Mohamed Bin Hammam has alleged his life ban from all football-related activity was decided before FIFA's ethics committee heard his case.   The 62-year-old Qatari has been found guilty of attempting to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union at a meeting on the FIFA presidential campaign trail in Trinidad in May.
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There were two common responses to the news that I was planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. One was that climbing the world's tallest free standing mountain was not overly hard, and that quite a few people knew of someone who has achieved this very feat.
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If anyone tells you climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is relatively simple then I can vouch that this story, rather like the world's highest free-standing mountain, is rather tall.
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The timing could not have been worse. Rick Stein, the celebrated sea food chef, had just appeared intent on inspecting Gordon Ramsay's kitchen. Ramsay was present at the time, instructing his brigade of chefs like a NASA engineer at mission control.
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There are times in life when you can struggle, momentarily, to find the most perfect expression to sum up in one, succinct and lucid manner, the emotion of an occasion which, in all probability, will linger in your memory for the rest of your days.
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For most of the previous day David Hempleman-Adams, adventurer, explorer and a man whose thirst for danger, excitement and records remains unquenchable had been in high spirits, content to be back in an environment he called home.
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Rebecca Adlington will be spending much of the next few days beside a swimming pool in Crete amongst other tourists lapping up the holiday sun and reminding herself that this time last year she was winning her second Olympic gold medal in Beijing, and smashing a 19-year-old world record in the process in the women's...
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You might have thought it was a downcast Justin Rose who began the 2009 season on the back of finishing 81st in the European Order of Merit last year.
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It is a much-changed Sergio Garcia this year who has started the new season seemingly at peace with himself for the first time in his professional career. Perhaps it is because he has risen to number two in the world rankings, having begun last year in 12th.
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His right forearm is dominated by a tattoo of the cross and a second tattoo with a message: “Do not be overcome by the flesh, but live life by the spirit.
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Chris Hoy was presenting a gong for best super hero at the national film awards in London. His immediate predecessor on stage was Kylie Minogue, and he would be followed by Samuel L Jackson.
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The long, flowing blonde hair is now short and as grey as his pallor but the man serving customers in a small, equestrian shop in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket is still instantly recognisable as one of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time.
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Matt Hampson could well have been running out at Twickenham in the Six Nations this February. After all, former England teammates, like James Haskell and Toby Flood, will be, as would Tom Rees had he not suffered from an injury that rules him out of the tournament.
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It has taken less than two years for Nemanja Vidic to be transformed from a little known Serb to a cult figure at Manchester United, a Premiership and Champions league winner and a man who is not only one of the first names down on the team sheet, but also a favourite son of...
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