While many had been touting the claims of William Sharman as Britain’s big hope in the 110 metres hurdles, it was the less heralded man, another rare British battler, who prevailed after Sharman had been disqualified in his semi-final for a false start.

It was the race of the Nottingham man’s life and his gold-laden team-mates were left thrilled by this ultimate Turner prize. Years of near-misses and frustrations seemed to be packed into his 13.28 sec of immaculate actionIn his semi he had clattered into the eighth hurdle and looked ragged.

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Hoping to make her Olympic debut in 2012, Zara Phillips has revealed that she already has a strategy in place.

Rather than just competing with one horse, the 29-year-old royal has said she is looking at "two or three" in her bid to win a medal at the London Games.

Zara missed out on the chance to compete in Beijing in 2008 after her previous ride, Toytown, was injured two months before the start.

She has said that additional horses will act as a "back up plan" should the same thing happen again. "I have to find two or three horses that are of the right standard," said the reigning.

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One local woman traveled all the way to Lincoln, NE, to compete in the 2010 Special Olympics hoping to bring back a gold medal to her hometown. KSAX-TV has been following the story of Sara Abbott, a mentally challenged woman, who was going to make her dreams come true by competing in the Special Olympics.

Sara lost more than 150 lbs to get to that point in her life. "We are just so proud of her," Sara's Aunt Deb Callaghan said. "It was great to have the entire family down in Nebraska to watch her compete."Sara had a huge fan club in Nebraska cheering her on as she competed in the rope, hoop, ribbon and the ball for the gymnastics round.

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Next week, a roster of 179 golfers from 39 states will compete at the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb., July 18-23. Golf is one of 13 competitive sports at the USA National Games where nearly 3,000 Special Olympics athletes from across.

The United States will compete in the largest multi-sport event in the history of Nebraska and one of the largest multi-sport events in the United States during 2010.Special Olympics golf is part of the worldwide Special Olympics sports movement for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics golfers and Unified partners (for team play), ranging in age from 13- to 73-years old, will compete in one of five levels of competition.

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VANCOUVER  Governments in the host city and host province have reported their spending on the 2010 Winter Olympics, but what about the feds? Treasury Board president Stockwell Day said Wednesday a final report is coming soon, but he wouldn’t say when.

“Some of it involves us getting the final receipts from the province, or from VANOC or from the city,” Day said after a round table with a group of Metro Vancouver business leaders. The British Columbia government reported Friday that it spent $925.2 million, not including Crown corporations and agencies. An April report from the City of Vancouver pegged net costs at $554.4 million.

Ottawa committed $1.23 billion to stage Vancouver 2010. “We’re waiting for the final bills to come in," Day said. "Anything that hasn’t been published we plan to fully publish and be transparent in terms of all the costs so that taxpayers know at all levels what was paid.” The delay may be because Ottawa and Victoria directly bailed out the cash-strapped Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee for a combined $80.7 million to help it balance the $1.76 billion operations budget.

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Mr. Mutko, who was rated as Russia's second-most unpopular government minister in a recent poll, says he won't quit over a report by the parliament's Audit Chamber that alleges he spent 12 times his official limit for hotel expenses during the Vancouver Games, or a whopping $32,400 over 20 days. During the same time, the report says, Russian taxpayers forked over $4,500 for his breakfasts alone.

Mutko says the allegations are baseless, and that he was just following the same standards as government officials the world over. "Why do those who want to accuse me of something not interest themselves in how much the French sports minister paid for accommodation?" Mutko told the Moscow daily Vedemosti.
'Direct violations'

But the new chief of Russia's Olympic Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, says the report will be acted upon. "There are direct financial violations. This will be a subject matter for scrutiny by the law enforcement agencies in the future," he told the official ITAR-Tass agency.

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 Fifteen police officers were sent home during the Olympic games, many for drunken acts after-hours, RCMP Insp. Tim Shields said Monday. Four of the compaints involved unwanted sexual advances on other members of the Integrated Security Unit, he said.

"The vast majority of these were reported by other ISU members," Shields said. He said they were sent home so quickly because "we didn't want them or the incident they were involved in to be a distraction." Just one ISU member was charged criminally of the 6,200 on duty during the games and that was a shoplifting case.

One of the officers was sent home for taking photos on his cell phone of Team Canada jerseys in a dressing room prior to a men's hockey game, Shields said. And another officer was sent home for forgetting to put bullets in his gun. "We are extremely happy with the way things transpired," Shields said.

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 Fifteen police officers were sent home during the Olympic games, many for drunken acts after-hours, RCMP Insp. Tim Shields said Monday. Four of the complaints investigated by the RCMP during winter games alleged unwanted sexual advances by officers on other members of the Integrated Security Unit, Shields said.

"The vast majority of these were reported by other ISU members," Shields told reporters at a news conference. Twelve of the ISU members sent packing were RCMP officers, while one each came from the Ontario Provincial Police, Peel Regional Police and the Abbotsford Police Department, Shields said.

Only one complaint laid against officers during the Olympics led to a criminal charge and that was an allegation an RCMP member shoplifted in Burnaby, Shields said. The other complaints ranged from lewd off-duty conduct by drunk officers to taking clandestine photos of Team Canada hockey jerseys in the dressing room during a security sweep, Shields said.

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While the weather seems to have other ideas, tomorrow is the first day of July, which means there’s a lot for folks around these parts to celebrate. No, we’re not talking about the HST. Sure, Canada Day falls midweek this year, effectively ruining your chance for a long weekend, but the Lower Mainland still promises to be full of enough fun and festivities for everyone.

If you’re feeling nostalgic about Vancouver’s temporary foray into patriotism during the Winter Olympics, head downtown where there’s sure to be a mass of people in high spirits at numerous sites throughout the city. The Olympic cauldron, now a permanent fixture in Jack Poole Plaza located just west of the Vancouver Convention Centre, will even be relit as part of the Canada Day at Canada Place celebrations.

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When you score the golden goal and win the Olympic gold medal in overtime, you’d think you’d be happily carried from party to party until they poured you on the plane.

But there’s no weeklong party, no parade, no time for teammates to carry on with each other. It’s over when they walk out of the dressing-room and scatter around the league to resume their regular-season schedules.

Which is what Sidney Crosby is doing in Edmonton Monday. This, for the next two days, is the party they missed. This, at Commonwealth Stadium.

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