When Usain Bolt blazed to glory at the Beijing Olympics, he was feted as the hero his tainted sport had been crying out for. Now, having repeated them in Berlin, he can consider himself the saviour of the world championships. When the event was changed from four-yearly to biennial it lost much of its lustre, and to many fans became just another, slightly more glamorous extension of the Grand Prix circuit.
The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics countdown got under way on Thursday with the lighting of the torch at the site of the ancient Olympics, with organisers hoping it will shift attention away from Brazil's political and financial turmoil.
Jayanta Talukdar clinched the men's individual recurve gold and helped India win the team event in the Archery World Cup Stage 2 at Porec, Croatia, on Saturday.
India's Jayanta Talukdar made it through five successive rounds to pit himself against Athens Olympics gold medallist Marco Galiazzo of Italy in the final of the recurve section of the Archery World Cup Stage 2 at Porec (Croatia) on Thursday. The 23-year-old Guwahati-born Talukdar, an assistant manager with Tata Steel in Jamshedpur, is eyeing his second World Cup gold medal in the sport.
American swimming legend Mark Spitz posed with the new Sports Illustrated Magazine featuring Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps on the cover at the Hyatt Resorts 'Vacation Training Camp' competition at Grand Central Station in New York City on Wednesday.
Former Olympic champions Alexander Popov of Russia and Moon Dae-sung from South Korea are among four new members elected to the International Olympic Committee's athletes commission. Popov, 50 meters freestyle gold medalist at the 1992 and 1996 Games, and Moon, a taekwondo gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, were joined by German fencer Claudia Bokel and Cuban volleyball player Ruiz-Luaces Yumilka.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Carols, joyful tidings, presents, beautifully decorated trees, bright lights and a time for a heartfelt prayer. As the world readies for the festival of Christmas, we bring you glimpses.
Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou will not be allowed to compete in the Beijing Games after her involvement in a doping scandal four years ago, the International Olympic Committee ruled on Sunday.
Former France defender Eric Abidal, who returned to playing after undergoing a liver transplant in April 2012, announced on Friday he was ending his career for 'personal reasons'.
An experienced athletics team featuring seven current world champions and a host of medals favourites will represent the United States in next month's Beijing Olympics, USA Track & Field announced on Monday. The 126-member squad includes Athens 2004 Olympic gold medallists Jeremy Wariner (400m) and Shawn Crawford (200m), double world champions Tyson Gay and Bernard Lagat.
Shooter Shreyasi Singh entered the 2010 Commonwealth Games shattered and with grief, gloom for company following the sudden demise of her father.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 18 gold medals among his career haul of 22, will carry the US flag in Friday's opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics.
Given a chance national women's table tennis champion Manika Batra is keen to get tips from her idol, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, ahead of her debut in next month's Rio Olympic Games.
Russian star pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva said on Wednesday she plans to retire after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she has her sights sets on a third Olympic gold.
The Beijing Olympics will become the most viewed Games in their 112-year history, boosted by a hugely popular Internet platform, the IOC said on Wednesday. The International Olympic Committee said viewing figures in key regions, including the United States, were very promising and would eclipse past records set at the Athens 2004 Olympics.
The football tournament at the Beijing Olympics bursts into life on Tuesday with a semi-final between two of the sport's fiercest rivals, Brazil and Argentina.
Bollywood gives you some great vacation ideas!
The Central Bureau of Investigation is getting in touch with Greek authorities to ascertain the arrest of three women, including a doctor, for allegedly being involved in the multi-crore kidney racket in which Dr Amit Kumar, the key accused, has been taken into custody by it. The agency, which is probing the case, will approach the authorities through the external affairs ministry and Interpol to get facts and evidence related to it, CBI sources said on Thursday.
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel kept faith with the players that took the reigning European champions to Euro 2008 when he named his 23-man squad on Wednesday. Only AEK Athens central defender Socratis Papastathopoulos was cut from the squad that travelled to Budapest for the friendly against Hungary on Saturday.
Panathinaikos secured a Champions League qualifying spot by beating PAOK Salonica 2-0 on Sunday to extend their lead in the Super League playoffs to a eight points with two matches left.
United are unbeaten in all competitions since Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in December and their improvement is down to the Norwegian's insistence on an attacking style of play, as opposed to the defensive fare served up by his predecessor.
Three Indian rowers have booked their berths in the Beijing Olympics after winning the qualifying tournament in the Chinese capital on Sunday.
China stole the limelight from the mighty Cubans by winning their first two Olympic boxing titles to deafening roars from a thrilled crowd on Sunday. Zou Shiming won the light-flyweight final and Light-heavyweight Zhang Xiaoping later doubled the hosts' tally.
In Thursday's semi-finals, world number one Australia clash with fourth-ranked Spain, while third-placed Netherlands take on number two Germany.
The Olympics have come a long way since the first one in Athens where athletes alone mattered. Over a century later, technology too is helping athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics games to smash records.
Rebecca Romero became the first British woman to win medals in two different summer Olympic sports when she beat her team mate to win gold in the women's 3-km individual pursuit cycling on Sunday. A rowing silver medallist in Athens in the quadruple sculls, Romero switched sports and made her track cycling debut only two years ago. She won two world championship titles in March.
Meet the photographers, stylists and wedding planner who made it an event to remember.
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw down his greco-roman bronze medal in protest on Thursday after his bid for Olympic gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics". Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat then walked off.
Amir Khan stopped Dane Martin Kristjansen in the seventh round in Bolton to close in on a world title fight.
The Delhi lad gave India the first ever individual Olympic goal when he won the 10m air rifle event in Beijing on Monday.
National Geographic's new travel photography competition is entering its third week and is attracting stunning pictures from across the globe. Some of the jaw-dropping pictures show the famous "Firefall" of Yosemite National Park to a sunset at the Taj Mahal. The annual competition is accepting entries until May 3 at 12pm and asks for pictures in three categories: nature, cities and people.
A quick glance towards the Centre Court scoreboard at the Olympic Tennis Centre hardly helped Roger Federer's prickly demeanour on Tuesday.
Italian anti-doping authorities have called for two-year bans on 26 athletes, including Olympic bronze medallist Fabrizio Donato and European champion long jumper Andrew Howe, for allegedly failing to provide doping samples.
At Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas's nuptials, the Adil Manuel Collective played funk, jazz and R&B for longer than planned that evening at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. One of the couple's friends in the audience yelled: 'Are you guys even from India?' Adil Manuel offered to show her their passports.
India's boxers are remembered only during a big event, says Olympics medal hope Akhil Kumar. 'Before and after that no one cares.'
Australia's men's hockey team will defend their Athens Olympics title without experienced midfielder Nathan Eglington, Hockey Australia said on Thursday. Eglington, who has played 136 international matches and scored 47 goals, tore a muscle in his groin a month ago and had rejected surgery in the hope it would repair itself.
With the ghost of doping returning to haunt Indian weightlifting, Sports Minister M S Gill has taken strong exception to the latest case involving Kavita Devi and called for a review meeting to discuss the menace. After weightlifters let down the nation at the Athens Olympics and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Gill does not want to take any chances ahead of the Beijing Games in August.
'Chinese companies have acquired stakes in 13 ports in Europe, including in Greece, Spain and, most recently, Belgium.' 'Those ports handle about 10 percent of Europe's shipping container capacity,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The IOC took back US sprinter Marion Jone's five Sydney 2000 Games medals after she admitted to taking drugs.
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