🏏 Renshaw makes century in Zimbabwe

Happy ‘smash them like guitars’ day!

On this day in 2000, Australia won the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the Sydney Olympics. Before the event, American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. wrote a Sports Illustrated article, in which he said: “My biased opinion says that we will smash them like guitars.”

On the final leg of the relay, Australia’s Ian Thorpe touched the wall 0.19 seconds ahead of Hall Jr.

Then, in one of the most memorable moments in Australian sporting history, the Aussie team, made up of Michael Klim, Ashley Callus, Chris Fydler, and Thorpe, celebrated winning Olympic gold in world record time by playing the air guitar.

109
The number of runs scored by Australian batter Matt Renshaw in a One-Day International against Zimbabwe in Harare on Tuesday. It marks the first time Renshaw has scored a century (100 runs) for Australia in cricket’s One-Day format and helped the visitors to a 59-run victory. Bowler Nathan Ellis also starred with five wickets. The next ODI of the three-match series will be played on Friday afternoon (AEST).

“Josh is not perfect, and he has made mistakes. But those mistakes should not erase the years he has spent giving his time to children and communities, proudly representing his culture, and bringing excitement and new supporters to rugby league. His contribution to the community and the game is genuine, substantial and worthy of recognition.”
Crown Sports International, the player agency that represents Parramatta Eels winger Josh Addo-Carr, in a statement to media after the rugby league star allegedly tested positive for cocaine in a roadside stop in Sydney last Friday night. In 2024, Addo-Carr’s contract with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs was ended prematurely after he failed a roadside drug test. The statement added that: “Josh would love nothing more than to continue his recovery, earn back the trust of those around him and have the opportunity to play for Parramatta again next season.”

American soccer player Mia Hamm was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame. Hamm debuted for the U.S. women’s senior team aged 15. She went on to help the side win two World Cups (1991, 1999) and two Olympic gold medals (1996, 2004).

⚽ Lionel Messi has been included in Argentina’s football squad for an upcoming friendly against Benin in October, with the Argentinian Football Association offering the 39-year-old one final chance to play for his country at home. Messi, who helped lead the country to its third World Cup title in 2022, announced his retirement from international football earlier this month. He has not yet confirmed whether or not he will take up the offer.

🏉 Two of the NRLW’s most prominent players are set to retire at the season’s end, with the Sydney Roosters’ Corban Baxter and Millie Elliot both making the announcement today. Baxter joined the club in 2018, the first year of the NRLW, and captained the Roosters when they won their first NRLW premiership in 2021. Elliot is a four-time premiership winner, having won grand finals with the Brisbane Broncos, Newcastle Knights, and Roosters. Both players played representative rugby league at a state and national level. The Roosters finished this year’s NRLW season as undefeated minor premiers and are chasing a second premiership in three years with NRLW finals beginning this weekend.

⛳ The PGA Tour, the U.S’ top golf league, has ruled out providing a fast-tracked path back for LIV Golf stars, after the formerly Saudi-backed breakaway league filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Speaking on Tuesday, PGA Tour chief Brian Rolapp said membership had to be earned and that January's "Returning Member Program", which brought American Brooks Koepka back under strict conditions, would not be reopened. LIV Golf has said it will return in 2027 under a new operating model, but many of its stars are reportedly weighing up their future.

Calling all Mustang stans - there’s a hoodie out there for you

Hear us out: a limited-edition clothing collection has been doing the rounds and we think any racing (or generally, fashion) enthusiasts need to know about it. It’s a dream collaboration between Ford and Brixton - needless to say that both these brands are soaked in nostalgia, which really comes through in this collection.

So, if you’ve ever wanted a Ford trucker cap, or a Mustang baby tee, your chance to cop them is here.

The World Athletics Championships are set to be held in Africa for the first time after Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, won a bid to host the event in 2029. World Athletics also announced that Munich, Germany, will host the 2031 edition.

The announcement was made at a World Athletics Council Meeting in Budapest this week. The World Athletics Championships are held every two years, with the next edition to be hosted by Beijing, China, in 2027. The decision to award hosting rights to Nairobi and Munich means that the next three championships will span Asia, Africa, and Europe.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “Nairobi presented a compelling and emotional bid, and taking the World Athletics Championships to Africa for the first time will be historic. Kenya is one of the great athletics nations. The sport is woven into the fabric of the country.”

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Five of the biggest professional sports leagues in the U.S. want anyone who abuses or threatens athletes over lost bets handed lifetime betting bans.

In a joint letter delivered to state gambling regulators on Tuesday, the leagues and their players’ unions argued that betting-related harassment has become a serious enough problem to warrant a coordinated regulatory crackdown.

Here’s what to know.

The National Football League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League all signed the letter alongside each league’s respective players’ associations. The letter was addressed to gaming regulators in 35 of the 50 U.S. states, as well as Washington DC.

Part of it read: “Too often, individuals who lose sports bets direct threatening and harassing messages toward players, coaches and their families via social media and in-person interactions.”

In response, the leagues want state commissions to force licensed betting venues, apps and websites to permanently revoke wagering privileges from anyone verified to have threatened or “abusively harassed” athletes, coaches, officials or their families. They also called for a reporting system to more easily share verified threats with authorities.

Legal sports betting has grown quickly in the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned a federal ban in 2018, meaning states now have the authorisation to legalise it. Gambling on sport is now legal in 39 states. Player-proposition bets – made on an individual athlete’s performance rather than the team’s – have been particularly linked to harassment complaints.

Last year, NBA player Tyler Kolek told The Athletic: “I’ve been told, ‘Go kill yourself’. I’ve gotten worse than that, but that’s a common one.”

Also last year, Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina shared the abuse she received online after her Canadian Open loss to Naomi Osaka.

She posted screenshots on social media of messages allegedly sent by angry gamblers, including death threats, praise for violence against Ukrainians, and racist slurs about her husband, French tennis player Gaël Monfils.

No women’s sports leagues were included in the letter, despite their players facing similar abuse.

WNBA Players Association executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said in a statement to the New York Post: “It is deeply disappointing that, given the very public and troubling incidents of betting-related harassment experienced by our members over the past several seasons, the NBA determined that WNBA players did not warrant inclusion in a joint position statement intended to address this very issue.”