Rio

And nobody celebrates like Rio de Janeiro, where thousands of people come together to party in the streets, bars and restaurants and balls of Carnival.

Carnival 2017 starts on Friday, February 24 and ends on February 28, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday. It's the hurrah before the Christian faithful start observing Lent, a period of contemplation and reflection before the coming of Easter.

Three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome and five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Bradley Wiggins were among those whose stolen files werepublished by Fancy Bears.

Ukad chief executive Nicole Sapstead said it is trying to contact athletes.

The files were stolen from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

They relate to therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs), which allow banned substances to be used for medical reasons.

They were attempting to get better seats at the Australia v Serbia men's basketball semi-final at the Rio Olympics without proper accreditation.

The athletes were questioned by police on Friday and released on Saturday.

Australia's chef de mission Kitty Chiller said her country's Olympians were "definitely not at fault".

Cyclists Ashlee Ankudinoff and Melissa Hoskins, rugby sevens player Ed Jenkins, archers Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack, rowers Olympia Aldersey, Fiona Albert and Lucy Stephan and hockey player Simon Orchard were the nine involved.

Paul Coffa said despite the natural talent of the Pacific lifters, they would will be up against some athletes who have been banned for drug cheating in the past, so they could only achieve so much.

"The Oceania region hasn't had anyone positive for years and years, whereas the rest of the world in our sport, produces positive (tests) year after year," he said.

The grass has been laid, the pitch marked out, the seating and floodlights installed in the temporary stadium and the posts were the final major structure to be put in place by venue organisers. The Deodoro Stadium will also host the equestrian, combined running and shooting sections of the modern pentathlon during the 2016 Games. 

Each ceremony will also have its own music (check them out on the Rio website>>>), as Christy Nicolay, executive producer of sport presentations, explained. "For the first time ever we have three different styles of victory ceremonies," said the American.

Athletes from Fiji, Jordan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Zambia will be present among the 250 male boxers who are due to compete at the Games following a decision made by the Olympic Tripartite Commission.

Featuring input from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), the Commission is designed to provide smaller National Olympic Committees (NOCs) with the opportunity to compete at Olympic Games.

RNZI reports Hayne met with coach Ben Ryan on Friday and was told his time with the squad had ended.

Ryan said he could see that he was not going to have enough time remaining to make the final cut.

Originally a national age group soccer player in Vanuatu, Luigi Teilemb took to the water just a couple of years ago.

ABC reports his progress has been swift, but at the Asia-Oceania qualifying regatta in April he just missed out on an Olympic place by right.

But that wasn't the end of the story, because coach Matt Cameron says Luigi's efforts have since been recognised with an Olympic Athlete's Scholarship and he's off to Brazil.

RNZI reports the Melanesian duo finished in a share of 17th place at the Vitoria Open in Brazil at the weekend and remain just adrift of the top 15, which would earn direct entry.

After winning their first two pool matches, Vanuatu were beaten by top seeds and eventual champions Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca before another straight sets defeat by the Swiss ninth seeds, to miss out on the top 16.