By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Oscar Pistorius began his T44 100 metres title defence with a smooth heat win on Wednesday but his complaints about rivals allegedly using longer blades will not be investigated further unless evidence is provided, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.
TOKYO (Reuters) - The South Korean soccer player who inflamed a diplomatic row with Japan by waving a political flag at the London Olympics has earned respect from unexpected quarters - Japan's Keisuke Honda.
The 26-year-old Japan playmaker told local media on Thursday he might have done the same thing as South Korea's Park Jong-woo under the same circumstances.
LONDON (Reuters) - As tennis's elite ply their trade at the U.S. Open, a few may be casting envious glances at Dutch Paralympian Esther Vergeer who notched a 466th consecutive victory in the first round of the wheelchair competition at the London Games on Saturday.
The Dutch athlete has not lost a singles match since 2003, has won 42 singles and doubles grand slam titles and began the defence of the gold medal she won in Beijing four years ago with a 6-0 6-0 victory against Japan's Kanako Domori.
By Alice Baghdjian
LONDON (Reuters) - Tourists and shoppers in London's bustling Covent Garden fell silent and grappled for their cameras as one man sang lines from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and a flash mob of wig-wearing actors boogied to pop songs before melting into the crowd.
By Aicha Marhfour
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - He has described himself as the happiest man alive, yet in 20 years Iraq-born swimmer Ahmed Kelly has risen above extreme hardship to become one of Australia's leading medal hopes at the London Paralympics.
PARIS (Reuters) - French steeplechaser Nour-Eddine Gezzar has been banned for 10 years after a second positive drugs test, the French athletics federation said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gezzar, who came fourth in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the European championships, missed the London Olympics after being provisionally suspended following a failed test for erythropoietin (EPO) at the French championships in June.
By Neil Maidment
LONDON (Reuters) - Security firm G4S, at the centre of a political and media storm over its failure to provide enough guards for the London Olympics, said the fiasco would cost it 50 million pound and it was fighting to rebuild its reputation.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's "Soft Drink Pig" Oh Jin-hyek can buy himself a lifetime's supply of fizzy pop after Hyundai Motor Group rewarded the archer's gold medal feat at the London Olympics with a massive cash bonus.
Oh and his bow-toting sweetheart Ki Bo-bae scooped the men's and women's individual titles and were handed a combined bonus of 450 million won ($400,000) for their golden exploits at the 2012 Games.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Olympic boxing gold medallist Ryota Murata is considering a future away from the sport after rejecting a lucrative offer to turn professional.
Murata ended Japan's 48-year wait for an Olympic boxing gold by winning the middleweight title in London earlier this month but now plans to take an extended break before deciding on his next move.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Olympic gymnastics champion Kohei Uchimura has experienced the darker side of celebrity after complaining of a schoolgirl "stalker", local media reported on Thursday.
The 23-year-old, who won the all-around title in London earlier this month, said the teenager had chased after him on her bicycle.
(Reuters) - Usain Bolt is a definite starter for another Olympic Games in four years' time, opening up the possibility of more sprint records or an attempt at other events, the six-time gold medallist said on Wednesday.
Speculation has been rife since the London Games that the Olympic 100 and 200 metres champion could quit athletics and not compete at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Olympic badminton coach Sung Han-kook has had a lifetime suspension cut to two years, while four players sent home from the London Games for throwing matches also had their bans reduced.
The four women's doubles players booted out of the Games for their part in the scandal had two-year bans cut to six months after an appeal to Korean badminton's ruling body.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima is in no rush to make a decision on his future after the four-times Olympic champion failed to deliver at the London Games, local media reported on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old completed the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke double at the Athens and Beijing Olympics but finished outside the medals in both events in London.
(Reuters) - The South Korean soccer player banned from collecting his bronze medal at the London Olympics for waving a placard with a political message deserves to receive his medal, coach Hong Myung-bo said on Wednesday.
Hong slammed the handling of the row, which erupted after Park Jong-woo held up a sign referring to a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan.
(Reuters) - Australia's cycling queen Anna Meares is tempted by the prospect of racing at a fourth Olympics, although the 28-year-old has yet to commit to competing in 2016 after capturing the women's sprint title in London.
"I haven't made a decision," Meares told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. "I'm enticed to go to Rio that's for sure."
(Reuters) - One of the American athletes who performed the "black power" salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City believes a mooted parliamentary apology to Australian sprinter Peter Norman has come too late.
Norman, who took silver in a 200 metres race overshadowed by its controversial medal ceremony, died of a heart attack in 2006.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Olympic medallists brought downtown Tokyo to a standstill on Monday in an open-top bus victory parade witnessed by around 500,000 flag and fan-waving supporters.
The convoy of five buses caused gridlock as fans and shoppers in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district help celebrate Japan's record haul of 38 medals (seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze) at the London Olympics.
ALMATY/ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Kazakhstan threw a lavish ceremony for its record-breaking Olympic athletes on Friday while Turkmenistan fired its sports minister in a reflection of the contrasting fortunes of the former Soviet Central Asian states at the London Games.
Kazakhstan's seven gold medal winners waved to crowds from open-topped limousines on a parade through the futuristic capital Astana before meeting President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the oil-rich republic for more than two decades.
(Reuters) - Kiwi shot-putter Valerie Adams is itching to get the feel of the gold medal from London Olympics that is now hers but is bracing for a long wait that may spill over to next year.
Belarusian Nadezhda Ostapchuk won the gold in London with a throw of 21.36 metres earlier this month before being stripped of her medal for failing a dope test.
(Reuters) - Australia's swimmers have admitted they buckled under pressure and underestimated how much their rivals had improved at the London Games after the squad picked up just a solitary gold as part of a 10-medal haul in the pool.
"As much as you think you're ready for it, the difference between world championships and the Olympics is a hundred times more pressure," freestyle specialist Eamon Sullivan told reporters on Thursday.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Wheelchair-bound Khamis Zaqout from Gaza, who lost the use of his legs while working on a building site in Israel two decades ago, is Palestine's best hope for a Paralympic medal in London this month.
