South African police have charged Olympic star Oscar Pistorius with the murder of his girlfriend, who was shot in the sprinter's home Thursday.

Pistorius, 26, kept weapons at his gated, luxury South African home as a means of protection against his country's soaring crime rate, according to a British writer who had exclusive access to the Olympic sprinter.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, the 400 meter runner – the first man to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics – is believed to have used part of his weapons collection to tragically gun down his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Early reports had the alleged incident being reported as an accident, but police spokesperson Brigadier Denise Beukes told the Associated Press that information did not come from police and that "it would be very premature and very irresponsible of me to say what actually has happened."

"There have been allegations," Beukes said. "We are not sure."

Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody Thursday. (AP Photo) According to those initial reports,Read More »from Oscar Pistorius charged with murder, reportedly had firearms at home to allay fears of invasion

Cristiano Ronaldo took plenty of plaudits for a classy "non-celebration" but little else as Real Madrid's season was pushed to the brink of emptiness on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores past Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea. (Reuters)Ronaldo's equalizing goal after 30 minutes gave him the opportunity to make good on his promise to shun soccer's typical post-scoring ritual as a mark of respect to Manchester United, his former club.

After Ronaldo leapt into the air, hung there long enough for a crossing pass to arrive, then powered a header into the corner of the United goal, the Madrid star wheeled away and raised his hands to stop his teammates from embarking upon any form of celebration.

"I will not celebrate if I score against United," Ronaldo told reporters recently. "I had six great years there and I am still friends with my teammates."

It was an honorable move from the 28-year-old, whose antics and actions both within the white lines and outside them have rarely endeared himself to rival fans, though he did donate $150,000 to an Afghanistan

Read More »from Ronaldo shows respect for Manchester United, but his season remains on the brink

Wrestling's world governing body is hoping to make the International Olympic Committee perform a dramatic U-turn and save the sport from being booted out of the Games.

Wrestling has been a part of every modern Olympics dating back to 1896. (AP)The wrestling world was shocked when an IOC vote on Tuesday put it on the fast-track to Olympic extinction, with its only chance of survival coming in September when it will be one of seven sports bidding to be part of the 2020 Games.

Wrestling's governing body FILA did little in the way of lobbying to protect itself from being cut ahead of Tuesday's meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Bracketed with other endangered Olympic sports such as modern pentathlon, field hockey and taekwondo, wrestling's hierarchy apparently assumed its long history in both the modern and ancient Olympics would ensure its safety.

"FILA was greatly astonished by today's recommendation of the IOC Executive Board not to maintain wrestling among the 25 core sports for the 2020 Olympic Games," read a FILA statement.

A concerted political and

Read More »from Wrestling's governing body plans emergency campaign after being booted from the Olympics

Real Madrid paid Manchester United $131 million for Cristiano Ronaldo's services. (Getty Images)It is rare that soccer's biggest showdown in any given season should come in early February rather than the end of May, but Wednesday's match-up between Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid and Manchester United comfortably fits that lofty billing.

Never mind that the clash will take place in the round of 16 of the Champions League and not the final, nor that this week's installment is only the first segment of a home-and-home contest that will be decided over 180 minutes, across two countries and won't anoint a victor until the beginning of next month.

Soccer needs a juicy storyline to spice up a season that has stagnated somewhat in both of its two most prominent domestic competitions, the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga, due to the utter dominance of United in the former and Madrid's failure to keep pace with its hated rival Barcelona in the latter.

Just as well then, that it doesn't get much tastier than Ronaldo, the second-best soccer player on the planet but the

Read More »from Manchester United vs. Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo's chance to 'catch' Messi

Lionel Messi may have cost himself upwards of $30 million with a "gentlemanly" approach to his latest contract extension.

The world's top soccer star, just 25 and already considered one of the greatest players ever, extended his current deal with Spanish club Barcelona earlier this week, meaning he will remain with the team until 2018.

Lionel Messi signed a contract to stay with Barcelona through 2018. (AP)Yet while Messi will collect an annual salary of around $30 million over the next five years, the perception in European soccer is that Barca has gotten him cheap.

"Whatever you pay him, it is going to be cheap," said Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, who played with Messi for Barcelona between 2004 and 2008. "How can you say he is worth this amount or that amount? How could there be any figure at which you would say ‘he is not worth it?"

Negotiations in European club soccer are often tense and drawn out affairs. Wayne Rooney of Manchester United even flirted with the possibility of joining that club's hated and big-spending rival Manchester City

Read More »from Lionel Messi takes less to stay with Barca

The most surprising aspect about the problems besetting the 2014 Winter Olympics is not that they will be the most expensive Olympics ever staged, but why.

Sochi, Russia, will host the chilliest season's quadrennial showpiece 12 months from now in what Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as "an extravaganza beyond compare."

Yet as anti-corruption and human rights groups train their eyes ever more keenly on the event and its increasing glut of negative publicity, even a politician as skilled in bluster as Putin can only hope to quell the growing level of discontent.

More than $50 billion will be spent on hosting the 17-day multi-sport competition, dwarfing the spending on London's 2012 Summer Olympics ($14.4 billion) and even outstripping the lavish, no-expense-spared, $40 billion celebrations of Beijing four years earlier.

The Sochi tally is likely to exceed its original budget by a factor of five as reports of mass levels of corruption and

Read More »from One year out, Sochi's Winter Olympics is already dogged by allegations of massive corruption

It was one of the funnier goal celebrations that you will see in this World Cup qualifying campaign, but for the United States its defeat in Honduras on Wednesday was no laughing matter.

The hosts secured a 2-1 triumph in San Pedro Sula thanks to a second-half winner from Jerry Bengston, which prompted virtually the entire Honduras team to sink to their hands and knees and make a train towards the corner flag.

For Jurgen Klinsmann's Americans, it was the worst possible way to begin the final phase of qualifying in the CONCACAF region and piles on pressure ahead of its next two matches against traditional rivals Costa Rica and Mexico.

U.S. players react after a 2-1 loss to Honduras. (AP)Honduras was never going to be an easy place to visit, with a passionate and vocal home crowd filling the Stadio Olimpico, and the contest being deliberately staged during the hottest part of the day.

Yet the way Klinsmann's defensive line failed to cope with the Honduran attack will create serious concerns moving forward and indicated that

Read More »from USA's World Cup qualification off to a rocky start after disappointment in Honduras

The road to the World Cup begins in earnest for the United States on Wednesday in an environment that, at least on paper, could scarcely be more hostile.

According to the U.S. State Department and reports from humanitarian groups, San Pedro Sula, the second biggest city in Honduras, is the most violent place on earth. The conclusion is derived from data that shows a homicide rate of 159 deaths per 100,000 citizens, with widespread thievery, drug-related violence and social unrest rife just four years removed from a bloody military coup.

The U.S. will rely heavily on Michael Bradley in its quest to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. (AP)Such a setting is a simple reality for the USA, for whom the good fortune of being in a relatively weak section of soccer’s global map brings an enhanced chance of reaching the World Cup in Brazil next year, yet also a series of tourist trials along the way.

Teams in the CONCACAF region that encompasses North and Central America and the Caribbean are no strangers to various forms of perfectly authorized skullduggery, plus annoyances such as

Read More »from USA begins its World Cup quest in the most violent city in the world