U.K. Olympic Gold Medalist MO FARAH has been voted the 2012 winner of the men's European Athlete of the Year Award. Farah becomes just the second athlete to receive the award for a second consecutive year, following Swedish triple jumper CHRISTIAN OLSSON in '03 and '04. Farah's accomplishments will be recognized at the European Athletics Awards Night in St. Julians, Malta on Saturday alongside the U.K.'s JESSICA ENNIS, who won the women's European Athlete of the Year. The European Athletics Rising Star of the Year winners, the Czech Republic's PAVEL MASLAK and Sweden's ANGELICA BENGTSSON will be present to pick up their awards (U.K. Athletics). ... ManU Manager ALEX FERGUSON "stood shoulder to shoulder with police" Thursday to remember hero Police Constable FIONA BONE. Ferguson, 70, "joined grieving officers and the public in a massive show of support for Fiona, who was killed in a gun and grenade attack" (DAILY STAR SUNDAY, 10/7).
PHOTO SHOOT: The Nikon camera that USAIN BOLT "seized from a photographer" after his 200m win at the London Olympics is currently being sold on eBay for $9,200. He had used the camera "to take snaps of his adoring fans, as well as the photographers and his teammates." The camera belonged to JIMMY WIXTROM, a photographer for Swedish newspaper Sportbladet. Wixtrom: "After he was done with taking photos, Bolt carved his name on the camera with a screwdriver -- and thus made it unique." The camera will be sold in a bid to raise money for the Swedish Cancer Society and Bolt's education charity in Jamaica (PAULFRASERCOLLECTIBLES.com, 10/7).
JAPAN DEPARTURE: J.League club Consadole Sapporo Manager NOBUHIRO ISHIZAKI "will step down at the end of this season" after the club was relegated to the second division last week following just one season back in the top flight (KYODO, 10/6). ... FIFA President SEPP BLATTER is scheduled to visit Cuba on Oct. 25 as part of a Caribbean tour. Cuban Soccer Association President LUIS HERNANDEZ said that the purpose of Blatter's visit to the Cuban capital "is to lay the first stone of the first synthetic soccer field on the island," which will be constructed in January at the Havana stadium La Polar (XINHUA, 10/4).
HOCKEY GOING GERMAN: German Hockey League (DEL) club Eisbären Berlin "acquired NHL players DANIEL BRIERE and CLAUDE GIROUX during the league's lockout." The 34-year-old Briere has appeared in 813 NHL games, and earned $6.5M as a player for the Philadelphia Flyers. Giroux, 24, also played for the Flyers during last season, for which he scored a league's third-best 110 points (AUGSBURGER ALLGEMEINE, 10/5). ... German Basketball Bundesliga club Bayern Munich appointed 36-year-old ANDREAS WAGNER as the team's new assistant coach. Wagner, who most recently worked for the German Basketball Federation as head coach of women's national team, "signed a contract through the end of the '12-13 season" (ABENDZEITUNG MÜNCHEN, 10/5). ... Basketball Bundesliga club Brose Baskets Bamberg "extended its contract with Head Coach CHRIS FLEMING for another three years." Flemming joined Bamberg at the beginning of the '08-09 season (SID, 10/4). ... Second Bundesliga club Energie Cottbus "extended the contract of its Head Coach RUDI BOMMER." Club Manager CHRISTIAN BEECK announced that Bommer "signed an extension through June 30, 2014" (SID, 10/6).
FEDERER'S SECURITY: A Chinese state media report said security for the upcoming Shanghai Masters is "being tightened after an online death threat against ROGER FEDERER." Shanghai’s Youth Daily quoted tournament official Yang Yibin as saying that "police were notified about the threat and that security will be increased for Federer at the tournament" (AP, 10/5). A blogger known as Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07 last month posted a message that said: "On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination." Federer said: "Obviously maybe it’s a little bit of a distraction, there’s no doubt about it. But you have to be aware of what’s happening around you. But that is the case anyway anywhere I go today with my fame and all that stuff" (SUNDAY TIMES, 10/7).
ODDS AND ENDS: Team GB Olympic cyclist CHRIS HOY has been honored by the university that "kick started his cycling career." Hoy was named University of Edinburgh's Alumnus of the Year at a ceremony with students, staff and invited guests. The award is made annually to former Edinburgh students deemed to have made "a significant impact in public life" (Scottish DAILY RECORD, 10/5). ... The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires donated 1 million Sri Lanka rupees ($19,269) to the Chitra Lane School for the Special Child and Children Resource Center. The check was presented by the umpires during a visit to the center where they also spent "considerable time with under-privileged and disadvantaged children," as well as the dedicated staff (PTI, 10/3). ... England captain and opening batter CHARLOTTE EDWARDS was named player of the tournament at the conclusion of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012. Edwards was the unanimous choice of the group of experts. The 32-year-old batted five innings in the tournament, scoring a total of 172 runs at an average of 43, while finishing the event as the highest run-scorer (ICC). ... The Greek Swimming Federation has been ordered to pay €277,000 ($360,986) to 100m freestyle swimmer TONIA MACHAIRA for "wrongfully excluding her" from the 2004 Athens Games on the grounds she had failed a drug test. Machaira filed a suit for €1M eight years ago after the federation banned her from her home Olympics. Int'l drug testing organization WADA confirmed that Machaira "had not failed the anti-doping test," as suspected by the Greek federation (AFP, 10/7). ... Brazilian Football legend ROMARIO, now a socialist lawmaker, called for a probe of his country's Olympic committee over allegedly questionable sales for Rio's 2016 Games (AFP, 10/5).
