Brittany Crew, the Canadian record-holder in the women's shot put, is back in the competitive throwing circle after breaking the fifth metatarsal in her right foot in August, a week before the NACAC championships in Toronto.

Alysha Newman might have been wearing a megawatt smile when she soared to pole vault gold at the Commonwealth Games last March. But the 24-year-old was competing through pain so bad, she'd barely been able to practise.

The Vatican launched an official track team Thursday with the aim of competing in international competitions as part of an agreement signed with the Italian Olympic Committee. Swiss Guards, priests, nuns, pharmacists and even a 62-year-old professor are the first accredited members of Vatican Athletics.