Irish athletes face more stringent anti-doping tests than many of their international rivals, claims the Irish Sports Council’s anti-doping programme director Dr Una May.

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board has agreed that wrestling, squash and baseball/softball will be on a shortlist of sports to be considered for inclusion in the sports programme for the 2020 Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee has postponed a decision on whether to strip Lance Armstrong of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics for legal reasons, president Jacques Rogge has announced.

Thousands of Olympic athletes and spectators were heading home today after the London 2012 Games ended with a triumphant bang.

The London 2012 Olympics closed last night with IOC president Jacques Rogge proclaiming: “These were happy and glorious Games.”

Mo Farah has revealed how the biggest gamble of his career turned him from a weakling who runs “like a girl” into a double Olympic champion.

London Olympics organisers promised an unforgettable party to close the 2012 Games and they pulled out all the stops to make it a night to remember, with Britain stamped all over it.

Sebastian Coe insists that Usain Bolt is already a legend – despite the president of the International Olympic Committee stating the Jamaican sprinter will need to star at even more Games before he can attain that status.

IT was history in the making — an historic day for boxing and for the whole Olympic movement as the first three gold medals in women’s boxing were decided. And a dream realised for Ireland’s Katie Taylor, the driving force to have the discipline added to the Olympic programme.

Tour de France hero Bradley Wiggins rang the giant bell which marked the start of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games tonight.

Thousands flocked to London's Olympic Park tonight for the spectacular opening ceremony heralding the start of the 2012 Games.

Widows of two Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Olympics pleaded with the International Olympic Committee to allow a minute’s silence at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

A minute’s silence was held in London’s Olympic Village today in memory of the 11 Israeli team members killed at the 1972 Games 40 years ago in a “spontaneous” tribute by the IOC.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has defended the Olympic movement's protection of their sponsors but insisted London 2012 spectators will not be prevented from wearing T-shirts bearing branding of rivals.

The BBC have been awarded the broadcast rights for the next four summer and winter Olympics up to 2020.

Every Olympics has a new emblem, and every emblem causes outrage, none more so than 2012’s jagged shards, says Richard Fitzpatrick

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said yesterday he will keep up the pressure on Saudi Arabia, who has once again refused to send a women’s team to the Olympic Games.

OLYMPICS minister Hugh Robertson warned yesterday that the threat of illegal betting practices and match-fixing to the 2012 London Games is “obvious and enormous”.

A minute’s silence and round of applause for Seve Ballesteros at a golf tournament is one thing, but when it comes before a tennis semi-final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal then you know the world of sport has lost a truly giant figure.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has dismissed demands by Iran that the London 2012 Olympics logo should be changed.

A spate of bloody attacks on taxis in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco left 12 taxi drivers or passengers dead, hours before the start of the Mexican Open tennis tournament.

Tottenham’s bid to take over the Olympic Stadium suffered a blow today when Jacques Rogge revealed he was against its demolition.

FOR the first time the Olympic Torch could be carried through the streets of Dublin if negotiations between the London 2012 organising committee and the OCI President, Pat Hickey, reach a successful conclusion.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has rejected any possibility of ‘penalty goals’ being brought in following Luis Suarez’s handball that denied Ghana a World Cup semi-final place.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics, marred by early tragedy but destined ultimately to be remembered as a Games embraced by its hosts like few before them, drew to a close amid an unprecedented, country-wide party last night.

IRELAND’S Pat Hickey was last night unanimously re-elected President of the European Olympic Committees.

Rugby sevens and golf were confirmed as new Olympic sports for the 2016 Games today.

Rugby sevens and golf were today confirmed as new Olympic sports for the 2016 Games.

GOLF and rugby sevens face one last test on Friday if they are to be included in the Olympics from 2016. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board voted to include both at a meeting two months ago.

RIO DE JANEIRO claimed a stunning victory in the race to host the 2016 Olympics as favourites Chicago slumped to a crushing defeat.

Rio de Janeiro claimed a stunning victory in the race to host the 2016 Olympics as favourites Chicago slumped to a crushing defeat.

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics after favourites Chicago suffered a crushing defeat.

US President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen to support the bid by the city of Chicago to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

KATIE TAYLOR’S participation in the London Olympics in 2012 is in serious doubt, according to President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat Hickey, who said yesterday that the inclusion of women’s boxing was far from a done deal.

INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge has said that those who hope for a 100% drug-free Olympic Games were ‘naive’ and that cheating was part and parcel of human nature.

THE president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, has warned the financial crisis poses a challenge for the London 2012 Olympics but is confident the Games will survive the test.

ATHLETICS Ireland chiefs confirmed yesterday that the Chair of High Performance, Patsy McGonagle is under investigation — as revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner.

Jacques Rogge has confirmed he will run for another term as president of the International Olympic Committee.

WE GOT our full measure of Olympic moments in the Beijing Games, topped by Michael Phelps’s eight gold medals and Usain Bolt’s lightning sprints.

China today deported a British woman and a German man who took part in a protest during the Olympic Games.

JAMAICA obliterated the field in the men’s 4x100 metres relay as Usain Bolt claimed his third gold medal and world record of the Beijing Games.

The eyes of the world were on Beijing as a glittering opening ceremony heralded the start of the Games.

The Beijing Olympics will open today, firing the starting gun for the world’s ultimate sporting competition.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted on Thursday the very future of the Olympic football tournament is under threat.