It was, in retrospect, akin to the feeling inspired by watching Usain Bolt run away from fields of top class athletes over the 100 and 200 metres in recent years, Bolt being simply bigger, stronger and faster to the point where it seems almost unfair.

Back in 1995, the same sense of injustice was aroused as the sporting world watched and wondered at a 20-year-old bulldozer of a New Zealand rugby union player named  Jonah Lomu who turned the Rugby World Cup in South Africa into an exhibition of  man-against-boys.

The All Blacks eventually ran up against Will Carling's men of England in the semi-final at Cape Town, and I recall being despatched, bizarrely, just down the road from my home to watch the match on television. Reason being, Bishop's Stortford Rugby Club old boy Ben Clarke had recently established himself in the England team. Colour piece therefore required from the clubhouse.

Within three minutes of the start, Jonah Lomu had done serious damage to the atmosphere of excited anticipation within Bishop's Stortford Rugby Club and also, a little more importantly, to a succession of bold, doomed Englishmen, all built on human scale, who had attempted to prevent him scoring the opening try. It would prove to be one of four he contributed to New Zealand's 45-29 win. Colour piece? Colour it black. Or rather, All Black.

I recall the stunned silence brought about by Lomu's first flourish after he had had to double back and pick up a misfired pass from a colleague. Despite losing all momentum at that point, once he started to roll towards the England line his progress  became inexorable as white shirts flew at him like so many pieces of paper in a high wind.

Tony Underwood's attempt to come to grips was brutally severed. An attempted tap-tackle by Carling, never a lissom player at the best of times, proved entirely futile as Lomu moved through the gears, with only one man between him and a score - full back Mike Catt.

All Black Jonah Lomu has shrugged off Tony Underwood and is evading Will Carling's tap tackle, which means that England full back Mike Catt is about to get run over as the New Zealander scores the first of four tries in his side's semi-final win at the 1995 Rugby World Cup ©Getty Images

Catt, who would have his moment of World Cup glory eight years later when his kick to touch concluded England's victory over Australia in the final, squared up to the oncoming black mass, legs apart, arms awaiting, and was simply run over, ending up doubled over on his back.

For England followers, it was car-crash TV. Lomu being the car.

The question of legacy is one that is debated during every major sporting event. How can we make sure that everyone feels the benefit of an event like the Commonwealth Games, which lasts just a few weeks? Even more importantly, how do you create a legacy for the most disadvantaged and hardest to reach communities in the UK?

This is why we set up a residential camp in Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games in partnership with Spirit of 2012 and the Welsh Government. It gave 1,000 young people from over 80 StreetGames projects in disadvantaged communities the opportunity to experience the incredible atmosphere of the Games.

They came from all over the UK, as far afield as Hastings, Newport, Plymouth and more locally from Scotland. They not only had the chance to see the top-class athletes in action but also took part in sports sessions at the camp just outside of Glasgow.

For many of these young people, it was the first time they'd left their home town, let alone been to a major sporting event. Many of them hadn't camped before, which was an exciting experience in itself. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that few of them will forget. The comments of one girl summed it up perfectly: "The rugby sevens game was amazing! I've never been a rugby fan, but now I'd definitely watch it again!"

Children from disadvantaged communities were given the chance to take part in sports sessions during Glasgow 2014 ©Getty Images for Coca Cola



This is a model we know can be really powerful to broaden horizons. We first experimented with it around the London 2012 Olympic Games, when we gave 1,800 disadvantaged youngsters the opportunity to watch top-class live sport through our "Give and Go" programme. These events give young people the chance to meet people from different communities with similar backgrounds. It gives them something to look forward to and something exciting to take back to their friends and family at home.

But the spirit of the Games can't just stop after the Closing Ceremony. It's important that even those who didn't see the events live still get the chance to emulate the stars and take part in sport at home. One way we're doing this is by running 200 Pop Up Clubs in local communities that are bringing Glasgow 2014 to 14,000 young people's doorsteps both before and after the Games.

Just two weeks ago in Wigan, a local festival brought 100 young people from different communities and postcodes together to try a range of sports and mix with youngsters from similar backgrounds. It's important - one lad said that his favourite part of the experience was "meeting new people from all over and having to be in a completely new environment with so many activities".

Supported by Spirit of 2012, the sessions are giving young people the chance to take part in some of the events that gripped the nation in July, such as athletics, table tennis, rugby and badminton. The young people involved are able to get their own slice of the Games in their local communities and continue the legacy.

We want to create a sustainable legacy from major events such as Glasgow 2014 ©Glasgow 2014 Ltd via Getty Images



These sporting opportunities can often be out of reach for those in disadvantaged communities, both geographically and financially. The beauty of Pop Up Clubs is that they can be set up anywhere. A badminton net can be set up in a park or a game of table tennis can be created from any surface with a pop up net.

We know from speaking to young people that this is the kind of sport they want - a vibrant and varied offer that requires little commitment and is more social than competitive. By taking sport to their doorstep, you can make sure they don't miss out on the chance to get active.

It's not about running sessions for the few weeks of the Commonwealth Games, we want to create a sustainable legacy that keeps young people active for years to come. By helping local volunteers gain coaching qualifications, they can lead their own clubs from the ground up. We know that this approach works from the experiences of the young people we work with as part of our Training Academy.

One young lad we know from Glasgow used to get in trouble with teachers and the police before he started volunteering at his local club. He's now become a real role model for other young people in the area and thinks nothing of giving up his weekends to run sports sessions. This grassroots approach doesn't just benefit the volunteers themselves, but makes a lasting difference to whole communities.

Glasgow 2014 is just one of several major global sporting events that have come to the UK in recent years, and won't be the last. It is crucial these events are inclusive of everyone, from every background and provide more than just venues and physical infrastructure. It's about creating a human legacy of inspired young people, better able to cope with the challenges they face and motivated to make sport and physical activity a part of their everyday lives.

The Commonwealth Games have provided the inspirational platform, it is now essential we turn this into a sporting habit for life in every community.

Jane Ashworth is chief executive of StreetGames. If you would like to support StreetGames' Give and Go initiative, you can find out more here.

It has been an exhilarating, almost magical, British summer of sport, one to lift the heart as well as hopes for the future.

There is barely a sport which since the 2012 Olympics has not upped its game. Especially this year.

Examine the British results not only in the golden after-glow of Glasgow's  memorable Commonwealth Games which saw England on top of the medals table and hosts Scotland rejoicing in their greatest-ever haul, but the numerous UK successes in both the European athletics and swimming championships, as well as International Paralympic Committee European athletics championships.

