As the Olympic Games loom into view – 22 days and counting – I found this piece on South Africa’s first black Olympians fascinating.

I had picked up bits and pieces over the years, but this Mail and Guardian takeout is the first in-depth report I’ve read on the subject. Although it’s a bit dry and academic in parts, it lifts the lid nicely on an important slice of history.

Surely the pair of Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, the men in question, should be memorialised somewhere. Movies have been made of less. What a story.

I had little idea about Milos Raonic until he gate-crashed the Wimbledon final on Sunday. Thanks to my old pal Donald McRae, the best sports profile writer in the business, my curiosity has been sated.

His interview with the losing finalist reveals the player has more depth than most on the international circuit. How many sportsmen do you know who can reference both Ai Weiwei and Andy Warhol?

I don’t buy the bilge that Mixed Martial Arts has broken into the mainstream – it hasn’t – but it’s clearly making deep inroads. Witness this week’s staggering buyout of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) by talent agency WME-IMG for US $4-bn.

This piece in The Guardian cuts through the clutter and perfectly explains the move and its implications. Hidden away in the piece is the revelation that the boss of the buying company is Ari Emanuel, upon who the fabulously extravagant Ari Gold of Entourage fame was based.

I’m a big fan of the iPhone and thoroughly enjoy its functionality. I recently read of a sports photographer who dumped his heavyweight cameras and now shoots only with his iPhone, which gives him an intimacy a big camera simply couldn’t.

Take a look at these shots – 2016’s best iPhone photos. The mix is remarkable.