Former Olympic swimming champion Cameron van der Burgh has said he has been battling the new coronavirus for the last two weeks and that athletes who continue to train for the Tokyo Games are exposing themselves to "unnecessary risk". South African Van der Burgh won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 2012 London Olympics and silver in Rio four years later before retiring in 2018.
South Africa's top-order batsman Hashim Amla was named the country's 'Sports Star of the Year' at an awards function at Sun City on Sunday. The 28-year-old batsman, who was recently appointed vice-captain of the Proteas ODI and T20 teams, pipped four other nominees -- Masters golf champion Charl Schwartzel, swimming world record holder Cameron van der Burgh, Springbok sevens flyhalf Cecil Afrika and leading Banyana Banyana goal-scorer Noko Matlou -- for the top accolade.
Swimmer Michael Phelps won his 17th Olympic medal to take him closer to the all-time mark, but his US freestyle relay team were upstaged by France as records fell in the pool on Sunday's second day of competition at the London Games.
Chad le Clos completed a sweep of butterfly titles at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Monday to cap a three-gold performance for South Africa on a penultimate day of the swimming programme that produced several upsets.
American Katie Ledecky set a world record for the women's 1500 metres freestyle at the world swimming championships on Tuesday.
Peaty had swum a Commonwealth Games record 58.59 on Friday but appeared to be content to just win the race rather than challenge his own world record of 57.13 that he set at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The events on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 of the Games were well captured and here we document all the action from Day 5, in pictures...
Adam Peaty demolished his own world record in the heats of the 100 meters breaststroke on Saturday as he launched a bid to become the first British man to win an Olympic swimming gold medal for 28 years. Peaty set a new mark of 57.55 seconds - cutting 0.37 from his previous record, set in London last year - and said he hoped to shave off some more in Saturday's semi-finals.
Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom set a world record for the women's 100 metres butterfly at the world swimming championships on Monday.
Olympic champion swimmer failed to qualify for 400m freestyle final.
Britain's James Guy held off a host of Olympic champions to win his first world title, the men's 200m freestyle, at the world championships on Tuesday.
With the year sprinting to a close, we bring you, in pictures, some of the best action from the sports world.
Michael Phelps won the 19th gold medal of his Olympic swimming career on Sunday after helping the US men's team to victory in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.
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