The 2012 Olympics in London is unlikely to meet the International Olympic Committee’s aims of being a lever for engaging with children, inspiring young athletes and fostering social cohesion, according to most research carried out to date.

In this op ed, first published in the Ottawa Citizen, Laura Robinson comments on the lack of attention paid to the Canadian aboriginal athletes by the Vancouver Olympic Games organizer, VANOC, despite the extensive use of indigenous symbols in promoting the Vancouver Games.

Knowlede bank: The Football Association of Greenland challenged the FIFA-monopoly on international matches when it organised a friendly against Tibet. The Greenlanders want to be able to play international games without being forced to depend on the Danish Football Association.

Knowledge bank: In Kosova, sports federations attempt to use sport as a tool of reconciliation. Boards of federations must have at least one representative from minorities, and teams with different ethnic backgrounds have started playing against each other, reports journalist Driton Lafiti.

In 1989 football games for players of Kosovar origin was driven underground by Serbian police. In the period until 1998 Kosova had more than 130 football clubs and more than 10.000 footballers, who played all their games in secret, tells journalist Driton Lafiti.

In this article Nuria Puig compares the development of sport organisations in Germany, Italy and Spain and shows how the relationship between the state, national sport organisations and local clubs is different from country to country depending on social, economic and political factors.