Lausanne, Switzerland - Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles on Friday lost an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to be reinstated as Beijing Olympics 200 metres silver medallist.

The CAS cited rules by the governing body IAAF that decisions by a race jury of appeal are final and can not be fought.

Martina had originally finished second in the Beijing race in August won by Usain Bolt of Jamaica, with American Wallace Spearmon placing third.

Lausanne, Switzerland - Dutch Antilles runner Churandy Martina was not reinstated as Beijing Olympics 200 metres silver medallist as the Court of Arbitration for Sport 
(CAS) rejected his appeal on Friday.

The CAS cited rules by the governing body IAAF that race jury decisions are final and can not be appealed.

Churandy had originally finished second in the Beijing race in August won by Usain Bolt of Jamaica, with American Wallace Spearmon placing third.

Lausanne, Switzerland  - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday announced that Briton Mark Adams has been appointed Director of Communications.

The 45-year-old, who is joining the Olympic body from the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was Managing Director and Head of Media and Communications, will be taking over his new position at the end of May.

In a statement the IOC said that the former journalist worked for several television stations before joining the World Economic Forum.

Hamburg  - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants to strengthen its partnership with the United Nations by gaining observer status at the UN General Assembly.

The UN confirmed an application had been received from the IOC, and told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that a decision could be expected by the beginning of September.

Moscow  - Russia will slash financing toward preparing for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi by near two-thirds this year as it feels the heat of the market crunch, a senior official was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Tuesday.

Regional development minister Viktor Basargin said 33.2 billion rubles (923 million dollars) would be stripped from the 49.8-billion--rubles construction budget for the firm Olympstroi in 2009.

He made the comments to Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin during a meeting on sports.

Beijing  - Hundreds of millions of television viewers across the world saw China for the first time in August, or at least they saw a new side of the vast nation of 1.3 billion people.

The extravagant opening and closing ceremonies and the perfectly organized Olympic events at spectacular venues won heartfelt praise from international Olympic officials and spurred deep national pride in many ordinary Chinese citizens.

"I think ordinary Chinese people were excited about the Olympics," said Zhang Ming, a politics professor at People's University in Beijing.

"Beijing people were very proud of holding the Olympics," Zhang told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.