Senior Chinese officials asked their Russian counterparts not to invade Ukraine during the Olympics. Western intelligence picked up reports of the communications.

Olympics boss disturbed by Valieva's meltdown, rips her entourage. Thomas Bach slammed Russian teen Kamila Valieva's entourage for their "tremendous coldness" after her troubled final performance. The IOC is looking into the rules on minors competing.

Can Xi Jinping's China pull it off? Can happy pictures of a torch relay reduced to 72 hours and tightly cropped images of top-level competitions make the world forget about the empty seats, the Covid bubble, the artificial snow, the tight security and the pressure on sponsors over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong?

China warned Western nations on Thursday they would "pay the price" for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

A video distributed by the International Olympic Committee is not enough to reassure the tennis world. The Women's Tennis Association is suspending all tournaments in China until it is sure that doubles star Peng Shuai is safe and sound, following the 35-year-old Peng's quickly deleted post on Chinese social media last month denouncing sexual assault by a former vice premier. How far will the ripple effects go?

Timelapse footage shows the conversion of Tokyo's Aomi Urban Sports Park, the venue for 3x3 basketball and sport climbing during the Olympic Games, into a football 5-a-side venue for the Paralympic Games. The work started on 6 August after the sport climbing competition ended, and was completed on 23 August.

Hurling a javelin, leaping over hurdles and sprinting beyond rows of tents to win gold, displaced children in the northwest of war-torn Syria stage their very own Olympics.

Baseball fan Masamitsu Takahashi opened his "izakaya" bar-restaurant in 2013, when Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020 Olympics. Never had he imagined that, eight years later, he would be watching Japan beating the USA in the quarter-final there all alone. Other bars have decided to stay open despite the state of emergency, but Takahashi says he prefers "to avoid the situation deteriorating to the point where there isn't even baseball".

When Tokyo last hosted the Olympics, in 1964, Itsuo Masuda was deeply depressed, struggling with his sexuality. This year he watched openly gay and transgender athletes compete with pride, in the most LGBTQ-friendly games yet.

Ten sports, 55 competitors, 36 events spread over 17 days, Guardian Nigeria's Sports Editor, Christian Okpara assesses team Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

With Japan riding high in the medals table, public disapproval towards the event may be softening -- but a small, loud band of anti-Olympics activists do not plan to stop speaking out -- even if their demonstrations tend to draw just a few dozen people.

Simone Biles arrives at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre as she prepares for Tuesday's balance beam final at the Tokyo Olympics.