admit that to some trepidation as I made my way to London to watch the attempt, as I had my doubts over whether the hour record would capture the imagination of causal viewers of cycling. Many of the people who made up the crowd, I assumed, would be used to the excitement of the sprints and crashes that are commonplace at an Olympic or World Championships.

Therefore, the prospect of watching a cyclist, embark on a sustained effort, with little change in pace, for an hour might not be viewed with the same level of excitement.

Dame Sarah Storey was the first woman to attempt the record following a rule change last May ©Getty Images





Yet Dame Sarah's attempt was the headline act of the Revolution Series programme, which also featured British double Olympic champion Laura Trott, as well as fellow London 2012 gold medallists and home favourites Peter Kennaugh and Ed Clancy. Also among the line-up was Australia's Jack Bobridge, who recently narrowly missed out on the men's record and described his attempt as "a bit like dying".

My doubts about the crowd's enthusiasm for the event were quickly put to rest as Dame Sarah's attempt got underway. Heads began glancing between the 11-time Paralympic gold medallist and the big screens in the Velodrome, which flickered with the updated distance covered and remaining time she had left of the event.

Interviews with her coach and husband Barney and former professional cyclist Magnus Backstedt were also able to provide further insight into the attempt, while commentary coming through the loudspeakers around the venue were able to further engage the crowd in her progress.

Each milestone was met with loud cheers of encouragement as the event unfolded, with Dame Sarah three seconds above schedule required after 20 minutes before dipping below the pace at the halfway mark. With the sheer physical and mental effort to maintain the pace for the event clear to see, it was easy for the crowd to offer support.

However, despite Dame Sarah's best efforts, the existing record remains intact but International Cycling Union (UCI) President Brian Cookson, who was in attendance, offered his praise and claimed he was pleased that a woman taken on the event.

UCI President Brian Cookson praised Dame Sarah for her attempt ©Getty Images



Dame Sarah became the first woman to take on the record since the UCI's decision last May to allow aerodynamic bikes to be used in an attempt. It followed several attempts on the men's record since German Jens Voigt reignited interest when he set a new distance last September.

Australia's Rohan Dennis is the new holder of the men's record, however, German three world time trial champion Tony Martin and 2012 Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins are scheduled to hold attempts in the future. With the two predicted to set a new distance, there is the potential the men's record could be put out of sight for the foreseeable future.

If so, could the women's record take on even more significance, with Dame Sarah's narrow miss proving Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel's record is achievable and have the Voigt-effect with her attempt encouraging more women to take on the challenge. With Joanna Rowsell, a British Olympic team pursuit champion, rumoured to be considering a bid at the record after Rio 2016, could it become the one to watch.

Michael Pavitt is a junior reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here

Phil Neville, the former Manchester United, Everton and England footballer turned BBC pundit, swam against the tide this week.

While many in the country that invented football were bemoaning the FIFA task force recommendation to stage the 2022 World Cup in November and December, Neville said it might be "the best thing that's ever happened" to England.

This was on the grounds that English players would be far fresher than during the World Cup's traditional time-slot in June and July.

"We normally go into a World Cup at the end of a long, hard, nine-month season when our players are absolutely dead on their feet," he observed sagely.

There is nothing like a statistic for ruining a good story and I was frankly sceptical of this "lambs in spring, lions in winter" theory.

However, on this occasion the record triumphantly vindicates Neville's words: never in the more than 142 years since England and Scotland drew 0-0 in the first football international in 1872 - on November 30, funnily enough - have England lost an international match in December.

There are some special circumstances that need to be taken into account; first and foremost, England do not often play in December, and have not done so at all for nearly 20 years.

Nevertheless, the team's record over the 19 December matches that they have played is, as a much-loved commentator might have said, "quite remarkable": Played 19 Won 15 Drawn 4 Lost 0 Goals for 68 - so three and a half per match. Goals against 20.

And while the biggest December win of all was a 9-0 drubbing of little Luxembourg in 1982, most of the victories were against far higher-class opposition, the likes of France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Spain.

Former England footballer Phil Neville believes the Qatar 2022 World Cup being held in November and December could suit England ©Getty Images






They include a 3-1 win over the then West Germany on 1 December 1954, less than five months after the Germans were crowned world champions.

The only thing is, every one of their December opponents over the years have been European.

By comparison, England's record over the far larger number of matches they have contested in the busy international month of June, including many World Cup games and some of the most vividly-remembered clashes in the history of England's national sport, reads as follows: Played 157 Won 71 Drawn 48 Lost 38.

Not bad, but far from the invincibility displayed decade after decade, since a 4-0 demolition of Belgium in 1924, in December.

So, one can say, it is statistically proven that, never mind how we got here, England would be well advised, if they ever want to win the World Cup again, to go along with FIFA's latest wheeze.

Indeed, you might argue, seven years out, that a second star above the crest on the national team shirt is almost in the bag.

There is just one hitch in the fiendish plan that, thanks to Phil Neville, is taking shape in my brain: the vital matches to decide whether or not England qualifies for history's first December World Cup might be in June.

