Inside Lines: Why won't Boris reveal his Games plan?
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Banish any thought thatex-Tory MP Seb Coe will be crossing his fingers in the hope that Boris Johnson supplants Ken Livingstone as London's mayor this week. While they may be politically affiliated, the London Olympics chief has formed a workable apolitical alliance with Labour's Livingstone and would not be distressed if this continues through to 2012. Equally, Johnson is someone he could do business with, but at least he knows that Livingstone, with his admitted lack of interest in sport – the mayor reveals he only wanted the Games to get "billions of pounds" from the Government to rejuvenate east London – will not interfere. Brick-dropping Boris is a looser cannon. We'd love to know his Games plans, but despite repeated requests for an interview his spinners decline to let him come out to play, even though the Games are London's most important project over the next four years. The Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick talks sensibly on sport, but his chances are slim. So who best for the Olympics in the mayoral race? Perhaps a case of better the Red Devil you know.
Chelsea score in football's gay dating game
Joe Cole and his Chelsea namesake Ashley's wife Cheryl have scored a remarkable double in a popularity poll – for a gay website. JC has leapfrogged over David Beckham as football's No 1 male gay icon, while Cheryl is named as "the most desirable lesbian date with a soccer WAG". Michael Owen and his wife Louise, together with Steven Gerrardand his partner Alex Curran, are also big hits with gay fans of both sexes according to the online dating agencygay-PARSHIP, who claim football has "a gay groundswellof passionate support while players remain closeted".
Klitschko helps Britain's fight for peace
While – for the moment – he pooh-poohs any notion of a fight with David Haye, Wladimir Klitschko, the most accomplished of the current world heavyweight champions, is at least giving some encouragement to British boxing. Yesterday he helped launch the innovative Fight for Peace Academy in Woolwich, south London, a haven where youngsters can find an alternative to street crime through gloves rather than guns. It is the brainchild of 34-year-old Briton Luke Dowdney, MBE, inspired by his original project in a crime-ridden favela of Rio. Already 460 kids have joined the London camp, where, he says, "they can be enticed away from violence, be strong and have an identity yet still be peaceful". Barry McGuigan is the academy's patron.
Why the prince made a rallying call for Mosley
Banned from Bahrain, and conveniently absent from Barcelona, the "sexually eccentric" (his words) Max Mosley has been sampling the delights of Jordan this weekend. Undeterred by the FIA president's much-publicised frolicking with hookers, Prince Feisal, who runs sport there, has repaid the man he calls "a strong friend and ally to Jordan" by making him guest of honour at the Jordan Rally. Mosley was instrumental in securing a first-ever World Rally Championship event for the Middle East nation. Jordan promise to put on a spanking show for him.
Anyone for tennis? It's Monte Carlo, twist or bust
The sights you see on websites these days... as Max Mosley will testify. On theirs, the Association of Tennis Professionals, currently cracking down on gambling in the game, have been showing Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic enthusiastically playing cards - in the casino at Monte Carlo.
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