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San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said he wanted to pursue a joint Olympics bid with Mexico even after he was informed by the United States Olympic Committee that international rules prevent the two countries from doing so. The Associated Press reported the bid "appeared dead before arrival Tuesday" because the "U.S. Olympic Committee said international rules don't allow two countries to mount a joint candidacy." Filner, a Democrat who was a former Congressman, seems intent on still going forward with the bid with Tijuana. A San Diego-Tijuana Olympics would also cause massive border security problems and create many hurdles...

SNIPPET: "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say Russian sports officials said they will beef up security at forthcoming sports events and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the wake of deadly explosions at Boston's marathon that killed three people, and injured over 140 others." "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say" SNIPPET: "The World Athletics Championship takes place in Moscow on Aug 10-18, and the event is seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

Snippet: "On the other hand, this would be the fifth time he's been killed."

Rio De Janeiro - The brutal gang rape of a US student in a Rio bus has revived concern about public safety ahead of the World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympics, despite an overall drop in violence. Over the weekend a 21-year-old American student was repeatedly sexually assaulted and her French boyfriend was beaten during a six-hour abduction aboard a minibus in the famed beach district of Copacabana. The case grabbed international headlines and drew comparisons to last December's similar gang rape of a young Indian woman in New Delhi, which led to a 25% fall in tourist arrivals....

A young woman and her companion were held captive and beaten after boarding a minivan bus in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night. At least three men took turns raping the woman in an assault that lasted six hours. The attack drew comparisons to the gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi in December. That attack, which was so brutal that the victim later died of her injuries, sparked outrage in India and overseas. She too was traveling with a male companion, who was beaten but survived. Here is how the crimes...

The city of Los Angeles, Cal. has the Olympic Games on it's mind. City officials have formally notified the United States Olympic Committee, letting the group know they want to bid for the 2024 Summer Games, ESPN reports. The committee sent letters to 35 U.S. cities, looking for those interested in bidding on the games. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa responded, writing, "We are proud of our city's sports heritage and tradition, and we stand ready to work with you to bring the Olympic Games back to the United States." Included with the mayor's response was a letter from the...

Flanked by almost 20 men with rifles, Omar Abu al-Chechen kneels on a carpet and delivers a rousing speech urging fellow Muslims to support the 'jihad' against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Dressed almost entirely in black, the militant from Russia's Chechnya region declares an Islamist state is within reach. Fellow fighters from the brigade of foreign militants he leads translate his Russian words into Arabic. "Jihad needs very many things. Firstly it needs money. Much is dependent on money today for jihad," said al-Chechen, his nomme de guerre, the leader of what rebels and websites call the Brigade of Migrants,...

South African paralympic star Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder and is in custody after reportedly shooting his girlfriend dead in the middle of the night after mistaking her for a burglar. Gunfire was heard inside his Pretoria mansion at 4am this morning and it is believed his partner may have been killed after a Valentine's Day surprise went tragically wrong. The dead woman is Reeva Steenkamp, 30, a former FHM model who had been dating the 26-year-old for two months. She was shot in the head, the chest and the arm, police have said, and Pistorius will appear...

Hours before the most romantic day of the year, Oscar Pistorius' model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp tweeted: "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay". Her excitement for the big day was palpable on her Twitter feed. Replying to one response she tweeted: "That sounds amazing! Wow that's what it's all about! It should be a day of love for everyone :) may it be blessed!"

Tags: IOC, 2020 Olympics, Daniel Cormier LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games. The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon -- the event considered most at risk -- and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports." The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year. Wrestling, which combines freestyle and...

IOC cuts wrestling from 2020 Olympics Maggie Hendricks In a shocking move, the International Olympic Committee voted to drop wrestling from its schedule for the 2020 Games. The unexpected decision was made via secret ballot during a Tuesday meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland where officials were discussing ways to "streamline" the Olympics. Though many assumed modern pentathlon would get the boot, the committee instead decided to eliminate wrestling, which has roots in the ancient Greece games and has been a part of every modern Olympics since they began in 1896. The vote was completed over several rounds and the final totals...