By Natasha Baker
TORONTO (Reuters) - Athletes captured the spotlight at the 2012 Summer Games but a social marketing web app helped companies score gold with consumers during what has been dubbed as the first social media Olympics.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Olympic champion swimmer Ryan Lochte, who emerged as one of the hottest new stars from the London Games, has signed on for his first acting role.
Lochte, 28, who won two gold medals in London, will play himself in a cameo appearance in the high-school TV series "90210" in October, producers said on Tuesday.
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Athletes from Guinea and Ivory Coast have joined several other Africans who have gone missing following the London Olympics, officials said on Tuesday.
Three Guineans and three Ivorians disappeared, adding to a total list of 11 Congolese and Cameroonians suspected to be trying to make new lives in Europe.
By Ken Borland
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Olympic silver medallist Caster Semenya has defended herself against allegations that she did not try to win the 800 metres at the London Games on Saturday.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Former Olympic champion Liu Xiang wants to return to competition after crashing out of the 110 metres hurdles heats at the London Games last week with an Achilles tendon injury, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
"It's all going well, just another scar for me," Xinhua quoted Liu as saying on his return home to China after surgery in London.
TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korean soccer officials have sought to defuse a potential political row with Japanese counterparts after a Korean player displayed a political message at the London Olympics.
Park Jong-woo held up a sign referring to a territorial dispute between the countries after South Korea had beaten Japan 2-0 in last Friday's bronze medal match.
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets of towns across Ireland on Monday to welcome back the country's most successful Olympic team since 1956, led by women's lightweight boxing gold medal winner Katie Taylor.
Ireland's haul of one gold, one silver and three bronze medals was the country's best showing since the 1956 Games in Melbourne, when Ronnie Delany won the 1,500 metres gold.
By Chris Wickham
LONDON (Reuters) - The hundreds of fabric panels that adorn the outside of London's Olympic Stadium will be recycled, some going to a project for former child soldiers in Uganda, others to a welfare initiative in Rio de Janeiro, host of the next summer Games in 2016.
By Clare Fallon
LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic women's shot put champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk has been stripped of the gold medal she won at the London Games a week ago after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid.
By Mike Collett-White and Maria Golovnina
LONDON (Reuters) - London looked back on the Olympics on Monday with satisfaction and sorrow, confident it had hosted a successful Games yet aware that the 17-day party was over and it was back to the reality of economic recession and painful spending cuts.
By Anna Irrera and Paulo Prada
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - As the calm settled over London's Olympic Stadium after closing ceremonies on Sunday, the pressure was mounting in Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 games.
DAKAR (Reuters) - A Congolese judo competitor and three other members of the central African country's Olympic delegation have gone missing in London since the weekend, local media reported on Monday, adding to a list of seven other African athletes who vanished during the Games.
Democratic Republic of Congo's Cedric Mandembo, who lost his only judo match in 49 seconds to Russian Alexander Mikhaylin in the 100 kg category, disappeared shortly after Sunday's closing ceremony and was not answering his mobile phone, U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi reported, citing the Congolese Olympic Committee.
By Ossian Shine
LONDON (Reuters) - Fourteen billion dollars goes a long, long way; it would buy you three U.S. aircraft carriers or six NASA rover missions to Mars.
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish athletics needs to take a long, hard look at itself after failing to win a single medal at the Olympic Games, secretary of state for sport Miguel Cardenal said on Monday.
Cardenal said he was generally satisfied with Spain's tally of 17 medals in London - three gold, 10 silver and four bronze - which was one less than in Beijing four years ago.
By William Maclean
LONDON (Reuters) - From ordinary police on the beat to the shadows of Britain's security establishment, the sighs of relief are almost audible.
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - The party of a lifetime over, Britons woke up and rubbed their eyes to jubilant headlines on Monday as London said farewell to its Olympic visitors after a Games that exceeded all expectations.
LONDON (Reuters) - London's Heathrow airport is braced for one its busiest ever days on Monday with around 15,000 Olympic athletes and officials expected to leave the capital following the end of the Games.
Heathrow owner BAA expects Europe's busiest airport to handle around 116,000 departures on Monday, compared with an average of 95,000 departures on a normal day. Heathrow's record is 123,000 departing passengers, which was set on July 29, 2011.
By Brenda Goh
LONDON (Reuters) - Future host cities of the world's biggest sporting events will look to emulate the London Olympics' use of temporary venues and stadia as the global financial crisis heightens the danger of building expensive white elephants.
By Rex Gowar
LONDON (Reuters) - Dayron Robles of Cuba did not finish the 110 metres hurdles final in which he was defending his Olympic title and Brazilian Cesar Cielo failed to win a major 50 metres freestyle race in the pool for the first time in four years.
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Imagine a soldier trapped behind enemy lines. He fights his way out with his sword, swims across a lake, grabs the nearest horse, gallops through the forest and makes a last dash for freedom on foot, occasionally firing a pistol to fend off his adversaries.
By Ian Ransom
LONDON (Reuters) - China's sports mandarins had warned before the London Olympics that their athletes would struggle to match the table-topping gold medal haul they enjoyed in Beijing. They will take little comfort in being proved right.
LONDON (Reuters) - Security firm G4S will donate 2.5 million pounds ($3.9 million) to British military sports and welfare organisations to thank troops who stepped in to secure Olympic venues after it failed to provide enough guards, the government said on Monday.
Media coverage ahead of the London 2012 Games was dominated by G4S's admission it could not supply all of a promised 10,400 guards for the two-week sporting festival, which closed on Sunday.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Some wondered if they would be a novelty, others questioned whether they should be in the ring at all but for four days at the London Games, women boxers were the talk of the Olympics for all the right reasons.
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's supremacy on the wrestling mat survived an onslaught from Japan and Iran at the London Olympics and could face an even stronger challenge in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
By Sarah Young
LONDON (Reuters) - The army of fans cheered and chanted just as loud, and there was no holding back with the flags and facepaints, but the Hungarian fans were not watching the gold medal match they could be forgiven for expecting, but a clash to decide who came fifth.
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Petra Kvitova and Li Na won their maiden major titles last season and the pair battled back from one-set deficits on Sunday to stay on course for a first tournament victory of the season at the Montreal Cup.
