Australia, one of the world’s leading sports nations, has so far not lived up to its own expectations at the London 2012 Olympics. This has caused serious public debate and prompted the president of the Australian Olympic Committee to call for giving school sports a higher priority. In this comment piece Bonita Mersiades agrees, but not for the rationale of winning medals.

If the size of the Olympics are not reduced, they may become awarded only to rich and authoritarian regimes in the future. Professor Jean-Loup Chappelet, sports governance expert at IDHEAP in Lausanne, analyses the risks of Olympic gigantism

In the first of two articles on Euro 2012 co-host Ukraine, Ukraine-based journalist Mark Rachkevych presents the rocky road of Ukraine’s Euro 2012 preparations. Overspending and corruption cases have surrounded the country’s construction and infrastructure projects in preparation for the tournament.

COMMENT: International sport and local politicians are responsible for the waste of resources worth billions of dollars when demanding oversized stadiums that mainly serve the interests of the contractors who build and maintain them.

In a session on Financial Management of Clubs at the Soccerex conference in Manchester, UK, Trevor Birch, a former chief executive of five top English clubs, argued that UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules would create a more level playing field in the Premier League. Steve Menary reports from the conference.