Sports

LONDON: Russia’s Tagir Khaibulaev delighted his president and judo black-belt Vladimir Putin Thursday as he beat Mongolian defending champion Tuvshinbayar Naidan to win the Olympic under-100kg title. Putin, seated among the crowd, raised his arms in celebration and was among the first to congratulate Khaibulaev after he claimed Russia’s third judo gold with an unstoppable seoi-nage (shoulder throw). Dutchman Henk …

LONDON: Bradley Wiggins took a step toward becoming Britain’s greatest ever Olympian Wednesday after overtaking former rower Steve Redgrave’s tally of six medals following his men’s time trial win. With five golds and one bronze medal, Redgrave is widely considered Britain’s greatest ever Olympian. But he could soon lose that accolade to Wiggins after his fellow Englishman added a fourth …

LONDON: Forget anabolic steroids in easy-to-swallow tablets, or EPO in clean syringes. Ancient Olympic dopers got their pre-Games hormone boost from chewing on raw animal testicles. The problem of some Olympic competitors taking potions, medicines and supplements to boost performance is as old as the Games themselves. Even athletes of the 19th century thought nothing of fortifying themselves with coca …

WEYMOUTH, England: Pavlos Kontides raced into gold-medal contention in the Laser dinghy at the Olympic regatta on Wednesday, raising hopes of securing a first podium finish at a Games by a Cypriot athlete. Kontides, 22, took a second and fourth in the day’s races and holds a one-point lead over Australia’s four-time world champion Tom Slingsby after six races. Kontides …

LONDON: As the world’s top athletes compete at the London Games, Syria is wracked by civil war, and the country’s Olympic team is steering clear of the issue. The northwestern city of Aleppo has been under military forces’ fire for 12 days, with the army using warplanes to fire on opposition fighters in one of the most important battles of …

LONDON: Handball has never been big in Britain, hardly ever entering into the public eye in a country obsessed by football, cricket and rugby. Judging by the opening weekend of games at the London Olympics, though, it may be catching on – even though the hosts seem to have little chance of even winning a game. The 6,500-seat venue at …

LONDON: Tunisia may have missed out on its first medal at the London Olympics because of bad math. Weightlifter Khalil El Maoui was in second place of the men’s 56-kilogram competition after the snatch on Sunday but never showed up on the platform for the second lift, the clean and jerk. He blamed his coach afterward for submitting an entry …

BERLIN: “Even the Kazakhs are laughing at us,” screamed mass circulation Bild on its front page under an Olympics medal table showing sporting powerhouse Germany with nothing to show for its efforts. “Man (and woman), are we bad,” adds the paper, Europe’s most widely read, following a string of disappointments culminating in world record-holder swimmer Paul Biedermann’s failure to qualify …