News

NEWCASTLE, England: South Korea wasted a number of scoring chances against Mexico as the two teams opened Group B at the Olympics with a 0-0 draw Thursday. With forward Giovani Dos Santos on the bench from the start, Mexico showed little promise of being a medal contender as its opponent dominated at St. James Park. Both teams struggled to find their rhythm on the slippery turf, …

LONDON: The Olympics kick off on Wednesday with a women’s football match between Britain and New Zealand in Cardiff, and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, hero of the Beijing Games and the fastest man on earth, vowed to win again, declaring: “This is my time”. The match in the Welsh capital comes two days before Friday’s opening ceremony at the main …

ATHENS: Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was kicked out of the Olympics on Wednesday for a racist tweet which poked fun at Africans living in the country. The 23-year-old Papachristou had written that “with so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food”. Although she subsequently deleted the message after a huge public …

LONDON: British border officials called off Wednesday a strike planned for the eve of the London Olympics, but travel woes still stalked the event as special lanes for Games traffic caused tailbacks. Organizers said the British capital was “moving well” despite the opening of the widely-disliked Olympic road lanes for the first time and a fresh outbreak of problems with …

LONDON: Sinister. Disturbing. Creepy. Frightening. The official mascots of London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games – Wenlock and Mandeville – have been called all of those things, but organizers are hoping to tack on a more positive title: merchandising magic. The futuristic-looking pair have popped up all over London, casting their one-eyed gaze at tourists and locals alike from posters, statues and a …

LONDON: The London Olympics are not big business for everyone — sex workers say they are being cleared from the streets around the stadium to make the area more presentable for the Games. While Britain’s limp economy hopes for an Olympic boost, police in Newham, the deprived east London borough that is home to the stadium, have closed some 80 …

LONDON: The massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Olympics had Jacques Rogge the athlete fighting with his conscience over whether to carry on competing or not. Now, 40 years later, the 70-year-old International Olympic Committee president is enduring similar soul-searching. This time it is over whether or not to agree to a minute’s silence at …

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado: Olympians should have figured out one thing by now: What they can or cannot wear at the London Games has very little to do with their fashion, marketing sense or patriotism, and a whole lot to do with rules, regulations and, of course, money. The overseers of the Olympics are protective of their brand and rings – …