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/ 14 September 2008
Natalie du Toit snared her fifth gold medal of the Paralympics on Sunday in an event 9,950m shorter than the race she took part in at the Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee will investigate apparent censorship of the internet service provided for media covering the Beijing Olympics.
With a month remaining until the opening ceremony of one of the most scrutinised Olympic Games in history, the time has come for Beijing to deliver.
Soccer World Cup chief organiser Danny Jordaan condemned anti-immigrant violence in South Africa on Friday but said it would pass before the tournament takes place. ”Our standpoint is that this World Cup must be a celebration of Africa’s humanity,” he told the International Football Arena conference.
The Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, an emotional moment for China and the crowning of the Beijing Olympics torch relay that was dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour. Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world.
Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch were camped just over a kilometre from the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday and weather conditions look good for the final assault, officials said. Bad weather has denied mountaineers the chance to take the flame to the top of Everest for nearly a fortnight.
China’s bold plan to take a special Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest faced a possible setback on Saturday as snow fell on the world’s highest mountain. The climbing team has been at 6 500m in advanced base camp or higher for at least two days, waiting for better weather to take the flame to the 8 848m peak.
China is to hold talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom it blames for a wave of unrest, state media reported on Friday, as the Olympic flame arrived in Japan. The move comes after concerted pressure from the West on China to talk to the Dalai Lama and marks the first serious step to defuse tensions.
China on Tuesday denounced protesters who upstaged Olympic Games torch relays in London and Paris, with state media saying that saboteurs are bent on wrecking Games goodwill. An international Olympic official also criticised the protests, but said the relay would stay on its round-the-world course.
China’s president and the country’s top athlete launched the Beijing Olympics torch relay on Monday amid cheering, dancing and tight security, marking the symbolic start to a Games overshadowed by activism and unrest in Tibet. Chinese President Hu Jintao lit a cauldron on a red-carpeted rostrum on Tiananmen Square before handing the torch to World and Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang.