After Manchester and Liverpool, now Owen lights up London... with the Olympic torch

Michael Owen has finally found a new a club, although he'd be advised not to hit anyone with the Olympic Torch.
The former Manchester United has joined the long list of famous faces to carry the gold baton which has been travelling the length and breadth of Britain for more than two months.
The Games themselves start on Friday - although women's football will kick off on Wednesday to a no doubt muted reaction - and the Torch is currently on a journey through all 32 London boroughs.

Action stations: Michael Owen carried the Olympic Torch through Battersea dogs home with a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Rory as part of the relay around Britain

On Monday it ticked off a large portion of south London, visiting, among others, Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park, before ending up in the hands of one of England's most prolific ever strikers.
Owen travelled down from his Chester home on Monday morning, but was less than impressed with having to pay 30p to use the toilet at Euston train station.

Pleased as punch: Owen

Later, shortly before undertakin his duties, the striker tweeted: 'Ready to go! What an honour', before adding, 'Battersea Cats and Dogs home do some fantastic work. Privilege to be there today.'
Elsewhere, it will be carried around the All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon by Venus Williams and Andy Murray, who was recently defeated by Roger Federer on Centre Court.
Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen, said she was "quite emotional" to have been chosen to carry the torch to the forecourt of the learning and development centre in Deptford, south east London, named after her son.
The Torch will also feature on EastEnders, be carried by the one-time captain of the Starship Enterprise, and visit the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon.
In a star-studded day for the flame, Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Capt Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, will be boldly bearing the torch in a school in Croydon, south London, at around lunchtime.

Lampard questions Chelsea future as England star enters final year of his contract

Frank Lampard has refused to rule out this being his final season at Chelsea.

Lampard, who joined the Blues in 2001, is entering the last year of his contract and has been heavily linked with a move to Los Angeles Galaxy.
The 34-year-old England midfielder has previously expressed his desire to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge but suggested today he had yet to open talks with the club over his future.

State of the game: Frank Lampard has been linked with a move to the MLS

After captaining Chelsea in their pre-season friendly against Paris St Germain on Sunday, the first football match ever at the new Yankee Stadium, Lampard was asked about a potential move to Major League Soccer.
'I'm not sure,' said the man who captained the Blues to Champions League glory in May. 'I have another year on my contract at Chelsea.
'We have a big season. We play in the Super Cup and the World Club Championship in December. Then it's up to Chelsea. If they want to speak with me about my future, then I'll speak with them.
'I wouldn't rule anything out at the moment.'
Pressed on whether he was on his way to America, Lampard replied: 'Not at the moment, no, because I have a contract with Chelsea. Beyond that, I don't know.'
Lampard is already ensured legendary status at Chelsea thanks to the goals he has scored and the trophies he has lifted while at the club.

Beth bar none: She's overcome pain and disappointment... now Tweddle prepares for perfect Olympic finale

She's the golden girl of British gymnastics and a three-time world champion who dreams of walking away from her last Olympics with the only medal missing from a brilliant career.
Even among her peers, however, Beth Tweddle does not quite get the recognition she deserves.
Take her signature move. Halfway through her routine on the uneven bars, Tweddle and her coach Amanda Reddin devised a unique manoeuvre in which she catches the bar with her hands crossed.

Reach for the stars: Beth Tweddle has her heart set on Olympics glory

‘It had got to the stage where the judges knew my routine before I’d even started it,’ says Tweddle. ‘We needed something wow.’
The International Gymnastics Federation liked it; so much so that they bestowed the ultimate honour on the amiable girl from the  Cheshire village of Bunbury by naming the move after her in their worldwide code of skills. Only they misspelled it.
‘It’s called The Tweedle!’ exclaims Tweddle, dissolving into a fit of  giggles. ‘Hopefully they’ll get it right next time.’ If she wins a gold in either the bars or the floor  exercise at London 2012, it’s unlikely that anyone will get her name wrong again.
An Olympic medal is, after all, the only omission from an extensive collection that includes three world titles, six European titles, seven British titles, MBE, third place in the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year and plenty of other awards since taking up the sport at the age of seven.
There would be an Olympic bronze in there as well but for the disastrous little step forward she took on her dismount in Beijing four years ago.
Having already missed out on the bars final in Athens in 2004 by a fraction of a point, it was enough to cost her third place by an even more marginal 0.025 points.  Tweddle places her hands side by side on the floor. ‘It was from here to here,’ she says. ‘The smallest  little step but enough to take me out of the medals.