England's football record in December

           Year                      Opponent                      Score                         Result

1.        1924                        Belgium                          4-0                            W

2.        1931                        Spain                              7-1                            W

3.        1932                        Austria                            4-3                            W

4.        1933                        France                            4-1                            W

5.        1935                        Germany                         3-0                            W

6.        1936                        Hungary                          6-2                            W

7.        1937                        Czechoslovakia                5-4                           W

8.        1948                        Switzerland                      6-0                           W

9.        1954                        West Germany                3-1                            W

10.      1956                        Denmark                         5-2                            W

11.      1964                        Netherlands                     1-1                            D

12.      1965                        Spain                              2-0                            W

13.      1967                        USSR                             2-2                             D

14.      1968                        Bulgaria                          1-1                             D

15.      1969                        Portugal                          1-0                             W

16.      1971                        Greece                           2-0                             W

17.      1982                        Luxembourg                    9-0                             W

18.      1989                        Yugoslavia                      2-1                             W

19.      1995                         Portugal                        1-1                              D   

Straight up, I have to deliver a bit of bad news to Mike Powell. If the Philadelphia-born 51-year-old manages to break the World Masters M50 long jump mark as he plans the weekend after next he will not - as his publicity material claims - become the only athlete in any sport, or even his own, to hold a Masters and absolute world record at the same time.

The triple jump world record of 18.29 metres belonging to Britain's Jonathan Edwards may not have stood for as long as Powell's – he set it at the IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg four years later - but it still stands. And Edwards is the M35 record holder with the mark of 17.92 he jumped in Edmonton to win the 2001 world title.

Having waved that British flag on behalf of one of its great athletes, however, let me now pay due tribute to one of the most glorious and affable of track and field performers.

Britain's Jonathan Edwards reacts at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg after setting a triple jump world record of 18.29m which stands today. He is also the M35 World Masters record holder with 17.92 ©Getty Images

Powell, who retired in 1996, was one of those athletes who looked doomed to be in the honourable club of those who would have earned all the glittering prizes had it not been for the misfortune of sharing a career with a legend. As he has said more than once, his "whole life story is being the underdog".

In his case the legend was fellow American Carl Lewis. Remember him? Er yes. Four golds at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, including the long jump - a feat matching that of his illustrious US forbear Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games. And he would go on to win the next three Olympic long jump titles, the last of which, at the Atlanta Games of 1996, saw him record a distance of 8.50m which jointly stands as the world M35 record.

It's just that King Carl doesn't have the actual world record...

By the time he set his marks for the long jump final at the 1991 IAAF World Championships, Lewis - who had reclaimed the world 100 metres record four days earlier - was undefeated in 60 long jump competitions over 10 years. He had won the previous world titles in 1983 and 1987. And he had qualified with a jump that was a foot further than any rival.

At the 1988 Olympics, Powell had jumped 8.49m, enough to finish in silver medal position behind Lewis as the latter defended his title with an effort of 8.72.

Carl Lewis on his way to winning the second of four Olympic long jump titles at Seoul 1988. By the time he met Mike Powell in the long jump final at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo he had been unbeaten for a decade ©Getty Images

As the 1991 long jump on the new, super-fast Tokyo track surface played out, it looked for most of the event as if the result would be the same.

Lewis led through four of the six rounds. His first round jump of 8.68m had set a World Championship record, and was further than Powell's personal best. In the third round he went further, reaching 8.83, although wind assistance above the legal limit of two metres-per-second annulled the effort for record purposes.

So far, so expected. But then Powell roused himself to a fourth round jump which looked very close to Lewis's leading mark. It was ruled a foul - which prompted Powell to go down on his knees at the board in an effort to see the minute indentation in the plasticine which had ruled his effort out. It appeared to be an image of terminal frustration.

Lewis, in turn, twisted the knife with his own fourth round effort, which surpassed by one centimetre the world record distance of 8.90m US athlete Bob Beamon had set at the 1968 Olympics in the thin air of Mexico City, although it was not admissible for record purposes as the wind gauge measured 2.9 metres per second - more than the allowable two metres-per-second reading. But gold don't worry about wind readings...

The fifth round. And Powell, having just watched the longest measured jump in history, surpassed it with an effort that was achieved with a legal wind. Just 0.03mps, in fact. And the distance? 8.95.

Mike Powell in flight during the 1991 Wolld Championships long jump final where he finally beat Carl Lewis, setting a world record of 8.95m ©Getty Images




It was a measure of Lewis that, rather than crumpling, he responded with a lifetime best with a legal wind behind him of 8.87. It was a superb response - but he was still in silver medal position.

When Powell fouled on his sixth and final effort, he was left praying, literally, as Lewis made his final effort. It was tremendous. It was 8.84, his second best ever legal jump. And it was not enough.

Thus the competition included the best three wind-legal attempts of Lewis' career, plus a wind-aided attempt beyond the existing world record that he had chased for ten years. For second place.

Powell and Lewis had both surpassed the existing world record, albeit that one of the efforts was wind-assisted.

Never before, and never since, has there been such high class drama in a long jump competition.

Mike Powell on the podium after his 1991 world title win, flanked by Carl Lewis (right) and bronze medallist Lary Myricks ©Hulton Collection/Getty Images

But who knows what drama awaits the Athletics New Zealand Track and Field Championships from March 6 to 8, where Powell announced on February 20 that he would be returning to competition to shoot for another world record?