STEVENS POINT, Wis.) - Twelve hours of live playoff action from the 2013 USA Curling National Championships presented by Brooms Up Curling Supplies will be broadcast on Universal Sports and NBC Sports Network. On Friday, Feb. 15, Universal Sports will air both the women's semifinal and the men's semifinal games live. The women's game is set for 3 p.m. ET with the men's game following at 9 p.m. ET. On Saturday, Feb. 16, the championship finals take center stage. NBC Sports Network will air the women's gold-medal match at 10 a.m. ET followed by the men's gold-medal final at 4...

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Milt Campbell, who became the first African-American to win the Olympic decathlon in 1956 and went on to play professional football and become a motivational speaker, has died after a battle with prostate cancer, his family said Saturday. He was 78.

Niskayuna native Jeff Blatnick, who overcame cancer to win an Olympic gold medal, has died from cardio-pulmonary arrest. He was 55 years old. Blatnick took home the gold in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984.

EXETER — Some came for the politics, some came for the skating and others came just to see what the commotion was about. Olympic gold medalist figure skater Scott Hamilton spoke at the Rinks at Exeter on Wednesday afternoon as his last stop on a New Hampshire tour endorsing Mitt Romney for president. "It's difficult because as a figure skater you want everybody to like you, and when you stand up here only half of (the) people like you," said Hamilton, "but I feel very strongly about this."

Sponsorship for Olympic athletes usually helps both the Olympian and the company sponsoring them. The Olympian gets money to train and live, and the sponsor gains valuable exposure. But in the case of British Gas' sponsorship of bronze medal-winning UK diver Tom Daley, the company could have benefited from checking out their company's placement on his swimsuit.

[CNN has been carrying the water for Obama for a long time...and this is an early example.]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuE60mq0r1Q

Ankie Spitzer spoke at a memorial in Germany yesterday, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre. Spitzer is the widow of Andre Spitzer, one of the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic games. The tragedy was marked with a ceremony at the Furstenfeldbruck airfield in Munich, where the final showdown between German police and the terrorists took place four decades ago. In her remarks, Spitzer criticized the International Olympic Committee, which refused to honor the occasion with a moment of silence at the opening ceremony of this summer’s London games. She criticized "the incompetence,...

Fearing additional attack on German soil, Germany offered Black September political upgrade of PLO, 'Der Spiegel' reports. BERLIN – For years, Germany’s government had contact with the organizers of the Black September terror group that was responsible for the murder of 11 Israeli sportsmen and a German police office at the 1972 Olympic Games, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Sunday. Several months after the murders, the West German government proposed a secret meeting between one of the organizers of the Palestinian terrorist group and then-foreign minister Walter Scheel. The aim of the clandestine meeting was to create a “new basis...

Gabby Douglas' Ex-Gym Denies Claim of Bullying, Racism: "We Are Good People" by Natalie Finn Today 4:54 PM PDT Gabby Douglas told Oprah Winfrey that she had a different experience than her fellow gymnasts when she used to train in Virginia—and not in a good way. But the head of her former gymnasium in Virginia Beach and the people she trained with maintain that they have no idea what Douglas is talking about. "Gabby's remarks were hurtful and without merit," Excalibur Gymnastics CEO Gustavo Maure said in a statement to E! News in response to the 16-year-old's claim that she...

Eight years after Greece spent ~$15 billion to stage the 2004 Summer Olympics, some of those once-gleaming venues are crumbling. The economy is a part of it, but so is the fact that many of these venues were built only for sports with little local interest (like softball), and now have no use. A number of Greek officials admitted to the AFP that there was a lack of planning, and no one considered what they would be used for after the Games. Despite all that, many of the venues from the 2004 Games are still going strong. The Olympic Stadium,...

