Flying rumour, or ground for concern? The lengths ski jumpers go to for Olympic glory

Yes, it’s time to talk about the ski jumpers’ penises. Although to be honest the ski jumpers themselves would prefer it if everyone could keep the conversation to their testicles. Figuratively. “This sport,” the former Olympic champion Sven Hannawald once said, “has a lot to do with balls.”This turns out to be more true than you might imagine, even for a sport that involves flying 100m down a mountain

Twickenham crackdown with 24 fines for ‘public urination’ after England v Wales

Unruly spectators at Twickenham felt the force of a crackdown on antisocial behaviour at the match between England and Wales last Saturday, with Richmond council issuing 24 fixed-penalty notices for public urination, the Guardian can reveal.The Rugby Football Union is trying to persuade local residents to ditch their opposition to proposals to increase the number of concerts held every year from three to 15. Much of the opposition centres around antisocial behaviour experienced during England matches and, as revealed by the Guardian, the RFU hosted a drop-in event for residents in an effort to convince them that their concerns were being taken seriously.Last Saturday, it is understood that 24 FPNs were handed out to those committing urinating offences which took place in a number of places including front gardens, alleyways, main roads, and bushes. That is despite attempts to tackle the problem by installing barriers in hotspots and deploying plain-clothed officers and stewards to ward off potential offenders

Jutta Leerdam’s ruthless brilliance leaves speed skating in awe and Jake Paul in tears

The Dutch star, who combines commercial visibility alongside elite results, won gold on Monday in front of a packed arena that included her influencer boyfriendJutta Leerdam delivered the defining race of her career on Monday night, roaring to Olympic gold in the women’s 1000m and setting a new Olympic record of 1min 12.31sec to lead a Dutch one-two and deliver the Netherlands’ first medals of the Games.The 27-year-old finished 0.28sec ahead of compatriot Femke Kok, who had briefly held the Olympic record after clocking 1:12.59 earlier in the final group

Pakistan agree to play India at T20 Cricket World Cup after scrapping boycott

Pakistan are poised to fulfil their T20 World Cup fixture against India on Sunday, having previously been instructed by their government to boycott the game in a move that could have cost the sport millions.The crisis was triggered by Bangladesh withdrawing from the tournament last month – their place handed to Scotland – when a request to play their matches outside India on security grounds was rejected by the International Cricket Council.In an act of solidarity the Pakistan government, led by the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, then stated Pakistan would forfeit the game against India in Colombo – a potentially damaging move given the fixture’s centrality to the ICC’s £2.2bn ($3bn) broadcast deal.But after talks between the ICC, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board in Lahore in the past few days – plus representations from the co-hosts, Sri Lanka – the impasse has been broken

Trying times for Welsh rugby | Letters

Re your editorial (The Guardian view on Welsh rugby: enduring an existential crisis with cultural roots, 4 February), what’s surprising is that it’s taken this long. In the amateur era, Wales, with a much smaller population than that of England, had more wins than losses against most of the home nations. Welsh clubs were among the very best in the world and Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Llanelli all beat the All Blacks.The game and its culture had great resonance in southern Wales, where relatively slightly built men, fleet of foot and with flair (many from south-west Wales and Welsh speakers) ran with the ball won by forwards often hardened by work in heavy industry. Schoolmasters were dedicated to encouraging talent and participation in team games

Winter Olympic officials to investigate why medals keep breaking

They are among the most prized possessions in sport, yet embarrassingly for Olympic officials the medals in Milano Cortina keep breaking.On Monday organisers promised to launch an investigation into why it was happening after Winter Olympic medallists, including the American downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson, reported chipped, cracked and damaged medals.Johnson’s medal broke shortly after the podium ceremony on Satur­day when she was celebrating. “I was jumping up and down in excitement, then it just fell off,” she told ­reporters, before showing her cracked and chipped medal in one hand as the separated ribbon hung around her neck.The Sweden cross‑country skier Ebba Andersson reported that her medal “fell in the snow and broke in two”, before adding: “Now I hope the organisers have a ‘plan B’ for ­broken medals