England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winner JONNY WILKINSON stepped up to "collect his CBE." The 36-year-old "brought the curtain down on a glittering career" in '14 by "masterminding Toulon's second-straight Heineken Cup win." Boxer CARL FROCH, who will collect an MBE for services to boxing, is another champion in the line-up of "famous faces from the worlds of sports" who are to receive their awards from the DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE at Buckingham Palace (London DAILY MAIL, 11/17). ... Australia cricketer MITCHELL JOHNSON has "retired from all forms" of int'l cricket. The 34-year-old "took two wickets" on the final day of the drawn second Test against New Zealand in Perth. He is Australia's "fourth-highest Test wicket-taker, with 313 in 73 matches, and also took 239 one-day wickets" (BBC, 11/17). ... GUO JIE, "who represented China in the discus at the 1936 Olympic Games," died on Sunday at the age of 103. He "had been the oldest surviving Olympian." Born in Dalian in Jan. 1912, Guo competed in several sports during his youth but won the discus event at the 1935 Chinese National Games (IAAF).
BODY FOUND: The body of Belarussian Olympic sprinter YULIA BALYKINA "has been found covered in plastic wrap in a forest." Balykina, 31, was national Belarus champion on several occasions and "took part in the 100m and 4x100m relay at the 2012 London Olympic Games, before picking up a two-year ban for doping" in '13. Authorities "found her body near a village outside the Belarussian capital Minsk." A 28-year-old man -- apparently her boyfriend -- "has been charged with murder" (AFP, 11/17).