Lighting up: Tweddle is a major medal hope for Team GB this summer

‘My coach has told me that people would see it as failure if I don’t pick up a medal from these Games, but they don’t realise how hard it is. There is such a fine line in gymnastics. Half a fraction of a second and it goes crashing down. And that fraction of a second can work the other way and it can be perfect.’
So by the time Tweddle ends her performance on the bars at London 2012 with a dismount, just how many times will she have done it?
‘Thousands,’ she says. ‘It sounds silly but I will have trained 20 years for a 30-second bar routine, and a 90-second floor routine. It’s tough but I suppose it’s triple the amount of time the sprinters get.’
The chance to bury the haunting memory of Beijing motivates Tweddle almost as much as ending her competitive career by winning an Olympic medal on home soil.
She still cannot bring herself to watch it (‘I will when I retire but why bring up things that don’t make you happy?’). After Beijing she  flew straight to the Greek island of Kavos to get as far away from the Olympics as possible. It didn’t work. ‘Everyone was talking about the Games,’ she recalls. ‘They saw fourth as an amazing achievement but I didn’t want to be reminded of the fact I’d failed.
‘I did think, “Why do I do it just to end in heartache?” I’m not a massive drinker but I let my hair down. I knew that wasn’t the end, though. I was itching to get back in the gym. I want to be able to look back and say I tried rather than sitting in the audience thinking, “Hang on, I could have been up there at the top”.’
Tweddle describes her routine in Beijing as ‘the hardest in the world’ and if she wants a medal, she will have to gamble again.

Golden girl: Tweddle will compete with the world's best at the North Greenwich Arena

She does not know what her rivals have up their sleeves, although they know exactly what to expect from her after her new Olympic routines on the bars and floor — Paul  McCartney’s management company have given her permission to use Live and Let Die for the latter — went up on YouTube within half an hour of her comeback performances following surgery to repair a damaged knee cartilage in April.
‘You can’t really keep anything quiet,’ says Tweddle, who has previously undergone three operations on her shoulders and seven on her feet, as well as having pins inserted in her left ankle when she was 12. It can be a little bit annoying, especially with the floor routine. You want to show it the first time looking good, but everyone knows what it is now.
‘I could put out a routine that pretty much 100 per cent of the time would put me in the final, but it wouldn’t get me a medal. I don’t want to look back saying that I  just played safe. I’ve got to go  for broke. The dismount I’m hoping to do if my knee’s OK has taken me four years to get into my routine. That just shows how hard it actually is.’
In order to perform the two twists with double somersault finale, Tweddle has been sleeping with a £3,500 ice machine strapped to her left knee each night to speed up the recovery, such is her determination to be in top condition. Even at the age of 27 — a veteran in the world of gymnastics — Tweddle has kept to a 30-hours-a-week training regime under Reddin, her coach since the age of 12, at the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club in Toxteth.
She has Sundays off and trains for a half-day on Thursday. The rest of the week involves double three-hour sessions. Did Tweddle think she would still be working so hard and competing at 27?
‘No, never,’ she says. ‘But I do gymnastics because I love it. I don’t remember it turning from a hobby to a career. I’m still getting funded (£25,000 a year from the National Lottery). It’s not something I can retire on but I’m only young and I’ve got a lifetime to do other stuff.
‘When I was at school, they’d say, “Miss it, it’s only one session”, but that one session could be the  difference in medals. I’m lucky  that I have good friends. They understand that my training is  No 1. I still go out and they love it because I’m a free taxi service.

