How we'll turn the British sports minister into a dribbling Kookaburra

Samantha Lane Picture this: a British sports minister, dressed in a kookaburra-print shirt, dribbling a hockey ball through Australia House in central London.

Crowds laud royal jolly good sports

Olympic Notebook John Huxley PRINCE Philip once famously remarked of his daughter Anne, now Princess Anne, ''if it doesn't fart or eat hay she just isn't interested''.

Sports bible boost for our medal hopes

Chris Barrett, London Modest and even dim predictions abound about Australia's medal tally at the London Olympics.

Hooker turns to sports psychologist in bid to beat the yips

Chris Barrett Steve Hooker is placing his faith in a sports psychologist to help him evade a return of the yips in the final rundown to the Olympic pole vault competition.

The price of gold

Robert ''Bob'' Ellicott remembers the moment when Australia's Olympic dream factory became real. It was November 1978 in Canberra.

London 2012

Fond memories of Canberra's 'little Olympians'

Chris Dutton From the trees in Kambah to the biggest sporting event in the world, Gail Buchanan knew her daughter was destined to be a daredevil when she wouldn't stop hanging upside-down from branches in their...

Sydney basks in golden Olympic glow

James Robertson Office workers leaned out windows. Builders hung off scaffolding. And people dressed as giant boxing kangaroos craned for a view.

Live: a golden parade as Sydney celebrates Olympic stars

Liam Phillips, Glenda Kwek, James Robertson Several roads in Sydney's CBD are set to close as the city plays host to the first welcome home parade for Australia's London Olympics team this afternoon.

Aussie women's water polo victory

Despite the efforts of the formidable 185cm, 100kg Italian captain and forward Elisa Casanova, the Australian team led from start to finish.

Womens water polo training

Photographer Brendan Esposito captures some of the action from the Australian women's water polo team training in London.

Games extravaganza shows Britain's got talent

Caroline Wilson, London London woke up to Day One of the Olympic Games competition, but for Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle, it was the morning after the night before.

Sharks to attack world champions

Robert Dillon Australian Sharks water polo coach John Fox says world champions Italy have more reason to be apprehensive than his own players as they prepare for Sunday's blockbuster opening-round showdown at the...

Mitchell gracious as she misses medal by narrowest of margins

Peter Hanlon Lauren Mitchell put one small foot about 10 centimetres in front of the other, tapped the floor, then brought her toes back into line.

Basketball

Graf admits her future is unclear

Crystal Ja Australian women's basketball coach Carrie Graf concedes her future is undecided, but the veteran mentor says she's in no rush for that to change.

Athletes ready to roll up and wow

Jim White Here's something I discovered recently: it is not easy controlling a wheelchair. Certainly not the kind used in wheelchair rugby, which look as if they have been knocked up out of an old supermarket...

Athletics

Tarnished gold: Tallent calls for drug cheats to lose it all

David Polkinghorne Two-time Olympic silver medallist Jared Tallent wants proven drug cheats to have all their past achievements made invalid regardless of when they tested positive.

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Chic silver a must-have accessory

Peter FitzSimons Silver is the new gold.

Pearson ready to ride the Magic Carpet to gold

Chris Barrett UNLIKE her rivals, Sally Pearson has the technique to match the super-fast pace of the London athletics track where so many records have already fallen.

Kiwis avert Olympic-sized disaster after forgetting to register reigning champion

Simon Plumb The New Zealand Olympic Committee has scrambled to fix an embarrassing gaffe which could have stopped defending champion Valerie Adams from competing in the 2012 Olympic Games.