Blog Posts by Jay Busbee

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee has unveiled the medals that will be awarded at the Winter Olympics and Paralympics next year.

The medals feature Sochi's trademark "Patchwork Quilt," which draws together elements from the many cultures of the Russian Federation. As the Organizing Committee notes, "the medals have been carefully crafted to depict the landscape of Sochi from the sun's rays reflecting through the snowy mountain tops onto the sandy beaches of the Black Sea coast." (No mention of snow stockpiles, apparently.)

Approximately 1,300 medals will be manufactured because of the enormous number of events. The Sochi Games will include 12 new medal events, including snowboarding, luge relay and women's ski jumping.

The medals weigh between 460 and 531 grams, and the Paralympic medals, with a slightly different design, are between 585 and 686 grams. The medals are 10 millimeters thick and 100 millimeters across.

If you're looking to earn one of these beauties, it might be

Oscar Pistorius. (Getty Images)

Oscar Pistorius can leave South Africa.

A judge has ruled that Pistorius, the Olympic athlete charged with murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, may leave South Africa for international competitions. However, there are significant conditions to Pistorius' travel rights; he must file travel plans with authorities at least a week before departing, and he must surrender his passport within 24 hours of returning to South Africa.

According to his attorneys, Pistorius has no immediate plans to compete in any international competition, but he may need to run in the future in order to raise money for his legal fees. Pistorius' attorneys have long maintained that he is not a flight risk, and that he needs the ability to compete in races in order to remain financially solvent.

Pistorius is facing severe financial difficulties because of his attorneys' fees. Local South African media reports have indicated that he has explored selling his racehorses and other assets in order to pay his

Lolo Jones, bobsledder. (Getty Images)Lolo Jones is in the midst of competitions to join the United States bobsledding team for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. While her motives seem both competitive and patriotic, in truth she has a far simpler aim: she just wants a doggone medal. Any medal.

"I'm so desperate. Desperate," Jones tells HBO's Real Sports this week, as reported by USA Today. "It absolutely doesn't matter (whether it's a Winter or Summer Games medal). And you know the hard question will be is if I get a medal for bobsled, and I get a medal finally for track, which would I love more?"

Jones entered the last two Olympic Games, in Beijing and London, with strong chances to win a medal at both. In Beijing, she tripped; in London, she finished fourth. And despite the name of this particular blog, fourth place does not get you a medal. It was that fourth-place finish that stung, and motivated Jones to seek a different venue to medaldom:

"If I won a freakin' medal — if I won any medal — I would not be a bobsledder,"

Oscar Pistorius. (Getty Images)

Oscar Pistorius is "on the verge of suicide," a close friend says, even as his attorneys are seeking lighter bail terms that would allow Pistorius to travel. [UPDATE: The Pistorius family has taken issue with that characterization. See below.]

Pistorius, free on bail but charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, is the subject of a new BBC3 documentary, "Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened." Pistorius maintains that he shot Steenkamp by accident, but South African police believe he intentionally killed her in the course of a heated argument.

[Related: Oscar Pistorius' lawyers appeal bail conditions]

In the course of the BBC3 documentary, Pistorius family friend Mike Azzie has some dire words about the Olympic and Paralympic star: "I would say that, just speaking to him, that he is a broken man and that I would go as far to say that he would be on the verge of suicide. It really worries me."

Azzie also notes that Pistorius continues to speak of Steenkamp, asking

You know what's worse than achieving your life's goal? Thinking you've achieved your life's goal and then getting it yanked away from you. Above, you can see Renaud Lavillenie of France, a gold medalist who thought he'd just achieved the second-highest pole vault in history at the European Indoor Championships.

Not so fast, Renaud. He tipped the bar off its pegs, and in an amazing sequence of events, the bar ended up perched on a ledge rather than falling to the mat. A judge raised the red flag, signaling a foul, and that was that ... well, except for Lavillenie's world-class tantrum.

Renaud remains one of the few men to clear the six-meter mark (for perspective, that's about like vaulting onto the roof of a two-story building), but still falls short of pole vaulting legend Sergei Bubka's 6.09 meters.

Oh, and Lavillenie still won gold. For what that's worth.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

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Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius in November 2012. (Getty Images)Already, the Oscar Pistorius trial is shaping up to be one of the most fascinating and highly publicized ones in recent memory. Now comes word that Pistorius is planning to hold his own ceremony to honor his late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius shot Steenkamp on Valentine's Day, but the motivation for the shooting and Pistorius' responsibility remain the focus of the impending trial for premeditated murder.

Pistorius has been released from prison on 1 million rand ($113,000) bail, and has said he wants a private memorial service to be held at the home of one of his family members.

"Oscar has asked for a private service with people who share his loss, including family members who knew and loved Reeva as one of their own," Vuma Reputation Management, which Pistorius has contracted, said in a statement, adding, "he remains in deep mourning for the loss of his partner Reeva."

Steenkamp's family has already held a memorial service for her in the South African city of Port Elizabeth.

Oscar Pistorius in court. (Getty Images)

One of the more explosive "revelations" to come from the Oscar Pistorius bail hearings has been discounted by the prosecution.

Medupe Simasiku, the case's prosecutor and a member of South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, indicated that an investigating officer erred when he identified a substance found in Pistorius' home as testosterone.

Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, the investigating officer at the scene, had earlier indicated that he had discovered boxes of needles and testosterone. However, while the needles were indeed discovered, the exact makeup of the substance discovered remains under investigation.

[Related: Oscar Pistorius' lawyers counter claims of alleged murder ]

The alteration is significant from a public-relations standpoint, as attorneys for Pistorius claimed that it gave a negative connotation to Pistorius' actions and behaviors. The International Paralympic Committee said shortly after Botha's statement that Pistorius passed two dug tests last year.

Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop Police Station in Pretoria, South Africa on Thursday. (Getty Images)

A new report out of South Africa indicates that Oscar Pistorius carried Reeva Steenkamp downstairs from the bathroom where he had allegedly shot her, and attempted to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while attempting to save her life. The report comes via Beeld, an Afrikaaans-language newspaper in South Africa.

The newspaper reported that Steenkamp was still breathing when local security guards and neighbors arrived at Pistorius' house, but died shortly afterward. She had been shot four times through the bathroom door. While the first reports indicated that Pistorius had believed he was firing at an intruder, more recent police reports have backed off that allegation.

According to the Beeld report, there were blood spatters in Pistorius' house tracing the route Pistorius carried Steenkamp, and bloody towels near where she passed. Forensic teams continue to work in the Pistorius home in the exclusive Silver Woods Country Estate community, and have removed the bullet-riddled