The world is just days away from the greatest global showcase of elite sport.
The USADA report led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour titles and banned from elite sport for life.
Despite lacrosse's reputation as an elite sport, there are many players on the national team who did not go to public school or university.
Even in the sort of murky postcommunism that grips much of the country today, many Chinese still see skiing as an elite sport in the same category as horseback riding, golf and tennis.
The drive for elite Paralympic sport has gained greater momentum after the award of the London 2012 Games.
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Essentially, this is the best chance to see elite disability sport outside the Paralympic Games there's ever been, the tickets are immensely good value and people will be able to see top-class sport.
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At the elite levels of sport, head injuries have been a worry for many decades.
Stony Brook and Kent State each finished the 2012 college baseball season among the elite teams in a sport long dominated by programs in the South and West.
Crucially the elite end of the sport will have dedicated funding structures in place, and a new management board with a strong focus on performance and recognition of what is needed to succeed on the world stage.
His interview with Oprah Winfrey hasn't aired yet, but already some people want to hear more under oath before Armstrong is allowed to compete in elite triathlons, a sport he returned to after retiring from cycling in 2011.
There's a certain "Fight Club" aura to serious endurance athletes, and Bastianich while far from the sport's elite now understands the allure of pushing his physical limits.
Like any athlete operating at the elite level of their chosen sport, Riner adheres to a strict training program that requires unwavering discipline and a robust frame of mind.
But this obvious handicap did not prevent him hurling the 800-gram spear 81.81 meters -- his personal best, breaking his own national record -- in qualifying in London to join his sport's elite.
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Although he managed to finish third last season, the Finn was still a whopping 74 points behind world champion Sebastian Vettel, but former world champion Raikkonen remains confident that Lotus can challenge the sport's elite in the coming season.
Nevertheless, some people in the squash world say they're optimistic that the sport is becoming less elite.
The World Baseball Classic is the sport's only elite, major international competition now that baseball is no longer in the Olympics.
Thomas does not want the Heineken Cup to be considered in isolation, but rather as part of a wider discussion about the structure of the sport and the management of elite players.
The elite club now has 10 members in the sport's history and six in the Open era, which began in 1968.
Joining this elite fleet for 2011 is the Acura TSX Sport Wagon.
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Prof McAllister said the bulk of help for elite athletes in Wales came from the budget of Sport Wales and lottery funding.
King insisted the bonus scheme was withdrawn after the last year's World Championships as UK Sport effectively took over financial responsibility for the GB elite squad.
Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, the body responsible for allocating public funding to elite athletes, told the BBC the success of any high performance system "depends on the right level of investment".
Mr Warner sponsored a stock-car team, thus linking his name with a sport that a quarter of Americans adore but which the coastal elite mostly ignore.
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Mr Cameron also said it was important the UK maintained its system of funding and support for elite sports and praised the "very tough" conditions set by UK Sport - the organisation responsible for investing government money in Britain's top performers.
But matters outside the ropes got so bad UK Sport was forced to take emergency control of the Sheffield-based elite programme in late June.
Steele told BBC Sport he hopes Andrew can now build on the work he has done as elite director since 2006.
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