The 2011 Wimbledon champion Kvitova rallied to defeat former world number one Caroline Wozniacki 3-6 6-2 6-3 after Li had recovered from a 5-1 deficit in the deciding set to record a 3-6 6-3 7-5 victory over Lucie Safarova in the first semi-final.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - France's men defended like warriors and Norway's women showed they had the stomach for a fight in more ways than one as both Olympic handball champions retained their titles at the London 2012 Games.
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - The London Olympics closed with a dazzling, and at times eccentric extravaganza of music and dance that rocked a main stadium filled with royalty, celebrities, 10,500 athletes and a sea of exuberant spectators.
By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) - After London rose to the occasion for a third time with an outstanding summer Games, the Olympics now moves towards uncharted territory.
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday London had hosted a "safe and secure" Olympics and thanked volunteers, the army and police for transforming the Games into what he said had been a successful global advertisement for Britain.
Concerns over safety and the threat of protests or an attack had dogged the organisers of the 2012 festival of sport in the run up to the Games, especially after it emerged not enough security staff had been recruited, forcing the army to step in.
By Paul Casciato
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama might rest soundly on Sunday night in the knowledge his country topped the medals table at the London Games, but he might be slightly put out to discover that as a head of state he still comes second to Britain's queen.
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - The London Olympics were described as "happy and glorious" by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on Sunday as he officially closed the 30th Summer Games.
By Mike Collett-White and Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - London bade farewell to the Olympic Games on Sunday with a high-octane romp through British pop music, bringing the curtain down on more than two weeks of action at the end of which the United States topped the sporting world with 46 gold medals.
By Kylie MacLellan and Estelle Shirbon
LONDON (Reuters) - Lithuania's Laura Asadauskaite claimed the last medal of the Games on Sunday, taking gold in the women's modern pentathlon to complete the family set of Olympic medals.
By Mark Trevelyan
LONDON (Reuters) - Two teenage sharks and a flying squirrel made their mark at London 2012 as outstanding new talents with their best years still ahead of them.
By Patrick Graham
LONDON (Reuters) - Spain provided a satisfying answer on Sunday to the question that has bugged fans since the start of the Olympic basketball tournament - could anyone keep up with the new U.S. Dream Team?
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. men's basketball team proved that talent and team play could overcome a shortfall in size as they beat an inspired Spain 107-100 to win the Olympic gold on Sunday.
By Sarah Young
LONDON (Reuters) - Croatia won gold in the men's water polo, overpowering Italy 8-6 to take home their first Olympic title in the sport and ending an era of Hungarian domination.
By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) - Bud Winter, the American sprint coach who mentored a generation of world record-holders including Tommie Smith and John Carlos, held a series of seminars in Jamaica in 1966.
By Andrew Downie
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A day after Brazil lost the Olympic soccer final to Mexico, the country's footballing authorities took the unusual step of singling out full back Rafael for his part in the defeat.
By Steve Keating
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States clawed back to the top of the Olympic medal table at the London Games, waving goodbye to Michael Phelps its greatest ever medal producer, and saying hello to a brigade of young newcomers who will carry the torch onto Rio.
By Julian Linden
LONDON (Reuters) - In an Olympic sport played by giants LeBron James towers above everyone else.
LONDON (Reuters) - Lithuania's Laura Asadauskaite took gold in the women's modern pentathlon on Sunday, storming to a convincing win in the combined shoot and run finale of the one-day event to bag the final medal of the Games.
Britain's Samantha Murray, who was in fourth place after the first three events of fencing, shooting and riding, took the silver to a deafening roar from the home crowd.
LONDON (Reuters) - United States finished top of the London Olympics medal table on Sunday with 46 golds ahead of China on 38 and hosts Britain with 29.
The U.S. won 104 medals in total with 29 silver and 29 bronze followed by China on 87, including 27 silver and 22 bronze. Britain won 64 medals overall with 16 silver and 19 bronze.
By Patrick Johnston and Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Briton Anthony Joshua brought the house down with a huge final round to take the super-heavyweight title and end the absorbing boxing action in fine style after classy fighters from Cuba and Ukraine delivered more gold.
By Mohammed Abbas
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday basked in the glory of hosting a successful Olympics which has helped lift the gloom in recession-hit Britain, praising the prowess of British athletes after their best medal haul for more than 100 years.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - France became the first men's handball team to defend their Olympic title when their 22-21 win consigned Sweden to a fourth Games final defeat on Sunday.
By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia proved the oldest sporting adage that its never over until the scoreboard says so as their men's volleyball team came back from the brink to snatch Olympic gold and spoil Brazil's party at the London Games on Sunday.
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - Never mind inspiring a generation, British Olympic shooting gold medallist Peter Wilson would be happy with inspiring just a handful to take up his sport.
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most revered athletes, Roger Bannister, said the success of the London Games had helped restore a sense of national pride and greater tolerance in multi-racial Britain.
By Paul Casciato
LONDON (Reuters) - A sky-diving queen, smooching cyclists, a dangling mayor, chimp management and 150,000 condoms for the fittest people on the planet made up the wackier side of the London 2012 Games.
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States beat an inspired Spain 107-100 in a fast-paced match to win the Olympic gold medal in men's basketball at North Greenwich Arena on Sunday.
By Patrick Johnston and Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Anthony Joshua produced a big comeback to beat Italian Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle to super-heavyweight gold on Sunday, capping an impressive performance in the ring by the host nation.
LONDON (Reuters) - Croatia won gold in the men's water polo tournament, overpowering Italy 8-6 to win the country's first Olympic title in the sport since its gained independence from Yugoslavia.
The Croatians ran away with the match in the second half, with the Italians failing to threaten and struggling to find a way past the tournament's top-ranked goalkeeper in Croatia's Josip Pavic.
LONDON (Reuters) - Some have had Olympic medals hung around their necks, others have been dressed up in British colours and one even had a television specially installed so he could watch the women's boxing.
London 2012 has hardly been a dog's life for the pets of British medal winners.
By Steven Downes
LONDON (Reuters) - London marathon organisers would be happy to have Britain's double Olympic champion Mo Farah in their race and believe he will make his debut over the distance in the city.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - France became the first men's handball team to defend their Olympic title when their 22-21 win consigned Sweden to a fourth Games final defeat on Sunday.