So many sports, from athletics through to triathlon and taekwondo, have picked up the baton after 2012. Especially gymnastics, which, far from taking a Tumble (save in the ho-hum current Saturday night TV reality show of that name) has come on in leaps and bounds.

One of the features of the Commonwealth Games, it has unearthed new home-brewed stars, such as quadruple gold medallist Claudia Fragapane, now high among the world's finest with her flamboyant  locks, twists, wriggles, vaults and somersaults.

Giarnni Regini-Moran is among the rising stars of British sport, having won five medals at Nanjing 2014 ©Nanjing 2014



Plus her fellow 16-year-old Giarnni Regini-Moran, who scooped five medals in the Youth Olympics in Nanjing last week - another event that saw young Brits soaring to success.

On the pro side we had prolific Ulsterman Rory McIlroy's Open golf victory, while even England's maligned cricketers finally got their act - and heads - together to resoundingly thump India in the Test series.

There was that blockbuster fight night at Wembley with the knock-out

domestic return between Carl Froch and George Groves drawing a record-breaking 80,0000 crowd, while Sheffield's Kell Brook has just pulled off what had seemed a mission impossible by beating world welterweight champion Shawn Porter in his own US backyard.

England's redoubtable but unpaid lionesses, including a plumber, a vet, a lifeguard, several teachers and students, who all trained in their spare time, won rugby's women's World Cup and there was even an historic  triumph in fencing when Barnet's James Davis secured Britain's first-ever European foil gold.

All good stuff...but hang on a mo.

Along comes football, a game which can always be relied upon, to plummet the depths of the unsavoury, to spoil the party.

As if England's World Cup performance in Brazil was not woeful enough, the start of the Premier League season already has been blighted by one of the sleaziest scandals ever to hit the sport.

Allegations of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and homophobia in a series of texts involving the former Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay and his then cohort Iain Moody have shockingly surfaced to further besmirch the game.

The texts between Malky Mackay and Iain Moody have done further damage to football ©Getty Images



Mackay was set to be appointed as Crystal Palace's manager last week-where Moody was already the sporting director, but the south London club abruptly shelved the move in the light of the allegations while Moody was forced to quit his role.

The scandal sent shockwaves through the football world after it emerged that Cardiff's ­Malaysian owner Vincent Tan had sent a dossier to the Football Association (FA) as part of a probe into Mackay and Moody.

The files included text slurs and allegations of transfer wrongdoings that blocked Mackay, 42, getting the job at Palace.

In one message Mr Tan was allegedly called a "chink", while an official at a different club was apparently referred to as "the homo".

Another exchange with a young player who has a female agent said: "I bet you'd love a bounce on her falsies."

And one concerning agent Phil Smith read: "Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers!!!''

The FA are said to be "investigating" these and other offensive missives including one which concerned the signing of Korean midfielder Kim Bo-kyung when Moody informed Mackay that "five of the b******s including the player are arriving for talks."

The reply was "Fkn chinkys" and a further message read: "Fk it. There's enough dogs in Cardiff to go round."

A football club official is referred to as "a gay snake" and a French player as "an independently-minded young homo." A[i]separate deal involving French players states: "Not many white faces among that lot."

The texts were apparently discovered after a dawn raid on the home of Moody by investigators hired by Tan to probe the controversial transfer worth £50 million made by the pair.

But if football looked to its leadership for immediate action, inevitably it was disappointed.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore was embroiled in his own scandal earlier this year ©Getty Images



The Premier League and FA as usual sat on their hands, while the League Managers' Association (LMA) tried to sweep it all under the carpet with a shoulder-shrugging statement in which chief executive Richard Bevan described Mackay's texts as "friendly banter" and argued that at a time when he was under great pressure the manager was merely "letting off steam to a friend".

The LMA subsequently apologised after widespread criticism "for some of its wording".

It was hardly any wonder that Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore's lips were sealed, because earlier this year the campaign groups Women in Football and the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation said they were "surprised and disappointed" by the Premier League's own lack of action against its boss, who himself had been forced to apologise after it was revealed he had sent a series of sexist emails to a lawyer friend.

In the shared emails there were jokes about "gash" and "big-t****d broads" and "female irrationality".
FA chair Greg Dyke was told his by lawyers that the FA could take disciplinary action against all-powerful Scudamore but declined to do so.

Doubtless he recalled that it was not so long ago that the FA itself was   embroiled in a sex scandal of its own when the then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson and chief executive Mark Palios both had affairs with glamorous FA secretary Farah Alam.

Rani Abraham, the PA who exposed Scudamore's crude messages, maintains: "The Premier League is so powerful that the FA and other major figures in the game are scared of it.

"Football is run by dinosaurs at the top. The League Managers Association's response shows how out of touch it all is."

The murky Mackay affair has distinct echoes of that of Sky TV football presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray who were heard on air making derogatory remarks about a female referee's assistant. When more sexist comments about female Sky personnel came to light, ex-Scottish football star Gray was sacked and Keys resigned.

Perhaps more significantly, Mackay should ponder the fate of Ron Atkinson, the former Manchester United manager whose copious media work came to an abrupt halt in April 2004, when he was forced to resign from ITV after he broadcast a racial remark live on air about the black Chelsea player Marcel Desailly believing the microphone was off.

He has not had a serious job in football since and in all probability, despite an abject public apology in which he denied being a racist or holding the sentiments expressed in the damning emails, Mackay will find he is similarly unemployable.

Except maybe in the Middle East where they tend to take a more lenient view of such prejudices, as Gray and Keys have since discovered.

Sports Minister Helen Grant has so far remained silent on a string of controversial issues ©Getty Images



This latest situation seems to have exposed English football's putrid underbelly, with many prejudices still endemic in a game which continues to live in the dark ages.

How many other managers, coaches and club officials are there who privately have made similarly sniggering comments but are fortunate enough not to have been caught out?

Allegations of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination reported to anti-discrimination body Kick It Out more than trebled last season to 284.

Which causes Kick it Out chairman Lord Ouseley to urge reform. "I think what we have got to recognise is that there is a serious problem out there about prejudice and bigotry...something has to be done."

I agree. We need action from the sports minister.

So far Helen Grant, appointed last October, has remained silent on controversial issues but this latest abomination surely demands some high-level comment, especially as one of the other hats she wears is that of equalities Minister.

I have some sympathy with Grant. Her popular predecessor Hugh Robertson, who invariably had a quotable view on contentious matters, and was getting to grips with obstinate football bedfire being moved on, has proved a hard act to follow.