Elegant: Tweddle will hope to deliver a sparkling performance in London

‘My last drink was when we won the Europeans last year — a glass of champagne to celebrate. That’s pretty much it. So sad, isn’t it? A few people will be on the champagne if I win in London but I try to stay away from that thought.
‘Amanda knows I’m not the little girl I was. I can’t do the same amount of training. I have to be a lot cleverer. I’ve been with her since I was 12 and probably seen more of her than my mum, so she’s had to grow up with me.
‘A lot of people ask Amanda, “What’s Beth done to get these results?” She tells them it’s hard work. She doesn’t have to push me or motivate me to win a medal. I walk in the gym wanting to work.
‘I’ve never had that phase where I want to quit. I’m not some sort of alien. It’s just hard work and  determination to get on with it. A lot of people are learning that from me and Amanda. If things don’t happen the first time, don’t cry about it, get up and try again.’
It’s an approach that has helped Tweddle alter the perception of British gymnastics. There was a time when her sport was the  preserve of Eastern Europeans; when simply turning up constituted success for the Brits. Not any more.
‘You’d go to competitions thinking we were just there to have a good time,’ says Tweddle. ‘There was never even the mention of a medal or a final.
‘A lot of it’s down to belief within the gymnasts themselves. They’ve realised we can do it. Now we walk into an arena and people are like, “Great Britain are here, they’re medal contenders”. They look at us rather than us looking at them.’
Adjusting to life outside the gym after what will almost certainly be her last major competition is going to be the hardest part for Tweddle, who has already deferred a physiotherapy degree until next year so she can spend time with family and friends after the Olympics.
After 20 years of jumping, twisting and somersaulting for hours every day, simply trying to act ‘normal’ will be difficult for the girl who has always been hyperactive.
‘Even at home I can’t sit still and watch a film,’ admits Tweddle. ‘I’ll be wandering around doing something. It annoys my flatmate and my boyfriend (Steven, 30, whom she has been seeing for 18 months). I definitely won’t retire  straightaway. This is all I’ve known since I was seven. I will never walk away from gymnastics, I just need to find the next step.’
When she does, it won’t be easy finding the next Beth Tweddle.

Murray believes Olympics will be perfect remedy for his brave Wimbledon defeat

Andy Murray says playing at Wimbledon again only three weeks after his loss to Roger Federer in this year's final will be the best remedy for the heartbreaking loss.
The 25-year-old tearfully thanked the nation for their support after failing in his bid to become the first British men's champion at the tournament since Fred Perry in 1936, losing in four sets.
'I think it was good for me the Olympics came so soon after Wimbledon, that gave me an extra push and extra motivation to get back on court and not think too much about (the final),' he said.

Fearsome foursome: Laura Robson, Anne Keothavong, Andy Murray and Jamie Murray prepare for the Olympics

'I feel fine just now. I've been practising now for a week. If the Olympics wasn't here I would have taken two or three weeks off, but I just took four or five days off and got back on the court.'
'I'm hitting the ball well, been playing well in practice, but we'll have to see once I get back out on the court how I'm going to feel exactly.
'But I would expect that by now I'm experienced enough and had enough tough losses to be able to deal with the final,' he said.
It will be his second trip back to Centre Court since the tournament, admitting he first returned only days after the loss and spent a moment reflecting on the final.
'I thought a little bit about the match and then was thinking what it will be like playing at the Olympics, because it's changed so quickly after the tournament,' he said.
'They had all the London 2012 backdrops at the back of the court and I guess that maybe got my mind looking forward to this event.'

Brothers in arms: Andy (left) will link up with Jamie in the men's doubles in London

Murray admits walking off Centre Court after the final did not abate his tears, but some time with his family and friends and a trip to a comedy club helped his mindset.

'I go to quite a lot of comedy shows because laughing is normally the best way to get over most things,' he said.
Victory in this Olympics will also help Murray get over his straight sets first-round loss in the tournament four years ago. That preceded a second-round loss in the doubles with his brother Jamie.
'Winning a medal for your country is huge, you're part of this huge competition and your feel part of the team, that you've contributed and helped towards it,' he said.
'There's not been too many guys who have won the singles and the doubles, but I want to try and do it, playing in this competition with my brother is really a dream you never expect when you're growing up,' he said.

Stepping up: The Murray brothers will hope to improve on their showing in Beijing four years ago

'We got the chance at the last Olympics but didn't get a medal and I hope we can give it a go this time.'
Jamie is more optimistic of success this time.
'I don't see why not, I think he's playing great tennis, some of the best of his career,' he said.
'He performed so well at Wimbledon, he's playing great. When we get together on the doubles court we tend to do good things most of the time.'
'I think we've been a bit unfortunate in some moments, this year we've lost some close matches to some of the best teams in the world.'
'I've worked hard to try and improve and I think it's time to show that at the Olympics.'

