Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg took pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix in a frantic last-lap scramble on dry-weather tyres on a damp track. The German drove superbly to stun the title contenders and throw a wild card into the championship battle. Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – the four main [...]
China praised injured national hero Liu Xiang on Tuesday, smothering disappointment that he limped away from his hurdles heat by stressing its dominance of the Olympics medals table. China hoped for a repeat of Liu’s 110 meters win in Athens to show its sporting prowess could extend to the track, where its big medal table [...]
Great Britain’s men’s team sprint trio defeated France to win GB’s third gold of the Games in the first track cycling final in Beijing. Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy had three superb rides, with a winning time of 43.128 seconds in the final. They had finished second to France at the World Championships [...]
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps carved his name among Olympic greats on Tuesday, winning a record-equaling ninth gold on a dominant morning for Americans in the pool. Only U.S. athlete Carl Lewis, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina have won as many golds as Phelps, who could better [...]
American swimmer Michael Phelps needed a little help from his friends on Monday to keep alive the dream of an unprecedented eight Olympic golds. But a familiar shadow fell over the sporting achievements in China on the third day when a Spanish cyclist became the first competitor to fail a drug test at the Games. [...]
Resurgent China opened the Olympics on Friday with a burst of fireworks at a spectacular ceremony that wove ancient Chinese history with modern wizardry and aimed to draw a line under months of political controversy. Drums thundered, strobe lights flickered and 14,000 performers poured through the Bird’s Nest stadium in a dazzling extravaganza that offered [...]
The 2008 Olympics begin in Beijing on Friday with more than 200 countries taking part in the opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest stadium. A three-hour spectacular is promised, starting at 1300 BST, with basketball star Yao Ming to carry the hosts’ flag. The build-up to the Games has featured concerns over pollution and protests [...]
Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm, winner of one of the most controversial golds in 2004, withdrew from the Beijing Games on Monday due to injury. “I have put my heart and soul into this comeback and I’ve done everything I could to get ready in time to compete in Beijing,” the American told reporters in [...]