Britain's first black sports Minister has trodden warily and seems to purposely have adopted a low profile approach to a role which the Government erroneously appears to consider of less significance now that 2012 is done and dusted.

She prefers digging away quietly at the grass roots of sport than mixing it with the big hitters and has genuine enthusiasm for issues such as greater participation by women and young people. When she took over she assured me "my door will always be open", yet some sports bodies complain she is hard to pin down.

For example, British Basketball's performance chief Roger Moreland says he requested a meeting with her in June to discuss government-backed UK Sport's withdrawal of funding, which has had a crippling effect on to the sport, and others similarly hit, but was told he must wait until October because of the summer recess, party conferences and her other Ministerial commitments, which also includes tourism.

Prime Minister David Cameron obviously has more pressing matters to deal with on his return from holiday but surely it is now time to make her position full-time.

Then perhaps she can give some urgent attention to delivering football, this money-saturated, ostrich-like, utterly shameless game the kicking it deserves.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning 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.

Last week I was privileged, and I use that term in a moderately loose way, to spend an afternoon following the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach as he toured around various venues here at the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Since becoming head of the Olympic Movement last September, Bach has racked up a remarkable amount of air miles travelling around the world, patiently taking time to meet everyone from athletes to administrators, and from world leaders to the average man on the street. As we are told whenever the camera spots him at an Opening or Closing Ceremony, his status as "Olympic champion, team foil fencing, Montreal 1976" boosts his appeal further, adding an extra string to his bow...an extra sharpness to his blade.

But nothing had prepared me for quite how intense travelling around behind him would be, as we were met with a reception suitable for the most "A-list" of celebrities. It wasn't quite The Beatles in the United States in 1964, or Barack Obama on one of his world tours today, but I don't think it can have been too far off...

"Don't be late," I was warned. "We are leaving at quarter past two and won't be able to wait." Okay, this wasn't quite true as we didn't actually leave until at least 25 past, but once President Bach appeared and was chaperoned into the leading vehicle, we were off, and woe betide the two poor French journalists who were left behind.

"Are you ready for a crazy afternoon?" an IOC official asked. She had a look of anticipation mingled with trepidation and, perhaps, a touch of fear.

First up was beach volleyball. Bach was taken to the VIP stand - or rather, mistakenly to the media stand and then the VIP stand by a typically enthusiastic volunteer - while we all found seats whereever we could around him.

"Please give a big cheer for a special guest, the President of the International Olympic Committee," the stadium announcer shouted. After being momentarily shocked to hear just one lone clap, I realised this was because it had been announced in English rather than Chinese, and moments later, when the message was repeated in the local tongue, the arena burst into excited applause.

Beach volleyball was our first stop ©ITG





For the next few minutes we sat and watched the action. Deprived of wi-fi access, I was quite enjoying being able to engross myself in sport without the distraction of our live blog, as Canada and Latvia engaged in an exciting duel on the sand. Beach volleyball is quite possibly the only sport, I remember thinking, in which serving is a disadvantage...

But no sooner had I taken this in than the set had ended and Bach was up and out of his seat, swiftly followed by his entourage.

"Be careful, we did this yesterday and he was just going to the toilet," warned one person. "Watch Mrs Bach, just watch Mrs Bach," cried another, who had clearly done this before. "If she moves, then you know he's actually leaving."

As it turned out, he was popping onto the sand for a closer look. This turned into a photo opportunity for a vast number of players, volunteers and cheerleaders, and, 10 minutes later, Bach was still posing on court with a ball, clearly wondering if it would be a good idea to attempt a serve. By this point, the four players were lurking close by, they did after all have a match to finish, and Bach left with a final flurry of "selfies".

It is a mark of the vast experience in the British eventing squad which is heading to France to defend its World Equestrian Games (WEG) team title that the "baby" of the bunch, 31-year-old Oliver Townend, finished 11th in the 2006 Games.

Shropshire-based Townend has said it was "a really nice surprise" to hear of his call-up. But with recent results including the runner-up spot at Badminton and fourth at Luhműhlen, aboard Black Tie II, the former racehorse set to be his mount in Normandy, this likeable Yorkshireman is plainly bang in form.

It is now four years since Townend's annus mirabilis, when wins at Badminton and Burghley on the greys Flint Curtis and Carousel Quest propelled him into the public eye and set him up for a stab at the sport's grand slam, a rarely-won six-figure jackpot for claiming three consecutive top eventing titles.

It was at that point that Eyjafjallajökull exploded into the storyline.

The disruption to European air travel caused by the immense ash cloud produced by the now notorious Icelandic volcano's eruption took effect just as Townend was setting out for Kentucky and that all-important third event.

"It was a nightmare of a journey in terms of everybody seemed to be trying to get home and I was trying to get away," he recalls in an interview.

"When you are walking in the opposite direction to thousands of people trying to get somewhere it's fairly tricky.

"I ended up getting a train from London to Paris because I had heard that the last flight was from over there, and then when I got to Paris everything was cancelled and everybody was in deadlock there."

The ash cloud caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano made Oliver Townend's journey to Kentucky fraught ©AFP/Getty Images



So he jumped into a taxi and embarked on a 16-hour, €1,500 (£1,200/$2,000) cab-ride to Madrid, from where he eventually did get a flight.

At least his horses had already made the crossing, but it was hardly ideal preparation for such an important competition.

"Obviously I arrived quite tired, but I don't think it affected the performance," Townend says.

"I had two horses out there. One young horse jumped around clear, one second outside the time."

The other, however, took a fall, leaving Townend with cracks to his sternum, both shoulders, a collar bone and four ribs.

These injuries ruled him out of the decisive show-jumping phase and hence ended his grand slam hopes.

Since then, with those star grey horses having reached the end of their competitive careers, Townend has had to show patience, even if his record at big competitions has remained admirably consistent.

"It just takes a lot of time and work," he says.

"Somebody was interviewing me the other day and said, 'How are you doing horsepower-wise?' I said, 'I've got the best bunch I've ever had in my life.' He laughed and said, 'You said that two years ago.' I said, 'That's because it's the same flipping bunch.'

"It just takes a long, long time.

"You can't just wave a magic wand and they arrive at top level. It takes a long time to get them there and when they do get there, they don't have a lot of years - three or four max."

The fall in Kentucky left Oliver Townend with cracks to his sternum, both shoulders, a collar bone and four ribs ©Getty Images



Athletes such as Townend, who have to make ends meet in what is a costly sport, are also faced with a continual dilemma: can they afford to keep their most promising horses, or should they cash in their chips to provide the working capital they need to keep their businesses ticking over?

