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- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
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- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
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- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
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- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
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- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
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- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
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- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
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- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
Olympic sprint champion Jacobs defiant ahead of Berlin return
Olympic 100 metres champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs will return to action for the first time since his shock Tokyo victories in the 60m indoor in Berlin on Friday, just days after denying accusations of doping.
The 27-year-old sprinter has not competed since he won gold in the 100m and 4x100m relay in Tokyo, and has prepared for his return by addressing head-on the suspicions which linger over his surprise Olympic triumphs.
"I would never do anything as an athlete competing for my country that would bring disrepute on me as a man or on my nation," Jacobs told the Daily Telegraph in an interview last week, when asked directly if he had ever taken banned performance-enhancing substances.
Jacobs shocked the athletics world in August when he won Olympic gold with a European record of 9.80 seconds, only three months after having broken the ten-second barrier for the first time in his career.
His European 60m indoor title from the previous winter had already raised eyebrows, with experts asking how his performances could have improved so quickly without the help of doping.
The Italian's former nutritional adviser Giacomo Spazzini was also implicated in a police investigation into the supply of anabolic steroids, before being cleared of wrongdoing in January.
- ‘Blood, sweat and tears’ -
Jacobs argued that his rapid improvement in the 100m was down to the fact that he was new to the sprinting events, having focused on the long jump for much of his career.
"This happens when you come from a different discipline. The fact that you haven’t done the 100m for your whole life allows for more improvement and faster improvement,” he told the Telegraph.
“My victories represent extreme hard work - hard work that nobody saw, hard work that was blood, sweat, tears and injuries,” he added
The excitement over his sensational victory in Italy was nonetheless tempered by speculation abroad, which was fuelled in turn by his decision to end his season after the Olympics instead of attacking the Diamond League title in September.
“I needed to regenerate my mind and body. I never lost my desire to compete,” he said.
Jacobs makes his return in Berlin exactly 187 days after his triumph in Japan, following a month of intensive preparation on Tenerife.
Ahead of the race at the ISTAF indoor meeting, he told Italian media that he was not setting his sights on a specific time.
But he also admitted that Dwain Chambers' 60m European record of 6.42 seconds was his "objective for the indoor season".
“The first race of the year is there to prepare you for the ones after it. I am not coming to Berlin to run a specific time, I’m coming to win,” he said.
The Olympic champion is the undisputed favourite in the German capital, where he will face Germany’s best male sprinters such as Deniz Almas, Lucas Ansah-Peprah, Kevin Kranz and Marvin Schulte.
O.Karlsson--AMWN