Paralympics: Packed crowds and controversy at the Games
Packed crowds on Friday greeted the first day of athletics at the Paralympics but the jubilant mood was overshadowed by a mix-up that saw the wrong athlete awarded a gold.
Olympics: 2012 Games a world away from London 1948
The razzmatazz of the London 2012 Olympics is a world away from the last Games held in London in 1948, when athletes had to survive on rations, stitch their own kit and wash it themselves.
Long-haul travel boosts illness risk for athletes -- study
The questions arising from a new probe which says elite athletes who have to travel very long distances are nearly three times likelier to fall ill than when they play at home.
Olympics: Athletes chill out in alternative village
On the other side of London from the frenzy and commotion of the Olympic Park, a hundred competitors are training and relaxing in a more chilled-out, alternative Athletes' Village.
Barring catastrophe in the semi-finals Usain Bolt will face fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake in Thursday's 200 metres final where victory would see him attain legendary status in his own eyes.
Olympics: Chinese doctor reveals state-sponsored doping
Chinese Olympians were subjected to a state-sponsored doping regime in the 1980s and 1990s, a retired chief medical supervisor revealed to Australian media on Friday.
From the 10,490 athletes heading to London, to the flock of 70 sheep taking part in the opening ceremony on July 27, AFP takes a look at the 2012 Olympic Games in numbers.
With less than two weeks to go before the Olympic Games, hordes of competitors are pouring into London from across the globe and limbering up -- but they're not athletes.
China has announced a team of 396 athletes for the London Olympics, a far smaller delegation than four years ago when it topped the gold medal table on home soil.