"I sold a lot of good horses that probably would have stepped up," he admits.

"I sold Land Vision that won Badminton with [the New Zealand rider] Mark Todd in 2011.

"Those horses don't come along very often, but at the same time it gets to the stage that it's not a choice...

"At that stage, I did have to do that to keep the business going.

"At the same time, it was as positive as winning Badminton/Burghley, if not more positive - financially."

Townend says he thinks there are "only possibly two handfuls of us in the country who are actually making what I would class as a proper living.

"It's an incredibly difficult thing to do.

"It's a very, very difficult balance; you either have to teach or deal in horses basically.

"But still for me it's very nearly an impossible thing at this stage to make a living out of."

An improvement in a level of prize money that he describes as "fairly pitiful" would help.

"I think it's discussed a lot, but it needs to progress soon, hopefully," he argues.

"Otherwise I think we'll be missing out on some future stars, because it is so difficult to make a living."

Townend has also had to cope with a two-year driving ban, which one would have thought might amount to a significant impediment for someone whose career depends, in part, on the transportation of competition horses from place to place.

A two-year driving ban for Oliver Townend has not stopped him thanks to help from the staff he employs ©Getty Images



"I'm very, very fortunate with the staff I've got at home," he says.

"We have got two people who can drive the wagon. I employ up to 11 people. Most of them have car-tests. Hopefully I'm not that bad to be around that they don't mind coming to the events with me.

"I don't really drink that much.

"It was a stupid, stupid mistake and nothing but a stupid misjudgement.

"I didn't get in the car after a wild night out drinking, knowing that I was over the limit, you know.

"I went out for a meal, had half a glass of wine too much and paid the consequences, but at the same time there's still obviously no excuse whatsoever for it."

To my surprise, Townend tells me, "I'm not going to drive again".

While he did not have the privileged upbringing enjoyed by some top equestrian athletes, other elements in his background equipped him perfectly for a career as a skilled and versatile rider.

In this way, his story should provide encouragement for those who wonder how they can ever make their way in this risky and demanding profession without access to a comforting cushion of capital.

Confirming that his father used to trade horses "as a hobby", Townend tells me he "got put on everything: things that stood up; things that laid down; things that were ungenuine; and obviously, through that, some very good ones came out as well...

"There's only one way to learn how to ride properly and that's to ride everything you get given to ride = and you know a hundred, a thousand of them...

"Being very aware that we didn't have an endless pot of money to support a career was something that has given me the hunger, but at the same time I couldn't have had better support from my parents."

Oliver Townend is eyeing a strong run at the World Equestrian Games in France which begin tomorrow ©Getty Images



He describes his present crop of good horses as "a mixed bunch...I still take a few of other peoples' that they are not getting on with for whatever reason, but at the same time I've got some of my home-grown bunch coming through as well, that I've had from four and five-years old.

His WEG mount Black Tie has been with him for four years.

"His owner Karyn Shuter helps run my business at home so it's very special for her," he says.

"She bought him out of a free-ads magazine in New Zealand - she's from New Zealand herself - for very little money."

Armada, whom he rode to second-place at Badminton, is, he says, a former ride of Andrew Nicholson, another top New Zealand eventer.

"Andrew at the time had a serious amount of four-star horses and Armada is very time-consuming," Townend confides.

"He was very hot and very feisty and took a lot of time to settle. He had lots of personality you could say."

Of his latest Badminton exploit, he says: "I would have certainly signed for second after dressage.

"Certain bits of his dressage test were fantastic but there were two mistakes in there that you can't afford when you are trying to win Badminton.

"As I was walking the [cross-country] course, I just quietly said to Piggy French who I had bumped into, 'I could just do with it starting to rain now.' She said, 'Don't say that, you'll probably slip over.'

"And then it did start to rain, and it rained and rained and rained.

"I knew that would suit him because he is a phenomenal galloper and has a lot of scope: cross-country would be his strongest suit."

I ask Townend if this year's performance at what must still be the best-known three-day event among general sports fans had felt as good as winning in 2009 - and got the answer I should have expected from such a fierce competitor: "Not quite".

But, I persisted, it meant you were back, didn't it?

"Back from where? I've never gone anywhere. Everyone just stopped watching me.

"I never went anywhere. It was their eyes that were missing."

Not any more they're not.

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.

It seems to be a bit of an American thing, being blessed. At least as far as athletics is concerned.

To explain...well, let's go back a bit.

One of the moments in world athletics I most regret missing was a press conference ahead of the 1991 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Tokyo involving the multiple Olympic and world champion Carl Lewis.

As the pre-eminent athlete of his age (at least, according to him), Lewis had drawn a large international media audience, but he began to appear troubled as unaccountable bursts of noise - sometimes indicating joy, sometimes frustration - punctuated the lengthy proceedings. The British media seemed to be involved.

Afterwards, Lewis's manager Joe Douglas enquired of a Brit what had been going on. It turned out there had been a sweepstake on how many times Lewis would use the term "focus" at the press conference. Some were conservative in their estimate, suggesting three or four foci, and as the total passed beyond their estimates they voiced their dismay, while others openly rejoiced. I think the final total was 17, but it was a long time ago and besides, I wasn't there.

King Carl in his pomp - Carl Lewis is chaired by his 4x100m team-mates at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where Lewis won four golds ©Getty Images

"You British guys, you kill me!" was Douglas's sporting reaction.

But over the years, Lewis's compatriots have exacted their revenge. Like some dreadful virus, "focus" just won't go away.

And other buzz words have been added to the US lexicon in the meantime.

During last year's athletics circuit, for instance, it felt like there were more executions than in the French Revolution.

So many races, more than you could imagine, were "all about executing".

But they were also, let us not forget, all about "having fun". Having fun executing.

And how did the average US athlete, or - as this is something of a cultural thing - US-based athlete feel?

Well, they felt "blessed".  Which is nice, but...

In Stockholm this week, the press conferences staged ahead of today's IAAF Diamond League meeting threw up something of a diamond in terms of an example as Tori Bowie, the US long jumper and sprinter, put it all together in a fashion that was hard to improve upon:

"I guess first of all I just want to say this has been a blessing. It's been a fun year. It's all about going out there and executing, every race. It's all about going out there and learning how to run. So that's my main focus."

There it was, like a perfect jewel. And there was a second, smaller gem to come:

"Of course every athlete wants to win a gold medal, so that's what I'm hoping for."

