The London Olympics pop up on teapots, bunting and a one-eyed mascot -- but strict branding laws are in place to ensure that official products are the only ones in the race.
116 instead of 115 Kazakhstan sportsmen will take part in the London Olympics. Race walk master Vitaliy Anichkin won the last license for the Kazakhstan team.
Some scientists say sporting records are starting to flatline and one day will become near impossible to beat without drugs, gene splicing or futuristic technology.
Tajikistan is for the first time sending a female boxer to the London Olympics who is on a mission not only to win but to smash gender stereotypes in the religiously conservative ex-Soviet state.
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.
British security firm G4S said Friday it expects losses of up to $77 million after the government had to deploy extra troops for the Olympics because the company failed to provide enough guards.
The US-China Olympic rivalry heated up in an unfashionable way Thursday when a top US lawmaker suggested burning the US team's outfits for the London opening ceremony because they were made in China.
Saudi Arabia's decision to allow two female athletes to compete at the Olympic Games overturns a decades-old taboo imposed by the conservative Muslim monarchy which still bars women from sports at home.
Britain's army will have to provide extra troops to police Olympic venues as a private security firm cannot supply enough trained staff, while a watchdog warned Thursday that border staff are under-trained.