By Avril Ormsby
LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic officials will review the ticketing process for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro after coming in for criticism over empty seats at the London Olympics and following accusations of unauthorised sales among some sellers.
By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) - It was raining sequins on the final day of the London Games as Russia's rhythmic gymnasts shut out the rest of the world to win a fourth successive group all-around Olympic title on Sunday.
By Peter Parker
LONDON (Reuters) - If you think the Olympic spirit is nonsense, talk to Sandor Tarics, who won gold in Nazi Germany nearly eight decades ago and, at 98, is the oldest surviving Olympic champion.
By Martyn Herman
HADLEIGH (Reuters) - The man from Guam did not last very long at the Olympic cross country cycling race on Sunday but Derek Horton deserved a medal just for getting himself on the startline.
LONDON (Reuters) - A wrestler who was taken to hospital by ambulance after his heart started racing during a quarter-final defeat got up from his bed and returned to win a bronze medal at the London Olympics on Sunday.
Azerbaijan's Khetag Gazyumov, 29, left the wrestling mat in a wheelchair after his heart rate soared to a dangerous 260 beats per minute, compared to a typical 60-100.
By Karolos Grohmann
LONDON (Reuters) - A dispute about campaigning delayed the admission of new athletes to the International Olympic Committee on Sunday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England governor Mervyn King took a swipe at bankers on Sunday, saying they should take a lesson about fair play from the Olympic Games, which have shown that money is not the only motivator for success.
King, who has previously criticised banks for excessive pay and shoddy customer treatment, also called for international cooperation to ease a global economic crisis in a column in the Mail on Sunday newspaper on the final day of the London Games.
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia beat Brazil to win the Olympic men's volleyball gold medal on Sunday, fighting back from the brink of a straight-sets defeat to take the decider and seal a 3-2 victory.
Having lost the first two sets, Russia twice found themselves a match point down in the third but roared back to claim their first gold in the event for 32 years 19-25 20-25 29-27 25-22 15-9.
By Sara Ledwith
LONDON (Reuters) - In the evening sun near Tower Bridge, people watch Olympians on a big screen and cheer. High above them, on the top floor of the bulbous glass building where he has his office, Mayor of London Boris Johnson is addressing technology entrepreneurs in a speech that underlines his ideology.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Serik Sapiyev stunned a boisterous home crowd on Sunday when he pummelled his way to welterweight gold with a 17-9 demolition of Britain's Freddie Evans and earned Kazakhstan their first boxing title of the Games.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Anthony Joshua produced a big comeback to beat Italian Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle to the super-heavyweight title on Sunday, capping an impressive performance by the host nation in the ring.
Joshua, ten years Cammarelle's junior and heavily fancied for gold before the final, came from three points down going into the last round to win the final bout of the London Games on countback to the delight of the home crowd.
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - Japan won their fourth wrestling gold of the London Olympics on Sunday to record their best finish since 1968, while the United States clinched a second to end the Games in fifth spot.
By Julien Pretot
HADLEIGH, England (Reuters) - Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy made a decisive move in the closing stages to claim the Olympic men's mountain bike title on Sunday after defending champion Julien Absalon of France suffered a game-changing early puncture.
LONDON (Reuters) - Serbia won the bronze medal in the Olympic men's water polo on Sunday, beating Montenegro 12-11 in a repeat of the outcome of the third-place match in Beijing.
A late surge from Serbia reversed a three-goal deficit and they scored in the final minute of the game to deny the Montenegrins the medal after a fierce battle which saw referees hand out four red cards to the Serbians.
By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) - Stephen Kiprotich drew inspiration from Uganda's only previous Olympic champion and capitalised on the benefits of training at altitude in Kenya to win the London Games men's marathon on Sunday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt will have an extra souvenir to go with his three gold medals after Olympic officials handed over the baton used by the Jamaican sprint relay team in their world record run.
Bolt had tried to keep the baton after running the anchor leg as Jamaica stormed to victory in the 4x100 metres relay on Saturday but was forced to surrender it by an official on the track.
By Avril Ormsby
LONDON (Reuters) - Chris Hoy's tears of joy represented a defining moment of London 2012, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said on Sunday.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Cuban teenager Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana ensured he left the London Games as the fighter to watch after his power and speed took him past Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar to Olympic flyweight gold on Sunday.
By Julien Pretot
HADLEIGH, England (Reuters) - Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy made a decisive move in the closing stages to claim the Olympic men's mountain bike title on Sunday after defending champion Julien Absalon of France suffered a game-changing early puncture.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Egor Mekhontcev made sure Russia would not leave the ring without a gold medal on Sunday when he came from behind to beat Kazakhstan's Adilbek Niyazymbetov to the light-heavyweight title by the tightest of margins.
By Annika Breidthardt
LONDON (Reuters) - Germany's men and the Netherlands' women both defended their Olympic hockey titles but their level of dominance should not be overstated.
By Rosalba O'Brien
LONDON (Reuters) - Faced with a Chinese diving team who hardly seem to put a pointed toe wrong and who regard anything less than 100 percent gold as failure, rivals at the London Olympics responded by upping the difficulty of their dives.
By Kate Holton
DORNEY, England (Reuters) - Of all the images from the Olympic rowing regatta, the ones that may last the longest come from those athletes desperately trying to come to terms with their sense of loss at winning silver.
By Sarah Edmonds
LONDON (Reuters) - With royalty, politics, seismic shifts in the map of horse power and historic success for the home team, equestrian sports in the London Games were as full of twists and turns as the Olympic courses designed by Sue Benson and Bob Ellis.
By Keith Weir
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is counting its medals rather than adding up the bill after an acclaimed Olympic Games silenced a debate - for now at least - about whether it was worth nine billion pounds of public money.
LONDON (Reuters) - It was raining sequins on the final day of the London Games as Russia's rhythmic gymnasts shut out the rest of the world to win a fourth successive group all-around Olympic title on Sunday.
Italy arrived in London having won the last three world titles and had high hopes of knocking the Russians off their pedestal but a slight improvisation in their display with five balls did not go unnoticed by the judges.
