NEW YORK, Nov.

Ethiopia's Deriba Merga says he's shooting for a time of 2:05 flat in the Houston Marathon Sunday, which would be a North American record. Merga's personal best for a 26.2-mile marathon course is 2:06:38.

By Craig Brown IT WAS meant to be the day when everything finally went right: the opening of the Athletes' Village in Beijing, just 12 days before China's Olympic Games finally started.

Just two and a half months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, the city has been rated at “heavily polluted” after a sandstorm from Mongolia hit the region.

By Gillian Wong, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SINGAPORE - IOC President Jacques Rogge says pollution in Beijing won't endanger the health of athletes although their Olympic performances might suffer. "The health of the athletes is absolutely not in any danger," Rogge said Saturday.