Olympic champion Michael Johnson has struck a partnership with Williams as the faltering Formula One team look to rediscover the form that made them one of the most successful names in Grand Prix racing. 

Michael Johnson Performance Inc, a company founded by the three-time Olympic gold medallist will provide a training programme for the team’s pit crew as well as look at Williams’ overall training set-up. 

Williams have won 113 Grand Prix and lifted the constructors’ world championship nine times. 

But last season the British outfit scored just five points — a long way from the glory years that saw drivers like Australian Alan Jones, Finn Keke Rosberg, Britons Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve taking drivers’ world titles. 

Although Johnson, who won gold in the 200 and 400 metres at the 1996 Games in Atlanta before triumphing in the 400m again in Sydney four years later, comes from a vastly different sporting background, Williams principal Sir Frank Williams believes his team will benefit from the partnership. 

“I had the privilege of first meeting Michael at the Belgian Grand Prix in the late 1990s,” Williams said in a statement on Wednesday. 

“I have always admired the dedication required to be an Olympic champion. 

“The attention to detail and the commitment required is what sets these extraordinary individuals apart from the rest of us. 

“When Michael and I met again recently he explained how he had established a company that specialised in improving athletic performance. 

“I was extremely keen to learn how he could help our team as there seemed to be a lot of areas of common interest. 

“Michael’s sporting achievements speak for themselves, and the principles he used to become the fastest man in the world are certainly transferable into our own hugely competitive field. 

“Formula One is about all aspects of the race. We all know how crucial the brief time the car spends in the pits can be. 

“So it will be exciting to see how Michael and his team can help give us the edge in this respect.” 

Johnson added: “I am confident the experience and biomechanics expertise of the MJP staff that has benefited numerous American football athletes, Premier League football teams, and Olympic federations, can also benefit Williams’ pit crew in their goal to cut hundredths and even tenths of a second from their pit stop times.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are confident that 2012 will see international cricket return to the country.

Pakistan have not played in their own country since a terrorist attack in Lahore aimed at a Sri Lankan touring team in 2009.

Despite two years without international cricket in Pakistan, the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has claimed that Bangladesh have been invited to tour.

Ashraf said: “I am confident that international cricket will be revived in Pakistan. Even if [Bangladesh] play two or three matches, it will send positive signals to the cricketing community around the world.

“They will be meeting with top security officials of our government. We want to remove this security fear.”

Six police officers and a driver were killed, and several players and officials were injured, when gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lanka team bus on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test.

Since then all 27 of Pakistan’s Tests and their 67 one-day internationals since the terror attacks have been played on foreign soil

Pakistan will face England in three Tests, four one-day internationals and three Twenty20 games in the New Year in a series held in the United Arab Emirates.

Analysts believe Adidas faces losing half its licensed NBA apparel sales as a result of the NBA lockout.

High profile games have been dropped from the 2011/12 season, due to start on Nov. 1, including defending champions Chicago Bulls’s trip to face the Dallas Mavericks.

NBA players and owners said on Wednesday they would enlist a mediator in the dispute over collective bargaining.

Basketball is a lucrative business in the United States for the world’s top two sporting goods makers, Nike and Adidas.

Adidas is likely to suffer most of all from the lockout because it has been the license holder to provide NBA uniforms and apparel for five years.

Adidas make $100 million in sales from licensed NBA products. Basketball products are one of its top five most lucrative sporting categories.

Matt Powell, analyst at SportsOneSource, said licensed apparel sales could decrease by 50% if the season were cancelled. This would mirror the impact of the 1998/9 season lockout.

Powell said: “Overall, sales of NBA licensed products fell by 20 percent last week, and I view that as the beginning of the fall because of the lockout.”

It is important for businesses that season begins before Christmas because it’s the busiest time sales and demand for NBA products traditionally drops further into the season.

Euromonitor analyst Kailing Cai said: “In terms of licensed apparel, fans tend to buy jerseys near the beginning of the season.”