TUNIS, Tunisia — Islamist extremists have targeted two Tunisian Olympic medalists for behaviour and dress seen as un-Islamic, as debate grows over the role of religion and women in the country that unleashed the Arab Spring uprisings. Radicals on social media networks called on the government to strip Habiba Ghribi, the first Tunisian woman to win an Olympic medal, of her nationality because her running gear was too revealing. She won the silver in the 3,000-metre steeplechase.

Though it came under fire at times over its use of tape delays during the London Olympics, NBC doesn’t appear to have any regrets. In fact, the network wishes it did it more. Days after the conclusion of the most-watched television event in U.S. history, NBC expects to make a profit on the 2012 Olympics, which made heroes out of Michael Phelps, Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin, among other athletes. Network officials said they got a ratings boost by showing some of those events during prime time, sometimes hours after they happened.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was kicked off Greece's Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right political party. ----SNIP---- Papachristou's Twitter account ((at)papaxristoutj) contained several retweets and links to sites and YouTube videos promoting the views of Golden Dawn, a formerly marginal extreme right party that entered the Greek Parliament in two recent elections - in May and June - by polling almost 7 percent of the vote... But it was her attempt at a joke Sunday that got the most attention. Commenting on the widely reported...

<p>In 2010 Bolt pulled out of the Aviva London Grand Prix because of his stance on UK tax, instead deciding to compete in Paris - for which he was paid $250,000.</p>

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: By the way, did you hear what Michelle did? Gabby Douglas was on the Leno show, The Tonight Show. You gotta hear this. Gold medal gymnast, Gabby Douglas. She's on The Tonight Show with Michelle (My Belle) Obama. Leno says, "Gabby after you won your gold medal, how did you celebrate? What did you do?" DOUGLAS: After the competition, I splurged on a Egg McMuffin... LENO: Egg McMuffin! DOUGLAS: ...at McDonald's. (laughter) Michelle Obama Scolds Olympics Hero Gabby Douglas for Eating an Egg McMuffinOBAMA: Gabby, we don't... LENO: Egg McMuffin! OBAMA: ... don’t encourage him! I'm sure...

On the surface, the Russian resort town of Sochi provides an ideal setting for the world to convene for the 2014 Olympics. Its subtropical coastline on the Black Sea offers beautiful palm-lined seashores for the tourists — February temperatures should be in the 10 C range — while the nearby snow-covered mountains present an ideal staging ground for outdoor winter sports. "But historically and politically, it's a loaded area," warns John Colarusso, a professor of humanities at McMaster University and a freqent writer on the language and culture of the Caucasus, the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian seas....

''The disbelieving expression on the face of Mo Farah as he won the men's 5,000m final to claim his second Olympic gold medal has become one of the iconic images of the 2012 Games. Now one fan has used the picture to create a hilarious online tribute to his Olympic hero, showing the track star on the run from an array of pursuers including murderous gangster Tony Montana, a pack of zombies, and -perhaps scariest of all - the Teletubbies. The Tumblr site has racked up almost a million hits since creator Luke Harvey, 21, published it online on Sunday....

LONDON: Britain's recession-hit economy was unlikely to have won a major boost from the London Olympics that have been a triumph for the nation's athletes, analysts say. While Britain's construction sector benefited hugely before the Olympics, experts have said the 17-day sporting spectacle had not delivered significant financial rewards and neither was it expected to in the months and years ahead. Mary Rance, chief executive of tourism body UKinbound, said the Olympics, which have cost British taxpayers £9.3bil (US$14.5bil) to stage, had failed to lift her sector.

Let’s take John Lennon up on his offer. Let’s imagine what the world would be like with no countries, religions or a heaven or hell. Let’s imagine a world with no possessions and nothing important enough to be willing to kill to protect it or die to ensure its continuing. Let’s imagine Lennon’s world where all the people are living for nothing other than today. In this world, people will have saved no money for their retirement. After all, retirement is somewhere down the line. All the people would have massive debts – borrowed every penny from everywhere they could,...