To do that, he will have to surpass the current M50 mark of 6.84 set in 1994 by Tapani Taavitsainen of Finland.

Looking through the list of the men's masters records which Powell is seeking to join, a clear pattern emerges - and Powell bucks the trend.

The youngest age category M35, and its next door neighbour M40 - as you might expect - contains many world famous athletes who have extended their careers to good, and sometimes extraordinary effect.

Britain's Linford Christie is M35 record holder at both 100m - 9.97sec run in 1995 - and 200m, having run 20.11 the following year ahead of his false-start fiasco at the Atlanta Olympics.

Johnny Gray of the United States holds the M35 800m record, an astonishing 1min 43.36sec at the Zurich Weltklasse in 1995, while the M35 1500m mark stands to former world champion Bernard Lagat, 3:32.51 set in Monaco in 2010.

Lagat is a Masters master, in fact, holding the M35 marks also for the mile - 3:51.38 at London in 2011 - the 3,000m - 7:29.00 in Rieti in 2010 - and 5,000m - 12:53.60 in Monaco in 2011.
Haile Gebrselassie also has his name in the lists, with an M35 10,000m mark of 26:51.20 set in Hengelo in 2008, and his then world record of 2:03.59 for the marathon in Berlin in 2008.

Bernard Lagat, pictured winning at the 2013 US Championships, is a master of the Masters, with M35 age group records in the 1500m, mile, 3,000m and 5,000m ©Getty Images

Once you get past the first two age levels, however, you don't see names you recognise. It's another ball game. But it's one Powell now wants to play in.

Powell, who now coaches long jump permanently at the Academy of Speed in Rancho Cucamonga, California, as well as working as an analyst for Yahoo Sports Olympic Track and Field coverage, commented: "Barring injury, and injury could hinder any athlete at any age, I am confident of medalling and even winning at the Championships.

"This is an exciting challenge for me to actually compete with athletes half my age and I am confident about breaking the masters record.

"It will be interesting to see the dynamics of the competition. Will the other athletes relax a little and take it for granted they can beat the old man?  Or will they be motivated to try harder for bragging rights by beating Mike Powell the World record holder?

"Either way I will be energised. This is not like the ceremonial throwing out of the first ball in baseball.  I am going to New Zealand to strike out but to win the event and break the Masters record.

"The other athletes should not be deceived by my age. I may be a little slower than when I beat Carl Lewis in 1991 but with age comes knowledge. Along with personal training I have been studying advanced techniques and have unique long jump knowledge that probably nobody in the world possesses."

Nobody would argue about that.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. To follow him on Twitter click here.

It ain't over 'til it's over: FIFA's ruling Executive Committee is not expected to rubber stamp its Task Force's recommendation until next month and the big European clubs employ so many of the world's top players these days that their bargaining power should not be underestimated.

Nevertheless, let us accept for now that this week's developments make it likely that for the first time in 92 years a FIFA World Cup will be staged in 2022 in the months of November and December. Who look to be the winners and losers?

Winners:

1) The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and winter sports bodies.

It would have been a disaster for snow and ice sports, struggling like just about everything else to hold their own in the face of the football colossus, had FIFA decided to shrug off a clash with the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and stage its flagship tournament in January and February.

As it is, the recommendation, as a colleague observed, leaves the IOC looking a more potent and influential force than the big European football clubs and leagues, who have been pushing for May.

I wonder if the winter sports world might not have been helped out by a propitious set of circumstances embracing the FIFA Presidential election campaign, the likelihood that the 2022 Games will go to one of the planet's most powerful countries and the recent decisions by a couple of FIFA sponsors not to renew their partnerships with the governing body for another World Cup cycle.

International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper is among those to have already expressed satisfaction at the proposal ©Getty Images



Did China have a quiet word? Or Coca-Cola and Visa, two of the five current FIFA partners, who are also IOC TOP sponsors? Or Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a key Olympic power broker who also has a voice in football as honorary life President of the Football Association of Kuwait, which publicly backed FIFA task force chair Shaikh Salman when he won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Presidency in 2013?

I have no idea; but they would be a powerful collection of advocates if they did.

A January/February World Cup might have been marginally more palatable to European clubs than November/December, as the concept of a midwinter break in January is familiar in some countries.

For FIFA, it might have meant collecting the final tranche of monies for the 2019-2022 cycle a few months early, rather than a few months late.

The task force's decision should also go down well with other prominent start-of-year sports events, such as tennis' Australian Open.

2) Airlines

December is a peak time anyway, with family members criss-crossing the globe to spend the holiday period with loved ones.

Now FIFA has loaded more demand onto the system.

All else being equal, I would expect the last quarter of 2022 to be an extremely good one for many leading carriers.

3) The Asian Football Confederation

Clearly, a Middle East World Cup should be a good thing for the AFC.

However, if the task force gets its way, the region may end up with three FIFA tournaments, not just one.

Normally, the Confederations Cup acts as a test event for the World Cup, being staged by the same host-nation a year earlier.

The Confederations Cup, last won by Brazil in 2013, is the traditional test event of sorts for the World Cup but could now be moved out of Qatar ©Getty Images



However, that would require disrupting another European season and would also risk a clash with the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup.

To get around this, the task force was said to be "exploring the option" of staging the 2021 Confederations Cup during its traditional June/July slot "in another AFC country".

