Olympics | featured news

Greece's world indoor high jump champion Dimitrios Chondrokoukis has pulled out of the London Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance, the athlete's father said on Thursday.

The Olympics give fourth-place NBC a shot to heavily promote its new and returning shows (and its NBC Sports Network) to a massive audience. No one likes losing money. But to NBC, the $100 million of red ink it may spill on the Summer Olympics is more like an investment — and a lesson in TV Economics 101.

Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece's Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party... Commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, Papachristou wrote: "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!". Her tweet prompted thousands of negative comments that snowballed Wednesday.

Britain's government opted Tuesday to deploy 1,200 more troops to protect Olympic venues -- a move that reflects a lack of confidence that private security contractor G4S can deliver all it promised for the games.

Defending Olympic champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the London Games with an undisclosed fitness problem Thursday, ending his chances of winning a second straight gold medal. "I am not in condition to compete in the London Olympics and therefore will not travel as planned with the Spanish delegation to take part in the games," the third-ranked Spaniard said in a statement.

Questions surround one of Team USA’s strongest locks for an Olympic gold medal in London after one of the runners expected to participate in the women’s 4x400m pool withdrew from the Games after failing a doping test.

Kevin Durant had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the U.S. Olympic basketball team to a 113-59 victory over the Dominican Republic on Thursday night in an exhibition game.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Ben Johnson dominated what had been billed as the greatest footrace in history, easily beating American Carl Lewis to win the gold medal. Johnson’s record time of 9.79 seconds vaulted him to hero status in Canada and turned him into an instant international icon.

Michael Phelps is dropping out of the 200-meter freestyle at this month's London Olympics, leaving him with seven events for his Games swansong.

The South African was hoping to become the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics, which could still happen if he is selected for his nation’s 4x400 relay team.