Roland Matthes

Former Olympic champion swimmer Roland Matthes has left East Germany to settle in the West, according to a West German sports news agency.

Former Olympic champion swimmer Roland Matthes has left East Germany to settle in the West, according to a West German sports news agency.

  It's not nice to laugh when someone's Olympic dream comes to an end. But sometimes it's so hard not to. Take the case of German diver Stephan Feck, who finished last in the preliminary round of the men's 3-meter springboard competition on Monday. You know those belly flops you do into your swimming pool at backyard barbecues? Feck did sort of the reverse of that, as you can see in the video above. You can also watch the dive with commentary here . Feck was doing one of those flippy, twisty dives that divers do when he lost the grip on his left leg and slammed back first into the water.

East German leader Erich Honecker was so infatuated with figure skater Katarina Witt that he made it plain to the government-sponsored newspapers that they could gain favor with him by publishing her picture as often as possible.

An athlete who hit the international scene swimming in singular fashion as a teenager left the Olympic stage with her fifth individual gold medal in hand. It wasn't Janet Evans. She could have joined American speedskater Bonnie Blair in the record book, but the torch went out of Evans' legendary career in a sluggish sixth-place finish in the 800-meter freestyle in 8 minutes 38.91 seconds Thursday with President Clinton in the stands at Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.