US sprinter and long jumper Tori Bowie, pictured after winning the 100m at this year's IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome ©AFP/Getty Images

To be fair to Tori Bowie, she became a lot more interesting after this opening gambit as she spoke about the difficulties of switching between her two main events. But those buzzwords - it seems like someone Stateside is schooling a generation in blandness.

At such times, one seeks, desperately, the unbland. Although sometimes the unbland can exact its own heavy price.

Charged with writing press conference feature following Tomasz Majewski's gold medal performance in the London 2012 Olympic shot put final, I encountered an awkward truth - the Pole did not want to be at the press conference, and was making no secret of it.

Majewski's brutal treatment of three opening questions diverted media attention onto the bronze medallist Reese Hoffa, who began to describe his childhood adoption and subsequent reuniting with his birth mother. It was an affecting story, but it was a long story, and Majewski began ripping open a cereal bar and eating part of it before offering some to the silver medallist David Storl - who turned it down with a smile - and then to the interview moderator, who also demurred.

Storl was then asked about another touching matter, the recent death of his grandmother, to whom he had hoped to dedicate a gold medal. Majewski seemed to be wondering what kind of press conference this was turning out to be. "Are there any other questions?" he asked, looking as if he might be about to break the table in front of him apart and stride from the room, scattering journalists to either side of him.

The gold medallist was asked another question - and it was on the subject of his touchiness with the press. Would he, the questioner wondered, be able to deal with all the public and media interest back home in Poland for another four years, because - and here you slightly questioned the questioner's wisdom - he seemed "so short tempered" with the public.

Tomasz Majewski, London 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the shot, pictured on the rostrum with silver medallist David Storl (left) and bronze medallist Reese Hoffa, enjoyed his press conference a lot less than his competition ©Getty Images

"Four years," said Majewski,  lugubriously. "Another four years...it's nothing hard. You prepare for that. So you can do it."

It seemed fair to say that Majewski's publicity agent would be earning every zloty in future weeks and months.

Having been rebuffed earlier, I tried again: "Tomasz, you have been called the Silent Giant. Is that true, or is it a load of rubbish?"

The giant Pole seemed suddenly very tired. It had after all been a long hard day. "I don't know..." he ventured.

"Do you consider yourself to be a silent person?" I asked.

"Me? Silent?" He exploded into incredulous mirth before once more resembling a man struggling desperately to free himself from an unbearable situation. "Oh God, we are tired...."

Storl was then asked whether there had been a bet between him and his girlfriend, the discus thrower Julia Fischer, over who would get a medal. There was the sound you get when you release the steam on a pressure cooker. The steam was coming from Tomasz Majewski.

"Where you get this question?" he asked. "Please guys..."

US long jumper Brittney Reese, pictured winning the 2013 IAAF world title, had an interesting response to a question at the press conference ahead of the 2014 Stockholm IAAF Diamond League meeting ©AFP/Getty Images

Tough. But on balance, preferable to the bland. And for those seeking the unbland here in Stockholm, there was a choice example from Brittney Reese, the US world and Olympic long jumper, who in answer to the question "You have been to Sweden two or three times. What do you think about our great country?" responded: "I love coming here every time, despite the weather. Every time I come here it rains."

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. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £8.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.

These are progressive times in Para-badminton's development, prompting Badminton World Federation (BWF) President Poul-Erik Høyer's comment that "Para-badminton is its own best advertisement and a compelling argument for its inclusion in the 2020 Paralympic Games".

As the BWF - the International Federation for badminton (and since 2011 for Para-badminton also) - prepares for the final stages of its application to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), its leader is clearly proud of the strides continually being made to grow para-badminton globally.

"We've just had our first-ever Level 1 Internationals hosted in Indonesia and England and we're looking forward to the European and Pan-American Continental Championships in Spain and Cuba respectively in the coming months. Having an event in Cuba is another first for para-badminton.

"We also have the Asian Para Games in October - so there's lots of activity and our athletes are getting more opportunities to develop and show their skills," he pointed out.

Add to this evolving canvas, upcoming development activities in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Uganda and it is evident Para-badminton is on a high. These programmes will focus on training coaches and improving players' skills and are in keeping with BWF's avowed policy of developing Para-badminton in the same manner as it has badminton; the motto being "One Sport - One Team".

So far the Olympics haven't reached for the skies - but don't bet against aeroplanes providing more than a ceremonial fly-past in the Games of the future.

I make this unusual prediction after a weekend in which I could have seen my team West Ham make their usual grim start to the season against Spurs, or watched engrossed on the box as England again dismantled  India in the Test and GB's athletes powered to unprecedented glory in the European Championships in Zurich.

Instead I decided to do something completely different. I went to the races at Ascot: not to witness flying hooves, but flying aircraft.

The royal racecourse was the surprising setting for the UK leg of the Red Bull air race, the World Championship of the skies, and mighty impressive it was too.

So much so that I came away wondering if the Olympics was missing a trick here. I even wondered if, say around 2036, we might see such a spectacle featuring in the Games.

Iconic Ascot was the perfect location for a weekend of spectacular entertainment in the skies ©Red Bull




Before you scoff and splutter, just consider the changes that have come about in the Olympic programme over the past half-century or so.

Who could have envisaged, back in 1956, that the 2016 Olympics would feature golf, rugby and beach volleyball?

Times and tastes are changing. So, we are led to believe, are the Olympics.

Introducing motorised sport is currently a no-no, which is why water skiing is not permitted yet windsurfing, far less worthy in my view, now is.

But who is to say that one day there won't be a Formula 1 Grand Prix? Would you bet against it?

Motor racing is not something which holds compelling fascination for me but it has global interest, great TV viewing figures and sound financial underpinning, commodities which eventually might whet Olympic appetites as golf obviously has.

The word is that new President Thomas Bach says he wants the International Olympic Committee to consider more exciting and spectacular events, while not increasing the number of competitors.

This Bach seems in the mood to compose a symphony of change and who knows the music he and his successors may have the Games dancing to as the 21st century progresses?

Could it be that some of the more traditional sports will be jettisoned to accommodate more viewer-friendly and commercially attractive pursuits?

With pursuits such as chess, cheerleading and pole dancing unashamedly pushing for an Olympic berth one would hope that, if there is to be a Games-changing situation, something like air-racing would be given the more serious consideration.

Air racing is a huge draw for spectators, as the action at Ascot proved ©Red Bull



This occupied thoughts as I watched the specialised light aircraft swooping and looping over Ascot, where the famous racecourse became a runway for the weekend.

