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Paris Olympics: Athletics to feature custom purple track

Italian firm Mondo will supply this summer’s Paris Olympics with a custom purple track which could be the fastest yet for athletes hunting the biggest prizes in sport.

Based in the sleepy Piedmont town of Alba which is immersed in vineyards where the grapes for the world-famous Barolo wine ripen in the sun, Mondo first made the track for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

For Paris — its 13th Olympics — it has devised the Mondotrack EB that will host 46 of 48 athletics events of the Games at the Stade de France.

The biggest stars in athletics such as reigning women’s world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson will strive for Olympic glory on its surface.

Mondo claim the track delivers better performance than the one used at the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where three world records were broken, including the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles marks set by Karsten Warholm and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone respectively.

“We have changed the design of the cells on the lower layer of the track compared to the one used in Tokyo,” Maurizio Stroppiana, vice-president of Mondo’s sports division and son of one of the two founders, told AFP.

“That reduces the energy loss for athletes and sends it back up to them at the best possible point of their movement.”

However, research and development manager Andrea Marenghi says that Mondo cannot “do whatever we want” with the composition of the track.

“There are very strict criteria set by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) because the most important thing is to safeguard the health of the athlete and not impair their technique,” says Marenghi.

“Athletes are more high-performance than ever, and the track doesn’t give anything that they don’t already have.”

The Paris track will be a striking purple rather than the traditional terracotta.

Marenghi told AFP that the two new shades — one for the competition areas and another for the technical areas — will only be used for the Games in the French capital.

“We wanted to have an original colour,” said former decathlete Alain Blondel, the head of athletics and para-athletics events at the Paris Olympics.

“The two shades of purple allow for maximum contrast when TV pictures are being shot, highlighting the athletes.”

Despite being purple the track, which in all measures 21,000 square metres, will also be more “green” than usual as it is made with more natural components than ever before.

“Up to 50 percent of the components of the track are either renewable to recycled… we were at just over 30 percent for London 2012,” says Mondo’s sustainability and innovation chief Giorgio Lesage.

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King Ademola Lookman Brings Out His Love

Like his father opened up, Ademola Lookman is essentially a private person, who prefers to do his stuff without all the media blitz.

But on one of his biggest days, when he was crowned Africa’s best player, he could not but make the first public appearance with the woman in his life – Jayda Love.

‘Adebobo’ would even steal a moment on his big night to kiss his American beau.

The 27-year-old Super Eagles star is still single.

Rumours of this romance first surfaced in the summer when the couple appeared to have spent the holidays together.

This was after ‘Mola’ scored his unforgettable hat-trick for Atalanta to win the UEFA Europa League in super style.

Jayda, an Information Technology specialist is based in Dallas, Texas, graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2021 with a degree in public relations.

She follows Ademola Lookman and his foundation on social media.

She is also known to have visited him at his Italian base.

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FIFA Rankings: Nigeria’s Super Eagles End 2024 Ahead Of Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have ended 2024 ranked as Africa’s fifth-best team in FIFA’s latest global standings, released Thursday morning, Soccernet.ng reports.

Despite a challenging end to the year that saw the team drop eight places to 44th globally, the Super Eagles still managed to hold their own against eternal continental rivals like South Africa, Cameroon, and Ghana.

This year’s ranking represents a mixed bag for Nigeria. While the team retained its fifth spot in Africa, their decline in global rankings was driven by underwhelming performances in key fixtures.

Most notably, the Super Eagles struggled during the final rounds of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, securing just a solitary point in lackluster outings against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.

Nigeria were forced to a scored draw by the Cheetahs in Abidjan only for Samuel Chukwueze’s excellent strike to end up as consolation in a 2-1 home defeat to the Wasps.

Looking at year-to-year standings, at this time in 2023, Nigeria’s Super Eagles were ranked 42nd in the world but sixth on the continent.

Elsewhere, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana showed marked improvement, climbing th

Cameroon and Ghana, however, endured disappointing campaigns. Ghana’s Black Stars finished the year ranked 77th, a stark reminder of the ongoing struggles within the Black Stars setup.

At the continental summit, Morocco retained their status as the continent’s best, finishing as Africa’s top-ranked team in 14th place globally.

Senegal (17th), Egypt (33rd), and Algeria (37th) rounded out the top four, with Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, and South Africa completing the top 10.

Globally, Argentina retained their position as FIFA’s top-ranked team, followed by France, Spain, England, and Brazil.

With 1,181 international matches played across the calendar year, the rankings reflected consistent dominance from the world’s elite teams.

As Nigeria enter 2025, all eyes will be on the Super Eagles to reignite their competitive spark, with the World Cup qualifiers returning in the first quarter of the year.

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Mbappé: Would Have Been ‘Fun’ To Play With Cristiano Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappé has said he wishes he could have played with Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the club’s all-time leading scorer.

The France international has been a teammate of other football icons but would have relished playing alongside Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Portugal captain.

“I’ve played with great players: Lionel Messi, Neymar, [Antoine] Griezmann, [Paul] Pogba, [Karim] Benzema…” Mbappé told BeINsports.

“It would have been fun to play with Cristiano Ronaldo — it’s going to be very difficult now — but I was lucky enough to play against him, a legend of the sport.”

Ronaldo, 39, left the Spanish giants in 2018 now plays for Saudi Pro-League side Al Nassr.

Mbappé helped Madrid win the Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday, his second title since joining the Spanish giants in the summer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.

Speaking to young people with disabilities as part of the BeUNITED program, Mbappe, 25, said he would have never left Paris Saint-Germain had it not been to join Madrid.

“I went to the biggest club in the world,” the 2018 World Cup winner said.

“I have always said that it was the only club I would have left PSG for. If I hadn’t been able to go to Madrid, I would have stayed at PSG all my life.”

Although Mbappé has been prolific for Madrid so far, he has faced criticism for his all-round performances with the team having suffered some high-profile defeats earlier in the season.

“Since I was 14, everyone told me I was going to be great,” Mbappé said.

“But when you’re big, sometimes you feel small…At first I was too hungry and it played tricks on me because I was impatient. But I have passion and this competitive side.

“My dream now is to win trophies with my team, not individual awards. What great title is left for me? The Champions League, but I’m in the best club in the world for that.”