By Julien Pretot
HADLEIGH, England (Reuters) - Defending champion Julien Absalon of France pulled out of the Olympic men's mountain bike race after a puncture ruined his chances of clinching a third title in a row on Sunday.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Ukraine's professional heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko was on hand to see his compatriot Vasyl Lomachenko prove once again why he is the best in the amateur ranks as the lightweight romped to a second successive Olympic gold on Sunday.
By Peter Rutherford
LONDON (Reuters) - Taekwondo has done many things wrong since becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, but the Korean martial art got most things right at the London Games.
By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) - Gabby Douglas arrived at the ‘Twitter Olympics' with a handful of followers, a cute nickname and a bubbly personality to go with her megawatt smile.
By Mike Collett
LONDON (Reuters) - If London 2012 proved one thing it is that the debate about whether soccer should be part of the Olympic Games is over for good.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Shooting attracted record numbers of spectators at the London Olympics but the sport's desire to ditch the stigma of violence was blighted by gun killings in the United States that book-ended the event.
LONDON (Reuters) - American wrestler Jake Varner won the 96kg freestyle gold at the London Olympics on Sunday.
He beat Valerii Andriitsev of Ukraine to give the United States their second wrestling gold of the London Games.
By Claire Watson
LONDON (Reuters) - Straight from a triumphant Olympic campaign, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt dazzled dancing fans with a turn as a DJ at a London nightclub early on Sunday.
By Karolos Grohmann
LONDON (Reuters) - Colombian 400 metres runner Diego Palomeque Echevarria was excluded from the London Olympics on Sunday after a second sample tested positive for testosterone, the International Olympic Committee said.
LONDON (Reuters) - Serik Sapiyev stunned a boisterous home crowd on Sunday when he pummelled his way to welterweight gold with a 17-9 demolition of Britain's Freddie Evans and hand Kazakhstan its first boxing title of the Games.
Kazakhstan, a rising force in amateur boxing who will host next year's world championships, had pocketed a bronze elsewhere in the men's draw but when Sapiyev bounded into the ring, it looked like he was fully intent on getting gold.
By Karolos Grohmann
LONDON (Reuters) - Organisers of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics must finalise their budget as soon as possible, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday as focus shifted to the South American city on the last day of the London Games.
LONDON (Reuters) - Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko showed why he is regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the amateur ranks on Sunday when he showed no ill effects in moving up in weight to romp home to a second successive Olympic gold.
Lomachenko was just about the hottest favourite of the London Games after he followed up the featherweight gold he won with ease in Beijing with a world title apiece at both feather and lightweight class.
By Estelle Shirbon
LONDON (Reuters) - Hungary's Sarolta Kovacs broke the Olympic record for the swimming leg of the women's modern pentathlon on Sunday while her compatriot Adrienn Toth took an overall lead in the race for the last gold medal of the London Games.
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - China bowed out of the 2012 Olympics on Sunday with a swipe at the critics who had accused teenage swimming sensation Ye Shiwen of doping after her times rivalled the top U.S. men.
LONDON (Reuters) - Defending champion Julien Absalon of France has pulled out of the Olympic mountain bike race after he crashed in the first lap, organisers said on Sunday.
Absalon, the 2004 and 2008 champion and one of the pre-race favourites, fell off his bike on a rocky descent halfway through the first of seven 4.7-kilometre laps.
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia beat Argentina 81-77 in a thrilling finale to win the bronze medal in Olympic men's basketball on Sunday, breaking away in the last minute to end a 12-year medals drought.
By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) - Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich won Uganda's first medal of the London Olympics on Sunday after he shot to the front with six kms remaining to defeat the experienced Kenyan pair of Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang.
By Karolos Grohmann
LONDON (Reuters) - The 2012 London Games succeeded in refreshing the Olympic brand by injecting enthusiasm as organisers delivered on their promise to create an event tailor-made for athletes, Jacques Rogge said on Sunday.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Twice winners Croatia inflicted a fifth Olympics fourth-placed finish on Hungary when they won the men's handball bronze medal encounter 33-26 on Sunday.
LONDON (Reuters) - After years of gruelling training, two Egyptian wrestlers crashed out of the Olympics without breaking sweat on Sunday after they were late for the start of their competition.
The pair were disqualified after they arrived late at the wrestling arena on the last day of the Games.
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - British athletes were assured by Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday that government and National Lottery cash would continue to fund their training programmes through to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
LONDON (Reuters) - Italy beat Bulgaria 3-1 to win the Olympic men's volleyball bronze on Sunday, their fourth volleyball medal in the last five Games.
Captain Cristian Savani top scored for Italy with 23 points in a 25-19 23-25 25-22 25-21 victory.
By Julian Linden
LONDON (Reuters) - When a teenage Michael Phelps started splashing the girls at the end of a particularly tough training session, his coach Bob Bowman tried to discipline him.
By Gene Cherry
LONDON (Reuters) - With one final wave, Usain Bolt said goodbye to an adoring British crowd at the Olympic Stadium.
LONDON (Reuters) - London 2012 chairman Seb Coe will serve as Prime Minister David Cameron's Olympic legacy ambassador after the Games finish on Sunday, the British government said.
Coe, a former Conservative parliamentarian as well as a double Olympic gold medallist and vice-president of athletics' world governing body, will advise Cameron on how best to secure the long-term benefits of hosting the Games.
By Estelle Shirbon
LONDON (Reuters) - Four-time Olympian Elena Rublevska of Latvia took an early lead in the women's modern pentathlon on Sunday, winning the fencing competition as the battle for the last gold medal of the London Games began.
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-doping authorities at the 2012 Olympics lived up to their pre-Games promise to banish any athlete found to be taking performance-enhancing drugs, but no one is under any illusion that means London was a squeaky clean Games.
By Victoria Bryan and Keith Weir
HERZOGENAURAUCH, Germany/LONDON (Reuters) - As budgets tighten and working lives get more stressful, running is experiencing a boom as people hit the parks and streets of their cities to escape from it all and keep themselves healthy for just the cost of a pair of sneakers.
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON (Reuters) - As women athletes leave the London Olympics basking in unprecedented praise and attention, former female Olympians have some advice for the women of 2012 - keep up the fight.
