A safer version of a potent antibiotic that often causes hearing loss has been developed by scientists.

Martina Navratilova has backed Serena Williams to go on and match Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 grand slam singles titles.

Serena Williams enjoyed an overdue taste of victory as she beat Karolina Pliskova in her opening match at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford last night.

Reese Witherspoon's parents barred her from moving to Hollywood because it is "where crazy people live".

Mary Cullen is planning to skip the indoor season in a bid to win a medal at the European Track and Field Championships in Zurich this summer.

The Australian Open will have a new women’s champion after Victoria Azarenka joined the purge of the favourites in Melbourne.

Walter Bortz and Aubrey de Grey are both sights to behold.

Olympic team manager, Patsy McGonagle, predicts Ireland could have 24 athletes at the London Olympics.

While some fine early season sprinting and a number of exciting finishes were the highlights of the Leevale Track & Field meeting at Cork IT on Saturday, the big upset of the day came in the women’s 1500m, where European Junior silver medallist Ciara Mageean had to settle for second behind Orla Drumm.

ALREADY qualified for the 20k walk at next year’s Olympic Games, Robert Heffernan can fight for a medal on two fronts after posting his qualifying standard for the 50k walk at Naumburg.

Serena Williams left the tennis world in no doubt she was close to her best as she beat third seed Marion Bartoli 7-5 6-1 to claim the Bank of the West Classic crown in Stanford.

DISMISS him at your peril was the clear message from Ireland’s Alastair Cragg as he put the pieces back together after dropping out of the record breaking Boston Marathon with a badly blistered left foot.

IN his letter (August 14), Brian McDermott argues that the Lisbon Treaty “gives the EU power to impose taxes”.

Marion Bartoli defeated Wimbledon finalist Venus Williams 6-2 5-7 6-4 this morning to win the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

The Williams sisters remain on course for another meeting after booking their places in the quarter-finals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.

THE tribunal was back as the most popular show in Dublin this week. But this time it was not as a drama but as pure farce.

ALISTAIR CRAGG is, as yet, undecided about competing in the world indoor championships in Valencia next month.

MARTIN FAGAN was rewarded for Friday’s performance in Dubai where he achieved the qualifying standard for the Olympic marathon when the Olympic Council of Ireland launched its Beijing Bursary programme — awarding a grant of €10,000 to the 24-year-old Mullingar Harrier.

EILEEN O’KEEFFE faces the most exciting assignment of her athletics career to date when she contests the final of the women’s hammer competition at the world championships in Osaka today (1.30pm Irish time).

WITH the Olympic Games just around the corner, the world championships, which get under way in Osaka today, has been described as a ‘dress rehearsal’ for Beijing by Patsy McGonagle, Athletics Ireland’s first full-time senior team manager.

RAY TREACY, Director of Track and Field at Providence College, was thrilled with the performance of protégé Mary Cullen at the European cross-country championships in Tilburg.

Nadia Petrova took Maria Sharapova close in their quarter-final encounter at the US Open, but the top seed had just enough to edge past her Russian counterpart.

Neither Nathalie Dechy of France nor Jelena Jankovic of Serbia & Montenegro will be entering the US Open in a positive frame of mind.

IF Geraldine Hendricken is ready to run, she will be at The Mardyke on July 2.

MARK CARROLL has confirmed his participation in the men’s 3,000m at the BUPA Cork City Sports on July 2 while his fiancée, Amy Rudolph, after a sensational 10,000m debut, drops back in distance to oppose double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes in the women’s 1,500m.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN and Mark Carroll hope to show the Irish Sports Council they are not ready for the scrap heap as they take on a star-studded field in today’s Great BUPA Ireland Run in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

MARIE DAVENPORT will have the rare experience of going to the line in a healthy state for a major championship when she goes in the final of the women’s 10,000m at the Olympic Stadium tonight.

CATHAL LOMBARD has admitted to taking the performance enhancing drug Erythropoietin (EPO).

CALVIN HARRISON, a member of America’s 2000 Olympic Games gold medal-winning 400 metres relay team and a potential member of this year’s squad, has been suspended for two years for a second doping violation.

Ireland’s Mark Carroll could compete over the 5,000 metres as well as the marathon at this summer’s Olympics after meeting the qualification standard.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will be out to win the BUPA Great South 10k in Manchester on Sunday despite having the Olympics on her mind.

PAUL McKEE walked away from his seasonal debut in Cardiff at the weekend with mixed feelings after running a personal best for 100 metres and following up with a dismal run over 300m, the race he had targeted.

ROBERT CONNOLLY is set to join Alasdair Cragg in the short course race at the world cross-country championships in Brussels in two weeks and his Dundrum South Dublin clubmate, Maria McCambridge, will be entered as an individual in the women’s short course event.

KEITH KELLY may be in flying form right now, and Seamus Power and Peter Matthews are back on track, but Ireland will have to wait for news of Alastair Cragg’s plans before assessing the medal hopes in the men’s race at next month’s European cross-country championships in Edinburgh.

IT IS ironic that a word as cumbersome as tetrahydrogestrinone should be the name of a drug so easy to digest.

ATHLETICS’ world governing body is to re-test all urine samples submitted at this year’s World Championships.

World number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Acura Classic in San Diego, California due to a recurring knee injury.

Notah Begay III, trying to revive a once-promising career, carded a five-under-par 67 to gain a share of the lead with David Peoples after the second round of the Honda Classic at Mirasol.

It was a new and improved Anna Kournikova who took the court at the US Open but the result was the same.