Season end
ZURICH - Usain Bolt, fresh from his second successive triple gold haul at the Olympics, could be forgiven for giving off the vibe of someone pining to return to his Jamaican home for a well-deserved rest. Four years on from his podium-topping feats at the Beijing Olympics, Bolt set the London Games alight, swatting aside pretenders to blaze to victories in the 100m and 200m, and then anchor his team home in the 4x100m relay.
Party bill
BERLIN - Germany's men's Olympic hockey team is facing a bill for damages of 500,000 euros ($F1.11m) after the party they held on a cruise ship to celebrate their London 2012 gold medals got out of hand. After their 2-1 win over Holland saw them retain the Olympic title they won in Beijing, the Germans let off steam on the MS Deutschland in London's West India Quay on August 11 in a party organised by a Berlin-based events firm.
Meet record
ZURICH - New Zealand's Valerie Adams crushed her rivals in the women's shot put in the Diamond League meeting in Zurich. Adams, the three-time world champion who became a double Olympic champion after the initial winner in this month's London Games, Nadezhda Ostapchuk, was disqualified for doping, managed a best of 20.81 metres on Wednesday. The distance was a new record for the meeting — the previous best of 20.63m was set in 2010 by none other than Ostapchuk - with the shot put held a day before the main competition in a makeshift arena in Zurich's main railway station.
Career end
NEW YORK - Triple US Open champion Kim Clijsters's career came to a disappointing and lacklustre end on Wednesday when she slumped to a shock second-round defeat to British teenager Laura Robson. Clijsters, the former world No.1 and four-time Grand Slam title winner, lost 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) to the 18-year-old world No.89, who goes on to face China's ninth seed Li Na for a place in the last 16. Clijsters, who was also the 2011 Australian Open winner, was on a 22-match winning streak in New York.
Barca beaten
MADRID - Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo struck first-half goals as Real Madrid beat 10-man Barcelona 2-1 to lift the Spanish Super Cup before a full house at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. With last Thursday's first leg at Camp Nou having ended in a 3-2 Barca victory, Madrid took the title on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw. All the action came in an exciting first half, where Lionel Messi replied with a brilliant free-kick for Barcelona, who had previously lost Adriano to a straight red card for a last-man foul on Ronaldo.
Doctor fined
FREIBURG, Germany - The doctor of a former top German cycling team has been fined in connection with a doping investigation. Prosecutors in Freiburg said on Wednesday that doctor Andreas Schmid has agreed to pay a fine equivalent to three months' salary and the case has been closed.