Using iconic Ascot was a masterstroke - rather like the London Olympics employing Lord's for archery and Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball.

A dozen top international racing pilots, led by Britain's Paul Bonhomme, seeking his third successive World Championship, provided spectacular entertainment.

Air racing combines the fastest, most lightweight and agile racing planes in which seasoned pilots navigate a low-level aerial track through which they whizz at speeds up to 230mph.

It is the world's fastest motor-powered sport and Bonhomme, whose day job is piloting 747s for British Airways, is surely the fastest man on earth - or rather, above it. The Usain Bolt of the skies.

Aptly enough for a horse racing venue, he pipped fellow Briton Nigel Lamb by a nose-cone in 1 min 11.579sec to be first past the post, so to speak, in Sunday's final Master Class race before a sell-out crowd of 29,000.

It was a record 15th career victory for Bonhomme in his 55th race and also second win of the season worth 12 championship points that helped him cut the current World Championship lead of Austrian Hannes Arch from 13 to just two points. There are three races left in the eight-leg season, first in Dallas on September 6 and 7, Las Vegas on October 11 and 12 and then the grand finale in China on November 1 and 2.

Paul Bonhomme (centre) is at the top of the sport of air racing, with a record 15 career wins to his name ©Red Bull



"It's a great win," said Bonhomme, who had a dismal performance in qualifying on Saturday and was nearly eliminated in the first round on Sunday when he was beaten by Germany's Matthias Dolderer, who finished fourth overall. "The British crowd love aviation and I couldn't have wished for a better result."

Here is a relatively unsung British sporting hero. He began as a 16-year-old cleaning hangars and washing and refueling planes before getting his pilot's licence at 18. He worked as a flying instructor and air taxi pilot before flying charter flights. He turned to aerobatics and has been in flying shows since 1986.

The most successful pilot in the history of the Red Bull race, he has been on the podium 39 times since the event was created in 2003.

He would certainly like to see air racing as an Olympic sport one day, though as he will be 50 next month he appreciates he won't be the British pilot who goes for an inaugural gold. Nor would it be close rival Lamb, who is 58. Air racing is obviously a sport where age is no disadvantage.

"But there are some good young pilots coming through, Bonhomme assured insidethegames. "And yes, I'd love to see it in the Olympics. Why not? Some of the more commercial aspects might have to be removed but otherwise it has all the ingredients - excitement, speed, crowd appeal, and it makes great television. People can latch onto the romance of flying mixed in with the thrills of a really good competition. And there could certainly be medals in it for Britain."

But just how hazardous a sport is it? Has he ever crashed?

"In terms of injuries, your spine is constantly being compressed, so all aerobatic pilots suffer from lower back injuries and pain. We're flying at 12G - so 12 times your body weight! You have to look after your back, but I have to stay fit generally for all my flying.

"As for crashing, well...I crashed during an airshow in 1994. I made a mistake and the engine stopped while I was upside down at 70 feet. I thought, 'I'd better get this the right way up', but in turning I stalled and I crashed into a field. Apart from banging my teeth on the controls I was fine!"

Bonhomme is among several pilots who have hit the inflatable pylon but so far the only serious crash in the Red Bull race's seven year history came in April 2010 in Perth, Australi, when Brazilian Adilson Kindlemann lost control of his aircraft after rounding a pylon during practice. The plane plunged into the Swan River, flipped and floated upside down. Kindlemann, a former airline pilot and Brazil's national aerobatics champion, was quickly rescued and suffered only minor injuries.

So thrills and spills. Should the Olympics beware of low flying aircraft?

Whether air racing ever achieves Olympian heights may be questionable but you never know.

Maybe Las Vegas - currently known more for fights than flights - will be the host venue for the those 2036 Olympics when, should air racing have winged its way on to the programme, Citius, Altius, Fortus will have a rather symbolic ring about it.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning 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.

Coming so soon after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, there is a sense of déjà vu about attending another sporting extravaganza. This was something, for some funny reason, I felt especially strongly when sitting in the distinctly Glaswegianesque rain ahead of the Opening Ceremony on Saturday (August 16).

But, being back in Nanjing wields particular poignancy for me because a year ago I was here for my first overseas posting on insidethegames duty, bright eyed and bushy tailed for the effective test event that was the Asian Youth Games.

Totally and utterly Chinese. That's the best way I can describe the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Nanjing Summer Youth Olympic Games. It feels like the phrase "size matters" was picked up somewhere within Chinese culture and, when an opportunity like this comes along, the nation delivers; time and time again.

The global public reaction to the Commonwealth Games has been incredible and it has firmly cemented our position as a leading destination for major events. The Games has been a game-changer for both Glasgow and Scotland and we can all be proud about the impact on perception of the event as a whole.

Initial feedback from the Commonwealth Games Federation and Sports Federations has been extremely positive, and we will look to bring that passion and enthusiasm through to future bids. What we do now is vitally important and we are prepared to capitalise on the opportunities we have before us.

Scotland's position in the international marketplace was already strong, but the Games have proven that we can deliver at the very highest level concurrently across multiple venues for a sustained period of time.

Of course, in just a few weeks' time Scotland will host The Ryder Cup, with the eyes of the world returning once more. As with the Games, it is our aspiration to host the best ever Ryder Cup and our preparations are well on track to make that happen.

The hard benefits of hosting the Games and The Ryder Cup are clear. New and improved infrastructure is there in Glasgow and Edinburgh for all to see, while the final economic impact from both events will become known over the coming months.

Venues like the Emirates Arena, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the SSE Hydro and the Commonwealth Pool have provided the perfect setting for both the Games and a host of major events over the past three years. Regeneration across Glasgow and improvements in the transport networks throughout the country are also direct results of Scotland's status as host nation for these events.

Venues like the SSE Hydro, which hosted gymnastics during Glasgow 2014, have proved they are capable of staging world-class events ©Getty Images

Equally as important are the soft benefits, which include the good feeling surrounding Glasgow and Scotland following the Commonwealth Games, which I am sure will be matched by events at Gleneagles. There is an impact from the global media attention focused on Scotland, with the country on show - at its finest - to the world.

We also have a tangible benefit in terms of our people. As a legacy of both events this year, Scotland's volunteer workforce is now larger and more experienced than ever before. Fifteen thousand Clydesiders were the faces of the Games and we will look to continue to provide opportunities for people to engage with major events post-Ryder Cup.

We also have the sports participation impact that is an aspiration for all major events. With the Commonwealth Games and The Ryder Cup, we have an opportunity to encourage people to get involved in sport - to watch these events and say to themselves, "I'd love to give that a go".