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - If the wall of noise from an Olympic home crowd were a banned substance, Team GB would have been kicked out of the London Games on day one.
By Mark Trevelyan
LONDON (Reuters) - Two teenage sharks and a flying squirrel made their mark at London 2012 as outstanding new talents with their best years still ahead of them.
By Steve Slater
LONDON (Reuters) - Young table tennis players from Japan, Germany and the United States gave a glimpse at London 2012 that they could challenge China's Olympic dominance in the future, in a tournament lit up by a rocking atmosphere, Chinese brilliance and a one-shoe winner.
By Ian Ransom
LONDON (Reuters) - The London Games badminton tournament was rocked by the biggest scandal to hit the sport in its 20-year Olympic history, casting a pall over China's stunning sweep of the five titles on offer.
By Estelle Shirbon
LONDON (Reuters) - The top headline in beach volleyball at the 2012 London Games was the third straight Olympic title won by the U.S. women's pair, but the big picture was about a changing of the guard.
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) - Twenty-four years after it was reintroduced to the Games, Olympic tennis may well have peaked.
By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) - If Beijing had been a warning for the Japanese, London was the Olympics where they well and truly lost their judo crown with resurgent Russian and jubilant French teams taking over the mantle as the dominant forces on the mat.
By Julian Linden
LONDON (Reuters) - He did not set any world records and won only half as many gold medals as he did in Beijing four years ago but Michael Phelps still stole the show in the swimming events at the London Olympics.
By William James
LONDON (Reuters) - The rise and fall of steel-loaded barbells on the London Olympic weightlifting platform decided 15 gold medals, rewrote eight world records and revealed a challenge to China's dominance.
By Peter Rutherford
LONDON (Reuters) - The more things change in the world of Olympic archery the more they stay the same. South Korea adapted to the London Games' new format, put the new world number ones from India and America in their place and won three gold medals. Same old story.
By Steve Keating
LONDON (Reuters) - It is doubtful there is an athlete anywhere that has enjoyed a less stressful Olympic career than Diana Taurasi, the lynchpin of the all-conquering United States women's basketball team who pocketed her third gold medal on Saturday.
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States extended their long reign in Olympic women's basketball by claiming their fifth successive gold medal with an 86-50 rout of France at the London Games on Saturday.
By Patrick Johnston and Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Cuban Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo opted for relentless attacking while Japan's Ryota Murata went with shrewd inside fighting, but both proved effective as they ended their country's long waits for boxing gold on Saturday.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Oleksandr Usyk won Ukraine's first boxing gold medal of the London Games on Saturday leaving Italy's Clemente Russo with a second successive heavyweight silver medal and fans enjoying another jig of joy.
By Alison Wildey
LONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt ended his London Olympics in glorious style on Saturday with a third gold and a world record as Jamaica won a blistering men's 4x100 metres final but the 'living legend' was uncertain of repeating the feat again.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Champions Norway unfurled an enormous flag on court while Montenegro celebrated their country's first Olympic medal as the London Games women's handball tournament came to a spectacular end on Saturday.
By Rosalba O'Brien
LONDON (Reuters) - David Boudia of the United States won a surprise gold in diving's blue riband 10 metre platform event, handing China their second upset of the Games in the sport.
By Neil Maidment
LONDON (Reuters) - Just when Britain's double Olympic champion Mo Farah thought his Saturday night could not get any better, Jamaica's Usain Bolt decided to borrow his trademark celebration as he crossed the line in a world-record time in the 4x100 relay on Saturday.
By William James
LONDON (Reuters) - Players and coaches from Olympic champions Germany and silver medallists the Netherlands laughed off the suggestion that Jan Philipp Rabente's winner in the men's hockey final should have been disallowed because it infringed the rules.
By Nick Mulvenney
LONDON (Reuters) - Allyson Felix once said she would never get over not winning the 200 metres title as favourite at the Beijing Olympics four years ago but three golds and a world record in London have gone a long way to easing the pain.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Classy Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo won Cuba's first Olympics boxing gold in eight years on Saturday when he beat Ukraine's Denys Berinchyk in a battle which pitted the great amateur boxing nation against the rising force of the sport.
By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Trinidad & Tobago's first Olympic gold medal in a field event was forged in the unlikely setting of an old school field by a teenager larking around with his cousins.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's Ryota Murata denied Brazil a first Olympic boxing gold medal on Saturday when he fought smart to win his country's first in the ring for 48 years by beating middleweight Esquiva Falcao Florentino.
By Annika Breidthardt
LONDON (Reuters) - Germany won their second successive men's hockey gold on Saturday by beating the Netherlands 2-1, courtesy of midfielder Jan Philipp Rabente's first goals of the tournament.
By John Mehaffey
LONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt opened his London Olympics campaign with a Games record in the 100 metres final which erased any lingering doubts about his form and fitness.
By Peter Rutherford
LONDON (Reuters) - Anthony Obame earned Gabon's first Olympic medal on Saturday when he took silver in the taekwondo heavyweight division at the London Games, as Italian Carlo Molfetta took gold in the final.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Norway beat debutants Montenegro 26-23 to retain their Olympic women's handball title on Saturday helped by the indiscipline of their opponents who at least won their first medal at a Games.
By Peter Rutherford
LONDON (Reuters) - Serbian Milica Mandic won the taekwondo gold medal in the women's heavyweight division at the London Games, beating Anne-Caroline Graffe of France in the final on Saturday.
By Neil Maidment
LONDON (Reuters) - Mo Farah's switch to the United States and a new training regime had already begun to pay dividends but it was back home in London that the Briton reaped his greatest rewards with two Olympic gold medals.
LONDON (Reuters) - Oleksandr Usyk won Ukraine's first boxing gold medal of the London Games on Saturday leaving Italy's Clemente Russo to pick up a second successive heavyweight silver medal.
Ukraine dominated last year's world championships, taking home four gold medals including one for Usyk, as they seek to muscle their way to the top of the amateur game.
LONDON (Reuters) - David Boudia of the United States won gold in the men's Olympic individual 10 metre platform, diving's blue riband event, in a nailbiting final on Saturday that went down to the last dive.
The American's score of 568.65 was enough to beat China's Qiu Bo, 19, who looked distraught to get silver with 566.85, while British pin-up Tom Daley took bronze on 556.95.
