Two of the Athens Olympic Games’s most high-profile stars planned to miss Friday’s opening ceremony, along with hundreds of other athletes content to shun a lifetime memory to ensure they won’t compromise their Olympic performance. Tens of millions were expected to watch the ceremony on television around the world.

Half-centuries from skipper Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara tightened Sri Lanka’s grip on the second cricket Test against South Africa on Friday after the visitors were dismissed cheaply following a devastating spell from Sanath Jayasuriya. Sri Lanka extended their lead to 492 runs on day three of the Test.

A devastating bowling spell by Sanath Jayasuriya put Sri Lanka in a winning position on Friday as South Africa was dismissed for just 189 in their first innings of the second cricket Test. Jayasuriya’s figures of 5-34 — his second five-wicket haul — surpassed his previous best of 5-43.

World champion Michael Schumacher set a stunning time in Friday’s opening practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix as he started his quest for a record-breaking 12th win of the season. Schumacher bettered Fernando Alonso’s pole time from last year with a lap of one minute and 21,552 seconds, 25 minutes from the end.

A swimmer who sat idle for months because United States took over the pool where he trained. A judo player who practises in a small room because she can’t go out in public without a veil. A runner who jogs on the sand because the streets are too dangerous.

The Greek athlete expected to light the Olympic flame on Friday was at the centre of a doping scandal on Thursday night. Kostas Kederis, the 200m Olympic champion, is reported not to have shown up for an out-of-competition test and faces the humiliation of being banned.

The fawning Moroccan press would have it that King Mohammed VI has stamped his authority on the troubled country in his first five years on the throne. If M6, as he is colloquially called, does rule with a gentler hand, it is because his father, who enjoyed popping into prisons to keep his torturing techniques sharp, is an impossibly brutal act to follow.

American swimmer Erik Vendt holds up his left leg, pointing to a coin-sized scar on the shin. ”I did that when I was 11 years old,” he said, sounding like someone proudly showing off an old war wound. ”That was the first summer I shaved. I bled for a half hour. I could hardly swim that night.”