Sochi chooses 3 mascots for 2014 Olympics

In this photo provided by the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, a polar bear, one of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics mascots is seen. At the end of a two-hour national television broadcast to choose the mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko announced that not one but three cartoon competitors would be the faces of the games - a rad, snowboarding snow leopard, a squeaky-voiced figure-skating bunny rabbit and an earnest, slightly dorky polar bear.

In this photo provided by the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 a bunny rabbit, one of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics mascots is seen. At the end of a two-hour national television broadcast to choose the mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko announced that not one but three cartoon competitors would be the faces of the games - a rad, snowboarding snow leopard, a squeaky-voiced figure-skating bunny rabbit and an earnest, slightly dorky polar bear.

In this photo provided by the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 a snow leopard, one of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics mascots is seen. At the end of a two-hour national television broadcast to choose the mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko announced that not one but three cartoon competitors would be the faces of the games - a rad, snowboarding snow leopard, a squeaky-voiced figure-skating bunny rabbit and an earnest, slightly dorky polar bear

(Reuters)

Usain Bolt taking rest of 2010 off due to back injury

Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after he won the men's 100 meters at the IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting at the Stade de France Stadium in Saint-Denis, near Paris July 16, 2010.

LONDON, Aug. 11 -- Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt said on Tuesday he won't race again in 2010 because of tightness in his lower back.

Ricky Simms, the Jamaican's manager, said in an e-mail that the world record-holder at 100 and 200 meters will have treatment to loosen his back and then rest, skipping IAAF Diamond League track and field meets in Zurich on Aug. 19, and in Brussels on Aug. 27.

"It is better for me not to take any risks this year," Bolt said, according to Simms. "2011 and 2012 are very important ... and I hope to be back fully fit and healthy. I ... look forward to coming back stronger next year."

Bolt lost to American Tyson Gay in the 100m on Friday at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm, and it was the first individual race he lost in two years. Gay ran 9.84 seconds, and Bolt finished in 9.97 - nearly 0.40 slower than his record for the 100m.

Simms said Bolt was examined Monday by a doctor in Munich who found the back problem.

"He has a tightness that restricts his ability to generate power in his stride and continuing to race in this condition could risk injury to his hamstrings or calf muscles," Simms wrote.

Simms said the decision to take time off was made "with a view to his future career."

He also said that an MRI exam showed that a previous left Achilles' tendon injury that caused Bolt to take time off earlier this year is healed.
(Reuters)