Michael Laudrup is taking legal advice after being fired as Swansea manager on Tuesday.

Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary."

Olympic fans of the world, where are you?

Sochi is (more or less) ready for you to come to its Winter Games. Thousands of athletes, soldiers, journalists and herds of smiley volunteers are in place, eager to help.

Miami cured its road woes with a 116-112 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, with Ray Allen hitting the clinching 3-pointer in the final minute of the showdown between NBA divisional leaders.

Two other divisional leaders — Oklahoma City and San Antonio — also won, with the Thunder proving too good for an understrength Minnesota, while the Spurs needed double overtime to beat Washington for the 16th straight time. In another key game, Houston beat Phoenix to move above the Clippers and into fourth place in the Western Conference.

Competition at the Sochi Olympics has begun, 32 hours before the opening ceremony.

Early starts are needed because of 12 men's and women's medal events added since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Real Madrid spoiled crosstown rival Atletico Madrid's short honeymoon as Spanish leader by winning its Copa del Rey semifinal first leg, while Barcelona also took control of its series with a victory over Real Sociedad.

Pepe, Jese Rodriguez, and Angel Di Maria all scored as Madrid won a bad-tempered crosstown derby 3-0 to humble Atletico on Wednesday, three days after it took the outright league lead, with only its second loss of the season and first in 23 matches.

Fiorentina forward Mario Gomez is back in training after nearly five months out with a left knee injury.

As Gomez finally linked back with his teammates on Wednesday, he joked "hello, my name's Mario and I'm a striker!"

Maria Sharapova is back in the town of her early childhood, which also happens to be one of Russia's warmest spots — and the host of the Winter Games.

Siberia-born Sharapova spent six years in Sochi, where she had her first tennis lessons before leaving for the United States to continue her development in the game.

Princess Anne of Britain says Olympic opening ceremonies have become excessive, two years after her mother starred in the London show.

The princess lamented to fellow IOC members that athletes have become an "add on."

The Olympic flame reached Sochi Wednesday, following a 65,000-kilometer (39,000-mile) route, the longest in the history of the games.

During the journey, the torch relay reached the North Pole, went to the top of Europe's highest mountain, plunged into the world's deepest lake and was even taken into space by Russian cosmonauts. The torchbearers included a 101-year-old man.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been banned for three Spanish league games for receiving a red card and then making a mocking gesture toward the match officials in a game at Athletic Bilbao.

The Portugal forward was shown a straight red for swiping his hand across the face of Bilbao's Carlos Gurpegi's following a shove from his opponent in Sunday's 1-1 league draw.