'The London 2012 Olympics have ended with a spectacular musical closing ceremony and the official handover to the next host city, Rio de Janeiro. The three-hour show featured some of the biggest names of British pop from decades past, including the Spice Girls, George Michael and Elbow. Games chief Lord Coe said: "When our time came - Britain, we did it right." The official Games flag was handed to the mayor of Rio before the flame at the Olympic Stadium was extinguished. President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, who declared the Games of the 30th Olympiad closed just...

'So that's it! The London 2012 Olympics are at an end, and for the host nation it has been probably the greatest ever sporting spectacle witnessed on these shores. The stunning performances of British athletes left the nation a comfortable third in the medal table with more medals than in any games since 1908, which was also held in London and at which just 22 nations took part compared to the 204 this year. And to mark that, some of Britain's brightest Olympic stars have taken part in an enjoyably cheesy musical farewell to say goodbye to the Games. Sit...

The 2012 London Olympic Games have officially come to a close and, once again, the U.S. sits atop the medal count. In Beijing they did the same thing, but the host nation China made it interesting. America topped the Chinese by 10 in the overall medal count, but China earned 15 more gold medals than America—China had 51 and the U.S. had 36. However, in London, the U.S. reemerged as the dominant athletic country. The United States earned 104 medals, 15 more than any other country—China was second with 87. Plus, the Americans took back their lead in golds, winning...

Is anyone watching the Closing Ceremonies? So far, I've seen a quite eclectic selection. I think so far, the highlight has been when Eric Idle, one of the Pythons, came out and sang "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life".

Just ahead of this evening's Closing Ceremonies, London firefighters have controlled a massive blaze they say is the biggest the British capital has faced in years, reports the BBC. The fire broke out at an east London recycling center 7 miles from the Olympic Park, reports the AP, but with favorable winds blowing smoke in the opposite direction, organizers said it would not affect the city's adieu to its Games. "It's certainly a dramatic end to the Olympics for the London Fire Brigade," said the city's fire commissioner. More than 200 firefighters had been called in.

he entire Closing Ceremony will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com and on the NBC Olympics Live Extra App on mobile devices and tablets beginning at 4 p.m. ET, to cable, satellite and telco customers who verify their subscriptions. On TV, Olympic primetime host Bob Costas will host the London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony from Olympic Stadium alongside co-hosts Al Michaels, the host of NBC’s Olympic daytime coverage, and Ryan Seacrest, Olympic primetime correspondent. The Closing Ceremony will follow London Gold, a special presentation of the top moments and athletes of the 2012 Olympics. Coverage begins Sunday at 7 p.m....

'American broadcaster NBC has been told to cease ringside commentary after amateur boxing's governing body complained to Olympics organisers that their presence was disrupting officials at the arena. NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp, was the only broadcaster allowed to commentate from the ringside floor and the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said they disturbed officials sitting next to them throughout the competition. It recommended to the London organising committee (LOCOG) that NBC's commentary team leave their position. They were offered a space with the other media but decided to leave instead, AIBA said. "NBC commentators were offered a booth in...

While everybody else has been wowed by the new R2 team, let me just point out that Lady M was busy wowing the crowd herself in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “…Wow, I didn’t know there were this many people here. This is so, so cool…And just being here just reminds us just how blessed we are…” In fact, she set a new world record for using “just” three times in a non-compound sentence! ...she was quite taken with this mountain enclave of the 0.1% Wall Street bears. And she’ll be back. More touching Indians in Aurora...Before departing on Saturday for five...

So why did Manzano carry two flags with him on his victory lap? As the world looked on, he held up both the U.S. flag and the Mexican flag. Not a good look. And not a good idea... It's about being part of a team -- the U.S. Olympic team. It's about national pride, not ego. Manzano wasn't there to compete for himself but to represent his country. All he had to do was decide which country that was... This country took you in during your hour of need. Now in your moment of glory, which country deserves your respect...