Another FIFA competition - "potentially the FIFA Club World Cup" - could then be "relocated to Qatar" to serve as the test event.

Others might wonder if there was any point staging a 2021 Confederations Cup if it did not act as a World Cup test event.

4) England. Maybe.

I am not sure if I buy it, but there is a "lamb in spring, lion in winter" theory which holds that the England team plays much better in the European winter, before players become too tired to perform at their best.

In the past, World Cups have always fallen after the end of the exhausting English season, helping to explain, if you subscribe to the theory, why England World Cup teams have so often disappointed.

If you believe this, you may see a November/December World Cup as a great chance for England, for once, to fulfil its potential.

Hmm, wouldn't that be nice? Meanwhile, I reckon Qatar 2022 may now prove a godsend for manufacturers of World Cup-themed advent calendars.

Losers:

1) FIFA

This week's developments have underlined once again the foolishness of awarding the World Cup to Qatar without nailing down when the competition would be played,

The governing body may well have to pay through the nose for this incompetence.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and the European Club Association have called for compensation due to the anticipated disruption to European seasons ©Getty Images



European Club Association (ECA) chairman - and twice World Cup runner-up - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's message on Tuesday was crystal clear.

European clubs and leagues could not, he said, be expected to bear the costs for the World Cup's rescheduling.

"We expect the clubs to be compensated for the damage that a final decision would cause."

2) European retailers

Buoyant Christmas sales are, of course, vital to the health of the High Street.

Now, it seems, retailers are going to have to compete at peak Christmas shopping time with one of the world's most compelling sporting spectacles.

3) Guinea

The West African nation of Guinea was recently awarded hosting rights for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's flagship international football event.

Based on the current timing of this biennial tournament, you might normally expect this to get under way in January 2023.

Given that this would now be less than a month after the 2022 World Cup final, it is surely unthinkable that this timing would hold.

The country may therefore end up holding it at a different time to the period it might have anticipated.

4) European summer sports

If the 2022-23 European football season is now to be interrupted by an approximately seven-week hiatus, that means, presumably, that it will have to start earlier than usual and end later.

This means that events which would normally take place in league football's close season are likely to find themselves competing for attention with Manchester United, Barcelona and the like.

I would be particularly concerned if I were planning a non-football event in June 2023, since this might now coincide with the exciting culmination of the European club football season.

5) Simon Cowell. Maybe.

Popular entertainment shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor have come to dominate the pre-Christmas television schedules.

Simon Cowell's X Factor could be one event affected by a November and December World Cup ©Wikipedia




Their slow build to a mid-to-late-December climax may now coincide with the business end of a sports tournament with awesome pulling power.

Imagine if an England World Cup victory led to copies of the official World Cup single by James Corden or Skinner and Baddiel flying off the shelves and depriving the X Factor winner of her traditional Christmas Number One.

Doesn't really bear thinking about, does it?

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, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

You never hear Floyd Mayweather Jnr talk about his Olympic bronze boxing medal, gained in deeply controversial circumstances at the Atlanta Games of 1996. No doubt it has been disdainfully tossed away and nestles somewhere in his sock draw at his Las Vegas mansion amid an assorted pile of bling.

Yet, in the highly unlikely event of the Money Man ever falling on hard times, he could always sell it for a fortune, for while the intrinsic value of a bronze medal - which is actually copper mixed with tin and zinc - is approximately $5 (£3.20/€4.40) it surely would be worth several thousand times its weight in gold at an auction.

For boxing memorabilia is huge business these days. The gloves worn by Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston during their 1965 rematch in Lewiston, Maine, which Ali famously won with a first round knockout from what many - though not yours truly - saw as a "phantom punch" went for just short of a million dollars in New York last week.

So just imagine what any relics of Mayweather's career might be worth, especially as he has now put his signature on a contract to finally get it on with Manny Pacquiao in May in the richest unarmed combat pairing of all time.

No doubt Mayweather has buried in his enigmatic psyche the painful memory of that night in Atlanta when he was the victim of one the great Olympic stitch-ups, even though it was the springboard for him becoming the best rewarded sports figure in history.

Bronze is what he got then. Gold is what most believe he should and would have won had he not been mathematically mugged in his featherweight semi-final with the eventual winner, Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria.

The result was on a similarly unjust scale to the scandalous scoring involving his compatriot Roy Jones Jnr in Seoul eight years earlier. Mayweather, nicknamed "Pretty Boy" because of his largely unmarked features courtesy of a sound defensive strategy, seemed a clear victor. Indeed, the Eygptian referee even mistakenly raised the America's hand obviously thinking he had won.

But the official announcement gave the fight to the Bulgarian amid loud booing from the crowd at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum and a look of absolute incredulity from Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather Jnr should finally take on Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2
©Getty Images




The outraged US team filed a protest claiming the judges were intimidated by Bulgaria's Emil Jetchev, head of the tournament's boxing officials, into favouring the Bulgarian Todorov by a 10–9 decision. Three other Bulgarians had progressed to gold medal bouts.

Judge Bill Waeckerle, one of the four US officials appointed by AIBA (then the International Amateur Boxing Association) subsequently resigned in protest at a decision declaring: "I refuse to be part of an organisation that continues to conduct its officiating in this manner."

