Sarah Tait 1983 - 2016

Australian London Olympics silver-medallist rower Sarah Tait has died after a battle with cancer, aged 33.

Tait, who captained Australia’s rowing team at the Beijing Olympics and was in the women’s eight when Sally Robbins famously stopped rowing before the finish of the final in Athens 2004, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in March 2013.

The West Australian also won a gold and silver medal at the 2005 World Rowing championships, as well as a bronze in the same competition in 2011. She won her Olympic silver medal in the pairs in 2012.

Tait, who is survived by her senior national coach husband Bill and two children, stepped away from rowing in February 2014 to fight the disease.

Rowing Australia CEO, Rob Scott, paid tribute to Tait’s ability to act as a role model to both past and present athletes. “She was one of the most determined and passionate rowers in our sport and she will be deeply missed by everyone in the rowing community,” he said in a statement. “The entire Australian rowing community sends its thoughts and best wishes to Bill, the children and Sarah’s family at this tragic time.”

Scott’s views were echoed by Australian team head coach, Chris O’Brien. “Her spirit for rowing was paralleled with her dedication to her family and friends,” O’Brien said.

“Sarah was one of rowing’s most successful and impressive female athletes who has left a permanent mark on our sport. I was personally inspired by Sarah’s pursuit of success in sport and life. She will be sadly missed.”

#RIP

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Castrogiovanni Banned for Aviva Trip

The Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni has been banned for two weeks after stamping on Scotland’s Duncan Taylor during Saturday’s Six Nations encounter in Rome.

Castrogiovanni, who has made 118 Test appearances for Italy, appeared as a second-half replacement in Scotland’s 36-20 victory at the Stadio Olimpico and appeared to direct a stamp towards Taylor’s foot.

The Italy forward appeared before the Six Nations disciplinary committee on Wednesday when he acknowledged that he had committed the act of foul play.

The committee announced: “Mr Castrogiovanni, who has the right of appeal, is suspended up to and including Sunday 13 March 2016”, meaning he will miss the 12 March trip to Ireland in Dublin.

The committee, chaired by Mike Hamlin (England) along with Tommy Dalton (Ireland) and Rhian Williams (Wales), said it “found that the act of foul play warranted a red card” but that “the act was at the lower end of World Rugby’s sanctions, carrying a two-week suspension.

“Having considered the various mitigating factors involved, including the player’s admission and his regret at his actions, the disciplinary committee found that these were not sufficient to merit a reduction in the entry-point sanction and suspended Mr Castrogiovanni for two weeks.”

Italy rugby union team Ireland rugby union team Scotland rugby union team Six Nations 2016 Six Nations Rugby union

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Hamilton's Hot Test Time Sheets

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Lewis Hamilton is ignoring predictions that his Mercedes team will be untouchable heading into the new Formula One season.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso has said Mercedes, who have won 32 of the last 38 grands prix, are looking “stronger than ever”, while Valtteri Bottas of Williams does not expect another team to challenge them when the season gets under way in Melbourne later this month.

Hamilton topped the timesheets on Wednesday morning as Mercedes again demonstrated they have the pace to match their bulletproof reliability. But the Briton, attempting to win his third consecutive championship, does not expect the upcoming campaign to be a forgone conclusion.

“Honestly, I have not looked at where everyone else is,” Hamilton, who completed 72 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday, told Sky Sports F1. “Everyone naturally is going to hype us up, every single person is going to hype us up, but you really don’t know what fuel load Ferrari are on.

“I think they have got a strong package, even Williams look like they have got quite a strong package, so I would not take any notice of what they are saying to be honest.”

Mercedes have covered more distance than their rivals in the six days of winter testing in Barcelona so far, and Nico Rosberg was the fastest for the Silver Arrows on Tuesday.

“I’ve the feeling it’s the best season’s start we’ve had in the last couple of years,” said their executive director, Toto Wolff, whose team have won the last two constructors’ championships.

“But we still haven’t seen what the other frontrunning cars are capable of extracting performance-wise. We’ve haven’t seen Ferrari, Williams, and Red Bull.

“So let’s keep our feet on the ground and see where we end up on Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, which will give more indication.”

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Lindsey Vonn Season Over After Fall

Alpine skiing World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn will miss the rest of the season after fracturing her leg.

The American, 31, suffered the injury on Saturday while competing in Andorra.

Vonn continued to race in a knee brace the following day, setting the fastest time in the super-G leg and finishing 13th in the combined event to extended her overall lead to 28 points.

But scans have revealed she suffered three fractures to her tibial plateau, meaning she can no longer compete.

Vonn, a 2010 Olympic gold medallist, set a new record for women's World Cup downhill victories in January and has won 76 World Cup races in total.

Four-time World Cup champion Vonn said in a statement: "Because I am currently leading the overall World Cup standings, this is one of the toughest decisions of my career."

"Further damage to any of the fragments could result in a serious surgery that would risk my future in ski racing.

"With the World Championships in St Moritz next year and the Winter Olympics in South Korea the following year, I cannot take that risk.

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French Investigate Olympic Voting

French prosecutors have widened their investigation into corruption in athletics to include the bidding and voting processes for the hosting of the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

Lamine Diack, the former president of world governing body the IAAF, is already being investigated by French authorities.

He was arrested last year on corruption and money laundering charges, over allegations he took payments for deferring sanctions against Russian drugs cheats.

Confirming the investigation was being widened, an official from the prosecutor's office said: "We are looking at these elements, but at this stage it is a question of verification. Nothing has been proved."

Tokyo, which will host the 2020 Olympics, defended the voting process when it came under scrutiny in January.

Rio 2016 organisers said on Tuesday that the city "won the right to host the Games because it had the best project".

"The difference in the votes, 66 to 32 against Madrid, excludes any possibility of an election that could have been rigged," communications director Mario Andrada said.

Diack, 82, was head of the International Association of Athletics Federations for 16 years until he stepped down last August.

He resigned as an honorary member of the IOC in November - a day after being provisionally suspended by the organisation following the start of the French investigation.

In December, a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report into alleged IAAF corruption claimed Diack had been prepared to sell his vote to decide on the host city for the 2020 Games in exchange for sponsorship of IAAF events.

Diack's son Papa Massata, who was employed by his father as a marketing consultant for the IAAF, is also under investigation, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued by Interpol.

Last month, Wada investigators called for a follow-up inquiry into all World Championships awarded by the IAAF for 2009-2019 after finding evidence of possible wrongdoing.

Diack Jr has been banned for life by the IAAF but told the BBC in December he and his father were innocent of the claims against them.

Prosecutors are now looking into whether the alleged corruption could have extended to vote-rigging.

The Guardian claimed last year that - according to leaked emails - Diack Jr requested a payment of $5m from Doha in 2011, shortly before a decision was made about the city's unsuccessful bid for the 2017 World Championships. The Doha bid denies any wrongdoing.

In January, the newspaper reported he apparently arranged for "parcels" to be delivered to six IOC members in 2008, when Qatar was bidding for the 2016 Olympics, which will be hosted by Rio.

An IOC spokesman said the organisation had been in close contact with French prosecutors since the beginning of this investigation.

He added: "The IOC's chief ethics and compliance officer had already asked for the IOC to be fully informed in a timely manner of all issues that may refer to Olympic matters and has already applied to become a party to the investigations led by the French judicial authorities."

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