Sports

SYDNEY: Australia’s Olympic athletes will be banned from using sleeping pills, officials said Tuesday, after ex-swimming star Grant Hackett admitted to a heavy use of the sedatives while he was still competing. Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates said prescription medications such as the powerful sleeping pill Stilnox would be banned for the first time at London after Hackett said …

LONDON: The gleaming Westfield Stratford City mall poses an interesting question about human behavior: Is it possible to head off to a major international sports event and forget to go? Could a person be so distracted by 250 shops, 70 restaurants, 14 bowling lanes and a 24-hour casino that they don’t complete their journey to Olympic Park, just a few …

LONDON: It’ll be an all-Chinese final in women’s table tennis singles – as expected – between the two favorites Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia. Defending world champion Ding, who goes into Wednesday’s final as the favorite, defeated Feng Tianwei of Singapore 4-2. Feng was born in China and emigrated to Singapore. Li will be a decided underdog after defeating Kasumi …

LONDON: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no regrets about embracing social media for what some are calling the first “Twitter Games”, despite two athletes having been expelled for tweets and others being abused online. Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella was sent home from the Olympics on Monday for an offensive tweet aimed at South Korea, while triple jumper Paraskevi …

LONDON: London Olympics organizers say 3,800 tickets were reclaimed and put on sale to the British public for Tuesday events. Criticism of blocks of empty seats has led organizers to try to recover tickets given to national Olympic committees and sport federations that will not be used. Organizers then put the excess tickets for sale online to the British public. …

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake sauntered through their 200 metres semi-finals on Saturday to set up another rematch and an explosive finish to the Jamaican Olympic trials. The men’s 200m on Sunday will provide the grand-finale to the four-day meeting that could prove even more dramatic than their 100m showdown won by Blake, as the two fastest men …

DES MOINES: U.S. wrestler Stephany Lee has been suspended for a year and must give her up spot on the Olympic team after testing positive for marijuana. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday says Lee tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol acid, a marijuana metabolite, at the Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City on April 21. Lee, who also tested positive for …

REUTERS: While South African athlete Oscar Pistorius attempts to become the first amputee runner to compete at the Olympic Games, scientists are still arguing whether his artificial limbs give him a critical advantage or not. Pistorius, born without fibulas and who had his lower legs amputated when a baby, uses carbon fiber prosthetic running blades and is hoping to qualify …