Quotes of the Day

Not Such A Big Deal After All
The business of football is rarely clear and never simple. When Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought London's Chelsea, which has €112 million in debts, fans thought their club's financial problems were over. But the July 1 purchase by the 36-year-old oil oligarch, who has a personal fortune estimated at €5.3 billion, has come under scrutiny by Britain's Financial Services Authority, which is taking an interest in movements in the club's share price ahead of the €196 million purchase.

The billionaire's spokesman says the investigation involves "pre- Roman Chelsea stuff," and that Abramovich "couldn't care less." Perhaps he should be conducting his own scrutiny of how his money has been spent since he bought the club.

After airing a fantasy shopping list of new players — which included Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera, Juventus' Edgar Davids and Inter Milan's Christian Vieri — Chelsea has only snapped up a few B-listers at wildly inflated prices. Twenty-four million euros for Blackburn Rovers' Damien Duff? Now there's a deal that should be raising questions. — With reporting by Yuri Zarakhovich/Moscow

Finding the Swede Spot
It's hard to believe that only a year ago Carolina Kluft, currently the world's leading heptathlete, was competing as a junior (admittedly, the world's top junior). Two weeks ago the bubbly 20-year-old Swede graduated to an even higher plane, as she accepted a special award from Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria. Kluft had been voted this year's Victoria Scholar, one of the highest honors in Swedish sports. The award panel singled out "the very un-Swedish way she has shown us that you really can have fun on the field of competition, even though there is so much at stake."

But who wouldn't be having fun? The heptathlon — a grueling challenge covering seven sports over two days — may be the best overall measure of women's athleticism on the planet. And according to International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) rankings, Kluft is now the best. Born in Växjö, she began competing at 15. After setting a new record score at the World Junior Championships in Jamaica last July, she slipped effortlessly up to senior competition less than a month later and won gold at the European championship, setting another new junior record ahead of such seasoned campaigners as Sabine Braun of Germany and Belarus' Natalya Sazanovich. The IAAF dubbed her a "rising star" and a Swedish national radio poll even labeled her Swede of the Year.

This year has been just as heady. In March she won the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, with personal bests in 60-m sprint, high jump, shot put and long jump. In June she moved outdoors to Tallinn, Estonia, where she scored 6,692 points beating reigning Olympic champion, Denise Lewis, to bring her ever closer to the senior record. There's little doubt that Kluft is Olympic-gold material, and her rapid progress will ensure a stellar show in Athens. But she is keeping her feet on the ground (figuratively if not literally). After the Tallinn win she told journalists, "I'm nothing special. I'm not a star, just someone doing something I enjoy." And letting the world know what fun it is.

• KATE NOBLE
• Chelski Woes, Olympic Hi-Flier