Ten grey-suited Buddhists crouch like leopards stalking a muntjac before barreling across the stage in an explosion of gravity-defying pivots, kicks and somersaults that would make an osteopath wince.

These are the warrior monks of China's fabled Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of kung fu which is spreading its gospel to Africa as part of a wood-smashing, sword-dancing, spear-balancing grab at global ubiquity.

Switzerland's Lara Gut looks to convert her World Cup super-G domination into Olympic gold on Saturday while the United States and Russia renew their titanic ice hockey rivalry.

Gut, 22, was third behind joint gold winners Tina Maze of Slovenia and teammate Dominique Gisin in Wednesday's dead-heated downhill, and she is desperate to take top spot especially having missed the 2010 Vancouver Games through injury.

In a powerful symbol of international sports detente, Russian President Vladimir Putin dropped in on U.S. Olympic headquarters Friday to chat about the Winter Games and the upcoming Russia-U.S. hockey showdown.

He even wore a red "Happy Valentine's Day from Team USA" pin on his lapel.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho labeled Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger as a "specialist in failure" as the war of words in the race for the English Premier League title intensified Friday.

Mourinho, whose side lead London rivals Arsenal by a point at the top of the table, was responding to comments from French manager Wenger earlier Friday that anyone who said their team was not in the race for the title was betraying a fear of failure.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Friday fined Atletico Madrid 600 euros ($822) after Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was struck on the head with a lighter during the clubs' Copa del Rey clash on Tuesday.

Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo was hit by a lighter thrown from the crowd as he made his way off the field at half-time in the semifinal second leg clash, which Madrid won 2-0 to advance 5-0 on aggregate to a final against Barcelona.

Neymar has recovered from a sprained ankle, Barcelona's medical team said on Friday, and the Brazilian could feature in La Liga at the weekend as well as Tuesday's Champions League clash against Manchester City.

Injured last month in a Copa del Rey game against Getafe, the Brazilian began training earlier this week and is available for selection against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Realizing it was over for him, Evgeni Plushenko held his hands out, as if asking the crowd to forgive him.

No apologies necessary.

For Sandro Viletta, it was a stunning Olympic gold.

For Ivica Kostelic, it was the same old Olympic silver.

Sports fans across Britain are braced for another battering from the stormy weather that has already led to the postponement of two Premier League matches this week.

Manchester City and Everton had to take the unusual step of calling off their fixtures on Wednesday due to safety concerns as hurricane-force winds tore through Britain, leaving one person dead.

Dustin Johnson made the most of ideal conditions to fire a first-round 66 on Thursday for a one-shot lead in the $6.7 million U.S. PGA Tour Northern Trust Open.

Johnson teed off early, and while his five-under effort had him just one stroke in front of a big chasing pack, no one managed to join him atop the leaderboard before darkness halted play with 15 players on the course.