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.

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) - 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.

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 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 Karolos Grohmann

LONDON (Reuters) - A dispute about campaigning delayed the admission of new athletes to the International Olympic Committee on Sunday.

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 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 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 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) - Czech military officer David Svoboda reclaimed top spot on the leaderboard after the riding event of the modern pentathlon on Saturday, edging four points ahead of Cao Zhongrong of China as they enter the final combined shoot and run event.

Svoboda, who had topped the leaderboard after fencing but struggled in his swimming heat, managed a cleaner run of the 12 jumps in Greenwich Park than Cao, knocking down three rails to take his total score after the first three events to 3,460.

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - British Swimming opened a review into their Olympic failure on Saturday in sharp contrast to jubilation elsewhere within Team GB at the hosts' biggest medal haul in more than a century.

LONDON (Reuters) - China's Cao Zhongrong moved to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday after a closely fought swimming event in the modern pentathlon, which is celebrating its 100th birthday at the London Games.

Cao, whose favourite events are the fencing and riding, swam the 200 metres freestyle in one minute 58.93 seconds, the third fastest time in the Aquatics Pool and enough, after his second place in the earlier fencing event, to leapfrog David Svoboda into first with 2,376 points.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Olympic athletes will miss their target of winning 86 medals by some way, an interior ministry paper showed on Friday, but a senior sports official said there was not necessarily a link between medals won and public funding.

After 14 days of competition, the Germans have managed to win 38 medals - 10 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze - enough to secure them sixth place as of Friday.

By Julian Linden

LONDON (Reuters) - Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli is ready to hang up his goggles and quit swimming after winning an unexpected second Olympic gold medal on Friday.

By Julian Linden

LONDON (Reuters) - He got a cheer as loud as the winner's and Benjamin Schulte felt like one despite finishing dead last in Friday's marathon swim race at the London Olympics.