Waeckerle wrote in his letter of resignation to the AIBA president, the late and ultimately discredited Anwar Choudry, whose own eventual departure led to Taiwan's Dr C K Wu gaining the Presidency largely on an anti-corruption ticket.

That semi-final bout was Mayweather's last defeat for he turned pro soon after and has long since shrugged off the episode, converting the discarded bronze bauble into a fortune unparalleled in the annals of sport. He is estimated to have earned $400 million (£259 million/€353 million) even before folding the record massive pay cheque for the Pacquiao fight into in his back pocket.

They say this is an event that was destined to happen but it has turned into a five-and-a-half-year soap opera.

So the coupling that has had the longest gestation period in sporting history finally becomes a happening. And when Mayweather and Pacquiao now touch their golden gloves in mid-ring at the MGM Grand in Nevada's Casino Citadel on Saturday 2 May, the cheers will be drowned out not by the jangling sound of fruit machines but cash registers.

The mega fight the world has drooled over for so long is expected to generate a minimum £162 million ($250 million/€220 million), with the rival TV networks, Showtime and HBO, to whom they've respectively contracted, sharing coverage for the first time since Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson in 2002.

The welterweight showdown for the mantle of the world's supreme fighter has a 60-40 split in favour of Mayweather, who will earn in the region of $150 million (£97 million/€132 million) with Pacquiao guaranteed $100 million (£65 million/€88 million).

Both Pacquiao and Mayweather are set to earn huge sums of money from a fight that many feel should have happened many years ago ©Getty Images




Ringside tickets are being marketed at £17,200 ($26,000/€23,000) at the 18,000 capacity arena, and the hotel's 3,000 rooms were sold out within three minutes of the fight's announcement.

Mayweather-Pacquiao is also expected to break the record for pay-per-view buys in the United States at up to $100 (£65/£88). The current record of 2.4m sales was set when Mayweather fought Oscar de la Hoya in 2007.

Yet while the superfight may be a reality, other the battles surrounding it have to be resolved. A bidding war is anticipated here for British TV rights with Sky and BoxNation going head-to-head for Pay Per View. Will ITV, back in the boxing business with live coverage of this weekend's Carl Frampton world super-bantamweight title fight in Belfast, open up the coffers available after losing European football and go for it? BT are also believed to be considering a bid.

Anglophile Pacquiao - his fans include his pal Prince Harry - is a Filipino Congressman who harbours aspirations to become his country's President; he has won world titles in six weight divisions; the narcissistic Mayweather, briefly incarcerated following a domestic assault, remains unbeaten through four weight classes.

Pacquiao has been beaten five times in 64 fights since turning pro as a 16-year-old in 1995, while Mayweather's unbeaten 47-fight record stretches back to 1996. Formerly "Pretty Boy", then the "Money Man", he also unashamedly labels himself TBE: "The Best Ever".

As sweet a scientist as he undoubtedly is, some will argue with that. As good as Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler? Not quite, in my view, but he is certainly up there in the mix.

Many consider Floyd Mayweather to be one of the best boxer ever along with greats such as Sugar Ray Leonard, but Alan Hubbard has his doubts ©Getty Images




Like Ali-Frazier part one this is a fight that transcends boxing because no-one cares about belts, titles or weights. It is a classic contest of contrasts between arguably the most talented gloved gladiators of the past two decades.

However, recent performances suggest neither man is as sharp as they were. Pacquiao has had to fight his way back after two defeats in 2012, including a devastating knockout by Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez, and Mayweather hasn't stopped an opponent since 2011.

While the Money Man and the Pacman were not spring chickens when this pairing was first mooted in 2009 they were still in their pugilistic prime. Now, with Mayweather, who turns 38 today, and Pacquiao 36, they are the ring's Sunshine Boys. But these days boxing is as much a country for old men as the young.

One Brit out in the cold is Amir Khan, twice jilted by Mayweather, who must now re-think his strategy as the likelihood is that there will be Mayweather v Pacquiao II in the autumn.

Khan believes we may be in for a disappointment on May 2.

"This would have been a massive fight when both were at their peak. It might have gone past that now. I think it will go the distance but that Mayweather will win by unanimous decision," the Briton said.

The news that Mayweather and Pacquiao will fight each other put paid to Amir Khan's hopes of getting in the ring with one of the pair this year ©Getty Images




Likewise my instinct has always been that Mayweather, still a silky, sly master of boxing's backfoot arts, would prevail over Pacquiao's nippy piston-punching attacks, and the bookies agree, making him a 4-11 on favourite with Pacquiao at 9-4. But while it may not be the fight it could have been five years ago, it is still boxing's most mouth-watering match up.

Intriguingly, Mayweather has two fights left on his TV deal with Showtime and the assumption is that he will have the second in the autumn, possibly a rematch with Pacquiao, then retire after equalling Rocky Marciano's 60-year record by calling it a day undefeated as world champion after 49 fights.

This I doubt. His pride is such that the Money Man will want to become the History Man by breaking that record. Only one man has previously come close to equalling it.

In 1986 Larry Holmes would have done so if he had successfully defended his world heavyweight title against Michael Spinks. But he was robbed on a split decision - and was so incensed that when asked about the record he infamously snapped: "Rocky Marciano wasn't fit to carry my jockstrap."

