Alan Webb caps a strong 2007 season by overtaking defending champion Kevin Sullivan down the stretch to win the Fifth Avenue Mile.

From William the Conqueror to William Tell, via a few war-whooping twangs from Geronimo, bows and arrows have been among man’s most enduring pursuits. Yet the long-established sport of archery is not one which has had the great British public all of a quiver, despite its Robin Hood romanticism. It is among the most ancient of all Britain’s sporting activities, dating back competitively to the Middle Ages, with the first Grand National Archery meeting held at York in 1844. Many of today’s clubs had their beginnings on the country lawns of Victorian England, although archery did not make the Olympics in its modern form until 1972.

Jimmie Johnson wins his second-straight pole, at Kansas International Speedway, a week after he drifted back to 14th in Dover after starting first.

Novice Tim Maynard is one step away from a 2012 scholarship

Triathlete Tim Don’s hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Olympics are hit after he breaks an elbow.

With five NBA players on the roster, the Spanish national team is the dominant story at the European basketball championship.

Nastia Liukin settles for the silver medal in the uneven bars finals, falling one spot short of becoming a world champion in her signature event for the second straight year.

American Shawn Johnson wins the all-around title at the World Gymnastics Championships, as she becomes the favorite to win gold in Beijing.

GB’s Denise Johns on bikinis and taking the sport seriously

The American men surprise the critics and place fourth at the world gymnastics championships on Thursday in Stuttgart, Germany.

Alicia Sacramone comes through in her floor routine to rally the Americans to a world championship with 184.4 points, beating the defending champion China by .95 of a point.

Thirteen years after leaving China for the United States and abandoning a shot at gold in the Atlanta games, Gao Jun, 38, qualifies for her fourth Olympics.

The launch of a seven-team professional women’s soccer league has been bumped back a year to 2009, when the league will start play in the spring.

After hearing for a year how bad they are, how they might not even make it to next summer’s Beijing Olympics, the U.S. men silenced everyone with an impressive performance yesterday at the world gymnastics championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 3 — Limping slowly on a severely wounded knee, Nikolai Kryukov dragged himself up the stairs, stopped when he reached the top and raised his hand to salute the judges on the floor exercise.

NBA standouts Jose Calderon and Pau Gasol give defending world champion Spain the inside edge at the European basketball championships.

The U.S. will undoubtedly be favored to win Olympic gold in 2008 coming off its performance in Las Vegas, but it would be foolish to be so presumptuous.

Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat becomes the first man to win gold in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters in the same world championships Sunday with a late sprint to overtake Eliud Kipchoge in the 5,000 meters.

LeBron James scores a team-record 31 points Sunday as the U.S. dismantles Argentina, 118-81, to win the FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas.

Defending world champion China is in first place after Saturday’s qualifying session while Romania sits in second place in Stuttgart, Germany.