Terry back in business with Chelsea after flying out to meet squad in New York

John Terry made a welcome return to Chelsea training on Saturday following his legal ordeal. Chelsea take on former manager Carlo Ancelotti's Paris St Germain team in New York's Yankee Stadium on Sunday night.

Drogba makes impressive debut from bench to help Shenhua salvage point

 Didier Drogba made his Chinese Super League debut for Shanghai Shenhua in a 1-1 draw with fourth-placed Guangzhou on Sunday.

Former Chelsea striker Drogba, who was presented by Shenhua last weekend after agreeing a two-and-a-half year contract with the club, came off the bench for the second half to help his new side battle back from a goal down to secure a point.

Thank Drog for that! Didier Drogba (centre) played the through ball which led to Shenhua's equaliser

The Ivorian almost scored with his very first touch in a Shenhua shirt, as he saw his outlandish free-kick tipped round the post.
The Shenhua faithful will be hoping Drogba can improve their stuttering form, with the Chinese side only managing four wins of 17 games in the league this season.
The former Stamford Bridge favourite, who was reunited with Nicolas Anelka on his debut, set up Shenhua's equaliser with a delicious through ball to Cao Yunding, who rounded the goalkeeper and slid the ball home.
Hosts Guangzhou had taken a 22nd-minute lead through a Moises own goal but 12th-placed Shenhua drew level in the 68th minute.

Powerhouse: Drogba (left) terrorised his opponents throughout the second half

Close call: Drogba came off the bench and made an instant impact

As well as Drogba's freekick, he troubled the Guangzhou keeper again later in the half, and wreaked havoc with his movement and power.
Elsewhere, Jiangsu Shuntian moved back to within four points of league leaders Guangzhou Evergrande with a 3-2 home victory over Tianjin Taida.
All five goals were scored in the first half, with Jiangsu netting through Aleksandar Jevtic (10), Ji Xiang (23) and leading scorer Cristian Danalache (42), while Tianjin responded with an own goal from Lu Bofei (21) and a Vladimir Jovancic strike (26).

Looking sharp: Drogba donned the No 11 shirt on his first appearance

The victory sees Jiangsu remain within touching distance of Evergrande, who won yesterday, and five clear of third-placed Guizhou Renhe, who fought back from an early deficit to beat Shanxi Zhongxin 3-1 today.
Johnny had given visiting Shanxi a fifth-minute lead but Guizhou hit back with second-half goals from Hao Yang (51), Chen Jie (83) and Zlatan Muslimovic (86).
In this weekend's other games, Dalian Shide and Changchun Yatai claimed 2-1 wins over Qingdao Zhongneng and Liaoning, respectively.
James Chamanga struck a 77th-minute winner for Dalian after Qingdao's Bruno Meneghel had cancelled out a 35th-minute opener from Yan Xiangchuang.
Changchun scored twice in the final 18 minutes through Dong Wang (72) and Liu Weidong (86) to claim the points after Liaoning had taken a 65th-minute lead through Yu Hanchao.

New boy Hazard wants to become Chelsea's answer to Messi

Eden Hazard is relishing the challenge at Chelsea - and hopes he can become the European Champions' answer to Lionel Messi.

Hazard completed his £32million move from Lille earlier this summer and has already set lofty targets at Stamford Bridge. 
Hazard told The Sun: 'Messi is the world’s best player and it's a bit of an exaggeration to say I can be that good.

Hazard warning: The new boy at Chelsea has set some big targets

 

'But I am happy if people see similarities between us and being compared to Messi makes me think about what I can achieve with Chelsea rather than the obstacles I need to overcome to get there.
'Ultimately it's the coach who will decide if I play in a similar role to the one Messi plays for Barca but I am looking to succeed the Eden Hazard way.'
Chelsea begin the defence of their European crown in September and Hazard has revealed the lure of joining the Champions League winners was decisive in his move to west London.

Blue is the color: Hazard has been in action in America with Chelsea

He said: 'Chelsea had the most convincing argument for me to join and obviously being the Champions League winners was a big factor in my choice.
'Chelsea is a fantastic club with fantastic players and they can give me the best possible chance to progress as a player.
'It's a slightly less important reason but London is also a bit closer to Belgium than Manchester and I can get home a little easier from here.'