At seven foot one, Shaquille O'Neal is an intimidating enough opponent on the basketball court but the Miami Heat centre has been testing his athleticism in one of the most violent of sports - Ultimate Fighting.
Questioned how he had spent his time during the NBA off-season, O'Neal said he had been in the caged ring taking on challengers in the combination of boxing, martial arts and wrestling.
"I've been doing a lot of fighting and a lot of reading," O'Neal said.
Asked what he meant by fighting, O'Neal said: "UFC fighting, Ultimate Fighting, yeah, I'm serious."
"You have headgear and so on, it is basically like boxing with wrestling rules," added O'Neal who earns $20 million a year with the Heat.
Discus champion Oerter dies at 71
American discus thrower Al Oerter, who won four consecutive Olympic titles, died on Monday of heart failure.
Oerter died in hospital in Fort Myers, Florida. He was 71. He and long jumper Carl Lewis are the only Olympic athletes to win athletics gold medals in four consecutive Games.
Oerter won his first Olympic gold medal in 1956, then added titles in 1960, 1964 and 1968. Each time he set an Olympic record.
Gebrselassie predicts a 2-hour marathon
Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who broke the world marathon record on Sunday, believes it is only a matter of time before someone covers the 42.2-km distance in two hours flat.
Gebrselassie, 34, clocked two hours four minutes 26 seconds in Berlin on Sunday to better the four-year-old record held by Kenya's Paul Tergat by 29 seconds.
"Sure, it will happen," he told reporters on Monday. "But when? Will it be in 20 years? Or 40 years? Nobody knows. The more technology develops, the more athletes will run faster. I believe one day it will happen."
Gebrselassie ran consistently between 2.55 and 3.00 mins/km to the 34-km mark. He accelerated to 2.50 to 2.54 for the final eight.
Australian Open Asian court
The Australian Open, which styles itself the tennis grand slam of Asia-Pacific, will provide a designated "Asian court" at the 2008 event in January. The move, designed to court the mushrooming Asian market for tennis and leisure, will see Melbourne Park's Court Three host matches of special significance to the region.
"We see the marketplace and the role we play in Asia/Pacific developing the game of tennis as one of the things we need to connect with Asia," Tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood said.
The prize pool at the Jan. 14-27 hardcourt grand slam event is the largest in the event's history at A$20.6 million ($18.43 million).