Christian athletes were a major part of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and Team USA's athletes managed to bring home multiple gold, silver and bronze medals across a wide range of sports. Although many athletes utilized their faith while training and competing, here are 10 Christians who managed to bring home a coveted medal from the Olympic Summer Games. 1. Gabby Douglas, Gymnastics, 2 gold Twitter: @gabrielledoug Gabby Douglas may only be 16, but she took the world by storm when she became the first African-American gymnast and first woman of color to become the individual all-around champion in...

'Four weeks ago at Crystal Palace, in a cold, empty stadium long since deserted by the crowds who had earlier watched him win a Diamond League 5,000m race, Mo Farah stepped back out onto the track and once again pulled on his running spikes. It was closing in on midnight, the lights low, the only people left in there were his coach Alberto Salazar, training partner Dathan Ritzenhein and a few of us journos filing late stories. As we watched on from the dark stands, Salazar poised on the infield with stopwatch and clipboard, Farah and Ritzenhein threw themselves into...

'Record-breaking Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie will be Great Britain's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday.'

'Our sister site in the States, Yahoo! Sports, has published a 'report card' on how they felt London did in hosting the Olympic Games. Read their thoughts below:'

A producer at NBC recently decided to make a video called "Bodies in Motion", showing off Olympic athlete's bodies in various states of competition. Unfortunatley, the music production department chimed in, adding uber-creepy porn-like music to the clip. Critics slammed the network for what seemed like the blatant sexualization of athletes competing for Olympic gold. NBC promptly pulled the video, but left us wondering - What were they thinking? Via LiveLeak: Someone at NBC Apparently Approved This Creepy, Porny Video of Female Olympians. Have you barfed yet today? Get thee to a drain of some kind before watching this video...

'Usain Bolt won his third gold medal of the 2012 Olympics as he anchored Jamaica's sprint relay team to a sensational world record. Jamaica's quartet clocked 36.84 seconds to smash the old mark by two-tenths of a second and leave the USA team with silver. Nesta Carter and Michael Frater produced excellent first and second legs but it was 100m and 200m silver medallist Yohan Blake's blistering third leg that set the platform. Bolt provided the perfect finale - exploding away to leave Ryan Bailey trailing as the capacity crowd stood to acclaim him.'

'Mo Farah joined the sporting greats and produced an unforgettable crescendo to London's Olympics as he added 5,000m gold to his 10,000m title. The 29-year-old Briton went to the front at 600m and was roared down the home straight and into the history books. Farah's gold was Great Britain's 27th of these Games and was greeted with a noise that could scarcely be believed inside the Olympic Stadium. He produced a last mile of four minutes 00.50 seconds and a final lap of 52.9 secs to hold off Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel and Kenya's Thomas Longosiwa in 13 mins 41.66 secs.'

Three suspected al-Qaida terrorists arrested last week in Spain appear to have been interested in targeting a Gibraltar-area shopping mall in a strike that was likely intended to coincide with the London Olympic Games, an analyst says. Police deduced this from the declaration of a paragliding instructor who had dealings with the group and the contents of a video they recovered from the suspects, according to Fernando Reinares, a senior international terrorism analyst who was briefed by Spanish security services on the investigation. "Attacking in or near Gibraltar during the Olympic Games apparently was for them a feasible alternative to...

Three suspected al-Qaida terrorists arrested last week in Spain appear to have been interested in targeting a Gibraltar-area shopping mall in a strike that was likely intended to coincide with the London Olympic Games, an analyst says. Police deduced this from the declaration of a paragliding instructor who had dealings with the group and the contents of a video they recovered from the suspects, according to Fernando Reinares, a senior international terrorism analyst who was briefed by Spanish security services on the investigation. "Attacking in or near Gibraltar during the Olympic Games apparently was for them a feasible alternative to...

<p>London, England, Aug 10, 2012 / 04:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Ethiopian athlete Meseret Defar provided one of the most emotional moments of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games when she crossed the finish line in the 5000 meter race to win the gold.</p>