By Nick Mulvenney
LONDON (Reuters) - Emotional Russian Anna Chicherova banished the pain of an injury-marred season to soar to gold in the women's high jump at the London Olympics on Saturday.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Luke Campbell emulated team mate Nicola Adams's sparkling performance by flooring Ireland's John Joe Nevin as he won Olympic bantamweight gold on Saturday in front of a passionate home crowd.
By Matt Falloon and Mike Collett-White
LONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt and Jamaica's speedsters smashed the 4x100 metres world record, Britain's Mo Farah brought London to its feet with another golden distance win and Mexico broke Brazilian football hearts in a thrilling penultimate day of Olympic action.
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States extended their long reign in Olympic women's basketball by claiming their fifth successive gold medal by beating France 86-50 at the London Games on Saturday.
By Peter Rutherford
LONDON (Reuters) - Anthony Obame earned Gabon's first Olympic medal on Saturday when he took silver in the taekwondo heavyweight division at the London Games, losing to Italian Carlo Molfetta in the final.
By Julian Linden
LONDON (Reuters) - It was a case of so near but yet so far for the United States men's 4x100 metres relay team at the London Olympics on Saturday after they were blown away by Usain Bolt.
By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) - Usain Bolt fittingly brought the Olympic track and field programme to a spectacular end on Saturday when he anchored Jamaica to a world record in the 4x100 metres relay to complete his extraordinary "double treble".
By Simon Evans
KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina (Reuters) - Record-breaking Olympian Michael Phelps is teaming up with Tiger Woods' old coach Hank Haney for a golf reality show, the swimmer said on Saturday.
By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) - Brazil's women produced a dazzling comeback to win Olympic volleyball gold on Saturday, prompting a sneak preview of what life might be like in Rio de Janeiro in four years time.
LONDON (Reuters) - Serbian Milica Mandic won the taekwondo gold medal in the women's heavyweight division at the London Games, beating Anne-Caroline Gaffe of France in the final on Saturday.
After a tight opening two rounds, Mandic opened up in the third and picked off world champion Graffe with quick kicks to the body, running out a 9-7 winner to earn Serbia their first gold medal of the Games.
By Carlos Calvo
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicans poured into public plazas around the country to celebrate their first major international football success after a 2-1 upset in the 2012 Olympic final over hot favourites Brazil, Latin America's football powerhouse.
LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's Ryota Murata denied Brazil a first Olympic boxing gold medal on Saturday when he fought smart to win his country's first in the ring for 48 years by beating middleweight Esquiva Falcao Florentino.
Falcao, whose brother Yamaguchi won bronze in the light-heavyweights, appeared to serve notice to the rest of the middleweight division when he demolished Britain's Anthony Ogogo in the semi-final.
By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) - After successive defeats in Olympic finals, Saturday represented the end of an era for the United States women's volleyball team who are set for sweeping changes before they begin their campaign in Rio in four years time.
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) - Czech David Svoboda banished his painful memories of Beijing to win modern pentathlon Olympic gold on Saturday, overtaking China's Cao Zhongrong on the final lap of a thrilling combined shoot and run finale.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - Classy Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo won Cuba's first boxing gold in eight years on Saturday when he beat Ukraine's Denys Berinchyk in a battle which pitted the great amateur boxing nation against the rising force of the sport.
LONDON (Reuters) - David Boudia of the United States won gold in the men's individual 10 metre platform, diving's blue riband event, in a nailbiting final that went down to the last dive.
The American's score of 568.65 was enough to beat China's Qiu Bo, who looked distraught to get silver with 566.85, while British pin-up Tom Daley took bronze on 556.95.
LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's Ryota Murata beat Brazil's Esquiva Falcao Florentino to win the men's Olympic middleweight boxing gold medal on Saturday.
Murata claimed a 14-13 victory at the Excel Arena in south east London.
By Patrick Johnston
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Luke Campbell emulated team mate Nicola Adams's golden performance on Saturday when he handed the host's men's team their first London Olympic success, beating Irish bantamweight John Joe Nevin in front a buzzing crowd.
By Annika Breidthardt
LONDON (Reuters) - Germany won their second successive men's hockey gold on Saturday by beating the Netherlands 2-1, spoiling a Dutch bid for a double after their women triumphed the day before.
By Alison Wildey
LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt ended his London Games in glorious style on Saturday with a third gold and a world record as he anchored Jamaica to victory in a blistering men's 4x100 metres final in 36.84 seconds.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic champions Norway defended their crown by beating debutants Montenegro 26-23 to the women's handball gold medal on Saturday.
By Neil Maidment
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Mo Farah won the 5,000 metres title and his second Olympic gold medal with a sensational late charge on Saturday amid deafening roars from a crowd witnessing another contender for the greatest moment of the Games.
By Nick Mulvenney
LONDON (Reuters) - Allyson Felix claimed her third gold medal of the Games as the United States outclassed their rivals to win the women's 4x400 metres relay by some distance at the London Olympics on Saturday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Cuba's Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo beat Ukraine's Denys Berinchyk to win the men's Olympic light-welterweight boxing gold medal on Saturday.
Sotolongo claimed a 22-15 victory at the Excel Arena in south east London.
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov won a third consecutive super-heavyweight wrestling gold at the London Games on Saturday to become the most successful freestyle competitor in Olympic history.
By Padraic Halpin
LONDON (Reuters) - China's Zou Shiming won his second successive Olympic gold medal by beating Thailand's Kaeo Pongprayoon on Saturday in a fight once again marred by controversial scoring.
By Vincent Fribault
LONDON (Reuters) - Jamaican athletes, who have dominated the sprint events at the London Olympics should now expect more visits by drugs testers, former anti-doping chief Dick Pound said on Saturday.
By Nick Mulvenney
LONDON (Reuters) - Allyson Felix claimed her third gold medal of the Games as the United States outclassed their rivals to win the women's 4x400 metres relay by some distance at the London Olympics on Saturday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Luke Campbell emulated team mate Nicola Adams's golden performance on Saturday when he handed the host's men's team their first success, beating Irish bantamweight John Joe Nevin in front a buzzing London crowd.
