Sports

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 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 – …

LONDON: A London taxi driver has come up with a novel way of solving the Olympic hotel dilemma: Visitors can sleep in his cab for 50 pounds ($78). Cabbie David Weekes had feared that busy traffic throughout the Olympics and special road lanes only for Olympic VIPs would mean fewer taxi fares. So he’s converted his traditional black London taxi …

LONDON: Britain’s stretched border service is letting terror suspects slip into the country, a newspaper reported Sunday, quoting two unnamed Border Agency officials as saying several suspects had been waved through controls at London’s Heathrow Airport since the beginning of the month. The Observer newspaper’s report – which Britain’s Home Office declined to comment on – is the latest in …

LOS ANGELES: David Beckham doesn’t believe he’s the right person to light the flame in the opening ceremony of his hometown London Olympics. Beckham says, “Lighting the torch in the stadium is something that should be done by an Olympian, an Olympian that has done incredible things for our country and has won gold medals.” He helped London’s successful bid …