It was a stupid insult for which he later apologised, but he lived to regret it when it turned much of America against him despite being one of the sport's outstanding champions.

It was with a certain sense of disappointment last week we noticed the name of cyclist Alexander Vinokourov listed on the official website as an ambassador for Almaty's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympics.

In normal circumstances, as one of the best known and most successful athletes Kazakhstan has ever produced, he would have been an obvious choice.

"We have seen the notice of CONADE, which surprised us, as the benefit of organising the FINA World Championships is much higher than the cost of running the event." Cornel Marculescu, executive director, International Swimming Federation (FINA).

The Mexican city of Guadalajara this week withdrew as host of the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, making them the second big sporting event in as many weeks - the first being the 2022 Commonwealth Games - to feel a backlash from the collapsed oil price.

For all that, the state of the oil market is something of a red herring in attempts to explain the difficulties which event owners are experiencing in igniting and retaining the interest of cities in staging their competitions.

Like any commodity, after all, oil is a zero-sum game: there are as many winners from $60-a-barrel oil as losers.

It is just that some of those who felt they had spare cash to lavish on international sport in the days of $110-a-barrel oil, unsurprisingly, are having second thoughts.

It is the dislocation as cities and Governments attune to a new set of economic circumstances that is making life uncomfortable for some event owners.

FINA will soon enough find another 2017 host from the ranks either of oil producers who can live with today's prices, or countries for which the market's collapse has brought an unexpected windfall.

Who knows, perhaps they will end up in London with its shiny new Olympic Aquatics Centre - although they would presumably need to resurrect the water polo hall.

Could the Aquatics Centre built for London 2012 step in a replacement for Guadalajara to host the 2017 World Aquatics Championships ©Getty Images

The broader - and much more serious - point for event owners is that the general economic and geopolitical backdrop against which we are all living our day-to-day lives is going through a particularly turbulent and unpredictable phase.

What is more, growth in many of the countries with the most experience in the ticklish business of event hosting remains sluggish.

It is vital, while this climate persists, that sport is able to articulate as clearly and convincingly as possible that event staging can and does pay handsome dividends.

This is my reason for highlighting Marculescu's reaction to Wednesday's announcement on Guadalajara by the Mexican National Physical Culture and Sport Commission (CONADE) at the top of this piece.

If you don't accept this, consider the position that the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) now finds itself in.

Yes, the oil price did for Edmonton, but, I would argue that it was the broader economic malaise that produced a situation in which the Canadian city was one of only two bidders.

Now Durban is left as the only game in town - a situation that can hardly fail to dilute the CGF's bargaining power in negotiations with its prospective partner.

It is perhaps worth emphasising that Asia, one region of the world where growth has remained comparatively buoyant and appetite for events strong, is only partly in bounds as far as the CGF is concerned: you can't stage a Commonwealth Games in China or Qatar.

Everyone enjoyed Glasgow 2014 but there is still only one bidder for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Durban in South Africa ©Getty Images

One way in which sport can adjust the cost:benefit equation confronting cities when they assess their hosting options is, of course, to cut costs - which, in large measure, is what Agenda 2020 is all about.

Multi-sports events can also enhance their appeal by ensuring that the events on their programmes are those that most people want to watch.

But sport also needs to be able to measure and articulate the benefits of what it can bring to the table for prospective host-cities.

This is all the more important as costs are a) for the most part, all too tangible and b) incurred up-front before most potential benefits accrue.

The new feasibility study with which French sports leaders are trying to sell politicians on the idea of a Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic bid is quite an interesting document in this regard.

In the storied annals of Anglo-French relations, it must be doubtful if either one of these old foes has ever publicly heaped so much praise on the other.

Britain demonstrated, the study states, that organising the Games could be a "formidable tool for urban planning, for national pride and cohesion, for cultural influence, for promoting and enhancing the attractiveness of Great Britain and its know-how on the international stage, and, more globally, for the dynamism of a nation".

The London Games were a "sporting, media, popular and economic success".

Wow - and what makes this all the more remarkable is that Paris was one of the defeated candidates.

The study also cites a joint UK Government/Mayor of London report maintaining that a four-year target of £11 billion of economic gains from the 2012 Games had been surpassed within 14 months and that, after two years, benefits had reached £14.2 billion "and rising".

London 2012 has been held up as an example of how to stage a successful Olympic Games - even by the French in their feasibility study for a possible bid from Paris for 2024 ©CNOSF

I can be a contrary so-and-so for my sins, and I must admit that I tend to take such exercises with a pinch of salt.

Having watched over the Olympic/Paralympic Movement for some 15 years, my conclusion is that, on balance, the world is a better place with it than without it, but this is not penicillin or ice-cream we are talking about, and there are times when it seems a mighty close-run thing.

On the other hand, if those London 2012 economic benefit figures play a part in persuading Paris to bid for the Games, then it pretty much makes the case that sport would be well-advised to make sure that such tallies are kept whenever possible.

I would argue that sport also needs, as a matter of priority, to devise ways of measuring and highlighting benefits for host-cities and nations that I suspect economists and accountants have a tendency to undervalue, or even overlook altogether.

