Good evening!

I hope everyone’s had a great week. It’s set to be a huge weekend of sport with the Euro and Copa América football quarter-finals, Le Tour de France continuing, the Wallabies and Wallaroos playing, and the NRL, AFL, and Super Netball all in full swing.

The sporting moment that touched me this week was seeing Andy Murray honoured on the centre court at Wimbledon in what will likely be his last appearance as a singles player there. Whilst he never quite escaped the shadows of ‘the big three’ of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, the last 20 years of tennis would not have been the same without him. He’s a tough, passionate role model - something to be admired in modern sport.

Going into the weekend, we’re getting you across the Chinese Doping scandal, which continues to make headlines.

It started a big conversation in the office about the ‘sporting moments you know about but don’t know about’ - the big stories you know happened, but you don’t have the context to fully understand them. I’m keen to hear which stories spring to mind for you - just hit reply to this email and let me know!

I’ve got 10 seconds

Stat of the day

4
The number of Olympics cross-country mountain biker Rebecca Henderson and BMX racer Lauren Reynolds will have competed in after the Paris Games. The two veteran riders were announced today as part of a six-person BMX and Mountain Bike team for the upcoming Olympics, which also includes 2020 BMX freestyle gold medallist Logan Martin. Anna Meares is the only other Australian woman to cycle at four Olympics. 

Quote of the day

"Netball Australia, Netball Queensland, the Australian Netball Players' Association, and the entire netball community who are deeply committed to inclusion and equality stand together with Donnell Wallam to call out the disgusting racial abuse directed at our champion player by a member of the public."
Netball Australia in a statement following a post made on Instagram by Diamonds and Queensland Firebirds player Donnell Wallam which revealed a racist letter she received. This week is Super Netball’s second First Nations Round of the year. 

Random fact of the day

Australian Olympian Betty Cuthbert was the first-ever athlete to win gold in four different athletics track events. At the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, Cuthbert won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m. Four years later at Tokyo 1964, she won the 400m. She also set an incredible 16 world records throughout her career. 

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In case you missed it…

🎾 Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin both won their second-round Wimbledon matches last night. In the third round, de Minaur will face Frenchman Lucas Pouille, and Popyrin will play second seed Novak Djokovic. Adam Walton lost in a fifth-set tiebreaker to Argentinian Francisco Comesana. Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew from his match against Pouille due to injury. The last remaining Aussie woman in the tournament, Daria Saville, lost to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.

⚽ Argentina beat Ecuador 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the first quarter-final of the Copa América, after scores remained at 1-1 at the end of regular time. Argentina will play the winner of Venezuela and Canada in the semi-final.

🚴‍♂️ Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen won a photo finish sprint on stage six of Le Tour de France. To win the stage, the Dutchman beat Jasper Philipsen and stage three winner Biniam Girmay.

🏀 In the WNBA, the Las Vegas Aces won their sixth straight game beating the Washington Mystics 98-77. Kelsey Plum scored 28 points including six three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Connecticut Sun beat the Minnesota Lynx 78-73.

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This weekend, the attention of the F1 world turns to Silverstone in England for the British Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris will be looking for redemption after the pair collided last week at the Austrian GP. It was a critical moment in the race - the collision resulted in Verstappen finishing fifth and Norris being forced to withdraw from the race due to car damage.

Silverstone

Silverstone, an airfield-turned-racetrack, holds a special place in F1 history as the host of the inaugural Grand Prix in 1950. The course is 5.8km long, and the drivers will race 52 laps (306km total).

Context

While the Austrian GP was won by British driver George Russell - Mercedes’ first win since 2022 - the focus of this race will likely be the growing rivalry between Verstappen, last year’s British GP winner, and Norris. Verstappen is currently atop the driver standings with 237 points, with Norris second on 156 points and Ferarri’s Charles Leclerc third on 150 points.

Schedule

Qualifying begins 12:00am Sunday

The race begins 12:00am Monday

How to watch

You can stream the British GP on Kayo or Foxtel.

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The U.S. has launched a criminal investigation into the doping case in which 23 Chinese swimmers failed tests in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics but were still allowed to compete at the Games. Of the 23, 11 have been named to the Chinese swimming team to compete in the upcoming Paris Games.

Context

In April, the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD both revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine (or TMZ), a drug for heart disease that affects the stamina, endurance and recovery time of athletes. Chinese authorities suggested that traces of TMZ had been found in a hotel kitchen where meals for athletes had been prepared and potentially contaminated food accidentally.

The swimmers were not suspended or publicly identified by World Aquatics (swimming’s international governing body) or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the global authority that oversees national drug-testing programs. WADA accepted China’s claims of food contamination. 

Several of the 23 athletes who tested positive medalled at the Tokyo Games, including three golds. 

Why is the U.S. involved? 

The U.S. can launch a criminal investigation into international cases of doping via the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, a federal law enacted in 2020 that “makes it unlawful to knowingly influence (or attempt or conspire to influence) a major international sports competition by use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method”. 

Travis Tygart, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief, says the Rodchenkov Act “was enacted… with broad athlete, sport and multinational governmental support because WADA could not be trusted to be a strong, fair global watchdog to protect clean athletes and fair sport.”

The act is named after Grigory Rodchenkov, a whistleblower who revealed the extent of Russia’s state-run doping system in 2016.

Should the medals awarded to Chinese swimmers be taken away at some stage because of this investigation and international pressure, a number of U.S. and Australian swimmers would be granted new Olympic medals. For example, Australia’s female 4x200m team won a bronze medal in Tokyo, and would be elevated to silver should the Chinese team that won gold be disqualified. 

Next steps 

In a statement to the Associated Press, World Aquatics confirmed its Executive Director, Brent Nowicki, was “served with a witness subpoena by the United States government”. The organisation said it has proposed a meeting with the U.S. Government to avoid “the need for testimony before a Grand Jury.”

A message from our sponsor

New Deakin Research, confirms benefit of increased representation of women on boards.

The Office for Women in Sport and Rec has recently released research by Deakin University which found that having gender diversity on boards of sporting organisations contributes to improved board performance, culture and decision making.

Introduced in 2019, Victoria’s Balance the Board policy requires sports boards to be made up of at least 40% women in order to be eligible for government funding. Deakin’s research shows it's working, too. Women on boards grew from 45% to 96% between 2017 and 2023.

But it’s not just about numbers – it’s making a real difference.

"Women directors brought crucial skills like governance, strategic planning, and risk management," said Research lead, Professor Pamm Phillips.

A key challenge to balancing boards is in attracting and keeping women in these roles, and research found that male leaders are key to driving this change.

“We are focused on breaking down barriers for women and girls in sport, ensuring that everyone in Victoria has the opportunity to take part in the sports they love,” said Minister for Community Sport, Ros Spence.

To read a summary of the research, click here.

Looking back…

Looking forward…(All times are AEST)

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