It won't be for a number of years until we know for sure what has been achieved but you can be sure that in 10-15 years' time we will have young sportspeople sighting events in Glasgow and Gleneagles as their inspiration.

EventScotland, along with partners, will harness the legacy of the Games and The Ryder Cup to ensure that Scotland remains at the very forefront of the international events industry. Too many times we have seen major event hosts fail to capitalise on the potential for future events. We will ensure that is not the case for Scotland.

Scotland will have another opportunity to shine on the world stage next month when Gleneagles hosts the Ryder Cup ©Getty Images

We are acutely aware of the dangers of complacency and since the bid for the Commonwealth Games was won in 2007 we have always looked beyond the Closing Ceremony to ensure we continue our momentum.

We already have five major sporting events secured for 2015, along with the first ever presentation of the Turner Prize in Scotland but we continue to look to add to our portfolio. As the Home of Golf we are also able to welcome back The Open Championship and the Women's British Open to St Andrew's and Turnberry respectively.

There will be very few countries in the world that can claim to have hosted two of the biggest properties in world sport, and then follow it up with such a packed programme the following year. We are continually looking to the future and have a number of bids in progress including those for the Sudirman Cup and EURO 2020.

Our aspirations must now be to go for the biggest and best properties out there in the marketplace. There is a trust and acknowledgement that Glasgow and Scotland can deliver securely, but also spectacularly and we will continue to bring that to our work going forward. We want to bring a major cycling event to Scotland and our desire remains to host a World Championships in both curling and figure skating in the coming years.

All of this bodes well for our events, tourism and business landscape, and Scotland has much more to offer event property owners following this incredible year.

Paul Bush is the chief operating officer of EventScotland. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Can you imagine the fuss if men had to put up with what women put up with?

I'm talking about babies, although it could be other things. But babies- that is, having them (not making them, any fool can do that).

Talking to British athlete and mother-of-two Jo Pavey in the Letzigrund Stadium on Tuesday night, half-an-hour or so after she had won her first big track gold at the age of 40, I couldn't help wondering how a male athlete would have coped with the physical and mental demands that had been made on her in the months leading to the European Championships currently underway here.

(Not that we will ever be able to know. I get that. For some reason I am recalling something which happened shortly after my wife had given birth to our first child - a nurse popped her head round the door and said: "You look like you need a cup of tea." She was talking to me.)

Pavey is and always has been the most down-to-earth of athletes, without a shred of self importance. As she spoke about her preparations for this season, she enumerated with the odd burst of laughter the difficulties she had encountered on her route to a golden success in the 10,000 metres which followed the accruing of a Commonwealth bronze medal over 5,000m just 10 days earlier.

Jo Pavey, Britain's 40-year-old mother-of-two, celebrates her European 10,000m title in Zurich ©Getty Images

"It's funny. I don't know how I've done it really," she said, with more than a trace of wonder in her Devonian voice.

She added that the most difficult time for her had been having so little time to prepare for the European trials after the birth of her daughter Emily 10 months ago.

"I was still breast-feeding in April, but I had to be ready to run on May 10 and I just didn't know if I could do it. That was really difficult. My times in training were really terrible, and I felt so tired. I was just lying on the floor feeling exhausted! It was like I was running with weights on me, but now they have all been lifted off. I think being in that state probably got me really fit because I found it really hard to run fast but I was still putting the effort in."

Pavey added that she had had an even harder time getting back to fitness after the birth of her son Jacob four year ago, when both she and her newborn were unwell and required stays in hospital.

But as her form and general demeanour has made utterly clear in the space of the past month, Pavey has come through the challenges a happier, stronger and - she believes, crucially - a more relaxed person and athlete.

Paula Radcliffe poses with her young daughter Isla after winning the 2007 New York Marathon title ©AFP/Getty Images

It is a pattern that has become familiar in female distance running.

World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, who gave birth to her first child in 2007, went on to win the New York City Marathon that year - and indeed the following year.

Equestrian sport has for the past 18 years been in the privileged position of consistently having a leader who is also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member. However, short of an existing IOC member coming in and taking over the reins - so to speak, that all looks set to change following Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein's monumental announcement yesterday that she will not run for a third term as President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

When she steps down in December, her successor will be appointed, but at the time of writing only one candidate has come forward - Pierre Genecand, who, although as President of the Gstaad Polo Club and the Hublot Polo Gold Cup occupies a somewhat significant position in the equestrian world, lacks the coveted title of IOC member enjoyed by 105 of the world's sporting heavyweights.

Even by the bizarre standards of boxing's tales of the unexpected, the news that the veteran fight promoter Frank Maloney has undergone gender re-assignment and from now on is a woman known as Kellie Maloney ranks among the biggest shocks the sport has delivered. You could have knocked the fight fraternity down with a feather, let alone a right-hander.

I suppose the only more gob-smacking situation might have been if it was one of boxing's other famous Franks, Bruno or Warren, who had changed sex. Or that in the United States Don King was now Donna King.

Some very odd things happen in boxing - probably more so than in any other sport. But nothing could have prepared us for the sight in a Sunday tabloid newspaper of one of the toughest figures in the most macho business of all wearing a blonde wig and a dress and declaring: "I have always know that I was a woman."

Kellie Maloney, formerly Frank Maloney, said she has always known she was a woman
©Getty Images



I confess I have not been as stunned since one lunchtime back in 1971 when a group of us attending the first Ali-Frazier fight were asked at the weigh-in by the wonderfully laconic PR of Madison Square Garden, John X F Condon, if we wanted to meet the screen superstar Burt Lancaster, one of the ringside commentators.

Burt Lancaster? One of my celluloid heroes. Eagerly we agreed and as we approached  the iconic butch idol of Trapeze, From Here to Eternity and countless other smash hit movies turned towards us, he was wearing mascara, lipstick and his cheeks were rouged. "Hi Guys," he simpered.  "Don't ya just love their muscles!"

One of our number, the late Cockney commentator Reg Gutteridge gasped: "F*** me! He's an iron!" (iron hoof - rhyming slang for poof).

Some weeks later Lancaster, thrice-married father of five, was arrested in Hollywood wearing women's clothes and kit and it was revealed he was bisexual and a transvestite.

Thankfully times and attitudes have changed, which may be why Kellie Maloney's  "coming out" has been received with far more sympathy and understanding than opprobrium.

I had got wind of the story on Saturday morning and phoned Maloney to ask if the rumours were true.

