Oisin Murphy: ‘I found escapism but also an awful lot of trouble in the bottle’

Champion jockey on pursuit of sobriety, his April car crash, a voracious need to win – and the poetry of Sylvia Plath‘I didn’t feel good,” Oisin Murphy says with a grimace as he gestures towards the birthday cards still standing in his house more than a month since he turned 30. Murphy has already spoken for an hour, in raw and moving detail, about the guilt he will feel when he has to walk down a guard of honour to mark his fifth champion jockeys’ title at Ascot on Saturday, his daily struggle with alcoholism, his near catastrophic return to drinking this summer, the dangers of racing and the Sylvia Plath poem he loves most.But the milestone of his 30th birthday troubles him. “It was incredibly significant because I never thought I’d get to 30,” Murphy says, as he uses a smouldering cigarillo to light another in an unbroken chain stretching across this corner of Lambourn.They call it the Valley of the Racehorse and, on a Monday morning, mist hangs over the village – in the same way that Murphy is enveloped in a cloud of smoke

Mohammed Ben Sulayem set to remain FIA president after Mayer denied by arcane rule

Mohammed Ben Sulayem will stand unopposed for another term as the president of the FIA, motor sport’s governing body. The last remaining candidate is due to pull out on Friday because of an arcane election rule.Tim Mayer, a former FIA senior steward with 15 years in the role until he was sacked last November, was one of three candidates who had announced they would oppose Ben Sulayem, alongside the former racing driver Laura Villars and the Belgian journalist Virginie Philippot.None of them, however, are able to meet the FIA requirements for the election process. Mayer is expected to formally announce the end of his campaign in Austin on Friday , the Guardian understands, where he will make clear the reasons behind it and his assessment of the current electoral process

Women’s Cricket World Cup: Australia storm to 10-wicket win over Bangladesh

That, it must be said, was a display of piss-taking by this Australian team. England struggled to chase a score against Bangladesh, South Africa struggled to chase a score against Bangladesh, and now the Aussies have come out and done inside 25 overs without losing a wicket. And that means their semi-final spot is locked up.It was a really poor performance by Bangladesh in the field, though. So many runs given away, dropped catches, missed stumpings

Bill Belichick built an empire on control. But UNC is letting chaos reign | Andrew Lawrence

The NFL’s great tactician was meant to elevate North Carolina football. Instead, his rigid ways, fraying staff and tone-deafness have made the Tar Heels a cautionary taleIt used to be that there was no stronger brand in football than a “Bill Belichick-coached” outfit. For most of his nearly 50 years in the pros, the phrase connoted teams that prepared for every scenario, executed directions to perfection and met all the moments in between to secure victory time and again. But since the NFL turned its back on Belichick, who stepped down to the college ranks and took the head job at North Carolina seemingly for appearances, the Belichick-coached team slogan has become less of a mark of excellence than a bright warning label for a program run amok.The concerns at this juncture, still short of midway through Belichick’s freshman season, are overwhelming

‘People’s opinions aren’t going to pay me’: Ireland’s Shane Ryan on his decision to join Enhanced Games

Swimmer who represented Ireland at three Olympics says controversial event provides chance to set up financial futureWhen Shane Ryan agreed to ­participate in the Enhanced Games – where performance-enhancing drugs are encouraged – he did not agonise: “I was like, you know what, let me do something for me for once. Let me make some money.”The swimmer represented Ireland at three Olympics, in 2016, 2020 and 2024, but all those years of training and sacrifice were not paying the bills, so this week he announced he would compete at the controversial event.“My whole 20s I gave to Ireland,” says the 31-year-old from a training camp in Las Vegas, where the tournament will take place. “Olympic ­athletes train so hard all their life and they just don’t get paid

NFL hot seat index: which coaches are running out of time?

The Tennessee Titans’ firing Brian Callahan this week signaled the unofficial start of the coaching carousel.Six weeks into the season, a league built for parity is finding there is little to go around. Nearly half (14) of the league’s teams this season are two games over .500. Three others have winning records and another three (the Chiefs, Panthers and Commanders) are 3-3 with an upward trajectory