What I mean is this: the tipping-point, looking back, that prompted me to form the opinion that, yes, London 2012 had been worth all the fuss was not some moment of transcendent sporting genius, or an onrush of nationalistic fervour; it was the realisation, between South Ken and King's Cross/St Pancras, that the usual glum, numb and humdrum atmosphere on the Tube had been transformed.

The writer A.L.Kennedy, not someone I would consider a sports evangelist by nature, appears to have noticed something similar.

"Even stiff old London during the 2012 Olympics was an opened city with increased disabled access, happy visitors, happy locals, happy Brits who were in a new context and liking it," she said, in what I think was a contribution to A Point of View on BBC Radio 4.

"I recall riding the Tube one Olympic day and assisting a stranger with her coat.

"The man beside me softly offered, 'We don't usually help each other, do we? Or talk to each other.'

"We smiled."

Now, it may only have lasted for a month, but this transformation has a value.

London 2012 helped put a smile on the face of the city ©Getty Images

In its crudest terms - perhaps two Tube passengers who at any other time would not have spoken did a deal; or became friends; or set up a business together; or fell in love and produced an infant who will be the next Einstein.

You can't say London 2012 was 100 per cent responsible for such things; and it would be a pig to put a realistic value on them.

But sure as eggs are eggs, London 2012 should get some of the credit; and such scenes would have been replicated enough times for the value to be substantial.

It is no bad thing as we struggle to cope with modern life that we seem increasingly to clutch at ways of comparing and ranking things through league tables, benchmarking, price comparison websites.

But one negative side-effect of this is that we perhaps show an increased tendency to assume that if something falls outside the accepted parameters, or worse is hard to measure, it doesn't exist, or has no value.

News like this month's stories from Guadalajara and Edmonton makes it all the more vital for sport to find ways of ensuring that it can quantify and articulate all the good it does.

Its case for receiving scarce public resources when times are unpredictable or hard is not so overwhelming that it can afford to leave shots in its locker.

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, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

This week's spat on Twitter between Britain's 5000 and 10,000m specialists Mo Farah and Andy Vernon was described by one major newspaper as "incredible". Not really.

When one follows the sequence of comments made - the quick-flash medium of Twitter is the perfect fire-starter, building heat incrementally - it is entirely credible how the exchange ended up as it did.

That is, with the double world and Olympic champion calling Vernon "embarrassing" and suggesting that American singer Taylor Swift could probably run faster than his fellow Brit, who took  bronze and silver behind him over the 5000 and 10,000 metres respectively at last year's European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

Vernon set the niggling into motion as he posted a criticism of the quality of the field Farah will face when he makes his indoor debut over two miles at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday.

Mo Farah wins the 2014 European 10,000m in Zurich, with fellow Briton Andy Vernon taking silver. The two had have a spiky exchange on Twitter this week ©Getty Images

The 31-year-old Somali-born Londoner appears to have a relatively easy ride ahead of him against a field where only the 40-year-old double Olympic medallist Bernard Lagat of the United States stands out.

"Another stellar field against Mo Farah on home turf this weekend at Birmingham. #joke," tweeted Vernon, whose own possibility of being part of the race has been ended by an injury.

Farah responded: "Shame you didn't make the line up....again #ComeBackWhenYouWinSomethingDecent."

To which the 29-year-old World University Games winner of 2011 replied:  "Lol Mo Farah I think even you can work out that I can make the cut to the Indoor Grand Prix. Lets hope no one loses their shoe..."

Farah's reply to that: "I wish you did make the cut mate so I can leave you in my dust like ALWAYS!! Hahahaha #hatersgonnahate"

Vernon then responded: "1) stop quoting Taylor Swift. 2) I don't hate you Mo. I would just rather watch a race than the Mo Show. #playersgonnaplay."

Farah's final post read: "That's why they didn't put you in the race mate.. Cos you're an embarrassment!! Taylor swift can probably run faster than you!"

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. She's Swift by name - but could she beat Andy Vernon? Mo Farah seems to think so ©AFP/Getty Images

Vernon, who also got into a Twitter spat with British runner Lynsey Sharp last year, later claimed Farah had been "arrogant" to call him an "embarrassment", adding:

"It was a worse retaliation than I thought I might get," he said. "I thought he would just ignore it because I didn't say anything malicious or offensive.

"I thought he would just take it as a joke or give me some banter back.

"I put in a jab but he put in a haymaker below the belt and it sparked off from there."

But the thing about banter is that it only exists between those who have an underlying affection or regard for each other. Clearly there is not enough accord in the bank between these two for Vernon's ambitions to be realised.

Some people may feel all this reflects badly upon British Athletics. Or even upon world athletics. But has any real harm been done?

It's not written in any national or international rules that competitors should love each other.

This little exchange of views is as nothing to the sledging that has been a common feature of cricket for so many years.

One of the earliest recorded examples of this occurred when the fi nest cricketer in Victorian England, Dr WG Grace - himself not noticeably averse to working on the minds of his opponents - was the target of what would now be recognised as a classic sledge by Essex fast bowler Charles Kortright.

England cricketer Matt Prior looks at ease as we chat over coffee at a plush London hotel ahead of the launch of his ONE Pro Cycling team.

The project, which is the brainchild of his and businessman Simon Chappell, was officially unveiled yesterday evening, and it is clear this is where his future lies.