Adidas claims it’s more interested in footwear sales, which account for a vast proportion of the basketball market.

Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said:”The kids are still buying the shoes,”

Analysts believe sales of basketball shoes will be aided by ubiquitous advertising, especially on social media websites, and companies’ attempts to promote their products at local levels, including through college basketball.

Representatives of the National Football League (NFL) and its players union are set for a 14th day of debate with a federal mediator regarding how to divide almost US$9 billion in revenue.

The NFL Players Association rejected an offer from the league to reveal audited profitability data for all 32 teams for the past several years, the New York Times reported last night. Union leaders want each club’s audited full financial statements, the newspaper said.

Such disagreements don’t make it impossible to reach an accord and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told ComCast SportsNet New England on Tuesday, March 8: “We’re doing everything we can to get a deal consummated. I personally believe it’s possible.”

The sides are in a week-long extension of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with players, which was set to expire after March 3. Had the agreement lapsed, owners could have locked out players, shutting down the most popular U.S. sport for the first time since 1987.

George H. Cohen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, brokered a deal between Major League Soccer (MLS) and its players last year, and said the extension ends the evening of March 11.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and executive director of the players’ union DeMaurice Smith have both declined to discuss the specifics of talks, at the request of Cohen.

A football skills challenge event featuring six of the world’s best players has been cancelled after England’s Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard pulled out following their country’s exit from the World Cup.

The A:3K event, which was due to be held at London’s O2 Arena on 17 July, has now been postponed until the summer of 2011. It was created with the aim of trying to bring the world’s best players together, competing in front of a live audience.

Director of A:3K Terrry Byrne said in a statement: “Both Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney have made it clear they believe it would be inappropriate for them to participate in A:3K at this time. We fully understand and respect both players’ decisions. We could have replaced them with two other players but feel the players involved are six of the best in the world – and that is what we promised we would deliver.

“Having consulted all parties involved, everyone agreed the only decision possible was to postpone the event until next summer when we intend to deliver the same six player line up. Our priority right now is to our customers who have purchased tickets.”

Rooney and Gerrard, who were earning a reported US$745,000 for taking apart, were due to appear alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas, Didier Drogba and David Villa.

NASCAR team, Kevin Harvick, Inc. (KHI) has reached outside auto racing and into the world of professional athlete management, inking a deal to represent UFC fighter Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

KHI, co-owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and his wife, DeLana, is renowned in the motor sports world not only for its on-track success, but also for its efficacious and innovative sponsorship relationships. In its NASCAR operations, the company has demonstrated expertise in marketing through sponsor activation, sales and promotion, event management, advertising and public relations. More recently, KHI transferred its primary concentration to athletes and sponsors in and out of the auto racing industry, including Harvick, Cerrone, Jeff Burton (NASCAR) and Jason Gore (PGA). 

“It’s an honor and privilege to have this new relationship with Kevin (Harvick) and KHI,” stated Cerrone, a (MMA) fighter currently ranked sixth in the UFC Lightweight division. “I have learned a lot from Kevin and his management team over the last year and look forward to a long-lasting relationship both in and out of the octagon.” 

Under Harvick and the KHI management team’s direction, KHI earned two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships and 53 wins in the NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series in its decade of competition. Along for the lengthy and prosperous ride were numerous and critical KHI sponsor partners, despite the fact that a weakening U.S. economy forced several corporations out of NASCAR altogether. 

“One of KHI’s strongest qualities always has been our ability to sell and maintain sponsorship in NASCAR despite the economic challenges,” Kevin Harvick said. “With that solid foundation and the template we’ve created over the last 10 years, I think we are ready to take the next step to represent other athletes in other arenas. Donald is our first client in the UFC, and I’m excited about all the possibilities that lie ahead.” 

Cerrone, 30, is based and trains in Albuquerque, N.M. He won three of his four last fights to extend his record to 20-5. The Denver native is next scheduled to fight Rafael Dos Anjos (19-6) on Aug. 28 on UFC on FOX Sports 1.