o Temporary pools in an indoor arena in Omaha, Nebraska will be the venue for the 2008 US Olympic trials, USA Swimming said this week. The American team for the Beijing Olympics will be selected during the June 30-July 7, 2008 competition. Two temporary 50-metre pools will be installed in an indoor arena, which will have a seating capacity of 14,000 for the trials. Omaha, a midwestern city of 800,000, won the trials over bids from St Paul, Minnesota and San Antonio, Texas.

o Former Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey will miss what would have been a record eighth world championships in Helsinki this August because of injury. Ottey, 45, who now competes for Slovenia, is to undergo surgery to repair a minor ligament tear in her upper left thigh.

o Next year's US Golf Masters will be contested on the second longest course in major championship history after tournament organisers announced that six holes at Augusta National would be lengthened. The par-72 Augusta National measured 7,290 yards when Tiger Woods clinched his fourth US Masters title in April, but the course will be extended to 7,445 yards for the 2006 edition.

o Former Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis is retiring from athletics. The 32-year-old, who won gold in the multi-discipline event at the 2000 Sydney Games said: "My body has had enough, it has been through the mill." Lewis said she made the decision after missing three weeks of training with a tonsil infection which meant she would be unable to qualify for the 2005 world championships.