The response was polite but guardedly negative. "I don't know anything about it," was the quietly repeated answer.

From the the hesitant tone I guessed there was something in it and subsequently, after the story broke exclusively in the Sunday Mirror, Maloney texted me to say: "Sorry for lying to you but I had no choices they (the Sunday Mirror) did not want me to say anything. I have been living in hell for years but finally found inner peace but I do miss boxing. It was what kept me going."

Kellie Maloney spoke exclusively to the Sunday Mirror about her gender re-assignment ©Sunday Mirror



As it happened, a disillusioned Maloney had walked away from boxing after 30 years last October following the brutal scrapping of his deal with Sky TV and the shock demise of his previously unbeaten Liverpool heavyweight David Price, one of several ex-Olympic stars with whom he had been associated. Price was ko'd twice in succession by ageing American Tony Thompson.

In the ensuing months it has transpired that the cheekly chappie from  Del Boy country in Peckham south London, has undergone hormone  treatment and therapy to change, at 61, from Frank to Kellie.

No-one had seen this coming, and we could be excused for wrongly thinking it was another outrageous publicity stunt pulled by someone who has been a master of this particular art.

Diminutive as he is at 5ft 4in, the ex-apprentice jockey and one time prospective Catholic priest has always been one of boxing's larger than  life characters. But the fact he was haunted by demons over a lifelong identity crisis was something no-one guessed.

I had always known him as very much a ladies' man-twice married, a father of three daughters, and a grandfather.

But his secret life and desires apparently stretched back well before he promoted the Olympic champion Lennox Lewis, in the early 1990s, taking him to the world title - the first British heavyweight champion in a Little and Large doubt act with Maloney always at his side in his trademark Union Jack suit.

Lennox Lewis (right) has said he respects the decision of his former promoter, now known as Kellie Maloney ©Getty Images



When he heard the news Lewis said: "I was just as shocked as anyone at the news about my former promoter and my initial thought was that it was a wind up.

"The great thing about life, and boxing, is that, day to day, you never know what to expect. This world we live in isn't always cut and dried or black and white, and coming from the boxing fraternity, I can only imagine what a difficult decision this must be.

"However, having taken some time to read Kellie's statements, I understand better what she, and others in similar situations are going through. I think that all people should be allowed to live their lives in a way that brings them harmony and inner peace.

"I respect Kellie's decision and say that if this is what brings about true happiness in her life, then so be it. #LiveAndLetLive."

In the past five years Maloney has suffered a ringside heart attack,  a suicide attempt, the death of his father and the discovery of arguably his last great fighting acquisition, Irishman Darren Sutherland, like Price an Olympic bronze medallist from Beijing, whom he found hanged in a south London bedsit in 2009. Maloney never really recoverd from the shock.

One of the most surprising aspects in the strange affair - almost as jaw-dropping as Maloney's own sexual transition - is the reaction from people in boxing. You would have expected it to be one of cyncism, disbelief or total derision.

But no. What Lewis has said is typical of a sport which, though intrinsically male-dominated, did not turn a hair when Nicola Adams, the first woman to win and Olympic boxing gold medal, confirmed she was bisexual, a revelation that has not harmed her career one iota.

Boxing has been both supportive and understanding. Certainly more so   than had Maloney been a famous football figure. Imagine the reaction from football fans had Sir Alex Ferguson announced he was now Dame Alexis Ferguson, or Wayne Rooney had become Waynetta!

Actually,Maloney has always been a Millwall supporter. At York Hall or any of boxing's other famous arenas, Kellie Maloney probably would receive a standing ovation should she walk into the arena.

Frank Maloney, pictured celebrating David Price's win over Audley Harrison in 2012, is being supported by the boxing community ©Getty Images



I doubt the reaction would be quite the same down at The Den if  Maloney, in high heels and a skirt, was spotted in the stands.

Inevitably there are jokes, smutty and otherwise, doing the rounds on social media. Someone tweeted that Kellie was back in business as a promoter and had made a purse offer - a Luis Vuitton.

But Maloney is big enough, in temperament if not stature, to rise above them.

Maloney now wants to return to the boxing scene as Kellie, advising young fighters. Why not? If she also wanted to to be a promoter again there would be no problem. Seven women already hold Board of Control promoters' licences.

As well as spending 30 years in boxing, Maloney has also dabbled in politics, standing for Ukip in Barking at the 2010 General Election and in the London Mayoral election in 2004, when he finished fourth to Ken Livingstone.

During his campaign for London Mayor in 2004, Frank Maloney was accused of making homophobic remarks ©Getty Images



Yet I once reminded him that during his Mayoral election bid he was accused of making remarks that were deemed homophobic. His response was interesting in the light of what has now transpired. "I don't think gays do a lot for society...I don't want to see gay policemen walking hand in hand...I'd ban gay pride marches. Yeah, I said certain things about gays but to quote [US promoter] Bob Arum, 'then I was lying, today I am telling the truth'.

"I have looked at everything I said and I know it will come out of the woodwork, but I was inexperienced then and I suppose I just wanted to make people know I was there. It was very silly and in boxing, of course, as a promoter, you often say something outrageous to get publicity. What I said was wrong, I don't have a problem with gay people but I hold my hands up and say I am against same-sex marriages and same-sex parents, I won't change my view on that.

"If you're gay, you're gay. It's not an issue with me. Those remarks were a little bit stupid. I've grown up since then. Once I get out there and start talking to people, they will get to know me because I am quite a warm personality. I will argue my corner and I love solving problems."

That was then. This is now. As we say, times change, as do people. We await the book, the film and the TV spin-offs.

"I've not had a brain transplant," says Maloney." I'm like a chocolate bar and all I am doing is changing the outer wrapping that God got wrong at birth."

Sex changes may be unprecedented among boxing personalities, but there have been a number of gay boxers, including two world champions Emile Griffith and Orlando Cruz, and it has been estimated that at least two dozen of the competitors in the 2012 Olympics were gay.

And after the Gay Gordons in Glasgow, the Gay Games, featuring 7,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes, have begun in Cleveland, Ohio.

Neither of the openly gay English Commonwealth Games gold medallists - Nicola Adams and Tom Daley - are competing. Nor is ex-Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, the latest big name to "come out" attending, as he did in Glasgow as a TV pundit.

But America's highest-profile gay athlete, footballer Michael Sam of the St Louis Rams, will feature in a video urging people to take part in the groundbreaking study into homophobia in sport.

Like Kellie - nee Frank - Maloney, the world of sport is changing. For the better.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning 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.