Paula Radcliffe withdrew from the women's Olympic marathon on Sunday after a three-week battle with osteoarthritis in her left foot. The 38-year-old distance runner from Great Britain, who holds the marathon world record despite failing to medal in the previous four Games, had hoped to redeem her Olympic record. "From the day when it was announced that London had won the bid, taking part and performing well in the London Olympic Games has been a major goal in my life," Radcliffe said. "The goa... Read More
Injured cyclist Andy Schleck will make his comeback at Colorado's USA Pro Cycling Challenge next month, according to his team director Johan Bruynell. Schleck, who fractured his sacrum in a crash during the Criterium du Dauphine time trial, originally hoped to race in the Vuelta a España in August, but changed his plans after experiencing an unexpectedly tough recovery and deciding that he was unlikely to be fit enough to contend for the title. Schleck, 27, was one of the most high-prof... Read More
The opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics are still a few hours away, but a world record’s already been broken—by a legally blind man. Im Dong-Hyun, a 26-year-old South Korean archer, set a new 72-arrow record of 696 points earlier today, breaking his own world record by three points. Im has myopia, meaning he has 20/100 vision in his right eye and 20/200 vision in his left eye. This was only the seeding round, so the points get erased as the archers head into the single-eliminat... Read More
World indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis of Greece failed a doping test and has withdrawn from competition ahead of the Olympics. In a letter attributed to Chondrokoukis’ father, Kyriakos Chondrokoukis denied his son had taken the banned steroid stanozolol and asked for the B sample to be tested in a separate accredited lab. "The paradox of the use of such an easily detectable banned substance by a recent world champion who is under the microscope of doping control authorit... Read More
Big summer storms in the United States could be destroying the ozone layer, linking climate change and ozone loss in populated areas. In a study published online in the journal Science on Wednesday, researchers at Harvard University found that some summer storms send water vapor up into the stratosphere, setting off a series of chemical reactions with the remains of now banned CFCs, breaking down the ozone layer. “It’s the union between ozone loss and climate change that is really ... Read More
