When Being The Face Of The Games Goes Wrong

By Shane Thomas

Before Rio 2016 began, we published a piece on what we were looking forward to watching the most. The athlete I singled out was Alan Oliveira, who went into the Paralympics as arguably Brazil's biggest hope for home success. While the host nation has other accomplished athletes such as Daniel Dias and Terezinha Guilhermina, Oliveira was the marquee name, not just because of his gold medal performance at London 2012, but because it came at the expense of Oscar Pistorius...

Read the rest of the piece on Media Diversified.

The Greatest Events in Sporting History" is available to download from http://www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/sportinghistory/, e-mail us at sportshistoryshow@googlemail.com and you can follow us on Twitter @TGEISH

Want Gods And Superheroes? Then Stick To Fiction.

By Shane Thomas

People love stories. Particularly tales of greatness. A major reason why this summer's Olympics held Britain in such thrall was the daily accounts of athletes finding the best of themselves. We had yarns such as the woman who grabbed her last chance of glory (Katherine Grainger), the chosen one adored by her public (Jessica Ennis), or the wounded king who ruthlessly crushed those who would usurp him (Usain Bolt). This wasn't just running and jumping. These men and women are the gods of our time.