A $1 million (£809,000/€924,000) project has been launched in the Solomon Islands to continue to help clear unexploded bombs from World War Two in time for this year’s Pacific Games.

In 2020, getting back to “normal” has been a constant theme in sport. After last week’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting, President Thomas Bach was optimistic that the Olympics would take place next year.

When George S. Patton, Jr was preparing for the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm he used to eat a plate of raw steak and salad after each training session. On the final day of the competition, he prepared for the cross-country run by receiving an injection of opium. The regime saw Patton finish fifth. He later found greater fame for commanding the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean and European during World War Two and for his leadership of the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Newly elected European Olympic Committees (EOC) President Janez Kocijančič has defended Russia following evidence of institutional doping and expressed doubt about banning the country's flag at next year's Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Britain's Hugh "Jumbo" Edwards won the gold medal in the coxless pairs event with Lewis Clive and a second gold in the coxless four on the same day. During World War Two it was his rowing ability which saved his life. While serving as a squadron leader with the Royal Air Force's Coastal Command in 1943, he was forced to ditch his plane in the Atlantic Ocean. He rowed a dingy four miles through a minefield to safety. He was the only member of the plane's crew to survive. 

Three different cities were selected to host the 1940 Winter Olympics before the event was finally cancelled. They were originally awarded to Sapporo but the Japanese organisers withdrew in 1938 because of the second Second Sino-Japanese War. The International Olympic Committee decided to give the Games instead to St. Moritz, host of the 1928 event. There were some problems, however,  between the Swiss organisers and the IOC so the Games were cancelled again. The IOC then awarded them to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the German city which had hosted the Games in 1936. The event was due be held from February 2 until 11 but was abandoned following the start of World War Two. St Moritz were awarded the 1948 Winter Olympics and had only 18 months to organise them. Sapporo finally got to hold the Winter Olympics in 1972. 

When the Paralympic Games close a week from now in Rio, the Japanese flag will be raised and all eyes will look towards Tokyo. They were doing the same exactly 80 years ago when the Berlin Olympics of 1936 came to an end.