The team he has helped assemble will compete at International Cycling Union (UCI) Continental level - two tiers below Team Sky - and his passion for his new venture is evident.

Prior has been out of cricketing action since the defeat to India at Lord's back in July after surgery on an injured Achilles, with the England Cricket Board (ECB) doctors admitting that the prognosis didn't look good.

This however gave him the opportunity to explore and pursue new avenues, and as part of his extensive rehabilitation, he fell in love with the sport of cycling.

"The rehab process has been slow and quite frustrating but I've had ONE Pro Cycling to focus my attention on," he told insidethegames.

"Anyone that's been through a long rehab knows you have your dark days and cycling has been something that has kept me going.

"I can go and do a four-hour bike ride and the rest of me will be in pieces but my Achilles feels great, so I've kept doing that.

"Quite quickly I got the bug and then I've got into it more and more."

Matt Prior (second left) spoke passionately about his newly-formed ONE Pro Cycling team at the launch party in London ©ONE Pro Cycling







It seems now that the South African-born wicketkeeper-batsman has turned what started out as a hobby into a potential career for once he hangs up his gloves, whenever that may be.

But even so, enjoying going out for the occasional bike ride in picturesque scenery is still a long way from even talking about setting up a professional cycling team, let alone launching one.

After conversations in bars and meetings aplenty, the concept was in place and after the soft launch in December, where the team members were announced as was a small list of sponsors, Prior and Chappell's dream became a reality, and they are now ready to enter the daunting world of cycling, armed with hungry, raw young talent and passionate coaching staff.

Ambition is very much a buzzword among the group, and the team are clearly not just looking to make up the numbers.

"When I was 15 years old I never just wanted to be a professional cricketer; I wanted to play for England, to win Ashes series' and to play in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)," he said.

"You always want to reach the highest level you can and this is no different. If you're a cycling team you want to be involved in the biggest races, like the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, and getting there is our main dream.

"It is for now though a distant goal. We're not sitting here saying that's going to happen in a year because that would be laughable. We know we've got a lot of hard work to do before we can start thinking about that."

For all the excitement and enthusiasm etched all over his face, it may seem to those sceptics among the vast sporting arena that launching a cycling team in this day and age represents a challenge in itself, and not just logistically or financially.

Lance Armstrong's admission to prolonged doping throughout his career ensures cycling will always be tarred with the same brush ©Getty Images



The sport has been plagued with a miasma of doping scandals for decades, culminating in the Lance Armstrong case, which will see cycling forever tarred with the same toxic brush, but Prior didn't shirk the question when asked how his team will combat the issue.

"Every sport has its issues and no sport is without pros and cons," he said.

"It's a big issue but it's very simple for us - we have a zero-tolerance policy towards any of it and all our riders know that.

"One of our big principles is doing things the right way and the guys have bought into that and I can't see us having any problems."

Even when talking about a subject that has caused widespread controversy, he speaks with genuine enthusiasm about all things cycling, but there remains an elephant in the room.

Kevin Pietersen. That book. "The Big Cheese."

In the Pietersen book, the batsman, widely regarded as one of the best this country has ever seen, accused Prior and others of instigating a bullying culture within the England dressing room.

Pietersen claimed Prior walked around calling himself "The Big Cheese," and in a slightly childish manner, he made several sly digs about the wicket-keeper's love of cycling, insinuating that he had no clue about the sport.

It would have been remiss of me not to ask, especially seeing as the story dominated the back-pages and news bulletins for months, however it is a subject he would have discussed a million times since Pietersen released his autobiography in October of last year.

That being said, Prior, who has seven Test match hundreds to his name, was more than willing to answer the question, before it was swiftly swept under the carpet.

"Ultimately it was just sad that one of the most successful periods in English cricket was tarnished," he said.

"But the way I look back on it is that they were the best years of my life in an England cricket shirt and I take a huge amount of pride in playing for my country in that era."

While being the chief executive of a professional cycling team represents something completely different for Prior, who became the first wicket-keeper to hit a century on debut in 2007, he exudes a determination to one day pull on the England test cricket shirt again, and at the age of 32 that isn't beyond all realms of possibility.

He admitted that he must treat both his cricketing career and his cycling venture as "separate entities" and that once he has regained his fitness, claiming back his spot in the England team is his number one priority as he bids to help a cricketing nation exit the doldrums they so often find themselves in.

Matt Prior admitted a return to the England side was "a long way off" but didn't rule out pulling on the shirt again in the future ©Getty Images



His experience says it all as he was part of the team that were ranked on top of the Test rankings in 2011 and he has been involved in no fewer than three Ashes series victories.

It is so easy to forget how scarce those used to be.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'd have thought anyone slightly mad to suggest that Prior would be launching his own cycling team at 32, and it still feels odd to be talking about his cricket career as if he has already retired.

"I'm so far off playing cricket again and in all honesty it's not really something I've thought about yet, but you never say never and I don't think you've seen the last of me, "Prior added.

"But I think getting back into the England team is going to be as much of a challenge as getting the ONE Pro Cycling team to the Tour de France."

While this may be the case, Prior is not put off by the daunting challenge that lies ahead of his newly-formed team.

Le Grand Fromage looks ready for an assault on Le Grand Tour.

Liam Morgan is a junior reporter for insidethegames. To Follow him on Twitter click here.