Two former Olympic champions are in the race to be the next IOC president.

Between Noah Lyles drama in the sprints and distance demon Sifan Hassan’s 62-kilometer odyssey that closed things out with a gold medal, track and field took the Olympics on a wild ride over 10 days of close calls, upsets and drama.

Also in this week’s Olympic notebook, torch arrives in France, U.S. archery trials taking place next week in Florida.

The collective group of Summer Games sports has criticized World Athletics for promising to pay $50,000 for each track and field gold medal won at the Paris Olympics.

Track and field is set to become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, with World Athletics saying Wednesday it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris.

Organizers of the Paris Olympics say work will continue on a new tower for judges and TV cameras at the surfing venue in Tahiti.

Russia and Kenya received encouraging news from track and field’s ruling body, though any possible reprieve for Russia was tempered by World Athletics’ intent to keep the country out of international meets until the war in Ukraine is over.

Caster Semenya finished 13th in the women’s 5,000 meters Wednesday at the world championships, an expected result for the South African who has been banned from her best event because of rules that demand she take hormone-reducing drugs to enter certain races.

British 1,500-meter champion Jake Wightman was in disbelief after he crossed the finish line.

A new obstacle appeared out of nowhere on the steeplechase course at world championships.

It took three days by car for high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh to escape from Ukraine.

The leader of global track and field said it would have been “inconceivable” to have allowed Russians into this week’s world championships given the country’s war against Ukraine.

Caster Semenya has been listed to compete at next week’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Bans on transgender women in swimming and rugby this week opened the door for track and field to consider following suit in what could turn into a wave of policy changes in Olympic sports.

Barring an end to the war in Ukraine, athletes from Russia and Belarus will be banned from next month’s track and field world championships.

Final bids are being prepared for European champion Chelsea as the process to end the ownership of sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich steps up.

The public lobbying to be chosen as a preferred bidder for Chelsea has stepped up as increased offers were being mulled by bankers tasked with selling the English Premier League club for sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich.

Olympic great Sebastian Coe says sports federations have set precedents by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition following the invasion of Ukraine and they must remain firm to keep them in place.

John Landy, an Australian runner who dueled with Roger Bannister in a bid to become the first person to run a four-minute mile, has died.

U.S.-born athletes have taken centerstage at the Winter Olympics in Beijing — for the host country, that is, generating scrutiny of nationality switching.

Elton John has formally received one of the highest awards that can be bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Sebastian Coe wants to ensure what happened this month to American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson won’t knock another athlete out of the Olympics in the future.

Sebastian Coe tried to reassure athletes and skeptical residents of Japan that the postponed Olympics will be safe when they open in just under 11 weeks.

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee says it would be “quite tough” for IOC President Thomas Bach to make a planned visit this month to Japan with a state of emergency order being extended by the government to Tokyo and other areas until May 31.

Athletes who make political or social justice protests at the Tokyo Olympics have been promised legal support by a global union and an activist group in Germany.

The Olympic rings are seen at the empty Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. The Tokyo Games, postponed in the midst of a pandemic, are scheduled to open on July 23. The rollout at Olympic headquarters in Switzerland is planned for Feb. 4, with Tokyo likely to present on Feb. 5. The World Health Organization said earlier this week that Olympic athletes should not be a priority ahead of health care workers, the elderly and the vulnerable. The president of the Japan Medical Association sounded a warning last week when asked about the Olympics and possible patients from abroad.

He's an International Olympic Committee member, a two-time Olympic champion, and the head of the governing body of track and field, known as World Athletics. “Athletes are a part of the world and they want to reflect the world they live in,” Coe said. Coe is in the Japanese capital on a courtesy visit to Tokyo Olympic organizers. Coe pitched Tokyo as a possible venue for a future track world championships. “We don’t know what will happen in the next few months,” Coe said, speaking about the Olympics.

OSLO Svein Arne Hansen, the president of European Athletics and longtime organizer of the Bislett Games in Norway, has died. The Norwegian Athletics Association confirmed Hansen's death on Saturday, saying there had been several complications with his health after he suffered a stroke on March 15. He was elected president of the sport's European governing body in 2015 and got re-elected last year. At European Athletics, he was an ally of World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and a critic of the doping scandals which have tarnished the sport. He helped to introduce the I Run Clean anti-doping education program to European Athletics, and made personal contact with athletics officials to ensure that leaders, coaches and practitioners followed the upgraded guidelines.

Former president of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) Lamine Diack, center, arrives at the Paris courthouse, Monday, June 8, 2020. Lamine Diack jetted the world and rubbed shoulders with VIPs. The most conspicuous absentee was his son, Papa Massata Diack, who lives in Senegal and didn't travel to Paris for the trial. He conducted himself like a thug," Lamine Diack said in court. Prosecutors asked the court for a 4-year prison term and a fine of 500,000 euros ($562,000 ) for Lamine Diack.

GENEVA Amid a global wave of demonstrations against racism, the IOC said Wednesday it would open talks that could let athletes make stronger protests at the Olympic Games. In other business Wednesday: A princess, a former head of state, the son of a former prime minister and two 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medalists were recommended for IOC membership. A third woman proposed for membership, Maria Colon of Cuba, took javelin gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. A decision on whether to confirm four additional sports proposed for the 2024 Paris Olympics will be taken in December as scheduled, despite the Tokyo Olympics being postponed to 2021. Any weightlifting official implicated in financial corruption and doping cover-ups at the sports governing body will be denied accreditation for the Tokyo Olympics.