World championship silver medallist Campbell, who beat Nevin in the semi-finals of last year's event by the tightest of margins, came out on top of another close contest, knocking the Irishman down in the final round to seal a 14-11 victory.
By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Trinidad & Tobago's Keshorn Walcott completed a remarkable double by taking a surprise Olympic javelin gold on Friday, less than a month after becoming world junior champion.
By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Russian Mariya Savinova added Olympic gold to her world crown when she timed her run to perfection to secure an impressive 800 metres victory on Saturday.
By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) - Brazil survived a shaky start to upset the United States and retain the Olympic women's volleyball title they won four years ago in Beijing.
By Mike Collett
LONDON (Reuters) - Attendance for the men's and women's football tournaments at the London Games set an Olympic record on Saturday after 86,162 fans saw Mexico beat Brazil in the men's final at Wembley Stadium.
By Mike Collett-White and Matt Falloon
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's world champion Mo Farah stormed to the Olympic 5,000 metres crown on Saturday, just days after winning gold in the 10,000m and kicking off the last night of track and field drama in style.
LONDON (Reuters) - China's Zou Shiming won his second successive Olympic gold medal on Saturday, beating Thailand's Kaeo Pongprayoon in a battle of two of the oldest fighters at the London Games to cap his total dominance of the light-flyweight division.
Zou, who won China's first Olympic boxing medal, a bronze, eight years ago and its first gold in front of home fans at the Beijing Games, added a second Olympic win to a career haul that also includes three world amateur championships.
LONDON (Reuters) - World champion Anna Chicherova of Russia soared 2.05 metres on a breezy London evening to win gold in the women's high jump at the Olympics on Saturday.
Sixth in Athens and a bronze medallist in Beijing, the 30-year-old cleared the first five heights at the first time of asking before becoming the only woman to get over the bar at 2.05 on her second attempt.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Romanian-born goalkeeper Mihaela Ciobanu saved four out of five penalties to keep Spain ahead of South Korea in the bronze medal game on Saturday and hand the Europeans a first women's Olympic handball prize.
LONDON (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov won his third consecutive Olympic gold in the 120kg freestyle wrestling final at the London Olympics on Saturday.
He beat Davit Modzmanashvili of Georgia in the super-heavyweight bout in a packed wrestling arena.
By Karolos Grohmann
LONDON (Reuters) - Frenchman Tony Estanguet, who won a third Olympic canoeing gold medal at the London Games, and Zimbabwe swimmer Kirsty Coventry will become International Olympic Committee members after being elected onto the athletes' commission on Saturday.
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States won the women's 4x400 metres relay by some distance at the London Olympics on Saturday to give Allyson Felix her third gold medal of the Games.
Felix, who won the 200 metres individual title and was part of the 4x100m team that smashed the 27-year-old world record on Friday, ran the second leg as the Americans crossed the line first for the sixth successive Olympics.
By Mike Collett
LONDON (Reuters) - The contrast could not have been greater as Mexico's jubilant coach Luis Fernando Tena greeted the media punching the air in delight as beaten opponent Mano Menezes was left looking like he could punch someone's head.
By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Trinidad & Tobago's Keshorn Walcott completed a remarkable double by taking a surprise Olympic javelin gold on Friday, less than a month after becoming world junior champion.
LONDON (Reuters) - Brazil survived a shaky start to upset the United States and retain the Olympic women's volleyball title they won four years ago in Beijing.
The U.S.7, ranked number one in the world, handed their opponents a volleyball schooling in the first set, but Brazil, who saved six match points in their quarter-final against Russia, kept their composure to turn the match on its head.
By Justin Palmer
LONDON (Reuters) - Russian Mariya Savinova added Olympic gold to her world crown when she timed her run to perfection to secure an impressive 800 metres victory on Saturday.
By Annika Breidthardt
LONDON (Reuters) - Australia's men won the hockey bronze on Saturday, beating Britain 3-1 after dominating the second half to make it a sixth consecutive Olympics at which they have won a medal.
LONDON (Reuters) - World champion Anna Chicherova of Russia soared 2.05 metres on a breezy London evening to win gold in the women's high jump at the Olympics on Saturday.
Sixth in Athens and a bronze medallist in Beijing, the 30-year-old cleared the first five heights at the first time of asking before becoming the only woman to get over the bar at 2.05 on her second attempt.
By Neil Maidment
LONDON (Reuters) - World champion Mo Farah secured Britain's first Olympic gold medal in the men's 5,000 metres on Saturday to deafening cheers, a week after winning gold in the 10,000.
By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) - London 2012 Olympics head Sebastian Coe said he was "shocked" when he saw the Olympic stadium full to capacity on the opening morning of athletics, even though he was well aware that all 80,00 tickets had been sold.
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON (Reuters) - Spain upset South Korea 31-29 after two periods of extra time to win their first women's Olympic handball medal when they claimed the bronze on Saturday.
By Alison Wildey
LONDON (Reuters) - Russian Yelena Lashmanova overhauled compatriot Olga Kaniskina in a thrilling final few metres to win the Olympic women's 20-km walk in a world record time of one hour 25 minutes two seconds on Saturday.
By Larry Fine
LONDON (Reuters) - Australia extended their medals streak in women's basketball to five consecutive Olympics by beating Russia 83-74 to win the bronze medal on Saturday.
LONDON (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's Sharif Sharifov won gold in the 84kg freestyle wrestling final at the London Olympics on Saturday.
He beat outsider Jaime Yusept Espinal of Puerto Rico to add the Olympic gold to the world title he won last year.
LONDON (Reuters) - Czech military officer David Svoboda took gold in the Olympic men's modern pentathlon on Saturday, pipping China's Zhongrong Cao to the title in a thrilling combined run and shoot finale to the one-day event.
Svoboda, who stormed to an early lead after equalling the Olympic fencing points record, had slipped into second behind Cao after struggling in his swimming heat.
By Mike Collett
LONDON (Reuters) - Mexico left Brazil's long-cherished Olympic dream in tatters when they scored a stunning 2-1 upset win thanks to two goals from Oribe Peralta to clinch the men's soccer title for the first time on Saturday.
VideoNEW
Podcasts
Blogs